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diff --git a/old/pever10.txt b/old/pever10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6259fbe --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pever10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24314 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peveril of the Peak, by Sir Walter Scott +(#23 in our series by Sir Walter Scott) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Peveril of the Peak + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5959] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 30, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: Latin1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PEVERIL OF THE PEAK *** + + + + +PEVERIL OF THE PEAK +By Sir Walter Scott, Bart. + +First published in 1822. + +Etext prepared by Emma Wong Shee, + John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz + and Dagny, dagnypg@yahoo.com + + + + PEVERIL OF THE PEAK + + BY + + SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. + + + + + + PEVERIL OF THE PEAK + + + + CHAPTER I + + When civil dudgeon first grew high, + And men fell out, they knew not why; + When foul words, jealousies, and fears, + Set folk together by the ears-- + --BUTLER. + +William, the Conqueror of England, was, or supposed himself to be, the +father of a certain William Peveril, who attended him to the battle of +Hastings, and there distinguished himself. The liberal-minded monarch, +who assumed in his charters the veritable title of Gulielmus +Bastardus, was not likely to let his son's illegitimacy be any bar to +the course of his royal favour, when the laws of England were issued +from the mouth of the Norman victor, and the lands of the Saxons were +at his unlimited disposal. William Peveril obtained a liberal grant of +property and lordships in Derbyshire, and became the erecter of that +Gothic fortress, which, hanging over the mouth of the Devil's Cavern, +so well known to tourists, gives the name of Castleton to the adjacent +village. + +From this feudal Baron, who chose his nest upon the principles on +which an eagle selects her eyry, and built it in such a fashion as if +he had intended it, as an Irishman said of the Martello towers, for +the sole purpose of puzzling posterity, there was, or conceived +themselves to be, descended (for their pedigree was rather +hypothetical) an opulent family of knightly rank, in the same county +of Derby. The great fief of Castleton, with its adjacent wastes and +forests, and all the wonders which they contain, had been forfeited in +King John's stormy days, by one William Peveril, and had been granted +anew to the Lord Ferrers of that day. Yet this William's descendants, +though no longer possessed of what they alleged to have been their +original property, were long distinguished by the proud title of +Peverils of the Peak, which served to mark their high descent and +lofty pretensions. + +In Charles the Second's time, the representative of this ancient +family was Sir Geoffrey Peveril, a man who had many of the ordinary +attributes of an old-fashioned country gentleman, and very few +individual traits to distinguish him from the general portrait of that +worthy class of mankind. He was proud of small advantages, angry at +small disappointments, incapable of forming any resolution or opinion +abstracted from his own prejudices--he was proud of his birth, lavish +in his housekeeping, convivial with those kindred and acquaintances, +who would allow his superiority in rank--contentious and quarrelsome +with all that crossed his pretensions--kind to the poor, except when +they plundered his game--a Royalist in his political opinions, and one +who detested alike a Roundhead, a poacher, and a Presbyterian. In +religion Sir Geoffrey was a high-churchman, of so exalted a strain +that many thought he still nourished in private the Roman Catholic +tenets, which his family had only renounced in his father's time, and +that he had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to +the Protestant faith. There was at least such a scandal amongst the +Puritans, and the influence which Sir Geoffrey Peveril certainly +appeared to possess amongst the Catholic gentlemen of Derbyshire and +Cheshire, seemed to give countenance to the rumour. + +Such was Sir Geoffrey, who might have passed to his grave without +further distinction than a brass-plate in the chancel, had he not +lived in times which forced the most inactive spirits into exertion, +as a tempest influences the sluggish waters of the deadest mere. When +the Civil Wars broke out, Peveril of the Peak, proud from pedigree, +and brave by constitution, raised a regiment for the King, and showed +upon several occasions more capacity for command than men had +heretofore given him credit for. + +Even in the midst of the civil turmoil, he fell in love with, and +married, a beautiful and amiable young lady of the noble house of +Stanley; and from that time had the more merit in his loyalty, as it +divorced him from her society, unless at very brief intervals, when +his duty permitted an occasional visit to his home. Scorning to be +allured from his military duty by domestic inducements, Peveril of +the Peak fought on for several rough years of civil war, and performed +his part with sufficient gallantry, until his regiment was surprised +and cut to pieces by Poyntz, Cromwell's enterprising and successful +general of cavalry. The defeated Cavalier escaped from the field of +battle, and, like a true descendant of William the Conqueror, +disdaining submission, threw himself into his own castellated mansion, +which was attacked and defended in a siege of that irregular kind +which caused the destruction of so many baronial residences during the +course of those unhappy wars. Martindale Castle, after having suffered +severely from the cannon which Cromwell himself brought against it, +was at length surrendered when in the last extremity. Sir Geoffrey +himself became a prisoner, and while his liberty was only restored +upon a promise of remaining a peaceful subject to the Commonwealth in +future, his former delinquencies, as they were termed by the ruling +party, were severely punished by fine and sequestration. + +But neither his forced promise, nor the fear of farther unpleasant +consequences to his person or property, could prevent Peveril of the +Peak from joining the gallant Earl of Derby the night before the fatal +engagement in Wiggan Lane, where the Earl's forces were dispersed. Sir +Geoffrey having had his share in that action, escaped with the relics +of the Royalists after the defeat, to join Charles II. He witnessed +also the final defeat of Worcester, where he was a second time made +prisoner; and as, in the opinion of Cromwell and the language of the +times, he was regarded as an obstinate malignant, he was in great +danger of having shared with the Earl of Derby his execution at +Bolton-le-Moor, having partaken with him the dangers of two actions. +But Sir Geoffrey's life was preserved by the interest of a friend, who +possessed influence in the councils of Oliver.--This was a Mr. +Bridgenorth, a gentleman of middling quality, whose father had been +successful in some commercial adventure during the peaceful reign of +James I.; and who had bequeathed his son a considerable sum of money, +in addition to the moderate patrimony which he inherited from his +father. + +The substantial, though small-sized, brick building of Moultrassie +Hall, was but two miles distant from Martindale Castle, and the young +Bridgenorth attended the same school with the heir of the Peverils. A +sort of companionship, if not intimacy, took place betwixt them, which +continued during their youthful sports--the rather that Bridgenorth, +though he did not at heart admit Sir Geoffrey's claims of superiority +to the extent which the other's vanity would have exacted, paid +deference in a reasonable degree to the representative of a family so +much more ancient and important than his own, without conceiving that +he in any respect degraded himself by doing so. + +Mr. Bridgenorth did not, however, carry his complaisance so far as to +embrace Sir Geoffrey's side during the Civil War. On the contrary, as +an active Justice of the Peace, he rendered much assistance in +arraying the militia in the cause of the Parliament, and for some time +held a military commission in that service. This was partly owing to +his religious principles, for he was a zealous Presbyterian, partly to +his political ideas, which, without being absolutely democratical, +favoured the popular side of the great national question. Besides, he +was a moneyed man, and to a certain extent had a shrewd eye to his +worldly interest. He understood how to improve the opportunities which +civil war afforded, of advancing his fortune, by a dexterous use of +his capital; and he was not at a loss to perceive that these were +likely to be obtained in joining the Parliament; while the King's +cause, as it was managed, held out nothing to the wealthy but a course +of exaction and compulsory loans. For these reasons, Bridgenorth +became a decided Roundhead, and all friendly communication betwixt his +neighbour and him was abruptly broken asunder. This was done with the +less acrimony, that, during the Civil War, Sir Geoffrey was almost +constantly in the field, following the vacillating and unhappy +fortunes of his master; while Major Bridgenorth, who soon renounced +active military service, resided chiefly in London, and only +occasionally visited the Hall. + +Upon these visits, it was with great pleasure he received the +intelligence, that Lady Peveril had shown much kindness to Mrs. +Bridgenorth, and had actually given her and her family shelter in +Martindale Castle, when Moultrassie Hall was threatened with pillage +by a body of Prince Rupert's ill-disciplined Cavaliers. This +acquaintance had been matured by frequent walks together, which the +vicinity of their places of residence suffered the Lady Peveril to +have with Mrs. Bridgenorth, who deemed herself much honoured in being +thus admitted into the society of so distinguished a lady. Major +Bridgenorth heard of this growing intimacy with great pleasure, and he +determined to repay the obligation, as far as he could without much +hurt to himself, by interfering with all his influence, in behalf of +her unfortunate husband. It was chiefly owing to Major Bridgenorth's +mediation, that Sir Geoffrey's life was saved after the battle of +Worcester. He obtained him permission to compound for his estate on +easier terms than many who had been less obstinate in malignancy; and, +finally, when, in order to raise the money to the composition, the +Knight was obliged to sell a considerable portion of his patrimony, +Major Bridgenorth became the purchaser, and that at a larger price +than had been paid to any Cavalier under such circumstances, by a +member of the Committee for Sequestrations. It is true, the prudent +committeeman did not, by any means, lose sight of his own interest in +the transaction, for the price was, after all, very moderate, and the +property lay adjacent to Moultrassie Hall, the value of which was at +least trebled by the acquisition. But then it was also true, that the +unfortunate owner must have submitted to much worse conditions, had +the committeeman used, as others did, the full advantages which his +situation gave him; and Bridgenorth took credit to himself, and +received it from others, for having, on this occasion, fairly +sacrificed his interest to his liberality. + +Sir Geoffrey Peveril was of the same opinion, and the rather that Mr. +Bridgenorth seemed to bear his exaltation with great moderation, and +was disposed to show him personally the same deference in his present +sunshine of prosperity, which he had exhibited formerly in their early +acquaintance. It is but justice to Major Bridgenorth to observe, that +in this conduct he paid respect as much to the misfortunes as to the +pretensions of his far-descended neighbour, and that, with the frank +generosity of a blunt Englishman, he conceded points of ceremony, +about which he himself was indifferent, merely because he saw that his +doing so gave pleasure to Sir Geoffrey. + +Peveril of the Peak did justice to his neighbour's delicacy, in +consideration of which he forgot many things. He forgot that Major +Bridgenorth was already in possession of a fair third of his estate, +and had various pecuniary claims affecting the remainder, to the +extent of one-third more. He endeavoured even to forget, what it was +still more difficult not to remember, the altered situation in which +they and their mansions now stood to each other. + +Before the Civil War, the superb battlements and turrets of Martindale +Castle looked down on the red brick-built Hall, as it stole out from +the green plantations, just as an oak in Martindale Chase would have +looked beside one of the stunted and formal young beech-trees with +which Bridgenorth had graced his avenue; but after the siege which we +have commemorated, the enlarged and augmented Hall was as much +predominant in the landscape over the shattered and blackened ruins of +the Castle, of which only one wing was left habitable, as the youthful +beech, in all its vigour of shoot and bud, would appear to the same +aged oak stripped of its boughs, and rifted by lightning, one-half +laid in shivers on the ground, and the other remaining a blackened and +ungraceful trunk, rent and splintered, and without either life or +leaves. Sir Geoffrey could not but feel, that the situation and +prospects were exchanged as disadvantageously for himself as the +appearance of their mansions; and that though the authority of the man +in office under the Parliament, the sequestrator, and the +committeeman, had been only exerted for the protection of the Cavalier +and the malignant, they would have been as effectual if applied to +procure his utter ruin; and that he was become a client, while his +neighbour was elevated into a patron. + +There were two considerations, besides the necessity of the case and +the constant advice of his lady, which enabled Peveril of the Peak to +endure, with some patience, this state of degradation. The first was, +that the politics of Major Bridgenorth began, on many points, to +assimilate themselves to his own. As a Presbyterian, he was not an +utter enemy to monarchy, and had been considerably shocked at the +unexpected trial and execution of the King; as a civilian and a man of +property, he feared the domination of the military; and though he +wished not to see Charles restored by force of arms, yet he arrived at +the conclusion, that to bring back the heir of the royal family on +such terms of composition as might ensure the protection of those +popular immunities and privileges for which the Long Parliament had at +first contended, would be the surest and most desirable termination to +the mutations in state affairs which had agitated Britain. Indeed, the +Major's ideas on this point approached so nearly those of his +neighbour, that he had well-nigh suffered Sir Geoffrey, who had a +finger in almost all the conspiracies of the Royalists, to involve him +in the unfortunate rising of Penruddock and Groves, in the west, in +which many of the Presbyterian interest, as well as the Cavalier +party, were engaged. And though his habitual prudence eventually kept +him out of this and other dangers, Major Bridgenorth was considered +during the last years of Cromwell's domination, and the interregnum +which succeeded, as a disaffected person to the Commonwealth, and a +favourer of Charles Stewart. + +But besides this approximation to the same political opinions, another +bond of intimacy united the families of the Castle and the Hall. Major +Bridgenorth, fortunate, and eminently so, in all his worldly +transactions, was visited by severe and reiterated misfortunes in his +family, and became, in this particular, an object of compassion to his +poorer and more decayed neighbour. Betwixt the breaking out of the +Civil War and the Restoration, he lost successively a family of no +less than six children, apparently through a delicacy of constitution, +which cut off the little prattlers at the early age when they most +wind themselves round the heart of the parents. + +In the beginning of the year 1658, Major Bridgenorth was childless; +ere it ended, he had a daughter, indeed, but her birth was purchased +by the death of an affectionate wife, whose constitution had been +exhausted by maternal grief, and by the anxious and harrowing +reflection, that from her the children they had lost derived that +delicacy of health, which proved unable to undergo the tear and wear +of existence. The same voice which told Bridgenorth that he was the +father of a living child (it was the friendly voice of Lady Peveril), +communicated to him the melancholy intelligence that he was no longer +a husband. The feelings of Major Bridgenorth were strong and deep, +rather than hasty and vehement; and his grief assumed the form of a +sullen stupor, from which neither the friendly remonstrances of Sir +Geoffrey, who did not fail to be with his neighbour at this +distressing conjuncture, even though he knew he must meet the +Presbyterian pastor, nor the ghastly exhortations of this latter +person, were able to rouse the unfortunate widower. + +At length Lady Peveril, with the ready invention of a female sharped +by the sight of distress and the feelings of sympathy, tried on the +sufferer one of those experiments by which grief is often awakened +from despondency into tears. She placed in Bridgenorth's arms the +infant whose birth had cost him so dear, and conjured him to remember +that his Alice was not yet dead, since she survived in the helpless +child she had left to his paternal care. + +"Take her away--take her away!" said the unhappy man, and they were +the first words he had spoken; "let me not look on her--it is but +another blossom that has bloomed to fade, and the tree that bore it +will never flourish more!" + +He almost threw the child into Lady Peveril's arms, placed his hands +before his face, and wept aloud. Lady Peveril did not say "be +comforted," but she ventured to promise that the blossom should ripen +to fruit. + +"Never, never!" said Bridgenorth; "take the unhappy child away, and +let me only know when I shall wear black for her--Wear black!" he +exclaimed, interrupting himself, "what other colour shall I wear +during the remainder of my life?" + +"I will take the child for a season," said Lady Peveril, "since the +sight of her is so painful to you; and the little Alice shall share +the nursery of our Julian, until it shall be pleasure and not pain for +you to look on her." + +"That hour will never come," said the unhappy father; "her doom is +written--she will follow the rest--God's will be done.--Lady, I thank +you--I trust her to your care; and I thank God that my eye shall not +see her dying agonies." + +Without detaining the reader's attention longer on this painful theme, +it is enough to say that the Lady Peveril did undertake the duties of +a mother to the little orphan; and perhaps it was owing, in a great +measure, to her judicious treatment of the infant, that its feeble +hold of life was preserved, since the glimmering spark might probably +have been altogether smothered, had it, like the Major's former +children, undergone the over-care and over-nursing of a mother +rendered nervously cautious and anxious by so many successive losses. +The lady was the more ready to undertake this charge, that she herself +had lost two infant children; and that she attributed the preservation +of the third, now a fine healthy child of three years old, to Julian's +being subjected to rather a different course of diet and treatment +than was then generally practised. She resolved to follow the same +regiment with the little orphan, which she had observed in the case of +her own boy; and it was equally successful. By a more sparing use of +medicine, by a bolder admission of fresh air, by a firm, yet cautious +attention to encourage rather than to supersede the exertions of +nature, the puny infant, under the care of an excellent nurse, +gradually improved in strength and in liveliness. + +Sir Geoffrey, like most men of his frank and good-natured disposition, +was naturally fond of children, and so much compassionated the sorrows +of his neighbour, that he entirely forgot his being a Presbyterian, +until it became necessary that the infant should be christened by a +teacher of that persuasion. + +This was a trying case--the father seemed incapable of giving +direction; and that the threshold of Martindale Castle should be +violated by the heretical step of a dissenting clergyman, was matter +of horror to its orthodox owner. He had seen the famous Hugh Peters, +with a Bible in one hand and a pistol in the other, ride in triumph +through the court-door when Martindale was surrendered; and the +bitterness of that hour had entered like iron into his soul. Yet such +was Lady Peveril's influence over the prejudices of her husband, that +he was induced to connive at the ceremony taking place in a remote +garden house, which was not properly within the precincts of the +Castle-wall. The lady even dared to be present while the ceremony was +performed by the Reverend Master Solsgrace, who had once preached a +sermon of three hours' length before the House of Commons, upon a +thanksgiving occasion after the relief of Exeter. Sir Geoffrey Peveril +took care to be absent the whole day from the Castle, and it was only +from the great interest which he took in the washing, perfuming, and +as it were purification of the summer-house, that it could have been +guessed he knew anything of what had taken place in it. + +But, whatever prejudices the good Knight might entertain against his +neighbour's form of religion, they did not in any way influence his +feelings towards him as a sufferer under severe affliction. The mode +in which he showed his sympathy was rather singular, but exactly +suited the character of both, and the terms on which they stood with +each other. + +Morning after morning the good Baronet made Moultrassie Hall the +termination of his walk or ride, and said a single word of kindness as +he passed. Sometimes he entered the old parlour where the proprietor +sat in solitary wretchedness and despondency; but more frequently (for +Sir Geoffrey did not pretend to great talents of conversation), he +paused on the terrace, and stopping or halting his horse by the +latticed window, said aloud to the melancholy inmate, "How is it with +you, Master Bridgenorth?" (the Knight would never acknowledge his +neighbour's military rank of Major); "I just looked in to bid you keep +a good heart, man, and to tell you that Julian is well, and little +Alice is well, and all are well at Martindale Castle." + +A deep sigh, sometimes coupled with "I thank you, Sir Geoffrey; my +grateful duty waits on Lady Peveril," was generally Bridgenorth's only +answer. But the news was received on the one part with the kindness +which was designed upon the other; it gradually became less painful +and more interesting; the lattice window was never closed, nor was the +leathern easy-chair which stood next to it ever empty, when the usual +hour of the Baronet's momentary visit approached. At length the +expectation of that passing minute became the pivot upon which the +thoughts of poor Bridgenorth turned during all the rest of the day. +Most men have known the influence of such brief but ruling moments at +some period of their lives. The moment when a lover passes the window +of his mistress--the moment when the epicure hears the dinner-bell,-- +is that into which is crowded the whole interest of the day; the hours +which precede it are spent in anticipation; the hours which follow, in +reflection on what has passed; and fancy dwelling on each brief +circumstance, gives to seconds the duration of minutes, to minutes +that of hours. Thus seated in his lonely chair, Bridgenorth could +catch at a distance the stately step of Sir Geoffrey, or the heavy +tramp of his war-horse, Black Hastings, which had borne him in many an +action; he could hear the hum of "The King shall enjoy his own again," +or the habitual whistle of "Cuckolds and Roundheads," die unto +reverential silence, as the Knight approached the mansion of +affliction; and then came the strong hale voice of the huntsman +soldier with its usual greeting. + +By degrees the communication became something more protracted, as +Major Bridgenorth's grief, like all human feelings, lost its +overwhelming violence, and permitted him to attend, in some degree, to +what passed around him, to discharge various duties which pressed upon +him, and to give a share of attention to the situation of the country, +distracted as it was by the contending factions, whose strife only +terminated in the Restoration. Still, however, though slowly +recovering from the effects of the shock which he had sustained, Major +Bridgenorth felt himself as yet unable to make up his mind to the +effort necessary to see his infant; and though separated by so short a +distance from the being in whose existence he was more interested than +in anything the world afforded, he only made himself acquainted with +the windows of the apartment where little Alice was lodged, and was +often observed to watch them from the terrace, as they brightened in +the evening under the influence of the setting sun. In truth, though a +strong-minded man in most respects, he was unable to lay aside the +gloomy impression that this remaining pledge of affection was soon to +be conveyed to that grave which had already devoured all besides that +was dear to him; and he awaited in miserable suspense the moment when +he should hear that symptoms of the fatal malady had begun to show +themselves. + +The voice of Peveril continued to be that of a comforter until the +month of April 1660, when it suddenly assumed a new and different +tone. "The King shall enjoy his own again," far from ceasing, as the +hasty tread of Black Hastings came up the avenue, bore burden to the +clatter of his hoofs on the paved courtyard, as Sir Geoffrey sprang +from his great war-saddle, now once more garnished with pistols of two +feet in length, and, armed with steel-cap, back and breast, and a +truncheon in his hand, he rushed into the apartment of the astonished +Major, with his eyes sparkling, and his cheek inflamed, while he +called out, "Up! up, neighbour! No time now to mope in the chimney- +corner! Where is your buff-coat and broadsword, man? Take the true +side once in your life, and mend past mistakes. The King is all +lenity, man--all royal nature and mercy. I will get your full pardon." + +"What means all this?" said Bridgenorth--"Is all well with you--all +well at Martindale Castle, Sir Geoffrey?" + +"Well as you could wish them, Alice, and Julian, and all. But I have +news worth twenty of that--Monk has declared at London against those +stinking scoundrels the Rump. Fairfax is up in Yorkshire--for the King +--for the King, man! Churchmen, Presbyterians, and all, are in buff +and bandoleer for King Charles. I have a letter from Fairfax to secure +Derby and Chesterfield with all the men I can make. D--n him, fine +that I should take orders from him! But never mind that--all are +friends now, and you and I, good neighbour, will charge abreast, as +good neighbours should. See there! read--read--read--and then boot and +saddle in an instant. + + 'Hey for cavaliers--ho for cavaliers, + Pray for cavaliers, + Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub, + Have at old Beelzebub, + Oliver shakes in his bier!'" + +After thundering forth this elegant effusion of loyal enthusiasm, the +sturdy Cavalier's heart became too full. He threw himself on a seat, +and exclaiming, "Did ever I think to live to see this happy day!" he +wept, to his own surprise, as much as to that of Bridgenorth. + +Upon considering the crisis in which the country was placed, it +appeared to Major Bridgenorth, as it had done to Fairfax, and other +leaders of the Presbyterian party, that their frank embracing of the +royal interest was the wisest and most patriotic measure which they +could adopt in the circumstances, when all ranks and classes of men +were seeking refuge from the uncertainty and varied oppression +attending the repeated contests between the factions of Westminster +Hall and of Wallingford House. Accordingly he joined with Sir +Geoffrey, with less enthusiasm indeed, but with equal sincerity, +taking such measures as seemed proper to secure their part of the +country on the King's behalf, which was done as effectually and +peaceably as in other parts of England. The neighbours were both at +Chesterfield, when news arrived that the King had landed in England; +and Sir Geoffrey instantly announced his purpose of waiting upon his +Majesty, even before his return to the Castle of Martindale. + +"Who knows, neighbour," he said, "whether Sir Geoffrey Peveril will +ever return to Martindale? Titles must be going amongst them yonder, +and I have deserved something among the rest.--Lord Peveril would +sound well--or stay, Earl of Martindale--no, not of Martindale--Earl +of the Peak.--Meanwhile, trust your affairs to me--I will see you +secured--I would you had been no Presbyterian, neighbour--a +knighthood,--I mean a knight-bachelor, not a knight-baronet,--would +have served your turn well." + +"I leave these things to my betters, Sir Geoffrey," said the Major, +"and desire nothing so earnestly as to find all well at Martindale +when I return." + +"You will--you will find them all well," said the Baronet; "Julian, +Alice, Lady Peveril, and all of them--Bear my commendations to them, +and kiss them all, neighbour, Lady Peveril and all--you may kiss a +Countess when I come back; all will go well with you now you are +turned honest man." + +"I always meant to be so, Sir Geoffrey," said Bridgenorth calmly. + +"Well, well, well--no offence meant," said the Knight, "all is well +now--so you to Moultrassie Hall, and I to Whitehall. Said I well, aha! +So ho, mine host, a stoup of Canary to the King's health ere we get to +horse--I forgot, neighbour--you drink no healths." + +"I wish the King's health as sincerely as if I drank a gallon to it," +replied the Major; "and I wish you, Sir Geoffrey, all success on your +journey, and a safe return." + + + + CHAPTER II + + Why, then, we will have bellowing of beeves, + Broaching of barrels, brandishing of spigots; + Blood shall flow freely, but it shall be gore + Of herds and flocks, and venison and poultry, + Join'd to the brave heart's-blood of John-a-Barleycorn! + --OLD PLAY. + +Whatever rewards Charles might have condescended to bestow in +acknowledgement of the sufferings and loyalty of Peveril of the Peak, +he had none in his disposal equal to the pleasure which Providence had +reserved for Bridgenorth on his return to Derbyshire. The exertion to +which he had been summoned, had had the usual effect of restoring to a +certain extent the activity and energy of his character, and he felt +it would be unbecoming to relapse into the state of lethargic +melancholy from which it had roused him. Time also had its usual +effect in mitigating the subjects of his regret; and when he had +passed one day at the Hall in regretting that he could not expect the +indirect news of his daughter's health, which Sir Geoffrey used to +communicate in his almost daily call, he reflected that it would be in +every respect becoming that he should pay a personal visit at +Martindale Castle, carry thither the remembrances of the Knight to his +lady, assure her of his health, and satisfy himself respecting that of +his daughter. He armed himself for the worst--he called to +recollection the thin cheeks, faded eye, wasted hand, pallid lip, +which had marked the decaying health of all his former infants. + +"I shall see," he said, "these signs of mortality once more--I shall +once more see a beloved being to whom I have given birth, gliding to +the grave which ought to enclose me long before her. No matter--it is +unmanly so long to shrink from that which must be--God's will be +done!" + +He went accordingly, on the subsequent morning, to Martindale Castle, +and gave the lady the welcome assurances of her husband's safety, and +of his hopes of preferment. + +"For the first, may Almighty God be praised!" said the Lady Peveril; +"and be the other as our gracious and restored Sovereign may will it. +We are great enough for our means, and have means sufficient for +contentment, though not for splendour. And now I see, good Master +Bridgenorth, the folly of putting faith in idle presentiments of evil. +So often had Sir Geoffrey's repeated attempts in favour of the +Stewarts led him into new misfortunes, that when, the other morning, I +saw him once more dressed in his fatal armour, and heard the sound of +his trumpet, which had been so long silent, it seemed to me as if I +saw his shroud, and heard his death-knell. I say this to you, good +neighbour, the rather because I fear your own mind has been harassed +with anticipations of impending calamity, which it may please God to +avert in your case as it has done in mine; and here comes a sight +which bears good assurance of it." + +The door of the apartment opened as she spoke, and two lovely children +entered. The eldest, Julian Peveril, a fine boy betwixt four and five +years old, led in his hand, with an air of dignified support and +attention, a little girl of eighteen months, who rolled and tottered +along, keeping herself with difficulty upright by the assistance of +her elder, stronger, and masculine companion. + +Bridgenorth cast a hasty and fearful glance upon the countenance of +his daughter, and, even in that glimpse, perceived, with exquisite +delight, that his fears were unfounded. He caught her in his arms, +pressed her to his heart, and the child, though at first alarmed at +the vehemence of his caresses, presently, as if prompted by Nature, +smiled in reply to them. Again he held her at some distance from him, +and examined her more attentively; he satisfied himself that the +complexion of the young cherub he had in his arms was not the hectic +tinge of disease, but the clear hue of ruddy health; and that though +her little frame was slight, it was firm and springy. + +"I did not think that it could have been thus," he said, looking to +Lady Peveril, who had sat observing the scene with great pleasure; +"but praise be to God in the first instance, and next, thanks to you, +madam, who have been His instrument." + +"Julian must lose his playfellow now, I suppose?" said the lady; "but +the Hall is not distant, and I will see my little charge often. Dame +Martha, the housekeeper at Moultrassie, has sense, and is careful. I +will tell her the rules I have observed with little Alice, and----" + +"God forbid my girl should ever come to Moultrassie," said Major +Bridgenorth hastily; "it has been the grave of her race. The air of +the low grounds suited them not--or there is perhaps a fate connected +with the mansion. I will seek for her some other place of abode." + +"That you shall not, under your favour be it spoken, Major +Bridgenorth," answered the lady. "If you do so, we must suppose that +you are undervaluing my qualities as a nurse. If she goes not to her +father's house, she shall not quit mine. I will keep the little lady +as a pledge of her safety and my own skill; and since you are afraid +of the damp of the low grounds, I hope you will come here frequently +to visit her." + +This was a proposal which went to the heart of Major Bridgenorth. It +was precisely the point which he would have given worlds to arrive at, +but which he saw no chance of attaining. + +It is too well known, that those whose families are long pursued by +such a fatal disease as existed in his, become, it may be said, +superstitious respecting its fatal effects, and ascribe to place, +circumstance, and individual care, much more perhaps than these can in +any case contribute to avert the fatality of constitutional distemper. +Lady Peveril was aware that this was peculiarly the impression of her +neighbour; that the depression of his spirits, the excess of his care, +the feverishness of his apprehensions, the restraint and gloom of the +solitude in which he dwelt, were really calculated to produce the evil +which most of all he dreaded. She pitied him, she felt for him, she +was grateful for former protection received at his hands--she had +become interested in the child itself. What female fails to feel such +interest in the helpless creature she has tended? And to sum the whole +up, the dame had a share of human vanity; and being a sort of Lady +Bountiful in her way (for the character was not then confined to the +old and the foolish), she was proud of the skill by which she had +averted the probable attacks of hereditary malady, so inveterate in +the family of Bridgenorth. It needed not, perhaps, in other cases, +that so many reasons should be assigned for an act of neighbourly +humanity; but civil war had so lately torn the country asunder, and +broken all the usual ties of vicinage and good neighbourhood, that it +was unusual to see them preserved among persons of different political +opinions. + +Major Bridgenorth himself felt this; and while the tear of joy in his +eye showed how gladly he would accept Lady Peveril's proposal, he +could not help stating the obvious inconveniences attendant upon her +scheme, though it was in the tone of one who would gladly hear them +overruled. "Madam," he said, "your kindness makes me the happiest and +most thankful of men; but can it be consistent with your own +convenience? Sir Geoffrey has his opinions on many points, which have +differed, and probably do still differ, from mine. He is high-born, +and I of middling parentage only. He uses the Church Service, and I +the Catechism of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster----" + +"I hope you will find prescribed in neither of them," said the Lady +Peveril, "that I may not be a mother to your motherless child. I +trust, Master Bridgenorth, the joyful Restoration of his Majesty, a +work wrought by the direct hand of Providence, may be the means of +closing and healing all civil and religious dissensions among us, and +that, instead of showing the superior purity of our faith, by +persecuting those who think otherwise from ourselves on doctrinal +points, we shall endeavour to show its real Christian tendency, by +emulating each other in actions of good-will towards man, as the best +way of showing our love to God." + +"Your ladyship speaks what your own kind heart dictates," answered +Bridgenorth, who had his own share of the narrow-mindedness of the +time; "and sure am I, that if all who call themselves loyalists and +Cavaliers, thought like you--and like my friend Sir Geoffrey"--(this +he added after a moment's pause, being perhaps rather complimentary +than sincere)--"we, who thought it our duty in time past to take arms +for freedom of conscience, and against arbitrary power, might now sit +down in peace and contentment. But I wot not how it may fall. You have +sharp and hot spirits amongst you; I will not say our power was always +moderately used, and revenge is sweet to the race of fallen Adam." + +"Come, Master Bridgenorth," said the Lady Peveril gaily, "those evil +omenings do but point out conclusions, which, unless they were so +anticipated, are most unlikely to come to pass. You know what +Shakespeare says-- + + 'To fly the boar before the boar pursues, + Were to incense the boar to follow us, + And make pursuit when he did mean no chase.' + +"But I crave your pardon--it is so long since we have met, that I +forgot you love no play-books." + +"With reverence to your ladyship," said Bridgenorth, "I were much to +blame did I need the idle words of a Warwickshire stroller, to teach +me my grateful duty to your ladyship on this occasion, which appoints +me to be directed by you in all things which my conscience will +permit." + +"Since you permit me such influence, then," replied the Lady Peveril, +"I shall be moderate in exercising it, in order that I may, in my +domination at least, give you a favourable impression of the new order +of things. So, if you will be a subject of mine for one day, +neighbour, I am going, at my lord and husband's command, to issue out +my warrants to invite the whole neighbourhood to a solemn feast at the +Castle, on Thursday next; and I not only pray you to be personally +present yourself, but to prevail on your worthy pastor, and such +neighbours and friends, high and low, as may think in your own way, to +meet with the rest of the neighbourhood, to rejoice on this joyful +occasion of the King's Restoration, and thereby to show that we are to +be henceforward a united people." + +The parliamentarian Major was considerably embarrassed by this +proposal. He looked upward, and downward, and around, cast his eye +first to the oak-carved ceiling, and anon fixed it upon the floor; +then threw it around the room till it lighted on his child, the sight +of whom suggested another and a better train of reflections than +ceiling and floor had been able to supply. + +"Madam," he said, "I have long been a stranger to festivity, perhaps +from constitutional melancholy, perhaps from the depression which is +natural to a desolate and deprived man, in whose ear mirth is marred, +like a pleasant air when performed on a mistuned instrument. But +though neither my thoughts nor temperament are Jovial or Mercurial, it +becomes me to be grateful to Heaven for the good He has sent me by the +means of your ladyship. David, the man after God's own heart, did wash +and eat bread when his beloved child was removed--mine is restored to +me, and shall I not show gratitude under a blessing, when he showed +resignation under an affliction? Madam, I will wait on your gracious +invitation with acceptance; and such of my friends with whom I may +possess influence, and whose presence your ladyship may desire, shall +accompany me to the festivity, that our Israel may be as one people." + +Having spoken these words with an aspect which belonged more to a +martyr than to a guest bidden to a festival, and having kissed, and +solemnly blessed his little girl, Major Bridgenorth took his departure +for Moultrassie Hall. + + + + CHAPTER III + + Here's neither want of appetite nor mouths; + Pray Heaven we be not scant of meat or mirth! + --OLD PLAY. + +Even upon ordinary occasions, and where means were ample, a great +entertainment in those days was not such a sinecure as in modern +times, when the lady who presides has but to intimate to her menials +the day and hour when she wills it to take place. At that simple +period, the lady was expected to enter deeply into the arrangement and +provision of the whole affair; and from a little gallery, which +communicated with her own private apartment, and looked down upon the +kitchen, her shrill voice was to be heard, from time to time, like +that of the warning spirit in a tempest, rising above the clash of +pots and stewpans--the creaking spits--the clattering of marrowbones +and cleavers--the scolding of cooks--and all the other various kinds +of din which form an accompaniment to dressing a large dinner. + +But all this toil and anxiety was more than doubled in the case of the +approaching feast at Martindale Castle, where the presiding Genius of +the festivity was scarce provided with adequate means to carry her +hospitable purpose into effect. The tyrannical conduct of husbands, in +such cases, is universal; and I scarce know one householder of my +acquaintance who has not, on some ill-omened and most inconvenient +season, announced suddenly to his innocent helpmate, that he had +invited + + "Some odious Major Rock, + To drop in at six o'clock," + +to the great discomposure of the lady, and the discredit, perhaps, of +her domestic arrangements. + +Peveril of the Peak was still more thoughtless; for he had directed +his lady to invite the whole honest men of the neighbourhood to make +good cheer at Martindale Castle, in honour of the blessed Restoration +of his most sacred Majesty, without precisely explaining where the +provisions were to come from. The deer-park had lain waste ever since +the siege; the dovecot could do little to furnish forth such an +entertainment; the fishponds, it is true, were well provided (which +the neighbouring Presbyterians noted as a suspicious circumstance); +and game was to be had for the shooting, upon the extensive heaths and +hills of Derbyshire. But these were but the secondary parts of a +banquet; and the house-steward and bailiff, Lady Peveril's only +coadjutors and counsellors, could not agree how the butcher-meat--the +most substantial part, or, as it were, the main body of the +entertainment--was to be supplied. The house-steward threatened the +sacrifice of a fine yoke of young bullocks, which the bailiff, who +pleaded the necessity of their agricultural services, tenaciously +resisted; and Lady Peveril's good and dutiful nature did not prevent +her from making some impatient reflections on the want of +consideration of her absent Knight, who had thus thoughtlessly placed +her in so embarrassing a situation. + +These reflections were scarcely just, if a man is only responsible for +such resolutions as he adopts when he is fully master of himself. Sir +Geoffrey's loyalty, like that of many persons in his situation, had, +by dint of hopes and fears, victories and defeats, struggles and +sufferings, all arising out of the same moving cause, and turning, as +it were, on the same pivot, acquired the character of an intense and +enthusiastic passion; and the singular and surprising change of +fortune, by which his highest wishes were not only gratified, but far +exceeded, occasioned for some time a kind of intoxication of loyal +rapture which seemed to pervade the whole kingdom. Sir Geoffrey had +seen Charles and his brothers, and had been received by the merry +monarch with that graceful, and at the same time frank urbanity, by +which he conciliated all who approached him; the Knight's services and +merits had been fully acknowledged, and recompense had been hinted at, +if not expressly promised. Was it for Peveril of the Peak, in the +jubilee of his spirits, to consider how his wife was to find beef and +mutton to feast his neighbours? + +Luckily, however, for the embarrassed lady, there existed some one who +had composure of mind sufficient to foresee this difficulty. Just as +she had made up her mind, very reluctantly, to become debtor to Major +Bridgenorth for the sum necessary to carry her husband's commands into +effect, and whilst she was bitterly regretting this departure from the +strictness of her usual economy, the steward, who, by-the-bye, had not +been absolutely sober since the news of the King's landing at Dover, +burst into the apartment, snapping his fingers, and showing more marks +of delight than was quite consistent with the dignity of my lady's +large parlour. + +"What means this, Whitaker?" said the lady, somewhat peevishly; for +she was interrupted in the commencement of a letter to her neighbour +on the unpleasant business of the proposed loan,--"Is it to be always +thus with you?--Are you dreaming?" + +"A vision of good omen, I trust," said the steward, with a triumphant +flourish of the hand; "far better than Pharaoh's, though, like his, it +be of fat kine." + +"I prithee be plain, man," said the lady, "or fetch some one who can +speak to purpose." + +"Why, odds-my-life, madam," said the steward, "mine errand can speak +for itself. Do you not hear them low? Do you not hear them bleat? A +yoke of fat oxen, and half a score prime wethers. The Castle is +victualled for this bout, let them storm when they will; and Gatherill +may have his d--d mains ploughed to the boot." + +The lady, without farther questioning her elated domestic, rose and +went to the window, where she certainly beheld the oxen and sheep +which had given rise to Whitaker's exultation. "Whence come they?" +said she, in some surprise. + +"Let them construe that who can," answered Whitaker; "the fellow who +drove them was a west-country man, and only said they came from a +friend to help to furnish out your ladyship's entertainment; the man +would not stay to drink--I am sorry he would not stay to drink--I +crave your ladyship's pardon for not keeping him by the ears to drink +--it was not my fault." + +"That I'll be sworn it was not," said the lady. + +"Nay, madam, by G--, I assure you it was not," said the zealous +steward; "for, rather than the Castle should lose credit, I drank his +health myself in double ale, though I had had my morning draught +already. I tell you the naked truth, my lady, by G--!" + +"It was no great compulsion, I suppose," said the lady; "but, +Whitaker, suppose you should show your joy on such occasions, by +drinking and swearing a little less, rather than a little more, would +it not be as well, think you?" + +"I crave your ladyship's pardon," said Whitaker, with much reverence; +"I hope I know my place. I am your ladyship's poor servant; and I know +it does not become me to drink and swear like your ladyship--that is, +like his honour, Sir Geoffrey, I would say. But I pray you, if I am +not to drink and swear after my degree, how are men to know Peveril of +the Peak's steward,--and I may say butler too, since I have had the +keys of the cellar ever since old Spigots was shot dead on the +northwest turret, with a black jack in his hand,--I say, how is an old +Cavalier like me to be known from those cuckoldly Roundheads that do +nothing but fast and pray, if we are not to drink and swear according +to our degree?" + +The lady was silent, for she well knew speech availed nothing; and, +after a moment's pause, proceeded to intimate to the steward that she +would have the persons, whose names were marked in a written paper, +which she delivered to him, invited to the approaching banquet. + +Whitaker, instead of receiving the list with the mute acquiescence of +a modern Major Domo, carried it into the recess of one of the windows, +and, adjusting his spectacles, began to read it to himself. The first +names, being those of distinguished Cavalier families in the +neighbourhood, he muttered over in a tone of approbation--paused and +pshawed at that of Bridgenorth--yet acquiesced, with the observation, +"But he is a good neighbour, so it may pass for once." But when he +read the name and surname of Nehemiah Solsgrace, the Presbyterian +parson, Whitaker's patience altogether forsook him; and he declared he +would as soon throw himself into Eldon-hole,[*] as consent that the +intrusive old puritan howlet, who had usurped the pulpit of a sound +orthodox divine, should ever darken the gates of Martindale Castle by +any message or mediation of his. + +[*] A chasm in the earth supposed to be unfathomable, one of the + wonders of the Peak. + +"The false crop-eared hypocrites," cried he, with a hearty oath, "have +had their turn of the good weather. The sun is on our side of the +hedge now, and we will pay off old scores, as sure as my name is +Richard Whitaker." + +"You presume on your long services, Whitaker, and on your master's +absence, or you had not dared to use me thus," said the lady. + +The unwonted agitation of her voice attracted the attention of the +refractory steward, notwithstanding his present state of elevation; +but he no sooner saw that her eye glistened, and her cheek reddened, +than his obstinacy was at once subdued. + +"A murrain on me," he said, "but I have made my lady angry in good +earnest! and that is an unwonted sight for to see.--I crave your +pardon, my lady! It was not poor Dick Whitaker disputed your +honourable commands, but only that second draught of double ale. We +have put a double stroke of malt to it, as your ladyship well knows, +ever since the happy Restoration. To be sure I hate a fanatic as I do +the cloven foot of Satan; but then your honourable ladyship hath a +right to invite Satan himself, cloven foot and all, to Martindale +Castle; and to send me to hell's gate with a billet of invitation--and +so your will shall be done." + +The invitations were sent round accordingly, in all due form; and one +of the bullocks was sent down to be roasted whole at the market-place +of a little village called Martindale-Moultrassie, which stood +considerably to the eastward both of the Castle and Hall, from which +it took its double name, at about an equal distance from both; so +that, suppose a line drawn from the one manor-house to the other, to +be the base of a triangle, the village would have occupied the salient +angle. As the said village, since the late transference of a part of +Peveril's property, belonged to Sir Geoffrey and to Bridgenorth in +nearly equal portions, the lady judged it not proper to dispute the +right of the latter to add some hogsheads of beer to the popular +festivity. + +In the meanwhile, she could not but suspect the Major of being the +unknown friend who had relieved her from the dilemma arising from the +want of provisions; and she esteemed herself happy when a visit from +him, on the day preceding the proposed entertainment, gave her, as she +thought, an opportunity of expressing her gratitude. + + + + CHAPTER IV + + No, sir--I will not pledge--I'm one of those + Who think good wine needs neither bush nor preface + To make it welcome. If you doubt my word, + Fill the quart-cup, and see if I will choke on't. + --OLD PLAY. + +There was a serious gravity of expression in the disclamation with +which Major Bridgenorth replied to the thanks tendered to him by Lady +Peveril, for the supply of provisions which had reached her Castle so +opportunely. He seemed first not to be aware what she alluded to; and, +when she explained the circumstance, he protested so seriously that he +had no share in the benefit conferred, that Lady Peveril was compelled +to believe him, the rather that, being a man of plain downright +character, affecting no refined delicacy of sentiment, and practising +almost a quaker-like sincerity of expression, it would have been much +contrary to his general character to have made such a disavowal, +unless it were founded in truth. + +"My present visit to you, madam," said he, "had indeed some reference +to the festivity of to-morrow." Lady Peveril listened, but as her +visitor seemed to find some difficulty in expressing himself, she was +compelled to ask an explanation. "Madam," said the Major, "you are not +perhaps entirely ignorant that the more tender-conscienced among us +have scruples at certain practices, so general amongst your people at +times of rejoicing, that you may be said to insist upon them as +articles of faith, or at least greatly to resent their omission." + +"I trust, Master Bridgenorth," said the Lady Peveril, not fully +comprehending the drift of his discourse, "that we shall, as your +entertainers, carefully avoid all allusions or reproaches founded on +past misunderstanding." + +"We would expect no less, madam, from your candour and courtesy," said +Bridgenorth; "but I perceive you do not fully understand me. To be +plain, then, I allude to the fashion of drinking healths, and pledging +each other in draughts of strong liquor, which most among us consider +as a superfluous and sinful provoking of each other to debauchery, and +the excessive use of strong drink; and which, besides, if derived, as +learned divines have supposed, from the custom of the blinded Pagans, +who made libations and invoked idols when they drank, may be justly +said to have something in it heathenish, and allied to demon-worship." + +The lady had already hastily considered all the topics which were +likely to introduce discord into the proposed festivity; but this very +ridiculous, yet fatal discrepancy, betwixt the manners of the parties +on convivial occasions, had entirely escaped her. She endeavoured to +soothe the objecting party, whose brows were knit like one who had +fixed an opinion by which he was determined to abide. + +"I grant," she said, "my good neighbour, that this custom is at least +idle, and may be prejudicial if it leads to excess in the use of +liquor, which is apt enough to take place without such conversation. +But I think, when it hath not this consequence, it is a thing +indifferent, affords a unanimous mode of expressing our good wishes to +our friends, and our loyal duty to our sovereign; and, without meaning +to put any force upon the inclination of those who believe otherwise, +I cannot see how I can deny my guests and friends the privilege of +drinking a health to the King, or to my husband, after the old English +fashion." + +"My lady," said the Major, "if the age of fashion were to command it, +Popery is one of the oldest English fashions that I have heard of; but +it is our happiness that we are not benighted like our fathers, and +therefore we must act according to the light that is in us, and not +after their darkness. I had myself the honour to attend the Lord- +Keeper Whitelocke, when, at the table of the Chamberlain of the +kingdom of Sweden, he did positively refuse to pledge the health of +his Queen, Christina, thereby giving great offence, and putting in +peril the whole purpose of that voyage; which it is not to be thought +so wise a man would have done, but that he held such compliance a +thing not merely indifferent, but rather sinful and damnable." + +"With all respect to Whitelocke," said the Lady Peveril, "I continue +of my own opinion, though, Heaven knows, I am no friend to riot or +wassail. I would fain accommodate myself to your scruples, and will +discourage all other pledges; but surely those of the King and of +Peveril of the Peak may be permitted?" + +"I dare not," answered Bridgenorth, "lay even the ninety-ninth part of +a grain of incense upon an altar erected to Satan." + +"How, sir!" said the lady; "do you bring Satan into comparison with +our master King Charles, and with my noble lord and husband?" + +"Pardon me, madam," answered Bridgenorth, "I have no such thoughts-- +indeed they would ill become me. I do wish the King's health and Sir +Geoffrey's devoutly, and I will pray for both. But I see not what good +it should do their health if I should prejudice my own by quaffing +pledges out of quart flagons." + +"Since we cannot agree upon this matter," said Lady Peveril, "we must +find some resource by which to offend those of neither party. Suppose +you winked at our friends drinking these pledges, and we should +connive at your sitting still?" + +But neither would this composition satisfy Bridgenorth, who was of +opinion, as he expressed himself, that it would be holding a candle to +Beelzebub. In fact, his temper, naturally stubborn, was at present +rendered much more so by a previous conference with his preacher, who, +though a very good man in the main, was particularly and illiberally +tenacious of the petty distinctions which his sect adopted; and while +he thought with considerable apprehension on the accession of power +which Popery, Prelacy, and Peveril of the Peak, were like to acquire +by the late Revolution, became naturally anxious to put his flock on +their guard, and prevent their being kidnapped by the wolf. He +disliked extremely that Major Bridgenorth, indisputably the head of +the Presbyterian interest in that neighbourhood, should have given his +only daughter to be, as he termed it, nursed by a Canaanitish woman; +and he told him plainly that he liked not this going to feast in the +high places with the uncircumcised in heart, and looked on the whole +conviviality only as a making-merry in the house of Tirzah. + +Upon receiving this rebuke from his pastor, Bridgenorth began to +suspect he might have been partly wrong in the readiness which, in his +first ardour of gratitude, he had shown to enter into intimate +intercourse with the Castle of Martindale; but he was too proud to +avow this to the preacher, and it was not till after a considerable +debate betwixt them, that it was mutually agreed their presence at the +entertainment should depend upon the condition, that no healths or +pledges should be given in their presence. Bridgenorth, therefore, as +the delegate and representative of his party, was bound to stand firm +against all entreaty, and the lady became greatly embarrassed. She now +regretted sincerely that her well-intended invitation had ever been +given, for she foresaw that its rejection was to awaken all former +subjects of quarrel, and perhaps to lead to new violences amongst +people who had not many years since been engaged in civil war. To +yield up the disputed point to the Presbyterians, would have been to +offend the Cavalier party, and Sir Geoffrey in particular, in the most +mortal degree; for they made it as firm a point of honour to give +healths, and compel others to pledge them, as the Puritans made it a +deep article of religion to refuse both. At length the lady changed +the discourse, introduced that of Major Bridgenorth's child, caused it +to be sent for, and put into his arms. The mother's stratagem took +effect; for, though the parliamentary major stood firm, the father, as +in the case of the Governor of Tilbury, was softened, and he agreed +that his friends should accept a compromise. This was, that the major +himself, the reverend divine, and such of their friends as held strict +Puritan tenets, should form a separate party in the Large Parlour, +while the Hall should be occupied by the jovial Cavaliers; and that +each party should regulate their potations after their own conscience, +or after their own fashion. + +Major Bridgenorth himself seemed greatly relieved after this important +matter had been settled. He had held it matter of conscience to be +stubborn in maintaining his own opinion, but was heartily glad when he +escaped from the apparently inevitable necessity of affronting Lady +Peveril by the refusal of her invitation. He remained longer than +usual, and spoke and smiled more than was his custom. His first care +on his return was to announce to the clergyman and his congregation +the compromise which he had made, and this not as a matter for +deliberation, but one upon which he had already resolved; and such was +his authority among them, that though the preacher longed to pronounce +a separation of the parties, and to exclaim--"To your tents, O +Israel!" he did not see the chance of being seconded by so many, as +would make it worth while to disturb the unanimous acquiescence in +their delegate's proposal. + +Nevertheless, each party being put upon the alert by the consequences +of Major Bridgenorth's embassy, so many points of doubt and delicate +discussion were started in succession, that the Lady Peveril, the only +person, perhaps, who was desirous of achieving an effectual +reconciliation between them, incurred, in reward for her good +intentions, the censure of both factions, and had much reason to +regret her well-meant project of bringing the Capulets and Montagues +of Derbyshire together on the same occasion of public festivity. + +As it was now settled that the guests were to form two different +parties, it became not only a subject of dispute betwixt themselves, +which should be first admitted within the Castle of Martindale, but +matter of serious apprehension to Lady Peveril and Major Bridgenorth, +lest, if they were to approach by the same avenue and entrance, a +quarrel might take place betwixt them, and proceed to extremities, +even before they reached the place of entertainment. The lady believed +she had discovered an admirable expedient for preventing the +possibility of such interference, by directing that the Cavaliers +should be admitted by the principal entrance, while the Roundheads +should enter the Castle through a great breach which had been made in +the course of the siege, and across which there had been made a sort +of by-path to drive the cattle down to their pasture in the wood. By +this contrivance the Lady Peveril imagined she had altogether avoided +the various risks which might occur from two such parties encountering +each other, and disputing for precedence. Several other circumstances +of less importance were adjusted at the same time, and apparently so +much to the satisfaction of the Presbyterian teacher, that, in a long +lecture on the subject of the Marriage Garment, he was at the pains to +explain to his hearers, that outward apparel was not alone meant by +that scriptural expression, but also a suitable frame of mind for +enjoyment of peaceful festivity; and therefore he exhorted the +brethren, that whatever might be the errors of the poor blinded +malignants, with whom they were in some sort to eat and drink upon the +morrow they ought not on this occasion to show any evil will against +them, lest they should therein become troublers of the peace of +Israel. + +Honest Doctor Dummerar, the elected Episcopal Vicar of Martindale +/cum/ Moultrassie, preached to the Cavaliers on the same subject. He +had served the cure before the breaking out of the rebellion, and was +in high favour with Sir Geoffrey, not merely on account of his sound +orthodoxy and deep learning, but his exquisite skill in playing at +bowls, and his facetious conversation over a pipe and tankard of +October. For these latter accomplishments, the Doctor had the honour +to be recorded by old Century White amongst the roll of lewd, +incompetent, profligate clergymen of the Church of England, whom he +denounced to God and man, on account chiefly of the heinous sin of +playing at games of skill and chance, and of occasionally joining in +the social meetings of their parishioners. When the King's party began +to lose ground, Doctor Dummerar left his vicarage, and, betaking +himself to the camp, showed upon several occasions, when acting as +chaplain to Sir Geoffrey Peveril's regiment, that his portly bodily +presence included a stout and masculine heart. When all was lost, and +he himself, with most other loyal divines, was deprived of his living, +he made such shift as he could; now lurking in the garrets of old +friends in the University, who shared with him, and such as him, the +slender means of livelihood which the evil times had left them; and +now lying hid in the houses of the oppressed and sequestered gentry, +who respected at once his character and sufferings. When the +Restoration took place, Doctor Dummerar emerged from some one of his +hiding-places, and hied him to Martindale Castle, to enjoy the triumph +inseparable from this happy change. + +His appearance at the Castle in his full clerical dress, and the warm +reception which he received from the neighbouring gentry, added not a +little to the alarm which was gradually extending itself through the +party which were so lately the uppermost. It is true, Doctor Dummerar +framed (honest worthy man) no extravagant views of elevation or +preferment; but the probability of his being replaced in the living, +from which he had been expelled under very flimsy pretences, inferred +a severe blow to the Presbyterian divine, who could not be considered +otherwise than as an intruder. The interest of the two preachers, +therefore, as well as the sentiments of their flocks, were at direct +variance; and here was another fatal objection in the way of Lady +Peveril's scheme of a general and comprehensive healing ordinance. + +Nevertheless, as we have already hinted, Doctor Dummerar behaved as +handsomely upon the occasion as the Presbyterian incumbent had done. +It is true, that in a sermon which he preached in the Castle hall to +several of the most distinguished Cavalier families, besides a world +of boys from the village, who went to see the novel circumstance of a +parson in a cassock and surplice, he went at great length into the +foulness of the various crimes committed by the rebellious party +during the late evil times, and greatly magnified the merciful and +peaceful nature of the honourable Lady of the Manor, who condescended +to look upon, or receive into her house in the way of friendship and +hospitality, men holding the principles which had led to the murder of +the King--the slaying and despoiling his loyal subjects--and the +plundering and breaking down of the Church of God. But then he wiped +all this handsomely up again, with the observation, that since it was +the will of their gracious and newly-restored Sovereign, and the +pleasure of the worshipful Lady Peveril, that this contumacious and +rebellious race should be, for a time, forborne by their faithful +subjects, it would be highly proper that all the loyal liegemen +should, for the present, eschew subjects of dissension or quarrel with +these sons of Shimei; which lesson of patience he enforced by the +comfortable assurance, that they could not long abstain from their old +rebellious practices; in which case, the Royalists would stand +exculpated before God and man, in extirpating them from the face of +the earth. + +The close observers of the remarkable passages of the times from which +we draw the events of our history, have left it upon record, that +these two several sermons, much contrary, doubtless, to the intention +of the worthy divines by whom they were delivered, had a greater +effect in exasperating, than in composing, the disputes betwixt the +two factions. Under such evil auspices, and with corresponding +forebodings on the mind of Lady Peveril, the day of festivity at +length arrived. + +By different routes, and forming each a sort of procession, as if the +adherents of each party were desirous of exhibiting its strength and +numbers, the two several factions approached Martindale Castle; and so +distinct did they appear in dress, aspect, and manners, that it seemed +as if the revellers of a bridal party, and the sad attendants upon a +funeral solemnity, were moving towards the same point from different +quarters. + +The puritanical party was by far the fewer in numbers, for which two +excellent reasons might be given. In the first place, they had enjoyed +power for several years, and, of course, became unpopular among the +common people, never at any time attached to those, who, being in the +immediate possession of authority, are often obliged to employ it in +controlling their humours. Besides, the country people of England had, +and still have, an animated attachment to field sports, and a natural +unrestrained joviality of disposition, which rendered them impatient +under the severe discipline of the fanatical preachers; while they +were not less naturally discontented with the military despotism of +Cromwell's Major-Generals. Secondly, the people were fickle as usual, +and the return of the King had novelty in it, and was therefore +popular. The side of the Puritans was also deserted at this period by +a numerous class of more thinking and prudential persons, who never +forsook them till they became unfortunate. These sagacious personages +were called in that age the Waiters upon Providence, and deemed it a +high delinquency towards Heaven if they afforded countenance to any +cause longer than it was favoured by fortune. + +But, though thus forsaken by the fickle and the selfish, a solemn +enthusiasm, a stern and determined depth of principle, a confidence in +the sincerity of their own motives, and the manly English pride which +inclined them to cling to their former opinions, like the traveller in +the fable to his cloak, the more strongly that the tempest blew around +them, detained in the ranks of the Puritans many, who, if no longer +formidable from numbers, were still so from their character. They +consisted chiefly of the middling gentry, with others whom industry or +successful speculations in commerce or in mining had raised into +eminence--the persons who feel most umbrage from the overshadowing +aristocracy, and are usually the most vehement in defence of what they +hold to be their rights. Their dress was in general studiously simple +and unostentatious, or only remarkable by the contradictory +affectation of extreme simplicity or carelessness. The dark colour of +their cloaks, varying from absolute black to what was called sad- +coloured--their steeple-crowned hats, with their broad shadowy brims-- +their long swords, suspended by a simple strap around the loins, +without shoulder-belt, sword-knot, plate, buckles, or any of the other +decorations with which the Cavaliers loved to adorn their trusty +rapiers,--the shortness of their hair, which made their ears appear of +disproportioned size,--above all, the stern and gloomy gravity of +their looks, announced their belonging to that class of enthusiasts, +who, resolute and undismayed, had cast down the former fabric of +government, and who now regarded with somewhat more than suspicion, +that which had been so unexpectedly substituted in its stead. There +was gloom in their countenances; but it was not that of dejection, far +less of despair. They looked like veterans after a defeat, which may +have checked their career and wounded their pride, but has left their +courage undiminished. + +The melancholy, now become habitual, which overcast Major +Bridgenorth's countenance, well qualified him to act as the chief of +the group who now advanced from the village. When they reached the +point by which they were first to turn aside into the wood which +surrounded the Castle, they felt a momentary impression of +degradation, as if they were yielding the high road to their old and +oft-defeated enemies the Cavaliers. When they began to ascend the +winding path, which had been the daily passage of the cattle, the +opening of the wooded glade gave them a view of the Castle ditch, half +choked with the rubbish of the breach, and of the breach itself, which +was made at the angle of a large square flanking-tower, one-half of +which had been battered into ruins, while the other fragment remained +in a state strangely shattered and precarious, and seemed to be +tottering above the huge aperture in the wall. A stern still smile was +exchanged among the Puritans, as the sight reminded them of the +victories of former days. Holdfast Clegg, a millwright of Derby, who +had been himself active at the siege, pointed to the breach, and said, +with a grim smile to Mr. Solsgrace, "I little thought, that when my +own hand helped to level the cannon which Oliver pointed against yon +tower, we should have been obliged to climb like foxes up the very +walls which we won by our bow and by our spear. Methought these +malignants had then enough of shutting their gates and making high +their horn against us." + +"Be patient, my brother," said Solsgrace; "be patient, and let not thy +soul be disquieted. We enter not this high place dishonourably, seeing +we ascend by the gate which the Lord opened to the godly." + +The words of the pastor were like a spark to gunpowder. The +countenances of the mournful retinue suddenly expanded, and, accepting +what had fallen from him as an omen and a light from heaven how they +were to interpret their present situation, they uplifted, with one +consent, one of the triumphant songs in which the Israelites +celebrated the victories which had been vouchsafed to them over the +heathen inhabitants of the Promised Land:-- + + "Let God arise, and then His foes + Shall turn themselves to flight, + His enemies for fear shall run, + And scatter out of sight; + + And as wax melts before the fire, + And wind blows smoke away, + So in the presence of the Lord, + The wicked shall decay. + + God's army twenty thousand is, + Of angels bright and strong, + The Lord also in Sinai + Is present them among. + + Thou didst, O Lord, ascend on high, + And captive led'st them all, + Who, in times past, Thy chosen flock + In bondage did enthral." + +These sounds of devotional triumph reached the joyous band of the +Cavaliers, who, decked in whatever pomp their repeated misfortunes and +impoverishment had left them, were moving towards the same point, +though by a different road, and were filling the principal avenue to +the Castle, with tiptoe mirth and revelry. The two parties were +strongly contrasted; for, during that period of civil dissension, the +manners of the different factions distinguished them as completely as +separate uniforms might have done. If the Puritan was affectedly plain +in his dress, and ridiculously precise in his manners, the Cavalier +often carried his love of ornament into tawdry finery, and his +contempt of hypocrisy into licentious profligacy. Gay gallant fellows, +young and old, thronged together towards the ancient Castle, with +general and joyous manifestation of those spirits, which, as they had +been buoyant enough to support their owners during the worst of times, +as they termed Oliver's usurpation, were now so inflated as to +transport them nearly beyond the reach of sober reason. Feathers +waved, lace glittered, spears jingled, steeds caracoled; and here and +there a petronel, or pistol, was fired off by some one, who found his +own natural talents for making a noise inadequate to the dignity of +the occasion. Boys--for, as we said before, the rabble were with the +uppermost party, as usual--halloo'd and whooped, "Down with the Rump," +and "Fie upon Oliver!" Musical instruments, of as many different +fashions as were then in use, played all at once, and without any +regard to each other's tune; and the glee of the occasion, while it +reconciled the pride of the high-born of the party to fraternise with +the general rout, derived an additional zest from the conscious +triumph, that their exultation was heard by their neighbours, the +crestfallen Roundheads. + +When the loud and sonorous swell of the psalm-tune, multiplied by all +the echoes of the cliffs and ruinous halls, came full upon their ear, +as if to warn them how little they were to reckon upon the depression +of their adversaries, at first it was answered with a scornful laugh, +raised to as much height as the scoffers' lungs would permit, in order +that it might carry to the psalmodists the contempt of their auditors; +but this was a forced exertion of party spleen. There is something in +melancholy feelings more natural to an imperfect and suffering state +than in those of gaiety, and when they are brought into collision, the +former seldom fail to triumph. If a funeral-train and wedding- +procession were to meet unexpectedly, it will readily be allowed that +the mirth of the last would be speedily merged in the gloom of the +others. But the Cavaliers, moreover, had sympathies of a different +kind. The psalm-tune, which now came rolling on their ear, had been +heard too often, and upon too many occasions had preceded victory +gained over the malignants, to permit them, even in their triumph, to +hear it without emotion. There was a sort of pause, of which the party +themselves seemed rather ashamed, until the silence was broken by the +stout old knight, Sir Jasper Cranbourne, whose gallantry was so +universally acknowledged, that he could afford, if we may use such an +expression, to confess emotions, which men whose courage was in any +respect liable to suspicion, would have thought it imprudent to +acknowledge. + +"Adad," said the old Knight, "may I never taste claret again, if that +is not the very tune with which the prick-eared villains began their +onset at Wiggan Lane, where they trowled us down like so many +ninepins! Faith, neighbours, to say truth, and shame the devil, I did +not like the sound of it above half." + +"If I thought the round-headed rogues did it in scorn of us," said +Dick Wildblood of the Dale, "I would cudgel their psalmody out of +their peasantly throats with this very truncheon;" a motion which, +being seconded by old Roger Raine, the drunken tapster of the Peveril +Arms in the village, might have brought on a general battle, but that +Sir Jasper forbade the feud. + +"We'll have no ranting, Dick," said the old Knight to the young +Franklin; "adad, man, we'll have none, for three reasons: first, +because it would be ungentle to Lady Peveril; then, because it is +against the King's peace; and, lastly, Dick, because if we did set on +the psalm-singing knaves, thou mightest come by the worst, my boy, as +has chanced to thee before." + +"Who, I! Sir Jasper?" answered Dick--"I come by the worst!--I'll be +d--d if it ever happened but in that accursed lane, where we had no +more flank, front, or rear, than if we had been so many herrings in a +barrel." + +"That was the reason, I fancy," answered Sir Jasper, "that you, to +mend the matter, scrambled into the hedge, and stuck there, horse and +man, till I beat thee through it with my leading-staff; and then, +instead of charging to the front, you went right-about, and away as +fast as your feet would carry you." + +This reminiscence produced a laugh at Dick's expense, who was known, +or at least suspected, to have more tongue in his head than mettle in +his bosom. And this sort of rallying on the part of the Knight having +fortunately abated the resentment which had begun to awaken in the +breasts of the royalist cavalcade, farther cause for offence was +removed, by the sudden ceasing of the sounds which they had been +disposed to interpret into those of premeditated insult. + +This was owing to the arrival of the Puritans at the bottom of the +large and wide breach, which had been formerly made in the wall of the +Castle by their victorious cannon. The sight of its gaping heaps of +rubbish, and disjointed masses of building, up which slowly winded a +narrow and steep path, such as is made amongst ancient ruins by the +rare passage of those who occasionally visit them, was calculated, +when contrasted with the grey and solid massiveness of the towers and +curtains which yet stood uninjured, to remind them of their victory +over the stronghold of their enemies, and how they had bound nobles +and princes with fetters of iron. + +But feelings more suitable to the purpose of their visit to Martindale +Castle, were awakened in the bosoms even of these stern sectaries, +when the Lady of the Castle, still in the very prime of beauty and of +womanhood, appeared at the top of the breach with her principal female +attendants, to receive her guests with the honour and courtesy +becoming her invitation. She had laid aside the black dress which had +been her sole attire for several years, and was arrayed with a +splendour not unbecoming her high descent and quality. Jewels, indeed, +she had none; but her long and dark hair was surmounted with a chaplet +made of oak leaves, interspersed with lilies; the former being the +emblem of the King's preservation in the Royal Oak, and the latter of +his happy Restoration. What rendered her presence still more +interesting to those who looked on her, was the presence of the two +children whom she held in either hand; one of whom was well known to +them all to be the child of their leader, Major Bridgenorth, who had +been restored to life and health by the almost maternal care of the +Lady Peveril. + +If even the inferior persons of the party felt the healing influence +of her presence, thus accompanied, poor Bridgenorth was almost +overwhelmed with it. The strictness of his cast and manners permitted +him not to sink on his knee, and kiss the hand which held his little +orphan; but the deepness of his obeisance--the faltering tremor of his +voice--and the glistening of his eye, showed a grateful respect for +the lady whom he addressed, deeper and more reverential than could +have been expressed even by Persian prostration. A few courteous and +mild words, expressive of the pleasure she found in once more seeing +her neighbours as her friends--a few kind inquiries, addressed to the +principal individuals among her guests, concerning their families and +connections, completed her triumph over angry thoughts and dangerous +recollections, and disposed men's bosoms to sympathise with the +purposes of the meeting. + +Even Solsgrace himself, although imagining himself bound by his office +and duty to watch over and counteract the wiles of the "Amalekitish +woman," did not escape the sympathetic infection; being so much struck +with the marks of peace and good-will exhibited by Lady Peveril, that +he immediately raised the psalm-- + + "O what a happy thing it is, + And joyful, for to see + Brethren to dwell together in + Friendship and unity!" + +Accepting this salutation as a mark of courtesy repaid, the Lady +Peveril marshalled in person this party of her guests to the +apartment, where ample good cheer was provided for them; and had even +the patience to remain while Master Nehemiah Solsgrace pronounced a +benediction of portentous length, as an introduction to the banquet. +Her presence was in some measure a restraint on the worthy divine, +whose prolusion lasted the longer, and was the more intricate and +embarrassed, that he felt himself debarred from rounding it off by his +usual alliterative petition for deliverance from Popery, Prelacy, and +Peveril of the Peak, which had become so habitual to him, that, after +various attempts to conclude with some other form of words, he found +himself at last obliged to pronounce the first words of his usual +/formula/ aloud, and mutter the rest in such a manner as not to be +intelligible even by those who stood nearest to him. + +The minister's silence was followed by all the various sounds which +announce the onset of a hungry company on a well-furnished table; and +at the same time gave the lady an opportunity to leave the apartment, +and look to the accommodation of her other company. She felt, indeed, +that it was high time to do so; and that the royalist guests might be +disposed to misapprehend, or even to resent, the prior attentions +which she had thought it prudent to offer to the Puritans. + +These apprehensions were not altogether ill-founded. It was in vain +that the steward had displayed the royal standard, with its proud +motto of /Tandem Triumphans/, on one of the great towers which flanked +the main entrance of the Castle; while, from the other, floated the +banner of Peveril of the Peak, under which many of those who now +approached had fought during all the vicissitudes of civil war. It was +in vain he repeated his clamorous "Welcome, noble Cavaliers! welcome, +generous gentlemen!" There was a slight murmur amongst them, that +their welcome ought to have come from the mouth of the Colonel's lady +--not from that of a menial. Sir Jasper Cranbourne, who had sense as +well as spirit and courage, and who was aware of his fair cousin's +motives, having been indeed consulted by her upon all the arrangements +which she had adopted, saw matters were in such a state that no time +ought to be lost in conducting the guests to the banqueting apartment, +where a fortunate diversion from all these topics of rising discontent +might be made, at the expense of the good cheer of all sorts, which +the lady's care had so liberally provided. + +The stratagem of the old soldier succeeded in its utmost extent. He +assumed the great oaken-chair usually occupied by the steward at his +audits; and Dr. Dummerar having pronounced a brief Latin benediction +(which was not the less esteemed by the hearers that none of them +understood it), Sir Jasper exhorted the company to wet their appetites +to the dinner by a brimming cup to his Majesty's health, filled as +high and as deep as their goblets would permit. In a moment all was +bustle, with the clank of wine-cups and of flagons. In another moment +the guests were on their feet like so many statues, all hushed as +death, but with eyes glancing with expectation, and hands +outstretched, which displayed their loyal brimmers. The voice of Sir +Jasper, clear, sonorous, and emphatic, as the sound of his war- +trumpet, announced the health of the restored Monarch, hastily echoed +back by the assemblage, impatient to render it due homage. Another +brief pause was filled by the draining of their cups, and the +mustering breath to join in a shout so loud, that not only the rafters +of the old hall trembled while they echoed it back, but the garlands +of oaken boughs and flowers with which they were decorated, waved +wildly, and rustled as if agitated by a sudden whirlwind. This rite +observed, the company proceeded to assail the good cheer with which +the table groaned, animated as they were to the attack both by mirth +and melody, for they were attended by all the minstrels of the +district, who, like the Episcopal clergy, had been put to silence +during the reign of the self-entitled saints of the Commonwealth. The +social occupation of good eating and drinking, the exchange of pledges +betwixt old neighbours who had been fellow-soldiers in the moment of +resistance--fellow-sufferers in the time of depression and +subjugation, and were now partners in the same general subject of +congratulation, soon wiped from their memory the trifling cause of +complaint, which in the minds of some had darkened the festivity of +the day; so that when the Lady Peveril walked into the hall, +accompanied as before with the children and her female attendants, she +was welcomed with the acclamations due to the mistress of the banquet +and of the Castle--the dame of the noble Knight, who had led most of +them to battle with an undaunted and persevering valour, which was +worthy of better success. + +Her address to them was brief and matronly, yet spoken with so much +feeling as found its way to every bosom. She apologised for the +lateness of her personal welcome, by reminding them that there were +then present in Martindale Castle that day, persons whom recent happy +events had converted from enemies into friends, but on whom the latter +character was so recently imposed, that she dared not neglect with +them any point of ceremonial. But those whom she now addressed, were +the best, the dearest the most faithful friends of her husband's +house, to whom and to their valour Peveril had not only owed those +successes, which had given them and him fame during the late unhappy +times, but to whose courage she in particular had owed the +preservation of their leader's life, even when it could not avert +defeat. A word or two of heartfelt authority, completed all which she +had boldness to add, and, bowing gracefully round her, she lifted a +cup to her lips as if to welcome her guests. + +There still remained, and especially amongst the old Cavaliers of the +period, some glimmering of that spirit which inspired Froissart, when +he declares that a knight hath double courage at need, when animated +by the looks and words of a beautiful and virtuous woman. It was not +until the reign which was commencing at the moment we are treating of, +that the unbounded licence of the age, introducing a general course of +profligacy, degraded the female sex into mere servants of pleasure, +and, in so doing, deprived society of that noble tone of feeling +towards the sex, which, considered as a spur to "raise the clear +spirit," is superior to every other impulse, save those of religion +and of patriotism. The beams of the ancient hall of Martindale Castle +instantly rang with a shout louder and shriller than that at which +they had so lately trembled, and the names of the Knight of the Peak +and his lady were proclaimed amid waving of caps and hats, and +universal wishes for their health and happiness. + +Under these auspices the Lady Peveril glided from the hall, and left +free space for the revelry of the evening. + +That of the Cavaliers may be easily conceived, since it had the usual +accompaniments of singing, jesting, quaffing of healths, and playing +of tunes, which have in almost every age and quarter of the world been +the accompaniments of festive cheer. The enjoyments of the Puritans +were of a different and less noisy character. They neither sung, +jested, heard music, nor drank healths; and yet they seemed not the +less, in their own phrase, to enjoy the creature-comforts, which the +frailty of humanity rendered grateful to their outward man. Old +Whitaker even protested, that, though much the smaller party in point +of numbers, they discussed nearly as much sack and claret as his own +more jovial associates. But those who considered the steward's +prejudices, were inclined to think, that, in order to produce such a +result, he must have thrown in his own by-drinkings--no inconsiderable +item--to the sum total of the Presbyterian potations. + +Without adopting such a partial and scandalous report, we shall only +say, that on this occasion, as on most others, the rareness of +indulgence promoted the sense of enjoyment, and that those who made +abstinence, or at least moderation, a point of religious principle, +enjoyed their social meeting the better that such opportunities rarely +presented themselves. If they did not actually drink each other's +healths, they at least showed, by looking and nodding to each other as +they raised their glasses, that they all were sharing the same festive +gratification of the appetite, and felt it enhanced, because it was at +the same time enjoyed by their friends and neighbours. Religion, as it +was the principal topic of their thoughts, became also the chief +subject of their conversation, and as they sat together in small +separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of +belief, balanced the merits of various preachers, compared the creeds +of contending sects, and fortified by scriptural quotations those +which they favoured. Some contests arose in the course of these +debates, which might have proceeded farther than was seemly, but for +the cautious interference of Major Bridgenorth. He suppressed also, in +the very bud, a dispute betwixt Gaffer Hodgeson of Charnelycot and the +Reverend Mr. Solsgrace, upon the tender subject of lay-preaching and +lay-ministering; nor did he think it altogether prudent or decent to +indulge the wishes of some of the warmer enthusiasts of the party, who +felt disposed to make the rest partakers of their gifts in +extemporaneous prayer and exposition. These were absurdities that +belonged to the time, which, however, the Major had sense enough to +perceive were unfitted, whether the offspring of hypocrisy or +enthusiasm, for the present time and place. + +The Major was also instrumental in breaking up the party at an early +and decorous hour, so that they left the Castle long before their +rivals, the Cavaliers, had reached the springtide of their merriment; +an arrangement which afforded the greatest satisfaction to the lady, +who dreaded the consequences which might not improbably have taken +place, had both parties met at the same period and point of retreat. + +It was near midnight ere the greater part of the Cavaliers, meaning +such as were able to effect their departure without assistance, +withdrew to the village of Martindale Moultrassie, with the benefit of +the broad moon to prevent the chance of accidents. Their shouts, and +the burden of their roaring chorus of-- + + "The King shall enjoy his own again!" + +were heard with no small pleasure by the lady, heartily glad that the +riot of the day was over without the occurrence of any unpleasing +accident. The rejoicing was not, however, entirely ended; for the +elevated Cavaliers, finding some of the villagers still on foot around +a bonfire on the street, struck merrily in with them--sent to Roger +Raine of the Peveril Arms, the loyal publican whom we have already +mentioned, for two tubs of merry stingo (as it was termed), and lent +their own powerful assistance at the /dusting/ it off to the health of +the King and the loyal General Monk. Their shouts for a long time +disturbed, and even alarmed, the little village; but no enthusiasm is +able to withstand for ever the natural consequences of late hours, and +potations pottle-deep. The tumult of the exulting Royalists at last +sunk into silence, and the moon and the owl were left in undisturbed +sovereignty over the old tower of the village church, which, rising +white above a circle of knotty oaks, was tenanted by the bird, and +silvered by the planet. + + + + CHAPTER V + + 'Twas when they raised, 'mid sap and siege, + The banners of their rightful liege, + At their she-captain's call, + Who, miracle of womankind! + Lent mettle to the meanest hind + That mann'd her castle wall. + --WILLIAM S. ROSE. + +On the morning succeeding the feast, the Lady Peveril, fatigued with +the exertions and the apprehensions of the former day, kept her +apartment for two or three hours later than her own active habits, and +the matutinal custom of the time, rendered usual. Meanwhile, Mistress +Ellesmere, a person of great trust in the family, and who assumed much +authority in her mistress's absence, laid her orders upon Deborah, the +governante, immediately to carry the children to their airing in the +park, and not to let any one enter the gilded chamber, which was +usually their sporting-place. Deborah, who often rebelled, and +sometimes successfully, against the deputed authority of Ellesmere, +privately resolved that it was about to rain, and that the gilded +chamber was a more suitable place for the children's exercise than the +wet grass of the park on a raw morning. + +But a woman's brain is sometimes as inconstant as a popular assembly; +and presently after she had voted the morning was like to be rainy, +and that the gilded chamber was the fittest play-room for the +children, Mistress Deborah came to the somewhat inconsistent +resolution, that the park was the fittest place for her own morning +walk. It is certain, that during the unrestrained joviality of the +preceding evening, she had danced till midnight with Lance Outram the +park-keeper; but how far the seeing him just pass the window in his +woodland trim, with a feather in his hat, and a crossbow under his +arm, influenced the discrepancy of the opinions Mistress Deborah +formed concerning the weather, we are far from presuming to guess. It +is enough for us, that, so soon as Mistress Ellesmere's back was +turned, Mistress Deborah carried the children into the gilded chamber, +not without a strict charge (for we must do her justice) to Master +Julian to take care of his little wife, Mistress Alice; and then, +having taken so satisfactory a precaution, she herself glided into the +park by the glass-door of the still-room, which was nearly opposite to +the great breach. + +The gilded chamber in which the children were, by this arrangement, +left to amuse themselves, without better guardianship than what +Julian's manhood afforded, was a large apartment, hung with stamped +Spanish leather, curiously gilded, representing, in a manner now +obsolete, but far from unpleasing, a series of tilts and combats +betwixt the Saracens of Grenada, and the Spaniards under the command +of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, during that memorable siege, +which was terminated by the overthrow of the last fragments of the +Moorish empire in Spain. + +The little Julian was careering about the room for the amusement of +his infant friend, as well as his own, mimicking with a reed the +menacing attitude of the Abencerrages and Zegris engaged in the +Eastern sport of hurling the JERID, or javelin; and at times sitting +down beside her, and caressing her into silence and good humour, when +the petulant or timid child chose to become tired of remaining an +inactive spectator of his boisterous sport; when, on a sudden, he +observed one of the panelled compartments of the leather hangings +slide apart, so as to show a fair hand, with its fingers resting upon +its edge, prepared, it would seem, to push it still farther back. +Julian was much surprised, and somewhat frightened, at what he +witnessed, for the tales of the nursery had strongly impressed on his +mind the terrors of the invisible world. Yet, naturally bold and high- +spirited, the little champion placed himself beside his defenceless +sister, continuing to brandish his weapon in her defence, as boldly as +he had himself been an Abencerrage of Grenada. + +The panel, on which his eye was fixed, gradually continued to slide +back, and display more and more the form to which the hand +appertained, until, in the dark aperture which was disclosed, the +children saw the figure of a lady in a mourning dress, past the +meridian of life, but whose countenance still retained traces of great +beauty, although the predominant character both of her features and +person was an air of almost royal dignity. After pausing a moment on +the threshold of the portal which she had thus unexpectedly disclosed, +and looking with some surprise at the children, whom she had not +probably observed while engaged with the management of the panel, the +stranger stepped into the apartment, and the panel, upon a touch of a +spring, closed behind her so suddenly, that Julian almost doubted it +had ever been open, and began to apprehend that the whole apparition +had been a delusion. + +The stately lady, however, advanced to him, and said, "Are not you the +little Peveril?" + +"Yes," said the boy, reddening, not altogether without a juvenile +feeling of that rule of chivalry which forbade any one to disown his +name, whatever danger might be annexed to the avowal of it. + +"Then," said the stately stranger, "go to your mother's room, and tell +her to come instantly to speak with me." + +"I wo'not," said the little Julian. + +"How?" said the lady,--"so young and so disobedient?--but you do but +follow the fashion of the time. Why will you not go, my pretty boy, +when I ask it of you as a favour?" + +"I would go, madam," said the boy, "but"--and he stopped short, still +drawing back as the lady advanced on him, but still holding by the +hand Alice Bridgenorth, who, too young to understand the nature of the +dialogue, clung, trembling, to her companion. + +The stranger saw his embarrassment, smiled, and remained standing +fast, while she asked the child once more, "What are you afraid of, my +brave boy--and why should you not go to your mother on my errand?" + +"Because," answered Julian firmly, "if I go, little Alice must stay +alone with you." + +"You are a gallant fellow," said the lady, "and will not disgrace your +blood, which never left the weak without protection." + +The boy understood her not, and still gazed with anxious apprehension, +first on her who addressed him, and then upon his little companion, +whose eyes, with the vacant glance of infancy, wandered from the +figure of the lady to that of her companion and protector, and at +length, infected by a portion of the fear which the latter's +magnanimous efforts could not entirely conceal, she flew into Julian's +arms, and, clinging to him, greatly augmented his alarm, and by +screaming aloud, rendered it very difficult for him to avoid the +sympathetic fear which impelled him to do the same. + +There was something in the manner and bearing of this unexpected +inmate which might justify awe at least, if not fear, when joined to +the singular and mysterious mode in which she had made her appearance. +Her dress was not remarkable, being the hood and female riding attire +of the time, such as was worn by the inferior class of gentlewomen; +but her black hair was very long, and, several locks having escaped +from under her hood, hung down dishevelled on her neck and shoulders. +Her eyes were deep black, keen, and piercing, and her features had +something of a foreign expression. When she spoke, her language was +marked by a slight foreign accent, although, in construction, it was +pure English. Her slightest tone and gesture had the air of one +accustomed to command and to be obeyed; the recollection of which +probably suggested to Julian the apology he afterwards made for being +frightened, that he took the stranger for an "enchanted queen." + +While the stranger lady and the children thus confronted each other, +two persons entered almost at the same instant, but from different +doors, whose haste showed that they had been alarmed by the screams of +the latter. + +The first was Major Bridgenorth, whose ears had been alarmed with the +cries of his child, as he entered the hall, which corresponded with +what was called the gilded chamber. His intention had been to remain +in the more public apartment, until the Lady Peveril should make her +appearance, with the good-natured purpose of assuring her that the +preceding day of tumult had passed in every respect agreeably to his +friends, and without any of those alarming consequences which might +have been apprehended from a collision betwixt the parties. But when +it is considered how severely he had been agitated by apprehensions +for his child's safety and health, too well justified by the fate of +those who had preceded her, it will not be thought surprising that the +infantine screams of Alice induced him to break through the barriers +of form, and intrude farther into the interior of the house than a +sense of strict propriety might have warranted. + +He burst into the gilded chamber, therefore, by a side-door and narrow +passage, which communicated betwixt that apartment and the hall, and, +snatching the child up in his arms, endeavoured, by a thousand +caresses, to stifle the screams which burst yet more violently from +the little girl, on beholding herself in the arms of one to whose +voice and manner she was, but for one brief interview, an entire +stranger. + +Of course, Alice's shrieks were redoubled, and seconded by those of +Julian Peveril, who, on the appearance of this second intruder, was +frightened into resignation of every more manly idea of rescue than +that which consisted in invoking assistance at the very top of his +lungs. + +Alarmed by this noise, which in half a minute became very clamorous, +Lady Peveril, with whose apartment the gilded chamber was connected by +a private door of communication opening into her wardrobe, entered on +the scene. The instant she appeared, the little Alice, extricating +herself from the grasp of her father, ran towards /her/ protectress, +and when she had once taken hold of her skirts, not only became +silent, but turned her large blue eyes, in which the tears were still +glistening, with a look of wonder rather than alarm, towards the +strange lady. Julian manfully brandished his reed, a weapon which he +had never parted with during the whole alarm, and stood prepared to +assist his mother if there should be danger in the encounter betwixt +her and the stranger. + +In fact, it might have puzzled an older person to account for the +sudden and confused pause which the Lady Peveril made, as she gazed on +her unexpected guest, as if dubious whether she did, or did not +recognise, in her still beautiful though wasted and emaciated +features, a countenance which she had known well under far different +circumstances. + +The stranger seemed to understand the cause of hesitation, for she +said in that heart-thrilling voice which was peculiarly her own-- + +"Time and misfortune have changed me much, Margaret--that every mirror +tells me--yet methinks, Margaret Stanley might still have known +Charlotte de la Tremouille." + +The Lady Peveril was little in the custom of giving way to sudden +emotion, but in the present case she threw herself on her knees in a +rapture of mingled joy and grief, and, half embracing those of the +stranger, exclaimed, in broken language-- + +"My kind, my noble benefactress--the princely Countess of Derby--the +royal queen in Man--could I doubt your voice, your features, for a +moment--Oh, forgive, forgive me!" + +The Countess raised the suppliant kinswoman of her husband's house, +with all the grace of one accustomed from early birth to receive +homage and to grant protection. She kissed the Lady Peveril's +forehead, and passed her hand in a caressing manner over her face as +she said-- + +"You too are changed, my fair cousin, but it is a change becomes you, +from a pretty and timid maiden to a sage and comely matron. But my own +memory, which I once held a good one, has failed me strangely, if this +gentleman be Sir Geoffrey Peveril." + +"A kind and good neighbour only, madam," said Lady Peveril; "Sir +Geoffrey is at Court." + +"I understood so much," said the Countess of Derby, "when I arrived +here last night." + +"How, madam!" said Lady Peveril--"Did you arrive at Martindale +Castle--at the house of Margaret Stanley, where you have such right to +command, and did not announce your presence to her?" + +"Oh, I know you are a dutiful subject, Margaret," answered the +Countess, "though it be in these days a rare character--but it was our +pleasure," she added, with a smile, "to travel incognito--and finding +you engaged in general hospitality, we desired not to disturb you with +our royal presence." + +"But how and where were you lodged, madam?" said Lady Peveril; "or why +should you have kept secret a visit which would, if made, have +augmented tenfold the happiness of every true heart that rejoiced here +yesterday?" + +"My lodging was well cared for by Ellesmere--your Ellesmere now, as +she was formerly mine--she has acted as quartermaster ere now, you +know, and on a broader scale; you must excuse her--she had my positive +order to lodge me in the most secret part of your Castle"--(here she +pointed to the sliding panel)--"she obeyed orders in that, and I +suppose also in sending you now hither." + +"Indeed I have not yet seen her," said the lady, "and therefore was +totally ignorant of a visit so joyful, so surprising." + +"And I," said the Countess, "was equally surprised to find none but +these beautiful children in the apartment where I thought I heard you +moving. Our Ellesmere has become silly--your good-nature has spoiled +her--she has forgotten the discipline she learned under me." + +"I saw her run through the wood," said the Lady Peveril, after a +moment's recollection, "undoubtedly to seek the person who has charge +of the children, in order to remove them." + +"Your own darlings, I doubt not," said the Countess, looking at the +children. "Margaret, Providence has blessed you." + +"That is my son," said the Lady Peveril, pointing to Julian, who stood +devouring their discourse with greedy ear; "the little girl--I may +call mine too." Major Bridgenorth, who had in the meantime again taken +up his infant, and was engaged in caressing it, set it down as the +Countess of Derby spoke, sighed deeply, and walked towards the oriel +window. He was well aware that the ordinary rules of courtesy would +have rendered it proper that he should withdraw entirely, or at least +offer to do so; but he was not a man of ceremonious politeness, and he +had a particular interest in the subjects on which the Countess's +discourse was likely to turn, which induced him to dispense with +ceremony. The ladies seemed indeed scarce to notice his presence. The +Countess had now assumed a chair, and motioned to the Lady Peveril to +sit upon a stool which was placed by her side. "We will have old times +once more, though there are here no roaring of rebel guns to drive you +to take refuge at my side, and almost in my pocket." + +"I have a gun, madam," said little Julian, "and the park-keeper is to +teach me how to fire it next year." + +"I will list you for my soldier, then," said the Countess. + +"Ladies have no soldiers," said the boy, looking wistfully at her. + +"He has the true masculine contempt of our frail sex, I see," said the +Countess; "it is born with the insolent varlets of mankind, and shows +itself so soon as they are out of their long clothes.--Did Ellesmere +never tell you of Latham House and Charlotte of Derby, my little +master?" + +"A thousand thousand times," said the boy, colouring; "and how the +Queen of Man defended it six weeks against three thousand Roundheads, +under Rogue Harrison the butcher." + +"It was your mother defended Latham House," said the Countess, "not I, +my little soldier--Hadst thou been there, thou hadst been the best +captain of the three." + +"Do not say so, madam," said the boy, "for mamma would not touch a gun +for all the universe." + +"Not I, indeed, Julian," said his mother; "there I was for certain, +but as useless a part of the garrison----" + +"You forget," said the Countess, "you nursed our hospital, and made +lint for the soldiers' wounds." + +"But did not papa come to help you?" said Julian. + +"Papa came at last," said the Countess, "and so did Prince Rupert--but +not, I think, till they were both heartily wished for.--Do you +remember that morning, Margaret, when the round-headed knaves, that +kept us pent up so long, retreated without bag or baggage, at the +first glance of the Prince's standards appearing on the hill--and how +you took every high-crested captain you saw for Peveril of the Peak, +that had been your partner three months before at the Queen's mask? +Nay, never blush for the thought of it--it was an honest affection-- +and though it was the music of trumpets that accompanied you both to +the old chapel, which was almost entirely ruined by the enemy's +bullets; and though Prince Rupert, when he gave you away at the altar, +was clad in buff and bandoleer, with pistols in his belt, yet I trust +these warlike signs were no type of future discord?" + +"Heaven has been kind to me," said the Lady Peveril, "in blessing me +with an affectionate husband." + +"And in preserving him to you," said the Countess, with a deep sigh; +"while mine, alas! sealed with his blood his devotion to his king[*]-- +Oh, had he lived to see this day!" + +[*] The Earl of Derby and King in Man was beheaded at Bolton-on-the- + Moors, after having been made prisoner in a previous skirmish in + Wiggan Lane. + +"Alas! alas! that he was not permitted!" answered Lady Peveril; "how +had that brave and noble Earl rejoiced in the unhoped-for redemption +of our captivity!" + +The Countess looked on Lady Peveril with an air of surprise. + +"Thou hast not then heard, cousin, how it stands with our house?--How +indeed had my noble lord wondered, had he been told that the very +monarch for whom he had laid down his noble life on the scaffold at +Bolton-le-Moor, should make it his first act of restored monarchy to +complete the destruction of our property, already well-nigh ruined in +the royal cause, and to persecute me his widow!" + +"You astonish me, madam!" said the Lady Peveril. "It cannot be, that +you--that you, the wife of the gallant, the faithful, the murdered +Earl--you, Countess of Derby, and Queen in Man--you, who took on you +even the character of a soldier, and seemed a man when so many men +proved women--that you should sustain evil from the event which has +fulfilled--exceeded--the hopes of every faithful subject--it cannot +be!" + +"Thou art as simple, I see, in this world's knowledge as ever, my fair +cousin," answered the Countess. "This restoration, which has given +others security, has placed me in danger--this change which relieved +other Royalists, scarce less zealous, I presume to think, than I--has +sent me here a fugitive, and in concealment, to beg shelter and +assistance from you, fair cousin." + +"From me," answered the Lady Peveril--"from me, whose youth your +kindness sheltered--from the wife of Peveril, your gallant Lord's +companion in arms--you have a right to command everything; but, alas! +that you should need such assistance as I can render--forgive me, but +it seems like some ill-omened vision of the night--I listen to your +words as if I hoped to be relieved from their painful import by +awaking." + +"It is indeed a dream--a vision," said the Countess of Derby; "but it +needs no seer to read it--the explanation hath been long since given-- +Put not your faith in princes. I can soon remove your surprise.--This +gentleman, your friend, is doubtless /honest?/" + +The Lady Peveril well knew that the Cavaliers, like other factions, +usurped to themselves the exclusive denomination of the /honest/ +party, and she felt some difficulty in explaining that her visitor was +not honest in that sense of the word. + +"Had we not better retire, madam?" she said to the Countess, rising, +as if in order to attend her. But the Countess retained her seat. + +"It was but a question of habit," she said; "the gentleman's +principles are nothing to me, for what I have to tell you is widely +blazed, and I care not who hears my share of it. You remember--you +must have heard, for I think Margaret Stanley would not be indifferent +to my fate--that after my husband's murder at Bolton, I took up the +standard which he never dropped until his death, and displayed it with +my own hand in our Sovereignty of Man." + +"I did indeed hear so, madam," said the Lady Peveril; "and that you +had bidden a bold defiance to the rebel government, even after all +other parts of Britain had submitted to them. My husband, Sir +Geoffrey, designed at one time to have gone to your assistance with +some few followers; but we learned that the island was rendered to the +Parliament party, and that you, dearest lady, were thrown into +prison." + +"But you heard not," said the Countess, "how that disaster befell me. +--Margaret, I would have held out that island against the knaves as +long as the sea continued to flow around it. Till the shoals which +surround it had become safe anchorage--till its precipices had melted +beneath the sunshine--till of all its strong abodes and castles not +one stone remained upon another,--would I have defended against these +villainous hypocritical rebels, my dear husband's hereditary dominion. +The little kingdom of Man should have been yielded only when not an +arm was left to wield a sword, not a finger to draw a trigger in its +defence. But treachery did what force could never have done. When we +had foiled various attempts upon the island by open force--treason +accomplished what Blake and Lawson, with their floating castles, had +found too hazardous an enterprise--a base rebel, whom we had nursed in +our own bosoms, betrayed us to the enemy. This wretch was named +Christian----" + +Major Bridgenorth started and turned towards the speaker, but +instantly seemed to recollect himself, and again averted his face. The +Countess proceeded, without noticing the interruption, which, however, +rather surprised Lady Peveril, who was acquainted with her neighbour's +general habits of indifference and apathy, and therefore the more +surprised at his testifying such sudden symptoms of interest. She +would once again have moved the Countess to retire to another +apartment, but Lady Derby proceeded with too much vehemence to endure +interruption. + +"This Christian," she said, "had eaten of my lord his sovereign's +bread, and drunk of his cup, even from childhood--for his fathers had +been faithful servants to the House of Man and Derby. He himself had +fought bravely by my husband's side, and enjoyed all his confidence; +and when my princely Earl was martyred by the rebels, he recommended +to me, amongst other instructions communicated in the last message I +received from him, to continue my confidence in Christian's fidelity. +I obeyed, although I never loved the man. He was cold and phlegmatic, +and utterly devoid of that sacred fire which is the incentive to noble +deeds, suspected, too, of leaning to the cold metaphysics of +Calvinistic subtlety. But he was brave, wise, and experienced, and, as +the event proved, possessed but too much interest with the islanders. +When these rude people saw themselves without hope of relief, and +pressed by a blockade, which brought want and disease into their +island, they began to fall off from the faith which they had hitherto +shown." + +"What!" said the Lady Peveril, "could they forget what was due to the +widow of their benefactor--she who had shared with the generous Derby +the task of bettering their condition?" + +"Do not blame them," said the Countess; "the rude herd acted but +according to their kind--in present distress they forgot former +benefits, and, nursed in their earthen hovels, with spirits suited to +their dwellings, they were incapable of feeling the glory which is +attached to constancy in suffering. But that Christian should have +headed their revolt--that he, born a gentleman, and bred under my +murdered Derby's own care in all that was chivalrous and noble--that +/he/ should have forgot a hundred benefits--why do I talk of benefits? +--that he should have forgotten that kindly intercourse which binds +man to man far more than the reciprocity of obligation--that he should +have headed the ruffians who broke suddenly into my apartment--immured +me with my infants in one of my own castles, and assumed or usurped +the tyranny of the island--that this should have been done by William +Christian, my vassal, my servant, my friend, was a deed of ungrateful +treachery, which even this age of treason will scarcely parallel!" + +"And you were then imprisoned," said the Lady Peveril, "and in your +own sovereignty?" + +"For more than seven years I have endured strict captivity," said the +Countess. "I was indeed offered my liberty, and even some means of +support, if I would have consented to leave the island, and pledge my +word that I would not endeavour to repossess my son in his father's +rights. But they little knew the princely house from which I spring-- +and as little the royal house of Stanley which I uphold, who hoped to +humble Charlotte of Tremouille into so base a composition. I would +rather have starved in the darkest and lowest vault of Rushin Castle, +than have consented to aught which might diminish in one hair's- +breadth the right of my son over his father's sovereignty!" + +"And could not your firmness, in a case where hope seemed lost, induce +them to be generous and dismiss you without conditions?" + +"They knew me better than thou dost, wench," answered the Countess; +"once at liberty, I had not been long without the means of disturbing +their usurpation, and Christian would have as soon encaged a lioness +to combat with, as have given me the slightest power of returning to +the struggle with him. But time had liberty and revenge in store--I +had still friends and partisans in the island, though they were +compelled to give way to the storm. Even among the islanders at large, +most had been disappointed in the effects which they expected from the +change of power. They were loaded with exactions by their new masters, +their privileges were abridged, and their immunities abolished, under +the pretext of reducing them to the same condition with the other +subjects of the pretended republic. When the news arrived of the +changes which were current in Britain, these sentiments were privately +communicated to me. Calcott and others acted with great zeal and +fidelity; and a rising, effected as suddenly and effectually as that +which had made me a captive, placed me at liberty and in possession of +the sovereignty of Man, as Regent for my son, the youthful Earl of +Derby. Do you think I enjoyed that sovereignty long without doing +justice on that traitor Christian?" + +"How, madam," said Lady Peveril, who, though she knew the high and +ambitious spirit of the Countess, scarce anticipated the extremities +to which it was capable of hurrying her--"have you imprisoned +Christian?" + +"Ay, wench--in that sure prison which felon never breaks from," +answered the Countess. + +Bridgenorth, who had insensibly approached them, and was listening +with an agony of interest which he was unable any longer to suppress, +broke in with the stern exclamation-- + +"Lady, I trust you have not dared----" + +The Countess interrupted him in her turn. + +"I know not who you are who question--and you know not me when you +speak to me of that which I dare, or dare not do. But you seem +interested in the fate of this Christian, and you shall hear it.--I +was no sooner placed in possession of my rightful power, than I +ordered the Dempster of the island to hold upon the traitor a High +Court of Justice, with all the formalities of the isle, as prescribed +in its oldest records. The Court was held in the open air, before the +Dempster and the Keys of the island, assembled under the vaulted cope +of heaven, and seated on the terrace of the Zonwald Hill, where of old +Druid and Scald held their courts of judgment. The criminal was heard +at length in his own defence, which amounted to little more than those +specious allegations of public consideration, which are ever used to +colour the ugly front of treason. He was fully convicted of his crime, +and he received the doom of a traitor." + +"But which, I trust, is not yet executed?" said Lady Peveril, not +without an involuntary shudder. + +"You are a fool, Margaret," said the Countess sharply; "think you I +delayed such an act of justice, until some wretched intrigues of the +new English Court might have prompted their interference? No, wench-- +he passed from the judgment-seat to the place of execution, with no +farther delay than might be necessary for his soul's sake. He was shot +to death by a file of musketeers in the common place of execution +called Hango Hill." + +Bridgenorth clasped his hands together, wrung them, and groaned +bitterly. + +"As you seem interested for this criminal," added the Countess, +addressing Bridgenorth, "I do him but justice in repeating to you, +that his death was firm and manly, becoming the general tenor of his +life, which, but for that gross act of traitorous ingratitude, had +been fair and honourable. But what of that? The hypocrite is a saint, +and the false traitor a man of honour, till opportunity, that faithful +touchstone, proves their metal to be base." + +"It is false, woman--it is false!" said Bridgenorth, no longer +suppressing his indignation. + +"What means this bearing, Master Bridgenorth?" said Lady Peveril, much +surprised. "What is this Christian to you, that you should insult the +Countess of Derby under my roof?" + +"Speak not to me of countesses and of ceremonies," said Bridgenorth; +"grief and anger leave me no leisure for idle observances to humour +the vanity of overgrown children.--O Christian--worthy, well worthy, +of the name thou didst bear! My friend--my brother--the brother of my +blessed Alice--the only friend of my desolate estate! art thou then +cruelly murdered by a female fury, who, but for thee, had deservedly +paid with her own blood that of God's saints, which she, as well as +her tyrant husband, had spilled like water!--Yes, cruel murderess!" he +continued, addressing the Countess, "he whom thou hast butchered in +thy insane vengeance, sacrificed for many a year the dictates of his +own conscience to the interest of thy family, and did not desert it +till thy frantic zeal for royalty had well-nigh brought to utter +perdition the little community in which he was born. Even in confining +thee, he acted but as the friends of the madman, who bind him with +iron for his own preservation; and for thee, as I can bear witness, he +was the only barrier between thee and the wrath of the Commons of +England; and but for his earnest remonstrances, thou hadst suffered +the penalty of thy malignancy, even like the wicked wife of Ahab." + +"Master Bridgenorth," said the Lady Peveril, "I will allow for your +impatience upon hearing these unpleasing tidings; but there is neither +use nor propriety in farther urging this question. If in your grief +you forget other restraints, I pray you to remember that the Countess +is my guest and kinswoman, and is under such protection as I can +afford her. I beseech you, in simple courtesy, to withdraw, as what +must needs be the best and most becoming course in these trying +circumstances." + +"Nay, let him remain," said the Countess, regarding him with +composure, not unmingled with triumph; "I would not have it otherwise; +I would not that my revenge should be summed up in the stinted +gratification which Christian's death hath afforded. This man's rude +and clamorous grief only proves that the retribution I have dealt has +been more widely felt than by the wretched sufferer himself. I would I +knew that it had but made sore as many rebel hearts, as there were +loyal breasts afflicted by the death of my princely Derby!" + +"So please you, madam," said Lady Peveril, "since Master Bridgenorth +hath not the manners to leave us upon my request, we will, if your +ladyship lists, leave him, and retire to my apartment.--Farewell, +Master Bridgenorth; we will meet hereafter on better terms." + +"Pardon me, madam," said the Major, who had been striding hastily +through the room, but now stood fast, and drew himself up, as one who +has taken a resolution;--"to yourself I have nothing to say but what +is respectful; but to this woman I must speak as a magistrate. She has +confessed a murder in my presence--the murder too of my brother-in-law +--as a man, and as a magistrate, I cannot permit her to pass from +hence, excepting under such custody as may prevent her farther flight. +She has already confessed that she is a fugitive, and in search of a +place of concealment, until she should be able to escape into foreign +parts.--Charlotte, Countess of Derby, I attach thee of the crime of +which thou hast but now made thy boast." + +"I shall not obey your arrest," said the Countess composedly; "I was +born to give, but not to receive such orders. What have your English +laws to do with my acts of justice and of government, within my son's +hereditary kingdom? Am I not Queen in Man, as well as Countess of +Derby? A feudatory Sovereign indeed; but yet independent so long as my +dues of homage are duly discharged. What right can you assert over +me?" + +"That given by the precepts of Scripture," answered Bridgenorth-- +"'Whoso spilleth man's blood, by man shall his blood be spilled.' +Think not the barbarous privileges of ancient feudal customs will +avail to screen you from the punishment due for an Englishman murdered +upon pretexts inconsistent with the act of indemnity." + +"Master Bridgenorth," said the Lady Peveril, "if by fair terms you +desist not from your present purpose, I tell you that I neither dare, +nor will, permit any violence against this honourable lady within the +walls of my husband's castle." + +"You will find yourself unable to prevent me from executing my duty, +madam," said Bridgenorth, whose native obstinacy now came in aid of +his grief and desire of revenge; "I am a magistrate, and act by +authority." + +"I know not that," said Lady Peveril. "That you /were/ a magistrate, +Master Bridgenorth, under the late usurping powers, I know well; but +till I hear of your having a commission in the name of the King, I now +hesitate to obey you as such." + +"I shall stand on small ceremony," said Bridgenorth. "Were I no +magistrate, every man has title to arrest for murder against the terms +of the indemnities held out by the King's proclamations, and I will +make my point good." + +"What indemnities? What proclamations?" said the Countess of Derby +indignantly. "Charles Stuart may, if he pleases (and it doth seem to +please him), consort with those whose hands have been red with the +blood, and blackened with the plunder, of his father and of his loyal +subjects. He may forgive them if he will, and count their deeds good +service. What has that to do with this Christian's offence against me +and mine? Born a Mankesman--bred and nursed in the island--he broke +the laws under which he lived, and died for the breach of them, after +the fair trial which they allowed.--Methinks, Margaret, we have enough +of this peevish and foolish magistrate--I attend you to your +apartment." + +Major Bridgenorth placed himself betwixt them and the door, in a +manner which showed him determined to interrupt their passage; when +the Lady Peveril, who thought she already showed more deference to him +in this matter than her husband was likely to approve of, raised her +voice, and called loudly on her steward, Whitaker. That alert person, +who had heard high talking, and a female voice with which he was +unacquainted, had remained for several minutes stationed in the +anteroom, much afflicted with the anxiety of his own curiosity. Of +course he entered in an instant. + +"Let three of the men instantly take arms," said the lady; "bring them +into the anteroom, and wait my farther orders." + + + + CHAPTER VI + + You shall have no worse prison than my chamber, + Nor jailer than myself. + --THE CAPTAIN. + +The command which Lady Peveril laid on her domestics to arm +themselves, was so unlike the usual gentle acquiescence of her +manners, that Major Bridgenorth was astonished. "How mean you, madam?" +said he; "I thought myself under a friendly roof." + +"And you are so, Master Bridgenorth," said the Lady Peveril, without +departing from the natural calmness of her voice and manner; "but it +is a roof which must not be violated by the outrage of one friend +against another." + +"It is well, madam," said Bridgenorth, turning to the door of the +apartment. "The worthy Master Solsgrace has already foretold, that the +time was returned when high houses and proud names should be once more +an excuse for the crimes of those who inhabit the one and bear the +other. I believed him not, but now see he is wiser than I. Yet think +not I will endure this tamely. The blood of my brother--of the friend +of my bosom--shall not long call from the altar, 'How long, O Lord, +how long!' If there is one spark of justice left in this unhappy +England, that proud woman and I shall meet where she can have no +partial friend to protect her." + +So saying, he was about to leave the apartment, when Lady Peveril +said, "You depart not from this place, Master Bridgenorth, unless you +give me your word to renounce all purpose against the noble Countess's +liberty upon the present occasion." + +"I would sooner," answered he, "subscribe to my own dishonour, madam, +written down in express words, than to any such composition. If any +man offers to interrupt me, his blood be on his own head!" As Major +Bridgenorth spoke, Whitaker threw open the door, and showed that, with +the alertness of an old soldier, who was not displeased to see things +tend once more towards a state of warfare, he had got with him four +stout fellows in the Knight of the Peak's livery, well armed with +swords and carabines, buff-coats, and pistols at their girdles. + +"I will see," said Major Bridgenorth, "if any of these men be so +desperate as to stop me, a freeborn Englishman, and a magistrate in +the discharge of my duty." + +So saying, he advanced upon Whitaker and his armed assistants, with +his hand on the hilt of his sword. + +"Do not be so desperate, Master Bridgenorth," exclaimed Lady Peveril; +and added, in the same moment, "Lay hold upon, and disarm him, +Whitaker; but do him no injury." + +Her commands were obeyed. Bridgenorth, though a man of moral +resolution, was not one of those who undertook to cope in person with +odds of a description so formidable. He half drew his sword, and +offered such show of resistance as made it necessary to secure him by +actual force; but then yielded up his weapon, and declared that, +submitting to force which one man was unable to resist, he made those +who commanded, and who employed it, responsible for assailing his +liberty without a legal warrant. + +"Never mind a warrant on a pinch, Master Bridgenorth," said old +Whitaker; "sure enough you have often acted upon a worse yourself. My +lady's word is as good as a warrant, sure, as Old Noll's commission; +and you bore that many a day, Master Bridgenorth, and, moreover, you +laid me in the stocks for drinking the King's health, Master +Bridgenorth, and never cared a farthing about the laws of England." + +"Hold your saucy tongue, Whitaker," said the Lady Peveril; "and do +you, Master Bridgenorth, not take it to heart that you are detained +prisoner for a few hours, until the Countess of Derby can have nothing +to fear from your pursuit. I could easily send an escort with her that +might bid defiance to any force you could muster; but I wish, Heaven +knows, to bury the remembrance of old civil dissensions, not to awaken +new. Once more, will you think better of it--assume your sword again, +and forget whom you have now seen at Martindale Castle?" + +"Never," said Bridgenorth. "The crime of this cruel woman will be the +last of human injuries which I can forget. The last thought of earthly +kind which will leave me, will be the desire that justice shall be +done on her." + +"If such be your sentiments," said Lady Peveril, "though they are more +allied to revenge than to justice, I must provide for my friend's +safety, by putting restraint upon your person. In this room you will +be supplied with every necessary of life, and every convenience; and a +message shall relieve your domestics of the anxiety which your absence +from the Hall is not unlikely to occasion. When a few hours, at most +two days, are over, I will myself relieve you from confinement, and +demand your pardon for now acting as your obstinacy compels me to do." + +The Major made no answer, but that he was in her hands, and must +submit to her pleasure; and then turned sullenly to the window, as if +desirous to be rid of their presence. + +The Countess and the Lady Peveril left the apartment arm in arm; and +the lady issued forth her directions to Whitaker concerning the mode +in which she was desirous that Bridgenorth should be guarded and +treated during his temporary confinement; at the same time explaining +to him, that the safety of the Countess of Derby required that he +should be closely watched. + +In all proposals for the prisoner's security, such as the regular +relief of guards, and the like, Whitaker joyfully acquiesced, and +undertook, body for body, that he should be detained in captivity for +the necessary period. But the old steward was not half so docile when +it came to be considered how the captive's bedding and table should be +supplied; and he thought Lady Peveril displayed a very undue degree of +attention to her prisoner's comforts. "I warrant," he said, "that the +cuckoldly Roundhead ate enough of our fat beef yesterday to serve him +for a month; and a little fasting will do his health good. Marry, for +drink, he shall have plenty of cold water to cool his hot liver, which +I will be bound is still hissing with the strong liquors of yesterday. +And as for bedding, there are the fine dry board--more wholesome than +the wet straw I lay upon when I was in the stocks, I trow." + +"Whitaker," said the lady peremptorily, "I desire you to provide +Master Bridgenorth's bedding and food in the way I have signified to +you; and to behave yourself towards him in all civility." + +"Lack-a-day! yes, my lady," said Whitaker; "you shall have all your +directions punctually obeyed; but as an old servant, I cannot but +speak my mind." + +The ladies retired after this conference with the steward in the +antechamber, and were soon seated in another apartment, which was +peculiarly dedicated to the use of the mistress of the mansion-- +having, on the one side, access to the family bedroom; and, on the +other, to the still-room which communicated with the garden. There was +also a small door which, ascending a few steps, led to that balcony, +already mentioned, that overhung the kitchen; and the same passage, by +a separate door, admitted to the principal gallery in the chapel; so +that the spiritual and temporal affairs of the Castle were placed +almost at once within the reach of the same regulating and directing +eye.[*] + +[*] This peculiar collocation of apartments may be seen at Haddon + Hall, Derbyshire, once a seat of the Vernons, where, in the lady's + pew in the chapel, there is a sort of scuttle, which opens into + the kitchen, so that the good lady could ever and anon, without + much interruption of her religious duties, give an eye that the + roast-meat was not permitted to burn, and that the turn-broche did + his duty. + +In the tapestried room, from which issued these various sally-ports, +the Countess and Lady Peveril were speedily seated; and the former, +smiling upon the latter, said, as she took her hand, "Two things have +happened to-day, which might have surprised me, if anything ought to +surprise me in such times:--the first is, that yonder roundheaded +fellow should have dared to use such insolence in the house of Peveril +of the Peak. If your husband is yet the same honest and downright +Cavalier whom I once knew, and had chanced to be at home, he would +have thrown the knave out of window. But what I wonder at still more, +Margaret, is your generalship. I hardly thought you had courage +sufficient to have taken such decided measures, after keeping on terms +with the man so long. When he spoke of justices and warrants, you +looked so overawed that I thought I felt the clutch of the parish- +beadles on my shoulder, to drag me to prison as a vagrant." + +"We owe Master Bridgenorth some deference, my dearest lady," answered +the Lady Peveril; "he has served us often and kindly, in these late +times; but neither he, nor any one else, shall insult the Countess of +Derby in the house of Margaret Stanley." + +"Thou art become a perfect heroine, Margaret," replied the Countess. + +"Two sieges, and alarms innumerable," said Lady Peveril, "may have +taught me presence of mind. My courage is, I believe, as slender as +ever." + +"Presence of mind /is/ courage," answered the Countess. "Real valour +consists not in being insensible to danger, but in being prompt to +confront and disarm it;--and we may have present occasion for all that +we possess," she added, with some slight emotion, "for I hear the +trampling of horses' steps on the pavement of the court." + +In one moment, the boy Julian, breathless with joy, came flying into +the room, to say that papa was returned, with Lamington and Sam +Brewer; and that he was himself to ride Black Hastings to the stable. +In the second the tramp of the honest Knight's heavy jack-boots was +heard, as, in his haste to see his lady, he ascended the staircase by +two steps at a time. He burst into the room; his manly countenance and +disordered dress showing marks that he had been riding fast; and +without looking to any one else, caught his good lady in his arms, and +kissed her a dozen of times.--Blushing, and with some difficulty, Lady +Peveril extricated herself from Sir Geoffrey's arms; and in a voice of +bashful and gentle rebuke, bid him, for shame, observe who was in the +room. + +"One," said the Countess, advancing to him, "who is right glad to see +that Sir Geoffrey Peveril, though turned courtier and favourite, still +values the treasure which she had some share in bestowing upon him. +You cannot have forgot the raising of the leaguer of Latham House!" + +"The noble Countess of Derby!" said Sir Geoffrey, doffing his plumed +hat with an air of deep deference, and kissing with much reverence the +hand which she held out to him; "I am as glad to see your ladyship in +my poor house, as I would be to hear that they had found a vein of +lead in the Brown Tor. I rode hard, in the hope of being your escort +through the country. I feared you might have fallen into bad hands, +hearing there was a knave sent out with a warrant from the Council." + +"When heard you so? and from whom?" + +"It was from Cholmondley of Vale Royal," said Sir Geoffrey; "he is +come down to make provision for your safety through Cheshire; and I +promised to bring you there in safety. Prince Rupert, Ormond, and +other friends, do not doubt the matter will be driven to a fine; but +they say the Chancellor, and Harry Bennet, and some others of the +over-sea counsellors, are furious at what they call a breach of the +King's proclamation. Hang them, say I!--They left us to bear all the +beating; and now they are incensed that we should wish to clear scores +with those who rode us like nightmares!" + +"What did they talk of for my chastisement?" said the Countess. + +"I wot not," said Sir Geoffrey; "some friends, as I said, from our +kind Cheshire, and others, tried to bring it to a fine; but some, +again, spoke of nothing but the Tower, and a long imprisonment." + +"I have suffered imprisonment long enough for King Charles's sake," +said the Countess; "and have no mind to undergo it at his hand. +Besides, if I am removed from the personal superintendence of my son's +dominions in Man, I know not what new usurpation may be attempted +there. I must be obliged to you, cousin, to contrive that I may get in +security to Vale Royal, and from thence I know I shall be guarded +safely to Liverpool." + +"You may rely on my guidance and protection, noble lady," answered her +host, "though you had come here at midnight, and with the rogue's head +in your apron, like Judith in the Holy Apocrypha, which I joy to hear +once more read in churches." + +"Do the gentry resort much to the Court?" said the lady. + +"Ay, madam," replied Sir Geoffrey; "and according to our saying, when +miners do begin to bore in these parts, it is /for the grace of God, +and what they there may find/." + +"Meet the old Cavaliers with much countenance?" continued the +Countess. + +"Faith, madam, to speak truth," replied the Knight, "the King hath so +gracious a manner, that it makes every man's hopes blossom, though we +have seen but few that have ripened into fruit." + +"You have not, yourself, my cousin," answered the Countess, "had room +to complain of ingratitude, I trust? Few have less deserved it at the +King's hand." + +Sir Geoffrey was unwilling, like most prudent persons, to own the +existence of expectations which had proved fallacious, yet had too +little art in his character to conceal his disappointment entirely. +"Who, I, madam?" he said; "Alas! what should a poor country knight +expect from the King, besides the pleasure of seeing him in Whitehall +once more, and enjoying his own again? And his Majesty was very +gracious when I was presented, and spoke to me of Worcester, and of my +horse, Black Hastings--he had forgot his name, though--faith, and +mine, too, I believe, had not Prince Rupert whispered it to him. And I +saw some old friends, such as his Grace of Ormond, Sir Marmaduke +Langdale, Sir Philip Musgrave, and so forth; and had a jolly rouse or +two, to the tune of old times." + +"I should have thought so many wounds received--so many dangers risked +--such considerable losses--merited something more than a few smooth +words," said the Countess. + +"Nay, my lady, there were other friends of mine who had the same +thought," answered Peveril. "Some were of opinion that the loss of so +many hundred acres of fair land was worth some reward of honour at +least; and there were who thought my descent from William the +Conqueror--craving your ladyship's pardon for boasting it in your +presence--would not have become a higher rank or title worse than the +pedigree of some who have been promoted. But what said the witty Duke +of Buckingham, forsooth? (whose grandsire was a Lei'stershire Knight-- +rather poorer, and scarcely so well-born as myself)--Why, he said, +that if all of my degree who deserved well of the King in the late +times were to be made peers, the House of Lords must meet upon +Salisbury Plain!" + +"And that bad jest passed for a good argument!" said the Countess; +"and well it might, where good arguments pass for bad jests. But here +comes one I must be acquainted with." + +This was little Julian, who now re-entered the hall, leading his +little sister, as if he had brought her to bear witness to the +boastful tale which he told his father, of his having manfully ridden +Black Hastings to the stable-yard, alone in the saddle; and that +Saunders though he walked by the horse's head, did not once put his +hand upon the rein, and Brewer, though he stood beside him, scarce +held him by the knee. The father kissed the boy heartily; and the +Countess, calling him to her so soon as Sir Geoffrey had set him down, +kissed his forehead also, and then surveyed all his features with a +keen and penetrating eye. + +"He is a true Peveril," said she, "mixed as he should be with some +touch of the Stanley. Cousin, you must grant me my boon, and when I am +safely established, and have my present affair arranged, you must let +me have this little Julian of yours some time hence, to be nurtured in +my house, held as my page, and the playfellow of the little Derby. I +trust in Heaven, they will be such friends as their fathers have been, +and may God send them more fortunate times!" + +"Marry, and I thank you for the proposal with all my heart, madam," +said the Knight. "There are so many noble houses decayed, and so many +more in which the exercise and discipline for the training of noble +youths is given up and neglected, that I have often feared I must have +kept Gil to be young master at home; and I have had too little nurture +myself to teach him much, and so he would have been a mere hunting +hawking knight of Derbyshire. But in your ladyship's household, and +with the noble young Earl, he will have all, and more than all, the +education which I could desire." + +"There shall be no distinction betwixt them, cousin," said the +Countess; "Margaret Stanley's son shall be as much the object of care +to me as my own, since you are kindly disposed to entrust him to my +charge.--You look pale, Margaret," she continued, "and the tear stands +in your eye? Do not be so foolish, my love--what I ask is better than +you can desire for your boy; for the house of my father, the Duke de +la Tremouille, was the most famous school of chivalry in France; nor +have I degenerated from him, or suffered any relaxation in that noble +discipline which trained young gentlemen to do honour to their race. +You can promise your Julian no such advantages, if you train him up a +mere home-bred youth." + +"I acknowledge the importance of the favour, madam," said Lady +Peveril, "and must acquiesce in what your ladyship honours us by +proposing, and Sir Geoffrey approves of; but Julian is an only child, +and----" + +"An only son," said the Countess, "but surely not an only child. You +pay too high deference to our masters, the male sex, if you allow +Julian to engross all your affection, and spare none for this +beautiful girl." + +So saying, she set down Julian, and, taking Alice Bridgenorth on her +lap, began to caress her; and there was, notwithstanding her masculine +character, something so sweet in the tone of her voice and in the cast +of her features, that the child immediately smiled, and replied to her +marks of fondness. This mistake embarrassed Lady Peveril exceedingly. +Knowing the blunt impetuosity of her husband's character, his devotion +to the memory of the deceased Earl of Derby, and his corresponding +veneration for his widow, she was alarmed for the consequences of his +hearing the conduct of Bridgenorth that morning, and was particularly +desirous that he should not learn it save from herself in private, and +after due preparation. But the Countess's error led to a more +precipitate disclosure. + +"That pretty girl, madam," answered Sir Geoffrey, "is none of ours--I +wish she were. She belongs to a neighbour hard by--a good man, and, to +say truth, a good neighbour--though he was carried off from his +allegiance in the late times by a d--d Presbyterian scoundrel, who +calls himself a parson, and whom I hope to fetch down from his perch +presently, with a wannion to him! He has been cock of the roost long +enough.--There are rods in pickle to switch the Geneva cloak with, I +can tell the sour-faced rogues that much. But this child is the +daughter of Bridgenorth--neighbour Bridgenorth, of Moultrassie Hall." + +"Bridgenorth?" said the Countess; "I thought I had known all the +honourable names in Derbyshire--I remember nothing of Bridgenorth.-- +But stay--was there not a sequestrator and committeeman of that name? +Sure, it cannot be he?" + +Peveril took some shame to himself, as he replied, "It is the very man +whom your ladyship means, and you may conceive the reluctance with +which I submitted to receive good offices from one of his kidney; but +had I not done so, I should have scarce known how to find a roof to +cover Dame Margaret's head." + +The Countess, as he spoke, raised the child gently from her lap, and +placed it upon the carpet, though little Alice showed a disinclination +to the change of place, which the lady of Derby and Man would +certainly have indulged in a child of patrician descent and loyal +parentage. + +"I blame you not," she said; "no one knows what temptation will bring +us down to. Yet I /did/ think Peveril of the Peak would have resided +in its deepest cavern, sooner than owed an obligation to a regicide." + +"Nay, madam," answered the Knight, "my neighbour is bad enough, but +not so bad as you would make him; he is but a Presbyterian--that I +must confess--but not an Independent." + +"A variety of the same monster," said the Countess, "who hallooed +while the others hunted, and bound the victim whom the Independents +massacred. Betwixt such sects I prefer the Independents. They are at +least bold, bare-faced, merciless villains, have more of the tiger in +them, and less of the crocodile. I have no doubt it was that worthy +gentleman who took it upon him this morning----" + +She stopped short, for she saw Lady Peveril was vexed and embarrassed. + +"I am," she said, "the most luckless of beings. I have said something, +I know not what, to distress you, Margaret--Mystery is a bad thing, +and betwixt us there should be none." + +"There is none, madam," said Lady Peveril, something impatiently; "I +waited but an opportunity to tell my husband what had happened--Sir +Geoffrey, Master Bridgenorth was unfortunately here when the Lady +Derby and I met; and he thought it part of his duty to speak of----" + +"To speak of what?" said the Knight, bending his brows. "You were ever +something too fond, dame, of giving way to the usurpation of such +people." + +"I only mean," said Lady Peveril, "that as the person--he to whom Lord +Derby's story related--was the brother of his late lady, he threatened +--but I cannot think that he was serious." + +"Threaten?--threaten the Lady of Derby and Man in my house!--the widow +of my friend--the noble Charlotte of Latham House!--by Heaven, the +prick-eared slave shall answer it! How comes it that my knaves threw +him not out of the window?" + +"Alas! Sir Geoffrey, you forget how much we owe him," said the lady. + +"Owe him!" said the Knight, still more indignant; for in his +singleness of apprehension he conceived that his wife alluded to +pecuniary obligations,--"if I do owe him some money, hath he not +security for it? and must he have the right, over and above, to +domineer and play the magistrate in Martindale Castle?--Where is he?-- +what have you made of him? I will--I must speak with him." + +"Be patient, Sir Geoffrey," said the Countess, who now discerned the +cause of her kinswoman's apprehension; "and be assured I did not need +your chivalry to defend me against this discourteous faitour, as +/Morte d'Arthur/ would have called him. I promise you my kinswoman +hath fully righted my wrong; and I am so pleased to owe my deliverance +entirely to her gallantry, that I charge and command you, as a true +knight, not to mingle in the adventure of another." + +Lady Peveril, who knew her husband's blunt and impatient temper, and +perceived that he was becoming angry, now took up the story, and +plainly and simply pointed out the cause of Master Bridgenorth's +interference. + +"I am sorry for it," said the Knight; "I thought he had more sense; +and that this happy change might have done some good upon him. But you +should have told me this instantly--It consists not with my honour +that he should be kept prisoner in this house, as if I feared anything +he could do to annoy the noble Countess, while she is under my roof, +or within twenty miles of this Castle." + +So saying, and bowing to the Countess, he went straight to the gilded +chamber, leaving Lady Peveril in great anxiety for the event of an +angry meeting between a temper hasty as that of her husband, and +stubborn like that of Bridgenorth. Her apprehensions were, however, +unnecessary; for the meeting was not fated to take place. + +When Sir Geoffrey Peveril, having dismissed Whitaker and his +sentinels, entered the gilded chamber, in which he expected to find +his captive, the prisoner had escaped, and it was easy to see in what +manner. The sliding panel had, in the hurry of the moment, escaped the +memory of Lady Peveril, and of Whitaker, the only persons who knew +anything of it. It was probable that a chink had remained open, +sufficient to indicate its existence to Bridgenorth; who withdrawing +it altogether, had found his way into the secret apartment with which +it communicated, and from thence to the postern of the Castle by +another secret passage, which had been formed in the thickness of the +wall, as is not uncommon in ancient mansions; the lords of which were +liable to so many mutations of fortune, that they usually contrived to +secure some lurking place and secret mode of retreat from their +fortresses. That Bridgenorth had discovered and availed himself of +this secret mode of retreat was evident; because the private doors +communicating with the postern and the sliding panel in the gilded +chamber were both left open. + +Sir Geoffrey returned to the ladies with looks of perplexity. While he +deemed Bridgenorth within his reach, he was apprehensive of nothing he +could do; for he felt himself his superior in personal strength, and +in that species of courage which induces a man to rush, without +hesitation, upon personal danger. But when at a distance, he had been +for many years accustomed to consider Bridgenorth's power and +influence as something formidable; and notwithstanding the late change +of affairs, his ideas so naturally reverted to his neighbour as a +powerful friend or dangerous enemy, that he felt more apprehension on +the Countess's score, than he was willing to acknowledge even to +himself. The Countess observed his downcast and anxious brow, and +requested to know if her stay there was likely to involve him in any +trouble, or in any danger. + +"The trouble should be welcome," said Sir Geoffrey, "and more welcome +the danger, which should come on such an account. My plan was, that +your ladyship should have honoured Martindale with a few days' +residence, which might have been kept private until the search after +you was ended. Had I seen this fellow Bridgenorth, I have no doubt I +could have compelled him to act discreetly; but he is now at liberty, +and will keep out of my reach; and, what is worse, he has the secret +of the priest's chamber." + +Here the Knight paused, and seemed much embarrassed. + +"You can, then, neither conceal nor protect me?" said the Countess. + +"Pardon, my honoured lady," answered the Knight, "and let me say out +my say. The plain truth is, that this man hath many friends among the +Presbyterians here, who are more numerous than I would wish them; and +if he falls in with the pursuivant fellow who carries the warrant of +the Privy Council, it is likely he will back him with force sufficient +to try to execute it. And I doubt whether any of our friends can be +summoned together in haste, sufficient to resist such a power as they +are like to bring together." + +"Nor would I wish any friends to take arms, in my name, against the +King's warrant, Sir Geoffrey," said the Countess. + +"Nay, for that matter," replied the Knight, "an his Majesty will grant +warrants against his best friends, he must look to have them resisted. +But the best I can think of in this emergence is--though the proposal +be something inhospitable--that your ladyship should take presently to +horse, if your fatigue will permit. I will mount also, with some brisk +fellows, who will lodge you safe at Vale Royal, though the Sheriff +stopped the way with a whole /posse comitatus/." + +The Countess of Derby willingly acquiesced in this proposal. She had +enjoyed a night's sound repose in the private chamber, to which +Ellesmere had guided her on the preceding evening, and was quite ready +to resume her route, or flight--"she scarce knew," she said, "which of +the two she should term it." + +Lady Peveril wept at the necessity which seemed to hurry her earliest +friend and protectress from under her roof, at the instant when the +clouds of adversity were gathering around her; but she saw no +alternative equally safe. Nay, however strong her attachment to Lady +Derby, she could not but be more readily reconciled to her hasty +departure, when she considered the inconvenience, and even danger, in +which her presence, at such a time, and in such circumstances, was +likely to involve a man so bold and hot-tempered as her husband Sir +Geoffrey. + +While Lady Peveril, therefore, made every arrangement which time +permitted and circumstances required, for the Countess prosecuting her +journey, her husband, whose spirits always rose with the prospect of +action, issued his orders to Whitaker to get together a few stout +fellows, with back and breast pieces, and steel-caps. "There are the +two lackeys, and Outram and Saunders, besides the other groom fellow, +and Roger Raine, and his son; but bid Roger not come drunk again;-- +thyself, young Dick of the Dale and his servant, and a file or two of +the tenants,--we shall be enough for any force they can make. All +these are fellows that will strike hard, and ask no question why-- +their hands are ever readier than their tongues, and their mouths are +more made for drinking than speaking." + +Whitaker, apprised of the necessity of the case, asked if he should +not warn Sir Jasper Cranbourne. + +"Not a word to him, as you live," said the Knight; "this may be an +outlawry, as they call it, for what I know; and therefore I will bring +no lands or tenements into peril, saving mine own. Sir Jasper hath had +a troublesome time of it for many a year. By my will, he shall sit +quiet for the rest of's days." + + + + CHAPTER VII + + /Fang./--A rescue! a rescue! + /Mrs. Quickly./--Good people, bring a rescue or two. + --Henry IV. /Part I./ + +The followers of Peveril were so well accustomed to the sound of "Boot +and Saddle," that they were soon mounted and in order; and in all the +form, and with some of the dignity of danger, proceeded to escort the +Countess of Derby through the hilly and desert tract of country which +connects the frontier of the shire with the neighbouring county of +Cheshire. The cavalcade moved with considerable precaution, which they +had been taught by the discipline of the Civil Wars. One wary and +well-mounted trooper rode about two hundred yards in advance; +followed, at about half that distance, by two more, with their +carabines advanced, as if ready for action. About one hundred yards +behind the advance, came the main body; where the Countess of Derby, +mounted on Lady Peveril's ambling palfrey (for her own had been +exhausted by the journey from London to Martindale Castle), +accompanied by one groom, of approved fidelity, and one waiting-maid, +was attended and guarded by the Knight of the Peak, and three files of +good and practised horsemen. In the rear came Whitaker, with Lance +Outram, as men of especial trust, to whom the covering the retreat was +confided. They rode, as the Spanish proverb expresses it, "with the +beard on the shoulder," looking around, that is, from time to time, +and using every precaution to have the speediest knowledge of any +pursuit which might take place. + +But, however wise in discipline, Peveril and his followers were +somewhat remiss in civil policy. The Knight had communicated to +Whitaker, though without any apparent necessity, the precise nature of +their present expedition; and Whitaker was equally communicative to +his comrade Lance, the keeper. "It is strange enough, Master +Whitaker," said the latter, when he had heard the case, "and I wish +you, being a wise man, would expound it;--why, when we have been +wishing for the King--and praying for the King--and fighting for the +King--and dying for the King, for these twenty years, the first thing +we find to do on his return, is to get into harness to resist his +warrant?" + +"Pooh! you silly fellow," said Whitaker, "that is all you know of the +true bottom of our quarrel! Why, man, we fought for the King's person +against his warrant, all along from the very beginning; for I remember +the rogues' proclamations, and so forth, always ran in the name of the +King and Parliament." + +"Ay! was it even so?" replied Lance. "Nay, then, if they begin the old +game so soon again, and send out warrants in the King's name against +his loyal subjects, well fare our stout Knight, say I, who is ready to +take them down in their stocking-soles. And if Bridgenorth takes the +chase after us, I shall not be sorry to have a knock at him for one." + +"Why, the man, bating he is a pestilent Roundhead and Puritan," said +Whitaker, "is no bad neighbour. What has he done to thee, man?" + +"He has poached on the manor," answered the keeper. + +"The devil he has!" replied Whitaker. "Thou must be jesting, Lance. +Bridgenorth is neither hunter nor hawker; he hath not so much of +honesty in him." + +"Ay, but he runs after game you little think of, with his sour, +melancholy face, that would scare babes and curdle milk," answered +Lance. + +"Thou canst not mean the wenches?" said Whitaker; "why, he hath been +melancholy mad with moping for the death of his wife. Thou knowest our +lady took the child, for fear he should strangle it for putting him in +mind of its mother, in some of his tantrums. Under her favour, and +among friends, there are many poor Cavaliers' children, that care +would be better bestowed upon--But to thy tale." + +"Why, thus it runs," said Lance. "I think you may have noticed, Master +Whitaker, that a certain Mistress Deborah hath manifested a certain +favour for a certain person in a certain household." + +"For thyself, to wit," answered Whitaker; "Lance Outram, thou art the +vainest coxcomb----" + +"Coxcomb?" said Lance; "why, 'twas but last night the whole family saw +her, as one would say, fling herself at my head." + +"I would she had been a brickbat then, to have broken it, for thy +impertinence and conceit," said the steward. + +"Well, but do but hearken. The next morning--that is, this very +blessed morning--I thought of going to lodge a buck in the park, +judging a bit of venison might be wanted in the larder, after +yesterday's wassail; and, as I passed under the nursery window, I did +but just look up to see what madam governante was about; and so I saw +her, through the casement, whip on her hood and scarf as soon as she +had a glimpse of me. Immediately after I saw the still-room door open, +and made sure she was coming through the garden, and so over the +breach and down to the park; and so, thought I, 'Aha, Mistress Deb, if +you are so ready to dance after my pipe and tabor, I will give you a +couranto before you shall come up with me.' And so I went down Ivy-tod +Dingle, where the copse is tangled, and the ground swampy, and round +by Haxley-bottom, thinking all the while she was following, and +laughing in my sleeve at the round I was giving her." + +"You deserved to be ducked for it," said Whitaker, "for a weather- +headed puppy; but what is all this Jack-a-lantern story to +Bridgenorth?" + +"Why, it was all along of he, man," continued Lance, "that is, of +Bridgenorth, that she did not follow me--Gad, I first walked slow, and +then stopped, and then turned back a little, and then began to wonder +what she had made of herself, and to think I had borne myself +something like a jackass in the matter." + +"That I deny," said Whitaker, "never jackass but would have borne him +better--but go on." + +"Why, turning my face towards the Castle, I went back as if I had my +nose bleeding, when just by the Copely thorn, which stands, you know, +a flight-short from the postern-gate, I saw Madam Deb in close +conference with the enemy." + +"What enemy?" said the steward. + +"What enemy! why, who but Bridgenorth? They kept out of sight, and +among the copse; but, thought I, it is hard if I cannot stalk you, +that have stalked so many bucks. If so, I had better give my shafts to +be pudding pins. So I cast round the thicket, to watch their waters; +and may I never bend crossbow again, if I did not see him give her +gold, and squeeze her by the hand!" + +"And was that all you saw pass between them?" said the steward. + +"Faith, and it was enough to dismount me from my hobby," said Lance. +"What! when I thought I had the prettiest girl in the Castle dancing +after my whistle, to find that she gave me the bag to hold, and was +smuggling in a corner with a rich old Puritan!" + +"Credit me, Lance, it is not as thou thinkest," said Whitaker. +"Bridgenorth cares not for these amorous toys, and thou thinkest of +nothing else. But it is fitting our Knight should know that he has met +with Deborah in secret, and given her gold; for never Puritan gave +gold yet, but it was earnest for some devil's work done, or to be +done." + +"Nay, but," said Lance, "I would not be such a dog-bolt as to go and +betray the girl to our master. She hath a right to follow her fancy, +as the dame said who kissed her cow--only I do not much approve her +choice, that is all. He cannot be six years short of fifty; and a +verjuice countenance, under the penthouse of a slouched beaver, and +bag of meagre dried bones, swaddled up in a black cloak, is no such +temptation, methinks." + +"I tell you once more," said Whitaker, "you are mistaken; and that +there neither is, nor can be, any matter of love between them, but +only some intrigue, concerning, perhaps, this same noble Countess of +Derby. I tell thee, it behoves my master to know it, and I will +presently tell it to him." + +So saying, and in spite of all the remonstrances which Lance continued +to make on behalf of Mistress Deborah, the steward rode up to the main +body of their little party, and mentioned to the Knight, and the +Countess of Derby, what he had just heard from the keeper, adding at +the same time his own suspicions, that Master Bridgenorth of +Moultrassie Hall was desirous to keep up some system of espial in the +Castle of Martindale, either in order to secure his menaced vengeance +on the Countess of Derby, as authoress of his brother-in-law's death, +or for some unknown, but probably sinister purpose. + +The Knight of the Peak was filled with high resentment at Whitaker's +communication. According to his prejudices, those of the opposite +faction were supposed to make up by wit and intrigue what they wanted +in open force; and he now hastily conceived that his neighbour, whose +prudence he always respected, and sometimes even dreaded, was +maintaining for his private purposes, a clandestine correspondence +with a member of his family. If this was for the betrayal of his noble +guest, it argued at once treachery and presumption; or, viewing the +whole as Lance had done, a criminal intrigue with a woman so near the +person of Lady Peveril, was in itself, he deemed, a piece of sovereign +impertinence and disrespect on the part of such a person as +Bridgenorth, against whom Sir Geoffrey's anger was kindled +accordingly. + +Whitaker had scarce regained his post in the rear, when he again +quitted it, and galloped to the main body with more speed than before, +with the unpleasing tidings that they were pursued by half a score of +horseman, and better. + +"Ride on briskly to Hartley-nick," said the Knight, "and there, with +God to help, we will bide the knaves.--Countess of Derby--one word and +a short one--Farewell!--you must ride forward with Whitaker and +another careful fellow, and let me alone to see that no one treads on +your skirts." + +"I will abide with you and stand them," said the Countess; "you know +of old, I fear not to look on man's work." + +"You /must/ ride on, madam," said the Knight, "for the sake of the +young Earl, and the rest of my noble friends' family. There is no +manly work which can be worth your looking upon; it is but child's +play that these fellows bring with them." + +As she yielded a reluctant consent to continue her flight, they +reached the bottom of Hartley-nick, a pass very steep and craggy, and +where the road, or rather path, which had hitherto passed over more +open ground, became pent up and confined betwixt copsewood on the one +side, and, on the other, the precipitous bank of a mountain stream. + +The Countess of Derby, after an affectionate adieu to Sir Geoffrey, +and having requested him to convey her kind commendations to her +little page-elect and his mother, proceeded up the pass at a round +pace, and with her attendants and escort, was soon out of sight. +Immediately after she had disappeared, the pursuers came up with Sir +Geoffrey Peveril, who had divided and drawn up his party so as +completely to occupy the road at three different points. + +The opposite party was led, as Sir Geoffrey had expected, by Major +Bridgenorth. At his side was a person in black, with a silver +greyhound on his arm; and he was followed by about eight or ten +inhabitants of the village of Martindale Moultrassie, two or three of +whom were officers of the peace, and others were personally known to +Sir Geoffrey as favourers of the subverted government. + +As the party rode briskly up, Sir Geoffrey called to them to halt; and +as they continued advancing, he ordered his own people to present +their pistols and carabines; and after assuming that menacing +attitude, he repeated, with a voice of thunder, "Halt, or we fire!" + +The other party halted accordingly, and Major Bridgenorth advanced, as +if to parley. + +"Why, how now, neighbour," said Sir Geoffrey, as if he had at that +moment recognised him for the first time,--"what makes you ride so +sharp this morning? Are you not afraid to harm your horse, or spoil +your spurs?" + +"Sir Geoffrey," said the Major, "I have not time for jesting--I'm on +the King's affairs." + +"Are you sure it is not upon Old Noll's, neighbour? You used to hold +his the better errand," said the Knight, with a smile which gave +occasion to a horse-laugh among his followers. + +"Show him your warrant," said Bridgenorth to the man in black formerly +mentioned, who was a pursuivant. Then taking the warrant from the +officer, he gave it to Sir Geoffrey--"To this, at least, you will pay +regard." + +"The same regard which you would have paid to it a month back or so," +said the Knight, tearing the warrant to shreds.--"What a plague do you +stare at? Do you think you have a monopoly of rebellion, and that we +have not a right to show a trick of disobedience in our turn?" + +"Make way, Sir Geoffrey Peveril," said Bridgenorth, "or you will +compel me to do that I may be sorry for. I am in this matter the +avenger of the blood of one of the Lord's saints, and I will follow +the chase while Heaven grants me an arm to make my way." + +"You shall make no way here but at your peril," said Sir Geoffrey; +"this is my ground--I have been harassed enough for these twenty years +by saints, as you call yourselves. I tell you, master, you shall +neither violate the security of my house, nor pursue my friends over +the grounds, nor tamper, as you have done, amongst my servants, with +impunity. I have had you in respect for certain kind doings, which I +will not either forget or deny, and you will find it difficult to make +me draw a sword or bend a pistol against you; but offer any hostile +movement, or presume to advance a foot, and I will make sure of you +presently. And for those rascals, who come hither to annoy a noble +lady on my bounds, unless you draw them off, I will presently send +some of them to the devil before their time." + +"Make room at your proper peril," said Major Bridgenorth; and he put +his right hand on his holster-pistol. Sir Geoffrey closed with him +instantly, seized him by the collar, and spurred Black Hastings, +checking him at the same time, so that the horse made a courbette, and +brought the full weight of his chest against the counter of the other. +A ready soldier might, in Bridgenorth's situation, have rid himself of +his adversary with a bullet. But Bridgenorth's courage, +notwithstanding his having served some time with the Parliament army, +was rather of a civil than a military character; and he was inferior +to his adversary, not only in strength and horsemanship, but also and +especially in the daring and decisive resolution which made Sir +Geoffrey thrust himself readily into personal contest. While, +therefore, they tugged and grappled together upon terms which bore +such little accordance with their long acquaintance and close +neighbourhood, it was no wonder that Bridgenorth should be unhorsed +with much violence. While Sir Geoffrey sprung from the saddle, the +party of Bridgenorth advanced to rescue their leader, and that of the +Knight to oppose them. Swords were unsheathed, and pistols presented; +but Sir Geoffrey, with the voice of a herald, commanded both parties +to stand back, and to keep the peace. + +The pursuivant took the hint, and easily found a reason for not +prosecuting a dangerous duty. "The warrant," he said, "was destroyed. +They that did it must be answerable to the Council; for his part, he +could proceed no farther without his commission." + +"Well said, and like a peaceable fellow!" said Sir Geoffrey.--"Let him +have refreshment at the Castle--his nag is sorely out of condition.-- +Come, neighbour Bridgenorth, get up, man--I trust you have had no hurt +in this mad affray? I was loath to lay hand on you, man, till you +plucked out your petronel." + +As he spoke thus, he aided the Major to rise. The pursuivant, +meanwhile, drew aside; and with him the constable and head-borough, +who were not without some tacit suspicion, that though Peveril was +interrupting the direct course of law in this matter, yet he was +likely to have his offence considered by favourable judges; and +therefore it might be as much for their interest and safety to give +way as to oppose him. But the rest of the party, friends of +Bridgenorth, and of his principles, kept their ground notwithstanding +this defection, and seemed, from their looks, sternly determined to +rule their conduct by that of their leader, whatever it might be. + +But it was evident that Bridgenorth did not intend to renew the +struggle. He shook himself rather roughly free from the hands of Sir +Geoffrey Peveril; but it was not to draw his sword. On the contrary, +he mounted his horse with a sullen and dejected air; and, making a +sign to his followers, turned back the same road which he had come. +Sir Geoffrey looked after him for some minutes. "Now, there goes a +man," said he, "who would have been a right honest fellow had he not +been a Presbyterian. But there is no heartiness about them--they can +never forgive a fair fall upon the sod--they bear malice, and that I +hate as I do a black cloak, or a Geneva skull-cap, and a pair of long +ears rising on each side on't, like two chimneys at the gable ends of +a thatched cottage. They are as sly as the devil to boot; and, +therefore, Lance Outram, take two with you, and keep after them, that +they may not turn our flank, and get on the track of the Countess +again after all." + +"I had as soon they should course my lady's white tame doe," answered +Lance, in the spirit of his calling. He proceeded to execute his +master's orders by dogging Major Bridgenorth at a distance, and +observing his course from such heights as commanded the country. But +it was soon evident that no manoeuvre was intended, and that the Major +was taking the direct road homeward. When this was ascertained, Sir +Geoffrey dismissed most of his followers; and retaining only his own +domestics, rode hastily forward to overtake the Countess. + +It is only necessary to say farther, that he completed his purpose of +escorting the Countess of Derby to Vale Royal, without meeting any +further hindrance by the way. The lord of the mansion readily +undertook to conduct the high-minded lady to Liverpool, and the task +of seeing her safely embarked for her son's hereditary dominions, +where there was no doubt of her remaining in personal safety until the +accusation against her for breach of the Royal Indemnity, by the +execution of Christian, could be brought to some compromise. + +For a length of time this was no easy matter. Clarendon, then at the +head of Charles's administration, considered her rash action, though +dictated by motives which the human breast must, in some respects, +sympathise with, as calculated to shake the restored tranquillity of +England, by exciting the doubts and jealousies of those who had to +apprehend the consequences of what is called, in our own time, a +/reaction/. At the same time, the high services of this distinguished +family--the merits of the Countess herself--the memory of her gallant +husband--and the very peculiar circumstances of jurisdiction which +took the case out of all common rules, pleaded strongly in her favour; +and the death of Christian was at length only punished by the +imposition of a heavy fine, amounting, we believe, to many thousand +pounds; which was levied, with great difficulty, out of the shattered +estates of the young Earl of Derby. + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + My native land, good night! + --BYRON. + +Lady Peveril remained in no small anxiety for several hours after her +husband and the Countess had departed from Martindale Castle; more +especially when she learned that Major Bridgenorth, concerning whose +motions she made private inquiry, had taken horse with a party, and +was gone to the westward in the same direction with Sir Geoffrey. + +At length her immediate uneasiness in regard to the safety of her +husband and the Countess was removed, by the arrival of Whitaker, with +her husband's commendations, and an account of the scuffle betwixt +himself and Major Bridgenorth. + +Lady Peveril shuddered to see how nearly they had approached to +renewal of the scenes of civil discord; and while she was thankful to +Heaven for her husband's immediate preservation, she could not help +feeling both regret and apprehension for the consequences of his +quarrel with Major Bridgenorth. They had now lost an old friend, who +had showed himself such under those circumstances of adversity by +which friendship is most severely tried; and she could not disguise +from herself that Bridgenorth, thus irritated, might be a troublesome, +if not a dangerous enemy. His rights as a creditor, he had hitherto +used with gentleness; but if he should employ rigour, Lady Peveril, +whose attention to domestic economy had made her much better +acquainted with her husband's affairs than he was himself, foresaw +considerable inconvenience from the measures which the law put in his +power. She comforted herself with the recollection, however, that she +had still a strong hold on Bridgenorth, through his paternal +affection, and from the fixed opinion which he had hitherto +manifested, that his daughter's health could only flourish while under +her charge. But any expectations of reconciliation which Lady Peveril +might probably have founded on this circumstance, were frustrated by +an incident which took place in the course of the following morning. + +The governante, Mistress Deborah, who has been already mentioned, went +forth, as usual, with the children, to take their morning exercise in +the Park, attended by Rachael, a girl who acted occasionally as her +assistant in attending upon them. But not as usual did she return. It +was near the hour of breakfast, when Ellesmere, with an unwonted +degree of primness in her mouth and manner, came to acquaint her lady +that Mistress Deborah had not thought proper to come back from the +Park, though the breakfast hour approached so near. + +"She will come, then, presently," said Lady Peveril with indifference. + +Ellesmere gave a short and doubtful cough, and then proceeded to say, +that Rachael had been sent home with little Master Julian, and that +Mistress Deborah had been pleased to say, she would walk on with Miss +Bridgenorth as far as Moultrassie Holt; which was a point at which the +property of the Major, as matters now stood, bounded that of Sir +Geoffrey Peveril. + +"Is the wench turned silly," exclaimed the lady, something angrily, +"that she does not obey my orders, and return at regular hours?" + +"She may be turning silly," said Ellesmere mysteriously; "or she may +be turning too sly; and I think it were as well your ladyship looked +to it." + +"Looked to what, Ellesmere?" said the lady impatiently. "You are +strangely oracular this morning. If you know anything to the prejudice +of this young woman, I pray you speak it out." + +"I prejudice!" said Ellesmere; "I scorn to prejudice man, woman, or +child, in the way of a fellow-servant; only I wish your ladyship to +look about you, and use your own eyes--that is all." + +"You bid me use my own eyes, Ellesmere; but I suspect," answered the +lady, "you would be better pleased were I contented to see through +your spectacles. I charge you--and you know I will be obeyed--I charge +you to tell me what you know or suspect about this girl, Deborah +Debbitch." + +"I see through spectacles!" exclaimed the indignant Abigail; "your +ladyship will pardon me in that, for I never use them, unless a pair +that belonged to my poor mother, which I put on when your ladyship +wants your pinners curiously wrought. No woman above sixteen ever did +white-seam without barnacles. And then as to suspecting, I suspect +nothing; for as your ladyship hath taken Mistress Deborah Debbitch +from under my hand, to be sure it is neither bread nor butter of mine. +Only" (here she began to speak with her lips shut, so as scarce to +permit a sound to issue, and mincing her words as if she pinched off +the ends of them before she suffered them to escape),--"only, madam, +if Mistress Deborah goes so often of a morning to Moultrassie Holt, +why, I should not be surprised if she should never find the way back +again." + +"Once more, what do you mean, Ellesmere? You were wont to have some +sense--let me know distinctly what the matter is." + +"Only, madam," pursued the Abigail, "that since Bridgenorth came back +from Chesterfield, and saw you at the Castle Hall, Mistress Deborah +has been pleased to carry the children every morning to that place; +and it has so happened that she has often met the Major, as they call +him, there in his walks; for he can walk about now like other folks; +and I warrant you she hath not been the worse of the meeting--one way +at least, for she hath bought a new hood might serve yourself, madam; +but whether she hath had anything in hand besides a piece of money, no +doubt your ladyship is best judge." + +Lady Peveril, who readily adopted the more good-natured construction +of the governante's motives, could not help laughing at the idea of a +man of Bridgenorth's precise appearance, strict principles, and +reserved habits, being suspected of a design of gallantry; and readily +concluded, that Mistress Deborah had found her advantage in gratifying +his parental affection by a frequent sight of his daughter during the +few days which intervened betwixt his first seeing little Alice at the +Castle, and the events which had followed. But she was somewhat +surprised, when, an hour after the usual breakfast hour, during which +neither the child nor Mistress Deborah appeared, Major Bridgenorth's +only man-servant arrived at the Castle on horseback, dressed as for a +journey; and having delivered a letter addressed to herself, and +another to Mistress Ellesmere, rode away without waiting any answer. + +There would have been nothing remarkable in this, had any other person +been concerned; but Major Bridgenorth was so very quiet and orderly in +all his proceedings--so little liable to act hastily or by impulse, +that the least appearance of bustle where he was concerned, excited +surprise and curiosity. + +Lady Peveril broke her letter hastily open, and found that it +contained the following lines:-- + + + "/For the Hands of the Honourable and Honoured Lady Peveril-- + These:/ + + "Madam--Please it your Ladyship,--I write more to excuse myself to + your ladyship, than to accuse either you or others, in respect + that I am sensible it becomes our frail nature better to confess + our own imperfections, than to complain of those of others. + Neither do I mean to speak of past times, particularly in respect + of your worthy ladyship, being sensible that if I have served you + in that period when our Israel might be called triumphant, you + have more than requited me, in giving to my arms a child, + redeemed, as it were, from the vale of the shadow of death. And + therefore, as I heartily forgive to your ladyship the unkind and + violent measure which you dealt to me at our last meeting (seeing + that the woman who was the cause of strife is accounted one of + your kindred people), I do entreat you, in like manner, to pardon + my enticing away from your service the young woman called Deborah + Debbitch, whose direction, is, it may be, indispensable to the + health of my dearest child. I had purposed, madam, with your + gracious permission, that Alice should have remained at Martindale + Castle, under your kind charge, until she could so far discern + betwixt good and evil, that it should be matter of conscience to + teach her the way in which she should go. For it is not unknown to + your ladyship, and in no way do I speak it reproachfully, but + rather sorrowfully, that a person so excellently gifted as + yourself--I mean touching natural qualities--has not yet received + that true light, which is a lamp to the paths, but are contented + to stumble in darkness, and among the graves of dead men. It has + been my prayer in the watches of the night, that your ladyship + should cease from the doctrine which causeth to err; but I grieve + to say, that our candlestick being about to be removed, the land + will most likely be involved in deeper darkness than ever; and the + return of the King, to which I and many looked forward as a + manifestation of divine favour, seems to prove little else than a + permitted triumph of the Prince of the Air, who setteth about to + restore his Vanity-fair of bishops, deans, and such like, + extruding the peaceful ministers of the word, whose labours have + proved faithful to many hungry souls. So, hearing from a sure + hand, that commission has gone forth to restore these dumb dogs, + the followers of Laud and of Williams, who were cast forth by the + late Parliament, and that an Act of Conformity, or rather of + deformity, of worship, was to be expected, it is my purpose to + flee from the wrath to come, and to seek some corner where I may + dwell in peace, and enjoy liberty of conscience. For who would + abide in the Sanctuary, after the carved work thereof is broken + down, and when it hath been made a place for owls, and satyrs of + the wilderness?--And herein I blame myself, madam, that I went in + the singleness of my heart too readily into that carousing in the + house of feasting, wherein my love of union, and my desire to show + respect to your ladyship, were made a snare to me. But I trust it + will be an atonement, that I am now about to absent myself from + the place of my birth, and the house of my fathers, as well as + from the place which holdeth the dust of those pledges of my + affection. I have also to remember, that in this land my honour + (after the worldly estimation) hath been abated, and my utility + circumscribed, by your husband, Sir Geoffrey Peveril; and that + without any chance of my obtaining reparation at his hand, whereby + I may say the hand of a kinsman was lifted up against my credit + and my life. These things are bitter to the taste of the old Adam; + wherefore to prevent farther bickerings, and, it may be, + bloodshed, it is better that I leave this land for a time. The + affairs which remain to be settled between Sir Geoffrey and + myself, I shall place in the hand of the righteous Master Joachim + Win-the-Fight, an attorney in Chester, who will arrange them with + such attention to Sir Geoffrey's convenience, as justice, and the + due exercise of the law, will permit; for, as I trust I shall + have grace to resist the temptation to make the weapons of carnal + warfare the instruments of my revenge, so I scorn to effect it + through the means of Mammon. Wishing, madam, that the Lord may + grant you every blessing, and, in especial, that which is over all + others, namely, the true knowledge of His way, I remain, your + devoted servant to command, RALPH BRIDGENORTH. + + "/Written at Moultrassie Hall, this tenth + day of July, 1660./" + + +So soon as Lady Peveril had perused this long and singular homily, in +which it seemed to her that her neighbour showed more spirit of +religious fanaticism than she could have supposed him possessed of, +she looked up and beheld Ellesmere,--with a countenance in which +mortification, and an affected air of contempt, seemed to struggle +together,--who, tired with watching the expression of her mistress's +countenance, applied for confirmation of her suspicions in plain +terms. + +"I suppose, madam," said the waiting-woman, "the fanatic fool intends +to marry the wench? They say he goes to shift the country. Truly it's +time, indeed; for, besides that the whole neighbourhood would laugh +him to scorn, I should not be surprised if Lance Outram, the keeper, +gave him a buck's head to bear; for that is all in the way of his +office." + +"There is no great occasion for your spite at present, Ellesmere," +replied her lady. "My letter says nothing of marriage; but it would +appear that Master Bridgenorth, being to leave this country, has +engaged Deborah to take care of his child; and I am sure I am heartily +glad of it, for the infant's sake." + +"And I am glad of it for my own," said Ellesmere; "and, indeed, for +the sake of the whole house.--And your ladyship thinks she is not like +to be married to him? Troth, I could never see how he should be such +an idiot; but perhaps she is going to do worse; for she speaks here of +coming to high preferment, and that scarce comes by honest servitude +nowadays; then she writes me about sending her things, as if I were +mistress of the wardrobe to her ladyship--ay, and recommends Master +Julian to the care of my age and experience, forsooth, as if she +needed to recommend the dear little jewel to me; and then, to speak of +my age--But I will bundle away her rags to the Hall, with a witness!" + +"Do it with all civility," said the lady, "and let Whitaker send her +the wages for which she has served, and a broad-piece over and above; +for though a light-headed young woman, she was kind to the children." + +"I know who is kind to their servants, madam, and would spoil the best +ever pinned a gown." + +"I spoiled a good one, Ellesmere, when I spoiled thee," said the lady; +"but tell Mistress Deborah to kiss the little Alice for me, and to +offer my good wishes to Major Bridgenorth, for his temporal and future +happiness." + +She permitted no observation or reply, but dismissed her attendant, +without entering into farther particulars. + +When Ellesmere had withdrawn, Lady Peveril began to reflect, with much +feeling of compassion, on the letter of Major Bridgenorth; a person in +whom there were certainly many excellent qualities, but whom a series +of domestic misfortunes, and the increasing gloom of a sincere, yet +stern feeling of devotion, rendered lonely and unhappy; and she had +more than one anxious thought for the happiness of the little Alice, +brought up, as she was likely to be, under such a father. Still the +removal of Bridgenorth was, on the whole, a desirable event; for while +he remained at the Hall, it was but too likely that some accidental +collision with Sir Geoffrey might give rise to a rencontre betwixt +them, more fatal than the last had been. + +In the meanwhile, she could not help expressing to Doctor Dummerar her +surprise and sorrow, that all which she had done and attempted, to +establish peace and unanimity betwixt the contending factions, had +been perversely fated to turn out the very reverse of what she had +aimed at. + +"But for my unhappy invitation," she said, "Bridgenorth would not have +been at the Castle on the morning which succeeded the feast, would not +have seen the Countess, and would not have incurred the resentment and +opposition of my husband. And but for the King's return, an event +which was so anxiously expected as the termination of all our +calamities, neither the noble lady nor ourselves had been engaged in +this new path of difficulty and danger." + +"Honoured madam," said Doctor Dummerar, "were the affairs of this +world to be guided implicitly by human wisdom, or were they uniformly +to fall out according to the conjectures of human foresight, events +would no longer be under the domination of that time and chance, which +happen unto all men, since we should, in the one case, work out our +own purposes to a certainty, by our own skill, and in the other, +regulate our conduct according to the views of unerring prescience. +But man is, while in this vale of tears, like an uninstructed bowler, +so to speak, who thinks to attain the jack, by delivering his bowl +straight forward upon it, being ignorant that there is a concealed +bias within the spheroid, which will make it, in all probability, +swerve away, and lose the cast." + +Having spoken this with a sententious air, the Doctor took his shovel- +shaped hat, and went down to the Castle green, to conclude a match of +bowls with Whitaker, which had probably suggested this notable +illustration of the uncertain course of human events. + +Two days afterwards, Sir Geoffrey arrived. He had waited at Vale Royal +till he heard of the Countess's being safely embarked for Man, and +then had posted homeward to his Castle and Dame Margaret. On his way, +he learned from some of his attendants, the mode in which his lady had +conducted the entertainment which she had given to the neighbourhood +at his order; and notwithstanding the great deference he usually +showed in cases where Lady Peveril was concerned, he heard of her +liberality towards the Presbyterian party with great indignation. + +"I could have admitted Bridgenorth," he said, "for he always bore him +in neighbourly and kindly fashion till this last career--I could have +endured him, so he would have drunk the King's health, like a true man +--but to bring that snuffling scoundrel Solsgrace, with all his +beggarly, long-eared congregation, to hold a conventicle in my +father's house--to let them domineer it as they listed--why, I would +not have permitted them such liberty, when they held their head the +highest! They never, in the worst of times, found any way into +Martindale Castle but what Noll's cannon made for them; and that they +should come and cant there, when good King Charles is returned--By my +hand, Dame Margaret shall hear of it!" + +But, notwithstanding these ireful resolutions, resentment altogether +subsided in the honest Knight's breast, when he saw the fair features +of his lady lightened with affectionate joy at his return in safety. +As he took her in his arms and kissed her, he forgave her ere he +mentioned her offence. + +"Thou hast played the knave with me, Meg," he said, shaking his head, +and smiling at the same time, "and thou knowest in what manner; but I +think thou art true church-woman, and didst only act from silly +womanish fancy of keeping fair with these roguish Roundheads. But let +me have no more of this. I had rather Martindale Castle were again +rent by their bullets, than receive any of the knaves in the way of +friendship--I always except Ralph Bridgenorth of the Hall, if he +should come to his senses again." + +Lady Peveril was here under the necessity of explaining what she had +heard of Master Bridgenorth--the disappearance of the governante with +his daughter, and placed Bridgenorth's letter in his hand. Sir +Geoffrey shook his head at first, and then laughed extremely at the +idea that there was some little love-intrigue between Bridgenorth and +Mistress Deborah. + +"It is the true end of a dissenter," he said, "to marry his own maid- +servant, or some other person's. Deborah is a good likely wench, and +on the merrier side of thirty, as I should think." + +"Nay, nay," said the Lady Peveril, "you are as uncharitable as +Ellesmere--I believe it but to be affection to his child." + +"Pshaw! pshaw!" answered the Knight, "women are eternally thinking of +children; but among men, dame, many one carresses the infant that he +may kiss the child's maid; and where's the wonder or the harm either, +if Bridgenorth should marry the wench? Her father is a substantial +yeoman; his family has had the same farm since Bosworthfield--as good +a pedigree as that of the great-grandson of a Chesterfield brewer, I +trow. But let us hear what he says for himself--I shall spell it out +if there is any roguery in the letter about love and liking, though it +might escape your innocence, Dame Margaret." + +The Knight of the Peak began to peruse the letter accordingly, but was +much embarrassed by the peculiar language in which it was couched. +"What he means by moving of candlesticks, and breaking down of carved +work in the church, I cannot guess; unless he means to bring back the +large silver candlesticks which my grandsire gave to be placed on the +altar at Martindale Moultrassie; and which his crop-eared friends, +like sacrilegious villains as they are, stole and melted down. And in +like manner, the only breaking I know of, was when they pulled down +the rails of the communion table (for which some of their fingers are +hot enough by this time), and when the brass ornaments were torn down +from Peveril monuments; and that was breaking and removing with a +vengeance. However, dame, the upshot is, that poor Bridgenorth is +going to leave the neighbourhood. I am truly sorry for it, though I +never saw him oftener than once a day, and never spoke to him above +two words. But I see how it is--that little shake by the shoulder +sticks in his stomach; and yet, Meg, I did but lift him out of the +saddle as I might have lifted thee into it, Margaret--I was careful +not to hurt him; and I did not think him so tender in point of honour +as to mind such a thing much; but I see plainly where his sore lies; +and I warrant you I will manage that he stays at the Hall, and that +you get back Julian's little companion. Faith, I am sorry myself at +the thought of losing the baby, and of having to choose another ride +when it is not hunting weather, than round by the Hall, with a word at +the window." + +"I should be very glad, Sir Geoffrey," said the Lady Peveril, "that +you could come to a reconciliation with this worthy man, for such I +must hold Master Bridgenorth to be." + +"But for his dissenting principles, as good a neighbour as ever +lived," said Sir Geoffrey. + +"But I scarce see," continued the lady, "any possibility of bringing +about a conclusion so desirable." + +"Tush, dame," answered the Knight, "thou knowest little of such +matters. I know the foot he halts upon, and you shall see him go as +sound as ever." + +Lady Peveril had, from her sincere affection and sound sense, as good +a right to claim the full confidence of her husband, as any woman in +Derbyshire; and, upon this occasion, to confess the truth, she had +more anxiety to know his purpose than her sense of their mutual and +separate duties permitted her in general to entertain. She could not +imagine what mode of reconciliation with his neighbour, Sir Geoffrey +(no very acute judge of mankind or their peculiarities) could have +devised, which might not be disclosed to her; and she felt some secret +anxiety lest the means resorted to might be so ill chosen as to render +the breach rather wider. But Sir Geoffrey would give no opening for +farther inquiry. He had been long enough colonel of a regiment abroad, +to value himself on the right of absolute command at home; and to all +the hints which his lady's ingenuity could devise and throw out, he +only answered, "Patience, Dame Margaret, patience. This is no case for +thy handling. Thou shalt know enough on't by-and-by, dame.--Go, look +to Julian. Will the boy never have done crying for lack of that little +sprout of a Roundhead? But we will have little Alice back with us in +two or three days, and all will be well again." + +As the good Knight spoke these words, a post winded his horn in the +court, and a large packet was brought in, addressed to the worshipful +Sir Geoffrey Peveril, Justice of the Peace, and so forth; for he had +been placed in authority as soon as the King's Restoration was put +upon a settled basis. Upon opening the packet, which he did with no +small feeling of importance, he found that it contained the warrant +which he had solicited for replacing Doctor Dummerar in the parish, +from which he had been forcibly ejected during the usurpation. + +Few incidents could have given more delight to Sir Geoffrey. He could +forgive a stout able-bodied sectary or nonconformist, who enforced his +doctrines in the field by downright blows on the casques and cuirasses +of himself and other Cavaliers. But he remembered with most vindictive +accuracy, the triumphant entrance of Hugh Peters through the breach of +his Castle; and for his sake, without nicely distinguishing betwixt +sects or their teachers, he held all who mounted a pulpit without +warrant from the Church of England--perhaps he might also in private +except that of Rome--to be disturbers of the public tranquillity-- +seducers of the congregation from their lawful preachers--instigators +of the late Civil War--and men well disposed to risk the fate of a new +one. + +Then, on the other hand, besides gratifying his dislike to Solsgrace, +he saw much satisfaction in the task of replacing his old friend and +associate in sport and in danger, the worthy Doctor Dummerar, in his +legitimate rights and in the ease and comforts of his vicarage. He +communicated the contents of the packet, with great triumph, to the +lady, who now perceived the sense of the mysterious paragraph in Major +Bridgenorth's letter, concerning the removal of the candlestick, and +the extinction of light and doctrine in the land. She pointed this out +to Sir Geoffrey, and endeavoured to persuade him that a door was now +opened to reconciliation with his neighbour, by executing the +commission which he had received in an easy and moderate manner, after +due delay, and with all respect to the feelings both of Solsgrace and +his congregation, which circumstances admitted of. This, the lady +argued, would be doing no injury whatever to Doctor Dummerar;--nay, +might be the means of reconciling many to his ministry, who might +otherwise be disgusted with it for ever, by the premature expulsion of +a favourite preacher. + +There was much wisdom, as well as moderation, in this advice; and, at +another time, Sir Geoffrey would have sense enough to have adopted it. +But who can act composedly or prudently in the hour of triumph? The +ejection of Mr. Solsgrace was so hastily executed, as to give it some +appearance of persecution; though, more justly considered, it was the +restoring of his predecessor to his legal rights. Solsgrace himself +seemed to be desirous to make his sufferings as manifest as possible. +He held out to the last; and on the Sabbath after he had received +intimation of his ejection, attempted to make his way to the pulpit, +as usual, supported by Master Bridgenorth's attorney, Win-the-Fight, +and a few zealous followers. + +Just as their party came into the churchyard on the one side, Doctor +Dummerar, dressed in full pontificals, in a sort of triumphal +procession accompanied by Peveril of the Peak, Sir Jasper Cranbourne, +and other Cavaliers of distinction, entered at the other. + +To prevent an actual struggle in the church, the parish officers were +sent to prevent the farther approach of the Presbyterian minister; +which was effected without farther damage than a broken head, +inflicted by Roger Raine, the drunken innkeeper of the Peveril Arms, +upon the Presbyterian attorney of Chesterfield. + +Unsubdued in spirit, though compelled to retreat by superior force, +the undaunted Mr. Solsgrace retired to the vicarage; where under some +legal pretext which had been started by Mr. Win-the-Fight (in that day +unaptly named), he attempted to maintain himself--bolted gates--barred +windows--and, as report said (though falsely), made provision of fire- +arms to resist the officers. A scene of clamour and scandal +accordingly took place, which being reported to Sir Geoffrey, he came +in person, with some of his attendants carrying arms--forced the +outer-gate and inner-doors of the house; and proceeding to the study, +found no other garrison save the Presbyterian parson, with the +attorney, who gave up possession of the premises, after making +protestation against the violence that had been used. + +The rabble of the village being by this time all in motion, Sir +Geoffrey, both in prudence and good-nature, saw the propriety of +escorting his prisoners, for so they might be termed, safely through +the tumult; and accordingly conveyed them in person, through much +noise and clamour, as far as the avenue of Moultrassie Hall, which +they chose for the place of their retreat. + +But the absence of Sir Geoffrey gave the rein to some disorders, +which, if present, he would assuredly have restrained. Some of the +minister's books were torn and flung about as treasonable and +seditious trash, by the zealous parish-officers or their assistants. A +quantity of his ale was drunk up in healths to the King and Peveril of +the Peak. And, finally, the boys, who bore the ex-parson no good-will +for his tyrannical interference with their games at skittles, foot- +ball, and so forth, and, moreover, remembered the unmerciful length of +his sermons, dressed up an effigy with his Geneva gown and band, and +his steeple-crowned hat, which they paraded through the village, and +burned on the spot whilom occupied by a stately Maypole, which +Solsgrace had formerly hewed down with his own reverend hands. + +Sir Geoffrey was vexed at all this and sent to Mr. Solsgrace, offering +satisfaction for the goods which he had lost; but the Calvinistical +divine replied, "From a thread to a shoe-latchet, I will not take +anything that is thine. Let the shame of the work of thy hands abide +with thee." + +Considerable scandal, indeed, arose against Sir Geoffrey Peveril as +having proceeded with indecent severity and haste upon this occasion; +and rumour took care to make the usual additions to the reality. It +was currently reported, that the desperate Cavalier, Peveril of the +Peak, had fallen on a Presbyterian congregation, while engaged in the +peaceable exercise of religion, with a band of armed men--had slain +some, desperately wounded many more, and finally pursued the preacher +to his vicarage which he burned to the ground. Some alleged the +clergyman had perished in the flames; and the most mitigated report +bore, that he had only been able to escape by disposing his gown, cap, +and band, near a window, in such a manner as to deceive them with the +idea of his person being still surrounded by flames, while he himself +fled by the back part of the house. And although few people believed +in the extent of the atrocities thus imputed to our honest Cavalier, +yet still enough of obloquy attached to him to infer very serious +consequences, as the reader will learn at a future period of our +history. + + + + CHAPTER IX + + /Bessus/.--'Tis a challenge, sir, is it not? + /Gentleman/.--'Tis an inviting to the field. + --King and No King. + +For a day or two after this forcible expulsion from the vicarage, Mr. +Solsgrace continued his residence at Moultrassie Hall, where the +natural melancholy attendant on his situation added to the gloom of +the owner of the mansion. In the morning, the ejected divine made +excursions to different families in the neighbourhood, to whom his +ministry had been acceptable in the days of his prosperity, and from +whose grateful recollections of that period he now found sympathy and +consolation. He did not require to be condoled with, because he was +deprived of an easy and competent maintenance, and thrust out upon the +common of life, after he had reason to suppose he would be no longer +liable to such mutations of fortune. The piety of Mr. Solsgrace was +sincere; and if he had many of the uncharitable prejudices against +other sects, which polemical controversy had generated, and the Civil +War brought to a head, he had also that deep sense of duty, by which +enthusiasm is so often dignified, and held his very life little, if +called upon to lay it down in attestation of the doctrines in which he +believed. But he was soon to prepare for leaving the district which +Heaven, he conceived, had assigned to him as his corner of the +vineyard; he was to abandon his flock to the wolf--was to forsake +those with whom he had held sweet counsel in religious communion--was +to leave the recently converted to relapse into false doctrines, and +forsake the wavering, whom his continued cares might have directed +into the right path,--these were of themselves deep causes of sorrow, +and were aggravated, doubtless, by those natural feelings with which +all men, especially those whose duties or habits have confined them to +a limited circle, regard the separation from wonted scenes, and their +accustomed haunts of solitary musing, or social intercourse. + +There was, indeed, a plan of placing Mr. Solsgrace at the head of a +nonconforming congregation in his present parish, which his followers +would have readily consented to endow with a sufficient revenue. But +although the act for universal conformity was not yet passed, such a +measure was understood to be impending, and there existed a general +opinion among the Presbyterians, that in no hands was it likely to be +more strictly enforced, than in those of Peveril of the Peak. +Solsgrace himself considered not only his personal danger as being +considerable,--for, assuming perhaps more consequence than was +actually attached to him or his productions, he conceived the honest +Knight to be his mortal and determined enemy,--but he also conceived +that he should serve the cause of his Church by absenting himself from +Derbyshire. + +"Less known pastors," he said, "though perhaps more worthy of the +name, may be permitted to assemble the scattered flocks in caverns or +in secret wilds, and to them shall the gleaning of the grapes of +Ephraim be better than the vintage of Abiezer. But I, that have so +often carried the banner forth against the mighty--I, whose tongue +hath testified, morning and evening, like the watchman upon the tower, +against Popery, Prelacy, and the tyrant of the Peak--for me to abide +here, were but to bring the sword of bloody vengeance amongst you, +that the shepherd might be smitten, and the sheep scattered. The +shedders of blood have already assailed me, even within that ground +which they themselves call consecrated; and yourselves have seen the +scalp of the righteous broken, as he defended my cause. Therefore, I +will put on my sandals, and gird my loins, and depart to a far +country, and there do as my duty shall call upon me, whether it be to +act or to suffer--to bear testimony at the stake or in the pulpit." + +Such were the sentiments which Mr. Solsgrace expressed to his +desponding friends, and which he expatiated upon at more length with +Major Bridgenorth; not failing, with friendly zeal, to rebuke the +haste which the latter had shown to thrust out the hand of fellowship +to the Amalekite woman, whereby he reminded him, "He had been rendered +her slave and bondsman for a season, like Samson, betrayed by Delilah, +and might have remained longer in the house of Dagon, had not Heaven +pointed to him a way out of the snare. Also, it sprung originally from +the Major's going up to feast in the high place of Baal, that he who +was the champion of the truth was stricken down, and put to shame by +the enemy, even in the presence of the host." + +These objurgations seeming to give some offence to Major Bridgenorth, +who liked, no better than any other man, to hear of his own mishaps, +and at the same time to have them imputed to his own misconduct, the +worthy divine proceeded to take shame to himself for his own sinful +compliance in that matter; for to the vengeance justly due for that +unhappy dinner at Martindale Castle (which was, he said, a crying of +peace when there was no peace, and a dwelling in the tents of sin), he +imputed his ejection from his living, with the destruction of some of +his most pithy and highly prized volumes of divinity, with the loss of +his cap, gown, and band, and a double hogshead of choice Derby ale. + +The mind of Major Bridgenorth was strongly tinged with devotional +feeling, which his late misfortunes had rendered more deep and solemn; +and it is therefore no wonder, that, when he heard these arguments +urged again and again, by a pastor whom he so much respected, and who +was now a confessor in the cause of their joint faith, he began to +look back with disapproval on his own conduct, and to suspect that he +had permitted himself to be seduced by gratitude towards Lady Peveril, +and by her special arguments in favour of a mutual and tolerating +liberality of sentiments, into an action which had a tendency to +compromise his religious and political principles. + +One morning, as Major Bridgenorth had wearied himself with several +details respecting the arrangement of his affairs, he was reposing in +the leathern easy-chair, beside the latticed window, a posture which, +by natural association, recalled to him the memory of former times, +and the feelings with which he was wont to expect the recurring visit +of Sir Geoffrey, who brought him news of his child's welfare,-- +"Surely," he said, thinking, as it were, aloud, "there was no sin in +the kindness with which I then regarded that man." + +Solsgrace, who was in the apartment, and guessed what passed through +his friend's mind, acquainted as he was with every point of his +history, replied--"When God caused Elijah to be fed by ravens, while +hiding at the brook Cherith, we hear not of his fondling the unclean +birds, whom, contrary to their ravening nature, a miracle compelled to +minister to him." + +"It may be so," answered Bridgenorth, "yet the flap of their wings +must have been gracious in the ear of the famished prophet, like the +tread of his horse in mine. The ravens, doubtless, resumed their +nature when the season was passed, and even so it has fared with +him.--Hark!" he exclaimed, starting, "I hear his horse's hoof tramp +even now." + +It was seldom that the echoes of that silent house and courtyard were +awakened by the trampling of horses, but such was now the case. + +Both Bridgenorth and Solsgrace were surprised at the sound, and even +disposed to anticipate some farther oppression on the part of the +government, when the Major's old servant introduced, with little +ceremony (for his manners were nearly as plain as his master's), a +tall gentleman on the farther side of middle life, whose vest and +cloak, long hair, slouched hat and drooping feather, announced him as +a Cavalier. He bowed formally, but courteously, to both gentlemen, and +said, that he was "Sir Jasper Cranbourne, charged with an especial +message to Master Ralph Bridgenorth of Moultrassie Hall, by his +honourable friend Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak, and that he +requested to know whether Master Bridgenorth would be pleased to +receive his acquittal of commission here or elsewhere." + +"Anything which Sir Geoffrey Peveril can have to say to me," said +Major Bridgenorth, "may be told instantly, and before my friend, from +whom I have no secrets." + +"The presence of any other friend were, instead of being +objectionable, the thing in the world most to be desired," said Sir +Jasper, after a moment's hesitation, and looking at Mr. Solsgrace; +"but this gentleman seems to be a sort of clergyman." + +"I am not conscious of any secrets," answered Bridgenorth, "nor do I +desire to have any, in which a clergyman is unfitting confidant." + +"At your pleasure," replied Sir Jasper. "The confidence, for aught I +know, may be well enough chosen, for your divines (always under your +favour) have proved no enemies to such matters as I am to treat with +you upon." + +"Proceed, sir," answered Mr. Bridgenorth gravely; "and I pray you to +be seated, unless it is rather your pleasure to stand." + +"I must, in the first place, deliver myself of my small commission," +answered Sir Jasper, drawing himself up; "and it will be after I have +seen the reception thereof, that I shall know whether I am, or am not, +to sit down at Moultrassie Hall.--Sir Geoffrey Peveril, Master +Bridgenorth, hath carefully considered with himself the unhappy +circumstances which at present separate you as neighbours. And he +remembers many passages in former times--I speak his very words--which +incline him to do all that can possibly consist with his honour, to +wipe out unkindness between you; and for this desirable object, he is +willing to condescend in a degree, which, as you could not have +expected, it will no doubt give you great pleasure to learn." + +"Allow me to say, Sir Jasper," said Bridgenorth, "that this is +unnecessary. I have made no complaints of Sir Geoffrey--I have +required no submission from him--I am about to leave this country; and +what affairs we may have together, can be as well settled by others as +by ourselves." + +"In a word," said the divine, "the worthy Major Bridgenorth hath had +enough of trafficking with the ungodly, and will no longer, on any +terms, consort with them." + +"Gentleman both," said Sir Jasper, with imperturbable politeness, +bowing, "you greatly mistake the tenor of my commission, which you +will do as well to hear out, before making any reply to it.--I think, +Master Bridgenorth, you cannot but remember your letter to the Lady +Peveril, of which I have here a rough copy, in which you complain of +the hard measure which you have received at Sir Geoffrey's hand, and, +in particular, when he pulled you from your horse at or near Hartley- +nick. Now, Sir Geoffrey thinks so well of you, as to believe, that, +were it not for the wide difference betwixt his descent and rank and +your own, you would have sought to bring this matter to a gentleman- +like arbitrament, as the only mode whereby your stain may be +honourably wiped away. Wherefore, in this slight note, he gives you, +in his generosity, the offer of what you, in your modesty (for to +nothing else does he impute your acquiescence), have declined to +demand of him. And withal, I bring you the measure of his weapon; and +when you have accepted the cartel which I now offer you, I shall be +ready to settle the time, place, and other circumstances of your +meeting." + +"And I," said Solsgrace, with a solemn voice, "should the Author of +Evil tempt my friend to accept of so bloodthirsty a proposal, would be +the first to pronounce against him sentence of the greater +excommunication." + +"It is not you whom I address, reverend sir," replied the envoy; "your +interest, not unnaturally, may determine you to be more anxious about +your patron's life than about his honour. I must know, from himself, +to which /he/ is disposed to give the preference." + +So saying, and with a graceful bow, he again tendered the challenge to +Major Bridgenorth. There was obviously a struggle in that gentleman's +bosom, between the suggestions of human honour and those of religious +principle; but the latter prevailed. He calmly waived receiving the +paper which Sir Jasper offered to him, and spoke to the following +purpose:--"It may not be known to you, Sir Jasper, that since the +general pouring out of Christian light upon this kingdom, many solid +men have been led to doubt whether the shedding human blood by the +hand of a fellow-creature be in /any/ respect justifiable. And +although this rule appears to me to be scarcely applicable to our +state in this stage of trial, seeing that such non-resistance, if +general, would surrender our civil and religious rights into the hands +of whatsoever daring tyrants might usurp the same; yet I am, and have +been, inclined to limit the use of carnal arms to the case of +necessary self-defence, whether such regards our own person, or the +protection of our country against invasion; or of our rights of +property, and the freedom of our laws and of our conscience, against +usurping power. And as I have never shown myself unwilling to draw my +sword in any of the latter causes, so you shall excuse my suffering it +now to remain in the scabbard, when, having sustained a grievous +injury, the man who inflicted it summons me to combat, either upon an +idle punctilio, or, as is more likely, in mere bravado." + +"I have heard you with patience," said Sir Jasper; "and now, Master +Bridgenorth, take it not amiss, if I beseech you to bethink yourself +better on this matter. I vow to Heaven, sir, that your honour lies a- +bleeding; and that in condescending to afford you this fair meeting, +and thereby giving you some chance to stop its wounds, Sir Geoffrey +has been moved by a tender sense of your condition, and an earnest +wish to redeem your dishonour. And it will be but the crossing of +your blade with his honoured sword for the space of some few minutes, +and you will either live or die a noble and honoured gentleman. +Besides, that the Knight's exquisite skill of fence may enable him, as +his good-nature will incline him, to disarm you with some flesh wound, +little to the damage of your person, and greatly to the benefit of +your reputation." + +"The tender mercies of the wicked," said Master Solsgrace +emphatically, by way of commenting on this speech, which Sir Jasper +had uttered very pathetically, "are cruel." + +"I pray to have no farther interruption from your reverence," said Sir +Jasper; "especially as I think this affair very little concerns you; +and I entreat that you permit me to discharge myself regularly of my +commission from my worthy friend." + +So saying, he took his sheathed rapier from his belt, and passing the +point through the silk thread which secured the letter, he once more, +and literally at sword point, gracefully tendered it to Major +Bridgenorth who again waved it aside, though colouring deeply at the +same time, as if he was putting a marked constraint upon himself--drew +back, and made Sir Jasper Cranbourne a deep bow. + +"Since it is to be thus," said Sir Jasper, "I must myself do violence +to the seal of Sir Geoffrey's letter, and read it to you, that I may +fully acquit myself of the charge entrusted to me, and make you, +Master Bridgenorth, equally aware of the generous intentions of Sir +Geoffrey on your behalf." + +"If," said Major Bridgenorth, "the contents of the letter be to no +other purpose than you have intimated, methinks farther ceremony is +unnecessary on this occasion, as I have already taken my course." + +"Nevertheless," said Sir Jasper, breaking open the letter, "it is +fitting that I read to you the letter of my worshipful friend." And he +read accordingly as follows:-- + + + "/For the worthy hands of Ralph Bridgenorth, Esquire, of + Moultrassie Hall--These:/ + + "By the honoured conveyance of the Worshipful Sir Jasper + Cranbourne, Knight, of Long-Mallington. + + "Master Bridgenorth,--We have been given to understand by your + letter to our loving wife, Dame Margaret Peveril, that you hold + hard construction of certain passages betwixt you and I, of a late + date, as if your honour should have been, in some sort, prejudiced + by what then took place. And although you have not thought it fit + to have direct recourse to me, to request such satisfaction as is + due from one gentleman of condition to another, yet I am fully + minded that this proceeds only from modesty, arising out of the + distinction of our degree, and from no lack of that courage which + you have heretofore displayed, I would I could say in a good + cause. Wherefore I am purposed to give you, by my friend, Sir + Jasper Cranbourne, a meeting, for the sake of doing that which + doubtless you entirely long for. Sir Jasper will deliver you the + length of my weapon, and appoint circumstances and an hour for our + meeting; which, whether early or late--on foot or horseback--with + rapier or backsword--I refer to yourself, with all the other + privileges of a challenged person; only desiring, that if you + decline to match my weapon, you will send me forthwith the length + and breadth of your own. And nothing doubting that the issue of + this meeting must needs be to end, in one way or other, all + unkindness betwixt two near neighbours,--I remain, your humble + servant to command, + "Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak. + + "Given from my poor house of Martindale Castle, this same ____ of + ____, sixteen hundred and sixty." + + +"Bear back my respects to Sir Geoffrey Peveril," said Major +Bridgenorth. "According to his light, his meaning may be fair towards +me; but tell him that our quarrel had its rise in his own wilful +aggression towards me; and that though I wish to be in charity with +all mankind, I am not so wedded to his friendship as to break the laws +of God, and run the risk of suffering or committing murder, in order +to regain it. And for you, sir, methinks your advanced years and past +misfortunes might teach you the folly of coming on such idle errands." + +"I shall do your message, Master Ralph Bridgenorth," said Sir Jasper; +"and shall then endeavour to forget your name, as a sound unfit to be +pronounced, or even remembered, by a man of honour. In the meanwhile, +in return for your uncivil advice, be pleased to accept of mine; +namely, that as your religion prevents your giving a gentleman +satisfaction, it ought to make you very cautious of offering him +provocation." + +So saying, and with a look of haughty scorn, first at the Major, and +then at the divine, the envoy of Sir Geoffrey put his hat on his head, +replaced his rapier in its belt, and left the apartment. In a few +minutes afterwards, the tread of his horse died away at a considerable +distance. + +Bridgenorth had held his hand upon his brow ever since his departure, +and a tear of anger and shame was on his face as he raised it when the +sound was heard no more. "He carries this answer to Martindale +Castle," he said. "Men will hereafter think of me as a whipped, +beaten, dishonourable fellow, whom every one may baffle and insult at +their pleasure. It is well I am leaving the house of my father." + +Master Solsgrace approached his friend with much sympathy, and grasped +him by the hand. "Noble brother," he said, with unwonted kindness of +manner, "though a man of peace, I can judge what this sacrifice hath +cost to thy manly spirit. But God will not have from us an imperfect +obedience. We must not, like Ananias and Sapphira, reserve behind some +darling lust, some favourite sin, while we pretend to make sacrifice +of our worldly affections. What avails it to say that we have but +secreted a little matter, if the slightest remnant of the accursed +thing remain hidden in our tent? Would it be a defence in thy prayers +to say, I have not murdered this man for the lucre of gain, like a +robber--nor for the acquisition of power, like a tyrant,--nor for the +gratification of revenge, like a darkened savage; but because the +imperious voice of worldly honour said, 'Go forth--kill or be killed-- +is it not I that have sent thee?' Bethink thee, my worthy friend, how +thou couldst frame such a vindication in thy prayers; and if thou art +forced to tremble at the blasphemy of such an excuse, remember in thy +prayers the thanks due to Heaven, which enabled thee to resist the +strong temptation." + +"Reverend and dear friend," answered Bridgenorth, "I feel that you +speak the truth. Bitterer, indeed, and harder, to the old Adam, is the +text which ordains him to suffer shame, than that which bids him to do +valiantly for the truth. But happy am I that my path through the +wilderness of this world will, for some space at least, be along with +one, whose zeal and friendship are so active to support me when I am +fainting in the way." + +While the inhabitants of Moultrassie Hall thus communicated together +upon the purport of Sir Jasper Cranbourne's visit, that worthy knight +greatly excited the surprise of Sir Geoffrey Peveril, by reporting the +manner in which his embassy had been received. + +"I took him for a man of other metal," said Sir Geoffrey;--"nay, I +would have sworn it, had any one asked my testimony. But there is no +making a silken purse out of a sow's ear. I have done a folly for him +that I will never do for another: and that is, to think a Presbyterian +would fight without his preacher's permission. Give them a two hours' +sermon, and let them howl a psalm to a tune that is worse than the +cries of a flogged hound, and the villains will lay on like threshers; +but for a calm, cool, gentleman-like turn upon the sod, hand to hand, +in a neighbourly way, they have not honour enough to undertake it. But +enough of our crop-eared cur of a neighbour.--Sir Jasper, you will +tarry with us to dine, and see how Dame Margaret's kitchen smokes; and +after dinner I will show you a long-winged falcon fly. She is not +mine, but the Countess's, who brought her from London on her fist +almost the whole way, for all the haste she was in, and left her with +me to keep the perch for a season." + +This match was soon arranged, and Dame Margaret overheard the good +Knight's resentment mutter itself off, with those feelings with which +we listen to the last growling of the thunderstorm; which, as the +black cloud sinks beneath the hill, at once assures us that there has +been danger, and that the peril is over. She could not, indeed, but +marvel in her own mind at the singular path of reconciliation with his +neighbour which her husband had, with so much confidence, and in the +actual sincerity of his goodwill to Mr. Bridgenorth, attempted to +open; and she blessed God internally that it had not terminated in +bloodshed. But these reflections she locked carefully within her own +bosom, well knowing that they referred to subjects in which the Knight +of the Peak would neither permit his sagacity to be called in +question, nor his will to be controlled. + +The progress of the history hath hitherto been slow; but after this +period so little matter worth of mark occurred at Martindale, that we +must hurry over hastily the transactions of several years. + + + + CHAPTER X + + /Cleopatra./--Give me to drink mandragora, + That I may sleep away this gap of time. + --Antony and Cleopatra. + +There passed, as we hinted at the conclusion of the last chapter, four +or five years after the period we have dilated upon; the events of +which scarcely require to be discussed, so far as our present purpose +is concerned, in as many lines. The Knight and his Lady continued to +reside at their Castle--she, with prudence and with patience, +endeavouring to repair the damages which the Civil Wars had inflicted +upon their fortune; and murmuring a little when her plans of economy +were interrupted by the liberal hospitality, which was her husband's +principal expense, and to which he was attached, not only from his own +English heartiness of disposition, but from ideas of maintaining the +dignity of his ancestry--no less remarkable, according to the +tradition of their buttery, kitchen, and cellar, for the fat beeves +which they roasted, and the mighty ale which they brewed, than for +their extensive estates, and the number of their retainers. + +The world, however, upon the whole, went happily and easily with the +worthy couple. Sir Geoffrey's debt to his neighbour Bridgenorth +continued, it is true, unabated; but he was the only creditor upon the +Martindale estate--all others being paid off. It would have been most +desirable that this encumbrance also should be cleared, and it was the +great object of Dame Margaret's economy to effect the discharge; for +although interest was regularly settled with Master Win-the-Fight, the +Chesterfield attorney, yet the principal sum, which was a large one, +might be called for at an inconvenient time. The man, too, was gloomy, +important, and mysterious, and always seemed as if he was thinking +upon his broken head in the churchyard of Martindale-cum-Moultrassie. + +Dame Margaret sometimes transacted the necessary business with him in +person; and when he came to the Castle on these occasions, she thought +she saw a malicious and disobliging expression in his manner and +countenance. Yet his actual conduct was not only fair, but liberal; +for indulgence was given, in the way of delay of payment, whenever +circumstances rendered it necessary to the debtor to require it. It +seemed to Lady Peveril that the agent, in such cases, was acting under +the strict orders of his absent employer, concerning whose welfare she +could not help feeling a certain anxiety. + +Shortly after the failure of the singular negotiation for attaining +peace by combat, which Peveril had attempted to open with Major +Bridgenorth, that gentleman left his seat of Moultrassie Hall in the +care of his old housekeeper, and departed, no one knew whither, having +in company with him his daughter Alice and Mrs. Deborah Debbitch, now +formally installed in all the duties of a governante; to these was +added the Reverend Master Solsgrace. For some time public rumour +persisted in asserting, that Major Bridgenorth had only retreated to a +distant part of the country for a season, to achieve his supposed +purpose of marrying Mrs. Deborah, and of letting the news be cold, and +the laugh of the neighbourhood be ended, ere he brought her down as +mistress of Moultrassie Hall. This rumour died away; and it was then +affirmed, that he had removed to foreign parts, to ensure the +continuance of health in so delicate a constitution as that of little +Alice. But when the Major's dread of Popery was remembered, together +with the still deeper antipathies of worthy Master Nehemiah Solsgrace, +it was resolved unanimously, that nothing less than what they might +deem a fair chance of converting the Pope would have induced the +parties to trust themselves within Catholic dominions. The most +prevailing opinion was, that they had gone to New England, the refuge +then of many whom too intimate concern with the affairs of the late +times, or the desire of enjoying uncontrolled freedom of conscience, +had induced to emigrate from Britain. + +Lady Peveril could not help entertaining a vague idea, that +Bridgenorth was not so distant. The extreme order in which everything +was maintained at Moultrassie Hall, seemed--no disparagement to the +care of Dame Dickens the housekeeper, and the other persons engaged-- +to argue, that the master's eye was not so very far off, but that its +occasional inspection might be apprehended. It is true, that neither +the domestics nor the attorney answered any questions respecting the +residence of Master Bridgenorth; but there was an air of mystery about +them when interrogated, that seemed to argue more than met the ear. + +About five years after Master Bridgenorth had left the country, a +singular incident took place. Sir Geoffrey was absent at the +Chesterfield races, and Lady Peveril, who was in the habit of walking +around every part of the neighbourhood unattended, or only accompanied +by Ellesmere, or her little boy, had gone down one evening upon a +charitable errand to a solitary hut, whose inhabitant lay sick of a +fever, which was supposed to be infectious. Lady Peveril never allowed +apprehensions of this kind to stop "devoted charitable deeds;" but she +did not choose to expose either her son or her attendant to the risk +which she herself, in some confidence that she knew precautions for +escaping the danger, did not hesitate to incur. + +Lady Peveril had set out at a late hour in the evening, and the way +proved longer than she expected--several circumstances also occurred +to detain her at the hut of her patient. It was a broad autumn +moonlight, when she prepared to return homeward through the broken +glades and upland which divided her from the Castle. This she +considered as a matter of very little importance, in so quiet and +sequestered a country, where the road lay chiefly through her own +domains, especially as she had a lad about fifteen years old, the son +of her patient, to escort her on the way. The distance was better than +two miles, but might be considerably abridged by passing through an +avenue belonging to the estate of Moultrassie Hall, which she had +avoided as she came, not from the ridiculous rumours which pronounced +it to be haunted, but because her husband was much displeased when any +attempt was made to render the walks of the Castle and Hall common to +the inhabitants of both. The good lady, in consideration, perhaps, of +extensive latitude allowed to her in the more important concerns of +the family, made a point of never interfering with her husband's whims +or prejudices; and it is a compromise which we would heartily +recommend to all managing matrons of our acquaintance; for it is +surprising how much real power will be cheerfully resigned to the fair +sex, for the pleasure of being allowed to ride one's hobby in peace +and quiet. + +Upon the present occasion, however, although the Dobby's Walk[*] was +within the inhabited domains of the Hall, the Lady Peveril determined +to avail herself of it, for the purpose of shortening her road home, +and she directed her steps accordingly. But when the peasant-boy, her +companion, who had hitherto followed her, whistling cheerily, with a +hedge-bill in his hand, and his hat on one side, perceived that she +turned to the stile which entered to the Dobby's Walk, he showed +symptoms of great fear, and at length coming to the lady's side, +petitioned her, in a whimpering tone,--"Don't ye now--don't ye now, +my lady, don't ye go yonder." + +[*] Dobby, an old English name for goblin. + +Lady Peveril, observing that his teeth chattered in his head, and that +his whole person exhibited great signs of terror, began to recollect +the report, that the first Squire of Moultrassie, the brewer of +Chesterfield, who had brought the estate, and then died of melancholy +for lack of something to do (and, as was said, not without suspicions +of suicide), was supposed to walk in this sequestered avenue, +accompanied by a large headless mastiff, which, when he was alive, was +a particular favourite of the ex-brewer. To have expected any +protection from her escort, in the condition to which superstitious +fear had reduced him, would have been truly a hopeless trust; and Lady +Peveril, who was not apprehensive of any danger, thought there would +be great cruelty in dragging the cowardly boy into a scene which he +regarded with so much apprehension. She gave him, therefore, a silver +piece, and permitted him to return. The latter boon seemed even more +acceptable than the first; for ere she could return the purse into her +pocket, she heard the wooden clogs of her bold convoy in full retreat, +by the way from whence they came. + +Smiling within herself at the fear she esteemed so ludicrous, Lady +Peveril ascended the stile, and was soon hidden from the broad light +of the moonbeams, by the numerous and entangled boughs of the huge +elms, which, meeting from either side, totally overarched the old +avenue. The scene was calculated to excite solemn thoughts; and the +distant glimmer of a light from one of the numerous casements in the +front of Moultrassie Hall, which lay at some distance, was calculated +to make them even melancholy. She thought of the fate of that family-- +of the deceased Mrs. Bridgenorth, with whom she had often walked in +this very avenue, and who, though a woman of no high parts or +accomplishments, had always testified the deepest respect, and the +most earnest gratitude, for such notice as she had shown to her. +She thought of her blighted hopes--her premature death--the despair of +her self-banished husband--the uncertain fate of their orphan child, +for whom she felt, even at this distance of time, some touch of a +mother's affection. + +Upon such sad subjects her thoughts were turned, when, just as she +attained the middle of the avenue, the imperfect and checkered light +which found its way through the silvan archway, showed her something +which resembled the figure of a man. Lady Peveril paused a moment, but +instantly advanced;--her bosom, perhaps, gave one startled throb, as a +debt to the superstitious belief of the times, but she instantly +repelled the thought of supernatural appearances. From those that were +merely mortal, she had nothing to fear. A marauder on the game was the +worst character whom she was likely to encounter; and he would be sure +to hide himself from her observation. She advanced, accordingly, +steadily; and, as she did so, had the satisfaction to observe that the +figure, as she expected, gave place to her, and glided away amongst +the trees on the left-hand side of the avenue. As she passed the spot +on which the form had been so lately visible, and bethought herself +that this wanderer of the night might, nay must, be in her vicinity, +her resolution could not prevent her mending her pace, and that with +so little precaution, that, stumbling over the limb of a tree, which, +twisted off by a late tempest, still lay in the avenue, she fell, and, +as she fell, screamed aloud. A strong hand in a moment afterwards +added to her fears by assisting her to rise, and a voice, to whose +accents she was not a stranger, though they had been long unheard, +said, "Is it not you, Lady Peveril?" + +"It is I," said she, commanding her astonishment and fear; "and if my +ear deceive me not, I speak to Master Bridgenorth." + +"I was that man," said he, "while oppression left me a name." + +He spoke nothing more, but continued to walk beside her for a minute +or two in silence. She felt her situation embarrassing; and to divest +it of that feeling, as well as out of real interest in the question, +she asked him, "How her god-daughter Alice now was?" + +"Of god-daughter, madam," answered Major Bridgenorth, "I know nothing; +that being one of the names which have been introduced, to the +corruption and pollution of God's ordinances. The infant who owed to +your ladyship (so called) her escape from disease and death, is a +healthy and thriving girl, as I am given to understand by those in +whose charge she is lodged, for I have not lately seen her. And it is +even the recollection of these passages, which in a manner impelled +me, alarmed also by your fall, to offer myself to you at this time and +mode, which in other respects is no way consistent with my present +safety." + +"With your safety, Master Bridgenorth?" said the Lady Peveril; +"surely, I could never have thought that it was in danger!" + +"You have some news, then, yet to learn, madam," said Major +Bridgenorth; "but you will hear in the course of tomorrow, reasons why +I dare not appear openly in the neighbourhood of my own property, and +wherefore there is small judgment in committing the knowledge of my +present residence to any one connected with Martindale Castle." + +"Master Bridgenorth," said the lady, "you were in former times prudent +and cautious--I hope you have been misled by no hasty impression--by +no rash scheme--I hope----" + +"Pardon my interrupting you, madam," said Bridgenorth. "I have indeed +been changed--ay, my very heart within me hath been changed. In the +times to which your ladyship (so called) thinks proper to refer, I was +a man of this world--bestowing on it all my thoughts--all my actions, +save formal observances--little deeming what was the duty of a +Christian man, and how far his self-denial ought to extend--even unto +his giving all as if he gave nothing. Hence I thought chiefly on +carnal things--on the adding of field to field, and wealth to wealth-- +of balancing between party and party--securing a friend here, without +losing a friend there--But Heaven smote me for my apostasy, the rather +that I abused the name of religion, as a self-seeker, and a most +blinded and carnal will-worshipper--But I thank Him who hath at length +brought me out of Egypt." + +In our day--although we have many instances of enthusiasm among us--we +might still suspect one who avowed it thus suddenly and broadly of +hypocrisy, or of insanity; but according to the fashion of the times, +such opinions as those which Bridgenorth expressed were openly +pleaded, as the ruling motives of men's actions. The sagacious Vane-- +the brave and skilful Harrison--were men who acted avowedly under the +influence of such. Lady Peveril, therefore, was more grieved than +surprised at the language she heard Major Bridgenorth use, and +reasonably concluded that the society and circumstances in which he +might lately have been engaged, had blown into a flame the spark of +eccentricity which always smouldered in his bosom. This was the more +probable, considering that he was melancholy by constitution and +descent--that he had been unfortunate in several particulars--and that +no passion is more easily nursed by indulgence, than the species of +enthusiasm of which he now showed tokens. She therefore answered him +by calmly hoping, "That the expression of his sentiments had not +involved him in suspicion or in danger." + +"In suspicion, madam?" answered the Major;--"for I cannot forbear +giving to you, such is the strength of habit, one of those idle titles +by which we poor potsherds are wont, in our pride, to denominate each +other--I walk not only in suspicion, but in that degree of danger, +that, were your husband to meet me at this instant--me, a native +Englishman, treading on my own lands--I have no doubt he would do his +best to offer me to the Moloch of Roman superstition, who now rages +abroad for victims among God's people." + +"You surprise me by your language, Major Bridgenorth," said the lady, +who now felt rather anxious to be relieved from his company, and with +that purpose walked on somewhat hastily. He mended his pace, however, +and kept close by her side. + +"Know you not," said he, "that Satan hath come down upon earth with +great wrath, because his time is short? The next heir to the crown is +an avowed Papist; and who dare assert, save sycophants and time- +servers, that he who wears it is not equally ready to stoop to Rome, +were he not kept in awe by a few noble spirits in the Commons' House? +You believe not this--yet in my solitary and midnight walks, when I +thought on your kindness to the dead and to the living, it was my +prayer that I might have the means granted to warn you--and lo! Heaven +hath heard me." + +"What I was while in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of +iniquity, it signifies not to recall," answered he. "I was then like +to Gallio, who cared for none of these things. I doted on creature +comforts--I clung to worldly honour and repute--my thoughts were +earthward--or those I turned to Heaven were cold, formal, pharisaical +meditations--I brought nothing to the altar save straw and stubble. +Heaven saw need to chastise me in love--I was stript of all I clung to +on earth--my worldly honour was torn from me--I went forth an exile +from the home of my fathers, a deprived and desolate man--a baffled, +and beaten, and dishonoured man. But who shall find out the ways of +Providence? Such were the means by which I was chosen forth as a +champion for the truth--holding my life as nothing, if thereby that +may be advanced. But this was not what I wished to speak of. Thou hast +saved the earthly life of my child--let me save the eternal welfare of +yours." + +Lady Peveril was silent. They were now approaching the point where the +avenue terminated in a communication with a public road, or rather +pathway, running through an unenclosed common field; this the lady had +to prosecute for a little way, until a turn of the path gave her +admittance into the Park of Martindale. She now felt sincerely anxious +to be in the open moonshine, and avoided reply to Bridgenorth that she +might make the more haste. But as they reached the junction of the +avenue and the public road, he laid his hand on her arm, and commanded +rather than requested her to stop. She obeyed. He pointed to a huge +oak, of the largest size, which grew on the summit of a knoll in the +open ground which terminated the avenue, and was exactly so placed as +to serve for a termination to the vista. The moonshine without the +avenue was so strong, that, amidst the flood of light which it poured +on the venerable tree, they could easily discover, from the shattered +state of the boughs on one side, that it had suffered damage from +lightning. "Remember you," he said, "when we last looked together on +that tree? I had ridden from London, and brought with me a protection +from the committee for your husband; and as I passed the spot--here on +this spot where we now stand, you stood with my lost Alice--two--the +last two of my beloved infants gambolled before you. I leaped from my +horse--to her I was a husband--to those a father--to you a welcome and +revered protector--What am I now to any one?" He pressed his hand on +his brow, and groaned in agony of spirit. + +It was not in the Lady Peveril's nature to hear sorrow without an +attempt at consolation. "Master Bridgenorth," she said, "I blame no +man's creed, while I believe and follow my own; and I rejoice that in +yours you have sought consolation for temporal afflictions. But does +not every Christian creed teach us alike, that affliction should +soften our heart?" + +"Ay, woman," said Bridgenorth sternly, "as the lightning which +shattered yonder oak hath softened its trunk. No; the seared wood is +the fitter for the use of the workmen--the hardened and the dried-up +heart is that which can best bear the task imposed by these dismal +times. God and man will no longer endure the unbridled profligacy of +the dissolute--the scoffing of the profane--the contempt of the divine +laws--the infraction of human rights. The times demand righters and +avengers, and there will be no want of them." + +"I deny not the existence of much evil," said Lady Peveril, compelling +herself to answer, and beginning at the same time to walk forward; +"and from hearsay, though not, I thank Heaven, from observation, I am +convinced of the wild debauchery of the times. But let us trust it may +be corrected without such violent remedies as you hint at. Surely the +ruin of a second civil war--though I trust your thoughts go not that +dreadful length--were at best a desperate alternative." + +"Sharp, but sure," replied Bridgenorth. "The blood of the Paschal lamb +chased away the destroying angel--the sacrifices offered on the +threshing-floor of Araunah, stayed the pestilence. Fire and sword are +severe remedies, but they pure and purify." + +"Alas! Major Bridgenorth," said the lady, "wise and moderate in your +youth, can you have adopted in your advanced life the thoughts and +language of those whom you yourself beheld drive themselves and the +nation to the brink of ruin?" + +"I know not what I then was--you know not what I now am," he replied, +and suddenly broke off; for they even then came forth into the open +light, and it seemed as if, feeling himself under the lady's eye, he +was disposed to soften his tone and his language. + +At the first distinct view which she had of his person, she was aware +that he was armed with a short sword, a poniard, and pistols at his +belt--precautions very unusual for a man who formerly had seldom, and +only on days of ceremony, carried a walking rapier, though such was +the habitual and constant practice of gentlemen of his station in +life. There seemed also something of more stern determination than +usual in his air, which indeed had always been rather sullen than +affable; and ere she could repress the sentiment, she could not help +saying, "Master Bridgenorth, you are indeed changed." + +"You see but the outward man," he replied; "the change within is yet +deeper. But it was not of myself that I desired to talk--I have +already said, that as you have preserved my child from the darkness of +the grave, I would willingly preserve yours from that more utter +darkness, which, I fear, hath involved the path and walks of his +father." + +"I must not hear this of Sir Geoffrey," said the Lady Peveril; "I must +bid you farewell for the present; and when we again meet at a more +suitable time, I will at least listen to your advice concerning +Julian, although I should not perhaps incline to it." + +"That more suitable time may never come," replied Bridgenorth. "Time +wanes, eternity draws nigh. Hearken! it is said to be your purpose to +send the young Julian to be bred up in yonder bloody island, under the +hand of your kinswoman, that cruel murderess, by whom was done to +death a man more worthy of vital existence than any that she can boast +among her vaunted ancestry. These are current tidings--Are they true?" + +"I do not blame you, Master Bridgenorth, for thinking harshly of my +cousin of Derby," said Lady Peveril; "nor do I altogether vindicate +the rash action of which she hath been guilty. Nevertheless, in her +habitation, it is my husband's opinion and my own, that Julian may be +trained in the studies and accomplishments becoming his rank, along +with the young Earl of Derby." + +"Under the curse of God, and the blessing of the Pope of Rome," said +Bridgenorth. "You, lady, so quick-sighted in matters of earthly +prudence, are you blind to the gigantic pace at which Rome is moving +to regain this country, once the richest gem in her usurped tiara? The +old are seduced by gold--the youth by pleasure--the weak by flattery-- +cowards by fear--and the courageous by ambition. A thousand baits for +each taste, and each bait concealing the same deadly hook." + +"I am well aware, Master Bridgenorth," said Lady Peveril, "that my +kinswoman is a Catholic;[*] but her son is educated in the Church of +England's principles, agreeably to the command of her deceased +husband." + +[*] I have elsewhere noticed that this is a deviation from the truth-- + Charlotte, Countess of Derby, was a Huguenot. + +"Is it likely," answered Bridgenorth, "that she, who fears not +shedding the blood of the righteous, whether on the field or scaffold, +will regard the sanction of her promise when her religion bids her +break it? Or, if she does, what shall your son be the better, if he +remain in the mire of his father? What are your Episcopal tenets but +mere Popery? save that ye have chosen a temporal tyrant for your Pope, +and substitute a mangled mass in English for that which your +predecessors pronounced in Latin.--But why speak I of these things to +one who hath ears, indeed, and eyes, yet cannot see, listen to, or +understand what is alone worthy to be heard, seen, and known? Pity +that what hath been wrought so fair and exquisite in form and +disposition, should be yet blind, deaf, and ignorant, like the things +which perish!" + +"We shall not agree on these subjects, Master Bridgenorth," said the +lady, anxious still to escape from this strange conference, though +scarce knowing what to apprehend; "once more, I must bid you +farewell." + +"Stay yet an instant," he said, again laying his hand on her arm; "I +would stop you if I saw you rushing on the brink of an actual +precipice--let me prevent you from a danger still greater. How shall I +work upon your unbelieving mind? Shall I tell you that the debt of +bloodshed yet remains a debt to be paid by the bloody house of Derby? +And wilt thou send thy son to be among those from whom it shall be +exacted?" + +"You wish to alarm me in vain, Master Bridgenorth," answered the lady; +"what penalty can be exacted from the Countess, for an action, which I +have already called a rash one, has been long since levied." + +"You deceive yourself," retorted he sternly. "Think you a paltry sum +of money, given to be wasted on the debaucheries of Charles, can atone +for the death of such a man as Christian--a man precious alike to +heaven and to earth? Not on such terms is the blood of the righteous +to be poured forth! Every hour's delay is numbered down as adding +interest to the grievous debt, which will one day be required from +that blood-thirsty woman." + +At this moment the distant tread of horses was heard on the road on +which they held this singular dialogue. Bridgenorth listened a moment, +and then said, "Forget that you have seen me--name not my name to your +nearest or dearest--lock my counsel in your breast--profit by it, and +it shall be well with you." + +So saying, he turned from her, and plunging through a gap in the +fence, regained the cover of his own wood, along which the path still +led. + +The noise of horses advancing at full trot now came nearer; and Lady +Peveril was aware of several riders, whose forms rose indistinctly on +the summit of the rising ground behind her. She became also visible to +them; and one or two of the foremost made towards her at increased +speed, challenging her as they advanced with the cry of "Stand! Who +goes there?" The foremost who came up, however, exclaimed, "Mercy on +us, if it be not my lady!" and Lady Peveril, at the same moment, +recognised one of her own servants. Her husband rode up immediately +afterwards, with, "How now, Dame Margaret? What makes you abroad so +far from home and at an hour so late?" + +Lady Peveril mentioned her visit at the cottage, but did not think it +necessary to say aught of having seen Major Bridgenorth; afraid, it +may be, that her husband might be displeased with that incident. + +"Charity is a fine thing and a fair," answered Sir Geoffrey; "but I +must tell you, you do ill, dame, to wander about the country like a +quacksalver, at the call of every old woman who has a colic-fit; and +at this time of night especially, and when the land is so unsettled +besides." + +"I am sorry to hear that it so," said the lady. "I had heard no such +news." + +"News?" repeated Sir Geoffrey, "why, here has a new plot broken out +among the Roundheads, worse than Venner's by a butt's length;[*] and +who should be so deep in it as our old neighbour Bridgenorth? There is +search for him everywhere; and I promise you if he is found, he is +like to pay old scores." + +[*] The celebrated insurrection of the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchy + men in London, in the year 1661. + +"Then I am sure, I trust he will not be found," said Lady Peveril. + +"Do you so?" replied Sir Geoffrey. "Now I, on my part hope that he +will; and it shall not be my fault if he be not; for which effect I +will presently ride down to Moultrassie, and make strict search, +according to my duty; there shall neither rebel nor traitor earth so +near Martindale Castle, that I will assure them. And you, my lady, be +pleased for once to dispense with a pillion, and get up, as you have +done before, behind Saunders, who shall convey you safe home." + +The Lady obeyed in silence; indeed she did not dare to trust her voice +in an attempt to reply, so much was she disconcerted with the +intelligence she had just heard. + +She rode behind the groom to the Castle, where she awaited in great +anxiety the return of her husband. He came back at length; but to her +great relief, without any prisoner. He then explained more fully than +his haste had before permitted, that an express had come down to +Chesterfield, with news from Court of a proposed insurrection amongst +the old Commonwealth men, especially those who had served in the army; +and that Bridgenorth, said to be lurking in Derbyshire, was one of the +principal conspirators. + +After some time, this report of a conspiracy seemed to die away like +many others of that period. The warrants were recalled, but nothing +more was seen or heard of Major Bridgenorth; although it is probable +he might safely enough have shown himself as openly as many did who +lay under the same circumstances of suspicion. + +About this time also, Lady Peveril, with many tears, took a temporary +leave of her son Julian, who was sent, as had long been intended, for +the purpose of sharing the education of the young Earl of Derby. +Although the boding words of Bridgenorth sometimes occurred to Lady +Peveril's mind, she did not suffer them to weigh with her in +opposition to the advantages which the patronage of the Countess of +Derby secured to her son. + +The plan seemed to be in every respect successful; and when, from time +to time, Julian visited the house of his father, Lady Peveril had the +satisfaction to see him, on every occasion, improved in person and in +manner, as well as ardent in the pursuit of more solid acquirements. +In process of time he became a gallant and accomplished youth, and +travelled for some time upon the continent with the young Earl. This +was the more especially necessary for the enlarging of their +acquaintance with the world; because the Countess had never appeared +in London, or at the Court of King Charles, since her flight to the +Isle of Man in 1660; but had resided in solitary and aristocratic +state, alternately on her estates in England and in that island. + +This had given to the education of both the young men, otherwise as +excellent as the best teachers could render it, something of a narrow +and restricted character; but though the disposition of the young Earl +was lighter and more volatile than that of Julian, both the one and +the other had profited, in a considerable degree, by the opportunities +afforded them. It was Lady Derby's strict injunction to her son, now +returning from the continent, that he should not appear at the Court +of Charles. But having been for some time of age, he did not think it +absolutely necessary to obey her in this particular; and had remained +for some time in London, partaking the pleasures of the gay Court +there, with all the ardour of a young man bred up in comparative +seclusion. + +In order to reconcile the Countess to this transgression of her +authority (for he continued to entertain for her the profound respect +in which he had been educated), Lord Derby agreed to make a long +sojourn with her in her favourite island, which he abandoned almost +entirely to her management. + +Julian Peveril had spent at Martindale Castle a good deal of the time +which his friend had bestowed in London; and at the period to which, +passing over many years, our story has arrived, as it were, /per +saltum/, they were both living as the Countess's guests, in the Castle +of Rushin, in the venerable kingdom of Man. + + + + CHAPTER XI + + Mona--long hid from those who roam the main. + --COLLINS. + +The Isle of Man, in the middle of the seventeenth century, was very +different, as a place of residence, from what it is now. Men had not +then discovered its merit as a place of occasional refuge from the +storms of life, and the society to be there met with was of a very +uniform tenor. There were no smart fellows, whom fortune had tumbled +from the seat of their barouches--no plucked pigeons or winged rooks-- +no disappointed speculators--no ruined miners--in short, no one worth +talking to. The society of the island was limited to the natives +themselves, and a few merchants, who lived by contraband trade. The +amusements were rare and monotonous, and the mercurial young Earl was +soon heartily tired of his dominions. The islanders, also, become too +wise for happiness, had lost relish for the harmless and somewhat +childish sports in which their simple ancestors had indulged +themselves. May was no longer ushered in by the imaginary contest +between the Queen of returning winter and advancing spring; the +listeners no longer sympathised with the lively music of the followers +of the one, or the discordant sounds with which the other asserted a +more noisy claim to attention. Christmas, too, closed, and the +steeples no longer jangled forth a dissonant peal. The wren, to seek +for which used to be the sport dedicated to the holytide, was left +unpursued and unslain. Party spirit had come among these simple +people, and destroyed their good humour, while it left them their +ignorance. Even the races, a sport generally interesting to people of +all ranks, were no longer performed, because they were no longer +interesting. The gentlemen were divided by feuds hitherto unknown, and +each seemed to hold it scorn to be pleased with the same diversions +that amused those of the opposite faction. The hearts of both parties +revolted from the recollection of former days, when all was peace +among them, when the Earl of Derby, now slaughtered, used to bestow +the prize, and Christian, since so vindictively executed, started +horses to add to the amusement. + +Julian was seated in the deep recess which led to a latticed window of +the old Castle; and, with his arms crossed, and an air of profound +contemplation, was surveying the long perspective of ocean, which +rolled its successive waves up to the foot of the rock on which the +ancient pile is founded. The Earl was suffering under the infliction +of ennui--now looking into a volume of Homer--now whistling--now +swinging on his chair--now traversing the room--till, at length, his +attention became swallowed up in admiration of the tranquillity of his +companion. + +"King of Men!" he said, repeating the favourite epithet by which Homer +describes Agamemnon,--"I trust, for the old Greek's sake, he had a +merrier office than being King of Man--Most philosophical Julian, will +nothing rouse thee--not even a bad pun on my own royal dignity?" + +"I wish you would be a little more the King in Man," said Julian, +starting from his reverie, "and then you would find more amusement in +your dominions." + +"What! dethrone that royal Semiramis my mother," said the young lord, +"who has as much pleasure in playing Queen as if she were a real +Sovereign?--I wonder you can give me such counsel." + +"Your mother, as you well know, my dear Derby, would be delighted, did +you take any interest in the affairs of the island." + +"Ay, truly, she would permit me to be King; but she would choose to +remain Viceroy over me. Why, she would only gain a subject the more, +by my converting my spare time, which is so very valuable to me, to +the cares of royalty. No, no, Julian, she thinks it power, to direct +all the affairs of these poor Manxmen; and, thinking it power, she +finds it pleasure. I shall not interfere, unless she hold a high court +of justice again. I cannot afford to pay another fine to my brother, +King Charles--But I forget--this is a sore point with you." + +"With the Countess, at least," replied Julian; "and I wonder you will +speak of it." + +"Why, I bear no malice against the poor man's memory any more than +yourself, though I have not the same reasons for holding it in +veneration," replied the Earl of Derby; "and yet I have some respect +for it too. I remember their bringing him out to die--It was the first +holiday I ever had in my life, and I heartily wish it had been on some +other account." + +"I would rather hear you speak of anything else, my lord," said +Julian. + +"Why, there it goes," answered the Earl; "whenever I talk of anything +that puts you on your mettle, and warms your blood, that runs as cold +as a merman's--to use a simile of this happy island--hey pass! you +press me to change the subject.--Well, what shall we talk of?--O +Julian, if you had not gone down to earth yourself among the castles +and caverns of Derbyshire, we should have had enough of delicious +topics--the play-houses, Julian--Both the King's house and the +Duke's--Louis's establishment is a jest to them;--and the Ring in the +Park, which beats the Corso at Naples--and the beauties, who beat the +whole world!" + +"I am very willing to hear you speak on the subject, my lord," +answered Julian; "the less I have seen of London world myself, the +more I am likely to be amused by your account of it." + +"Ay, my friend--but where to begin?--with the wit of Buckingham, and +Sedley, and Etherege, or with the grace of Harry Jermyn--the courtesy +of the Duke of Monmouth, or with the loveliness of La Belle Hamilton-- +of the Duchess of Richmond--of Lady ----, the person of Roxalana, the +smart humour of Mrs. Nelly----" + +"Or what say you to the bewitching sorceries of Lady Cynthia?" +demanded his companion. + +"Faith, I would have kept these to myself," said the Earl, "to follow +your prudent example. But since you ask me, I fairly own I cannot tell +what to say of them; only I think of them twenty times as often as all +the beauties I have spoken of. And yet she is neither the twentieth +part so beautiful as the plainest of these Court beauties, nor so +witty as the dullest I have named, nor so modish--that is the great +matter--as the most obscure. I cannot tell what makes me dote on her, +except that she is a capricious as her whole sex put together." + +"That I should think a small recommendation," answered his companion. + +"Small, do you term it," replied the Earl, "and write yourself a +brother of the angle? Why, which like you best? to pull a dead strain +on a miserable gudgeon, which you draw ashore by main force, as the +fellows here tow in their fishing-boats--or a lively salmon, that +makes your rod crack, and your line whistle--plays you ten thousand +mischievous pranks--wearies your heart out with hopes and fears--and +is only laid panting on the bank, after you have shown the most +unmatchable display of skill, patience, and dexterity?--But I see you +have a mind to go on angling after your own old fashion. Off laced +coat, and on brown jerkin;--lively colours scare fish in the sober +waters of the Isle of Man;--faith, in London you will catch few, +unless the bait glistens a little. But you /are/ going?--Well, good +luck to you. I will take to the barge;--the sea and wind are less +inconstant than the tide you have embarked on." + +"You have learned to say all these smart things in London, my lord," +answered Julian; "but we shall have you a penitent for them, if Lady +Cynthia be of my mind. Adieu, and pleasure till we meet." + +The young men parted accordingly; and while the Earl betook him to his +pleasure voyage, Julian, as his friend had prophesied, assumed the +dress of one who means to amuse himself with angling. The hat and +feather were exchanged for a cap of grey cloth; the deeply-laced cloak +and doublet for a simple jacket of the same colour, with hose +conforming; and finally, with rod in hand, and pannier at his back, +mounted upon a handsome Manx pony, young Peveril rode briskly over the +country which divided him from one of those beautiful streams that +descend to the sea from the Kirk-Merlagh mountains. + +Having reached the spot where he meant to commence his day's sport, +Julian let his little steed graze, which, accustomed to the situation, +followed him like a dog; and now and then, when tired of picking +herbage in the valley through which the stream winded, came near her +master's side, and, as if she had been a curious amateur of the sport, +gazed on the trouts as Julian brought them struggling to the shore. +But Fairy's master showed, on that day, little of the patience of a +real angler, and took no heed to old Isaac Walton's recommendation, to +fish the streams inch by inch. He chose, indeed, with an angler's eye, +the most promising casts, which the stream broke sparkling over a +stone, affording the wonted shelter to a trout; or where, gliding away +from a rippling current to a still eddy it streamed under the +projecting bank, or dashed from the pool of some low cascade. By this +judicious selection of spots whereon to employ his art, the +sportsman's basket was soon sufficiently heavy, to show that his +occupation was not a mere pretext; and so soon as this was the case, +he walked briskly up the glen, only making a cast from time to time, +in case of his being observed from any of the neighbouring heights. + +It was a little green and rocky valley through which the brook +strayed, very lonely, although the slight track of an unformed road +showed that it was occasionally traversed, and that it was not +altogether void of inhabitants. As Peveril advanced still farther, the +right bank reached to some distance from the stream, leaving a piece +of meadow ground, the lower part of which, being close to the brook, +was entirely covered with rich herbage, being possibly occasionally +irrigated by its overflow. The higher part of the level ground +afforded a stance for an old house, of singular structure, with a +terraced garden, and a cultivated field or two beside it. In former +times, a Danish or Norwegian fastness had stood here, called the Black +Fort, from the colour of a huge healthy hill, which, rising behind the +building, appeared to be the boundary of the valley, and to afford the +source of the brook. But the original structure had been long +demolished, as, indeed, it probably only consisted of dry stones, and +its materials had been applied to the construction of the present +mansion--the work of some churchman during the sixteenth century, as +was evident from the huge stone-work of its windows, which scarce left +room for light to pass through, as well as from two or three heavy +buttresses, which projected from the front of the house, and exhibited +on their surface little niches for images. These had been carefully +destroyed, and pots of flowers were placed in the niches in their +stead, besides their being ornamented by creeping plants of various +kinds, fancifully twined around them. The garden was also in good +order; and though the spot was extremely solitary, there was about it +altogether an air of comfort, accommodation, and even elegance, by no +means generally characteristic of the habitations of the island at the +time. + +With much circumspection, Julian Peveril approached the low Gothic +porch, which defended the entrance of the mansion from the tempests +incident to its situation, and was, like the buttresses, overrun with +ivy and other creeping plants. An iron ring, contrived so as when +drawn up and down to rattle against the bar of notched iron through +which it was suspended, served the purpose of a knocker; and to this +he applied himself, though with the greatest precaution. + +He received no answer for some time, and indeed it seemed as if the +house was totally uninhabited; when, at length, his impatience getting +the upper hand, he tried to open the door, and, as it was only upon +the latch, very easily succeeded. He passed through a little low- +arched hall, the upper end of which was occupied by a staircase, and +turning to the left, opened the door of a summer parlour, wainscoted +with black oak, and very simply furnished with chairs and tables of +the same materials; the former cushioned with the leather. The +apartment was gloomy--one of those stone-shafted windows which we have +mentioned, with its small latticed panes, and thick garland of +foliage, admitting but an imperfect light. + +Over the chimneypiece (which was of the same massive materials with +the panelling of the apartment) was the only ornament of the room; a +painting, namely, representing an officer in the military dress of the +Civil Wars. It was a green jerkin, then the national and peculiar wear +of the Manxmen; his short band which hung down on the cuirass--the +orange-coloured scarf, but, above all, the shortness of his close-cut +hair, showing evidently to which of the great parties he had belonged. +His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword; and in the left he +held a small Bible, bearing the inscription, "/In hoc signo/." The +countenance was of a light complexion, with fair and almost effeminate +blue eyes, and an oval form of face--one of those physiognomies, to +which, though not otherwise unpleasing, we naturally attach the idea +of melancholy and of misfortune.[*] Apparently it was well known to +Julian Peveril; for after having looked at it for a long time, he +could not forbear muttering aloud, "What would I give that that man +had never been born, or that he still lived!" + +[*] I am told that a portrait of the unfortunate William Christian is + still preserved in the family of Waterson of Ballnabow of Kirk + Church, Rushin. William Dhône is dressed in a green coat without + collar or cape, after the fashion of those puritanic times, with + the head in a close cropt wig, resembling the bishop's peruke of + the present day. The countenance is youthful and well-looking, + very unlike the expression of foreboding melancholy. I have so far + taken advantage of this criticism, as to bring my ideal portrait + in the present edition, nearer to the complexion at least of the + fair-haired William Dhône. + +"How now--how is this?" said a female, who entered the room as he +uttered this reflection. "/You/ here, Master Peveril, in spite of all +the warnings you have had! You here in the possession of folk's house +when they are abroad, and talking to yourself, as I shall warrant!" + +"Yes, Mistress Deborah," said Peveril, "I am here once more, as you +see, against every prohibition, and in defiance of all danger.--Where +is Alice?" + +"Where you will never see her, Master Julian--you may satisfy yourself +of that," answered Mistress Deborah, for it was that respectable +governante; and sinking down at the same time upon one of the large +leathern chairs, she began to fan herself with her handkerchief, and +complain of the heat in a most ladylike fashion. + +In fact, Mistress Debbitch, while her exterior intimated a +considerable change of condition for the better, and her countenance +showed the less favourable effects of the twenty years which had +passed over her head, was in mind and manners very much what she had +been when she battled the opinions of Madam Ellesmere at Martindale +Castle. In a word, she was self-willed, obstinate, and coquettish as +ever, otherwise no ill-disposed person. Her present appearance was +that of a woman of the better rank. From the sobriety of the fashion +of her dress, and the uniformity of its colours, it was plain she +belonged to some sect which condemned superfluous gaiety in attire; +but no rules, not those of a nunnery or of a quaker's society, can +prevent a little coquetry in that particular, where a woman is +desirous of being supposed to retain some claim to personal attention. +All Mistress Deborah's garments were so arranged as might best set off +a good-looking woman, whose countenance indicated ease and good cheer +--who called herself five-and-thirty, and was well entitled, if she +had a mind, to call herself twelve or fifteen years older. + +Julian was under the necessity of enduring all her tiresome and +fantastic airs, and awaiting with patience till she had "prinked +herself and pinned herself"--flung her hoods back, and drawn them +forward--snuffed at a little bottle of essences--closed her eyes like +a dying fowl--turned them up like duck in a thunderstorm; when at +length, having exhausted her round of /minauderies/, she condescended +to open the conversation. + +"These walks will be the death of me," she said, "and all on your +account, Master Julian Peveril; for if Dame Christian should learn +that you have chosen to make your visits to her niece, I promise you +Mistress Alice would be soon obliged to find other quarters, and so +should I." + +"Come now, Mistress Deborah, be good-humoured," said Julian; +"consider, was not all this intimacy of ours of your own making? Did +you not make yourself known to me the very first time I strolled up +this glen with my fishing-rod, and tell me that you were my former +keeper, and that Alice had been my little playfellow? And what could +there be more natural, than that I should come back and see two such +agreeable persons as often as I could?" + +"Yes," said Dame Deborah; "but I did not bid you fall in love with us, +though, or propose such a matter as marriage either to Alice or +myself." + +"To do you justice, you never did, Deborah," answered the youth; "but +what of that? Such things will come out before one is aware. I am sure +you must have heard such proposals fifty times when you least expected +them." + +"Fie, fie, fie, Master Julian Peveril," said the governante; "I would +have you to know that I have always so behaved myself, that the best +of the land would have thought twice of it, and have very well +considered both what he was going to say, and how he was going to say +it, before he came out with such proposals to me." + +"True, true, Mistress Deborah," continued Julian; "but all the world +hath not your discretion. Then Alice Bridgenorth is a child--a mere +child; and one always asks a baby to be one's little wife, you know. +Come, I know you will forgive me. Thou wert ever the best-natured, +kindest woman in the world; and you know you have said twenty times we +were made for each other." + +"Oh no, Master Julian Peveril; no, no, no!" ejaculated Deborah. "I may +indeed have said your estates were born to be united; and to be sure +it is natural for me, that come of the old stock of the yeomanry of +Peveril of the Peak's estate, to wish that it was all within the ring +fence again; which sure enough it might be, were you to marry Alice +Bridgenorth. But then there is the knight your father, and my lady +your mother; and there is her father, that is half crazy with his +religion; and her aunt that wears eternal black grogram for that +unlucky Colonel Christian; and there is the Countess of Derby, that +would serve us all with the same sauce if we were thinking of anything +that would displease her. And besides all that, you have broke your +word with Mistress Alice, and everything is over between you; and I am +of opinion it is quite right it should be all over. And perhaps it may +be, Master Julian, that I should have thought so a long time ago, +before a child like Alice put it into my head; but I am so good- +natured." + +No flatterer like a lover, who wishes to carry his point. + +"You are the best-natured, kindest creature in the world, Deborah.-- +But you have never seen the ring I bought for you at Paris. Nay, I +will put it on your finger myself;--what! your foster-son, whom you +loved so well, and took such care of?" + +He easily succeeded in putting a pretty ring of gold, with a humorous +affectation of gallantry, on the fat finger of Mistress Deborah +Debbitch. Hers was a soul of a kind often to be met with, both among +the lower and higher vulgar, who, without being, on a broad scale, +accessible to bribes or corruption, are nevertheless much attached to +perquisites, and considerably biassed in their line of duty, though +perhaps insensibly, by the love of petty observances, petty presents, +and trivial compliments. Mistress Debbitch turned the ring round, and +round, and round, and at length said, in a whisper, "Well, Master +Julian Peveril, it signifies nothing denying anything to such a young +gentleman as you, for young gentlemen are always so obstinate! and so +I may as well tell you, that Mistress Alice walked back from the Kirk- +Truagh along with me, just now, and entered the house at the same time +with myself." + +"Why did you not tell me so before?" said Julian, starting up; "where +--where is she?" + +"You had better ask why I tell you so /now/, Master Julian," said Dame +Deborah; "for, I promise you, it is against her express commands; and +I would not have told you, had you not looked so pitiful;--but as for +seeing you, that she will not--and she is in her own bedroom, with a +good oak door shut and bolted upon her--that is one comfort.--And so, +as for any breach of trust on my part--I promise you the little saucy +minx gives it no less name--it is quite impossible." + +"Do not say so, Deborah--only go--only try--tell her to hear me--tell +her I have a hundred excuses for disobeying her commands--tell her I +have no doubt to get over all obstacles at Martindale Castle." + +"Nay, I tell you it is all in vain," replied the Dame. "When I saw +your cap and rod lying in the hall, I did but say, 'There he is +again,' and she ran up the stairs like a young deer; and I heard key +turned, and bolt shot, ere I could say a single word to stop her--I +marvel you heard her not." + +"It was because I am, as I ever was, an owl--a dreaming fool, who let +all those golden minutes pass, which my luckless life holds out to me +so rarely.--Well--tell her I go--go for ever--go where she will hear +no more of me--where no one shall hear more of me!" + +"Oh, the Father!" said the dame, "hear how he talks!--What will become +of Sir Geoffrey, and your mother, and of me, and of the Countess, if +you were to go so far as you talk of? And what would become of poor +Alice too? for I will be sworn she likes you better than she says, and +I know she used to sit and look the way that you used to come up the +stream, and now and then ask me if the morning were good for fishing. +And all the while you were on the continent, as they call it, she +scarcely smiled once, unless it was when she got two beautiful long +letters about foreign parts." + +"Friendship, Dame Deborah--only friendship--cold and calm remembrance +of one who, by your kind permission, stole in on your solitude now and +then, with news from the living world without--Once, indeed, I +thought--but it is all over--farewell." + +So saying, he covered his face with one hand, and extended the other, +in the act of bidding adieu to Dame Debbitch, whose kind heart became +unable to withstand the sight of his affliction. + +"Now, do not be in such haste," she said; "I will go up again, and +tell her how it stands with you, and bring her down, if it is in +woman's power to do it." + +And so saying, she left the apartment, and ran upstairs. + +Julian Peveril, meanwhile, paced the apartment in great agitation, +waiting the success of Deborah's intercession; and she remained long +enough absent to give us time to explain, in a short retrospect, the +circumstances which had led to his present situation. + + + + CHAPTER XII + + Ah me! for aught that ever I could read, + Could ever hear by tale or history, + The course of true love never did run smooth! + --Midsummer Night's Dream. + +The celebrated passage which we have prefixed to this chapter has, +like most observations of the same author, its foundation in real +experience. The period at which love is formed for the first time, and +felt most strongly, is seldom that at which there is much prospect of +its being brought to a happy issue. The state of artificial society +opposes many complicated obstructions to early marriages; and the +chance is very great, that such obstacles prove insurmountable. In +fine, there are few men who do not look back in secret to some period +of their youth, at which a sincere and early affection was repulsed, +or betrayed, or become abortive from opposing circumstances. It is +these little passages of secret history, which leave a tinge of +romance in every bosom, scarce permitting us, even in the most busy or +the most advanced period of life, to listen with total indifference to +a tale of true love. + +Julian Peveril had so fixed his affections, as to insure the fullest +share of that opposition which early attachments are so apt to +encounter. Yet nothing so natural as that he should have done so. In +early youth, Dame Debbitch had accidentally met with the son of her +first patroness, and who had himself been her earliest charge, fishing +in the little brook already noticed, which watered the valley in which +she resided with Alice Bridgenorth. The dame's curiosity easily +discovered who he was; and besides the interest which persons in her +condition usually take in the young people who have been under their +charge, she was delighted with the opportunity to talk about former +times--about Martindale Castle, and friends there--about Sir Geoffrey +and his good lady--and, now and then, about Lance Outram the park- +keeper. + +The mere pleasure of gratifying her inquiries, would scarce have had +power enough to induce Julian to repeat his visits to the lonely glen; +but Deborah had a companion--a lovely girl--bred in solitude, and in +the quiet and unpretending tastes which solitude encourages--spirited, +also, and inquisitive, and listening, with laughing cheek, and an +eager eye, to every tale which the young angler brought from the town +and castle. + +The visits of Julian to the Black Fort were only occasional--so far +Dame Deborah showed common-sense--which was, perhaps, inspired by the +apprehension of losing her place, in case of discovery. She had, +indeed, great confidence in the strong and rooted belief--amounting +almost to superstition--which Major Bridgenorth entertained, that his +daughter's continued health could only be insured by her continuing +under the charge of one who had acquired Lady Peveril's supposed skill +in treating those subject to such ailments. This belief Dame Deborah +had improved to the utmost of her simple cunning,--always speaking in +something of an oracular tone, upon the subject of her charge's +health, and hinting at certain mysterious rules necessary to maintain +it in the present favourable state. She had availed herself of this +artifice, to procure for herself and Alice a separate establishment at +the Black Fort; for it was originally Major Bridgenorth's resolution, +that his daughter and her governante should remain under the same roof +with the sister-in-law of his deceased wife, the widow of the +unfortunate Colonel Christian. But this lady was broken down with +premature age, brought on by sorrow; and, in a short visit which Major +Bridgenorth made to the island, he was easily prevailed on to consider +her house at Kirk-Truagh, as a very cheerless residence for his +daughter. Dame Deborah, who longed for domestic independence, was +careful to increase this impression by alarming her patron's fears on +account of Alice's health. The mansion of Kirk-Truagh stood, she said, +much exposed to the Scottish winds, which could not but be cold, as +they came from a country where, as she was assured, there was ice and +snow at midsummer. In short, she prevailed, and was put into full +possession of the Black Fort, a house which, as well as Kirk-Truagh, +belonged formerly to Christian, and now to his widow. + +Still, however, it was enjoined on the governante and her charge, to +visit Kirk-Truagh from time to time, and to consider themselves as +under the management and guardianship of Mistress Christian--a state +of subjection, the sense of which Deborah endeavoured to lessen, by +assuming as much freedom of conduct as she possibly dared, under the +influence, doubtless, of the same feelings of independence, which +induced her, at Martindale Hall, to spurn the advice of Mistress +Ellesmere. + +It was this generous disposition to defy control which induced her to +procure for Alice, secretly, some means of education, which the stern +genius of puritanism would have proscribed. She ventured to have her +charge taught music--nay, even dancing; and the picture of the stern +Colonel Christian trembled on the wainscot where it was suspended, +while the sylph-like form of Alice, and the substantial person of Dame +Deborah, executed French /chaussées/ and /borrées/, to the sound of a +small kit, which screamed under the bow of Monsieur De Pigal, half +smuggler, half dancing-master. This abomination reached the ears of +the Colonel's widow, and by her was communicated to Bridgenorth, whose +sudden appearance in the island showed the importance he attached to +the communication. Had she been faithless to her own cause, that had +been the latest hour of Mrs. Deborah's administration. But she +retreated into her stronghold. + +"Dancing," she said, "was exercise, regulated and timed by music; and +it stood to reason, that it must be the best of all exercise for a +delicate person, especially as it could be taken within doors, and in +all states of the weather." + +Bridgenorth listened, with a clouded and thoughtful brow, when, in +exemplification of her doctrine, Mistress Deborah, who was no +contemptible performer on the viol, began to jangle Sellenger's Round, +and desired Alice to dance an old English measure to the tune. As the +half-bashful, half-smiling girl, about fourteen--for such was her age +--moved gracefully to the music, the father's eye unavoidably followed +the light spring of her step, and marked with joy the rising colour in +her cheek. When the dance was over, he folded her in his arms, +smoothed her somewhat disordered locks with a father's affectionate +hand, smiled, kissed her brow, and took his leave, without one single +word farther interdicting the exercise of dancing. He did not himself +communicate the result of his visit at the Black Fort to Mrs. +Christian, but she was not long of learning it, by the triumph of Dame +Deborah on her next visit. + +"It is well," said the stern old lady; "my brother Bridgenorth hath +permitted you to make a Herodias of Alice, and teach her dancing. You +have only now to find her a partner for life--I shall neither meddle +nor make more in their affairs." + +In fact, the triumph of Dame Deborah, or rather of Dame Nature, on +this occasion, had more important effects than the former had ventured +to anticipate; for Mrs. Christian, though she received with all +formality the formal visits of the governante and her charge, seemed +thenceforth so pettish with the issue of her remonstrance, upon the +enormity of her niece dancing to a little fiddle, that she appeared to +give up interference in her affairs, and left Dame Debbitch and Alice +to manage both education and housekeeping--in which she had hitherto +greatly concerned herself--much after their own pleasure. + +It was in this independent state that they lived, when Julian first +visited their habitation; and he was the rather encouraged to do so by +Dame Deborah, that she believed him to be one of the last persons in +the world with whom Mistress Christian would have desired her niece to +be acquainted--the happy spirit of contradiction superseding, with +Dame Deborah, on this, as on other occasions, all consideration of the +fitness of things. She did not act altogether without precaution +neither. She was aware she had to guard not only against any reviving +interest or curiosity on the part of Mistress Christian, but against +the sudden arrival of Major Bridgenorth, who never failed once in the +year to make his appearance at the Black Fort when least expected, and +to remain there for a few days. Dame Debbitch, therefore, exacted of +Julian, that his visits should be few and far between; that he should +condescend to pass for a relation of her own, in the eyes of two +ignorant Manx girls and a lad, who formed her establishment; and that +he should always appear in his angler's dress made of the simple +/Loughtan/, or buff-coloured wool of the island, which is not +subjected to dyeing. By these cautions, she thought his intimacy at +the Black Fort would be entirely unnoticed, or considered as +immaterial, while, in the meantime, it furnished much amusement to her +charge and herself. + +This was accordingly the case during the earlier part of their +intercourse, while Julian was a lad, and Alice a girl two or three +years younger. But as the lad shot up to youth, and the girl to +womanhood, even Dame Deborah Debbitch's judgment saw danger in their +continued intimacy. She took an opportunity to communicate to Julian +who Miss Bridgenorth actually was, and the peculiar circumstances +which placed discord between their fathers. He heard the story of +their quarrel with interest and surprise, for he had only resided +occasionally at Martindale Castle, and the subject of Bridgenorth's +quarrel with his father had never been mentioned in his presence. His +imagination caught fire at the sparks afforded by this singular story; +and, far from complying with the prudent remonstrance of Dame Deborah, +and gradually estranging himself from the Black Fort and its fair +inmate, he frankly declared, he considered his intimacy there, so +casually commenced, as intimating the will of Heaven, that Alice and +he were designed for each other, in spite of every obstacle which +passion or prejudice could raise up betwixt them. They had been +companions in infancy; and a little exertion of memory enabled him to +recall his childish grief for the unexpected and sudden disappearance +of his little companion, whom he was destined again to meet with in +the early bloom of opening beauty, in a country which was foreign to +them both. + +Dame Deborah was confounded at the consequences of her communication, +which had thus blown into a flame the passion which she hoped it would +have either prevented or extinguished. She had not the sort of head +which resists the masculine and energetic remonstrances of passionate +attachment, whether addressed to her on her own account, or on behalf +of another. She lamented, and wondered, and ended her feeble +opposition, by weeping, and sympathising, and consenting to allow the +continuance of Julian's visits, provided he should only address +himself to Alice as a friend; to gain the world, she would consent to +nothing more. She was not, however, so simple, but that she also had +her forebodings of the designs of Providence on this youthful couple; +for certainly they could not be more formed to be united than the good +estates of Martindale and Moultrassie. + +Then came a long sequence of reflections. Martindale Castle wanted but +some repairs to be almost equal to Chatsworth. The Hall might be +allowed to go to ruin; or, what would be better, when Sir Geoffrey's +time came (for the good knight had seen service, and must be breaking +now), the Hall would be a good dowery-house, to which my lady and +Ellesmere might retreat; while (empress of the still-room, and queen +of the pantry) Mistress Deborah Debbitch should reign housekeeper at +the Castle, and extend, perhaps, the crown-matrimonial to Lance +Outram, provided he was not become too old, too fat, or too fond of +ale. + +Such were the soothing visions under the influence of which the dame +connived at an attachment, which lulled also to pleasing dreams, +though of a character so different, her charge and her visitant. + +The visits of the young angler became more and more frequent; and the +embarrassed Deborah, though foreseeing all the dangers of discovery, +and the additional risk of an explanation betwixt Alice and Julian, +which must necessarily render their relative situation so much more +delicate, felt completely overborne by the enthusiasm of the young +lover, and was compelled to let matters take their course. + +The departure of Julian for the continent interrupted the course of +his intimacy at the Black Fort, and while it relieved the elder of its +inmates from much internal apprehension, spread an air of languor and +dejection over the countenance of the younger, which, at +Bridgenorth's next visit to the Isle of Man, renewed all his terrors +for his daughter's constitutional malady. + +Deborah promised faithfully she should look better the next morning, +and she kept her word. She had retained in her possession for some +time a letter which Julian had, by some private conveyance, sent to +her charge, for his youthful friend. Deborah had dreaded the +consequences of delivering it as a billet-doux, but, as in the case of +the dance, she thought there could be no harm in administering it as a +remedy. + +It had complete effect; and next day the cheeks of the maiden had a +tinge of the rose, which so much delighted her father, that, as he +mounted his horse, he flung his purse into Deborah's hand, with the +desire she should spare nothing that could make herself and his +daughter happy, and the assurance that she had his full confidence. + +This expression of liberality and confidence from a man of Major +Bridgenorth's reserved and cautious disposition, gave full plumage to +Mistress Deborah's hopes; and emboldened her not only to deliver +another letter of Julian's to the young lady, but to encourage more +boldly and freely than formerly the intercourse of the lovers when +Peveril returned from abroad. + +At length, in spite of all Julian's precaution, the young Earl became +suspicious of his frequent solitary fishing parties; and he himself, +now better acquainted with the world than formerly, became aware that +his repeated visits and solitary walks with a person so young and +beautiful as Alice, might not only betray prematurely the secret of +his attachment, but be of essential prejudice to her who was its +object. + +Under the influence of this conviction, he abstained, for an unusual +period, from visiting the Black Fort. But when he next indulged +himself with spending an hour in the place where he would gladly have +abode for ever, the altered manner of Alice--the tone in which she +seemed to upbraid his neglect, penetrated his heart, and deprived him +of that power of self-command, which he had hitherto exercised in +their interviews. It required but a few energetic words to explain to +Alice at once his feelings, and to make her sensible of the real +nature of her own. She wept plentifully, but her tears were not all of +bitterness. She sat passively still, and without reply, while he +explained to her, with many an interjection, the circumstances which +had placed discord between their families; for hitherto, all that she +had known was, that Master Peveril, belonging to the household of the +great Countess or Lady of Man, must observe some precautions in +visiting a relative of the unhappy Colonel Christian. But, when Julian +concluded his tale with the warmest protestations of eternal love, "My +poor father!" she burst forth, "and was this to be the end of all thy +precautions?--This, that the son of him that disgraced and banished +thee, should hold such language to your daughter?" + +"You err, Alice, you err," cried Julian eagerly. "That I hold this +language--that the son of Peveril addresses thus the daughter of your +father--that he thus kneels to you for forgiveness of injuries which +passed when we were both infants, shows the will of Heaven, that in +our affection should be quenched the discord of our parents. What else +could lead those who parted infants on the hills of Derbyshire, to +meet thus in the valleys of Man?" + +Alice, however new such a scene, and, above all, her own emotions, +might be, was highly endowed with that exquisite delicacy which is +imprinted in the female heart, to give warning of the slightest +approach to impropriety in a situation like hers. + +"Rise, rise, Master Peveril," she said; "do not do yourself and me +this injustice--we have done both wrong--very wrong; but my fault was +done in ignorance. O God! my poor father, who needs comfort so much-- +is it for me to add to his misfortunes? Rise!" she added more firmly; +"if you retain this unbecoming posture any longer, I will leave the +room and you shall never see me more." + +The commanding tone of Alice overawed the impetuosity of her lover, +who took in silence a seat removed to some distance from hers, and was +again about to speak. "Julian," said she in a milder tone, "you have +spoken enough, and more than enough. Would you had left me in the +pleasing dream in which I could have listened to you for ever! but the +hour of wakening is arrived." Peveril waited the prosecution of her +speech as a criminal while he waits his doom; for he was sufficiently +sensible that an answer, delivered not certainly without emotion, but +with firmness and resolution, was not to be interrupted. "We have done +wrong," she repeated, "very wrong; and if we now separate for ever, +the pain we may feel will be but a just penalty for our error. We +should never have met: meeting, we should part as soon as possible. +Our farther intercourse can but double our pain at parting. Farewell, +Julian; and forget we ever have seen each other!" + +"Forget!" said Julian; "never, never. To /you/, it is easy to speak +the word--to think the thought. To /me/, an approach to either can +only be by utter destruction. Why should you doubt that the feud of +our fathers, like so many of which we have heard, might be appeased by +our friendship? You are my only friend. I am the only one whom Heaven +has assigned to you. Why should we separate for the fault of others, +which befell when we were but children?" + +"You speak in vain, Julian," said Alice; "I pity you--perhaps I pity +myself--indeed, I should pity myself, perhaps, the most of the two; +for you will go forth to new scenes and new faces, and will soon +forget me; but, I, remaining in this solitude, how shall /I/ forget?-- +that, however, is not now the question--I can bear my lot, and it +commands us to part." + +"Hear me yet a moment," said Peveril; "this evil is not, cannot be +remediless. I will go to my father,--I will use the intercession of my +mother, to whom he can refuse nothing--I will gain their consent--they +have no other child--and they must consent, or lose him for ever. Say, +Alice, if I come to you with my parents' consent to my suit, will you +again say, with that tone so touching and so sad, yet so incredibly +determined--Julian, we must part?" Alice was silent. "Cruel girl, will +you not even deign to answer me?" said her lover. + +"I would refer you to my father," said Alice, blushing and casting her +eyes down; but instantly raising them again, she repeated, in a firmer +and a sadder tone, "Yes, Julian, I would refer you to my father; and +you would find that your pilot, Hope, had deceived you; and that you +had but escaped the quicksands to fall upon the rocks." + +"I would that could be tried!" said Julian. "Methinks I could persuade +your father that in ordinary eyes our alliance is not undesirable. My +family have fortune, rank, long descent--all that fathers look for +when they bestow a daughter's hand." + +"All this would avail you nothing," said Alice. "The spirit of my +father is bent upon the things of another world; and if he listened to +hear you out, it would be but to tell you that he spurned your +offers." + +"You know not--you know not, Alice," said Julian. "Fire can soften +iron--thy father's heart cannot be so hard, or his prejudices so +strong, but I shall find some means to melt him. Forbid me not--Oh, +forbid me not at least the experiment!" + +"I can but advise," said Alice; "I can forbid you nothing; for, to +forbid, implies power to command obedience. But if you will be wise, +and listen to me--Here, and on this spot, we part for ever!" + +"Not so, by Heaven!" said Julian, whose bold and sanguine temper +scarce saw difficulty in attaining aught which he desired. "We now +part, indeed, but it is that I may return armed with my parents' +consent. They desire that I should marry--in their last letters they +pressed it more openly--they shall have their desire; and such a bride +as I will present to them has not graced their house since the +Conqueror gave it origin. Farewell, Alice! Farewell, for a brief +space!" + +She replied, "Farewell, Julian! Farewell for ever!" + +Julian, within a week of this interview, was at Martindale Castle, +with the view of communicating his purpose. But the task which seems +easy at a distance, proves as difficult, upon a nearer approach, as +the fording of a river, which from afar appeared only a brook. There +lacked not opportunities of entering upon the subject; for in the +first ride which he took with his father, the Knight resumed the +subject of his son's marriage, and liberally left the lady to his +choice; but under the strict proviso, that she was of a loyal and an +honourable family;--if she had fortune, it was good and well, or +rather, it was better than well; but if she was poor, why, "there is +still some picking," said Sir Geoffrey, "on the bones of the old +estate; and Dame Margaret and I will be content with the less, that +you young folks may have your share of it. I am turned frugal already, +Julian. You see what a north-country shambling bit of a Galloway nag I +ride upon--a different beast, I wot, from my own old Black Hastings, +who had but one fault, and that was his wish to turn down Moultrassie +avenue." + +"Was that so great a fault?" said Julian, affecting indifference, +while his heart was trembling, as it seemed to him, almost in his very +throat. + +"It used to remind me of that base, dishonourable Presbyterian fellow, +Bridgenorth," said Sir Geoffrey; "and I would as lief think of a toad: +--they say he has turned Independent, to accomplish the full degree of +rascality.--I tell you, Gill, I turned off the cow-boy, for gathering +nuts in his woods--I would hang a dog that would so much as kill a +hare there.--But what is the matter with you? You look pale." + +Julian made some indifferent answer, but too well understood, from the +language and tone which his father used, that his prejudices against +Alice's father were both deep and envenomed, as those of country +gentlemen often become, who, having little to do or think of, are but +too apt to spend their time in nursing and cherishing petty causes of +wrath against their next neighbours. + +In the course of the same day, he mentioned the Bridgenorth to his +mother, as if in a casual manner. But the Lady Peveril instantly +conjured him never to mention the name, especially in his father's +presence. + +"Was that Major Bridgenorth, of whom I have heard the name mentioned," +said Julian, "so very bad a neighbour?" + +"I do not say so," said Lady Peveril; "nay, we were more than once +obliged to him, in the former unhappy times; but your father and he +took some passages so ill at each other's hands, that the least +allusion to him disturbs Sir Geoffrey's temper, in a manner quite +unusual, and which, now that his health is somewhat impaired, is +sometimes alarming to me. For Heaven's sake, then, my dear Julian, +avoid upon all occasions the slightest allusion to Moultrassie, or any +of its inhabitants." + +This warning was so seriously given, that Julian himself saw that +mentioning his secret purpose would be the sure way to render it +abortive, and therefore he returned disconsolate to the Isle. + +Peveril had the boldness, however, to make the best he could of what +had happened, by requesting an interview with Alice, in order to +inform her what had passed betwixt his parents and him on her account. +It was with great difficulty that this boon was obtained; and Alice +Bridgenorth showed no slight degree of displeasure, when she +discovered, after much circumlocution, and many efforts to give an air +of importance to what he had to communicate, that all amounted but to +this, that Lady Peveril continued to retain a favourable opinion of +her father, Major Bridgenorth, which Julian would fain have +represented as an omen of their future more perfect reconciliation. + +"I did not think you would thus have trifled with me, Master Peveril," +said Alice, assuming an air of dignity; "but I will take care to avoid +such intrusion in future--I request you will not again visit the Black +Fort; and I entreat of you, good Mistress Debbitch, that you will no +longer either encourage or permit this gentleman's visits, as the +result of such persecution will be to compel me to appeal to my aunt +and father for another place of residence, and perhaps also for +another and more prudent companion." + +This last hint struck Mistress Deborah with so much terror, that she +joined her ward in requiring and demanding Julian's instant absence, +and he was obliged to comply with their request. But the courage of a +youthful lover is not easily subdued; and Julian, after having gone +through the usual round of trying to forget his ungrateful mistress, +and entertaining his passion with augmented violence, ended by the +visit to the Black Fort, the beginning of which we narrated in the +last chapter. + +We then left him anxious for, yet almost fearful of, an interview with +Alice, which he prevailed upon Deborah to solicit; and such was the +tumult of his mind, that, while he traversed the parlour, it seemed to +him that the dark melancholy eyes of the slaughtered Christian's +portrait followed him wherever he went, with the fixed, chill, and +ominous glance, which announced to the enemy of his race mishap and +misfortune. + +The door of the apartment opened at length, and these visions were +dissipated. + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + Parents have flinty hearts! No tears can move them. + --OTWAY. + +When Alice Bridgenorth at length entered the parlour where her anxious +lover had so long expected her, it was with a slow step, and a +composed manner. Her dress was arranged with an accurate attention to +form, which at once enhanced the appearance of its puritanic +simplicity, and struck Julian as a bad omen; for although the time +bestowed upon the toilet may, in many cases, intimate the wish to +appear advantageously at such an interview, yet a ceremonious +arrangement of attire is very much allied with formality, and a +preconceived determination to treat a lover with cold politeness. + +The sad-coloured gown--the pinched and plaited cap, which carefully +obscured the profusion of long dark-brown hair--the small ruff, and +the long sleeves, would have appeared to great disadvantage on a shape +less graceful than Alice Bridgenorth's; but an exquisite form, though +not, as yet, sufficiently rounded in the outlines to produce the +perfection of female beauty, was able to sustain and give grace even +to this unbecoming dress. Her countenance, fair and delicate, with +eyes of hazel, and a brow of alabaster, had, notwithstanding, less +regular beauty than her form, and might have been justly subjected to +criticism. There was, however, a life and spirit in her gaiety, and a +depth of sentiment in her gravity, which made Alice, in conversation +with the very few persons with whom she associated, so fascinating in +her manners and expression, whether of language or countenance--so +touching, also, in her simplicity and purity of thought, that brighter +beauties might have been overlooked in her company. It was no wonder, +therefore, that an ardent character like Julian, influenced by these +charms, as well as by the secrecy and mystery attending his +intercourse with Alice, should prefer the recluse of the Black Fort to +all others with whom he had become acquainted in general society. + +His heart beat high as she came into the apartment, and it was almost +without an attempt to speak that his profound obeisance acknowledged +her entrance. + +"This is a mockery, Master Peveril," said Alice, with an effort to +speak firmly, which yet was disconcerted by a slightly tremulous +inflection of voice--"a mockery, and a cruel one. You come to this +lone place, inhabited only by two women, too simple to command your +absence--too weak to enforce it--you come, in spite of my earnest +request--to the neglect of your own time--to the prejudice, I may +fear, of my character--you abuse the influence you possess over the +simple person to whom I am entrusted--All this you do, and think to +make up by low reverences and constrained courtesy! Is this +honourable, or is it fair?--Is it," she added, after a moment's +hesitation--"is it kind?" + +The tremulous accent fell especially on the last word she uttered, and +it was spoken in a low tone of gentle reproach, which went to Julian's +heart. + +"If," said he, "there was a mode by which, at the peril of my life, +Alice, I could show my regard--my respect--my devoted tenderness--the +danger would be dearer to me than ever was pleasure." + +"You have said such things often," said Alice, "and they are such as I +ought not to hear, and do not desire to hear. I have no tasks to +impose on you--no enemies to be destroyed--no need or desire of +protection--no wish, Heaven knows, to expose you to danger--It is your +visits here alone to which danger attaches. You have but to rule your +own wilful temper--to turn your thoughts and your cares elsewhere, and +I can have nothing to ask--nothing to wish for. Use your own reason-- +consider the injury you do yourself--the injustice you do us--and let +me, once more, in fair terms, entreat you to absent yourself from this +place--till--till----" + +She paused, and Julian eagerly interrupted her.--"Till when, Alice?-- +till when?--impose on me any length of absence which your severity can +inflict, short of a final separation--Say, Begone for years, but +return when these years are over; and, slow and wearily as they must +pass away, still the thought that they must at length have their +period, will enable me to live through them. Let me, then, conjure +thee, Alice, to name a date--to fix a term--to say till /when!/" + +"Till you can bear to think of me only as a friend and sister." + +"That is a sentence of eternal banishment indeed!" said Julian; "it is +seeming, no doubt, to fix a term of exile, but attaching to it an +impossible condition." + +"And why impossible, Julian?" said Alice, in a tone of persuasion; +"were we not happier ere you threw the mask from your own countenance, +and tore the veil from my foolish eyes? Did we not meet with joy, +spend our time happily, and part cheerily, because we transgressed no +duty, and incurred no self-reproach? Bring back that state of happy +ignorance, and you shall have no reason to call me unkind. But while +you form schemes which I know to be visionary, and use language of +such violence and passion, you shall excuse me if I now, and once for +all, declare, that since Deborah shows herself unfit for the trust +reposed in her, and must needs expose me to persecutions of this +nature, I will write to my father, that he may fix me another place of +residence; and in the meanwhile I will take shelter with my aunt at +Kirk-Truagh." + +"Hear me, unpitying girl," said Peveril, "hear me, and you shall see +how devoted I am to obedience, in all that I can do to oblige you! +You say you were happy when we spoke not on such topics--well--at all +expense of my own suppressed feelings, that happy period shall return. +I will meet you--walk with you--read with you--but only as a brother +would with his sister, or a friend with his friend; the thoughts I may +nourish, be they of hope or of despair, my tongue shall not give birth +to, and therefore I cannot offend; Deborah shall be ever by your side, +and her presence shall prevent my even hinting at what might displease +you--only do not make a crime to me of those thoughts which are the +dearest part of my existence; for believe me it were better and kinder +to rob me of existence itself." + +"This is the mere ecstasy of passion, Julian," answered Alice +Bridgenorth; "that which is unpleasant, our selfish and stubborn will +represents as impossible. I have no confidence in the plan you +propose--no confidence in your resolution, and less than none in the +protection of Deborah. Till you can renounce, honestly and explicitly, +the wishes you have lately expressed, we must be strangers;--and could +you renounce them even at this moment, it were better that we should +part for a long time; and, for Heaven's sake, let it be as soon as +possible--perhaps it is even now too late to prevent some unpleasant +accident--I thought I heard a noise." + +"It was Deborah," answered Julian. "Be not afraid, Alice; we are +secure against surprise." + +"I know not," said Alice, "what you mean by such security--I have +nothing to hide. I sought not this interview; on the contrary, averted +it as long as I could--and am now most desirous to break it off." + +"And wherefore, Alice, since you say it must be our last? Why should +you shake the sand which is passing so fast? the very executioner +hurries not the prayers of the wretches upon the scaffold.--And see +you not--I will argue as coldly as you can desire--see you not that +you are breaking your own word, and recalling the hope which yourself +held out to me?" + +"What hope have I suggested? What word have I given, Julian?" answered +Alice. "You yourself build wild hopes in the air, and accuse me of +destroying what had never any earthly foundation. Spare yourself, +Julian--spare me--and in mercy to us both depart, and return not again +till you can be more reasonable." + +"Reasonable?" replied Julian; "it is you, Alice, who will deprive me +altogether of reason. Did you not say, that if our parents could be +brought to consent to our union, you would no longer oppose my suit?" + +"No--no--no," said Alice eagerly, and blushing deeply,--"I did not say +so, Julian--it was your own wild imagination which put construction on +my silence and my confusion." + +"You do /not/ say so, then?" answered Julian; "and if all other +obstacles were removed, I should find one in the cold flinty bosom of +her who repays the most devoted and sincere affection with contempt +and dislike?--Is that," he added, in a deep tone of feeling--"is that +what Alice Bridgenorth says to Julian Peveril?" + +"Indeed--indeed, Julian," said the almost weeping girl, "I do not say +so--I say nothing, and I ought not to say anything concerning what I +might do, in a state of things which can never take place. Indeed, +Julian, you ought not thus to press me. Unprotected as I am--wishing +you well--very well--why should you urge me to say or do what would +lessen me in my own eyes? to own affection for one from whom fate has +separated me for ever? It is ungenerous--it is cruel--it is seeking a +momentary and selfish gratification to yourself, at the expense of +every feeling which I ought to entertain." + +"You have said enough, Alice," said Julian, with sparkling eyes; "you +have said enough in deprecating my urgency, and I will press you no +farther. But you overrate the impediments which lie betwixt us--they +must and shall give way." + +"So you said before," answered Alice, "and with what probability, your +own account may show. You dared not to mention the subject to your own +father--how should you venture to mention it to mine?" + +"That I will soon enable you to decide upon. Major Bridgenorth, by my +mother's account, is a worthy and an estimable man. I will remind him, +that to my mother's care he owes the dearest treasure and comfort of +his life; and I will ask him if it is a just retribution to make that +mother childless. Let me but know where to find him, Alice, and you +shall soon hear if I have feared to plead my cause with him." + +"Alas!" answered Alice, "you well know my uncertainty as to my dear +father's residence. How often has it been my earnest request to him +that he would let me share his solitary abode, or his obscure +wanderings! But the short and infrequent visits which he makes to this +house are all that he permits me of his society. Something I might +surely do, however little, to alleviate the melancholy by which he is +oppressed." + +"Something we might both do," said Peveril. "How willingly would I aid +you in so pleasing a task! All old griefs should be forgotten--all old +friendships revived. My father's prejudices are those of an Englishman +--strong, indeed, but not insurmountable by reason. Tell me, then, +where Major Bridgenorth is, and leave the rest to me; or let me but +know by what address your letters reach him, and I will forthwith +essay to discover his dwelling." + +"Do not attempt it, I charge you," said Alice. "He is already a man of +sorrows; and what would he think were I capable of entertaining a suit +so likely to add to them? Besides, I could not tell you, if I would, +where he is now to be found. My letters reach him from time to time, +by means of my aunt Christian; but of his address I am entirely +ignorant." + +"Then, by Heaven," answered Julian, "I will watch his arrival in this +island, and in this house; and ere he has locked thee in his arms, he +shall answer to me on the subject of my suit." + +"Then demand that answer now," said a voice from without the door, +which was at the same time slowly opened--"Demand that answer now, for +here stands Ralph Bridgenorth." + +As he spoke, he entered the apartment with his usual slow and sedate +step--raised his flapp'd and steeple-crowned hat from his brows, and, +standing in the midst of the room, eyed alternately his daughter and +Julian Peveril with a fixed and penetrating glance. + +"Father!" said Alice, utterly astonished, and terrified besides, by +his sudden appearance at such a conjuncture,--"Father, I am not to +blame." + +"Of that anon, Alice," said Bridgenorth; "meantime retire to your +apartment--I have that to say to this youth which will not endure your +presence." + +"Indeed--indeed, father," said Alice, alarmed at what she supposed +these words indicated, "Julian is as little to be blamed as I! It was +chance, it was fortune, which caused our meeting together." Then +suddenly rushing forward, she threw her arms around her father, +saying, "Oh, do him no injury--he meant no wrong! Father, you were +wont to be a man of reason and religious peace." + +"And wherefore should I not be so now, Alice?" said Bridgenorth, +raising his daughter from the ground, on which she had almost sunk in +the earnestness of her supplication. "Dost thou know aught, maiden, +which should inflame my anger against this young man, more than reason +or religion may bridle? Go--go to thy chamber. Compose thine own +passions--learn to rule these--and leave it to me to deal with this +stubborn young man." + +Alice arose, and, with her eyes fixed on the ground, retired slowly +from the apartment. Julian followed her steps with his eyes till the +last wave of her garment was visible at the closing door; then turned +his looks to Major Bridgenorth, and then sunk them on the ground. The +Major continued to regard him in profound silence; his looks were +melancholy and even austere; but there was nothing which indicated +either agitation or keen resentment. He motioned to Julian to take a +seat, and assumed one himself. After which he opened the conversation +in the following manner:-- + +"You seemed but now, young gentleman, anxious to learn where I was to +be found. Such I at least conjectured, from the few expressions which +I chanced to overhear; for I made bold, though it may be contrary to +the code of modern courtesy, to listen a moment or two, in order to +gather upon what subject so young a man as you entertained so young a +woman as Alice, in a private interview." + +"I trust, sir," said Julian, rallying spirits in what he felt to be a +case of extremity, "you have heard nothing on my part which has given +offence to a gentleman, whom, though unknown, I am bound to respect so +highly." + +"On the contrary," said Bridgenorth, with the same formal gravity, "I +am pleased to find that your business is, or appears to be, with me, +rather than with my daughter. I only think you had done better to have +entrusted it to me in the first instance, as my sole concern." + +The utmost sharpness of attention which Julian applied, could not +discover if Bridgenorth spoke seriously or ironically to the above +purpose. He was, however, quick-witted beyond his experience, and was +internally determined to endeavour to discover something of the +character and the temper of him with whom he spoke. For that purpose, +regulating his reply in the same tone with Bridgenorth's observation, +he said, that not having the advantage to know his place of residence, +he had applied for information to his daughter. + +"Who is now known to you for the first time?" said Bridgenorth. "Am I +so to understand you?" + +"By no means," answered Julian, looking down; "I have been known to +your daughter for many years; and what I wished to say, respects both +her happiness and my own." + +"I must understand you," said Bridgenorth, "even as carnal men +understand each other on the matters of this world. You are attached +to my daughter by the cords of love; I have long known this." + +"You, Master Bridgenorth?" exclaimed Peveril--"/You/ have long known +it?" + +"Yes, young man. Think you, that as the father of an only child, I +could have suffered Alice Bridgenorth--the only living pledge of her +who is now an angel in heaven--to have remained in this seclusion +without the surest knowledge of all her material actions? I have, in +person, seen more, both of her and of you, than you could be aware of; +and when absent in the body, I had the means of maintaining the same +superintendence. Young man, they say that such love as you entertain +for my daughter teaches much subtilty; but believe not that it can +overreach the affection which a widowed father bears to an only +child." + +"If," said Julian, his heart beating thick and joyfully, "if you have +known this intercourse so long, may I not hope that it has not met +your disapprobation?" + +The Major paused for an instant, and then answered, "In some respects, +certainly not. Had it done so--had there seemed aught on your side, or +on my daughter's, to have rendered your visits here dangerous to her, +or displeasing to me, she had not been long the inhabitant of this +solitude, or of this island. But be not so hasty as to presume, that +all which you may desire in this matter can be either easily or +speedily accomplished." + +"I foresee, indeed, difficulties," answered Julian; "but with your +kind acquiescence, they are such as I trust to remove. My father is +generous--my mother is candid and liberal. They loved you once; I +trust they will love you again. I will be the mediator betwixt you-- +peace and harmony shall once more inhabit our neighbourhood, and----" + +Bridgenorth interrupted him with a grim smile; for such it seemed, as +it passed over a face of deep melancholy. "My daughter well said, but +short while past, that you were a dreamer of dreams--an architect of +plans and hopes fantastic as the visions of the night. It is a great +thing you ask of me;--the hand of my only child--the sum of my worldly +substance, though that is but dross in comparison. You ask the key of +the only fountain from which I may yet hope to drink one pleasant +draught; you ask to be the sole and absolute keeper of my earthly +happiness--and what have you offered, or what have you to offer in +return, for the surrender you require of me?" + +"I am but too sensible," said Peveril, abashed at his own hasty +conclusions, "how difficult it may be." + +"Nay, but interrupt me not," replied Bridgenorth, "till I show you the +amount of what you offer me in exchange for a boon, which, whatever +may be its intrinsic value, is earnestly desired by you, and +comprehends all that is valuable on earth which I have it in my power +to bestow. You may have heard that in the late times I was the +antagonist of your father's principles and his profane faction, but +not the enemy of his person." + +"I have ever heard," replied Julian, "much the contrary; and it was +but now that I reminded you that you had been his friend." + +"Ay. When he was in affliction and I in prosperity, I was neither +unwilling, nor altogether unable, to show myself such. Well, the +tables are turned--the times are changed. A peaceful and unoffending +man might have expected from a neighbour, now powerful in his turn, +such protection, when walking in the paths of the law, as all men, +subjects of the same realm, have a right to expect even from perfect +strangers. What chances? I pursue, with the warrant of the King and +law, a murderess, bearing on her hand the blood of my near connection, +and I had, in such a case, a right to call on every liege subject to +render assistance to the execution. My late friendly neighbour, bound, +as a man and a magistrate, to give ready assistance to a legal action +--bound, as a grateful and obliged friend, to respect my rights and my +person--thrusts himself betwixt me--me, the avenger of blood--and my +lawful captive; beats me to the earth, at once endangering my life, +and, in mere human eyes, sullying mine honour; and under his +protection, the Midianitish woman reaches, like a sea-eagle, the nest +which she hath made in the wave-surrounded rocks, and remains there +till gold, duly administered at Court, wipes out all memory of her +crime, and baffles the vengeance due to the memory of the best and +bravest of men.--But," he added, apostrophising the portrait of +Christian, "thou art not yet forgotten, my fair-haired William! The +vengeance which dogs thy murderess is slow,--but it is sure!" + +There was a pause of some moments, which Julian Peveril, willing to +hear to what conclusion Major Bridgenorth was finally to arrive, did +not care to interrupt. Accordingly, in a few minutes, the latter +proceeded.--"These things," he said, "I recall not in bitterness, so +far as they are personal to me--I recall them not in spite of heart, +though they have been the means of banishing me from my place of +residence, where my fathers dwelt, and where my earthly comforts lie +interred. But the public cause sets further strife betwixt your father +and me. Who so active as he to execute the fatal edict of black St. +Bartholomew's day, when so many hundreds of gospel-preachers were +expelled from house and home--from hearth and altar--from church and +parish, to make room for belly-gods and thieves? Who, when a devoted +few of the Lord's people were united to lift the fallen standard, and +once more advance the good cause, was the readiest to break their +purpose--to search for, persecute, and apprehend them? Whose breath +did I feel warm on my neck--whose naked sword was thrust within a foot +of my body, whilst I lurked darkling, like a thief in concealment, in +the house of my fathers?--It was Geoffrey Peveril's--it was your +father's!--What can you answer to all this, or how can you reconcile +it with your present wishes? + +"These things I point out to you, Julian, that I may show you how +impossible, in the eyes of a merely worldly man, would be the union +which you are desirous of. But Heaven hath at times opened a door, +where man beholds no means of issue. Julian, your mother, for one to +whom the truth is unknown, is, after the fashion of the world, one of +the best, and one of the wisest of women; and Providence, which gave +her so fair a form, and tenanted that form with a mind as pure as the +original frailty of our vile nature will permit, means not, I trust, +that she shall continue to the end to be a vessel of wrath and +perdition. Of your father I say nothing--he is what the times and +example of others, and the counsels of his lordly priest, have made +him; and of him, once more, I say nothing, save that I have power over +him, which ere now he might have felt, but that there is one within +his chambers, who might have suffered in his suffering. Nor do I wish +to root up your ancient family. If I prize not your boast of family +honours and pedigree, I would not willingly destroy them; more than I +would pull down a moss-grown tower, or hew to the ground an ancient +oak, save for the straightening of the common path, and advantage of +the public. I have, therefore, no resentment against the humbled House +of Peveril--nay, I have regard to it in its depression." + +He here made a second pause, as if he expected Julian to say +something. But notwithstanding the ardour with which the young man had +pressed his suit, he was too much trained in ideas of the importance +of his family, and in the better habit of respect for his parents, to +hear, without displeasure, some part of Bridgenorth's discourse. + +"The House of Peveril," he replied, "was never humbled." + +"Had you said the sons of that House had never been /humble/," +answered Bridgenorth, "you would have come nearer the truth.--Are +/you/ not humbled? Live you not here, the lackey of a haughty woman, +the play-companion of an empty youth? If you leave this Isle, and go +to the Court of England, see what regard will there be paid to the old +pedigree that deduces your descent from kings and conquerors. A +scurril or obscene jest, an impudent carriage, a laced cloak, a +handful of gold, and the readiness to wager it on a card, or a die, +will better advance you at the Court of Charles, than your father's +ancient name, and slavish devotion of blood and fortune to the cause +of /his/ father." + +"That is, indeed, but too probable," said Peveril; "but the Court +shall be no element of mine. I will live like my fathers, among my +people, care for their comforts, decide their differences----" + +"Build Maypoles, and dance around them," said Bridgenorth, with +another of those grim smiles which passed over his features like the +light of a sexton's torch, as it glares and is reflected by the window +of the church, when he comes from locking a funeral vault. "No, +Julian, these are not times in which, by the dreaming drudgery of a +country magistrate, and the petty cares of a country proprietor, a man +can serve his unhappy country. There are mighty designs afloat, and +men are called to make their choice betwixt God and Baal. The ancient +superstition--the abomination of our fathers--is raising its head, and +flinging abroad its snares, under the protection of the princes of the +earth; but she raises not her head unmarked or unwatched; the true +English hearts are as thousands, which wait but a signal to arise as +one man, and show the kings of the earth that they have combined in +vain! We will cast their cords from us--the cup of their abominations +we will not taste." + +"You speak in darkness, Master Bridgenorth," said Peveril. "Knowing so +much of me, you may, perhaps, also be aware, that I at least have seen +too much of the delusions of Rome, to desire that they should be +propagated at home." + +"Else, wherefore do I speak to thee friendly and so free?" said +Bridgenorth. "Do I not know, with what readiness of early wit you +baffled the wily attempts of the woman's priest, to seduce thee from +the Protestant faith? Do I not know, how thou wast beset when abroad, +and that thou didst both hold thine own faith, and secure the wavering +belief of thy friend? Said I not, this was done like the son of +Margaret Peveril? Said I not, he holdeth, as yet, but the dead letter +--but the seed which is sown shall one day sprout and quicken?-- +Enough, however, of this. For to-day this is thy habitation. I will +see in thee neither the servant of the daughter of Eshbaal, nor the +son of him who pursued my life, and blemished my honours; but thou +shalt be to me, for this day, as the child of her, without whom my +house had been extinct." + +So saying, he stretched out his thin, bony hand, and grasped that of +Julian Peveril; but there was such a look of mourning in his welcome, +that whatever delight the youth anticipated, spending so long a time +in the neighbourhood of Alice Bridgenorth, perhaps in her society, or +however strongly he felt the prudence of conciliating her father's +good-will, he could not help feeling as if his heart was chilled in +his company. + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + This day at least is friendship's--on the morrow + Let strife come an she will. + --OTWAY. + +Deborah Debbitch, summoned by her master, now made her appearance, +with her handkerchief at her eyes, and an appearance of great mental +trouble. "It was not my fault, Major Bridgenorth," she said; "how +could I help it? like will to like--the boy would come--the girl would +see him." + +"Peace, foolish woman," said Bridgenorth, "and hear what I have got to +say." + +"I know what your honour has to say well enough," said Deborah. +"Service, I wot, is no inheritance nowadays--some are wiser than other +some--if I had not been wheedled away from Martindale, I might have +had a house of mine own by this time." + +"Peace, idiot!" said Bridgenorth; but so intent was Deborah on her +vindication, that he could but thrust the interjection, as it were +edgewise, between her exclamations, which followed as thick as is +usual in cases, where folks endeavour to avert deserved censure by a +clamorous justification ere the charge be brought. + +"No wonder she was cheated," she said, "out of sight of her own +interest, when it was to wait on pretty Miss Alice. All your honour's +gold should never have tempted me, but that I knew she was but a dead +castaway, poor innocent, if she were taken away from my lady or me.-- +And so this is the end on't!--up early, and down late--and this is all +my thanks!--But your honour had better take care what you do--she has +the short cough yet sometimes--and should take physic, spring and +fall." + +"Peace, chattering fool!" said her master, so soon as her failing +breath gave him an opportunity to strike in, "thinkest thou I knew not +of this young gentleman's visits to the Black Fort, and that, if they +had displeased me, I would not have known how to stop them?" + +"Did I know that your honour knew of his visits!" exclaimed Deborah, +in a triumphant tone,--for, like most of her condition, she never +sought farther for her defence than a lie, however inconsistent and +improbable--"/Did/ I know that your honour knew of it!--Why, how +should I have permitted his visits else? I wonder what your honour +takes me for! Had I not been sure it was the thing in this world that +your honour most desired would I have presumed to lend it a hand +forward? I trust I know my duty better. Hear if I ever asked another +youngster into the house, save himself--for I knew your honour was +wise, and quarrels cannot last for ever, and love begins where hatred +ends; and, to be sure, they love as if they were born one for the +other--and then, the estates of Moultrassie and Martindale suit each +other like sheath and knife." + +"Parrot of a woman, hold your tongue!" said Bridgenorth, his patience +almost completely exhausted; "or, if you will prate, let it be to your +playfellows in the kitchen, and bid them get ready some dinner +presently, for Master Peveril is far from home." + +"That I will, and with all my heart," said Deborah; "and if there are +a pair of fatter fowls in Man than shall clap their wings on the table +presently, your honour shall call me goose as well as parrot." She +then left the apartment. + +"It is to such a woman as that," said Bridgenorth, looking after her +significantly, "that you conceived me to have abandoned the charge of +my only child! But enough of this subject--we will walk abroad, if you +will, while she is engaged in a province fitter for her +understanding." + +So saying, he left the house, accompanied by Julian Peveril, and they +were soon walking side by side, as if they had been old acquaintances. + +It may have happened to many of our readers, as it has done to +ourselves, to be thrown by accident into society with some individual +whose claims to what is called a /serious/ character stand +considerably higher than our own, and with whom, therefore, we have +conceived ourselves likely to spend our time in a very stiff and +constrained manner; while, on the other hand, our destined companion +may have apprehended some disgust from the supposed levity and +thoughtless gaiety of a disposition that when we, with that urbanity +and good-humour which is our principal characteristic, have +accommodated ourself to our companion, by throwing as much seriousness +into our conversation as our habits will admit, he, on the other hand, +moved by our liberal example, hath divested his manners of part of +their austerity; and our conversation has, in consequence, been of +that pleasant texture, betwixt the useful and agreeable, which best +resembles "the fairy-web of night and day," usually called in prose +the twilight. It is probable both parties may, on such occasions, have +been the better for their encounter, even if it went no farther than +to establish for the time a community of feeling between men, who, +separated more perhaps by temper than by principle, are too apt to +charge each other with profane frivolity on the one hand, or +fanaticism on the other. + +It fared thus in Peveril's walk with Bridgenorth, and in the +conversation which he held with him. + +Carefully avoiding the subject on which he had already spoken, Major +Bridgenorth turned his conversation chiefly on foreign travel, and on +the wonders he had seen in distant countries, and which he appeared to +have marked with a curious and observant eye. This discourse made the +time fly light away; for although the anecdotes and observations thus +communicated were all tinged with the serious and almost gloomy spirit +of the narrator, they yet contained traits of interest and of wonder, +such as are usually interesting to a youthful ear, and were +particularly so to Julian, who had, in his disposition, some cast of +the romantic and adventurous. + +It appeared that Bridgenorth knew the south of France, and could tell +many stories of the French Huguenots, who already began to sustain +those vexations which a few years afterwards were summed up by the +revocation of the Edict of Nantz. He had even been in Hungary, for he +spoke as from personal knowledge of the character of several of the +heads of the great Protestant insurrection, which at this time had +taken place under the celebrated Tekeli; and laid down solid reasons +why they were entitled to make common cause with the Great Turk, +rather than submit to the Pope of Rome. He talked also of Savoy, where +those of the reformed religion still suffered a cruel persecution; and +he mentioned with a swelling spirit, the protection which Oliver had +afforded to the oppressed Protestant Churches; "therein showing +himself," he added, "more fit to wield the supreme power, than those +who, claiming it by right of inheritance, use it only for their own +vain and voluptuous pursuits." + +"I did not expect," said Peveril modestly, "to have heard Oliver's +panegyric from you, Master Bridgenorth." + +"I do not panegyrise him," answered Bridgenorth; "I speak but truth of +that extraordinary man, now being dead, whom, when alive, I feared not +to withstand to his face. It is the fault of the present unhappy King, +if he make us look back with regret to the days when the nation was +respected abroad, and when devotion and sobriety were practised at +home.--But I mean not to vex your spirit by controversy. You have +lived amongst those who find it more easy and more pleasant to be the +pensioners of France than her controllers--to spend the money which +she doles out to themselves, than to check the tyranny with which she +oppresses our poor brethren of the religion. When the scales shall +fall from thine eyes, all this thou shalt see; and seeing, shalt learn +to detest and despise it." + +By this time they had completed their walk, and were returned to the +Black Fort, by a different path from that which had led them up the +valley. The exercise and the general tone of conversation had removed, +in some degree, the shyness and embarrassment which Peveril originally +felt in Bridgenorth's presence and which the tenor of his first +remarks had rather increased than diminished. Deborah's promised +banquet was soon on the board; and in simplicity as well as neatness +and good order, answered the character she had claimed for it. In one +respect alone, there seemed some inconsistency, perhaps a little +affectation. Most of the dishes were of silver, and the plates were of +the same metal; instead of the trenchers and pewter which Peveril had +usually seen employed on similar occasions at the Black Fort. + +Presently, with the feeling of one who walks in a pleasant dream from +which he fears to awake, and whose delight is mingled with wonder and +with uncertainty, Julian Peveril found himself seated between Alice +Bridgenorth and her father--the being he most loved on earth, and the +person whom he had ever considered as the great obstacle to their +intercourse. The confusion of his mind was such, that he could +scarcely reply to the importunate civilities of Dame Deborah; who, +seated with them at table in her quality of governante, now dispensed +the good things which had been prepared under her own eye. + +As for Alice she seemed to have found a resolution to play the mute; +for she answered not, excepting briefly, to the questions of Dame +Debbitch; nay, even when her father, which happened once or twice, +attempted to bring her forward in the conversation, she made no +further reply than respect for him rendered absolutely necessary. + +Upon Bridgenorth himself, then, devolved the task of entertaining the +company; and contrary to his ordinary habits, he did not seem to +shrink from it. His discourse was not only easy, but almost cheerful, +though ever and anon crossed by some expressions indicative of natural +and habitual melancholy, or prophetic of future misfortune and woe. +Flashes of enthusiasm, too, shot along his conversation, gleaming like +the sheet-lightening of an autumn eve, which throws a strong, though +momentary illumination, across the sober twilight, and all the +surrounding objects, which, touched by it, assume a wilder and more +striking character. In general, however, Bridgenorth's remarks were +plain and sensible; and as he aimed at no graces of language, any +ornament which they received arose out of the interest with which they +were impressed on his hearers. For example, when Deborah, in the pride +and vulgarity of her heart, called Julian's attention to the plate +from which they had been eating, Bridgenorth seemed to think an +apology necessary for such superfluous expense. + +"It was a symptom," he said, "of approaching danger, when such men, as +were not usually influenced by the vanities of life employed much +money in ornaments composed of the precious metals. It was a sign that +the merchant could not obtain a profit for the capital, which, for the +sake of security, he invested in this inert form. It was a proof that +the noblemen or gentlemen feared the rapacity of power, when they put +their wealth into forms the most portable and the most capable of +being hidden; and it showed the uncertainty of credit, when a man of +judgment preferred the actual possession of a mass of a silver to the +convenience of a goldsmith's or a banker's receipt. While a shadow of +liberty remained," he said, "domestic rights were last invaded; and, +therefore, men disposed upon their cupboards and tables the wealth +which in these places would remain longest, though not perhaps +finally, sacred from the grasp of a tyrannical government. But let +there be a demand for capital to support a profitable commerce, and +the mass is at once consigned to the furnace, and, ceasing to be a +vain and cumbrous ornament of the banquet, becomes a potent and active +agent for furthering the prosperity of the country." + +"In war, too," said Peveril, "plate has been found a ready resource." + +"But too much so," answered Bridgenorth. "In the late times, the plate +of the nobles and gentry, with that of the colleges, and the sale of +the crown-jewels, enabled the King to make his unhappy stand, which +prevented matters returning to a state of peace and good order, until +the sword had attained an undue superiority both over King and +Parliament." + +He looked at Julian as he spoke, much as he who proves a horse offers +some object suddenly to his eyes, then watches to see if he starts or +blenches from it. But Julian's thoughts were too much bent on other +topics to manifest any alarm. His answer referred to a previous part +of Bridgenorth's discourse, and was not returned till after a brief +pause. "War, then," he said, "war, the grand impoverisher, is also a +creator of wealth which it wastes and devours?" + +"Yes," replied Bridgenorth, "even as the sluice brings into action the +sleeping waters of the lake, which it finally drains. Necessity +invents arts and discovers means; and what necessity is sterner than +that of civil war? Therefore, even war is not in itself unmixed evil, +being the creator of impulses and energies which could not otherwise +have existed in society." + +"Men should go to war, then," said Peveril, "that they may send their +silver plate to the mint, and eat from pewter dishes and wooden +plates?" + +"Not so, my son," said Bridgenorth. Then checking himself as he +observed the deep crimson in Julian's cheek and brow, he added, "I +crave your pardon for such familiarity; but I meant not to limit what +I said even now to such trifling consequences, although it may be +something salutary to tear men from their pomps and luxuries, and +teach those to be Romans who would otherwise be Sybarites. But I would +say, that times of public danger, as they call into circulation the +miser's hoard and the proud man's bullion, and so add to the +circulating wealth of the country, do also call into action many a +brave and noble spirit, which would otherwise lie torpid, give no +example to the living, and bequeath no name to future ages. Society +knows not, and cannot know, the mental treasures which slumber in her +bosom, till necessity and opportunity call forth the statesman and the +soldier from the shades of lowly life to the parts they are designed +by Providence to perform, and the stations which nature had qualified +them to hold. So rose Oliver--so rose Milton--so rose many another +name which cannot be forgotten--even as the tempest summons forth and +displays the address of the mariner." + +"You speak," said Peveril, "as if national calamity might be, in some +sort, an advantage." + +"And if it were not so," replied Bridgenorth, "it had not existed in +this state of trial, where all temporal evil is alleviated by +something good in its progress or result, and where all that is good +is close coupled with that which is in itself evil." + +"It must be a noble sight," said Julian, "to behold the slumbering +energies of a great mind awakened into energy, and to see it assume +the authority which is its due over spirits more meanly endowed." + +"I once witnessed," said Bridgenorth, "something to the same effect; +and as the tale is brief, I will tell it you, if you will:- + +"Amongst my wanderings, the Transatlantic settlements have not escaped +me; more especially the country of New England, into which our native +land has shaken from her lap, as a drunkard flings from him his +treasures, so much that is precious in the eyes of God and of His +children. There thousands of our best and most godly men--such whose +righteousness might come of cities--are content to be the inhabitants +of the desert, rather encountering the unenlightened savages, than +stooping to extinguish, under the oppression practised in Britain, the +light that is within their own minds. There I remained for a time, +during the wars which the colony maintained with Philip, a great +Indian Chief, or Sachem, as they were called, who seemed a messenger +sent from Satan to buffet them. His cruelty was great--his +dissimulation profound; and the skill and promptitude with which he +maintained a destructive and desultory warfare, inflicted many +dreadful calamities on the settlement. I was, by chance, at a small +village in the woods, more than thirty miles from Boston, and in its +situation exceedingly lonely, and surrounded with thickets. +Nevertheless, there was no idea of any danger from the Indians at that +time, for men trusted to the protection of a considerable body of +troops who had taken the field for protection of the frontiers, and +who lay, or were supposed to lie, betwixt the hamlet and the enemy's +country. But they had to do with a foe, whom the devil himself had +inspired at once with cunning and cruelty. It was on a Sabbath +morning, when we had assembled to take sweet counsel together in the +Lord's house. Our temple was but constructed of wooden logs; but when +shall the chant of trained hirelings, or the sounding of tin and brass +tubes amid the aisles of a minster, arise so sweetly to Heaven, as did +the psalm in which we united at once our voices and our hearts! An +excellent worthy, who now sleeps in the Lord, Nehemia Solsgrace, long +the companion of my pilgrimage, had just begun to wrestle in prayer, +when a woman, with disordered looks and dishevelled hair, entered our +chapel in a distracted manner, screaming incessantly, 'The Indians! +The Indians!'--In that land no man dares separate himself from his +means of defence; and whether in the city or in the field, in the +ploughed land or the forest, men keep beside them their weapons, as +did the Jews at the rebuilding of the Temple. So we sallied forth with +our guns and pikes, and heard the whoop of these incarnate devils, +already in possession of a part of the town, and exercising their +cruelty on the few whom weighty causes or indisposition had withheld +from public worship; and it was remarked as a judgment, that, upon +that bloody Sabbath, Adrian Hanson, a Dutchman, a man well enough +disposed towards man, but whose mind was altogether given to worldly +gain, was shot and scalped as he was summing his weekly gains in his +warehouse. In fine, there was much damage done; and although our +arrival and entrance into combat did in some sort put them back, yet +being surprised and confused, and having no appointed leader of our +band, the devilish enemy shot hard at us and had some advantage. It +was pitiful to hear the screams of women and children amid the report +of guns and the whistling of bullets, mixed with the ferocious yells +of these savages, which they term their war-whoop. Several houses in +the upper part of the village were soon on fire; and the roaring of +the flames, and crackling of the great beams as they blazed, added to +the horrible confusion; while the smoke which the wind drove against +us gave farther advantage to the enemy, who fought as it were, +invisible, and under cover, whilst we fell fast by their unerring +fire. In this state of confusion, and while we were about to adopt the +desperate project of evacuating the village, and, placing the women +and children in the centre, of attempting a retreat to the nearest +settlement, it pleased Heaven to send us unexpected assistance. A tall +man, of a reverend appearance, whom no one of us had ever seen before, +suddenly was in the midst of us, as we hastily agitated the resolution +of retreating. His garments were of the skin of the elk, and he wore +sword and carried gun; I never saw anything more august than his +features, overshadowed by locks of grey hair, which mingled with a +long beard of the same colour. 'Men and brethren,' he said, in a voice +like that which turns back the flight, 'why sink your hearts? and why +are you thus disquieted? Fear ye that the God we serve will give you +up to yonder heathen dogs? Follow me, and you shall see this day that +there is a captain in Israel!' He uttered a few brief but distinct +orders, in a tone of one who was accustomed to command; and such was +the influence of his appearance, his mien, his language, and his +presence of mind, that he was implicitly obeyed by men who had never +seen him until that moment. We were hastily divided, by his orders, +into two bodies; one of which maintained the defence of the village +with more courage than ever, convinced that the Unknown was sent by +God to our rescue. At his command they assumed the best and most +sheltered positions for exchanging their deadly fire with the Indians; +while, under cover of the smoke, the stranger sallied from the town, +at the head of the other division of the New England men, and, +fetching a circuit, attacked the Red Warriors in the rear. The +surprise, as is usual amongst savages, had complete effect; for they +doubted not that they were assailed in their turn, and placed betwixt +two hostile parties by the return of a detachment from the provincial +army. The heathens fled in confusion, abandoning the half-won village, +and leaving behind them such a number of their warriors, that the +tribe hath never recovered its loss. Never shall I forget the figure +of our venerable leader, when our men, and not they only, but the +women and children of the village, rescued from the tomahawk and +scalping-knife, stood crowded around him, yet scarce venturing to +approach his person, and more minded, perhaps, to worship him as a +descended angel, than to thank him as a fellow-mortal. 'Not unto me be +the glory,' he said; 'I am but an implement, frail as yourselves, in +the hand of Him who is strong to deliver. Bring me a cup of water, +that I may allay my parched throat, ere I essay the task of offering +thanks where they are most due.' I was nearest to him as he spoke, and +I gave into his hand the water he requested. At that moment we +exchanged glances, and it seemed to me that I recognised a noble +friend whom I had long since deemed in glory; but he gave me no time +to speak, had speech been prudent. Sinking on his knees, and signing +us to obey him, he poured forth a strong and energetic thanksgiving +for the turning back of the battle, which, pronounced with a voice +loud and clear as a war-trumpet, thrilled through the joints and +marrow of the hearers. I have heard many an act of devotion in my +life, had Heaven vouchsafed me grace to profit by them; but such a +prayer as this, uttered amid the dead and the dying, with a rich tone +of mingled triumph and adoration, was beyond them all--it was like the +song of the inspired prophetess who dwelt beneath the palm-tree +between Ramah and Bethel. He was silent; and for a brief space we +remained with our faces bent to the earth--no man daring to lift his +head. At length we looked up, but our deliverer was no longer amongst +us; nor was he ever again seen in the land which he had rescued." + +Here Bridgenorth, who had told this singular story with an eloquence +and vivacity of detail very contrary to the usual dryness of his +conversation, paused for an instant, and then resumed--"Thou seest, +young man, that men of valour and of discretion are called forth to +command in circumstances of national exigence, though their very +existence is unknown in the land which they are predestined to +deliver." + +"But what thought the people of the mysterious stranger?" said Julian, +who had listened with eagerness, for the story was of a kind +interesting to the youthful and the brave. + +"Many things," answered Bridgenorth, "and, as usual, little to the +purpose. The prevailing opinion was, notwithstanding his own +disclamation, that the stranger was really a supernatural being; +others believed him an inspired champion, transported in the body from +some distant climate, to show us the way to safety; others, again, +concluded that he was a recluse, who, either from motives of piety, or +other cogent reasons, had become a dweller in the wilderness, and +shunned the face of man." + +"And, if I may presume to ask," said Julian, "to which of these +opinions were you disposed to adhere?" + +"The last suited best with the transient though close view with which +I had perused the stranger's features," replied Bridgenorth; "for +although I dispute not that it may please Heaven, on high occasions, +even to raise one from the dead in defence of his country, yet I +doubted not then, as I doubt not now, that I looked on the living form +of one, who had indeed powerful reasons to conceal him in the cleft of +the rock." + +"Are these reasons a secret?" said Julian Peveril. + +"Not properly a secret," replied Bridgenorth; "for I fear not thy +betraying what I might tell thee in private discourse; and besides, +wert thou so base, the prey lies too distant for any hunters to whom +thou couldst point out its traces. But the name of this worthy will +sound harsh in thy ear, on account of one action of his life--being +his accession to a great measure, which made the extreme isles of the +earth to tremble. Have you never heard of Richard Whalley?" + +"Of the regicide?" exclaimed Peveril, starting. + +"Call his act what thou wilt," said Bridgenorth; "he was not less the +rescuer of that devoted village, that, with other leading spirits of +the age, he sat in the judgment-seat when Charles Stewart was +arraigned at the bar, and subscribed the sentence that went forth upon +him." + +"I have ever heard," said Julian, in an altered voice, and colouring +deeply, "that you, Master Bridgenorth, with other Presbyterians, were +totally averse to that detestable crime, and were ready to have made +joint-cause with the Cavaliers in preventing so horrible a parricide." + +"If it were so," said Bridgenorth, "we have been richly rewarded by +his successor." + +"Rewarded!" exclaimed Julian; "does the distinction of good and evil, +and our obligation to do the one and forbear the other, depend on the +reward which may attach to our actions?" + +"God forbid," answered Bridgenorth; "yet those who view the havoc +which this house of Stewart have made in the Church and State--the +tyranny which they exercise over men's persons and consciences--may +well doubt whether it be lawful to use weapons in their defence. Yet +you hear me not praise, or even vindicate the death of the King, +though so far deserved, as he was false to his oath as a Prince and +Magistrate. I only tell you what you desired to know, that Richard +Whalley, one of the late King's judges, was he of whom I have just +been speaking. I knew his lofty brow, though time had made it balder +and higher; his grey eye retained all its lustre; and though the +grizzled beard covered the lower part of his face, it prevented me not +from recognising him. The scent was hot after him for his blood; but +by the assistance of those friends whom Heaven had raised up for his +preservation, he was concealed carefully, and emerged only to do the +will of Providence in the matter of that battle. Perhaps his voice may +be heard in the field once more, should England need one of her +noblest hearts." + +"Now, God forbid!" said Julian. + +"Amen," returned Bridgenorth. "May God avert civil war, and pardon +those whose madness would bring it on us!" + +There was a long pause, during which Julian, who had scarce lifted his +eyes towards Alice, stole a glance in that direction, and was struck +by the deep cast of melancholy which had stolen over features, to +which a cheerful, if not gay expression, was most natural. So soon as +she caught his eye, she remarked, and, as Julian thought, with +significance, that the shadows were lengthening, and evening coming +on. + +He heard; and although satisfied that she hinted at his departure, he +could not, upon the instant, find resolution to break the spell which +detained him. The language which Bridgenorth held was not only new and +alarming, but so contrary to the maxims in which he was brought up, +that, as a son of Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak, he would, in +another case, have thought himself called upon to dispute its +conclusions, even at the sword's point. But Bridgenorth's opinions +were delivered with so much calmness--seemed so much the result of +conviction--that they excited in Julian rather a spirit of wonder, +than of angry controversy. There was a character of sober decision, +and sedate melancholy, in all that he said, which, even had he not +been the father of Alice (and perhaps Julian was not himself aware how +much he was influenced by that circumstance), would have rendered it +difficult to take personal offence. His language and sentiments were +of that quiet, yet decided kind, upon which it is difficult either to +fix controversy, or quarrel, although it be impossible to acquiesce in +the conclusions to which they lead. + +While Julian remained, as if spell-bound to his chair, scarce more +surprised at the company in which he found himself, than at the +opinions to which he was listening, another circumstance reminded him +that the proper time of his stay at Black Fort had been expended. +Little Fairy, the Manx pony, which, well accustomed to the vicinity of +Black Fort, used to feed near the house while her master made his +visits there, began to find his present stay rather too long. She had +been the gift of the Countess to Julian, whilst a youth, and came of a +high-spirited mountain breed, remarkable alike for hardiness, for +longevity, and for a degree of sagacity approaching to that of the +dog. Fairy showed the latter quality, by the way in which she chose to +express her impatience to be moving homewards. At least such seemed +the purpose of the shrill neigh with which she startled the female +inmates of the parlour, who, the moment afterwards, could not forbear +smiling to see the nose of the pony advanced through the opened +casement. + +"Fairy reminds me," said Julian, looking to Alice, and rising, "that +the term of my stay here is exhausted." + +"Speak with me yet one moment," said Bridgenorth, withdrawing him into +a Gothic recess of the old-fashioned apartment, and speaking so low +that he could not be overheard by Alice and her governante, who, in +the meantime, caressed, and fed with fragments of bread the intruder +Fairy. + +"You have not, after all," said Bridgenorth, "told me the cause of +your coming hither." He stopped, as if to enjoy his embarrassment, and +then added, "And indeed it were most unnecessary that you should do +so. I have not so far forgotten the days of my youth, or those +affections which bind poor frail humanity but too much to the things +of this world. Will you find no words to ask of me the great boon +which you seek, and which, peradventure, you would not have hesitated +to have made your own, without my knowledge, and against my consent?-- +Nay, never vindicate thyself, but mark me farther. The patriarch +bought his beloved by fourteen years' hard service to her father +Laban, and they seemed to him but as a few days. But he that would wed +my daughter must serve, in comparison, but a few days; though in +matters of such mighty import, that they shall seem as the service of +many years. Reply not to me now, but go, and peace be with you." + +He retired so quickly, after speaking, that Peveril had literally not +an instant to reply. He cast his eyes around the apartment, but +Deborah and her charge had also disappeared. His gaze rested for a +moment on the portrait of Christian, and his imagination suggested +that his dark features were illuminated by a smile of haughty triumph. +He stared, and looked more attentively--it was but the effect of the +evening beam, which touched the picture at the instant. The effect was +gone, and there remained but the fixed, grave, inflexible features of +the republican soldier. + +Julian left the apartment as one who walks in a dream; he mounted +Fairy, and, agitated by a variety of thoughts, which he was unable to +reduce to order, he returned to Castle Rushin before the night sat +down. + +Here he found all in movement. The Countess, with her son, had, upon +some news received, or resolution formed, during his absence, removed, +with a principal part of their family, to the yet stronger Castle of +Holm-Peel, about eight miles' distance across the island; and which +had been suffered to fall into a much more dilapidated condition than +that of Castletown, so far as it could be considered as a place of +residence. But as a fortress, Holm-Peel was stronger than Castletown; +nay, unless assailed regularly, was almost impregnable; and was always +held by a garrison belonging to the Lords of Man. Here Peveril arrived +at nightfall. He was told in the fishing-village, that the night-bell +of the Castle had been rung earlier than usual, and the watch set with +circumstances of unusual and jealous repetition. + +Resolving, therefore, not to disturb the garrison by entering at that +late hour, he obtained an indifferent lodging in the town for the +night, and determined to go to the Castle early on the succeeding +morning. He was not sorry thus to gain a few hours of solitude, to +think over the agitating events of the preceding day. + + + + CHAPTER XV + + ----What seem'd its head, + The likeness of a kingly crown had on. + --PARADISE LOST. + +Sodor, or Holm-Peel, so is named the castle to which our Julian +directed his course early on the following morning, is one of those +extraordinary monuments of antiquity with which this singular and +interesting island abounds. It occupies the whole of a high rocky +peninsula, or rather an island, for it is surrounded by the sea at +high-water, and scarcely accessible even when the tide is out, +although a stone causeway, of great solidity, erected for the express +purpose, connects the island with the mainland. The whole space is +surrounded by double walls of great strength and thickness; and the +access to the interior, at the time which we treat of, was only by two +flights of steep and narrow steps, divided from each other by a strong +tower and guard-house; under the former of which, there is an +entrance-arch. The open space within the walls extends to two acres, +and contains many objects worthy of antiquarian curiosity. There were +besides the castle itself, two cathedral churches, dedicated, the +earlier to St. Patrick, the latter to St. Germain; besides two smaller +churches; all of which had become, even in that day, more or less +ruinous. Their decayed walls, exhibiting the rude and massive +architecture of the most remote period, were composed of a ragged +grey-stone, which formed a singular contrast with the bright red +freestone of which the window-cases, corner-stones, arches, and other +ornamental parts of the building, were composed. + +Besides these four ruinous churches, the space of ground enclosed by +the massive exterior walls of Holm-Peel exhibited many other vestiges +of the olden time. There was a square mound of earth, facing, with its +angles to the points of the compass, one of those motes, as they were +called, on which, in ancient times, the northern tribes elected or +recognised their chiefs, and held their solemn popular assemblies, or +/comitia/. There was also one of those singular towers, so common in +Ireland as to have proved the favourite theme of her antiquaries; but +of which the real use and meaning seems yet to be hidden in the mist +of ages. This of Holm-Peel had been converted to the purpose of a +watch-tower. There were, besides, Runic monuments, of which legends +could not be deciphered; and later inscriptions to the memory of +champions, of whom the names only were preserved from oblivion. But +tradition and superstitious eld, still most busy where real history is +silent, had filled up the long blank of accurate information with +tales of Sea-kings and Pirates, Hebridean Chiefs and Norwegian +Resolutes, who had formerly warred against, and in defence of, this +famous castle. Superstition, too, had her tales of fairies, ghosts, +and spectres--her legions of saints and demons, of fairies and of +familiar spirits, which in no corner of the British empire are told +and received with more absolute credulity than in the Isle of Man. + +Amidst all these ruins of an older time arose the Castle itself,--now +ruinous--but in Charles II.'s reign well garrisoned, and, in a +military point of view, kept in complete order. It was a venerable and +very ancient building, containing several apartments of sufficient +size and height to be termed noble. But in the surrender of the island +by Christian, the furniture had been, in a great measure, plundered or +destroyed by the republican soldiers; so that, as we have before +hinted, its present state was ill adapted for the residence of the +noble proprietor. Yet it had been often the abode, not only of the +Lords of Man, but of those state prisoners whom the Kings of Britain +sometimes committed to their charge. + +In this Castle of Holm-Peel the great king-maker, Richard, Earl of +Warwick, was confined, during one period of his eventful life, to +ruminate at leisure on his farther schemes of ambition. And here, too, +Eleanor, the haughty wife of the good Duke of Gloucester, pined out in +seclusion the last days of her banishment. The sentinels pretended +that her discontented spectre was often visible at night, traversing +the battlements of the external walls, or standing motionless beside a +particular solitary turret of one of the watch-towers with which they +are flanked; but dissolving into air at cock-crow, or when the bell +tolled from the yet remaining tower of St. Germain's church. + +Such was Holm-Peel, as records inform us, till towards the end of the +seventeenth century. + +It was in one of the lofty but almost unfurnished apartments of this +ancient Castle that Julian Peveril found his friend the Earl of Derby, +who had that moment sat down to a breakfast composed of various sorts +of fish. "Welcome, most imperial Julian," he said; "welcome to our +royal fortress; in which, as yet, we are not like to be starved with +hunger, though well-nigh dead for cold." + +Julian answered by inquiring the meaning of this sudden movement. + +"Upon my word," replied the Earl, "you know nearly as much of it as I +do. My mother has told me nothing about it; supposing I believe, that +I shall at length be tempted to inquire; but she will find herself +much mistaken. I shall give her credit for full wisdom in her +proceedings, rather than put her to the trouble to render a reason, +though no woman can render one better." + +"Come, come; this is affectation, my good friend," said Julian. "You +should inquire into these matters a little more curiously." + +"To what purpose?" said the Earl. "To hear old stories about the +Tinwald laws, and the contending rights of the lords and the clergy, +and all the rest of that Celtic barbarism, which, like Burgesse's +thorough-paced doctrine enters at one ear, paces through, and goes out +at the other?" + +"Come, my lord," said Julian, "you are not so indifferent as you would +represent yourself--you are dying of curiosity to know what this hurry +is about; only you think it the courtly humour to appear careless +about your own affairs." + +"Why, what should it be about," said the young Earl "unless some +factious dispute between our Majesty's minister, Governor Nowel, and +our vassals? or perhaps some dispute betwixt our Majesty and the +ecclesiastical jurisdictions? for all which our Majesty cares as +little as any king in Christendom." + +"I rather suppose there is intelligence from England," said Julian. "I +heard last night in Peel-town, that Greenhalgh is come over with +unpleasant news." + +"He brought me nothing that was pleasant, I wot well," said the Earl. +"I expected something from St. Evremond or Hamilton--some new plays by +Dryden or Lee, and some waggery or lampoons from the Rose Coffee- +house; and the fellow has brought me nothing but a parcel of tracts +about Protestants and Papists, and a folio play-book, one of the +conceptions, as she calls them, of that old mad-woman the Duchess of +Newcastle." + +"Hush, my lord, for Heaven's sake," said Peveril; "here comes the +Countess; and you know she takes fire at the least slight to her +ancient friend." + +"Let her read her ancient friend's works herself, then," said the +Earl, "and think her as wise as she can; but I would not give one of +Waller's songs, or Denham's satires, for a whole cart-load of her +Grace's trash.--But here comes our mother with care on her brow." + +The Countess of Derby entered the apartment accordingly, holding in +her hand a number of papers. Her dress was a mourning habit, with a +deep train of black velvet, which was borne by a little favourite +attendant, a deaf and dumb girl, whom, in compassion to her +misfortune, the Countess had educated about her person for some years. +Upon this unfortunate being, with the touch of romance which marked +many of her proceedings, Lady Derby had conferred the name of Fenella, +after some ancient princess of the island. The Countess herself was +not much changed since we last presented her to our readers. Age had +rendered her step more slow, but not less majestic; and while it +traced some wrinkles on her brow, had failed to quench the sedate fire +of her dark eye. The young men rose to receive her with the formal +reverence which they knew she loved, and were greeted by her with +equal kindness. + +"Cousin Peveril," she said (for so she always called Julian, in +respect of his mother being a kinswoman of her husband), "you were ill +abroad last night, when we much needed your counsel." + +Julian answered with a blush which he could not prevent, "That he had +followed his sport among the mountains too far--had returned late--and +finding her ladyship was removed from Castletown, had instantly +followed the family hither; but as the night-bell was rung, and the +watch set, he had deemed it more respectful to lodge for the night in +the town." + +"It is well," said the Countess; "and, to do you justice, Julian, you +are seldom a truant neglecter of appointed hours, though, like the +rest of the youth of this age, you sometimes suffer your sports to +consume too much of time that should be spent otherwise. But for your +friend Philip, he is an avowed contemner of good order, and seems to +find pleasure in wasting time, even when he does not enjoy it." + +"I have been enjoying my time just now at least," said the Earl, +rising from table, and picking his teeth carelessly. "These fresh +mullets are delicious, and so is the Lachrymæ Christi. I pray you to +sit down to breakfast, Julian, and partake the goods my royal +foresight has provided. Never was King of Man nearer being left to the +mercy of the execrable brandy of his dominions. Old Griffiths would +never, in the midst of our speedy retreat of last night, have had +sense enough to secure a few flasks, had I not given him a hint on +that important subject. But presence of mind amid danger and tumult, +is a jewel I have always possessed." + +"I wish, then, Philip, you would exert it to better purpose," said the +Countess, half smiling, half displeased; for she doated upon her son +with all a mother's fondness, even when she was most angry with him +for being deficient in the peculiar and chivalrous disposition which +had distinguished his father, and which was so analogous to her own +romantic and high-minded character. "Lend me your signet," she added +with a sigh; "for it were, I fear, vain to ask you to read over these +despatches from England, and execute the warrants which I have thought +necessary to prepare in consequence." + +"My signet you shall command with all my heart, madam," said Earl +Philip; "but spare me the revision of what you are much more capable +to decide upon. I am, you know, a most complete /Roi fainéant/, and +never once interfered with my /Maire de palais/ in her proceedings." + +The Countess made signs to her little train-bearer, who immediately +went to seek for wax and a light, with which she presently returned. + +In the meanwhile the Countess continued, addressing Peveril. "Philip +does himself less than justice. When you were absent, Julian (for if +you had been here I would have given you the credit of prompting your +friend), he had a spirited controversy with the Bishop, for an attempt +to enforce spiritual censures against a poor wretch, by confining her +in the vault under the chapel."[*] + +[*] Beneath the only one of the four churches in Castle Rushin, which + is or was kept a little in repair, is a prison or dungeon, for + ecclesiastical offenders. "This," says Waldron, "is certainly one + of the most dreadful places that imagination can form; the sea + runs under it through the hollows of the rock with such a + continual roar, that you would think it were every moment breaking + in upon you, and over it are the vaults for burying the dead. The + stairs descending to this place of terrors are not above thirty, + but so steep and narrow, that they are very difficult to go down, + a child of eight or nine years not being able to pass them but + sideways."--WALDRON'S /Description of the Isle of Man, in his + Works/, p. 105, folio. + +"Do not think better of me than I deserve," said the Earl to Peveril; +"my mother has omitted to tell you the culprit was pretty Peggy of +Ramsey, and her crime what in Cupid's courts would have been called a +peccadillo." + +"Do not make yourself worse than you are," replied Peveril, who +observed the Countess's cheek redden,--"you know you would have done +as much for the oldest and poorest cripple in the island. Why, the +vault is under the burial-ground of the chapel, and, for aught I know, +under the ocean itself, such a roaring do the waves make in its +vicinity. I think no one could remain there long, and retain his +reason." + +"It is an infernal hole," answered the Earl, "and I will have it built +up one day--that is full certain.--But hold--hold--for God's sake, +madam--what are you going to do?--Look at the seal before you put it +to the warrant--you will see it is a choice antique cameo Cupid, +riding on a flying fish--I had it for twenty zechins, from Signor +Furabosco at Rome--a most curious matter for an antiquary, but which +will add little faith to a Manx warrant. + +"My signet--my signet--Oh! you mean that with the three monstrous +legs, which I supposed was devised as the most preposterous device, to +represent our most absurd Majesty of Man.--The signet--I have not seen +it since I gave it to Gibbon, my monkey, to play with.--He did whine +for it most piteously--I hope he has not gemmed the green breast of +ocean with my symbol of sovereignty!" + +"Now, by Heaven," said the Countess, trembling, and colouring deeply +with anger, "it was your father's signet! the last pledge which he +sent, with his love to me, and his blessing to thee, the night before +they murdered him at Bolton!" + +"Mother, dearest mother," said the Earl, startled out of his apathy, +and taking her hand, which he kissed tenderly, "I did but jest--the +signet is safe--Peveril knows that it is so.--Go fetch it, Julian, for +Heaven's sake--here are my keys--it is in the left-hand drawer of my +travelling cabinet--Nay, mother, forgive me--it was but a /mauvaise +plaisanterie/; only an ill-imagined jest, ungracious, and in bad +taste, I allow--but only one of Philip's follies. Look at me, dearest +mother, and forgive me." + +The Countess turned her eyes towards him, from which the tears were +fast falling. + +"Philip," she said, "you try me too unkindly, and too severely. If +times are changed, as I have heard you allege--if the dignity of rank, +and the high feelings of honour and duty, are now drowned in giddy +jests and trifling pursuits, let /me/ at least, who live secluded from +all others, die without perceiving the change which has happened, and, +above all, without perceiving it in mine own son. Let me not learn the +general prevalence of this levity, which laughs at every sense of +dignity or duty, through your personal disrespect--Let me not think +that when I die----" + +"Speak nothing of it, mother," said the Earl, interrupting her +affectionately. "It is true, I cannot promise to be all my father and +his fathers were; for we wear silk vests for their steel coats, and +feathered beavers for their crested helmets. But believe me, though to +be an absolute Palmerin of England is not in my nature, no son ever +loved a mother more dearly, or would do more to oblige her. And that +you may own this, I will forthwith not only seal the warrants, to the +great endangerment of my precious fingers, but also read the same from +end to end, as well as the despatches thereunto appertaining." + +A mother is easily appeased, even when most offended; and it was with +an expanding heart that the Countess saw her son's very handsome +features, while reading these papers, settle into an expression of +deep seriousness, such as they seldom wore. It seemed to her as if the +family likeness to his gallant but unfortunate father increased, when +the expression of their countenances became similar in gravity. The +Earl had no sooner perused the despatches, which he did with great +attention, than he rose and said, "Julian, come with me." + +The Countess looked surprised. "I was wont to share your father's +counsels, my son," she said; "but do not think that I wish to intrude +myself upon yours. I am too well pleased to see you assume the power +and the duty of thinking for yourself, which is what I have so long +urged you to do. Nevertheless, my experience, who have been so long +administrator of your authority in Man, might not, I think, be +superfluous to the matter in hand." + +"Hold me excused, dearest mother," said the Earl gravely. "The +interference was none of my seeking; had you taken your own course, +without consulting me, it had been well; but since I have entered on +the affair--and it appears sufficiently important--I must transact it +to the best of my own ability." + +"Go, then, my son," said the Countess, "and may Heaven enlighten thee +with its counsel, since thou wilt have none of mine.--I trust that +you, Master Peveril, will remind him of what is fit for his own +honour; and that only a coward abandons his rights, and only a fool +trusts his enemies." + +The Earl answered not, but, taking Peveril by the arm, led him up a +winding stair to his own apartment, and from thence into a projecting +turret, where, amidst the roar of waves and sea-mews' clang, he held +with him the following conversation:-- + +"Peveril, it is well I looked into these warrants. My mother queens it +at such a rate as may cost me not only my crown, which I care little +for, but perhaps my head, which, though others may think little of, I +would feel it an inconvenience to be deprived of." + +"What on earth is the matter?" said Peveril, with considerable +anxiety. + +"It seems," said the Earl of Derby, "that old England who takes a +frolicsome brain-fever once every two or three years, for the benefit +of her doctors, and the purification of the torpid lethargy brought on +by peace and prosperity, is now gone stark staring mad on the subject +of a real or supposed Popish plot. I read one programme on the +subject, by a fellow called Oates, and thought it the most absurd +foolery I ever perused. But that cunning fellow Shaftesbury, and some +others amongst the great ones, having taken it up, and are driving on +at such a rate as makes harness crack, and horses smoke for it. The +King, who has sworn never to kiss the pillow his father went to sleep +on, temporises, and gives way to the current; the Duke of York, +suspected and hated on account of his religion, is about to be driven +to the continent; several principal Catholic nobles are in the Tower +already; and the nation, like a bull at Tutbury-running, is persecuted +with so many inflammatory rumours and pestilent pamphlets, that she +has cocked her tail, flung up her heels, taken the bit betwixt her +teeth and is as furiously unmanageable as in the year 1642." + +"All this you must have known already," said Peveril; "I wonder you +told me not of news so important." + +"It would have taken long to tell," said the Earl; "moreover, I +desired to have you /solus/; thirdly, I was about to speak when my +mother entered; and, to conclude, it was no business of mine. But +these despatches of my politic mother's private correspondent put a +new face on the whole matter; for it seems some of the informers--a +trade which, having become a thriving one, is now pursued by many-- +have dared to glance at the Countess herself as an agent in this same +plot--ay, and have found those that are willing enough to believe +their report." + +"On mine honour," said Peveril, "you both take it with great coolness. +I think the Countess the more composed of the two; for, except her +movement hither, she exhibited no mark of alarm, and, moreover, +seemed no way more anxious to communicate the matter to your lordship +than decency rendered necessary." + +"My good mother," said the Earl, "loves power, though it has cost her +dear. I wish I could truly say that my neglect of business is entirely +assumed in order to leave it in her hands, but that better motive +combines with natural indolence. But she seems to have feared I should +not think exactly like her in this emergency, and she was right in +supposing so." + +"How comes the emergency upon you?" said Julian; "and what form does +the danger assume?" + +"Marry, thus it is," said the Earl: "I need not bid you remember the +affair of Colonel Christian. That man, besides his widow, who is +possessed of large property--Dame Christian of Kirk Truagh, whom you +have often heard of, and perhaps seen--left a brother called Edward +Christian, whom you never saw at all. Now this brother--but I dare say +you know all about it." + +"Not I, on my honour," said Peveril; "you know the Countess seldom or +never alludes to the subject." + +"Why," replied the Earl, "I believe in her heart she is something +ashamed of that gallant act of royalty and supreme jurisdiction, the +consequences of which maimed my estate so cruelly.--Well, cousin, this +same Edward Christian was one of the dempsters at the time, and, +naturally enough, was unwilling to concur in the sentence which +adjudged his /aîné/ to be shot like a dog. My mother, who was then in +high force, and not to be controlled by any one, would have served the +dempster with the same sauce with which she dressed his brother, had +he not been wise enough to fly from the island. Since that time, the +thing has slept on all hands; and though we knew that Dempster +Christian made occasionally secret visits to his friends in the +island, along with two or three other Puritans of the same stamp, and +particularly a prick-eared rogue, called Bridgenorth, brother-in-law +to the deceased, yet my mother, thank Heaven, has hitherto had the +sense to connive at them, though, for some reason or other, she holds +this Bridgenorth in especial disfavour." + +"And why," said Peveril, forcing himself to speak, in order to conceal +the very unpleasant surprise which he felt, "why does the Countess now +depart from so prudent a line of conduct?" + +"You must know the case is now different. The rogues are not satisfied +with toleration--they would have supremacy. They have found friends in +the present heat of the popular mind. My mother's name, and especially +that of her confessor, Aldrick the Jesuit, have been mentioned in this +beautiful maze of a plot, which if any such at all exists, she knows +as little of as you or I. However, she is a Catholic, and that is +enough; and I have little doubt, that if the fellows could seize on +our scrap of a kingdom here, and cut all our throats, they would have +the thanks of the present House of Commons, as willingly as old +Christian had those of the Rump, for a similar service." + +"From whence did you receive all this information?" said Peveril, +again speaking, though by the same effort which a man makes who talks +in his sleep. + +"Aldrick has seen the Duke of York in secret, and his Royal Highness, +who wept while he confessed his want of power to protect his friends-- +and it is no trifle will wring tears from him--told him to send us +information that we should look to our safety, for that Dempster +Christian and Bridgenorth were in the island, with secret and severe +orders; that they had formed a considerable party there, and were +likely to be owned and protected in anything they might undertake +against us. The people of Ramsey and Castletown are unluckily +discontented about some new regulation of the imposts; and to tell you +the truth, though I thought yesterday's sudden remove a whim of my +mother's, I am almost satisfied they would have blockaded us in Rushin +Castle, where we could not have held out for lack of provisions. Here +we are better supplied, and, as we are on our guard, it is likely the +intended rising will not take place." + +"And what is to be done in this emergency?" said Peveril. + +"That is the very question, my gentle coz," answered the Earl. "My +mother sees but one way of going to work, and that is by royal +authority. Here are the warrants she had prepared, to search for, +take, and apprehend the bodies of Edward Christian and Robert--no, +Ralph Bridgenorth, and bring them to instant trial. No doubt, she +would soon have had them in the Castle court, with a dozen of the old +matchlocks levelled against them--that is her way of solving all +sudden difficulties." + +"But in which, I trust, you do not acquiesce, my lord," answered +Peveril, whose thoughts instantly reverted to Alice, if they could +ever be said to be absent from her. + +"Truly I acquiesce in no such matter," said the Earl. "William +Christian's death cost me a fair half of my inheritance. I have no +fancy to fall under the displeasure of my royal brother, King Charles, +for a new escapade of the same kind. But how to pacify my mother, I +know not. I wish the insurrection would take place, and then, as we +are better provided than they can be, we might knock the knaves on the +head; and yet, since they began the fray, we should keep the law on +our side." + +"Were it not better," said Peveril, "if by any means these men could +be induced to quit the island?" + +"Surely," replied the Earl; "but that will be no easy matter--they are +stubborn on principle, and empty threats will not move them. This +stormblast in London is wind in their sails, and they will run their +length, you may depend on it. I have sent orders, however, to clap up +the Manxmen upon whose assistance they depended, and if I can find the +two worthies themselves, here are sloops enough in the harbour--I will +take the freedom to send them on a pretty distant voyage, and I hope +matters will be settled before they return to give an account of it." + +At this moment a soldier belonging to the garrison approached the two +young men, with many bows and tokens of respect. "How now, friend?" +said the Earl to him. "Leave off thy courtesies, and tell thy +business." + +The man, who was a native islander, answered in Manx, that he had a +letter for his honour, Master Julian Peveril. Julian snatched the +billet hastily, and asked whence it came. + +"It was delivered to him by a young woman," the soldier replied, "who +had given him a piece of money to deliver it into Master Peveril's own +hand." + +"Thou art a lucky fellow, Julian," said the Earl. "With that grave +brow of thine, and thy character for sobriety and early wisdom, you +set the girls a-wooing, without waiting till they are asked; whilst I, +their drudge and vassal, waste both language and leisure, without +getting a kind word or look, far less a billet-doux." + +This the young Earl said with a smile of conscious triumph, as in fact +he valued himself not a little upon the interest which he supposed +himself to possess with the fair sex. + +Meanwhile the letter impressed on Peveril a different train of +thoughts from what his companion apprehended. It was in Alice's hand, +and contained these few words:-- + + + "I fear what I am going to do is wrong; but I must see you. Meet me + at noon at Goddard Crovan's Stone, with as much secrecy as you + may." + + +The letter was signed only with the initials A. B.; but Julian had no +difficulty in recognising the handwriting, which he had often seen, +and which was remarkably beautiful. He stood suspended, for he saw the +difficulty and impropriety of withdrawing himself from the Countess +and his friend at this moment of impending danger; and yet, to neglect +this invitation was not to be thought of. He paused in the utmost +perplexity. + +"Shall I read your riddle?" said the Earl. "Go where love calls you--I +will make an excuse to my mother--only, most grave anchorite, be +hereafter more indulgent to the failings of others than you have been +hitherto, and blaspheme not the power of the little deity." + +"Nay, but, Cousin Derby--" said Peveril, and stopped short, for he +really knew not what to say. Secured himself by a virtuous passion +from the contagious influence of the time, he had seen with regret his +noble kinsman mingle more in its irregularities than he approved of, +and had sometimes played the part of a monitor. Circumstances seemed +at present to give the Earl a right of retaliation. He kept his eye +fixed on his friend, as if he waited till he should complete his +sentence, and at length exclaimed, "What! cousin, quite /à-la-mort!/ +Oh, most judicious Julian! Oh, most precise Peveril! have you bestowed +so much wisdom on me that you have none left for yourself? Come, be +frank--tell me name and place--or say but the colour of the eyes of +the most emphatic she--or do but let me have the pleasure to hear thee +say, 'I love!'--confess one touch of human frailty--conjugate the verb +/amo/, and I will be a gentle schoolmaster, and you shall have, as +father Richards used to say, when we were under his ferule, '/licentia +exeundi/.'" + +"Enjoy your pleasant humour at my expense, my lord," said Peveril; "I +fairly will confess thus much, that I would fain, if it consisted with +my honour and your safety, have two hours at my own disposal; the more +especially as the manner in which I shall employ them may much concern +the safety of the island." + +"Very likely, I dare say," answered the Earl, still laughing. "No +doubt you are summoned out by some Lady Politic Wouldbe of the isle, +to talk over some of the breast-laws: but never mind--go, and go +speedily, that you may return as quickly as possible. I expect no +immediate explosion of this grand conspiracy. When the rogues see us +on our guard, they will be cautious how they break out. Only, once +more make haste." + +Peveril thought this last advice was not to be neglected; and, glad to +extricate himself from the raillery of his cousin, walked down towards +the gate of the Castle, meaning to cross over to the village, and +there take horse at the Earl's stables, for the place of rendezvous. + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + /Acasto./--Can she not speak? + /Oswald./--If speech be only in accented sounds, + Framed by the tongue and lips, the maiden's dumb; + But if by quick and apprehensive look, + By motion, sign, and glance, to give each meaning, + Express as clothed in language, be term'd speech, + She hath that wondrous faculty; for her eyes, + Like the bright stars of heaven, can hold discourse, + Though it be mute and soundless. + --OLD PLAY. + +At the head of the first flight of steps which descended towards the +difficult and well-defended entrance of the Castle of Holm-Peel, +Peveril was met and stopped by the Countess's train-bearer. This +little creature--for she was of the least and slightest size of +womankind--was exquisitely well formed in all her limbs, which the +dress she usually wore (a green silk tunic, of a peculiar form) set +off to the best advantage. Her face was darker than the usual hue of +Europeans; and the profusion of long and silken hair, which, when she +undid the braids in which she commonly wore it, fell down almost to +her ankles, was also rather a foreign attribute. Her countenance +resembled a most beautiful miniature; and there was a quickness, +decision, and fire, in Fenella's look, and especially in her eyes, +which was probably rendered yet more alert and acute, because, through +the imperfection of her other organs, it was only by sight that she +could obtain information of what passed around her. + +The pretty mute was mistress of many little accomplishments, which the +Countess had caused to be taught to her in compassion for her forlorn +situation, and which she learned with the most surprising quickness. +Thus, for example, she was exquisite in the use of the needle, and so +ready and ingenious a draughtswoman, that, like the ancient Mexicans, +she sometimes made a hasty sketch with her pencil the means of +conveying her ideas, either by direct or emblematical representation. +Above all, in the art of ornamental writing, much studied at that +period, Fenella was so great a proficient, as to rival the fame of +Messrs. Snow, Shelley, and other masters of the pen, whose copybooks, +preserved in the libraries of the curious, still show the artists +smiling on the frontispiece in all the honours of flowing gowns and +full-bottomed wigs, to the eternal glory of caligraphy. + +The little maiden had, besides these accomplishments, much ready wit +and acuteness of intellect. With Lady Derby, and with the two young +gentlemen, she was a great favourite, and used much freedom in +conversing with them, by means of a system of signs which had been +gradually established amongst them, and which served all ordinary +purposes of communication. + +But, though happy in the indulgence and favour of her mistress, from +whom indeed she was seldom separate, Fenella was by no means a +favourite with the rest of the household. In fact, it seemed that her +temper, exasperated perhaps by a sense of her misfortune, was by no +means equal to her abilities. She was very haughty in her demeanour, +even towards the upper domestics, who in that establishment were of a +much higher rank and better birth than in the families of the nobility +in general. These often complained, not only of her pride and reserve, +but of her high and irascible temper and vindictive disposition. Her +passionate propensity had been indeed idly encouraged by the young +men, and particularly by the Earl, who sometimes amused himself with +teasing her, that he might enjoy the various singular motions and +murmurs by which she expressed her resentment. Towards him, these were +of course only petulant and whimsical indications of pettish anger. +But when she was angry with others of inferior degree--before whom she +did not control herself--the expression of her passion, unable to +display itself in language, had something even frightful, so singular +were the tones, contortions, and gestures, to which she had recourse. +The lower domestics, to whom she was liberal almost beyond her +apparent means, observed her with much deference and respect, but much +more from fear than from any real attachment; for the caprices of her +temper displayed themselves even in her gifts; and those who most +frequently shared her bounty, seemed by no means assured of the +benevolence of the motives which dictated her liberality. + +All these peculiarities led to a conclusion consonant with Manx +superstition. Devout believers in all the legends of fairies so dear +to the Celtic tribes, the Manx people held it for certainty that the +elves were in the habit of carrying off mortal children before +baptism, and leaving in the cradle of the new born babe one of their +own brood, which was almost always imperfect in some one or other of +the organs proper to humanity. Such a being they conceived Fenella to +be; and the smallness of her size, her dark complexion, her long locks +of silken hair, the singularity of her manners and tones, as well as +the caprices of her temper, were to their thinking all attributes of +the irritable, fickle, and dangerous race from which they supposed her +to be sprung. And it seemed, that although no jest appeared to offend +her more than when Lord Derby called her in sport the Elfin Queen, or +otherwise alluded to her supposed connection with "the pigmy folk," +yet still her perpetually affecting to wear the colour of green, +proper to the fairies, as well as some other peculiarities, seemed +voluntarily assumed by her, in order to countenance the superstition, +perhaps because it gave her more authority among the lower orders. + +Many were the tales circulated respecting the Countess's /Elf/, as +Fenella was currently called in the island; and the malcontents of the +stricter persuasion were convinced, that no one but a Papist and a +malignant would have kept near her person a creature of such doubtful +origin. They conceived that Fenella's deafness and dumbness were only +towards those of this world, and that she had been heard talking, and +singing, and laughing most elvishly, with the invisibles of her own +race. They alleged, also, that she had a /Double/, a sort of +apparition resembling her, which slept in the Countess's ante-room, or +bore her train, or wrought in her cabinet, while the real Fenella +joined the song of the mermaids on the moonlight sands, or the dance +of the fairies in the haunted valley of Glenmoy, or on the heights of +Snawfell and Barool. The sentinels, too, would have sworn they had +seen the little maiden trip past them in their solitary night walks, +without their having it in their power to challenge her, any more than +if they had been as mute as herself. To all this mass of absurdities +the better informed paid no more attention than to the usual idle +exaggerations of the vulgar, which so frequently connect that which is +unusual with what is supernatural. + +Such, in form and habits, was the little female, who, holding in her +hand a small old-fashioned ebony rod, which might have passed for a +divining wand, confronted Julian on the top of the flight of steps +which led down the rock from the Castle court. We ought to observe, +that as Julian's manner to the unfortunate girl had been always +gentle, and free from those teasing jests in which his gay friend +indulged, with less regard to the peculiarity of her situation and +feelings; so Fenella, on her part, had usually shown much greater +deference to him than to any of the household, her mistress, the +Countess, always excepted. + +On the present occasion, planting herself in the very midst of the +narrow descent, so as to make it impossible for Peveril to pass by +her, she proceeded to put him to the question by a series of gestures, +which we will endeavour to describe. She commenced by extending her +hand slightly, accompanied with the sharp inquisitive look which +served her as a note of interrogation. This was meant as an inquiry +whether he was going to a distance. Julian, in reply, extended his arm +more than half, to intimate that the distance was considerable. +Fenella looked grave, shook her head, and pointed to the Countess's +window, which was visible from the spot where they stood. Peveril +smiled, and nodded, to intimate there was no danger in quitting her +mistress for a short space. The little maiden next touched an eagle's +feather which she wore in her hair, a sign which she usually employed +to designate the Earl, and then looked inquisitively at Julian once +more, as if to say, "Goes he with you?" Peveril shook his head, and, +somewhat wearied by these interrogatories, smiled, and made an effort +to pass. Fenella frowned, struck the end of her ebony rod +perpendicularly on the ground, and again shook her head, as if +opposing his departure. But finding that Julian persevered in his +purpose, she suddenly assumed another and milder mood, held him by the +skirt of his cloak with one hand, and raised the other in an imploring +attitude, whilst every feature of her lively countenance was composed +into the like expression of supplication; and the fire of the large +dark eyes, which seemed in general so keen and piercing as almost to +over-animate the little sphere to which they belonged, seemed +quenched, for the moment, in the large drops which hung on her long +eyelashes, but without falling. + +Julian Peveril was far from being void of sympathy towards the poor +girl, whose motives in opposing his departure appeared to be her +affectionate apprehension for her mistress's safety. He endeavoured to +reassure by smiles, and, at the same time, by such signs as he could +devise, to intimate that there was no danger, and that he would return +presently; and having succeeded in extricating his cloak from her +grasp, and in passing her on the stair, he began to descend the steps +as speedily as he could, in order to avoid farther importunity. + +But with activity much greater than his, the dumb maiden hastened to +intercept him, and succeeded by throwing herself, at the imminent risk +of life and limb, a second time into the pass which he was descending, +so as to interrupt his purpose. In order to achieve this, she was +obliged to let herself drop a considerable height from the wall of a +small flanking battery, where two patereroes were placed to scour the +pass, in case any enemy could have mounted so high. Julian had scarce +time to shudder at her purpose, as he beheld her about to spring from +the parapet, ere, like a thing of gossamer, she stood light and +uninjured on the rocky platform below. He endeavoured, by the gravity +of his look and gesture, to make her understand how much he blamed her +rashness; but the reproof, though obviously quite intelligible, was +entirely thrown away. A hasty wave of her hand intimated how she +contemned the danger and the remonstrance; while, at the same time, +she instantly resumed, with more eagerness than before, the earnest +and impressive gestures by which she endeavoured to detain him in the +fortress. + +Julian was somewhat staggered by her pertinacity. "Is it possible," he +thought, "that any danger can approach the Countess, of which this +poor maiden has, by the extreme acuteness of her observation, obtained +knowledge which has escaped others?" + +He signed to Fenella hastily to give him the tablets and the pencil +which she usually carried with her, and wrote on them the question, +"Is there danger near to your mistress, that you thus stop me?" + +"There is danger around the Countess," was the answer instantly +written down; "but there is much more in your own purpose." + +"How?--what?--what know you of my purpose?" said Julian, forgetting, +in his surprise, that the party he addressed had neither ear to +comprehend, nor voice to reply to uttered language. She had regained +her book in the meantime, and sketched, with a rapid pencil, on one of +the leaves, a scene which she showed to Julian. To his infinite +surprise he recognised Goddard Crovan's Stone, a remarkable monument, +of which she had given the outline with sufficient accuracy; together +with a male and female figure, which, though only indicated by a few +slight touches of the pencil, bore yet, he thought, some resemblance +to himself and Alice Bridgenorth. + +When he had gazed on the sketch for an instant with surprise, Fenella +took the book from his hand, laid her finger upon the drawing, and +slowly and sternly shook her head, with a frown which seemed to +prohibit the meeting which was there represented. Julian, however, +though disconcerted, was in no shape disposed to submit to the +authority of his monitress. By whatever means she, who so seldom +stirred from the Countess's apartment, had become acquainted with a +secret which he thought entirely his own, he esteemed it the more +necessary to keep the appointed rendezvous, that he might learn from +Alice, if possible, how the secret had transpired. He had also formed +the intention of seeking out Bridgenorth; entertaining an idea that a +person so reasonable and calm as he had shown himself in their late +conference, might be persuaded, when he understood that the Countess +was aware of his intrigues, to put an end to her danger and his own, +by withdrawing from the island. And could he succeed in this point, he +should at once, he thought, render a material benefit to the father of +his beloved Alice--remove the Earl from his state of anxiety--save the +Countess from a second time putting her feudal jurisdiction in +opposition to that of the Crown of England--and secure quiet +possession of the island to her and her family. + +With this scheme of mediation on his mind, Peveril determined to rid +himself of the opposition of Fenella to his departure, with less +ceremony than he had hitherto observed towards her; and suddenly +lifting up the damsel in his arms before she was aware of his purpose, +he turned about, set her down on the steps above him, and began to +descend the pass himself as speedily as possible. It was then that the +dumb maiden gave full course to the vehemence of her disposition; and +clapping her hands repeatedly, expressed her displeasure in sound, or +rather a shriek, so extremely dissonant, that it resembled more the +cry of a wild creature, than anything which could have been uttered by +female organs. Peveril was so astounded at the scream as it rung +through the living rocks, that he could not help stopping and looking +back in alarm, to satisfy himself that she had not sustained some +injury. He saw her, however, perfectly safe, though her face seemed +inflamed and distorted with passion. She stamped at him with her foot, +shook her clenched hand, and turning her back upon him, without +further adieu, ran up the rude steps as lightly as a kid could have +tripped up that rugged ascent, and paused for a moment at the summit +of the first flight. + +Julian could feel nothing but wonder and compassion for the impotent +passion of a being so unfortunately circumstanced, cut off, as it +were, from the rest of mankind, and incapable of receiving in +childhood that moral discipline which teaches us mastery of our +wayward passions, ere yet they have attained their meridian strength +and violence. He waved his hand to her, in token of amicable farewell; +but she only replied by once more menacing him with her little hand +clenched; and then ascending the rocky staircase with almost +preternatural speed, was soon out of sight. + +Julian, on his part, gave no farther consideration to her conduct or +its motives, but hastening to the village on the mainland, where the +stables of the Castle were situated, he again took his palfrey from +the stall, and was soon mounted and on his way to the appointed place +of rendezvous, much marvelling, as he ambled forward with speed far +greater than was promised by the diminutive size of the animal he was +mounted on, what could have happened to produce so great a change in +Alice's conduct towards him, that in place of enjoining his absence as +usual, or recommending his departure from the island, she should now +voluntarily invite him to a meeting. Under impression of the various +doubts which succeeded each other in his imagination, he sometimes +pressed Fairy's sides with his legs; sometimes laid his holly rod +lightly on her neck; sometimes incited her by his voice, for the +mettled animal needed neither whip nor spur, and achieved the distance +betwixt the Castle of Holm-Peel and the stone at Goddard Crovan, at +the rate of twelve miles within the hour. + +The monumental stone, designed to commemorate some feat of an ancient +King of Man, which had been long forgotten, was erected on the side of +a narrow lonely valley, or rather glen, secluded from observation by +the steepness of its banks, upon a projection of which stood the tall, +shapeless, solitary rock, frowning, like a shrouded giant, over the +brawling of the small rivulet which watered the ravine. + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + This a love-meeting? See the maiden mourns, + And the sad suitor bends his looks on earth. + There's more hath pass'd between them than belongs + To Love's sweet sorrows. + --OLD PLAY. + +As he approached the monument of Goddard Crovan, Julian cast many an +anxious glance to see whether any object visible beside the huge grey +stone should apprise him, whether he was anticipated, at the appointed +place of rendezvous, by her who had named it. Nor was it long before +the flutter of a mantle, which the breeze slightly waved, and the +motion necessary to replace it upon the wearer's shoulders, made him +aware that Alice had already reached their place of meeting. One +instant set the palfrey at liberty, with slackened girths and loosened +reins, to pick its own way through the dell at will; another placed +Julian Peveril by the side of Alice Bridgenorth. + +That Alice should extend her hand to her lover, as with the ardour of +a young greyhound he bounded over the obstacles of the rugged path, +was as natural as that Julian, seizing on the hand so kindly stretched +out, should devour it with kisses, and, for a moment or two, without +reprehension; while the other hand, which should have aided in the +liberation of its fellow, served to hide the blushes of the fair +owner. But Alice, young as she was, and attached to Julian by such +long habits of kindly intimacy, still knew well how to subdue the +tendency of her own treacherous affections. + +"This is not right," she said, extricating her hand from Julian's +grasp, "this is not right, Julian. If I have been too rash in +admitting such a meeting as the present, it is not you that should +make me sensible of my folly." + +Julian Peveril's mind had been early illuminated with that touch of +romantic fire which deprives passion of selfishness, and confers on it +the high and refined tone of generous and disinterested devotion. He +let go the hand of Alice with as much respect as he could have paid to +that of a princess; and when she seated herself upon a rocky fragment, +over which nature had stretched a cushion of moss and lichen, +interspersed with wild flowers, backed with a bush of copsewood, he +took his place beside her, indeed, but at such distance as to intimate +the duty of an attendant, who was there only to hear and to obey. +Alice Bridgenorth became more assured as she observed the power which +she possessed over her lover; and the self-command which Peveril +exhibited, which other damsels in her situation might have judged +inconsistent with intensity of passion, she appreciated more justly, +as a proof of his respectful and disinterested sincerity. She +recovered, in addressing him, the tone of confidence which rather +belonged to the scenes of their early acquaintance, than to those +which had passed betwixt them since Peveril had disclosed his +affection, and thereby had brought restraint upon their intercourse. + +"Julian," she said, "your visit of yesterday--your most ill-timed +visit, has distressed me much. It has misled my father--it has +endangered you. At all risks, I resolved that you should know this, +and blame me not if I have taken a bold and imprudent step in desiring +this solitary interview, since you are aware how little poor Deborah +is to be trusted." + +"Can you fear misconstruction from me, Alice?" replied Peveril warmly; +"from me, whom you have thus highly favoured--thus deeply obliged?" + +"Cease your protestations, Julian," answered the maiden; "they do but +make me the more sensible that I have acted over boldly. But I did for +the best.--I could not see you whom I have known so long--you, who say +you regard me with partiality----" + +"/Say/ that I regard you with partiality!" interrupted Peveril in his +turn. "Ah, Alice, with a cold and doubtful phrase you have used to +express the most devoted, the most sincere affection!" + +"Well, then," said Alice sadly, "we will not quarrel about words; but +do not again interrupt me.--I could not, I say, see you, who, I +believe, regard me with sincere though vain and fruitless attachment, +rush blindfold into a snare, deceived and seduced by those very +feelings towards me." + +"I understand you not, Alice," said Peveril; "nor can I see any danger +to which I am at present exposed. The sentiments which your father has +expressed towards me, are of a nature irreconcilable with hostile +purposes. If he is not offended with the bold wishes I may have +formed,--and his whole behaviour shows the contrary,--I know not a man +on earth from whom I have less cause to apprehend any danger or ill- +will." + +"My father," said Alice, "means well by his country, and well by you; +yet I sometimes fear he may rather injure than serve his good cause; +and still more do I dread, that in attempting to engage you as an +auxiliary, he may forget those ties which ought to bind you, and I am +sure which will bind you, to a different line of conduct from his +own." + +"You lead me into still deeper darkness, Alice," answered Peveril. +"That your father's especial line of politics differs widely from +mine, I know well; but how many instances have occurred, even during +the bloody scenes of civil warfare, of good and worthy men laying the +prejudice of party affections aside, and regarding each other with +respect, and even with friendly attachment, without being false to +principle on either side?" + +"It may be so," said Alice; "but such is not the league which my +father desires to form with you, and that to which he hopes your +misplaced partiality towards his daughter may afford a motive for your +forming with him." + +"And what is it," said Peveril, "which I would refuse, with such a +prospect before me?" + +"Treachery and dishonour!" replied Alice; "whatever would render you +unworthy of the poor boon at which you aim--ay, were it more worthless +than I confess it to be." + +"Would your father," said Peveril, as he unwillingly received the +impression which Alice designed to convey,--"would he, whose views of +duty are so strict and severe--would he wish to involve me in aught, +to which such harsh epithets as treachery and dishonour can be applied +with the lightest shadow of truth?" + +"Do not mistake me, Julian," replied the maiden; "my father is +incapable of requesting aught of you that is not to his thinking just +and honourable; nay, he conceives that he only claims from you a debt, +which is due as a creature to the Creator, and as a man to your +fellow-men." + +"So guarded, where can be the danger of our intercourse?" replied +Julian. "If he be resolved to require, and I determined to accede to, +nothing save what flows from conviction, what have I to fear, Alice? +And how is my intercourse with your father dangerous? Believe not so; +his speech has already made impression on me in some particulars, and +he listened with candour and patience to the objections which I made +occasionally. You do Master Bridgenorth less than justice in +confounding him with the unreasonable bigots in policy and religion, +who can listen to no argument but what favours their own +prepossessions." + +"Julian," replied Alice; "it is you who misjudge my father's powers, +and his purpose with respect to you, and who overrate your own powers +of resistance. I am but a girl, but I have been taught by +circumstances to think for myself, and to consider the character of +those around me. My father's views in ecclesiastical and civil policy +are as dear to him as the life which he cherishes only to advance +them. They have been, with little alteration, his companions through +life. They brought him at one period into prosperity, and when they +suited not the times, he suffered for having held them. They have +become not only a part, but the very dearest part, of his existence. +If he shows them not to you at first, in the flexible strength which +they have acquired over his mind, do not believe that they are the +less powerful. He who desires to make converts, must begin by degrees. +But that he should sacrifice to an inexperienced young man, whose +ruling motive he will term a childish passion, any part of those +treasured principles which he has maintained through good repute and +bad repute--Oh, do not dream of such an impossibility! If you meet at +all, you must be the wax, he the seal--you must receive, he must +bestow, an absolute impression." + +"That," said Peveril, "were unreasonable. I will frankly avow to you, +Alice, that I am not a sworn bigot to the opinions entertained by my +father, much as I respect his person. I could wish that our Cavaliers, +or whatsoever they are pleased to call themselves, would have some +more charity towards those who differ from them in Church and State. +But to hope that I would surrender the principles in which I have +lived, were to suppose me capable of deserting my benefactress, and +breaking the hearts of my parents." + +"Even so I judged of you," answered Alice; "and therefore I asked this +interview, to conjure that you will break off all intercourse with our +family--return to your parents--or, what will be much safer, visit the +continent once more, and abide till God send better days to England, +for these are black with many a storm." + +"And can you bid me go, Alice?" said the young man, taking her +unresisting hand; "can you bid me go, and yet own an interest in my +fate?--Can you bid me, for fear of dangers, which, as a man, as a +gentleman, and a loyal one, I am bound to show my face to, meanly +abandon my parents, my friends, my country--suffer the existence of +evils which I might aid to prevent--forego the prospect of doing such +little good as might be in my power--fall from an active and +honourable station, into the condition of a fugitive and time-server-- +Can you bid me do all this, Alice? Can you bid me do all this, and, in +the same breath, bid farewell for ever to you and happiness?--It is +impossible--I cannot surrender at once my love and my honour." + +"There is no remedy," said Alice, but she could not suppress a sigh +while she said so--"there is no remedy--none whatever. What we might +have been to each other, placed in more favourable circumstances, it +avails not to think of now; and, circumstanced as we are, with open +war about to break out betwixt our parents and friends, we can be but +well-wishers--cold and distant well-wishers, who must part on this +spot, and at this hour, never meet again." + +"No, by Heaven!" said Peveril, animated at the same time by his own +feelings, and by the sight of the emotions which his companion in vain +endeavoured to suppress,--"No, by Heaven!" he exclaimed, "we part not +--Alice, we part not. If I am to leave my native land, you shall be my +companion in my exile. What have you to lose?--Whom have you to +abandon?--Your father?--The good old cause, as it is termed, is dearer +to him than a thousand daughters; and setting him aside, what tie is +there between you and this barren isle--between my Alice and any spot +of the British dominions, where her Julian does not sit by her?" + +"O Julian," answered the maiden, "why make my duty more painful by +visionary projects, which you ought not to name, or I to listen to? +Your parents--my father--it cannot be!" + +"Fear not for my parents, Alice," replied Julian, and pressing close +to his companion's side, he ventured to throw his arm around her; +"they love me, and they will soon learn to love, in Alice, the only +being on earth who could have rendered their son happy. And for your +own father, when State and Church intrigues allow him to bestow a +thought upon you, will he not think that your happiness, your +security, is better cared for when you are my wife, than were you to +continue under the mercenary charge of yonder foolish woman? What +could his pride desire better for you, than the establishment which +will one day be mine? Come then, Alice, and since you condemn me to +banishment--since you deny me a share in those stirring achievements +which are about to agitate England--come! do you--for you only can--do +you reconcile me to exile and inaction, and give happiness to one, +who, for your sake, is willing to resign honour." + +"It cannot--it cannot be," said Alice, faltering as she uttered her +negative. "And yet," she said, "how many in my place--left alone and +unprotected, as I am--But I must not--I must not--for your sake, +Julian, I must not." + +"Say not for my sake you must not, Alice," said Peveril eagerly; "this +is adding insult to cruelty. If you will do aught for my sake, you +will say yes; or you will suffer this dear head to drop on my shoulder +--the slightest sign--the moving of an eyelid, shall signify consent. +All shall be prepared within an hour; within another the priest shall +unite us; and within a third, we leave the isle behind us, and seek +our fortunes on the continent." But while he spoke, in joyful +anticipation of the consent which he implored, Alice found means to +collect together her resolution, which, staggered by the eagerness of +her lover, the impulse of her own affections, and the singularity of +her situation,--seeming, in her case, to justify what would have been +most blamable in another,--had more than half abandoned her. + +The result of a moment's deliberation was fatal to Julian's proposal. +She extricated herself from the arm which had pressed her to his side +--arose, and repelling his attempts to approach or detain her, said, +with a simplicity not unmingled with dignity, "Julian, I always knew I +risked much in inviting you to this meeting; but I did not guess that +I could have been so cruel to both to you and to myself, as to suffer +you to discover what you have to-day seen too plainly--that I love you +better than you love me. But since you do know it, I will show you +that Alice's love is disinterested--She will not bring an ignoble name +into your ancient house. If hereafter, in your line, there should +arise some who may think the claims of the hierarchy too exorbitant, +the powers of the crown too extensive, men shall not say these ideas +were derived from Alice Bridgenorth, their whig granddame." + +"Can you speak thus, Alice?" said her lover. "Can you use such +expressions? and are you not sensible that they show plainly it is +your own pride, not regard for me, that makes you resist the happiness +of both?" + +"Not so, Julian; not so," answered Alice, with tears in her eyes; "it +is the command of duty to us both--of duty, which we cannot +transgress, without risking our happiness here and hereafter. Think +what I, the cause of all, should feel, when your father frowns, your +mother weeps, your noble friends stand aloof, and you, even you +yourself, shall have made the painful discovery, that you have +incurred the contempt and resentment of all to satisfy a boyish +passion; and that the poor beauty, once sufficient to mislead you, is +gradually declining under the influence of grief and vexation. This I +will not risk. I see distinctly it is best we should here break off +and part; and I thank God, who gives me light enough to perceive, and +strength enough to withstand, your folly as well as my own. Farewell, +then, Julian; but first take the solemn advice which I called you +hither to impart to you:--Shun my father--you cannot walk in his +paths, and be true to gratitude and to honour. What he doth from pure +and honourable motives, you cannot aid him in, except upon the +suggestion of a silly and interested passion, at variance with all the +engagements you have formed at coming into life." + +"Once more, Alice," answered Julian, "I understand you not. If a +course of action is good, it needs no vindication from the actor's +motives--if bad, it can derive none." + +"You cannot blind me with your sophistry, Julian," replied Alice +Bridgenorth, "any more than you can overpower me with your passion. +Had the patriarch destined his son to death upon any less ground than +faith and humble obedience to a divine commandment, he had meditated a +murder and not a sacrifice. In our late bloody and lamentable wars, +how many drew swords on either side, from the purest and most +honourable motives? How many from the culpable suggestions of +ambition, self-seeking, and love of plunder? Yet while they marched in +the same ranks, and spurred their horses at the same trumpet-sound, +the memory of the former is dear to us as patriots or loyalists--that +of those who acted on mean or unworthy promptings, is either execrated +or forgotten. Once more, I warn you, avoid my father--leave this +island, which will be soon agitated by strange incidents--while you +stay, be on your guard--distrust everything--be jealous of every one, +even of those to whom it may seem almost impossible, from +circumstances, to attach a shadow of suspicion--trust not the very +stones of the most secret apartment in Holm-Peel, for that which hath +wings shall carry the matter." + +Here Alice broke off suddenly, and with a faint shriek; for, stepping +from behind the stunted copse which had concealed him, her father +stood unexpectedly before them. + +The reader cannot have forgotten that this was the second time in +which the stolen interviews of the lovers had been interrupted by the +unexpected apparition of Major Bridgenorth. On this second occasion +his countenance exhibited anger mixed with solemnity, like that of the +spirit to a ghost-seer, whom he upbraids with having neglected a +charge imposed at their first meeting. Even his anger, however, +produced no more violent emotion than a cold sternness of manner in +his speech and action. "I thank you, Alice," he said to his daughter, +"for the pains you have taken to traverse my designs towards this +young man, and towards yourself. I thank you for the hints you have +thrown out before my appearance, the suddenness of which alone has +prevented you from carrying your confidence to a pitch which would +have placed my life and that of others at the discretion of a boy, +who, when the cause of God and his country is laid before him, has not +leisure to think of them, so much is he occupied with such a baby-face +as thine." Alice, pale as death, continued motionless, with her eyes +fixed on the ground, without attempting the slightest reply to the +ironical reproaches of her father. + +"And you," continued Major Bridgenorth, turning from his daughter to +her lover,--"you sir, have well repaid the liberal confidence which I +placed in you with so little reserve. You I have to thank also for +some lessons, which may teach me to rest satisfied with the churl's +blood which nature has poured into my veins, and with the rude nurture +which my father allotted to me." + +"I understand you not, sir," replied Julian Peveril, who, feeling the +necessity of saying something, could not, at the moment, find anything +more fitting to say. + +"Yes, sir, I thank you," said Major Bridgenorth, in the same cold +sarcastic tone, "for having shown me that breach of hospitality, +infringement of good faith, and such like peccadilloes, are not +utterly foreign to the mind and conduct of the heir of a knightly +house of twenty descents. It is a great lesson to me, sir: for +hitherto I had thought with the vulgar, that gentle manners went with +gentle blood. But perhaps courtesy is too chivalrous a quality to be +wasted in intercourse with a round-headed fanatic like myself." + +"Major Bridgenorth," said Julian, "whatever has happened in this +interview which may have displeased you, has been the result of +feelings suddenly and strongly animated by the crisis of the moment-- +nothing was premeditated." + +"Not even your meeting, I suppose?" replied Bridgenorth, in the same +cold tone. "You, sir, wandered hither from Holm-Peel--my daughter +strolled forth from the Black Fort; and chance, doubtless, assigned +you a meeting by the stone of Goddard Crovan?--Young man, disgrace +yourself by no more apologies--they are worse than useless.--And you, +maiden, who, in your fear of losing your lover, could verge on +betraying what might have cost a father his life--begone to your home. +I will talk with you at more leisure, and teach you practically those +duties which you seem to have forgotten." + +"On my honour, sir," said Julian, "your daughter is guiltless of all +that can offend you; she resisted every offer which the headstrong +violence of my passion urged me to press upon her." + +"And, in brief," said Bridgenorth, "I am not to believe that you met +in this remote place of rendezvous by Alice's special appointment?" + +Peveril knew not what to reply, and Bridgenorth again signed with his +hand to his daughter to withdraw. + +"I obey you, father," said Alice, who had by this time recovered from +the extremity of her surprise,--"I obey you; but Heaven is my witness +that you do me more than injustice in suspecting me capable of +betraying your secrets, even had it been necessary to save my own life +or that of Julian. That you are walking in a dangerous path I well +know; but you do it with your eyes open, and are actuated by motives +of which you can estimate the worth and value. My sole wish was, that +this young man should not enter blindfold on the same perils; and I +had a right to warn him, since the feelings by which he is hoodwinked +had a direct reference to me." + +"'Tis well, minion," said Bridgenorth, "you have spoken your say. +Retire, and let me complete the conference which you have so +considerately commenced." + +"I go, sir," said Alice.--"Julian, to you my last words are, and I +would speak them with my last breath--Farewell, and caution!" + +She turned from them, disappeared among the underwood, and was seen no +more. + +"A true specimen of womankind," said her father, looking after her, +"who would give the cause of nations up, rather than endanger a hair +of her lover's head.--You, Master Peveril, doubtless, hold her +opinion, that the best love is a safe love!" + +"Were danger alone in my way," said Peveril, much surprised at the +softened tone in which Bridgenorth made this observation, "there are +few things which I would not face to--to--deserve your good opinion." + +"Or rather to win my daughter's hand," said Bridgenorth. "Well, young +man, one thing has pleased me in your conduct, though of much I have +my reasons to complain--one thing /has/ pleased me. You have +surmounted that bounding wall of aristocratical pride, in which your +father, and, I suppose, his fathers, remained imprisoned, as in the +precincts of a feudal fortress--you have leaped over this barrier, and +shown yourself not unwilling to ally yourself with a family whom your +father spurns as low-born and ignoble." + +However favourable this speech sounded towards success in his suit, it +so broadly stated the consequences of that success so far as his +parents were concerned, that Julian felt it in the last degree +difficult to reply. At length, perceiving that Major Bridgenorth +seemed resolved quietly to await his answer, he mustered up courage to +say, "The feelings which I entertain towards your daughter, Master +Bridgenorth, are of a nature to supersede many other considerations, +to which in any other case, I should feel it my duty to give the most +reverential attention. I will not disguise from you, that my father's +prejudices against such a match would be very strong; but I devoutly +believe they would disappear when he came to know the merit of Alice +Bridgenorth, and to be sensible that she only could make his son +happy." + +"In the meanwhile, you are desirous to complete the union which you +propose without the knowledge of your parents, and take the chance of +their being hereafter reconciled to it? So I understand, from the +proposal which you made but lately to my daughter." + +The turns of human nature, and of human passion, are so irregular and +uncertain, that although Julian had but a few minutes before urged to +Alice a private marriage, and an elopement to the continent, as a +measure upon which the whole happiness of his life depended, the +proposal seemed not to him half so delightful when stated by the calm, +cold, dictatorial accents of her father. It sounded no longer like the +dictates of ardent passion, throwing all other considerations aside, +but as a distinct surrender of the dignity of his house to one who +seemed to consider their relative situation as the triumph of +Bridgenorth over Peveril. He was mute for a moment, in the vain +attempt to shape his answer so as at once to intimate acquiescence in +what Bridgenorth stated, and a vindication of his own regard for his +parents, and for the honour of his house. + +This delay gave rise to suspicion, and Bridgenorth's eye gleamed, and +his lip quivered while he gave vent to it. "Hark ye, young man--deal +openly with me in this matter, if you would not have me think you the +execrable villain who would have seduced an unhappy girl, under +promises which he never designed to fulfil. Let me but suspect this, +and you shall see, on the spot, how far your pride and your pedigree +will preserve you against the just vengeance of a father." + +"You do me wrong," said Peveril--"you do me infinite wrong, Major +Bridgenorth, I am incapable of the infamy which you allude to. The +proposal I made to your daughter was as sincere as ever was offered by +man to woman. I only hesitated, because you think it necessary to +examine me so very closely; and to possess yourself of all my purposes +and sentiments, in their fullest extent, without explaining to me the +tendency of your own." + +"Your proposal, then, shapes itself thus," said Bridgenorth:--"You are +willing to lead my only child into exile from her native country, to +give her a claim to kindness and protection from your family, which +you know will be disregarded, on condition I consent to bestow her +hand on you, with a fortune sufficient to have matched your ancestors, +when they had most reason to boast of their wealth. This, young man, +seems no equal bargain. And yet," he continued, after a momentary +pause, "so little do I value the goods of this world, that it might +not be utterly beyond thy power to reconcile me to the match which you +have proposed to me, however unequal it may appear." + +"Show me but the means which can propitiate your favour, Major +Bridgenorth," said Peveril,--"for I will not doubt that they will be +consistent with my honour and duty--and you shall soon see how eagerly +I will obey your directions, or submit to your conditions." + +"They are summed in few words," answered Bridgenorth. "Be an honest +man, and the friend of your country." + +"No one has ever doubted," replied Peveril, "that I am both." + +"Pardon me," replied the Major; "no one has, as yet, seen you show +yourself either. Interrupt me not--I question not your will to be +both; but you have hitherto neither had the light nor the opportunity +necessary for the display of your principles, or the service of your +country. You have lived when an apathy of mind, succeeding to the +agitations of the Civil War, had made men indifferent to state +affairs, and more willing to cultivate their own ease, than to stand +in the gap when the Lord was pleading with Israel. But we are +Englishmen; and with us such unnatural lethargy cannot continue long. +Already, many of those who most desired the return of Charles Stewart, +regard him as a King whom Heaven, importuned by our entreaties, gave +to us in His anger. His unlimited licence--and example so readily +followed by the young and the gay around him--has disgusted the minds +of all sober and thinking men. I had not now held conference with you +in this intimate fashion, were I not aware that you, Master Julian, +were free from such stain of the times. Heaven, that rendered the +King's course of license fruitful, had denied issue to his bed of +wedlock; and in the gloomy and stern character of his bigoted +successor, we already see what sort of monarch shall succeed to the +crown of England. This is a critical period, at which it necessarily +becomes the duty of all men to step forward, each in his degree, and +aid in rescuing the country which gave us birth." Peveril remembered +the warning which he had received from Alice, and bent his eyes on the +ground, without returning any reply. "How is it, young man," continued +Bridgenorth, after a pause--"so young as thou art, and bound by no +ties of kindred profligacy with the enemies of your country, you can +be already hardened to the claims she may form on you at this crisis?" + +"It were easy to answer you generally, Major Bridgenorth," replied +Peveril--"It were easy to say that my country cannot make a claim on +me which I will not promptly answer at the risk of lands and life. But +in dealing thus generally, we should but deceive each other. What is +the nature of this call? By whom is it to be sounded? And what are to +be the results? for I think you have already seen enough of the evils +of civil war, to be wary of again awakening its terrors in a peaceful +and happy country." + +"They that are drenched with poisonous narcotics," said the Major, +"must be awakened by their physicians, though it were with the sound +of the trumpet. Better that men should die bravely, with their arms in +their hands, like free-born Englishmen, than that they should slide +into the bloodless but dishonoured grave which slavery opens for its +vassals--But it is not of war that I was about to speak," he added, +assuming a milder tone. "The evils of which England now complains, are +such as can be remedied by the wholesome administration of her own +laws, even in the state in which they are still suffered to exist. +Have these laws not a right to the support of every individual who +lives under them? Have they not a right to yours?" + +As he seemed to pause for an answer, Peveril replied, "I have to +learn, Major Bridgenorth, how the laws of England have become so far +weakened as to require such support as mine. When that is made plain +to me, no man will more willingly discharge the duty of a faithful +liegeman to the law as well as the King. But the laws of England are +under the guardianship of upright and learned judges, and of a +gracious monarch." + +"And of a House of Commons," interrupted Bridgenorth, "no longer +doting upon restored monarchy, but awakened, as with a peal of +thunder, to the perilous state of our religion, and of our freedom. I +appeal to your own conscience, Julian Peveril, whether this awakening +hath not been in time, since you yourself know, and none better than +you, the secret but rapid strides which Rome has made to erect her +Dagon of idolatry within our Protestant land." + +Here Julian seeing, or thinking he saw, the drift of Bridgenorth's +suspicions, hastened to exculpate himself from the thought of +favouring the Roman Catholic religion. "It is true," he said, "I have +been educated in a family where that faith is professed by one +honoured individual, and that I have since travelled in Popish +countries; but even for these very reasons I have seen Popery too +closely to be friendly to its tenets. The bigotry of the laymen--the +persevering arts of the priesthood--the perpetual intrigue for the +extension of the forms without the spirit of religion--the usurpation +of that Church over the consciences of men--and her impious +pretensions to infallibility, are as inconsistent to my mind as they +can seem to yours, with common-sense, rational liberty, freedom of +conscience, and pure religion." + +"Spoken like the son of your excellent mother," said Bridgenorth, +grasping his hand; "for whose sake I have consented to endure so much +from your house unrequited, even when the means of requital were in my +own hand." + +"It was indeed from the instructions of that excellent parent," said +Peveril, "that I was enabled, in my early youth, to resist and repel +the insidious attacks made upon my religious faith by the Catholic +priests into whose company I was necessarily thrown. Like her, I trust +to live and die in the faith of the reformed Church of England." + +"The Church of England!" said Bridgenorth, dropping his young friend's +hand, but presently resuming it--"Alas! that Church, as now +constituted, usurps scarcely less than Rome herself upon men's +consciences and liberties; yet, out of the weakness of this half- +reformed Church, may God be pleased to work out deliverance to +England, and praise to Himself. I must not forget, that one whose +services have been in the cause incalculable, wears the garb of an +English priest, and hath had Episcopal ordination. It is not for us to +challenge the instrument, so that our escape is achieved from the net +of the fowler. Enough, that I find thee not as yet enlightened with +the purer doctrine, but prepared to profit by it when the spark shall +reach thee. Enough, in especial, that I find thee willing to uplift +thy testimony to cry aloud and spare not, against the errors and arts +of the Church of Rome. But remember, what thou hast now said, thou +wilt soon be called upon to justify, in a manner the most solemn--the +most awful." + +"What I have said," replied Julian Peveril, "being the unbiassed +sentiments of my heart, shall, upon no proper occasion, want the +support of my open avowal; and I think it strange you should doubt me +so far." + +"I doubt thee not, my young friend," said Bridgenorth; "and I trust to +see that name rank high amongst those by whom the prey shall be rent +from the mighty. At present, thy prejudices occupy thy mind like the +strong keeper of the house mentioned in Scripture. But there shall +come a stronger than he, and make forcible entry, displaying on the +battlements that sign of faith in which alone there is found +salvation.--Watch, hope, and pray, that the hour may come." + +There was a pause in the conversation, which was first broken by +Peveril. "You have spoken to me in riddles, Major Bridgenorth; and I +have asked you for no explanation. Listen to a caution on my part, +given with the most sincere good-will. Take a hint from me, and +believe it, though it is darkly expressed. You are here--at least are +believed to be here--on an errand dangerous to the Lord of the island. +That danger will be retorted on yourself, if you make Man long your +place of residence. Be warned, and depart in time." + +"And leave my daughter to the guardianship of Julian Peveril! Runs not +your counsel so, young man?" answered Bridgenorth. "Trust my safety, +Julian, to my own prudence. I have been accustomed to guide myself +through worse dangers than now environ me. But I thank you for your +caution, which I am willing to believe was at least partly +disinterested." + +"We do not, then, part in anger?" said Peveril. + +"Not in anger, my son," said Bridgenorth, "but in love and strong +affection. For my daughter, thou must forbear every thought of seeing +her, save through me. I accept not thy suit, neither do I reject it; +only this I intimate to you, that he who would be my son, must first +show himself the true and loving child of his oppressed and deluded +country. Farewell; do not answer me now, thou art yet in the gall of +bitterness, and it may be that strife (which I desire not) should fall +between us. Thou shalt hear of me sooner than thou thinkest for." + +He shook Peveril heartily by the hand, and again bid him farewell, +leaving him under the confused and mingled impression of pleasure, +doubt, and wonder. Not a little surprised to find himself so far in +the good graces of Alice's father, that his suit was even favoured +with a sort of negative encouragement, he could not help suspecting, +as well from the language of the daughter as of the father, that +Bridgenorth was desirous, as the price of his favour, that he should +adopt some line of conduct inconsistent with the principles in which +he had been educated. + +"You need not fear, Alice," he said in his heart; "not even your hand +would I purchase by aught which resembled unworthy or truckling +compliance with tenets which my heart disowns; and well I know, were I +mean enough to do so, even the authority of thy father were +insufficient to compel thee to the ratification of so mean a bargain. +But let me hope better things. Bridgenorth, though strong-minded and +sagacious, is haunted by the fears of Popery, which are the bugbears +of his sect. My residence in the family of the Countess of Derby is +more than enough to inspire him with suspicions of my faith, from +which, thank Heaven, I can vindicate myself with truth and a good +conscience." + +So thinking, he again adjusted the girths of his palfrey, replaced the +bit which he had slipped out of its mouth, that it might feed at +liberty, and mounting, pursued his way back to the Castle of Holm- +Peel, where he could not help fearing that something extraordinary +might have happened in his absence. + +But the old pile soon rose before him, serene, and sternly still, amid +the sleeping ocean. The banner, which indicated that the Lord of Man +held residence within its ruinous precincts, hung motionless by the +ensign-staff. The sentinels walked to and fro on their posts, and +hummed or whistled their Manx airs. Leaving his faithful companion, +Fairy, in the village as before, Julian entered the Castle, and found +all within in the same state of quietness and good order which +external appearances had announced. + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + Now rede me, rede me, brother dear, + Throughout Merry England, + Where will I find a messenger, + Betwixt us two to send. + --BALLAD OF KING ESTMERE. + +Julian's first encounter, after re-entering the Castle, was with its +young Lord, who received him with his usual kindness and lightness of +humour. + +"Thrice welcome, Sir Knight of Dames," said the Earl; "here you rove +gallantly, and at free will, through our dominions, fulfilling of +appointments, and achieving amorous adventures; while we are condemned +to sit in our royal halls, as dull and as immovable as if our Majesty +was carved on the stern of some Manx smuggling dogger, and christened +the King Arthur of Ramsey." + +"Nay, in that case you would take the sea," said Julian, "and so enjoy +travel and adventure enough." + +"Oh, but suppose me wind-bound, or detained in harbour by a revenue +pink, or ashore, if you like it, and lying high and dry upon the sand. +Imagine the royal image in the dullest of all predicaments, and you +have not equalled mine." + +"I am happy to hear, at least, that you have had no disagreeable +employment," said Julian; "the morning's alarm has blown over, I +suppose?" + +"In faith it has, Julian; and our close inquiries cannot find any +cause for the apprehended insurrection. That Bridgenorth is in the +island seems certain; but private affairs of consequence are alleged +as the cause of his visit; and I am not desirous to have him arrested +unless I could prove some malpractices against him and his companions. +In fact, it would seem we had taken the alarm too soon. My mother +speaks of consulting you on the subject, Julian; and I will not +anticipate her solemn communication. It will be partly apologetical, I +suppose; for we begin to think our retreat rather unroyal, and that, +like the wicked, we have fled when no man pursued. This idea afflicts +my mother, who, as a Queen-Dowager, a Queen-Regent, a heroine, and a +woman in general, would be extremely mortified to think that her +precipitate retreat hither had exposed her to the ridicule of the +islanders; and she is disconcerted and out of humour accordingly. In +the meanwhile, my sole amusement has been the grimaces and fantastic +gestures of that ape Fenella, who is more out of humour, and more +absurd, in consequence, than you ever saw her. Morris says, it is +because you pushed her downstairs, Julian--how is that?" + +"Nay, Morris has misreported me," answered Julian; "I did but lift her +/up/ stairs to be rid of her importunity; for she chose, in her way, +to contest my going abroad in such an obstinate manner, that I had no +other mode of getting rid of her." + +"She must have supposed your departure, at a moment so critical, was +dangerous to the state of our garrison," answered the Earl; "it shows +how dearly she esteems my mother's safety, how highly she rates your +prowess. But, thank Heaven, there sounds the dinner-bell. I would the +philosophers, who find a sin and waste of time in good cheer, could +devise us any pastime half so agreeable." + +The meal which the young Earl had thus longed for, as a means of +consuming a portion of the time which hung heavy on his hands, was +soon over; as soon, at least, as the habitual and stately formality of +the Countess's household permitted. She herself, accompanied by her +gentlewomen and attendants, retired early after the tables were drawn; +and the young gentlemen were left to their own company. Wine had, for +the moment, no charms for either; for the Earl was out of spirits from +ennui, and impatience of his monotonous and solitary course of life; +and the events of the day had given Peveril too much matter for +reflection, to permit his starting amusing or interesting topics of +conversation. After having passed the flask in silence betwixt them +once or twice, they withdrew each to a separate embrasure of the +windows of the dining apartment, which, such was the extreme thickness +of the wall, were deep enough to afford a solitary recess, separated, +as it were, from the chamber itself. In one of these sat the Earl of +Derby, busied in looking over some of the new publications which had +been forwarded from London; and at intervals confessing how little +power or interest these had for him, by yawning fearfully as he looked +out on the solitary expanse of waters, which, save from the flight of +a flock of sea-gulls, or a solitary cormorant, offered so little of +variety to engage his attention. + +Peveril, on his part, held a pamphlet also in his hand, without +giving, or affecting to give it, even his occasional attention. His +whole soul turned upon the interview which he had had that day with +Alice Bridgenorth, and with her father; while he in vain endeavoured +to form any hypothesis which could explain to him why the daughter, +to whom he had no reason to think himself indifferent, should have +been so suddenly desirous of their eternal separation, while her +father, whose opposition he so much dreaded, seemed to be at least +tolerant of his addresses. He could only suppose, in explanation, that +Major Bridgenorth had some plan in prospect, which it was in his own +power to farther or to impede; while, from the demeanour, and indeed +the language, of Alice, he had but too much reason to apprehend that +her father's favour could only be conciliated by something, on his own +part, approaching to dereliction of principle. But by no conjecture +which he could form, could he make the least guess concerning the +nature of that compliance, of which Bridgenorth seemed desirous. He +could not imagine, notwithstanding Alice had spoken of treachery, that +her father would dare to propose to him uniting in any plan by which +the safety of the Countess, or the security of her little kingdom of +Man, was to be endangered. This carried such indelible disgrace in the +front, that he could not suppose the scheme proposed to him by any who +was not prepared to defend with his sword, upon the spot, so flagrant +an insult offered to his honour. And such a proceeding was totally +inconsistent with the conduct of Major Bridgenorth in every other +respect, besides his being too calm and cold-blooded to permit of his +putting a mortal affront upon the son of his old neighbour, to whose +mother he confessed so much of obligation. + +While Peveril in vain endeavoured to extract something like a probable +theory out of the hints thrown out by the father and by the daughter-- +not without the additional and lover-like labour of endeavouring to +reconcile his passion to his honour and conscience--he felt something +gently pull him by the cloak. He unclasped his arms, which, in +meditation, had been folded on his bosom; and withdrawing his eyes +from the vacant prospect of sea-coast and sea which they perused, +without much consciousness upon what they rested, he beheld beside him +the little dumb maiden, the elfin Fenella. She was seated on a low +cushion or stool, with which she had nestled close to Peveril's side, +and had remained there for a short space of time, expecting, no doubt, +he would become conscious of her presence; until, tired of remaining +unnoticed, she at length solicited his attention in the manner which +we have described. Startled out of his reverie by this intimation of +her presence, he looked down, and could not, without interest, behold +this singular and helpless being. + +Her hair was unloosened, and streamed over her shoulders in such +length, that much of it lay upon the ground, and in such quantity, +that it formed a dark veil, or shadow, not only around her face, but +over her whole slender and minute form. From the profusion of her +tresses looked forth her small and dark, but well-formed features, +together with the large and brilliant black eyes; and her whole +countenance was composed into the imploring look of one who is +doubtful of the reception she is about to meet with from a valued +friend, while she confesses a fault, pleads an apology, or solicits a +reconciliation. In short, the whole face was so much alive with +expression, that Julian, though her aspect was so familiar to him, +could hardly persuade himself but that her countenance was entirely +new. The wild, fantastic, elvish vivacity of the features, seemed +totally vanished, and had given place to a sorrowful, tender, and +pathetic cast of countenance, aided by the expression of the large +dark eyes, which, as they were turned up towards Julian, glistened +with moisture, that, nevertheless, did not overflow the eyelids. + +Conceiving that her unwonted manner arose from a recollection of the +dispute which had taken place betwixt them in the morning, Peveril was +anxious to restore the little maiden's gaiety, by making her sensible +that there dwelt on his mind no unpleasing recollection of their +quarrel. He smiled kindly, and shook her hand in one of his; while, +with the familiarity of one who had known her from childhood, he +stroked down her long dark tresses with the other. She stooped her +head, as if ashamed, and, at the same time, gratified with his +caresses--and he was thus induced to continue them, until, under the +veil of her rich and abundant locks, he suddenly felt his other hand, +which she still held in hers, slightly touched with her lips, and, at +the same time, moistened with a tear. + +At once, and for the first time in his life, the danger of being +misinterpreted in his familiarity with a creature to whom the usual +modes of explanation were a blank, occurred to Julian's mind; and, +hastily withdrawing his hand, and changing his posture, he asked her, +by a sign which custom had rendered familiar, whether she brought any +message to him from the Countess. She started up, and arranged herself +in her seat with the rapidity of lightning; and, at the same moment, +with one turn of her hand, braided her length of locks into a natural +head-dress of the most beautiful kind. There was, indeed, when she +looked up, a blush still visible on her dark features; but their +melancholy and languid expression had given place to that of wild and +restless vivacity, which was most common to them. Her eyes gleamed +with more than their wonted fire, and her glances were more piercingly +wild and unsettled than usual. To Julian's inquiry, she answered, by +laying her hand on her heart--a motion by which she always indicated +the Countess--and rising, and taking the direction of her apartment, +she made a sign to Julian to follow her. + +The distance was not great betwixt the dining apartment and that to +which Peveril now followed his mute guide; yet, in going thither, he +had time enough to suffer cruelly from the sudden suspicion, that this +unhappy girl had misinterpreted the uniform kindness with which he had +treated her, and hence come to regard him with feelings more tender +than those which belong to friendship. The misery which such a passion +was likely to occasion to a creature in her helpless situation, and +actuated by such lively feelings, was great enough to make him refuse +credit to the suspicion which pressed itself upon his mind; while, at +the same time, he formed the internal resolution so to conduct himself +towards Fenella, as to check such misplaced sentiments, if indeed she +unhappily entertained them towards him. + +When they reached the Countess's apartment, they found her with +writing implements, and many sealed letters before her. She received +Julian with her usual kindness; and having caused him to be seated, +beckoned to the mute to resume her needle. In an instant Fenella was +seated at an embroidering-frame; where, but for the movement of her +dexterous fingers, she might have seemed a statue, so little did she +move from her work either head or eye. As her infirmity rendered her +presence no bar to the most confidential conversation, the Countess +proceeded to address Peveril as if they had been literally alone +together. + +"Julian," she said, "I am not now about to complain to you of the +sentiments and conduct of Derby. He is your friend--he is my son. He +has kindness of heart and vivacity of talent; and yet----" + +"Dearest lady," said Peveril, "why will you distress yourself with +fixing your eye on deficiencies which arise rather from a change of +times and manners, than any degeneracy of my noble friend? Let him be +once engaged in his duty, whether in peace or war, and let me pay the +penalty if he acquits not himself becoming his high station." + +"Ay," replied the Countess; "but when will the call of duty prove +superior to that of the most idle or trivial indulgence which can +serve to drive over the lazy hour? His father was of another mould; +and how often was it my lot to entreat that he would spare, from the +rigid discharge of those duties which his high station imposed, the +relaxation absolutely necessary to recruit his health and his +spirits!" + +"Still, my dearest lady," said Peveril, "you must allow, that the +duties to which the times summoned your late honoured lord, were of a +more stirring, as well as a more peremptory cast, than those which +await your son." + +"I know not that," said the Countess. "The wheel appears to be again +revolving; and the present period is not unlikely to bring back such +scenes as my young years witnessed.--Well, be it so; they will not +find Charlotte de la Tremouille broken in spirit, though depressed by +years. It was even on this subject I would speak with you, my young +friend. Since our first early acquaintance--when I saw your gallant +behaviour as I issued forth to your childish eye, like an apparition, +from my place of concealment in your father's castle--it has pleased +me to think you a true son of Stanley and Peveril. I trust your +nurture in this family has been ever suited to the esteem in which I +hold you.--Nay, I desire no thanks.--I have to require of you, in +return, a piece of service, not perhaps entirely safe to yourself, but +which, as times are circumstanced, no person is so well able to render +to my house." + +"You have been ever my good and noble lady," answered Peveril, "as +well as my kind, and I may say maternal, protectress. You have a right +to command the blood of Stanley in the veins of every one--You have a +thousand rights to command it in mine."[*] + +[*] The reader cannot have forgotten that the Earl of Derby was head + of the great house of Stanley. + +"My advices from England," said the Countess, "resemble more the +dreams of a sick man, than the regular information which I might have +expected from such correspondents as mine;--their expressions are like +those of men who walk in their sleep, and speak by snatches of what +passes in their dreams. It is said, a plot, real or fictitious, has +been detected among the Catholics, which has spread far wider and more +uncontrollable terror than that of the fifth of November. Its outlines +seem utterly incredible, and are only supported by the evidence of +wretches, the meanest and most worthless in the creation; yet it is +received by the credulous people of England with the most undoubting +belief." + +"This is a singular delusion, to rise without some real ground," +answered Julian. + +"I am no bigot, cousin, though a Catholic," replied the Countess. "I +have long feared that the well-meant zeal of our priests for +increasing converts, would draw on them the suspicion of the English +nation. These efforts have been renewed with double energy since the +Duke of York conformed to the Catholic faith; and the same event has +doubled the hate and jealousy of the Protestants. So far, I fear, +there may be just cause of suspicion, that the Duke is a better +Catholic than an Englishman, and that bigotry has involved him, as +avarice, or the needy greed of a prodigal, has engaged his brother, in +relations with France, whereof England may have too much reason to +complain. But the gross, thick, and palpable fabrications of +conspiracy and murder, blood and fire--the imaginary armies--the +intended massacres--form a collection of falsehoods, that one would +have thought indigestible, even by the coarse appetite of the vulgar +for the marvellous and horrible; but which are, nevertheless, received +as truth by both Houses of Parliament, and questioned by no one who is +desirous to escape the odious appellation of friend to the bloody +Papists, and favourer of their infernal schemes of cruelty." + +"But what say those who are most likely to be affected by these wild +reports?" said Julian. "What say the English Catholics themselves?--a +numerous and wealthy body, comprising so many noble names?" + +"Their hearts are dead within them," said the Countess. "They are like +sheep penned up in the shambles, that the butcher may take his choice +among them. In the obscure and brief communications which I have had +by a secure hand, they do but anticipate their own utter ruin, and +ours--so general is the depression, so universal the despair." + +"But the King," said Peveril,--"the King and the Protestant Royalists +--what say they to this growing tempest?" + +"Charles," replied the Countess, "with his usual selfish prudence, +truckles to the storm; and will let cord and axe do their work on the +most innocent men in his dominions, rather than lose an hour of +pleasure in attempting their rescue. And, for the Royalists, either +they have caught the general delirium which has seized on Protestants +in general, or they stand aloof and neutral, afraid to show any +interest in the unhappy Catholics, lest they be judged altogether such +as themselves, and abettors of the fearful conspiracy in which they +are alleged to be engaged. In fact, I cannot blame them. It is hard to +expect that mere compassion for a persecuted sect--or, what is yet +more rare, an abstract love of justice--should be powerful enough to +engage men to expose themselves to the awakened fury of a whole +people; for, in the present state of general agitation, whoever +disbelieves the least tittle of the enormous improbabilities which +have been accumulated by these wretched reformers, is instantly hunted +down, as one who would smother the discovery of the Plot. It is indeed +an awful tempest; and, remote as we lie from its sphere, we must +expect soon to feel its effects." + +"Lord Derby already told me something of this," said Julian; "and that +there were agents in this island whose object was to excite +insurrection." + +"Yes," answered the Countess, and her eye flashed fire as she spoke; +"and had my advice been listened to, they had been apprehended in the +very fact; and so dealt with, as to be a warning to all others how +they sought this independent principality on such an errand. But my +son, who is generally so culpably negligent of his own affairs, was +pleased to assume the management of them upon this crisis." + +"I am happy to learn, madam," answered Peveril, "that the measures of +precaution which my kinsman has adopted, have had the complete effect +of disconcerting the conspiracy." + +"For the present, Julian; but they should have been such as would have +made the boldest tremble to think of such infringement of our rights +in future. But Derby's present plan is fraught with greater danger; +and yet there is something in it of gallantry, which has my sympathy." + +"What is it, madam?" inquired Julian anxiously; "and in what can I aid +it, or avert its dangers?" + +"He purposes," said the Countess, "instantly to set forth for London. +He is, he says, not merely the feudal chief of a small island, but one +of the noble Peers of England, who must not remain in the security of +an obscure and distant castle, when his name, or that of his mother, +is slandered before his Prince and people. He will take his place, he +says, in the House of Lords, and publicly demand justice for the +insult thrown on his house, by perjured and interested witnesses." + +"It is a generous resolution, and worthy of my friend," said Julian +Peveril. "I will go with him and share his fate, be it what it may." + +"Alas, foolish boy!" answered the Countess, "as well may you ask a +hungry lion to feel compassion, as a prejudiced and furious people to +do justice. They are like the madman at the height of frenzy, who +murders without compunction his best and dearest friend; and only +wonders and wails over his own cruelty, when he is recovered from his +delirium." + +"Pardon me, dearest lady," said Julian, "this cannot be. The noble and +generous people of England cannot be thus strangely misled. Whatever +prepossessions may be current among the more vulgar, the House of +Legislature cannot be deeply infected by them--they will remember +their own dignity." + +"Alas! cousin," answered the Countess, "when did Englishmen, even of +the highest degree, remember anything, when hurried away by the +violence of party feeling? Even those who have too much sense to +believe in the incredible fictions which gull the multitude, will +beware how they expose them, if their own political party can gain a +momentary advantage by their being accredited. It is amongst such, +too, that your kinsman has found friends and associates. Neglecting +the old friends of his house, as too grave and formal companions for +the humour of the times, his intercourse has been with the versatile +Shaftesbury--the mercurial Buckingham--men who would not hesitate to +sacrifice to the popular Moloch of the day, whatsoever or whomsoever, +whose ruin could propitiate the deity.--Forgive a mother's tears, +kinsman; but I see the scaffold at Bolton again erected. If Derby goes +to London while these bloodhounds are in full cry, obnoxious as he is, +and I have made him by my religious faith, and my conduct in this +island, he dies his father's death. And yet upon what other course to +resolve!----" + +"Let me go to London, madam," said Peveril, much moved by the distress +of his patroness; "your ladyship was wont to rely something on my +judgment. I will act for the best--will communicate with those whom +you point out to me, and only with them; and I trust soon to send you +information that this delusion, however strong it may now be, is in +the course of passing away; at the worst, I can apprise you of the +danger, should it menace the Earl or yourself; and may be able also to +point out the means by which it may be eluded." + +The Countess listened with a countenance in which the anxiety of +maternal affection, which prompted her to embrace Peveril's generous +offer, struggled with her native disinterested and generous +disposition. "Think what you ask of me, Julian," she replied with a +sigh. "Would you have me expose the life of my friend's son to those +perils to which I refuse my own?--No, never!" + +"Nay, but madam," replied Julian, "I do not run the same risk--my +person is not known in London--my situation, though not obscure in my +own country, is too little known to be noticed in that huge assemblage +of all that is noble and wealthy. No whisper, I presume, however +indirect, has connected my name with the alleged conspiracy. I am a +Protestant, above all; and can be accused of no intercourse, direct or +indirect, with the Church of Rome. My connections also lie amongst +those, who, if they do not, or cannot, befriend me, cannot, at least, +be dangerous to me. In a word, I run no danger where the Earl might +incur great peril." + +"Alas!" said the Countess of Derby, "all this generous reasoning may +be true; but it could only be listened to by a widowed mother. Selfish +as I am, I cannot but reflect that my kinswoman has, in all events, +the support of an affectionate husband--such is the interested +reasoning to which we are not ashamed to subject our better feelings." + +"Do not call it so, madam," answered Peveril; "think of me as the +younger brother of my kinsman. You have ever done by me the duties of +a mother; and have a right to my filial service, were it at a risk ten +times greater than a journey to London, to inquire into the temper of +the times. I will instantly go and announce my departure to the Earl." + +"Stay, Julian," said the Countess; "if you must make this journey in +our behalf,--and, alas! I have not generosity enough to refuse your +noble proffer,--you must go alone, and without communication with +Derby. I know him well; his lightness of mind is free from selfish +baseness; and for the world, would he not suffer you to leave Man +without his company. And if he went with you, your noble and +disinterested kindness would be of no avail--you would but share his +ruin, as the swimmer who attempts to save a drowning man is involved +in his fate, if he permit the sufferer to grapple with him." + +"It shall be as you please, madam," said Peveril. "I am ready to +depart upon half-an-hour's notice." + +"This night, then," said the Countess, after a moment's pause--"this +night I will arrange the most secret means of carrying your generous +project into effect; for I would not excite that prejudice against +you, which will instantly arise, were it known you had so lately left +this island, and its Popish lady. You will do well, perhaps, to use a +feigned name in London." + +"Pardon me, madam," said Julian; "I will do nothing that can draw on +me unnecessary attention; but to bear a feigned name, or affect any +disguise beyond living with extreme privacy, would, I think, be unwise +as well as unworthy; and what, if challenged, I might find some +difficulty in assigning a reason for, consistent with perfect fairness +of intentions." + +"I believe you are right," answered the Countess, after a moment's +consideration; and then added, "You propose, doubtless, to pass +through Derbyshire, and visit Martindale Castle?" + +"I should wish it, madam, certainly," replied Peveril, "did time +permit, and circumstances render it advisable." + +"Of that," said the Countess, "you must yourself judge. Despatch is, +doubtless, desirable; on the other hand, arriving from your own +family-seat, you will be less an object of doubt and suspicion, than +if you posted up from hence, without even visiting your parents. You +must be guided in this,--in all,--by your own prudence. Go, my dearest +son--for to me you should be dear as a son--go, and prepare for your +journey. I will get ready some despatches, and a supply of money--Nay, +do not object. Am I not your mother; and are you not discharging a +son's duty? Dispute not my right of defraying your expenses. Nor is +this all; for, as I must trust your zeal and prudence to act in our +behalf when occasion shall demand, I will furnish you with effectual +recommendations to our friends and kindred, entreating and enjoining +them to render whatever aid you may require, either for your own +protection, or the advancement of what you may propose in our favour." + +Peveril made no farther opposition to an arrangement, which in truth +the moderate state of his own finances rendered almost indispensable, +unless with his father's assistance; and the Countess put into his +hand bills of exchange to the amount of two hundred pounds, upon a +merchant in the city. She then dismissed Julian for the space of an +hour; after which, she said, she must again require his presence. + +The preparations for his journey were not of a nature to divert the +thoughts which speedily pressed on him. He found that half-an-hour's +conversation had once more completely changed his immediate prospects +and plans for the future. He had offered to the Countess of Derby a +service, which her uniform kindness had well deserved at his hand; +but, by her accepting it, he was upon the point of being separated +from Alice Bridgenorth, at a time when she was become dearer to him +than ever, by her avowal of mutual passion. Her image rose before him, +such as he had that day pressed her to his bosom--her voice was in his +ear, and seemed to ask whether he could desert her in the crisis which +everything seemed to announce as impending. But Julian Peveril, his +youth considered, was strict in judging his duty, and severely +resolved in executing it. He trusted not his imagination to pursue the +vision which presented itself; but resolutely seizing his pen, wrote +to Alice the following letter, explaining his situation, as far as +justice to the Countess permitted him to do so:-- + + + "I leave you, dearest Alice," thus ran the letter.--"I leave you; + and though, in doing so, I but obey the command you have laid on + me, yet I can claim little merit for my compliance, since, without + additional and most forcible reasons in aid of your orders, I fear + I should have been unable to comply with them. But family affairs + of importance compel me to absent myself from this island, for, I + fear, more than one week. My thoughts, hopes, and wishes will be + on the moment that shall restore me to the Black Fort, and its + lovely valley. Let me hope that yours will sometimes rest on the + lonely exile, whom nothing could render such, but the command of + honour and duty. Do not fear that I mean to involve you in a + private correspondence, and let not your father fear it. I could + not love you so much, but for the openness and candour of your + nature; and I would not that you concealed from Major Bridgenorth + one syllable of what I now avow. Respecting other matters, he + himself cannot desire the welfare of our common country with more + zeal than I do. Differences may occur concerning the mode in which + that is to be obtained; but, in the principle, I am convinced + there can be only one mind between us; nor can I refuse to listen + to his experience and wisdom, even where they may ultimately fail + to convince me. Farewell--Alice, farewell! Much might be added to + that melancholy word, but nothing that could express the + bitterness with which it is written. Yet I could transcribe it + again and again, rather than conclude the last communication which + I can have with you for some time. My sole comfort is, that my + stay will scarce be so long as to permit you to forget one who + never can forget you." + + +He held the paper in his hand for a minute after he had folded, but +before he had sealed it, while he hurriedly debated in his own mind +whether he had not expressed himself towards Major Bridgenorth in so +conciliating a manner as might excite hopes of proselytism, which his +conscience told him he could not realise with honour. Yet, on the +other hand, he had no right, from what Bridgenorth had said, to +conclude that their principles were diametrically irreconcilable; for +though the son of a high Cavalier, and educated in the family of the +Countess of Derby, he was himself, upon principle, an enemy of +prerogative, and a friend to the liberty of the subject. And with such +considerations, he silenced all internal objections on the point of +honour; although his conscience secretly whispered that these +conciliatory expressions towards the father were chiefly dictated by +the fear, that during his absence Major Bridgenorth might be tempted +to change the residence of his daughter, and perhaps to convey her +altogether out of his reach. + +Having sealed his letter, Julian called his servant, and directed him +to carry it under cover of one addressed to Mrs. Debbitch, to a house +in the town of Rushin, where packets and messages intended for the +family at Black Fort were usually deposited; and for that purpose to +take horse immediately. He thus got rid of an attendant, who might +have been in some degree a spy on his motions. He then exchanged the +dress he usually wore for one more suited to travelling; and, having +put a change or two of linen into a small cloak-bag, selected as arms +a strong double-edged sword and an excellent pair of pistols, which +last he carefully loaded with double bullets. Thus appointed, and with +twenty pieces in his purse, and the bills we have mentioned secured in +a private pocket-book, he was in readiness to depart as soon as he +should receive the Countess's commands. + +The buoyant spirit of youth and hope, which had, for a moment, been +chilled by the painful and dubious circumstances in which he was +placed, as well as the deprivation which he was about to undergo, now +revived in full vigour. Fancy, turning from more painful +anticipations, suggested to him that he was now entering upon life, at +a crisis when resolution and talents were almost certain to make the +fortune of their possessor. How could he make a more honourable entry +on the bustling scene, than sent by, and acting in behalf of, one of +the noblest houses in England; and should he perform what his charge +might render incumbent with the resolution and the prudence necessary +to secure success, how many occurrences might take place to render his +mediation necessary to Bridgenorth; and thus enable him, on the most +equal and honourable terms, to establish a claim to his gratitude and +to his daughter's hand. + +Whilst he was dwelling on such pleasing, though imaginary prospects, +he could not help exclaiming aloud--"Yes, Alice, I will win thee +nobly!" The words had scarce escaped his lips, when he heard at the +door of his apartment, which the servant had left ajar, a sound like a +deep sigh, which was instantly succeeded by a gentle tap--"Come in," +replied Julian, somewhat ashamed of his exclamation, and not a little +afraid that it had been caught up by some eavesdropper--"Come in," he +again repeated; but his command was not obeyed; on the contrary, the +knock was repeated somewhat louder. He opened the door, and Fenella +stood before him. + +With eyes that seemed red with recent tears, and with a look of the +deepest dejection, the little mute, first touching her bosom, and +beckoning with her finger, made to him the usual sign that the +Countess desired to see him--then turned, as if to usher him to her +apartment. As he followed her through the long gloomy vaulted passages +which afforded communication betwixt the various apartments of the +castle, he could not but observe that her usual light trip was +exchanged for a tardy and mournful step, which she accompanied with +low inarticulate moaning (which she was probably the less able to +suppress, because she could not judge how far it was audible), and +also with wringing of the hands, and other marks of extreme +affliction. + +At this moment a thought came across Peveril's mind, which, in spite +of his better reason, made him shudder involuntarily. As a Peaksman, +and a long resident in the Isle of Man, he was well acquainted with +many a superstitious legend, and particularly with a belief, which +attached to the powerful family of the Stanleys, for their peculiar +demon, a Banshie, or female spirit, who was wont to shriek "foreboding +evil times;" and who was generally seen weeping and bemoaning herself +before the death of any person of distinction belonging to the family. +For an instant, Julian could scarcely divest himself of the belief +that the wailing, jibbering form, which glided before him, with a lamp +in her hand, was a genius of his mother's race, come to announce to +him as an analogous reflection, that if the suspicion which had +crossed his mind concerning Fenella was a just one, her ill-fated +attachment to him, like that of the prophetic spirit to his family, +could bode nothing but disaster, and lamentation, and woe. + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + Now, hoist the anchor, mates--and let the sails + Give their broad bosom to the buxom wind, + Like lass that woos a lover. + --ANONYMOUS. + +The presence of the Countess dispelled the superstitious feeling, +which, for an instant, had encroached on Julian's imagination, and +compelled him to give attention to the matters of ordinary life. "Here +are your credentials," she said, giving him a small packet, carefully +packed up in a sealskin cover; "you had better not open them till you +come to London. You must not be surprised to find that there are one +or two addressed to men of my own persuasion. These, for all our +sakes, you will observe caution in delivering." + +"I go your messenger, madam," said Peveril; "and whatever you desire +me to charge myself with, of that I undertake the care. Yet allow me +to doubt whether an intercourse with Catholics will at this moment +forward the purposes of my mission." + +"You have caught the general suspicion of this wicked sect already," +said the Countess, smiling, "and are the fitter to go amongst +Englishmen in their present mood. But, my cautious friend, these +letters are so addressed, and the persons to whom they are addressed +so disguised, that you will run no danger in conversing with them. +Without their aid, indeed, you will not be able to obtain the accurate +information you go in search of. None can tell so exactly how the wind +sets, as the pilot whose vessel is exposed to the storm. Besides, +though you Protestants deny our priesthood the harmlessness of the +dove, you are ready enough to allow us a full share of the wisdom of +the serpent; in plain terms, their means of information are extensive, +and they are not deficient in the power of applying it. I therefore +wish you to have the benefit of their intelligence and advice, if +possible." + +"Whatever you impose upon me as a part of my duty, madam, rely on its +being discharged punctually," answered Peveril. "And, now, as there is +little use in deferring the execution of a purpose when once fixed, +let me know your ladyship's wishes concerning my departure." + +"It must be sudden and secret," said the Countess; "the island is full +of spies; and I would not wish that any of them should have notice +that an envoy of mine was about to leave Man for London. Can you be +ready to go on board to-morrow?" + +"To-night--this instant if you will," said Julian,--"my little +preparations are complete." + +"Be ready, then, in your chamber, at two hours after midnight. I will +send one to summon you, for our secret must be communicated, for the +present, to as few as possible. A foreign sloop is engaged to carry +you over; then make the best of your way to London, by Martindale +Castle, or otherwise, as you find most advisable. When it is necessary +to announce your absence, I will say you are gone to see your parents. +But stay--your journey will be on horseback, of course, from +Whitehaven. You have bills of exchange, it is true; but are you +provided with ready money to furnish yourself with a good horse?" + +"I am sufficiently rich, madam," answered Julian; "and good nags are +plenty in Cumberland. There are those among them who know how to come +by them good and cheap." + +"Trust not to that," said the Countess. "Here is what will purchase +for you the best horse on the Borders.--Can you be simple enough to +refuse it?" she added, as she pressed on him a heavy purse, which he +saw himself obliged to accept. + +"A good horse, Julian," continued the Countess, "and a good sword, +next to a good heart and head, are the accomplishments of a cavalier." + +"I kiss your hands, then, madam," said Peveril, "and humbly beg you to +believe, that whatever may fail in my present undertaking, my purpose +to serve you, my noble kinswoman and benefactress, can at least never +swerve or falter." + +"I know it, my son, I know it; and may God forgive me if my anxiety +for your friend has sent you on dangers which should have been his! +Go--go--May saints and angels bless you! Fenella shall acquaint him +that you sup in your own apartment. So indeed will I; for to-night I +should be unable to face my son's looks. Little will he thank me for +sending you on his errand; and there will be many to ask, whether it +was like the Lady of Latham to trust her friend's son on the danger +which should have been braved by her own. But oh! Julian, I am now a +forlorn widow, whom sorrow has made selfish!" + +"Tush, madam," answered Peveril; "it is more unlike the Lady of Latham +to anticipate dangers which may not exist at all, and to which, if +they do indeed occur, I am less obnoxious than my noble kinsman. +Farewell!--All blessings attend you, madam. Commend me to Derby, and +make him my excuses. I shall expect a summons at two hours after +midnight." + +They took an affectionate leave of each other; the more affectionate, +indeed, on the part of the Countess, that she could not entirely +reconcile her generous mind to exposing Peveril to danger on her son's +behalf; and Julian betook himself to his solitary apartment. + +His servant soon afterwards brought him wine and refreshments; to +which, notwithstanding the various matters he had to occupy his mind, +he contrived to do reasonable justice. But when this needful +occupation was finished, his thoughts began to stream in upon him like +a troubled tide--at once recalling the past, and anticipating the +future. It was in vain that he wrapped himself in his riding cloak, +and, lying down on his bed, endeavoured to compose himself to sleep. +The uncertainty of the prospect before him--the doubt how Bridgenorth +might dispose of his daughter during his absence--the fear that the +Major himself might fall into the power of the vindictive Countess, +besides a numerous train of vague and half-formed apprehensions, +agitated his blood, and rendered slumber impossible. Alternately to +recline in the old oaken easy-chair, and listen to the dashing of the +waves under the windows, mingled, as the sound was, with the scream of +the sea-birds; or traverse the apartment with long and slow steps, +pausing occasionally to look out on the sea, slumbering under the +influence of a full moon, which tipped each wave with silver--such +were the only pastimes he could invent, until midnight had passed for +one hour; the next was wasted in anxious expectation of the summons of +departure. + +At length it arrived--a tap at his door was followed by a low murmur, +which made him suspect that the Countess had again employed her mute +attendant as the most secure minister of her pleasure on this +occasion. He felt something like impropriety in this selection; and it +was with a feeling of impatience alien to the natural generosity of +his temper, that, when he opened the door, he beheld the dumb maiden +standing before him. The lamp which he held in his hand showed his +features distinctly, and probably made Fenella aware of the expression +which animated them. She cast her large dark eyes mournfully on the +ground; and, without again looking him in the face, made him a signal +to follow her. He delayed no longer than was necessary to secure his +pistols in his belt, wrap his cloak closer around him, and take his +small portmanteau under his arm. Thus accoutred, he followed her out +of the Keep, or inhabited part of the Castle, by a series of obscure +passages leading to a postern gate, which she unlocked with a key, +selected from a bundle which she carried at her girdle. + +They now stood in the castle-yard, in the open moonlight, which +glimmered white and ghastly on the variety of strange and ruinous +objects to which we have formerly alluded, and which gave the scene +rather the appearance of some ancient cemetery, than of the interior +of a fortification. The round and elevated tower--the ancient mount, +with its quadrangular sides facing the ruinous edifices which once +boasted the name of Cathedral--seemed of yet more antique and +anomalous form, when seen by the pale light which now displayed them. +To one of these churches Fenella took the direct course, and was +followed by Julian; although he at once divined, and was superstitious +enough to dislike, the path which she was about to adopt. It was by a +secret passage through this church that in former times the guard-room +of the garrison, situated at the lower and external defences, +communicated with the Keep of the Castle; and through this passage +were the keys of the Castle every night carried to the Governor's +apartment, so soon as the gates were locked, and the watch set. The +custom was given up in James the First's time, and the passage +abandoned, on account of the well-known legend of the /Mauthe Dog/--a +fiend, or demon, in the shape of a large, shaggy, black mastiff, by +which the church was said to be haunted. It was devoutly believed, +that in former times this spectre became so familiar with mankind, as +to appear nightly in the guard-room, issuing from the passage which we +have mentioned at night, and retiring to it at daybreak. The soldiers +became partly familiarised to its presence; yet not so much so as to +use any licence of language while the apparition was visible; until +one fellow, rendered daring by intoxication, swore he would know +whether it was dog or devil, and, with his drawn sword, followed the +spectre when it retreated by the usual passage. The man returned in a +few minutes, sobered by terror, his mouth gaping, and his hair +standing on end, under which horror he died; but, unhappily for the +lovers of the marvellous, altogether unable to disclose the horrors +which he had seen. Under the evil repute arising from this tale of +wonder, the guard-room was abandoned, and a new one constructed. In +like manner, the guards after that period held another and more +circuitous communication with the Governor or Seneschal of the Castle; +and that which lay through the ruinous church was entirely abandoned. + +In defiance of the legendary terrors which tradition had attached to +the original communication, Fenella, followed by Peveril, now boldly +traversed the ruinous vaults through which it lay--sometimes only +guided over heaps of ruins by the precarious light of the lamp borne +by the dumb maiden--sometimes having the advantage of a gleam of +moonlight, darting into the dreary abyss through the shafted windows, +or through breaches made by time. As the path was by no means a +straight one, Peveril could not but admire the intimate acquaintance +with the mazes which his singular companion displayed, as well as the +boldness with which she traversed them. He himself was not so utterly +void of the prejudices of the times, but that he contemplated, with +some apprehension, the possibility of their intruding on the lair of +the phantom hound, of which he had heard so often; and in every remote +sight of the breeze among the ruins, he thought he heard him baying at +the mortal footsteps which disturbed his gloomy realm. No such +terrors, however, interrupted their journey; and in the course of a +few minutes, they attained the deserted and now ruinous guard-house. +The broken walls of the little edifice served to conceal them from the +sentinels, one of whom was keeping a drowsy watch at the lower gate of +the Castle; whilst another, seated on the stone steps which +communicated with the parapet of the bounding and exterior wall, was +slumbering, in full security, with his musket peacefully grounded by +his side. Fenella made a sign to Peveril to move with silence and +caution, and then showed him, to his surprise, from the window of the +deserted guard-room, a boat, for it was now high water, with four +rowers, lurking under the cliff on which the castle was built; and +made him farther sensible that he was to have access to it by a ladder +of considerable height placed at the window of the ruin. + +Julian was both displeased and alarmed by the security and +carelessness of the sentinels, who had suffered such preparations to +be made without observation or alarm given; and he hesitated whether +he should not call the officer of the guard, upbraid him with +negligence, and show him how easily Holm-Peel, in spite of its natural +strength, and although reported impregnable, might be surprised by a +few resolute men. Fenella seemed to guess his thoughts with that +extreme acuteness of observation which her deprivations had occasioned +her acquiring. She laid one hand on his arm, and a finger of the other +on her own lips, as if to enjoin forbearance; and Julian, knowing that +she acted by the direct authority of the Countess, obeyed her +accordingly; but with the internal resolution to lose no time in +communicating his sentiments to the Earl, concerning the danger to +which the Castle was exposed on this point. + +In the meantime, he descended the ladder with some precaution, for the +steps were unequal, broken, wet, and slippery; and having placed +himself in the stern of the boat, made a signal to the men to push +off, and turned to take farewell of his guide. To his utter +astonishment, Fenella rather slid down, than descended regularly, the +perilous ladder, and, the boat being already pushed off, made a spring +from the last step of it with incredible agility, and seated herself +beside Peveril, ere he could express either remonstrance or surprise. +He commanded the men once more to pull in to the precarious landing- +place; and throwing into his countenance a part of the displeasure +which he really felt, endeavoured to make her comprehend the necessity +of returning to her mistress. Fenella folded her arms, and looked at +him with a haughty smile, which completely expressed the determination +of her purpose. Peveril was extremely embarrassed; he was afraid of +offending the Countess, and interfering with her plan, by giving +alarm, which otherwise he was much tempted to have done. On Fenella, +it was evident, no species of argument which he could employ was +likely to make the least impression; and the question remained, how, +if she went on with him, he was to rid himself of so singular and +inconvenient a companion, and provide, at the same time, sufficiently +for her personal security. + +The boatmen brought the matter to a decision; for, after lying on +their oars for a minute, and whispering among themselves in Low Dutch +or German, they began to pull stoutly, and were soon at some distance +from the Castle. The possibility of the sentinels sending a musket- +ball, or even a cannon-shot, after them, was one of the contingencies +which gave Peveril momentary anxiety; but they left the fortress, as +they must have approached it, unnoticed, or at least unchallenged--a +carelessness on the part of the garrison, which, notwithstanding that +the oars were muffled, and that the men spoke little, and in whispers, +argued, in Peveril's opinion, great negligence on the part of the +sentinels. When they were a little way from the Castle, the men began +to row briskly towards a small vessel which lay at some distance. +Peveril had, in the meantime, leisure to remark, that the boatmen +spoke to each other doubtfully, and bent anxious looks on Fenella, as +if uncertain whether they had acted properly in bringing her off. + +After about a quarter of an hour's rowing, they reached the little +sloop, where Peveril was received by the skipper, or captain, on the +quarter-deck, with an offer of spirits or refreshments. A word or two +among the seamen withdrew the captain from his hospitable cares, and +he flew to the ship's side, apparently to prevent Fenella from +entering the vessel. The men and he talked eagerly in Dutch, looking +anxiously at Fenella as they spoke together; and Peveril hoped the +result would be, that the poor woman should be sent ashore again. But +she baffled whatever opposition could be offered to her; and when the +accommodation-ladder, as it is called, was withdrawn, she snatched the +end of a rope, and climbed on board with the dexterity of a sailor, +leaving them no means of preventing her entrance, save by actual +violence, to which apparently they did not choose to have recourse. +Once on deck, she took the captain by the sleeve, and led him to the +head of the vessel, where they seemed to hold intercourse in a manner +intelligible to both. + +Peveril soon forgot the presence of the mute, as he began to muse upon +his own situation, and the probability that he was separated for some +considerable time from the object of his affections. "Constancy," he +repeated to himself,--"Constancy." And, as if in coincidence with the +theme of his reflections, he fixed his eyes on the polar star, which +that night twinkled with more than ordinary brilliancy. Emblem of pure +passion and steady purpose--the thoughts which arose as he viewed its +clear and unchanging light, were disinterested and noble. To seek his +country's welfare, and secure the blessings of domestic peace--to +discharge a bold and perilous duty to his friend and patron--to regard +his passion for Alice Bridgenorth, as the loadstar which was to guide +him to noble deeds--were the resolutions which thronged upon his mind, +and which exalted his spirits to that state of romantic melancholy, +which perhaps is ill exchanged even for feelings of joyful rapture. + +He was recalled from those contemplations by something which nestled +itself softly and closely to his side--a woman's sigh sounded so near +him, as to disturb his reverie; and as he turned his head, he saw +Fenella seated beside him, with her eyes fixed on the same star which +had just occupied his own. His first emotion was that of displeasure; +but it was impossible to persevere in it towards a being so helpless +in many respects, so interesting in others; whose large dark eyes were +filled with dew, which glistened in the moonlight; and the source of +whose emotions seemed to be in a partiality which might well claim +indulgence, at least from him who was the object of it. At the same +time, Julian resolved to seize the present opportunity, for such +expostulations with Fenella on the strangeness of her conduct, as the +poor maiden might be able to comprehend. He took her hand with great +kindness, but at the same time with much gravity, pointed to the boat, +and to the Castle, whose towers and extended walls were now scarce +visible in the distance; and thus intimated to her the necessity of +her return to Holm-Peel. She looked down, and shook her head, as if +negativing his proposal with obstinate decision. Julian renewed his +expostulation by look and gesture--pointed to his own heart, to +intimate the Countess--and bent his brows, to show the displeasure +which she must entertain. To all which the maiden only answered by her +tears. + +At length, as if driven to explanation by his continued remonstrances, +she suddenly seized him by the arm, to arrest his attention--cast her +eye hastily around, as if to see whether she was watched by any one-- +then drew the other hand, edge-wise, across her slender throat-- +pointed to the boat, and to the Castle, and nodded. + +On this series of signs, Peveril could put no interpretation, +excepting that he was menaced with some personal danger, from which +Fenella seemed to conceive that her presence was a protection. +Whatever was her meaning, her purpose seemed unalterably adopted; at +least it was plain he had no power to shake it. He must therefore wait +till the end of their short voyage, to disembarrass himself of his +companion; and, in the meanwhile, acting on the idea of her having +harboured a misplaced attachment to him, he thought he should best +consult her interest, and his own character, in keeping at as great a +distance from her as circumstances admitted. With this purpose, he +made the sign she used for going to sleep, by leaning his head on his +palm; and having thus recommended to her to go to rest, he himself +desired to be conducted to his berth. + +The captain readily showed him a hammock, in the after-cabin, into +which he threw himself, to seek that repose which the exercise and +agitation of the preceding day, as well as the lateness of the hour, +made him now feel desirable. Sleep, deep and heavy, sunk down on him +in a few minutes, but it did not endure long. In his sleep he was +disturbed by female cries; and at length, as he thought, distinctly +heard the voice of Alice Bridgenorth call on his name. + +He awoke, and starting up to quit his bed, became sensible, from the +motion of the vessel, and the swinging of the hammock, that his dream +had deceived him. He was still startled by its extreme vivacity and +liveliness. "Julian Peveril, help! Julian Peveril!" The sounds still +rung in his ears--the accents were those of Alice--and he could scarce +persuade himself that his imagination had deceived him. Could she be +in the same vessel? The thought was not altogether inconsistent with +her father's character, and the intrigues in which he was engaged; but +then, if so, to what peril was she exposed, that she invoked his name +so loudly? + +Determined to make instant inquiry, he jumped out of his hammock, +half-dressed as he was, and stumbling about the little cabin, which +was as dark as pitch, at length, with considerable difficulty, reached +the door. The door, however, he was altogether unable to open; and was +obliged to call loudly to the watch upon deck. The skipper, or +captain, as he was called, being the only person aboard who could +speak English, answered to the summons, and replied to Peveril's +demand, what noise that was?--that a boat was going off with the young +woman--that she whimpered a little as she left the vessel--and "dat +vaas all." + +His dream was thus fully explained. Fancy had caught up the +inarticulate and vehement cries with which Fenella was wont to express +resistance or displeasure--had coined them into language, and given +them the accents of Alice Bridgenorth. Our imagination plays wilder +tricks with us almost every night. + +The captain now undid the door, and appeared with a lantern; without +the aid of which Peveril could scarce have regained his couch, where +he now slumbered secure and sound, until day was far advanced, and the +invitation of the captain called him up to breakfast. + + + + CHAPTER XX + + Now, what is this that haunts me like my shadow, + Frisking and mumming like an elf in moonlight! + --BEN JONSON. + +Peveril found the master of the vessel rather less rude than those in +his station of life usually are, and received from him full +satisfaction concerning the fate of Fenella, upon whom the captain +bestowed a hearty curse, for obliging him to lay-to until he had sent +his boat ashore, and had her back again. + +"I hope," said Peveril, "no violence was necessary to reconcile her to +go ashore? I trust she offered no foolish resistance?" + +"Resist! mein Gott," said the captain, "she did resist like a troop of +horse--she did cry, you might hear her at Whitehaven--she did go up +the rigging like a cat up a chimney; but dat vas ein trick of her old +trade." + +"What trade do you mean?" said Peveril. + +"Oh," said the seaman, "I vas know more about her than you, Meinheer. +I vas know that she vas a little, very little girl, and prentice to +one seiltanzer, when my lady yonder had the good luck to buy her." + +"A seiltanzer!" said Peveril; "what do you mean by that?" + +"I mean a rope-danzer, a mountebank, a Hans pickel-harring. I vas know +Adrian Brackel vell--he sell de powders dat empty men's stomach, and +fill him's own purse. Not know Adrian Brackel, mein Gott! I have +smoked many a pound of tabak with him." + +Peveril now remembered that Fenella had been brought into the family +when he and the young Earl were in England, and while the Countess was +absent on an expedition to the continent. Where the Countess found +her, she never communicated to the young men; but only intimated, that +she had received her out of compassion, in order to relieve her from a +situation of extreme distress. + +He hinted so much to the communicative seaman, who replied, "that for +distress he knew nocht's on't; only, that Adrian Brackel beat her when +she would not dance on the rope, and starved her when she did, to +prevent her growth." The bargain between the countess and the +mountebank, he said, he had made himself; because the Countess had +hired his brig upon her expedition to the continent. None else knew +where she came from. The Countess had seen her on a public stage at +Ostend--compassionated her helpless situation, and the severe +treatment she received--and had employed him to purchase the poor +creature from her master, and charged him with silence towards all her +retinue.--"And so I do keep silence," continued the faithful +confidant, "van I am in the havens of Man; but when I am on the broad +seas, den my tongue is mine own, you know. Die foolish beoples in the +island, they say she is a wechsel-balg--what you call a fairy-elf +changeling. My faith, they do not never have seen ein wechsel-balg; +for I saw one myself at Cologne, and it was twice as big as yonder +girl, and did break the poor people, with eating them up, like de +great big cuckoo in the sparrow's nest; but this Venella eat no more +than other girls--it was no wechsel-balg in the world." + +By a different train of reasoning, Julian had arrived at the same +conclusion; in which, therefore, he heartily acquiesced. During the +seaman's prosing, he was reflecting within himself, how much of the +singular flexibility of her limbs and movements the unfortunate girl +must have derived from the discipline and instructions of Adrian +Brackel; and also how far the germs of her wilful and capricious +passions might have been sown during her wandering and adventurous +childhood. Aristocratic, also, as his education had been, these +anecdotes respecting Fenella's original situation and education, +rather increased his pleasure of having shaken off her company; and +yet he still felt desirous to know any farther particulars which the +seaman could communicate on the same subject. But he had already told +all he knew. Of her parents he knew nothing, except that "her father +must have been a damned hundsfoot, and a schelm, for selling his own +flesh and blood to Adrian Brackel;" for by such a transaction had the +mountebank become possessed of his pupil. + +This conversation tended to remove any passing doubts which might have +crept on Peveril's mind concerning the fidelity of the master of the +vessel, who appeared from thence to have been a former acquaintance of +the Countess, and to have enjoyed some share of her confidence. The +threatening motion used by Fenella, he no longer considered as worthy +of any notice, excepting as a new mark of the irritability of her +temper. + +He amused himself with walking the deck, and musing on his past and +future prospects, until his attention was forcibly arrested by the +wind, which began to rise in gusts from the north-west, in a manner so +unfavourable to the course they intended to hold, that the master, +after many efforts to beat against it, declared his bark, which was by +no means an excellent sea-boat, was unequal to making Whitehaven; and +that he was compelled to make a fair wind of it, and run for +Liverpool. To this course Peveril did not object. It saved him some +land journey, in case he visited his father's castle; and the +Countess's commission would be discharged as effectually the one way +as the other. + +The vessel was put, accordingly, before the wind, and ran with great +steadiness and velocity. The captain, notwithstanding, pleading some +nautical hazards, chose to lie off, and did not attempt the mouth of +the Mersey until morning, when Peveril had at length the satisfaction +of being landed upon the quay of Liverpool, which even then showed +symptoms of the commercial prosperity that has since been carried +to such a height. + +The master, who was well acquainted with the port, pointed out to +Julian a decent place of entertainment, chiefly frequented by +seafaring people; for, although he had been in the town formerly, he +did not think it proper to go anywhere at present where he might have +been unnecessarily recognised. Here he took leave of the seaman, after +pressing upon him with difficulty a small present for his crew. As for +his passage, the captain declined any recompense whatever; and they +parted upon the most civil terms. + +The inn to which he was recommended was full of strangers, seamen, and +mercantile people, all intent upon their own affairs, and discussing +them with noise and eagerness, peculiar to the business of a thriving +seaport. But although the general clamour of the public room, in which +the guests mixed with each other, related chiefly to their own +commercial dealings, there was a general theme mingling with them, +which was alike common and interesting to all; so that, amidst +disputes about freight, tonnage, demurrage, and such like, were heard +the emphatic sounds of "Deep, damnable, accursed plot,"--"Bloody +Papist villains,"--"The King in danger--the gallows too good for +them," and so forth. + +The fermentation excited in London had plainly reached even this +remote seaport, and was received by the inhabitants with the peculiar +stormy energy which invests men in their situation with the character +of the winds and waves with which they are chiefly conversant. The +commercial and nautical interests of England were indeed particularly +anti-Catholic; although it is not, perhaps, easy to give any distinct +reason why they should be so, since theological disputes in general +could scarce be considered as interesting to them. But zeal, amongst +the lower orders at least, is often in an inverse ratio to knowledge; +and sailors were not probably the less earnest and devoted +Protestants, that they did not understand the controversy between the +Churches. As for the merchants, they were almost necessarily inimical +to the gentry of Lancashire and Cheshire; many of whom still retained +the faith of Rome, which was rendered ten times more odious to the men +of commerce, as the badge of their haughty aristocratic neighbours. + +From the little which Peveril heard of the sentiments of the people of +Liverpool, he imagined he should act most prudently in leaving the +place as soon as possible, and before any suspicion should arise of +his having any connection with the party which appeared to have become +so obnoxious. + +In order to accomplish his journey, it was first necessary that he +should purchase a horse; and for this purpose he resolved to have +recourse to the stables of a dealer well known at the time, and who +dwelt in the outskirts of the place; and having obtained directions to +his dwelling, he went thither to provide himself. + +Joe Bridlesley's stables exhibited a large choice of good horses; for +that trade was in former days more active than at present. It was an +ordinary thing for a stranger to buy a horse for the purpose of a +single journey, and to sell him, as well as he could, when he had +reached the point of his destination; and hence there was a constant +demand, and a corresponding supply; upon both of which, Bridlesley, +and those of his trade, contrived, doubtless, to make handsome +profits. + +Julian, who was no despicable horse-jockey, selected for his purpose a +strong well-made horse, about sixteen hands high, and had him led into +the yard, to see whether the paces corresponded with his appearance. +As these also gave perfect satisfaction to the customer, it remained +only to settle the price with Bridlesley; who of course swore his +customer had pitched upon the best horse ever darkened the stable- +door, since he had dealt that way; that no such horses were to be had +nowadays, for that the mares were dead that foaled them; and having +named a corresponding price, the usual haggling commenced betwixt the +seller and purchaser, for adjustment of what the French dealers call +/le prix juste/. + +The reader, if he be at all acquainted with this sort of traffic, well +knows it is generally a keen encounter of wits, and attracts the +notice of all the idlers within hearing, who are usually very ready to +offer their opinions, or their evidence. Amongst these, upon the +present occasion, was a thin man, rather less than the ordinary size, +and meanly dressed; but whose interference was in a confident tone, +and such as showed himself master of the subject on which he spoke. +The price of the horse being settled to about fifteen pounds, which +was very high for the period, that of the saddle and bridle had next +to be adjusted, and the thin mean-looking person before-mentioned, +found nearly as much to say on this subject as on the other. As his +remarks had a conciliating and obliging tendency towards the stranger, +Peveril concluded he was one of those idle persons, who, unable or +unwilling to supply themselves with the means of indulgence at their +own cost, do not scruple to deserve them at the hands of others, by a +little officious complaisance; and considering that he might acquire +some useful information from such a person, was just about to offer +him the courtesy of a morning draught, when he observed he had +suddenly left the yard. He had scarce remarked this circumstance, +before a party of customers entered the place, whose haughty +assumption of importance claimed the instant attention of Bridlesley, +and all his militia of grooms and stable-boys. + +"Three good horses," said the leader of the party, a tall bulky man, +whose breath was drawn full and high, under a consciousness of fat, +and of importance--"three good and able-bodied horses, for the service +of the Commons of England." + +Bridlesley said he had some horses which might serve the Speaker +himself at need; but that, to speak Christian truth, he had just sold +the best in his stable to that gentleman present, who, doubtless, +would give up the bargain if the horse was needed for the service of +the State. + +"You speak well, friend," said the important personage; and advancing +to Julian, demanded, in a very haughty tone, the surrender of the +purchase which he had just made. + +Peveril, with some difficulty, subdued the strong desire which he felt +to return a round refusal to so unreasonable a request, but +fortunately, recollecting that the situation in which he at present +stood, required, on his part, much circumspection, he replied simply, +that upon showing him any warrant to seize upon horses for the public +service, he must of course submit to resign his purchase. + +The man, with an air of extreme dignity, pulled from his pocket, and +thrust into Peveril's hand, a warrant, subscribed by the Speaker of +the House of Commons, empowering Charles Topham, their officer of the +Black Rod, to pursue and seize upon the persons of certain individuals +named in the warrant; and of all other persons who are, or should be, +accused by competent witnesses, of being accessory to, or favourers +of, the hellish and damnable Popish Plot, at present carried on within +the bowels of the kingdom; and charging all men, as they loved their +allegiance, to render the said Charles Topham their readiest and most +effective assistance, in execution of the duty entrusted to his care. + +On perusing a document of such weighty import, Julian had no +hesitation to give up his horse to this formidable functionary; whom +somebody compared to a lion, which, as the House of Commons was +pleased to maintain such an animal, they were under the necessity of +providing for by frequent commitments; until "/Take him, Topham/," +became a proverb, and a formidable one, in the mouth of the public. + +The acquiescence of Peveril procured him some grace in the sight of +the emissary; who, before selecting two horses for his attendants, +gave permission to the stranger to purchase a grey horse, much +inferior, indeed, to that which he had resigned, both in form and in +action, but very little lower in price, as Mr. Bridlesley, immediately +on learning the demand for horses upon the part of the Commons of +England, had passed a private resolution in his own mind, augmenting +the price of his whole stud, by an imposition of at least twenty per +cent., /ad valorem/. + +Peveril adjusted and paid the price with much less argument than on +the former occasion; for, to be plain with the reader, he had noticed +in the warrant of Mr. Topham, the name of his father, Sir Geoffrey +Peveril of Martindale Castle, engrossed at full length, as one of +those subjected to arrest by that officer. + +When aware of this material fact, it became Julian's business to leave +Liverpool directly, and carry the alarm to Derbyshire, if, indeed, Mr. +Topham had not already executed his charge in that county, which he +thought unlikely, as it was probable they would commence by securing +those who lived nearest to the seaports. A word or two which he +overheard strengthened his hopes. + +"And hark ye, friend," said Mr. Topham; "you will have the horses at +the door of Mr. Shortell, the mercer, in two hours, as we shall +refresh ourselves there with a cool tankard, and learn what folks live +in the neighbourhood that may be concerned in my way. And you will +please to have that saddle padded, for I am told the Derbyshire roads +are rough.--And you, Captain Dangerfield, and Master Everett, you must +put on your Protestant spectacles, and show me where there is the +shadow of a priest, or of a priest's favourer; for I am come down with +a broom in my cap to sweep this north country of such like cattle." + +One of the persons he thus addressed, who wore the garb of a broken- +down citizen, only answered, "Ay, truly, Master Topham, it is time to +purge the garner." + +The other, who had a formidable pair of whiskers, a red nose, and a +tarnished laced coat, together with a hat of Pistol's dimensions, was +more loquacious. "I take it on my damnation," said this zealous +Protestant witness, "that I will discover the marks of the beast on +every one of them betwixt sixteen and seventy, as plainly as if they +had crossed themselves with ink, instead of holy water. Since we have +a King willing to do justice, and a House of Commons to uphold +prosecutions, why, damn me, the cause must not stand still for lack of +evidence." + +"Stick to that, noble captain," answered the officer; "but, prithee, +reserve thy oaths for the court of justice; it is but sheer waste to +throw them away, as you do in your ordinary conversation." + +"Fear you nothing, Master Topham," answered Dangerfield; "it is right +to keep a man's gifts in use; and were I altogether to renounce oaths +in my private discourse, how should I know how to use one when I +needed it? But you hear me use none of your Papist abjurations. I +swear not by the mass, or before George, or by anything that belongs +to idolatry; but such downright oaths as may serve a poor Protestant +gentleman, who would fain serve Heaven and the King." + +"Bravely spoken, most noble Festus," said his yoke-fellow. "But do not +suppose, that although I am not in the habit of garnishing my words +with oaths out of season, I shall be wanting, when called upon, to +declare the height and the depth, the width and the length, of this +hellish plot against the King and the Protestant faith." + +Dizzy, and almost sick, with listening to the undisguised brutality of +these fellows, Peveril, having with difficulty prevailed on Bridlesley +to settle his purchase, at length led forth his grey steed; but was +scarce out of the yard, when he heard the following alarming +conversation pass, of which he seemed himself the object. + +"Who is that youth?" said the slow soft voice of the more precise of +the two witnesses. "Methinks I have seen him somewhere before. Is he +from these parts?" + +"Not that I know of," said Bridlesley; who, like all the other +inhabitants of England at the time, answered the interrogatories of +these fellows with the deference which is paid in Spain to the +questions of an inquisitor. "A stranger--entirely a stranger--never +saw him before--a wild young colt, I warrant him; and knows a horse's +mouth as well as I do." + +"I begin to bethink me I saw such a face as his at the Jesuits' +consult, in the White Horse Tavern," answered Everett. + +"And I think I recollect," said Captain Dangerfield---- + +"Come, come, master and captain," said the authoritative voice of +Topham, "we will have none of your recollections at present. We all +know what these are likely to end in. But I will have you know, you +are not to run till the leash is slipped. The young man is a well- +looking lad, and gave up his horse handsomely for the service of the +House of Commons. He knows how to behave himself to his betters, I +warrant you; and I scarce think he has enough in his purse to pay the +fees." + +This speech concluded the dialogue, which Peveril, finding himself so +much concerned in the issue, thought it best to hear to an end. Now, +when it ceased, to get out of the town unobserved, and take the +nearest way to his father's castle, seemed his wisest plan. He had +settled his reckoning at the inn, and brought with him to Bridlesley's +the small portmanteau which contained his few necessaries, so that he +had no occasion to return thither. He resolved, therefore, to ride +some miles before he stopped, even for the purpose of feeding his +horse; and being pretty well acquainted with the country, he hoped to +be able to push forward to Martindale Castle sooner than the +worshipful Master Topham; whose saddle was, in the first place, to be +padded, and who, when mounted, would, in all probability, ride with +the precaution of those who require such security against the effects +of a hard trot. + +Under the influence of these feelings, Julian pushed for Warrington, a +place with which he was well acquainted; but, without halting in the +town, he crossed the Mersey, by the bridge built by an ancestor of his +friend the Earl of Derby, and continued his route towards Dishley, on +the borders of Derbyshire. He might have reached this latter village +easily, had his horse been fitter for a forced march; but in the +course of the journey, he had occasion, more than once, to curse the +official dignity of the person who had robbed him of his better steed, +while taking the best direction he could through a country with which +he was only generally acquainted. + +At length, near Altringham, a halt became unavoidable; and Peveril had +only to look for some quiet and sequestered place of refreshment. This +presented itself, in the form of a small cluster of cottages; the best +of which united the characters of an alehouse and a mill, where the +sign of the Cat (the landlord's faithful ally in defence of his meal- +sacks), booted as high as Grimalkin in the fairy tale, and playing on +the fiddle for the more grace, announced that John Whitecraft united +the two honest occupations of landlord and miller; and, doubtless, +took toll from the public in both capacities. + +Such a place promised a traveller, who journeyed incognito, safer, if +not better accommodation, than he was like to meet with in more +frequented inns; and at the door of the Cat and Fiddle, Julian halted +accordingly. + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + In these distracted times, when each man dreads + The bloody stratagems of busy hands. + --OTWAY. + +At the door of the Cat and Fiddle, Julian received the usual attention +paid to the customers of an inferior house of entertainment. His horse +was carried by a ragged lad, who acted as hostler, into a paltry +stable; where, however, the nag was tolerably supplied with food and +litter. + +Having seen the animal on which his comfort, perhaps his safety, +depended, properly provided for, Peveril entered the kitchen, which +indeed was also the parlour and hall of the little hostelry, to try +what refreshment he could obtain for himself. Much to his +satisfaction, he found there was only one guest in the house besides +himself; but he was less pleased when he found that he must either go +without dinner, or share with that single guest the only provisions +which chanced to be in the house, namely, a dish of trouts and eels, +which their host, the miller, had brought in from his mill-stream. + +At the particular request of Julian, the landlady undertook to add a +substantial dish of eggs and bacon, which perhaps she would not have +undertaken for, had not the sharp eye of Peveril discovered the flitch +hanging in its smoky retreat, when, as its presence could not be +denied, the hostess was compelled to bring it forward as a part of her +supplies. + +She was a buxom dame about thirty, whose comely and cheerful +countenance did honour to the choice of the jolly miller, her loving +mate; and was now stationed under the shade of an old-fashioned huge +projecting chimney, within which it was her province to "work i' the +fire," and provide for the wearied wayfaring man, the good things +which were to send him rejoicing on his course. Although, at first, +the honest woman seemed little disposed to give herself much +additional trouble on Julian's account, yet the good looks, handsome +figure, and easy civility of her new guest, soon bespoke the principal +part of her attention; and while busy in his service, she regarded +him, from time to time, with looks, where something like pity mingled +with complacency. The rich smoke of the rasher, and the eggs with +which it was flanked, already spread itself through the apartment; and +the hissing of these savoury viands bore chorus to the simmering of +the pan, in which the fish were undergoing a slower decoction. The +table was covered with a clean huck-aback napkin, and all was in +preparation for the meal, which Julian began to expect with a good +deal of impatience, when the companion, who was destined to share it +with him, entered the apartment. + +At the first glance Julian recognised, to his surprise, the same +indifferently dressed, thin-looking person, who, during the first +bargain which he had made with Bridlesley, had officiously interfered +with his advice and opinion. Displeased at having the company of any +stranger forced upon him, Peveril was still less satisfied to find one +who might make some claim of acquaintance with him, however slender, +since the circumstances in which he stood compelled him to be as +reserved as possible. He therefore turned his back upon his destined +messmate, and pretended to amuse himself by looking out of the window, +determined to avoid all intercourse until it should be inevitably +forced upon him. + +In the meanwhile, the other stranger went straight up to the landlady, +where she toiled on household cares intent, and demanded of her, what +she meant by preparing bacon and eggs, when he had positively charged +her to get nothing ready but the fish. + +The good woman, important as every cook in the discharge of her duty, +deigned not for some time so much as to acknowledge that she heard the +reproof of her guest; and when she did so, it was only to repel it in +a magisterial and authoritative tone.--"If he did not like bacon-- +(bacon from their own hutch, well fed on pease and bran)--if he did +not like bacon and eggs--(new-laid eggs, which she had brought in from +the hen-roost with her own hands)--why so put case--it was the worse +for his honour, and the better for those who did." + +"The better for those who like them?" answered the guest; "that is as +much as to say I am to have a companion, good woman." + +"Do not good woman me, sir," replied the miller's wife, "till I call +you good man; and, I promise you, many would scruple to do that to one +who does not love eggs and bacon of a Friday." + +"Nay, my good lady," said her guest, "do not fix any misconstruction +upon me--I dare say the eggs and the bacon are excellent; only they +are rather a dish too heavy for my stomach." + +"Ay, or your conscience perhaps, sir," answered the hostess. "And now, +I bethink me, you must needs have your fish fried with oil, instead of +the good drippings I was going to put to them. I would I could spell +the meaning of all this now; but I warrant John Bigstaff, the +constable, could conjure something out of it." + +There was a pause here; but Julian, somewhat alarmed at the tone which +the conversation assumed, became interested in watching the dumb show +which succeeded. By bringing his head a little towards the left, but +without turning round, or quitting the projecting latticed window +where he had taken his station, he could observe that the stranger, +secured, as he seemed to think himself, from observation, had sidled +close up to the landlady, and, as he conceived, had put a piece of +money into her hand. The altered tone of the miller's moiety +corresponded very much with this supposition. + +"Nay, indeed, and forsooth," she said, "her house was Liberty Hall; +and so should every publican's be. What was it to her what gentlefolks +ate or drank, providing they paid for it honestly? There were many +honest gentlemen, whose stomachs could not abide bacon, grease, or +dripping, especially on a Friday; and what was that to her, or any one +in her line, so gentlefolks paid honestly for the trouble? Only, she +would say, that her bacon and eggs could not be mended betwixt this +and Liverpool, and that she would live and die upon." + +"I shall hardly dispute it," said the stranger; and turning towards +Julian, he added, "I wish this gentleman, who I suppose is my +trencher-companion, much joy of the dainties which I cannot assist him +in consuming." + +"I assure you, sir," answered Peveril, who now felt himself compelled +to turn about, and reply with civility, "that it was with difficulty I +could prevail on my landlady to add my cover to yours, though she +seems now such a zealot for the consumption of eggs and bacon." + +"I am zealous for nothing," said the landlady, "save that men would +eat their victuals, and pay their score; and if there be enough in one +dish to serve two guests, I see little purpose in dressing them two; +however, they are ready now, and done to a nicety.--Here, Alice! +Alice!" + +The sound of that well-known name made Julian start; but the Alice who +replied to the call ill resembled the vision which his imagination +connected with the accents, being a dowdy slipshod wench, the drudge +of the low inn which afforded him shelter. She assisted her mistress +in putting on the table the dishes which the latter had prepared; and +a foaming jug of home-brewed ale being placed betwixt them, was +warranted by Dame Whitecraft as excellent; "for," said she, "we know +by practice that too much water drowns the miller, and we spare it on +our malt as we would in our mill-dam." + +"I drink to your health in it, dame," said the elder stranger; "and a +cup of thanks for these excellent fish; and to the drowning of all +unkindness between us." + +"I thank you, sir," said the dame, "and wish you the like; but I dare +not pledge you, for our Gaffer says that ale is brewed too strong for +women; so I only drink a glass of canary at a time with a gossip, or +any gentleman guest that is so minded." + +"You shall drink one with me, then, dame," said Peveril, "so you will +let me have a flagon." + +"That you shall, sir, and as good as ever was broached; but I must to +the mill, to get the key from the goodman." + +So saying, and tucking her clean gown through the pocket-holes, that +her steps might be the more alert, and her dress escape dust, off she +tripped to the mill, which lay close adjoining. + +"A dainty dame, and dangerous, is the miller's wife," said the +stranger, looking at Peveril. "Is not that old Chaucer's phrase?" + +"I--I believe so," said Peveril, not much read in Chaucer, who was +then even more neglected than at present; and much surprised at a +literary quotation from one of the mean appearance exhibited by the +person before him. + +"Yes," answered the stranger, "I see that you, like other young +gentlemen of the time, are better acquainted with Cowley and Waller, +than with the 'well of English undefiled.' I cannot help differing. +There are touches of nature about the old bard of Woodstock, that, to +me, are worth all the turns of laborious wit in Cowley, and all the +ornate and artificial simplicity of his courtly competitor. The +description, for instance, of his country coquette-- + + 'Wincing she was, as is a wanton colt, + Sweet as a flower, and upright as a bolt.' + +Then, again, for pathos, where will you mend the dying scene of +Arcite? + + 'Alas, my heart's queen! alas, my wife! + Giver at once, and ender of my life. + What is this world?--What axen men to have? + Now with his love--now in his cold grave + Alone, withouten other company.' + +But I tire you, sir; and do injustice to the poet, whom I remember but +by halves." + +"On the contrary, sir," replied Peveril, "you make him more +intelligible to me in your recitation, than I have found him when I +have tried to peruse him myself." + +"You were only frightened by the antiquated spelling, and 'the letters +black,'" said his companion. "It is many a scholar's case, who +mistakes a nut, which he could crack with a little exertion, for a +bullet, which he must needs break his teeth on; but yours are better +employed.--Shall I offer you some of this fish?" + +"Not so, sir," replied Julian, willing to show himself a man of +reading in his turn; "I hold with old Caius, and profess to fear +judgment, to fight where I cannot choose, and to eat no fish." + +The stranger cast a startled look around him at this observation, +which Julian had thrown out, on purpose to ascertain, if possible, the +quality of his companion, whose present language was so different from +the character he had assumed at Bridlesley's. His countenance, too, +although the features were of an ordinary, not to say mean cast, had +that character of intelligence which education gives to the most +homely face; and his manners were so easy and disembarrassed, as +plainly showed a complete acquaintance with society, as well as the +habit of mingling with it in the higher stages. The alarm which he had +evidently shown at Peveril's answer, was but momentary; for he almost +instantly replied, with a smile, "I promise you, sir, that you are in +no dangerous company; for notwithstanding my fish dinner, I am much +disposed to trifle with some of your savoury mess, if you will indulge +me so far." + +Peveril accordingly reinforced the stranger's trencher with what +remained of the bacon and eggs, and saw him swallow a mouthful or two +with apparent relish; but presently after began to dally with his +knife and fork, like one whose appetite was satiated; and then took a +long draught of the black jack, and handed his platter to the large +mastiff dog, who, attracted by the smell of the dinner, had sat down +before him for some time, licking his chops, and following with his +eye every morsel which the guest raised to his head. + +"Here, my poor fellow," said he, "thou hast had no fish, and needest +this supernumerary trencher-load more than I do. I cannot withstand +thy mute supplication any longer." + +The dog answered these courtesies by a civil shake of the tail, while +he gobbled up what was assigned him by the stranger's benevolence, in +the greater haste, that he heard his mistress's voice at the door. + +"Here is the canary, gentlemen," said the landlady; "and the goodman +has set off the mill, to come to wait on you himself. He always does +so, when company drink wine." + +"That he may come in for the host's, that is, for the lion's share," +said the stranger, looking at Peveril. + +"The shot is mine," said Julian; "and if mine host will share it, I +will willingly bestow another quart on him, and on you, sir. I never +break old customs." + +These sounds caught the ear of Gaffer Whitecraft, who had entered the +room, a strapping specimen of his robust trade, prepared to play the +civil, or the surly host, as his company should be acceptable or +otherwise. At Julian's invitation, he doffed his dusty bonnet--brushed +from his sleeve the looser particles of his professional dust--and +sitting down on the end of a bench, about a yard from the table, +filled a glass of canary, and drank to his guests, and "especially to +this noble gentleman," indicating Peveril, who had ordered the canary. + +Julian returned the courtesy by drinking his health, and asking what +news were about in the country? + +"Nought, sir, I hears on nought, except this Plot, as they call it, +that they are pursuing the Papishers about; but it brings water to my +mill, as the saying is. Between expresses hurrying hither and thither, +and guards and prisoners riding to and again, and the custom of the +neighbours, that come to speak over the news of an evening, nightly, I +may say, instead of once a week, why, the spigot is in use, gentlemen, +and your land thrives; and then I, serving as constable, and being a +known Protestant, I have tapped, I may venture to say, it may be ten +stands of ale extraordinary, besides a reasonable sale of wine for a +country corner. Heaven make us thankful, and keep all good Protestants +from Plot and Popery." + +"I can easily conceive, my friend," said Julian, "that curiosity is a +passion which runs naturally to the alehouse; and that anger, and +jealousy, and fear, are all of them thirsty passions, and great +consumers of home-brewed. But I am a perfect stranger in these parts; +and I would willingly learn, from a sensible man like you, a little of +this same Plot, of which men speak so much, and appear to know so +little." + +"Learn a little of it?--Why, it is the most horrible--the most +damnable, bloodthirsty beast of a Plot--But hold, hold, my good +master; I hope, in the first place, you believe there is a Plot; for, +otherwise, the Justice must have a word with you, as sure as my name +is John Whitecraft." + +"It shall not need," said Peveril; "for I assure you, mine host, I +believe in the Plot as freely and fully as a man can believe in +anything he cannot understand." + +"God forbid that anybody should pretend to understand it," said the +implicit constable; "for his worship the Justice says it is a mile +beyond him; and he be as deep as most of them. But men may believe, +though they do not understand; and that is what the Romanists say +themselves. But this I am sure of, it makes a rare stirring time for +justices, and witnesses, and constables.--So here's to your health +again, gentlemen, in a cup of neat canary." + +"Come, come, John Whitecraft," said the wife, "do not you demean +yourself by naming witnesses along with justices and constables. All +the world knows how they come by their money." + +"Ay, but all the world knows that they /do/ come by it, dame; and that +is a great comfort. They rustle in their canonical silks, and swagger +in their buff and scarlet, who but they?--Ay, ay, the cursed fox +thrives--and not so cursed neither. Is there not Doctor Titus Oates, +the saviour of the nation--does he not live at Whitehall, and eat off +plate, and have a pension of thousands a year, for what I know? and is +he not to be Bishop of Litchfield, so soon as Dr. Doddrum dies?" + +"Then I hope Dr. Doddrum's reverence will live these twenty years; and +I dare say I am the first that ever wished such a wish," said the +hostess. "I do not understand these doings, not I; and if a hundred +Jesuits came to hold a consult at my house, as they did at the White +Horse Tavern, I should think it quite out of the line of business to +bear witness against them, provided they drank well, and paid their +score." + +"Very true, dame," said her elder guest; "that is what I call keeping +a good publican conscience; and so I will pay my score presently, and +be jogging on my way." + +Peveril, on his part, also demanded a reckoning, and discharged it so +liberally, that the miller flourished his hat as he bowed, and the +hostess courtesied down to the ground. + +The horses of both guests were brought forth; and they mounted, in +order to depart in company. The host and hostess stood in the doorway, +to see them depart. The landlord proffered a stirrup-cup to the elder +guest, while the landlady offered Peveril a glass from her own +peculiar bottle. For this purpose, she mounted on the horse-block, +with flask and glass in hand; so that it was easy for the departing +guest, although on horse-back, to return the courtesy in the most +approved manner, namely, by throwing his arm over his landlady's +shoulder, and saluting her at parting. + +Dame Whitecraft did not decline this familiarity; for there is no room +for traversing upon a horse-block, and the hands which might have +served her for resistance, were occupied with glass and bottle-- +matters too precious to be thrown away in such a struggle. Apparently, +however, she had something else in her head; for as, after a brief +affectation of reluctance, she permitted Peveril's face to approach +hers, she whispered in his ear, "Beware of trepans!"--an awful +intimation, which, in those days of distrust, suspicion, and +treachery, was as effectual in interdicting free and social +intercourse, as the advertisement of "man-traps and spring-guns," to +protect an orchard. Pressing her hand, in intimation that he +comprehended her hint, she shook his warmly in return, and bade God +speed him. There was a cloud on John Whitecraft's brow; nor did his +final farewell sound half so cordial as that which had been spoken +within doors. But then Peveril reflected, that the same guest is not +always equally acceptable to landlord and landlady; and unconscious of +having done anything to excite the miller's displeasure, he pursued +his journey without thinking farther of the matter. + +Julian was a little surprised, and not altogether pleased, to find +that his new acquaintance held the same road with him. He had many +reasons for wishing to travel alone; and the hostess's caution still +rung in his ears. If this man, possessed of so much shrewdness as his +countenance and conversation intimated, versatile, as he had occasion +to remark, and disguised beneath his condition, should prove, as was +likely, to be a concealed Jesuit or seminary-priest, travelling upon +their great task of the conversion of England, and rooting out of the +Northern heresy,--a more dangerous companion, for a person in his own +circumstances, could hardly be imagined; since keeping society with +him might seem to authorise whatever reports had been spread +concerning the attachment of his family to the Catholic cause. At the +same time, it was very difficult, without actual rudeness, to shake +off the company of one who seemed so determined, whether spoken to or +not, to remain alongside of him. + +Peveril tried the experiment of riding slow; but his companion, +determined not to drop him, slackened his pace, so as to keep close by +him. Julian then spurred his horse to a full trot; and was soon +satisfied, that the stranger, notwithstanding the meanness of his +appearance, was so much better mounted than himself, as to render vain +any thought of outriding him. He pulled up his horse to a more +reasonable pace, therefore, in a sort of despair. Upon his doing so, +his companion, who had been hitherto silent, observed, that Peveril +was not so well qualified to try speed upon the road, as he would have +been had he abode by his first bargain of horse-flesh that morning. + +Peveril assented dryly, but observed, that the animal would serve his +immediate purpose, though he feared it would render him indifferent +company for a person better mounted. + +"By no means," answered his civil companion; "I am one of those who +have travelled so much, as to be accustomed to make my journey at any +rate of motion which may be most agreeable to my company." + +Peveril made no reply to this polite intimation, being too sincere to +tender the thanks which, in courtesy, were the proper answer.--A +second pause ensued, which was broken by Julian asking the stranger +whether their roads were likely to lie long together in the same +direction. + +"I cannot tell," said the stranger, smiling, "unless I knew which way +you were travelling." + +"I am uncertain how far I shall go to-night," said Julian, willingly +misunderstanding the purport of the reply. + +"And so am I," replied the stranger; "but though my horse goes better +than yours, I think it will be wise to spare him; and in case our road +continues to lie the same way, we are likely to sup, as we have dined +together." + +Julian made no answer whatever to this round intimation, but continued +to ride on, turning, in his own mind, whether it would not be wisest +to come to a distinct understanding with his pertinacious attendant, +and to explain, in so many words, that it was his pleasure to travel +alone. But, besides that the sort of acquaintance which they had +formed during dinner, rendered him unwilling to be directly uncivil +towards a person of gentleman-like manners, he had also to consider +that he might very possibly be mistaken in this man's character and +purpose; in which case, the cynically refusing the society of a sound +Protestant, would afford as pregnant matter of suspicion, as +travelling in company with a disguised Jesuit. + +After brief reflection, therefore, he resolved to endure the +encumbrance of the stranger's society, until a fair opportunity should +occur to rid himself of it; and, in the meantime, to act with as much +caution as he possibly could, in any communication that might take +place between them; for Dame Whitecraft's parting caution still rang +anxiously in his ears, and the consequences of his own arrest upon +suspicion, must deprive him of every opportunity of serving his +father, or the countess, or Major Bridgenorth, upon whose interest, +also, he had promised himself to keep an eye. + +While he revolved these things in his mind, they had journeyed several +miles without speaking; and now entered upon a more waste country, and +worse roads, than they had hitherto found, being, in fact, approaching +the more hilly district of Derbyshire. In travelling on a very stony +and uneven lane, Julian's horse repeatedly stumbled; and, had he not +been supported by the rider's judicious use of the bridle, must at +length certainly have fallen under him. + +"These are times which crave wary riding, sir," said his companion; +"and by your seat in the saddle, and your hand on the rein, you seem +to understand it to be so." + +"I have been long a horseman, sir," answered Peveril. + +"And long a traveller, too, sir, I should suppose; since by the great +caution you observe, you seem to think the human tongue requires a +curb, as well as the horse's jaws." + +"Wiser men than I have been of opinion," answered Peveril, "that it +were a part of prudence to be silent, when men have little or nothing +to say." + +"I cannot approve of their opinion," answered the stranger. "All +knowledge is gained by communication, either with the dead, through +books, or, more pleasingly, through the conversation of the living. +The /deaf and dumb/, alone, are excluded from improvement; and surely +their situation is not so enviable that we should imitate them." + +At this illustration, which awakened a startling echo in Peveril's +bosom, the young man looked hard at his companion; but in the composed +countenance, and calm blue eye, he read no consciousness of a farther +meaning than the words immediately and directly implied. He paused a +moment, and then answered, "You seem to be a person, sir, of shrewd +apprehension; and I should have thought it might have occurred to you, +that in the present suspicious times, men may, without censure, avoid +communication with strangers. You know not me; and to me you are +totally unknown. There is not room for much discourse between us, +without trespassing on the general topics of the day, which carry in +them seeds of quarrel between friends, much more betwixt strangers. At +any other time, the society of an intelligent companion would have +been most acceptable upon my solitary ride; but at present----" + +"At present!" said the other, interrupting him. "You are like the old +Romans, who held that /hostis/ meant both a stranger and an enemy. I +will therefore be no longer a stranger. My name is Ganlesse--by +profession I am a Roman Catholic priest--I am travelling here in dread +of my life--and I am very glad to have you for a companion." + +"I thank you for the information with all my heart," said Peveril; +"and to avail myself of it to the uttermost, I must beg you to ride +forward, or lag behind, or take a side-path, at your own pleasure; for +as I am no Catholic, and travel upon business of high concernment, I +am exposed both to risk and delay, and even to danger, by keeping such +suspicious company. And so, Master Ganlesse, keep your own pace, and I +will keep the contrary; for I beg leave to forbear your company." + +As Peveril spoke thus, he pulled up his horse, and made a full stop. + +The stranger burst out a-laughing. "What!" he said, "you forbear my +company for a trifle of danger? Saint Anthony! How the warm blood of +the Cavaliers is chilled in the young men of the present day! This +young gallant, now, has a father, I warrant, who has endured as many +adventures for hunting priests, as a knight-errant for distressed +damsels." + +"This raillery avails nothing, sir," said Peveril. "I must request you +will keep your own way." + +"My way is yours," said the pertinacious Master Ganlesse, as he called +himself; "and we will both travel the safer, that we journey in +company. I have the receipt of fern-seed, man, and walk invisible. +Besides, you would not have me quit you in this lane, where there is +no turn to right or left?" + +Peveril moved on, desirous to avoid open violence--for which the +indifferent tone of the traveller, indeed, afforded no apt pretext-- +yet highly disliking his company, and determined to take the first +opportunity to rid himself of it. + +The stranger proceeded at the same pace with him, keeping cautiously +on his bridle hand, as if to secure that advantage in case of a +struggle. But his language did not intimate the least apprehension. +"You do me wrong," he said to Peveril, "and you equally wrong +yourself. You are uncertain where to lodge to-night--trust to my +guidance. Here is an ancient hall, within four miles, with an old +knightly Pantaloon for its lord--an all-be-ruffed Dame Barbara for the +lady gay--a Jesuit, in a butler's habit, to say grace--an old tale of +Edgehill and Worster fights to relish a cold venison pasty, and a +flask of claret mantled with cobwebs--a bed for you in the priest's +hiding-hole--and, for aught I know, pretty Mistress Betty, the dairy- +maid, to make it ready." + +"This has no charms for me, sir," said Peveril, who, in spite of +himself, could not but be amused with the ready sketch which the +stranger gave of many an old mansion in Cheshire and Derbyshire, where +the owners retained the ancient faith of Rome. + +"Well, I see I cannot charm you in this way," continued his companion; +"I must strike another key. I am no longer Ganlesse, the seminary +priest, but (changing his tone, and snuffling in the nose) Simon +Canter, a poor preacher of the Word, who travels this way to call +sinners to repentance; and to strengthen, and to edify, and to +fructify among the scattered remnant who hold fast the truth.--What +say you to this, sir?" + +"I admire your versatility, sir, and could be entertained with it at +another time. At present sincerity is more in request." + +"Sincerity!" said the stranger;--"a child's whistle, with but two +notes in it--yea, yea, and nay, nay. Why, man, the very Quakers have +renounced it, and have got in its stead a gallant recorder, called +Hypocrisy, that is somewhat like Sincerity in form, but of much +greater compass, and combines the whole gamut. Come, be ruled--be a +disciple of Simon Canter for the evening, and we will leave the old +tumble-down castle of the knight aforesaid, on the left hand, for a +new brick-built mansion, erected by an eminent salt-boiler from +Namptwich, who expects the said Simon to make a strong spiritual +pickle for the preservation of a soul somewhat corrupted by the evil +communications of this wicked world. What say you? He has two +daughters--brighter eyes never beamed under a pinched hood; and for +myself, I think there is more fire in those who live only to love and +to devotion, than in your court beauties, whose hearts are running on +twenty follies besides. You know not the pleasure of being conscience- +keeper to a pretty precisian, who in one breath repeats her foibles, +and in the next confesses her passion. Perhaps, though, you may have +known such in your day? Come, sir, it grows too dark to see your +blushes; but I am sure they are burning on your cheek." + +"You take great freedom, sir," said Peveril, as they now approached +the end of the lane, where it opened on a broad common; "and you seem +rather to count more on my forbearance, than you have room to do with +safety. We are now nearly free of the lane which has made us +companions for this late half hour. To avoid your farther company, I +will take the turn to the left, upon that common; and if you follow +me, it shall be at your peril. Observe, I am well armed; and you will +fight at odds." + +"Not at odds," returned the provoking stranger, "while I have my brown +jennet, with which I can ride round and round you at pleasure; and +this text, of a handful in length (showing a pistol which he drew from +his bosom), which discharges very convincing doctrine on the pressure +of a forefinger, and is apt to equalise all odds, as you call them, of +youth and strength. Let there be no strife between us, however--the +moor lies before us--choose your path on it--I take the other." + +"I wish you good night, sir," said Peveril to the stranger. "I ask +your forgiveness, if I have misconstrued you in anything; but the +times are perilous, and a man's life may depend on the society in +which he travels." + +"True," said the stranger; "but in your case, the danger is already +undergone, and you should seek to counteract it. You have travelled in +my company long enough to devise a handsome branch of the Popish Plot. +How will you look, when you see come forth, in comely folio form, The +Narrative of Simon Canter, otherwise called Richard Ganlesse, +concerning the horrid Popish Conspiracy for the Murder of the King, +and Massacre of all Protestants, as given on oath to the Honourable +House of Commons; setting forth, how far Julian Peveril, younger of +Martindale Castle, is concerned in carrying on the same----" + +"How, sir? What mean you?" said Peveril, much startled. + +"Nay, sir," replied his companion, "do not interrupt my title-page. +Now that Oates and Bedloe have drawn the great prizes, the subordinate +discoverers get little but by the sale of their Narrative; and +Janeway, Newman, Simmons, and every bookseller of them, will tell you +that the title is half the narrative. Mine shall therefore set forth +the various schemes you have communicated to me, of landing ten +thousand soldiers from the Isle of Man upon the coast of Lancashire; +and marching into Wales, to join the ten thousand pilgrims who are to +be shipped from Spain; and so completing the destruction of the +Protestant religion, and of the devoted city of London. Truly, I think +such a Narrative, well spiced with a few horrors, and published /cum +privilegio parliamenti/, might, though the market be somewhat +overstocked, be still worth some twenty or thirty pieces." + +"You seem to know me, sir," said Peveril; "and if so, I think I may +fairly ask you your purpose in thus bearing me company, and the +meaning of all this rhapsody. If it be mere banter, I can endure it +within proper limit; although it is uncivil on the part of a stranger. +If you have any farther purpose, speak it out; I am not to be trifled +with." + +"Good, now," said the stranger, laughing, "into what an unprofitable +chafe you have put yourself! An Italian /fuoruscito/, when he desires +a parley with you, takes aim from behind a wall, with his long gun, +and prefaces his conference with /Posso tirare/. So does your man-of- +war fire a gun across the bows of a Hansmogan Indiaman, just to bring +her to; and so do I show Master Julian Peveril, that, if I were one of +the honourable society of witnesses and informers, with whom his +imagination has associated me for these two hours past, he is as much +within my danger now, as what he is ever likely to be." Then, suddenly +changing his tone to serious, which was in general ironical, he added, +"Young man, when the pestilence is diffused through the air of a city, +it is in vain men would avoid the disease, by seeking solitude, and +shunning the company of their fellow-sufferers." + +"In what, then, consists their safety?" said Peveril, willing to +ascertain, if possible, the drift of his companion's purpose. + +"In following the counsels of wise physicians;" such was the +stranger's answer. + +"And as such," said Peveril, "you offer me your advice?" + +"Pardon me, young man," said the stranger haughtily, "I see no reason +I should do so.--I am not," he added, in his former tone, "your fee'd +physician--I offer no advice--I only say it would be wise that you +sought it." + +"And from whom, or where, can I obtain it?" said Peveril. "I wander in +this country like one in a dream; so much a few months have changed +it. Men who formerly occupied themselves with their own affairs, are +now swallowed up in matters of state policy; and those tremble under +the apprehension of some strange and sudden convulsion of empire, who +were formerly only occupied by the fear of going to bed supperless. +And to sum up the matter, I meet a stranger apparently well acquainted +with my name and concerns, who first attaches himself to me, whether I +will or no; and then refuses me an explanation of his business, while +he menaces me with the strangest accusations." + +"Had I meant such infamy," said the stranger, "believe me, I had not +given you the thread of my intrigue. But be wise, and come one with +me. There is, hard by, a small inn, where, if you can take a +stranger's warrant for it, we shall sleep in perfect security." + +"Yet, you yourself," said Peveril, "but now were anxious to avoid +observation; and in that case, how can you protect me?" + +"Pshaw! I did but silence that tattling landlady, in the way in which +such people are most readily hushed; and for Topham, and his brace of +night owls, they must hawk at other and lesser game than I should +prove." + +Peveril could not help admiring the easy and confident indifference +with which the stranger seemed to assume a superiority to all the +circumstances of danger around him; and after hastily considering the +matter with himself, came to the resolution to keep company with him +for this night at least; and to learn, if possible, who he really was, +and to what party in the estate he was attached. The boldness and +freedom of his talk seemed almost inconsistent with his following the +perilous, though at that time the gainful trade of an informer. No +doubt, such persons assumed every appearance which could insinuate +them into the confidence of their destined victims; but Julian thought +he discovered in this man's manner, a wild and reckless frankness, +which he could not but connect with the idea of sincerity in the +present case. He therefore answered, after a moment's recollection, "I +embrace your proposal, sir; although, by doing so, I am reposing a +sudden, and perhaps an unwary, confidence." + +"And what am I, then, reposing in you?" said the stranger. "Is not our +confidence mutual?" + +"No; much the contrary. I know nothing of you whatever--you have named +me; and, knowing me to be Julian Peveril, know you may travel with me +in perfect security." + +"The devil I do!" answered his companion. "I travel in the same +security as with a lighted petard, which I may expect to explode every +moment. Are you not the son of Peveril of the Peak, with whose name +Prelacy and Popery are so closely allied, that no old woman of either +sex in Derbyshire concludes her prayer without a petition to be freed +from all three? And do you not come from the Popish Countess of Derby, +bringing, for aught I know, a whole army of Manxmen in your pocket, +with full complement of arms, ammunition, baggage, and a train of +field artillery?" + +"It is not very likely I should be so poorly mounted," said Julian, +laughing, "if I had such a weight to carry. But lead on, sir. I see I +must wait for your confidence, till you think proper to confer it; for +you are already so well acquainted with my affairs, that I have +nothing to offer you in exchange for it." + +"/Allons/, then," said his companion; "give your horse the spur, and +raise the curb rein, lest he measure the ground with his nose instead +of his paces. We are not now more than a furlong or two from the place +of entertainment." + +They mended their pace accordingly, and soon arrived at the small +solitary inn which the traveller had mentioned. When its light began +to twinkle before them, the stranger, as if recollecting something he +had forgotten, "By the way, you must have a name to pass by; for it +may be ill travelling under your own, as the fellow who keeps this +house is an old Cromwellian. What will you call yourself?--My name is +--for the present--Ganlesse." + +"There is no occasion to assume a name at all," answered Julian. "I do +not incline to use a borrowed one, especially as I may meet with some +one who knows my own." + +"I will call you Julian, then," said Master Ganlesse; "for Peveril +will smell, in the nostrils of mine host, of idolatry, conspiracy, +Smithfield faggots, fish on Fridays, the murder of Sir Edmondsbury +Godfrey, and the fire of purgatory." + +As he spoke thus, they alighted under the great broad-branched oak +tree, that served to canopy the ale-bench, which, at an earlier hour, +had groaned under the weight of a frequent conclave of rustic +politicians. Ganlesse, as he dismounted, whistled in a particularly +shrill note, and was answered from within the house. + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + He was a fellow in a peasant's garb; + Yet one could censure you a woodcock's carving. + Like any courtier at the ordinary. + --THE ORDINARY. + +The person who appeared at the door of the little inn to receive +Ganlesse, as we mentioned in our last chapter, sung, as he came +forward, this scrap of an old ballad,-- + + "Good even to you, Diccon; + And how have you sped; + Bring you the bonny bride + To banquet and bed?" + +To which Ganlesse answered, in the same tone and tune,-- + + "Content thee, kind Robin; + He need little care, + Who brings home a fat buck + Instead of a hare." + +"You have missed your blow, then?" said the other, in reply. + +"I tell you I have not," answered Ganlesse; "but you will think of +nought but your own thriving occupation--May the plague that belongs +to it stick to it! though it hath been the making of thee." + +"A man must live, Diccon Ganlesse," said the other. + +"Well, well," said Ganlesse, "bid my friend welcome, for my sake. Hast +thou got any supper?" + +"Reeking like a sacrifice--Chaubert has done his best. That fellow is +a treasure! give him a farthing candle, and he will cook a good supper +out of it.--Come in, sir. My friend's friend is welcome, as we say +in my country." + +"We must have our horses looked to first," said Peveril, who began to +be considerably uncertain about the character of his companions--"that +done, I am for you." + +Ganlesse gave a second whistle; a groom appeared, who took charge of +both their horses, and they themselves entered the inn. + +The ordinary room of a poor inn seemed to have undergone some +alterations, to render it fit for company of a higher description. +There were a beaufet, a couch, and one or two other pieces of +furniture, of a style inconsistent with the appearance of the place. +The tablecloth, which was already laid, was of the finest damask; and +the spoons, forks, &c., were of silver. Peveril looked at this +apparatus with some surprise; and again turning his eyes attentively +upon his travelling companion, Ganlesse, he could not help discovering +(by the aid of imagination, perhaps), that though insignificant in +person, plain in features, and dressed like one in indigence, there +lurked still about his person and manners, that indefinable ease of +manner which belongs only to men of birth and quality, or to those who +are in the constant habit of frequenting the best company. His +companion, whom he called Will Smith, although tall and rather good- +looking, besides being much better dressed, had not, nevertheless, +exactly the same ease of demeanour; and was obliged to make up for the +want, by an additional proportion of assurance. Who these two persons +could be, Peveril could not attempt even to form a guess. There was +nothing for it but to watch their manner and conversation. + +After speaking a moment in whispers, Smith said to his companion, "We +must go look after our nags for ten minutes, and allow Chaubert to do +his office." + +"Will not he appear, and minister before us, then?" said Ganlesse. + +"What! he?--he shift a trencher--he hand a cup?--No, you forget whom +you speak of. Such an order were enough to make him fall on his own +sword--he is already on the borders of despair, because no craw-fish +are to be had." + +"Alack-a day!" replied Ganlesse. "Heaven forbid I should add to such a +calamity! To stable, then, and see we how our steeds eat their +provender, while ours is getting ready." + +They adjourned to the stable accordingly, which, though a poor one, +had been hastily supplied with whatever was necessary for the +accommodation of four excellent horses; one of which, that from which +Ganlesse was just dismounted, the groom we have mentioned was cleaning +and dressing by the light of a huge wax-candle. + +"I am still so far Catholic," said Ganlesse, laughing, as he saw that +Peveril noticed this piece of extravagance. "My horse is my saint, and +I dedicate a candle to him." + +"Without asking so great a favour for mine, which I see standing +behind yonder old hen-coop," replied Peveril, "I will at least relieve +him of his saddle and bridle." + +"Leave him to the lad of the inn," said Smith; "he is not worthy of +any other person's handling; and I promise you, if you slip a single +buckle, you will so flavour of that stable duty, that you might as +well eat roast-beef as ragouts, for any relish you will have of them." + +"I love roast-beef as well as ragouts, at any time," said Peveril, +adjusting himself to a task which every young man should know how to +perform when need is; "and my horse, though it be but a sorry jade, +will champ better on hay and corn, than on an iron bit." + +While he was unsaddling his horse, and shaking down some litter for +the poor wearied animal, he heard Smith observe to Ganlesse,--"By my +faith, Dick, thou hast fallen into poor Slender's blunder; missed Anne +Page, and brought us a great lubberly post-master's boy." + +"Hush, he will hear thee," answered Ganlesse; "there are reasons for +all things--it is well as it is. But, prithee, tell thy fellow to help +the youngster." + +"What!" replied Smith, "d'ye think I am mad?--Ask Tom Beacon--Tom of +Newmarket--Tom of ten thousand, to touch such a four-legged brute as +that?--Why, he would turn me away on the spot--discard me, i'faith. It +was all he would do to take in hand your own, my good friend; and if +you consider him not the better, you are like to stand groom to him +yourself to-morrow." + +"Well, Will," answered Ganlesse, "I will say that for thee, thou hast +a set of the most useless, scoundrelly, insolent vermin about thee, +that ever ate up a poor gentleman's revenues." + +"Useless? I deny it," replied Smith. "Every one of my fellows does +something or other so exquisitely, that it were sin to make him do +anything else--it is your jacks-of-all-trades who are masters of none. +--But hark to Chaubert's signal. The coxcomb is twangling it on the +lute, to the tune of /Eveillez-vous, belle endormie/.--Come, Master +What d'ye call (addressing Peveril),--get ye some water, and wash this +filthy witness from your hand, as Betterton says in the play; for +Chaubert's cookery is like Friar Bacon's Head--time is--time was--time +will soon be no more." + +So saying, and scarce allowing Julian time to dip his hands in a +bucket, and dry them on a horse-cloth, he hurried him from the stable +back to the supper-chamber. + +Here all was prepared for their meal, with an epicurean delicacy, +which rather belonged to the saloon of a palace, than the cabin in +which it was displayed. Four dishes of silver, with covers of the same +metal, smoked on the table; and three seats were placed for the +company. Beside the lower end of the board, was a small side-table, to +answer the purpose of what is now called a dumb waiter; on which +several flasks reared their tall, stately, and swan-like crests, above +glasses and rummers. Clean covers were also placed within reach; and a +small travelling-case of morocco, hooped with silver, displayed a +number of bottles, containing the most approved sauces that culinary +ingenuity had then invented. + +Smith, who occupied the lower seat, and seemed to act as president of +the feast, motioned the two travellers to take their places and begin. +"I would not stay a grace-time," he said, "to save a whole nation from +perdition. We could bring no chauffettes with any convenience; and +even Chaubert is nothing, unless his dishes are tasted in the very +moment of projection. Come, uncover, and let us see what he has done +for us.--Hum!--ha!--ay--squab-pigeons--wildfowl--young chickens-- +venison cutlets--and a space in the centre, wet, alas! by a gentle +tear from Chaubert's eye, where should have been the /soupe aux +écrevisses/. The zeal of that poor fellow is ill repaid by his paltry +ten louis per month." + +"A mere trifle," said Ganlesse; "but, like yourself, Will, he serves a +generous master." + +The repast now commenced; and Julian, though he had seen his young +friend the Earl of Derby, and other gallants, affect a considerable +degree of interest and skill in the science of the kitchen, and was +not himself either an enemy or a stranger to the pleasures of a good +table, found that, on the present occasion, he was a mere novice. Both +his companions, but Smith in especial, seemed to consider that they +were now engaged in the only true business of life; and weighed all +its minutiæ with a proportional degree of accuracy. To carve the +morsel in the most delicate manner--and to apportion the proper +seasoning with the accuracy of the chemist,--to be aware, exactly, of +the order in which one dish should succeed another, and to do +plentiful justice to all--was a minuteness of science to which Julian +had hitherto been a stranger. Smith accordingly treated him as a mere +novice in epicurism, cautioning him to eat his soup before the +bouilli, and to forget the Manx custom of bolting the boiled meat +before the broth, as if Cutlar MacCulloch and all his whingers were at +the door. Peveril took the hint in good part, and the entertainment +proceeded with animation. + +At length Ganlesse paused, and declared the supper exquisite. "But, my +friend Smith," he added, "are your wines curious? When you brought all +that trash of plates and trumpery into Derbyshire, I hope you did not +leave us at the mercy of the strong ale of the shire, as thick and +muddy as the squires who drink it?" + +"Did I not know that /you/ were to meet me, Dick Ganlesse?" answered +their host. "And can you suspect me of such an omission? It is true, +you must make champagne and claret serve, for my burgundy would not +bear travelling. But if you have a fancy for sherry, or Vin de Cahors, +I have a notion Chaubert and Tom Beacon have brought some for their +own drinking." + +"Perhaps the gentlemen would not care to impart," said Ganlesse. + +"Oh, fie!--anything in the way of civility," replied Smith. "They are, +in truth, the best-natured lads alive, when treated respectfully; so +that if you would prefer----" + +"By no means," said Ganlesse--"a glass of champagne will serve in a +scarcity of better." + + "The cork shall start obsequious to my thumb," + +said Smith; and as he spoke, he untwisted the wire, and the cork +struck the roof of the cabin. Each guest took a large rummer glass of +the sparkling beverage, which Peveril had judgment and experience +enough to pronounce exquisite. + +"Give me your hand, sir," said Smith; "it is the first word of sense +you have spoken this evening." + +"Wisdom, sir," replied Peveril, "is like the best ware in the pedlar's +pack, which he never produces till he knows his customer." + +"Sharp as mustard," returned the /bon vivant/; "but be wise, most +noble pedlar, and take another rummer of this same flask, which you +see I have held in an oblique position for your service--not +permitting it to retrograde to the perpendicular. Nay, take it off +before the bubble bursts on the rim, and the zest is gone." + +"You do me honour, sir," said Peveril, taking the second glass. "I +wish you a better office than that of my cup-bearer." + +"You cannot wish Will Smith one more congenial to his nature," said +Ganlesse. "Others have a selfish delight in the objects of sense, Will +thrives, and is happy by imparting them to his friends." + +"Better help men to pleasures than to pains, Master Ganlesse," +answered Smith, somewhat angrily. + +"Nay, wrath thee not, Will," said Ganlesse; "and speak no words in +haste, lest you may have cause to repent at leisure. Do I blame thy +social concern for the pleasures of others? Why, man, thou dost +therein most philosophically multiply thine own. A man has but one +throat, and can but eat, with his best efforts, some five or six times +a day; but thou dinest with every friend that cuts a capon, and art +quaffing wine in other men's gullets, from morning to night--/et sic +de cæteris/." + +"Friend Ganlesse," returned Smith, "I prithee beware--thou knowest I +can cut gullets as well as tickle them." + +"Ay, Will," answered Ganlesse carelessly; "I think I have seen thee +wave thy whinyard at the throat of a Hogan-Mogan--a Netherlandish +weasand, which expanded only on thy natural and mortal objects of +aversion,--Dutch cheese, rye-bread, pickled herring, onion, and +Geneva." + +"For pity's sake, forbear the description!" said Smith; "thy words +overpower the perfumes, and flavour the apartment like a dish of +salmagundi!" + +"But for an epiglottis like mine," continued Ganlesse, "down which the +most delicate morsels are washed by such claret as thou art now +pouring out, thou couldst not, in thy bitterest mood, wish a worse +fate than to be necklaced somewhat tight by a pair of white arms." + +"By a tenpenny cord," answered Smith; "but not till you were dead; +that thereafter you be presently embowelled, you being yet alive; that +your head be then severed from your body, and your body divided into +quarters, to be disposed of at his Majesty's pleasure.--How like you +that, Master Richard Ganlesse?" + +"E'en as you like the thoughts of dining on bran-bread and milk- +porridge--an extremity which you trust never to be reduced to. But all +this shall not prevent me from pledging you in a cup of sound claret." + +As the claret circulated, the glee of the company increased; and Smith +placing the dishes which had been made use of upon the side-table, +stamped with his foot on the floor, and the table sinking down a trap, +again rose, loaded with olives, sliced neat's tongue, caviare, and +other provocatives for the circulation of the bottle. + +"Why, Will," said Ganlesse, "thou art a more complete mechanist than I +suspected; thou hast brought thy scene-shifting inventions to +Derbyshire in marvellously short time." + +"A rope and pullies can be easily come by," answered Will; "and with a +saw and a plane, I can manage that business in half a day. I love the +knack of clean and secret conveyance--thou knowest it was the +foundation of my fortunes." + +"It may be the wreck of them too, Will," replied his friend. + +"True, Diccon," answered Will; "but, /dum vivimus, vivamus/,--that is +my motto; and therewith I present you a brimmer to the health of the +fair lady you wot of." + +"Let it come, Will," replied his friend; and the flask circulated +briskly from hand to hand. + +Julian did not think it prudent to seem a check on their festivity, as +he hoped in its progress something might occur to enable him to judge +of the character and purposes of his companions. But he watched them +in vain. Their conversation was animated and lively, and often bore +reference to the literature of the period, in which the elder seemed +particularly well skilled. They also talked freely of the Court, and +of that numerous class of gallants who were then described as "men of +wit and pleasure about town;" and to which it seemed probable they +themselves appertained. + +At length the universal topic of the Popish Plot was started; upon +which Ganlesse and Smith seemed to entertain the most opposite +opinions. Ganlesse, if he did not maintain the authority of Oates in +its utmost extent, contended, that at least it was confirmed in a +great measure by the murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey, and the +letters written by Coleman to the confessor of the French King. + +With much more noise, and less power of reasoning, Will Smith +hesitated not to ridicule and run down the whole discovery, as one of +the wildest and most causeless alarms which had ever been sounded in +the ears of a credulous public. "I shall never forget," he said, "Sir +Godfrey's most original funeral. Two bouncing parsons, well armed with +sword and pistol, mounted the pulpit, to secure the third fellow who +preached from being murdered in the face of the congregation. Three +parsons in one pulpit--three suns in one hemisphere--no wonder men +stood aghast at such a prodigy." + +"What then, Will," answered his companion, "you are one of those who +think the good knight murdered himself, in order to give credit to the +Plot?" + +"By my faith, not I," said the other; "but some true blue Protestant +might do the job for him, in order to give the thing a better colour. +--I will be judged by our silent friend, whether that be not the most +feasible solution of the whole." + +"I pray you, pardon me, gentlemen," said Julian; "I am but just landed +in England, and am a stranger to the particular circumstances which +have thrown the nation into such a ferment. It would be the highest +degree of assurance in me to give my opinion betwixt gentlemen who +argue the matter so ably; besides, to say truth, I confess weariness-- +your wine is more potent than I expected, or I have drunk more of it +than I meant to do." + +"Nay, if an hour's nap will refresh you," said the elder of the +strangers, "make no ceremony with us. Your bed--all we can offer as +such--is that old-fashioned Dutch-built sofa, as the last new phrase +calls it. We shall be early stirrers tomorrow morning." + +"And that we may be so," said Smith, "I propose that we do sit up all +this night--I hate lying rough, and detest a pallet-bed. So have at +another flask, and the newest lampoon to help it out-- + + 'Now a plague of their votes + Upon Papists and Plots, + And be d--d Doctor Oates. + Tol de rol.'" + +"Nay, but our Puritanic host," said Ganlesse. + +"I have him in my pocket, man--his eyes, ears, nose, and tongue," +answered his boon companion, "are all in my possession." + +"In that case, when you give him back his eyes and nose, I pray you +keep his ears and tongue," answered Ganlesse. "Seeing and smelling are +organs sufficient for such a knave--to hear and tell are things he +should have no manner of pretensions to." + +"I grant you it were well done," answered Smith; "but it were a +robbing of the hangman and the pillory; and I am an honest fellow, who +would give Dun[*] and the devil his due. So, + + 'All joy to great Cæsar, + Long life, love, and pleasure; + May the King live for ever, + 'Tis no matter for us, boys.'" + +[*] Dun was the hangman of the day at Tyburn. He was successor of + Gregory Brunden, who was by many believed to be the same who + dropped the axe upon Charles I., though others were suspected of + being the actual regicide. + +While this Bacchanalian scene proceeded, Julian had wrapt himself +closely in his cloak, and stretched himself on the couch which they +had shown him. He looked towards the table he had left--the tapers +seemed to become hazy and dim as he gazed--he heard the sound of +voices, but they ceased to convey any impression to his understanding; +and in a few minutes, he was faster asleep than he had ever been in +the whole course of his life. + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + The Gordon then his bugle blew, + And said, awa, awa; + The House of Rhodes is all on flame, + I hauld it time to ga'. + --OLD BALLAD. + +When Julian awaked the next morning, all was still and vacant in the +apartment. The rising sun, which shone through the half-closed +shutters, showed some relics of the last night's banquet, which his +confused and throbbing head assured him had been carried into a +debauch. + +Without being much of a boon companion, Julian, like other young men +of the time, was not in the habit of shunning wine, which was then +used in considerable quantities; and he could not help being +surprised, that the few cups he had drunk over night had produced on +his frame the effects of excess. He rose up, adjusted his dress, and +sought in the apartment for water to perform his morning ablutions, +but without success. Wine there was on the table; and beside it one +stool stood, and another lay, as if thrown down in the heedless riot +of the evening. "Surely," he thought to himself, "the wine must have +been very powerful, which rendered me insensible to the noise my +companions must have made ere they finished their carouse." + +With momentary suspicion he examined his weapons, and the packet which +he had received from the Countess, and kept in a secret pocket of his +upper coat, bound close about his person. All was safe; and the very +operation reminded him of the duties which lay before him. He left the +apartment where they had supped, and went into another, wretched +enough, where, in a truckle-bed, were stretched two bodies, covered +with a rug, the heads belonging to which were amicably deposited upon +the same truss of hay. The one was the black shock-head of the groom; +the other, graced with a long thrum nightcap, showed a grizzled pate, +and a grave caricatured countenance, which the hook-nose and lantern- +jaws proclaimed to belong to the Gallic minister of good cheer, whose +praises he had heard sung forth on the preceding evening. These +worthies seemed to have slumbered in the arms of Bacchus as well as +of Morpheus, for there were broken flasks on the floor; and their deep +snoring alone showed that they were alive. + +Bent upon resuming his journey, as duty and expedience alike dictated, +Julian next descended the trap-stair, and essayed a door at the bottom +of the steps. It was fastened within. He called--no answer was +returned. It must be, he thought, the apartment of the revellers, now +probably sleeping as soundly as their dependants still slumbered, and +as he himself had done a few minutes before. Should he awake them?--To +what purpose? They were men with whom accident had involved him +against his own will; and situated as he was, he thought it wise to +take the earliest opportunity of breaking off from society which was +suspicious, and might be perilous. Ruminating thus, he essayed another +door, which admitted him to a bedroom, where lay another harmonious +slumberer. The mean utensils, pewter measures, empty cans and casks, +with which this room was lumbered, proclaimed it that of the host, who +slept surrounded by his professional implements of hospitality and +stock-in-trade. + +This discovery relieved Peveril from some delicate embarrassment which +he had formerly entertained. He put upon the table a piece of money, +sufficient, as he judged, to pay his share of the preceding night's +reckoning; not caring to be indebted for his entertainment to the +strangers, whom he was leaving without the formality of an adieu. + +His conscience cleared of this gentleman-like scruple, Peveril +proceeded with a light heart, though somewhat a dizzy head, to the +stable, which he easily recognised among a few other paltry outhouses. +His horse, refreshed with rest, and perhaps not unmindful of his +services the evening before, neighed as his master entered the stable; +and Peveril accepted the sound as an omen of a prosperous journey. He +paid the augury with a sieveful of corn; and, while his palfrey +profited by his attention, walked into the fresh air to cool his +heated blood, and consider what course he should pursue in order to +reach the Castle of Martindale before sunset. His acquaintance with +the country in general gave him confidence that he could not have +greatly deviated from the nearest road; and with his horse in good +condition, he conceived he might easily reach Martindale before +nightfall. + +Having adjusted his route in his mind, he returned into the stable to +prepare his steed for the journey, and soon led him into the ruinous +courtyard of the inn, bridled, saddled, and ready to be mounted. But +as Peveril's hand was upon the mane, and his left foot in the stirrup, +a hand touched his cloak, and the voice of Ganlesse said, "What, +Master Peveril, is this your foreign breeding? or have you learned in +France to take French leave of your friends?" + +Julian started like a guilty thing, although a moment's reflection +assured him that he was neither wrong nor in danger. "I cared not to +disturb you," he said, "although I did come as far as the door of your +chamber. I supposed your friend and you might require, after our last +night's revel, rather sleep than ceremony. I left my own bed, though a +rough one, with more reluctance than usual; and as my occasions oblige +me to be an early traveller, I thought it best to depart without +leave-taking. I have left a token for mine host on the table of his +apartment." + +"It was unnecessary," said Ganlesse; "the rascal is already overpaid. +--But are you not rather premature in your purpose of departing? My +mind tells me that Master Julian Peveril had better proceed with me to +London, than turn aside for any purpose whatever. You may see already +that I am no ordinary person, but a master-spirit of the time. For the +cuckoo I travel with, and whom I indulge in his prodigal follies, he +also has his uses. But you are a different cast; and I not only would +serve you, but even wish you, to be my own." + +Julian gazed on this singular person when he spoke. We have already +said his figure was mean and slight, with very ordinary and unmarked +features, unless we were to distinguish the lightnings of a keen grey +eye, which corresponded in its careless and prideful glance, with the +haughty superiority which the stranger assumed in his conversation. It +was not till after a momentary pause that Julian replied, "Can you +wonder, sir, that in my circumstances--if they are indeed known to you +so well as they seem--I should decline unnecessary confidence on the +affairs of moment which have called me hither, or refuse the company +of a stranger, who assigns no reason for desiring mine?" + +"Be it as you list, young man," answered Ganlesse; "only remember +hereafter, you had a fair offer--it is not every one to whom I would +have made it. If we should meet hereafter, on other, and on worse +terms, impute it to yourself and not to me." + +"I understand not your threat," answered Peveril, "If a threat be +indeed implied. I have done no evil--I feel no apprehension--and I +cannot, in common sense, conceive why I should suffer for refusing my +confidence to a stranger, who seems to require that I should submit me +blindfold to his guidance." + +"Farewell, then, Sir Julian of the Peak,--that may soon be," said the +stranger, removing the hand which he had as yet left carelessly on the +horse's bridle. + +"How mean you by that phrase?" said Julian; "and why apply such a +title to me?" + +The stranger smiled, and only answered, "Here our conference ends. The +way is before you. You will find it longer and rougher than that by +which I would have guided you." + +So saying, Ganlesse turned his back and walked toward the house. On +the threshold he turned about once more, and seeing that Peveril had +not yet moved from the spot, he again smiled and beckoned to him; but +Julian, recalled by that sign to recollection, spurred his horse and +set forward on his journey. + +It was not long ere his local acquaintance with the country enabled +him to regain the road to Martindale, from which he had diverged on +the preceding evening for about two miles. But the roads, or rather +the paths, of this wild country, so much satirised by their native +poet, Cotton, were so complicated in some places, so difficult to be +traced in others, and so unfit for hasty travelling in almost all, +that in spite of Julian's utmost exertions, and though he made no +longer delay upon the journey than was necessary to bait his horse at +a small hamlet through which he passed at noon, it was nightfall ere +he reached an eminence, from which, an hour sooner, the battlements of +Martindale Castle would have been visible; and where, when they were +hid in night, their situation was indicated by a light constantly +maintained in a lofty tower, called the Warder's Turret; and which +domestic beacon had acquired, through all the neighbourhood, the name +of Peveril's Polestar. + +This was regularly kindled at curfew toll, and supplied with as much +wood and charcoal as maintained the light till sunrise; and at no +period was the ceremonial omitted, saving during the space intervening +between the death of a Lord of the Castle and his interment. When this +last event had taken place, the nightly beacon was rekindled with some +ceremony, and continued till fate called the successor to sleep with +his fathers. It is not known from which circumstance the practice of +maintaining this light originally sprung. Tradition spoke of it +doubtfully. Some thought it was the signal of general hospitality, +which, in ancient times, guided the wandering knight, or the weary +pilgrim, to rest and refreshment. Others spoke of it as a "love- +lighted watchfire," by which the provident anxiety of a former lady of +Martindale guided her husband homeward through the terrors of a +midnight storm. The less favourable construction of unfriendly +neighbours of the dissenting persuasion, ascribed the origin and +continuance of this practice to the assuming pride of the family of +Peveril, who thereby chose to intimate their ancient /suzerainté/ over +the whole country, in the manner of the admiral who carries the +lantern in the poop, for the guidance of the fleet. And in the former +times, our old friend, Master Solsgrace, dealt from the pulpit many a +hard hit against Sir Geoffrey, as he that had raised his horn, and set +up his candlestick on high. Certain it is, that all the Peverils, from +father to son, had been especially attentive to the maintenance of +this custom, as something intimately connected with the dignity of +their family; and in the hands of Sir Geoffrey, the observance was not +likely to be omitted. + +Accordingly, the polar-star of Peveril had continued to beam more or +less brightly during all the vicissitudes of the Civil War; and +glimmered, however faintly, during the subsequent period of Sir +Geoffrey's depression. But he was often heard to say, and sometimes to +swear, that while there was a perch of woodland left to the estate, +the old beacon-grate should not lack replenishing. All this his son +Julian well knew; and therefore it was with no ordinary feelings of +surprise and anxiety, that, looking in the direction of the Castle, he +perceived that the light was not visible. He halted--rubbed his eyes-- +shifted his position--and endeavoured, in vain, to persuade himself +that he had mistaken the point from which the polar-star of his house +was visible, or that some newly intervening obstacle, the growth of a +plantation, perhaps, or the erection of some building, intercepted the +light of the beacon. But a moment's reflection assured him, that from +the high and free situation which Martindale Castle bore in reference +to the surrounding country, this could not have taken place; and the +inference necessarily forced itself upon his mind, that Sir Geoffrey, +his father, was either deceased, or that the family must have been +disturbed by some strange calamity, under the pressure of which, their +wonted custom and solemn usage had been neglected. + +Under the influence of undefinable apprehension, young Peveril now +struck the spurs into his jaded steed, and forcing him down the broken +and steep path, at a pace which set safety at defiance, he arrived at +the village of Martindale-Moultrassie, eagerly desirous to ascertain +the cause of this ominous eclipse. The street, through which his tired +horse paced slow and reluctantly, was now deserted and empty; and +scarcely a candle twinkled from a casement, except from the latticed +window of the little inn, called the Peveril Arms, from which a broad +light shone, and several voices were heard in rude festivity. + +Before the door of this inn, the jaded palfrey, guided by the instinct +or experience which makes a hackney well acquainted with the outside +of a house of entertainment, made so sudden and determined a pause, +that, notwithstanding his haste, the rider thought it best to +dismount, expecting to be readily supplied with a fresh horse by Roger +Raine, the landlord, the ancient dependant of his family. He also +wished to relive his anxiety, by inquiring concerning the state of +things at the Castle, when he was surprised to hear, bursting from the +taproom of the loyal old host, a well-known song of the Commonwealth +time, which some puritanical wag had written in reprehension of the +Cavaliers, and their dissolute courses, and in which his father came +in for a lash of the satirist. + + "Ye thought in the world there was no power to tame ye, + So you tippled and drabb'd till the saints overcame ye; + 'Forsooth,' and 'Ne'er stir,' sir, have vanquish'd 'G-- d--n me,' + Which nobody can deny. + + There was bluff old Sir Geoffrey loved brandy and mum well, + And to see a beer-glass turned over the thumb well; + But he fled like the wind, before Fairfax and Cromwell, + Which nobody can deny." + +Some strange revolution, Julian was aware, must have taken place, both +in the village and in the Castle, ere these sounds of unseemly insult +could have been poured forth in the very inn which was decorated with +the armorial bearings of his family; and not knowing how far it might +be advisable to intrude on these unfriendly revellers, without the +power of repelling or chastising their insolence, he led his horse to +a back-door, which as he recollected, communicated with the landlord's +apartment, having determined to make private inquiry of him concerning +the state of matters at the Castle. He knocked repeatedly, and as +often called on Roger Raine with an earnest but stifled voice. At +length a female voice replied by the usual inquiry, "Who is there?" + +"It is I, Dame Raine--I, Julian Peveril--tell your husband to come to +me presently." + +"Alack, and a well-a-day, Master Julian, if it be really you--you are +to know my poor goodman has gone where he can come to no one; but, +doubtless, we shall all go to him, as Matthew Chamberlain says." + +"He is dead, then?" said Julian. "I am extremely sorry----" + +"Dead six months and more, Master Julian; and let me tell you, it is a +long time for a lone woman, as Matt Chamberlain says." + +"Well, do you or your chamberlain undo the door. I want a fresh horse; +and I want to know how things are at the Castle." + +"The Castle--lack-a-day!--Chamberlain--Matthew Chamberlain--I say, +Matt!" + +Matt Chamberlain apparently was at no great distance, for he presently +answered her call; and Peveril, as he stood close to the door, could +hear them whispering to each other, and distinguish in a great measure +what they said. And here it may be noticed, that Dame Raine, +accustomed to submit to the authority of old Roger, who vindicated as +well the husband's domestic prerogative, as that of the monarch in the +state, had, when left a buxom widow, been so far incommoded by the +exercise of her newly acquired independence, that she had recourse, +upon all occasions, to the advice of Matt Chamberlain; and as Matt +began no longer to go slipshod, and in a red nightcap, but wore +Spanish shoes, and a high-crowned beaver (at least of a Sunday), and +moreover was called Master Matthew by his fellow-servants, the +neighbours in the village argued a speedy change of the name of the +sign-post; nay, perhaps, of the very sign itself, for Matthew was a +bit of a Puritan, and no friend to Peveril of the Peak. + +"Now counsel me, an you be a man, Matt Chamberlain," said Widow Raine; +"for never stir, if here be not Master Julian's own self, and he wants +a horse, and what not, and all as if things were as they wont to be." + +"Why, dame, an ye will walk by my counsel," said the Chamberlain, +"e'en shake him off--let him be jogging while his boots are green. +This is no world for folks to scald their fingers in other folks' +broth." + +"And that is well spoken, truly," answered Dame Raine; "but then look +you, Matt, we have eaten their bread, and, as my poor goodman used to +say----" + +"Nay, nay, dame, they that walk by the counsel of the dead, shall have +none of the living; and so you may do as you list; but if you will +walk by mine, drop latch, and draw bolt, and bid him seek quarters +farther--that is my counsel." + +"I desire nothing of you, sirrah," said Peveril, "save but to know how +Sir Geoffrey and his lady do?" + +"Lack-a-day!--lack-a-day!" in a tone of sympathy, was the only answer +he received from the landlady; and the conversation betwixt her and +her chamberlain was resumed, but in a tone too low to be overheard. + +At length Matt Chamberlain spoke aloud, and with a tone of authority: +"We undo no doors at this time of night, for it is against the +Justices' orders, and might cost us our licence; and for the Castle, +the road up to it lies before you, and I think you know it as well as +we do." + +"And I know you," said Peveril, remounting his wearied horse, "for an +ungrateful churl, whom, on the first opportunity, I will assuredly +cudgel to a mummy." + +To this menace Matthew made no reply, and Peveril presently heard him +leave the apartment, after a few earnest words betwixt him and his +mistress. + +Impatient at this delay, and at the evil omen implied in these +people's conversation and deportment, Peveril, after some vain +spurring of his horse, which positively refused to move a step +farther, dismounted once more, and was about to pursue his journey on +foot, notwithstanding the extreme disadvantage under which the high +riding-boots of the period laid those who attempted to walk with such +encumbrances, when he was stopped by a gentle call from the window. + +Her counsellor was no sooner gone, than the good-nature and habitual +veneration of the dame for the house of Peveril, and perhaps some fear +for her counsellor's bones, induced her to open the casement, and cry, +but in a low and timid tone, "Hist! hist! Master Julian--be you gone?" + +"Not yet, dame," said Julian; "though it seems my stay is unwelcome." + +"Nay, but good young master, it is because men counsel so differently; +for here was my poor old Roger Raine would have thought the chimney +corner too cold for you; and here is Matt Chamberlain thinks the cold +courtyard is warm enough." + +"Never mind that, dame," said Julian; "do but only tell me what has +happened at Martindale Castle? I see the beacon is extinguished." + +"Is it in troth?--ay, like enough--then good Sir Geoffrey has gone to +heaven with my old Roger Raine!" + +"Sacred Heaven!" exclaimed Peveril; "when was my father taken ill?" + +"Never as I knows of," said the dame; "but, about three hours since, +arrived a party at the Castle, with buff-coats and bandoleers, and one +of the Parliament's folks, like in Oliver's time. My old Roger Raine +would have shut the gates of the inn against them, but he is in the +churchyard, and Matt says it is against law; and so they came in and +refreshed men and horses, and sent for Master Bridgenorth, that is at +Moultrassie Hall even now; and so they went up to the Castle, and +there was a fray, it is like, as the old Knight was no man to take +napping, as poor Roger Raine used to say. Always the officers had the +best on't; and reason there is, since they had the law of their side, +as our Matthew says. But since the pole-star of the Castle is out, as +your honour says, why, doubtless, the old gentleman is dead." + +"Gracious Heaven!--Dear dame, for love or gold, let me have a horse to +make for the Castle!" + +"The Castle?" said the dame; "the Roundheads, as my poor Roger called +them, will kill you as they have killed your father! Better creep into +the woodhouse, and I will send Bett with a blanket and some supper--Or +stay--my old Dobbin stands in the little stable beside the hencoop-- +e'en take him, and make the best of your way out of the country, for +there is no safety here for you. Hear what songs some of them are +singing at the tap!--so take Dobbin, and do not forget to leave your +own horse instead." + +Peveril waited to hear no farther, only, that just as he turned to go +off to the stable, the compassionate female was heard to exclaim--"O +Lord! what will Matthew Chamberlain say!" but instantly added, "Let +him say what he will, I may dispose of what's my own." + +With the haste of a double-fee'd hostler did Julian exchange the +equipments of his jaded brute with poor Dobbin, who stood quietly +tugging at his rackful of hay, without dreaming of the business which +was that night destined for him. Notwithstanding the darkness of the +place, Julian succeeded marvellous quickly in preparing for his +journey; and leaving his own horse to find its way to Dobbin's rack by +instinct, he leaped upon his new acquisition, and spurred him sharply +against the hill, which rises steeply from the village to the Castle. +Dobbin, little accustomed to such exertions, snorted, panted, and +trotted as briskly as he could, until at length he brought his rider +before the entrance-gate of his father's ancient seat. + +The moon was now rising, but the portal was hidden from its beams, +being situated, as we have mentioned elsewhere, in a deep recess +betwixt two large flanking towers. Peveril dismounted, turned his +horse loose, and advanced to the gate, which, contrary to his +expectation, he found open. He entered the large courtyard; and could +then perceive that lights yet twinkled in the lower part of the +building, although he had not before observed them, owing to the +height of the outward walls. The main door, or great hall-gate, as it +was called, was, since the partially decayed state of the family, +seldom opened, save on occasions of particular ceremony. A smaller +postern door served the purpose of ordinary entrance; and to that +Julian now repaired. This also was open--a circumstance which would of +itself have alarmed him, had he not already had so many causes for +apprehension. His heart sunk within him as he turned to the left, +through a small outward hall, towards the great parlour, which the +family usually occupied as a sitting apartment; and his alarm became +still greater, when, on a nearer approach, he heard proceeding from +thence the murmur of several voices. He threw the door of the +apartment wide; and the sight which was thus displayed, warranted all +the evil bodings which he had entertained. + +In front of him stood the old Knight, whose arms were strongly +secured, over the elbows, by a leathern belt drawn tight round them, +and made fast behind; two ruffianly-looking men, apparently his +guards, had hold of his doublet. The scabbard-less sword which lay on +the floor, and the empty sheath which hung by Sir Geoffrey's side, +showed the stout old Cavalier had not been reduced to this state of +bondage without an attempt at resistance. Two or three persons, having +their backs turned towards Julian, sat round a table, and appeared +engaged in writing--the voices which he had heard were theirs, as they +murmured to each other. Lady Peveril--the emblem of death, so pallid +was her countenance--stood at the distance of a yard or two from her +husband, upon whom her eyes were fixed with an intenseness of gaze, +like that of one who looks her last on the object which she loves the +best. She was the first to perceive Julian; and she exclaimed, +"Merciful Heaven!--my son!--the misery of our house is complete!" + +"My son!" echoed Sir Geoffrey, starting from the sullen state of +dejection, and swearing a deep oath--"thou art come in the right time, +Julian. Strike me one good blow--cleave me that traitorous thief from +the crown to the brisket! and that done, I care not what comes next." + +The sight of his father's situation made the son forget the inequality +of the contest which he was about to provoke. + +"Villains," he said, "unhand him!" and rushing on the guards with his +drawn sword, compelled them to let go Sir Geoffrey, and stand on their +own defence. + +Sir Geoffrey, thus far liberated, shouted to his lady. "Undo the belt, +dame, and we will have three good blows for it yet--they must fight +well that beat both father and son." + +But one of those men who had started up from the writing-table when +the fray commenced, prevented Lady Peveril from rendering her husband +this assistance; while another easily mastered the hampered Knight, +though not without receiving several severe kicks from his heavy boots +--his condition permitting him no other mode of defence. A third, who +saw that Julian, young, active, and animated with the fury of a son +who fights for his parents, was compelling the two guards to give +ground, seized on his collar, and attempted to master his sword. +Suddenly dropping that weapon, and snatching one of his pistols, +Julian fired it at the head of the person by whom he was thus +assailed. He did not drop, but, staggering back as if he had received +a severe blow, showed Peveril, as he sunk into a chair, the features +of old Bridgenorth, blackened with the explosion, which had even set +fire to a part of his grey hair. A cry of astonishment escaped from +Julian; and in the alarm and horror of the moment, he was easily +secured and disarmed by those with whom he had been at first engaged. + +"Heed it not, Julian," said Sir Geoffrey; "heed it not, my brave boy-- +that shot has balanced all accounts!--but how--what the devil--he +lives!--Was your pistol loaded with chaff? or has the foul fiend given +him proof against lead?" + +There was some reason for Sir Geoffrey's surprise, since, as he spoke, +Major Bridgenorth collected himself--sat up in the chair as one who +recovers from a stunning blow--then rose, and wiping with his +handkerchief the marks of the explosion from his face, he approached +Julian, and said, in the same cold unaltered tone in which he usually +expressed himself, "Young man, you have reason to bless God, who has +this day saved you from the commission of a great crime." + +"Bless the devil, ye crop-eared knave!" exclaimed Sir Geoffrey; "for +nothing less than the father of all fanatics saved your brains from +being blown about like the rinsings of Beelzebub's porridge pot!" + +"Sir Geoffrey," said Major Bridgenorth, "I have already told you, that +with you I will hold no argument; for to you I am not accountable for +any of my actions." + +"Master Bridgenorth," said the lady, making a strong effort to speak, +and to speak with calmness, "whatever revenge your Christian state of +conscience may permit you to take on my husband--I--I, who have some +right to experience compassion at your hand, for most sincerely did I +compassionate you when the hand of Heaven was heavy on you--I implore +you not to involve my son in our common ruin!--Let the destruction of +the father and mother, with the ruin of our ancient house, satisfy +your resentment for any wrong which you have ever received at my +husband's hand." + +"Hold your peace, housewife," said the Knight, "you speak like a fool, +and meddle with what concerns you not.--Wrong at /my/ hand? The +cowardly knave has ever had but even too much right. Had I cudgelled +the cur soundly when he first bayed at me, the cowardly mongrel had +been now crouching at my feet, instead of flying at my throat. But if +I get through this action, as I have got through worse weather, I will +pay off old scores, as far as tough crab-tree and cold iron will bear +me out." + +"Sir Geoffrey," replied Bridgenorth, "if the birth you boast of has +made you blind to better principles, it might have at least taught you +civility. What do you complain of? I am a magistrate; and I execute a +warrant, addressed to me by the first authority in that state. I am a +creditor also of yours; and law arms me with powers to recover my own +property from the hands of an improvident debtor." + +"You a magistrate!" said the Knight; "much such a magistrate as Noll +was a monarch. Your heart is up, I warrant, because you have the +King's pardon; and are replaced on the bench, forsooth, to persecute +the poor Papist. There was never turmoil in the state, but knaves had +their vantage by it--never pot boiled, but the scum was cast +uppermost." + +"For God's sake, my dearest husband," said Lady Peveril, "cease this +wild talk! It can but incense Master Bridgenorth, who might otherwise +consider, that in common charity----" + +"Incense him!" said Sir Geoffrey, impatiently interrupting her; +"God's-death, madam, you will drive me mad! Have you lived so long in +this world, and yet expect consideration and charity from an old +starved wolf like that? And if he had it, do you think that I, or you, +madam, as my wife, are subjects for his charity?--Julian, my poor +fellow, I am sorry thou hast come so unluckily, since thy petronel was +not better loaded--but thy credit is lost for ever as a marksman." + +This angry colloquy passed so rapidly on all sides, that Julian, +scarce recovered from the extremity of astonishment with which he was +overwhelmed at finding himself suddenly plunged into a situation of +such extremity, had no time to consider in what way he could most +effectually act for the succour of his parents. To speak to +Bridgenorth fair seemed the more prudent course; but to this his pride +could hardly stoop; yet he forced himself to say, with as much +calmness as he could assume, + +"Master Bridgenorth, since you act as a magistrate, I desire to be +treated according to the laws of England; and demand to know of what +we are accused, and by whose authority we are arrested?" + +"Here is another howlet for ye!" exclaimed the impetuous old Knight; +"his mother speaks to a Puritan of charity; and thou must talk of law +to a round-headed rebel, with a wannion to you! What warrant hath he, +think ye, beyond the Parliament's or the devil's?" + +"Who speaks of the Parliament?" said a person entering, whom Peveril +recognised as the official person whom he had before seen at the +horse-dealer's, and who now bustled in with all the conscious dignity +of plenary authority,--"Who talks of the Parliament?" he exclaimed. "I +promise you, enough has been found in this house to convict twenty +plotters--Here be arms, and that good store. Bring them in, Captain." + +"The very same," exclaimed the Captain, approaching, "which I mention +in my printed Narrative of Information, lodged before the Honourable +House of Commons; they were commissioned from old Vander Huys of +Rotterdam, by orders of Don John of Austria, for the service of the +Jesuits." + +"Now, by this light," said Sir Geoffrey, "they are the pikes, +musketoons, and pistols, that have been hidden in the garret ever +since Naseby fight!" + +"And here," said the Captain's yoke-fellow, Everett, "are proper +priest's trappings--antiphoners, and missals, and copes, I warrant +you--ay, and proper pictures, too, for Papists to mutter and bow +over." + +"Now plague on thy snuffling whine," said Sir Geoffrey; "here is a +rascal will swear my grandmother's old farthingale to be priest's +vestments, and the story book of Owlenspiegel a Popish missal!" + +"But how's this, Master Bridgenorth?" said Topham, addressing the +magistrate; "your honour has been as busy as we have; and you have +caught another knave while we recovered these toys." + +"I think, sir," said Julian, "if you look into your warrant, which, if +I mistake not, names the persons whom you are directed to arrest, you +will find you have not title to apprehend me." + +"Sir," said the officer, puffing with importance, "I do not know who +you are; but I would you were the best man in England, that I might +teach you the respect due to the warrant of the House. Sir, there +steps not the man within the British seas, but I will arrest him on +authority of this bit of parchment; and I do arrest you accordingly.-- +What do you accuse him of, gentlemen?" + +Dangerfield swaggered forward, and peeping under Julian's hat, "Stop +my vital breath," he exclaimed, "but I have seen you before, my +friend, an I could but think where; but my memory is not worth a bean, +since I have been obliged to use it so much of late, in the behalf of +the poor state. But I do know the fellow; and I have seen him amongst +the Papists--, I'll take that on my assured damnation." + +"Why, Captain Dangerfield," said the Captain's smoother, but more +dangerous associate,--"verily, it is the same youth whom we saw at the +horse-merchant's yesterday; and we had matter against him then, only +Master Topham did not desire us to bring it out." + +"Ye may bring out what ye will against him now," said Topham, "for he +hath blasphemed the warrant of the House. I think ye said ye saw him +somewhere." + +"Ay, verily," said Everett, "I have seen him amongst the seminary +pupils at Saint Omer's--he was who but he with the regents there." + +"Nay, Master Everett, collect yourself," said Topham; "for as I think, +you said you saw him at a consult of the Jesuits in London." + +"It was I said so, Master Topham," said the undaunted Dangerfield; +"and mine is the tongue that will swear it." + +"Good Master Topham," said Bridgenorth, "you may suspend farther +inquiry at present, as it doth but fatigue and perplex the memory of +the King's witnesses." + +"You are wrong, Master Bridgenorth--clearly wrong. It doth but keep +them in wind--only breathes them like greyhounds before a coursing +match." + +"Be it so," said Bridgenorth, with his usual indifference of manner; +"but at present this youth must stand committed upon a warrant, which +I will presently sign, of having assaulted me while in discharge of my +duty as a magistrate, for the rescue of a person legally attached. Did +you not hear the report of a pistol?" + +"I will swear to it," said Everett. + +"And I," said Dangerfield. "While we were making search in the cellar, +I heard something very like a pistol-shot; but I conceived it to be +the drawing of a long-corked bottle of sack, to see whether there were +any Popish relics in the inside on't." + +"A pistol-shot!" exclaimed Topham; "here might have been a second Sir +Edmondsbury Godfrey's matter.--Oh, thou real spawn of the red old +dragon! for he too would have resisted the House's warrant, had we not +taken him something at unawares.--Master Bridgenorth, you are a +judicious magistrate, and a worthy servant of the state--I would we +had many such sound Protestant justices. Shall I have this young +fellow away with his parents--what think you?--or will you keep him +for re-examination?" + +"Master Bridgenorth," said Lady Peveril, in spite of her husband's +efforts to interrupt her, "for God's sake, if ever you knew what it +was to love one of the many children you have lost, or her who is now +left to you, do not pursue your vengeance to the blood of my poor boy! +I will forgive you all the rest--all the distress you have wrought-- +all the yet greater misery with which you threaten us; but do not be +extreme with one who never can have offended you! Believe, that if +your ears are shut against the cry of a despairing mother, those which +are open to the complaint of all who sorrow, will hear my petition and +your answer!" + +The agony of mind and of voice with which Lady Peveril uttered these +words, seemed to thrill through all present, though most of them were +but too much inured to such scenes. Every one was silent, when, +ceasing to speak, she fixed on Bridgenorth her eyes, glistening with +tears, with the eager anxiety of one whose life or death seemed to +depend upon the answer to be returned. Even Bridgenorth's +inflexibility seemed to be shaken; and his voice was tremulous, as he +answered, "Madam, I would to God I had the present means of relieving +your great distress, otherwise than by recommending to you a reliance +upon Providence; and that you take heed to your spirit, that it murmur +not under this crook in your lot. For me, I am but as a rod in the +hand of the strong man, which smites not of itself, but because it is +wielded by the arm of him who holds the same." + +"Even as I and my black rod are guided by the Commons of England," +said Master Topham, who seemed marvellously pleased with the +illustration. + +Julian now thought it time to say something in his own behalf; and he +endeavoured to temper it with as much composure as it was possible for +him to assume. "Master Bridgenorth," he said, "I neither dispute your +authority, nor this gentleman's warrant----" + +"You do not?" said Topham. "Oh, ho, master youngster, I thought we +should bring you to your senses presently!" + +"Then, if you so will it, Master Topham," said Bridgenorth, "thus it +shall be. You shall set out with early day, taking you, towards +London, the persons of Sir Geoffrey and Lady Peveril; and that they +may travel according to their quality, you will allow them their +coach, sufficiently guarded." + +"I will travel with them myself," said Topham; "for these rough +Derbyshire roads are no easy riding; and my very eyes are weary with +looking on these bleak hills. In the coach I can sleep as sound as if +I were in the House, and Master Bodderbrains on his legs." + +"It will become you so to take your ease, Master Topham," answered +Bridgenorth. "For this youth, I will take him under my charge, and +bring him up myself." + +"I may not be answerable for that, worthy Master Bridgenorth," said +Topham, "since he comes within the warrant of the House." + +"Nay, but," said Bridgenorth, "he is only under custody for an +assault, with the purpose of a rescue; and I counsel you against +meddling with him, unless you have stronger guard. Sir Geoffrey is now +old and broken, but this young fellow is in the flower of his youth, +and hath at his beck all the debauched young Cavaliers of the +neighbourhood--You will scarce cross the country without a rescue." + +Topham eyed Julian wistfully, as a spider may be supposed to look upon +a stray wasp which has got into his web, and which he longs to secure, +though he fears the consequences of attempting him. + +Julian himself replied, "I know not if this separation be well or ill +meant on your part, Master Bridgenorth; but on mine, I am only +desirous to share the fate of my parents; and therefore I will give my +word of honour to attempt neither rescue nor escape, on condition you +do not separate me from them." + +"Do not say so, Julian," said his mother; "abide with Master +Bridgenorth--my mind tells me he cannot mean so ill by us as his rough +conduct would now lead us to infer." + +"And I," said Sir Geoffrey, "know, that between the doors of my +father's house and the gates of hell, there steps not such a villain +on the ground! And if I wish my hands ever to be unbound again, it is +because I hope for one downright blow at a grey head, that has hatched +more treason than the whole Long Parliament." + +"Away with thee," said the zealous officer; "is Parliament a word for +so foul a mouth as thine?--Gentlemen," he added, turning to Everett +and Dangerfield, "you will bear witness to this." + +"To his having reviled the House of Commons--by G--d, that I will!" +said Dangerfield; "I will take it on my damnation." + +"And verily," said Everett, "as he spoke of Parliament generally, he +hath contemned the House of Lords also." + +"Why, ye poor insignificant wretches," said Sir Geoffrey, "whose very +life is a lie--and whose bread is perjury--would you pervert my +innocent words almost as soon as they have quitted my lips? I tell you +the country is well weary of you; and should Englishmen come to their +senses, the jail, the pillory, the whipping-post, and the gibbet, will +be too good preferment for such base blood-suckers.--And now, Master +Bridgenorth, you and they may do your worst; for I will not open my +mouth to utter a single word while I am in the company of such +knaves." + +"Perhaps, Sir Geoffrey," answered Bridgenorth, "you would better have +consulted your own safety in adopting that resolution a little sooner +--the tongue is a little member, but it causes much strife.--You, +Master Julian, will please to follow me, and without remonstrance or +resistance; for you must be aware that I have the means of +compelling." + +Julian was, indeed, but too sensible, that he had no other course but +that of submission to superior force; but ere he left the apartment, +he kneeled down to receive his father's blessing, which the old man +bestowed not without a tear in his eye, and in the emphatic words, +"God bless thee, my boy; and keep thee good and true to Church and +King, whatever wind shall bring foul weather!" + +His mother was only able to pass her hand over his head, and to +implore him, in a low tone of voice, not to be rash or violent in any +attempt to render them assistance. "We are innocent," she said, "my +son--we are innocent--and we are in God's hands. Be the thought our +best comfort and protection." + +Bridgenorth now signed to Julian to follow him, which he did, +accompanied, or rather conducted, by the two guards who had first +disarmed him. When they had passed from the apartment, and were at the +door of the outward hall, Bridgenorth asked Julian whether he should +consider him as under parole; in which case, he said, he would +dispense with all other security but his own promise. + +Peveril, who could not help hoping somewhat from the favourable and +unresentful manner in which he was treated by one whose life he had so +recently attempted, replied, without hesitation, that he would give +his parole for twenty-four hours, neither to attempt to escape by +force nor by flight. + +"It is wisely said," replied Bridgenorth; "for though you might cause +bloodshed, be assured that your utmost efforts could do no service to +your parents.--Horses there--horses to the courtyard!" + +The trampling of horses was soon heard; and in obedience to +Bridgenorth's signal, and in compliance with his promise, Julian +mounted one which was presented to him, and prepared to leave the +house of his fathers, in which his parents were now prisoners, and to +go, he knew not whither, under the custody of one known to be the +ancient enemy of his family. He was rather surprised at observing, +that Bridgenorth and he were about to travel without any other +attendants. + +When they were mounted, and as they rode slowly towards the outer gate +of the courtyard, Bridgenorth said to him, "it is not every one who +would thus unreservedly commit his safety by travelling at night, and +unaided, with the hot-brained youth who so lately attempted his life." + +"Master Bridgenorth," said Julian, "I might tell you truly, that I +knew you not at the time when I directed my weapon against you; but I +must also add, that the cause in which I used it, might have rendered +me, even had I known you, a slight respecter of your person. At +present, I do know you; and have neither malice against your person, +nor the liberty of a parent to fight for. Besides, you have my word; +and when was a Peveril known to break it?" + +"Ay," replied his companion, "a Peveril--a Peveril of the Peak!--a +name which has long sounded like a war-trumpet in the land; but which +has now perhaps sounded its last loud note. Look back, young man, on +the darksome turrets of your father's house, which uplift themselves +above the sons of their people. Think upon your father, a captive-- +yourself in some sort a fugitive--your light quenched--your glory +abased--your estate wrecked and impoverished. Think that Providence +has subjected the destinies of the race of Peveril to one, whom, in +their aristocratic pride, they held as a plebeian upstart. Think of +this; and when you again boast of your ancestry, remember, that he who +raiseth the lowly can also abase the high in heart." + +Julian did indeed gaze for an instant, with a swelling heart, upon the +dimly seen turrets of his paternal mansion, on which poured the +moonlight, mixed with long shadows of the towers and trees. But while +he sadly acknowledged the truth of Bridgenorth's observation, he felt +indignant at his ill-timed triumph. "If fortune had followed worth," +he said, "the Castle of Martindale, and the name of Peveril, had +afforded no room for their enemy's vainglorious boast. But those who +have stood high on Fortune's wheel, must abide by the consequence of +its revolutions. This much I will at least say for my father's house, +that it has not stood unhonoured; nor will it fall--if it is to fall-- +unlamented. Forbear, then, if you are indeed the Christian you call +yourself, to exult in the misfortunes of others, or to confide in your +own prosperity. If the light of our house be now quenched, God can +rekindle it in His own good time." + +Peveril broke off in extreme surprise; for as he spake the last words, +the bright red beams of the family beacon began again to glimmer from +its wonted watch-tower, checkering the pale moonbeam with a ruddier +glow. Bridgenorth also gazed on this unexpected illumination with +surprise, and not, as it seemed, without disquietude. "Young man," he +resumed, "it can scarcely be but that Heaven intends to work great +things by your hand, so singularly has that augury followed on your +words." + +So saying, he put his horse once more in motion; and looking back, +from time to time, as if to assure himself that the beacon of the +Castle was actually rekindled, he led the way through the well-known +paths and alleys, to his own house of Moultrassie, followed by +Peveril, who although sensible that the light might be altogether +accidental, could not but receive as a good omen an event so +intimately connected with the traditions and usages of his family. + +They alighted at the hall-door, which was hastily opened by a female; +and while the deep tone of Bridgenorth called on the groom to take +their horses, the well-known voice of his daughter Alice was heard to +exclaim in thanksgiving to God, who had restored her father in safety. + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + We meet, as men see phantoms in a dream, + Which glide, and sigh, and sign, and move their lips, + But make no sound; or, if they utter voice, + 'Tis but a low and undistinguish'd moaning, + Which has nor word nor sense of utter'd sound. + --THE CHIEFTAIN. + +We said, at the conclusion of the last chapter, that a female form +appeared at the door of Moultrassie Hall; and that the well-known +accents of Alice Bridgenorth were heard to hail the return of her +father, from what she naturally dreaded as a perilous visit to the +Castle of Martindale. + +Julian, who followed his conductor with a throbbing heart into the +lighted hall, was therefore prepared to see her whom he best loved, +with her arms thrown around her father. The instant she had quitted +his paternal embrace, she was aware of the unexpected guest who had +returned in his company. A deep blush, rapidly succeeded by a deadly +paleness, and again by a slighter suffusion, showed plainly to her +lover that his sudden appearance was anything but indifferent to her. +He bowed profoundly--a courtesy which she returned with equal +formality, but did not venture to approach more nearly, feeling at +once the delicacy of his own situation and of hers. + +Major Bridgenorth turned his cold, fixed, grey, melancholy glance, +first on the one of them and then on the other. "Some," he said +gravely, "would, in my case, have avoided this meeting; but I have +confidence in you both, although you are young, and beset with the +snares incidental to your age. There are those within who should not +know that ye have been acquainted. Wherefore, be wise, and be as +strangers to each other." + +Julian and Alice exchanged glances as her father turned from them, and +lifting a lamp which stood in the entrance-hall, led the way to the +interior apartment. There was little of consolation in this exchange +of looks; for the sadness of Alice's glance was mingled with fear, and +that of Julian clouded by an anxious sense of doubt. The look also was +but momentary; for Alice, springing to her father, took the light out +of his hand, and stepping before him, acted as the usher of both into +the large oaken parlour, which has been already mentioned as the +apartment in which Bridgenorth had spent the hours of dejection which +followed the death of his consort and family. It was now lighted up as +for the reception of company; and five or six persons sat in it, in +the plain, black, stiff dress, which was affected by the formal +Puritans of the time, in evidence of their contempt of the manners of +the luxurious Court of Charles the Second; amongst whom, excess of +extravagance in apparel, like excess of every other kind, was highly +fashionable. + +Julian at first glanced his eyes but slightly along the range of grave +and severe faces which composed this society--men sincere, perhaps, in +their pretensions to a superior purity of conduct and morals, but in +whom that high praise was somewhat chastened by an affected austerity +in dress and manners, allied to those Pharisees of old, who made broad +their phylacteries, and would be seen of man to fast, and to discharge +with rigid punctuality the observances of the law. Their dress was +almost uniformly a black cloak and doublet, cut straight and close, +and undecorated with lace or embroidery of any kind, black Flemish +breeches and hose, square-toed shoes, with large roses made of serge +ribbon. Two or three had large loose boots of calf-leather, and almost +every one was begirt with a long rapier, which was suspended by +leathern thongs, to a plain belt of buff, or of black leather. One or +two of the elder guests, whose hair had been thinned by time, had +their heads covered with a skull-cap of black silk or velvet, which, +being drawn down betwixt the ears and the skull, and permitting no +hair to escape, occasioned the former to project in the ungraceful +manner which may be remarked in old pictures, and which procured for +the Puritans the term of "prickeared Roundheads," so unceremoniously +applied to them by their contemporaries. + +These worthies were ranged against the wall, each in his ancient high- +backed, long-legged chair; neither looking towards, nor apparently +discoursing with each other; but plunged in their own reflections, or +awaiting, like an assembly of Quakers, the quickening power of divine +inspiration. + +Major Bridgenorth glided along this formal society with noiseless +step, and a composed severity of manner, resembling their own. He +paused before each in succession, and apparently communicated, as he +passed, the transactions of the evening, and the circumstances under +which the heir of Martindale Castle was now a guest at Moultrassie +Hall. Each seemed to stir at his brief detail, like a range of statues +in an enchanted hall, starting into something like life, as a talisman +is applied to them successively. Most of them, as they heard the +narrative of their host, cast upon Julian a look of curiosity, blended +with haughty scorn and the consciousness of spiritual superiority; +though, in one or two instances, the milder influences of compassion +were sufficiently visible.--Peveril would have undergone this gantlet +of eyes with more impatience, had not his own been for the time +engaged in following the motions of Alice, who glided through the +apartment; and only speaking very briefly, and in whispers, to one or +two of the company who addressed her, took her place beside a treble- +hooded old lady, the only female of the party, and addressed herself +to her in such earnest conversation, as might dispense with her +raising her head, or looking at any others in the company. + +Her father put a question, to which she was obliged to return an +answer--"Where was Mistress Debbitch?" + +"She has gone out," Alice replied, "early after sunset, to visit some +old acquaintances in the neighbourhood, and she was not yet returned." + +Major Bridgenorth made a gesture indicative of displeasure; and, not +content with that, expressed his determined resolution that Dame +Deborah should no longer remain a member of his family. "I will have +those," he said aloud, and without regarding the presence of his +guests, "and those only, around me, who know to keep within the sober +and modest bounds of a Christian family. Who pretends to more freedom, +must go out from among us, as not being of us." + +A deep and emphatic humming noise, which was at that time the mode in +which the Puritans signified their applause, as well of the doctrines +expressed by a favourite divine in the pulpit, as of those delivered +in private society, ratified the approbation of the assessors, and +seemed to secure the dismission of the unfortunate governante, who +stood thus detected of having strayed out of bounds. Even Peveril, +although he had reaped considerable advantages, in his early +acquaintance with Alice, from the mercenary and gossiping disposition +of her governess, could not hear of her dismissal without +approbation, so much was he desirous, that, in the hour of difficulty +which might soon approach, Alice might have the benefit of countenance +and advice from one of her own sex of better manners, and less +suspicious probity, than Mistress Debbitch. + +Almost immediately after this communication had taken place, a servant +in mourning showed his thin, pinched, and wrinkled visage in the +apartment, announcing, with a voice more like a passing bell than the +herald of a banquet, that refreshments were provided in an adjoining +apartment. Gravely leading the way, with his daughter on one side, and +the puritanical female whom we have distinguished on the other, +Bridgenorth himself ushered his company, who followed, with little +attention to order or ceremony, into the eating-room, where a +substantial supper was provided. + +In this manner, Peveril, although entitled according to ordinary +ceremonial, to some degree of precedence--a matter at that time +considered of much importance, although now little regarded--was left +among the last of those who quitted the parlour; and might indeed have +brought up the rear of all, had not one of the company, who was +himself late in the retreat, bowed and resigned to Julian the rank in +the company which had been usurped by others. + +This act of politeness naturally induced Julian to examine the +features of the person who had offered him this civility; and he +started to observe, under the pinched velvet cap, and above the short +band-strings, the countenance of Ganlesse, as he called himself--his +companion on the preceding evening. He looked again and again, +especially when all were placed at the supper board, and when, +consequently, he had frequent opportunities of observing this person +fixedly without any breach of good manners. At first he wavered in his +belief, and was much inclined to doubt the reality of his +recollection; for the difference of dress was such as to effect a +considerable change of appearance; and the countenance itself, far +from exhibiting anything marked or memorable, was one of those +ordinary visages which we see almost without remarking them, and which +leave our memory so soon as the object is withdrawn from our eyes. But +the impression upon his mind returned, and became stronger, until it +induced him to watch with peculiar attention the manners of the +individual who had thus attracted his notice. + +During the time of a very prolonged grace before meat, which was +delivered by one of the company--who, from his Geneva band and serge +doublet, presided, as Julian supposed, over some dissenting +congregation--he noticed that this man kept the same demure and severe +cast of countenance usually affected by the Puritans, and which rather +caricatured the reverence unquestionably due upon such occasions. His +eyes were turned upward, and his huge penthouse hat, with a high crown +and broad brim, held in both hands before him, rose and fell with the +cadences of the speaker's voice; thus marking time, as it were, to the +periods of the benediction. Yet when the slight bustle took place +which attends the adjusting of chairs, &c., as men sit down to table, +Julian's eye encountered that of the stranger; and as their looks met, +there glanced from those of the latter an expression of satirical +humour and scorn, which seemed to intimate internal ridicule of the +gravity of his present demeanour. + +Julian again sought to fix his eye, in order to ascertain that he had +not mistaken the tendency of this transient expression, but the +stranger did not allow him another opportunity. He might have been +discovered by the tone of his voice; but the individual in question +spoke little, and in whispers, which was indeed the fashion of the +whole company, whose demeanour at table resembled that of mourners at +a funeral feast. + +The entertainment itself was coarse, though plentiful; and must, +according to Julian's opinion, be distasteful to one so exquisitely +skilled in good cheer, and so capable of enjoying, critically and +scientifically, the genial preparations of his companion Smith, as +Ganlesse had shown himself on the preceding evening. Accordingly, upon +close observation, he remarked that the food which he took upon his +plate remained there unconsumed; and that his actual supper consisted +only of a crust of bread, with a glass of wine. + +The repast was hurried over with the haste of those who think it +shame, if not sin, to make mere animal enjoyments the means of +consuming time, or of receiving pleasure; and when men wiped their +mouths and moustaches, Julian remarked that the object of his +curiosity used a handkerchief of the finest cambric--an article rather +inconsistent with the exterior plainness, not to say coarseness, of +his appearance. He used also several of the more minute refinements, +then only observed at tables of the higher rank; and Julian thought he +could discern, at every turn, something of courtly manners and +gestures, under the precise and rustic simplicity of the character +which he had assumed.[*] + +[*] A Scottish gentleman /in hiding/, as it was emphatically termed, + for some concern in a Jacobite insurrection or plot, was + discovered among a number of ordinary persons, by the use of his + toothpick. + +But if this were indeed that same Ganlesse with whom Julian had met on +the preceding evening, and who had boasted the facility with which he +could assume any character which he pleased to represent for the time, +what could be the purpose of this present disguise? He was, if his own +words could be credited, a person of some importance, who dared to +defy the danger of those officers and informers, before whom all ranks +at that time trembled; nor was he likely, as Julian conceived, without +some strong purpose, to subject himself to such a masquerade as the +present, which could not be otherwise than irksome to one whose +conversation proclaimed him of light life and free opinions. Was his +appearance here for good or for evil? Did it respect his father's +house, or his own person, or the family of Bridgenorth? Was the real +character of Ganlesse known to the master of the house, inflexible as +he was in all which concerned morals as well as religion? If not, +might not the machinations of a brain so subtile affect the peace and +happiness of Alice Bridgenorth? + +These were questions which no reflection could enable Peveril to +answer. His eyes glanced from Alice to the stranger; and new fears, +and undefined suspicions, in which the safety of that beloved and +lovely girl was implicated, mingled with the deep anxiety which +already occupied his mind, on account of his father and his father's +house. + +He was in this tumult of mind, when after a thanksgiving as long as +the grace, the company arose from table, and were instantly summoned +to the exercise of family worship. A train of domestics, grave, sad, +and melancholy as their superiors, glided in to assist at this act of +devotion, and ranged themselves at the lower end of the apartment. +Most of these men were armed with long tucks, as the straight stabbing +swords, much used by Cromwell's soldiery, were then called. Several +had large pistols also; and the corselets or cuirasses of some were +heard to clank, as they seated themselves to partake in this act of +devotion. The ministry of him whom Julian had supposed a preacher was +not used on this occasion. Major Bridgenorth himself read and +expounded a chapter of Scripture, with much strength and manliness of +expression, although so as not to escape the charge of fanaticism. The +nineteenth chapter of Jeremiah was the portion of Scripture which he +selected; in which, under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, the +prophet presages the desolation of the Jews. The lecturer was not +naturally eloquent; but a strong, deep, and sincere conviction of the +truth of what he said supplied him with language of energy and fire, +as he drew parallel between the abominations of the worship of Baal, +and the corruptions of the Church of Rome--so favourite a topic with +the Puritans of that period; and denounced against the Catholics, and +those who favoured them, that hissing and desolation which the prophet +directed against the city of Jerusalem. His hearers made a yet closer +application than the lecturer himself suggested; and many a dark proud +eye intimated, by a glance on Julian, that on his father's house were +already, in some part, realised those dreadful maledictions. + +The lecture finished, Bridgenorth summoned them to unite with him in +prayer; and on a slight change of arrangements amongst the company, +which took place as they were about to kneel down, Julian found his +place next to the single-minded and beautiful object of his affection, +as she knelt, in her loveliness, to adore her Creator. A short time +was permitted for mental devotion; during which Peveril could hear her +half-breathed petition for the promised blessings of peace on earth, +and good-will towards the children of men. + +The prayer which ensued was in a different tone. It was poured forth +by the same person who had officiated as chaplain at the table; and +was in the tone of a Boanerges, or Son of Thunder--a denouncer of +crimes--an invoker of judgments--almost a prophet of evil and of +destruction. The testimonies and the sins of the day were not +forgotten--the mysterious murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey was +insisted upon--and thanks and praise were offered, that the very night +on which they were assembled, had not seen another offering of a +Protestant magistrate, to the bloodthirsty fury of revengeful +Catholics. + +Never had Julian found it more difficult, during an act of devotion, +to maintain his mind in a frame befitting the posture and the +occasion; and when he heard the speaker return thanks for the downfall +and devastation of his family, he was strongly tempted to have started +upon his feet, and charged him with offering a tribute, stained with +falsehood and calumny, at the throne of truth itself. He resisted, +however, an impulse which it would have been insanity to have yielded +to, and his patience was not without its reward; for when his fair +neighbour arose from her knees, the lengthened and prolonged prayer +being at last concluded, he observed that her eyes were streaming with +tears; and one glance with which she looked at him in that moment, +showed more of affectionate interest for him in his fallen fortunes +and precarious condition, than he had been able to obtain from her +when his worldly estate seemed so much the more exalted of the two. + +Cheered and fortified with the conviction that one bosom in the +company, and that in which he most eagerly longed to secure an +interest, sympathised with his distress, he felt strong to endure +whatever was to follow, and shrunk not from the stern still smile with +which, one by one, the meeting regarded him, as, gliding to their +several places of repose, they indulged themselves at parting with a +look of triumph on one whom they considered as their captive enemy. + +Alice also passed by her lover, her eyes fixed on the ground, and +answered his low obeisance without raising them. The room was now +empty, but for Bridgenorth and his guest, or prisoner; for it is +difficult to say in which capacity Peveril ought to regard himself. He +took an old brazen lamp from the table, and, leading the way, said at +the same time, "I must be the uncourtly chamberlain, who am to usher +you to a place of repose, more rude, perhaps, than you have been +accustomed to occupy." + +Julian followed him, in silence, up an old-fashioned winding +staircase, within a turret. At the landing-place on the top was a +small apartment, where an ordinary pallet bed, two chairs, and a small +stone table, were the only furniture. "Your bed," continued +Bridgenorth, as if desirous to prolong their interview, "is not of the +softest; but innocence sleeps as sound upon straw as on down." + +"Sorrow, Major Bridgenorth, finds little rest on either," replied +Julian. "Tell me, for you seem to await some question from me, what is +to be the fate of my parents, and why you separate me from them?" + +Bridgenorth, for answer, indicated with his finger the mark which his +countenance still showed from the explosion of Julian's pistol. + +"That," replied Julian, "is not the real cause of your proceedings +against me. It cannot be, that you, who have been a soldier, and are a +man, can be surprised or displeased by my interference in the defence +of my father. Above all, you cannot, and I must needs say you do not, +believe that I would have raised my hand against you personally, had +there been a moment's time for recognition." + +"I may grant all this," said Bridgenorth; "but what the better are you +for my good opinion, or for the ease with which I can forgive you the +injury which you aimed at me? You are in my custody as a magistrate, +accused of abetting the foul, bloody, and heathenish plot, for the +establishment of Popery, the murder of the King, and the general +massacre of all true Protestants." + +"And on what grounds, either of fact or suspicion, dare any one accuse +me of such a crime?" said Julian. "I have hardly heard of the plot, +save by the mouth of common rumour, which, while it speaks of nothing +else, takes care to say nothing distinctly even on that subject." + +"It may be enough for me to tell you," replied Bridgenorth, "and +perhaps it is a word too much--that you are a discovered intriguer--a +spied spy--who carries tokens and messages betwixt the Popish Countess +of Derby and the Catholic party in London. You have not conducted your +matters with such discretion, but that this is well known, and can be +sufficiently proved. To this charge, which you are well aware you +cannot deny, these men, Everett and Dangerfield, are not unwilling to +add, from the recollection of your face, other passages, which will +certainly cost you your life when you come before a Protestant jury." + +"They lie like villains," said Peveril, "who hold me accessory to any +plot either against the King, the nation, or the state of religion; +and for the Countess, her loyalty has been too long, and too highly +proved, to permit her being implicated in such injurious suspicions." + +"What she has already done," said Bridgenorth, his face darkening as +he spoke, "against the faithful champions of pure religion, hath +sufficiently shown of what she is capable. She hath betaken herself to +her rock, and sits, as she thinks, in security, like the eagle +reposing after his bloody banquet. But the arrow of the fowler may yet +reach her--the shaft is whetted--the bow is bended--and it will be +soon seen whether Amalek or Israel shall prevail. But for thee, Julian +Peveril--why should I conceal it from thee?--my heart yearns for thee +as a woman's for her first-born. To thee I will give, at the expense +of my own reputation--perhaps at the risk of personal suspicion--for +who, in these days of doubt, shall be exempted from it--to thee, I +say, I will give means of escape, which else were impossible to thee. +The staircase of this turret descends to the gardens--the postern-gate +is unlatched--on the right hand lie the stables, where you will find +your own horse--take it, and make for Liverpool--I will give you +credit with a friend under the name of Simon Simonson, one persecuted +by the prelates; and he will expedite your passage from the kingdom." + +"Major Bridgenorth," said Julian, "I will not deceive you. Were I to +accept your offer of freedom, it would be to attend to a higher call +than that of mere self-preservation. My father is in danger--my mother +in sorrow--the voices of religion and nature call me to their side. I +am their only child--their only hope--I will aid them, or perish with +them!" + +"Thou art mad," said Bridgenorth--"aid them thou canst not--perish +with them thou mayst, and even accelerate their ruin; for, in addition +to the charges with which thy unhappy father is loaded, it would be no +slight aggravation, that while he meditated arming and calling +together the Catholics and High Churchmen of Cheshire and Derbyshire, +his son should prove to be the confidential agent of the Countess of +Derby, who aided her in making good her stronghold against the +Protestant commissioners, and was despatched by her to open secret +communication with the Popish interest in London." + +"You have twice stated me as such an agent," said Peveril, resolved +that his silence should not be construed into an admission of the +charge, though he felt it was in some degree well founded--"What +reason have you for such an allegation?" + +"Will it suffice for a proof of my intimate acquaintance with your +mystery," replied Bridgenorth, "if I should repeat to you the last +words which the Countess used to you when you left the Castle of that +Amalekitish woman? Thus she spoke: 'I am now a forlorn widow,' she +said, 'whom sorrow has made selfish.'" + +Peveril started, for these were the very words the Countess had used; +but he instantly recovered himself, and replied, "Be your information +of what nature it will, I deny, and I defy it, so far as it attaches +aught like guilt to me. There lives not a man more innocent of a +disloyal thought, or of a traitorous purpose. What I say for myself, I +will, to the best of my knowledge, say and maintain on account of the +noble Countess, to whom I am indebted for nurture." + +"Perish, then, in thy obstinacy!" said Bridgenorth; and turning +hastily from him, he left the room, and Julian heard him hasten down +the narrow staircase, as if distrusting his own resolution. + +With a heavy heart, yet with that confidence in an overruling +Providence which never forsakes a good and brave man, Peveril betook +himself to his lowly place of repose. + + + + CHAPTER XXV + + The course of human life is changeful still, + As is the fickle wind and wandering rill; + Or, like the light dance which the wild-breeze weaves + Amidst the fated race of fallen leaves; + Which now its breath bears down, now tosses high, + Beats to the earth, or wafts to middle sky. + Such, and so varied, the precarious play + Of fate with man, frail tenant of a day! + --ANONYMOUS. + +Whilst, overcome with fatigue, and worn out by anxiety, Julian Peveril +slumbered as a prisoner in the house of his hereditary enemy, Fortune +was preparing his release by one of those sudden frolics with which +she loves to confound the calculations and expectancies of humanity; +and as she fixes on strange agents for such purposes, she condescended +to employ on the present occasion, no less a personage than Mistress +Deborah Debbitch. + +Instigated, doubtless, by the pristine reminiscences of former times, +no sooner had that most prudent and considerate dame found herself in +the vicinity of the scenes of her earlier days, than she bethought +herself of a visit to the ancient house-keeper of Martindale Castle, +Dame Ellesmere by name, who, long retired from active service, resided +at the keeper's lodge, in the west thicket, with her nephew, Lance +Outram, subsisting upon the savings of her better days, and on a small +pension allowed by Sir Geoffrey to her age and faithful services. + +Now Dame Ellesmere and Mistress Deborah had not by any means been +formerly on so friendly a footing, as this haste to visit her might be +supposed to intimate. But years had taught Deborah to forget and +forgive; or perhaps she had no special objection, under cover of a +visit to Dame Ellesmere, to take the chance of seeing what changes +time had made on her old admirer the keeper. Both inhabitants were in +the cottage when, after having seen her master set forth on his +expedition to the Castle, Mistress Debbitch, dressed in her very best +gown, footed it through gutter, and over stile, and by pathway green, +to knock at their door, and to lift the hatch at the hospitable +invitation which bade her come in. + +Dame Ellesmere's eyes were so often dim, that, even with the aid of +spectacles, she failed to recognise, in the portly and mature +personage who entered their cottage, the tight well-made lass, who, +presuming on her good looks and flippant tongue, had so often provoked +her by insubordination; and her former lover, the redoubted Lance, not +being conscious that ale had given rotundity to his own figure, which +was formerly so slight and active, and that brandy had transferred to +his nose the colour which had once occupied his cheeks, was unable to +discover that Deborah's French cap, composed of sarsenet and Brussels +lace, shaded the features which had so often procured him a rebuke +from Dr. Dummerar, for suffering his eyes, during the time of prayers, +to wander to the maid-servants' bench. + +In brief, the blushing visitor was compelled to make herself known; +and when known, was received by aunt and nephew with the most sincere +cordiality. + +The home-brewed was produced; and, in lieu of more vulgar food, a few +slices of venison presently hissed in the frying pan, giving strong +room for inference that Lance Outram, in his capacity of keeper, +neglected not his own cottage when he supplied the larder at the +Castle. A modest sip of the excellent Derbyshire ale, and a taste of +the highly-seasoned hash, soon placed Deborah entirely at home with +her old acquaintance. + +Having put all necessary questions, and received all suitable answers, +respecting the state of the neighbourhood, and such of her own friends +as continued to reside there, the conversation began rather to flag, +until Deborah found the art of again re-newing its interest, by +communicating to her friends the dismal intelligence that they must +soon look for deadly bad news from the Castle; for that her present +master, Major Bridgenorth, had been summoned, by some great people +from London, to assist in taking her old master, Sir Geoffrey; and +that all Master Bridgenorth's servants, and several other persons whom +she named, friends and adherents of the same interest, had assembled a +force to surprise the Castle; and that as Sir Geoffrey was now so old, +and gouty withal, it could not be expected he should make the defence +he was wont; and then he was known to be so stout-hearted, that it was +not to be supposed that he would yield up without stroke of sword; and +then if he was killed, as he was like to be, amongst them that liked +never a bone of his body, and now had him at their mercy, why, in that +case, she, Dame Deborah, would look upon Lady Peveril as little better +than a dead woman; and undoubtedly there would be a general mourning +through all that country, where they had such great kin; and silks +were likely to rise on it, as Master Lutestring, the mercer of +Chesterfield, was like to feel in his purse bottom. But for her part, +let matters wag how they would, an if Master Julian Peveril was to +come to his own, she could give as near a guess as e'er another who +was likely to be Lady at Martindale. + +The text of this lecture, or, in other words, the fact that +Bridgenorth was gone with a party to attack Sir Geoffrey Peveril in +his own Castle of Martindale, sounded so stunningly strange in the +ears of those old retainers of his family, that they had no power +either to attend to Mistress Deborah's inferences, or to interrupt the +velocity of speech with which she poured them forth. And when at +length she made a breathless pause, all that poor Dame Ellesmere could +reply, was the emphatic question, "Bridgenorth brave Peveril of the +Peak!--Is the woman mad?" + +"Come, come, dame," said Deborah, "woman me no more than I woman you. +I have not been called Mistress at the head of the table for so many +years, to be woman'd here by you. And for the news, it is as true as +that you are sitting there in a white hood, who will wear a black one +ere long." + +"Lance Outram," said the old woman, "make out, if thou be'st a man, +and listen about if aught stirs up at the Castle." + +"If there should," said Outram, "I am even too long here;" and he +caught up his crossbow, and one or two arrows, and rushed out of the +cottage. + +"Well-a-day!" said Mistress Deborah, "see if my news have not +frightened away Lance Outram too, whom they used to say nothing could +start. But do not take on so, dame; for I dare say if the Castle and +the lands pass to my new master, Major Bridgenorth, as it is like they +will--for I have heard that he has powerful debts over the estate--you +shall have my good word with him, and I promise you he is no bad man; +something precise about preaching and praying, and about the dress +which one should wear, which, I must own, beseems not a gentleman, as, +to be sure, every woman knows best what becomes her. But for you, +dame, that wear a prayer-book at your girdle, with your housewife- +case, and never change the fashion of your white hood, I dare say he +will not grudge you the little matter you need, and are not able to +win." + +"Out, sordid jade!" exclaimed Dame Ellesmere, her very flesh quivering +betwixt apprehension and anger, "and hold your peace this instant, or +I will find those that shall flay the very hide from thee with dog- +whips. Hast thou ate thy noble master's bread, not only to betray his +trust, and fly from his service, but wouldst thou come here, like an +ill-omened bird as thou art, to triumph over his downfall?" + +"Nay, dame," said Deborah, over whom the violence of the old woman had +obtained a certain predominance; "it is not I that say it--only the +warrant of the Parliament folks." + +"I thought we had done with their warrants ever since the blessed +twenty-ninth of May," said the old housekeeper of Martindale Castle; +"but this I tell thee, sweetheart, that I have seen such warrants +crammed, at the sword's point, down the throats of them that brought +them; and so shall this be, if there is one true man left to drink of +the Dove." + +As she spoke, Lance Outram re-entered the cottage. "Naunt," he said in +dismay, "I doubt it is true what she says. The beacon tower is as +black as my belt. No Pole-star of Peveril. What does that betoken?" + +"Death, ruin, and captivity," exclaimed old Ellesmere. "Make for the +Castle, thou knave. Thrust in thy great body. Strike for the house +that bred thee and fed thee; and if thou art buried under the ruins, +thou diest a man's death." + +"Nay, naunt, I shall not be slack," answered Outram. "But here come +folks that I warrant can tell us more on't." + +One or two of the female servants, who had fled from the Castle during +the alarm, now rushed in with various reports of the case; but all +agreeing that a body of armed men were in possession of the Castle, +and that Major Bridgenorth had taken young Master Julian prisoner, and +conveyed him down to Moultrassie Hall, with his feet tied under the +belly of the nag--a shameful sight to be seen--and he so well born and +so handsome. + +Lance scratched his head; and though feeling the duty incumbent upon +him as a faithful servant, which was indeed specially dinned into him +by the cries and exclamations of his aunt, he seemed not a little +dubious how to conduct himself. "I would to God, naunt," he said at +last, "that old Whitaker were alive now, with his long stories about +Marston Moor and Edge Hill, that made us all yawn our jaws off their +hinges, in spite of broiled rashers and double beer! When a man is +missed, he is moaned, as they say; and I would rather than a broad +piece he had been here to have sorted this matter, for it is clean out +of my way as a woodsman, that have no skill of war. But dang it, if +old Sir Geoffrey go to the wall without a knock for it!--Here you, +Nell"--(speaking to one of the fugitive maidens from the Castle)-- +"but, no--you have not the heart of a cat, and are afraid of your own +shadow by moonlight--But, Cis, you are a stout-hearted wench, and know +a buck from a bullfinch. Hark thee, Cis, as you would wish to be +married, get up to the Castle again, and get thee in--thou best +knowest where--for thou hast oft gotten out of postern to a dance or +junketing, to my knowledge--Get thee back to the Castle, as ye hope to +be married--See my lady--they cannot hinder thee of that--my lady has +a head worth twenty of ours--If I am to gather force, light up the +beacon for a signal; and spare not a tar barrel on't. Thou mayst do it +safe enough. I warrant the Roundheads busy with drink and plunder.-- +And, hark thee, say to my lady I am gone down to the miners' houses at +Bonadventure. The rogues were mutinying for their wages but yesterday; +they will be all ready for good or bad. Let her send orders down to +me; or do you come yourself, your legs are long enough." + +"Whether they are or not, Master Lance (and you know nothing of the +matter), they shall do your errand to-night, for love of the old +knight and his lady." + +So Cisly Sellok, a kind of Derbyshire Camilla, who had won the smock +at the foot-race at Ashbourne, sprung forward towards the Castle with +a speed which few could have equalled. + +"There goes a mettled wench," said Lance; "and now, naunt, give me the +old broadsword--it is above the bed-head--and my wood-knife; and I +shall do well enough." + +"And what is to become of me?" bleated the unfortunate Mistress +Deborah Debbitch. + +"You must remain here with my aunt, Mistress Deb; and, for old +acquaintance' sake, she will take care no harm befalls you; but take +heed how you attempt to break bounds." + +So saying, and pondering in his own mind the task which he had +undertaken, the hardy forester strode down the moonlight glade, +scarcely hearing the blessings and cautions which Dame Ellesmere kept +showering after him. His thoughts were not altogether warlike. "What a +tight ankle the jade hath!--she trips it like a doe in summer over +dew. Well, but here are the huts--Let us to this gear.--Are ye all +asleep, you dammers, sinkers, and drift-drivers? turn out, ye +subterranean badgers. Here is your master, Sir Geoffrey, dead, for +aught ye know or care. Do not you see the beacon is unlit, and you sit +there like so many asses?" + +"Why," answered one of the miners, who now began to come out of +their huts-- + + "An he be dead, + He will eat no more bread." + +"And you are like to eat none neither," said Lance; "for the works +will be presently stopped, and all of you turned off." + +"Well, and what of it, Master Lance? As good play for nought as work +for nought. Here is four weeks we have scarce seen the colour of Sir +Geoffrey's coin; and you ask us to care whether he be dead or in life? +For you, that goes about, trotting upon your horse, and doing for work +what all men do for pleasure, it may be well enough; but it is another +matter to be leaving God's light, and burrowing all day and night in +darkness, like a toad in a hole--that's not to be done for nought, I +trow; and if Sir Geoffrey is dead, his soul will suffer for't; and if +he's alive, we'll have him in the Barmoot Court." + +"Hark ye, gaffer," said Lance, "and take notice, my mates, all of +you," for a considerable number of these rude and subterranean people +had now assembled to hear the discussion--"Has Sir Geoffrey, think +you, ever put a penny in his pouch out of this same Bonadventure +mine?" + +"I cannot say as I think he has," answered old Ditchley, the party who +maintained the controversy. + +"Answer on your conscience, though it be but a leaden one. Do not you +know that he hath lost a good penny?" + +"Why, I believe he may," said Gaffer Ditchley. "What then!--lose +to-day, win to-morrow--the miner must eat in the meantime." + +"True; but what will you eat when Master Bridgenorth gets the land, +that will not hear of a mine being wrought on his own ground? Will he +work on at dead loss, think ye?" demanded trusty Lance. + +"Bridgenorth?--he of Moultrassie Hall, that stopped the great Felicity +Work, on which his father laid out, some say, ten thousand pounds, and +never got in a penny? Why, what has he to do with Sir Geoffrey's +property down here at Bonadventure? It was never his, I trow." + +"Nay, what do I know?" answered Lance, who saw the impression he had +made. "Law and debt will give him half Derbyshire, I think, unless you +stand by old Sir Geoffrey." + +"But if Sir Geoffrey be dead," said Ditchley cautiously, "what good +will our standing by do to him?" + +"I did not say he was dead, but only as bad as dead; in the hands of +the Roundheads--a prisoner up yonder, at his own Castle," said Lance; +"and will have his head cut off, like the good Earl of Derby's at +Bolton-le-Moors." + +"Nay, then, comrades," said Gaffer Ditchley, "an it be as Master Lance +says, I think we should bear a hand for stout old Sir Geoffrey, +against a low-born mean-spirited fellow like Bridgenorth, who shut up +a shaft had cost thousands, without getting a penny profit on't. So +hurra for Sir Geoffrey, and down with the Rump! But hold ye a blink-- +hold"--(and the waving of his hand stopped the commencing cheer)-- +"Hark ye, Master Lance, it must be all over, for the beacon is as +black as night; and you know yourself that marks the Lord's death." + +"It will kindle again in an instant," said Lance; internally adding, +"I pray to God it may!--It will kindle in an instant--lack of fuel, +and the confusion of the family." + +"Ay, like enow, like enow," said Ditchley; "but I winna budge till I +see it blazing." + +"Why then, there a-goes!" said Lance. "Thank thee, Cis--thank thee, my +good wench.--Believe your own eyes, my lads, if you will not believe +me; and now hurra for Peveril of the Peak--the King and his friends-- +and down with Rumps and Roundheads!" + +The sudden rekindling of the beacon had all the effect which Lance +could have desired upon the minds of his rude and ignorant hearers, +who, in their superstitious humour, had strongly associated the Polar- +star of Peveril with the fortunes of the family. Once moved, according +to the national character of their countrymen, they soon became +enthusiastic; and Lance found himself at the head of thirty stout +fellows and upwards, armed with their pick-axes, and ready to execute +whatever task he should impose on them. + +Trusting to enter the Castle by the postern, which had served to +accommodate himself and other domestics upon an emergency, his only +anxiety was to keep his march silent; and he earnestly recommended to +his followers to reserve their shouts for the moment of the attack. +They had not advanced far on their road to the Castle, when Cisly +Sellok met them so breathless with haste, that the poor girl was +obliged to throw herself into Master Lance's arms. + +"Stand up, my mettled wench," said he, giving her a sly kiss at the +same time, "and let us know what is going on up at the Castle." + +"My lady bids you, as you would serve God and your master, not to come +up to the Castle, which can but make bloodshed; for she says Sir +Geoffrey is lawfully in hand, and that he must bide the issue; and +that he is innocent of what he is charged with, and is going up to +speak for himself before King and Council, and she goes up with him. +And besides, they have found out the postern, the Roundhead rogues; +for two of them saw me when I went out of door, and chased me; but I +showed them a fair pair of heels." + +"As ever dashed dew from the cowslip," said Lance. "But what the foul +fiend is to be done? for if they have secured the postern, I know not +how the dickens we can get in." + +"All is fastened with bolt and staple, and guarded with gun and +pistol, at the Castle," quoth Cisly; "and so sharp are they, that they +nigh caught me coming with my lady's message, as I told you. But my +lady says, if you could deliver her son, Master Julian, from +Bridgenorth, that she would hold it good service." + +"What!" said Lance, "is young master at the Castle? I taught him to +shoot his first shaft. But how to get in!" + +"He was at the Castle in the midst of the ruffle, but old Bridgenorth +has carried him down prisoner to the hall," answered Cisly. "There was +never faith nor courtesy in an old Puritan who never had pipe and +tabor in his house since it was built." + +"Or who stopped a promising mine," said Ditchley, "to save a few +thousand pounds, when he might have made himself as rich as Lord of +Chatsworth, and fed a hundred good fellows all the whilst." + +"Why, then," said Lance, "since you are all of a mind, we will go draw +the cover for the old badger; and I promise you that the Hall is not +like one of your real houses of quality where the walls are as thick +as whinstone-dikes, but foolish brick-work, that your pick-axes will +work through as if it were cheese. Huzza once more for Peveril of the +Peak! down with Bridgenorth, and all upstart cuckoldly Roundheads!" + +Having indulged the throats of his followers with one buxom huzza, +Lance commanded them to cease their clamours, and proceeded to conduct +them, by such paths as seemed the least likely to be watched, to the +courtyard of Moultrassie Hall. On the road they were joined by several +stout yeoman farmers, either followers of the Peveril family, or +friends to the High Church and Cavalier party; most of whom, alarmed +by the news which began to fly fast through the neighbourhood, were +armed with sword and pistol. + +Lance Outram halted his party, at the distance, as he himself +described it, of a flight-shot from the house, and advanced, alone, +and in silence, to reconnoitre; and having previously commanded +Ditchley and his subterranean allies to come to his assistance +whenever he should whistle, he crept cautiously forward, and soon +found that those whom he came to surprise, true to the discipline +which had gained their party such decided superiority during the Civil +War, had posted a sentinel, who paced through the courtyard, piously +chanting a psalm-tune, while his arms, crossed on his bosom, supported +a gun of formidable length. + +"Now, a true solder," said Lance Outram to himself, "would put a stop +to thy snivelling ditty, by making a broad arrow quiver in your heart, +and no great alarm given. But, dang it, I have not the right spirit +for a soldier--I cannot fight a man till my blood's up; and for +shooting him from behind a wall it is cruelly like to stalking a deer. +I'll e'en face him, and try what to make of him." + +With this doughty resolution, and taking no farther care to conceal +himself, he entered the courtyard boldly, and was making forward to +the front door of the hall, as a matter of course. But the old +Cromwellian, who was on guard, had not so learned his duty. "Who goes +there?--Stand, friend--stand; or, verily, I will shoot thee to death!" +were challenges which followed each other quick, the last being +enforced by the levelling and presenting the said long-barrelled gun +with which he was armed. + +"Why, what a murrain!" answered Lance. "Is it your fashion to go a- +shooting at this time o' night? Why, this is but a time for bat- +fowling." + +"Nay, but hark thee, friend," said the experienced sentinel, "I am +none of those who do this work negligently. Thou canst not snare me +with thy crafty speech, though thou wouldst make it to sound simple in +mine ear. Of a verity I will shoot, unless thou tell thy name and +business." + +"Name!" said Lance; "why, what a dickens should it be but Robin +Round--honest Robin of Redham; and for business, an you must needs +know, I come on a message from some Parliament man, up yonder at the +Castle, with letters for worshipful Master Bridgenorth of Moultrassie +Hall; and this be the place, as I think; though why ye be marching up +and down at his door, like the sign of a Red Man, with your old +firelock there, I cannot so well guess." + +"Give me the letters, my friend," said the sentinel, to whom this +explanation seemed very natural and probable, "and I will cause them +forthwith to be delivered into his worship's own hand." + +Rummaging in his pockets, as if to pull out the letters which never +existed, Master Lance approached within the sentinel's piece, and, +before he was aware, suddenly seized him by the collar, whistled sharp +and shrill, and exerting his skill as a wrestler, for which he had +been distinguished in his youth, he stretched his antagonist on his +back--the musket for which they struggled going off in the fall. + +The miners rushed into the courtyard at Lance's signal; and hopeless +any longer of prosecuting his design in silence, Lance commanded two +of them to secure the prisoner, and the rest to cheer loudly, and +attack the door of the house. Instantly the courtyard of the mansion +rang with the cry of "Peveril of the Peak for ever!" with all the +abuse which the Royalists had invented to cast upon the Roundheads, +during so many years of contention; and at the same time, while some +assailed the door with their mining implements, others directed their +attack against the angle, where a kind of porch joined to the main +front of the building; and there, in some degree protected by the +projection of the wall, and of a balcony which overhung the porch, +wrought in more security, as well as with more effect, than the +others; for the doors being of oak, thickly studded with nails, +offered a more effectual resistance to violence than the brick-work. + +The noise of this hubbub on the outside, soon excited wild alarm and +tumult within. Lights flew from window to window, and voices were +heard demanding the cause of the attack; to which the party cries of +those who were in the courtyard afforded a sufficient, or at least the +only answer, which was vouchsafed. At length the window of a +projecting staircase opened, and the voice of Bridgenorth himself +demanded authoritatively what the tumult meant, and commanded the +rioters to desist, upon their own proper and immediate peril. + +"We want our young master, you canting old thief," was the reply; "and +if we have him not instantly, the topmost stone of your house shall +lie as low as the foundation." + +"We shall try that presently," said Bridgenorth; "for if there is +another blow struck against the walls of my peaceful house, I will +fire my carabine among you, and your blood be upon your own head. I +have a score of friends, well armed with musket and pistol, to defend +my house; and we have both the means and heart, with Heaven's +assistance, to repay any violence you can offer." + +"Master Bridgenorth," replied Lance, who, though no soldier, was +sportsman enough to comprehend the advantage which those under cover, +and using firearms, must necessarily have over his party, exposed to +their aim, in a great measure, and without means of answering their +fire,--"Master Bridgenorth, let us crave parley with you, and fair +conditions. We desire to do you no evil, but will have back our young +master; it is enough that you have got our old one and his lady. It is +foul chasing to kill hart, hind, and fawn; and we will give you some +light on the subject in an instant." + +This speech was followed by a great crash amongst the lower windows of +the house, according to a new species of attack which had been +suggested by some of the assailants. + +"I would take the honest fellow's word, and let young Peveril go," +said one of the garrison, who, carelessly yawning, approached on the +inside of the post at which Bridgenorth had stationed himself. + +"Are you mad?" said Bridgenorth; "or do you think me poor enough in +spirit to give up the advantages I now possess over the family of +Peveril, for the awe of a parcel of boors, whom the first discharge +will scatter like chaff before the whirlwind?" + +"Nay," answered the speaker, who was the same individual that had +struck Julian by his resemblance to the man who called himself +Ganlesse, "I love a dire revenge, but we shall buy it somewhat too +dear if these rascals set the house on fire, as they are like to do, +while you are parleying from the window. They have thrown torches or +firebrands into the hall; and it is all our friends can do to keep the +flame from catching the wainscoting, which is old and dry." + +"Now, may Heaven judge thee for thy lightness of spirit," answered +Bridgenorth; "one would think mischief was so properly thy element, +that to thee it was indifferent whether friend or foe was the +sufferer." + +So saying, he ran hastily downstairs towards the hall, into which, +through broken casements, and betwixt the iron bars, which prevented +human entrance, the assailants had thrust lighted straw, sufficient to +excite much smoke and some fire, and to throw the defenders of the +house into great confusion; insomuch, that of several shots fired +hastily from the windows, little or no damage followed to the +besiegers, who, getting warm on the onset, answered the hostile +charges with loud shouts of "Peveril for ever!" and had already made a +practicable breach through the brick-wall of the tenement, through +which Lance, Ditchley, and several of the most adventurous among their +followers, made their way into the hall. + +The complete capture of the house remained, however, as far off as +ever. The defenders mixed with much coolness and skill that solemn and +deep spirit of enthusiasm which sets life at less than nothing, in +comparison to real or supposed duty. From the half-open doors which +led into the hall, they maintained a fire which began to grow fatal. +One miner was shot dead; three or four were wounded; and Lance scarce +knew whether he should draw his forces from the house, and leave it a +prey to the flames, or, making a desperate attack on the posts +occupied by the defenders, try to obtain unmolested possession of the +place. At this moment, his course of conduct was determined by an +unexpected occurrence, of which it is necessary to trace the cause. + +Julian Peveril had been, like other inhabitants of Moultrassie Hall on +that momentous night, awakened by the report of the sentinel's musket, +followed by the shouts of his father's vassals and followers; of which +he collected enough to guess that Bridgenorth's house was attacked +with a view to his liberation. Very doubtful of the issue of such an +attempt, dizzy with the slumber from which he had been so suddenly +awakened, and confounded with the rapid succession of events to which +he had been lately a witness, he speedily put on a part of his +clothes, and hastened to the window of his apartment. From this he +could see nothing to relieve his anxiety, for it looked towards a +quarter different from that on which the attack was made. He attempted +his door; it was locked on the outside; and his perplexity and anxiety +became extreme, when suddenly the lock was turned, and in an +underdress, hastily assumed in the moment of alarm, her hair streaming +on her shoulders, her eyes gleaming betwixt fear and resolution, Alice +Bridgenorth rushed into his apartment, and seized his hand with the +fervent exclamation, "Julian, save my father!" + +The light which she bore in her hand served to show those features +which could rarely have been viewed by any one without emotion, but +which bore an expression irresistible to a lover. + +"Alice," he said, "what means this? What is the danger? Where is your +father?" + +"Do not stay to question," she answered; "but if you would save him, +follow me!" + +At the same time she led the way, with great speed, half-way down the +turret stair case which led to his room, thence turning through a side +door, along a long gallery, to a larger and wider stair, at the bottom +of which stood her father, surrounded by four or five of his friends, +scarce discernible through the smoke of the fire which began to take +hold in the hall, as well as that which arose from the repeated +discharge of their own firearms. + +Julian saw there was not a moment to be lost, if he meant to be a +successful mediator. He rushed through Bridgenorth's party ere they +were aware of his approach, and throwing himself amongst the +assailants who occupied the hall in considerable numbers, he assured +them of his personal safety, and conjured them to depart. + +"Not without a few more slices at the Rump, master," answered Lance. +"I am principally glad to see you safe and well; but here is Joe +Rimegap shot as dead as a buck in season, and more of us are hurt; and +we'll have revenge, and roast the Puritans like apples for lambswool!" + +"Then you shall roast me along with them," said Julian; "for I vow to +God, I will not leave the hall, being bound by parole of honour to +abide with Major Bridgenorth till lawfully dismissed." + +"Now out on you, an you were ten times a Peveril!" said Ditchley; "to +give so many honest fellows loss and labour on your behalf, and to +show them no kinder countenance.--I say, beat up the fire, and burn +all together!" + +"Nay, nay; but peace, my masters, and hearken to reason," said Julian; +"we are all here in evil condition, and you will only make it worse by +contention. Do you help to put out this same fire, which will else +cost us all dear. Keep yourselves under arms. Let Master Bridgenorth +and me settle some grounds of accommodation, and I trust all will be +favourably made up on both sides; and if not, you shall have my +consent and countenance to fight it out; and come on it what will, I +will never forget this night's good service." + +He then drew Ditchley and Lance Outram aside, while the rest stood +suspended at his appearance and words, and expressing the utmost +thanks and gratitude for what they had already done, urged them, as +the greatest favour which they could do towards him and his father's +house, to permit him to negotiate the terms of his emancipation from +thraldom; at the same time forcing on Ditchley five or six gold +pieces, that the brave lads of Bonadventure might drink his health; +whilst to Lance he expressed the warmest sense of his active kindness, +but protested he could only consider it as good service to his house, +if he was allowed to manage the matter after his own fashion. + +"Why," answered Lance, "I am well out on it, Master Julian; for it is +matter beyond my mastery. All that I stand to is, that I will see you +safe out of this same Moultrassie Hall; for our old Naunt Ellesmere +will else give me but cold comfort when I come home. Truth is, I began +unwillingly; but when I saw the poor fellow Joe shot beside me, why, I +thought we should have some amends. But I put it all in your Honour's +hands." + +During this colloquy both parties had been amicably employed in +extinguishing the fire, which might otherwise have been fatal to all. +It required a general effort to get it under; and both parties agreed +on the necessary labour, with as much unanimity, as if the water they +brought in leathern buckets from the well to throw upon the fire, had +some effect in slaking their mutual hostility. + + + + CHAPTER XXVI + + Necessity--thou best of peacemakers, + As well as surest prompter of invention-- + Help us to composition! + --ANONYMOUS. + +While the fire continued, the two parties laboured in active union, +like the jarring factions of the Jews during the siege of Jerusalem, +when compelled to unite in resisting an assault of the besiegers. But +when the last bucket of water had hissed on the few embers that +continued to glimmer--when the sense of mutual hostility, hitherto +suspended by a feeling of common danger, was in its turn rekindled-- +the parties, mingled as they had hitherto been in one common exertion, +drew off from each other, and began to arrange themselves at opposite +sides of the hall, and handle their weapons, as if for a renewal of +the fight. + +Bridgenorth interrupted any farther progress of this menaced +hostility. "Julian Peveril," he said, "thou art free to walk thine own +path, since thou wilt not walk with me that road which is more safe, +as well as more honourable. But if you do by my counsel, you will get +soon beyond the British seas." + +"Ralph Bridgenorth," said one of his friends, "this is but evil and +feeble conduct on thine own part. Wilt thou withhold thy hand from the +battle, to defend, from these sons of Belial, the captive of thy bow +and of thy spear? Surely we are enow to deal with them in the security +of the old serpent, until we essay whether the Lord will not give us +victory therein." + +A hum of stern assent followed; and had not Ganlesse now interfered, +the combat would probably have been renewed. He took the advocate for +war apart into one of the window recesses, and apparently satisfied +his objections; for as he returned to his companions, he said to them, +"Our friend hath so well argued this matter, that, verily, since he is +of the same mind with the worthy Major Bridgenorth, I think the youth +may be set at liberty." + +As no farther objection was offered, it only remained with Julian to +thank and reward those who had been active in his assistance. Having +first obtained from Bridgenorth a promise of indemnity to them for the +riot they had committed, a few kind words conveyed his sense of their +services; and some broad pieces, thrust into the hand of Lance Outram, +furnished the means for affording them a holiday. They would have +remained to protect him, but, fearful of farther disorder, and relying +entirely on the good faith of Major Bridgenorth, he dismissed them all +except Lance, whom he detained to attend upon him for a few minutes, +till he should depart from Moultrassie. But ere leaving the Hall, he +could not repress his desire to speak with Bridgenorth in secret; and +advancing towards him, he expressed such a desire. + +Tacitly granting what was asked of him, Bridgenorth led the way to a +small summer saloon adjoining to the Hall, where, with his usual +gravity and indifference of manner, he seemed to await in silence what +Peveril had to communicate. + +Julian found it difficult, where so little opening was afforded him, +to find a tone in which to open the subjects he had at heart, that +should be at once dignified and conciliating. "Major Bridgenorth," he +said at length, "you have been a son, and an affectionate one--You may +conceive my present anxiety--My father!--What has been designed for +him?" + +"What the law will," answered Bridgenorth. "Had he walked by the +counsels which I procured to be given to him, he might have dwelt +safely in the house of his ancestors. His fate is now beyond my +control--far beyond yours. It must be with him as his country decide." + +"And my mother?" said Peveril. + +"Will consult, as she has ever done, her own duty; and create her own +happiness by doing so," replied Bridgenorth. "Believe, my designs +towards your family are better than they may seem through the mist +which adversity has spread around your house. I may triumph as a man; +but as a man I must also remember, in my hour, that mine enemies have +had theirs.--Have you aught else to say?" he added, after a momentary +pause. "You have rejected once, yea, and again, the hand I stretched +out to you. Methinks little more remains between us." + +These words, which seemed to cut short farther discussion, were calmly +spoken; so that though they appeared to discourage farther question, +they could not interrupt that which still trembled on Julian's tongue. +He made a step or two towards the door; then suddenly returned. "Your +daughter?" he said--"Major Bridgenorth--I should ask--I /do/ ask +forgiveness for mentioning her name--but may I not inquire after her? +--May I not express my wishes for her future happiness?" + +"Your interest in her is but too flattering," said Bridgenorth; "but +you have already chosen your part; and you must be, in future, +strangers to each other. I may have wished it otherwise, but the hour +of grace is passed, during which your compliance with my advice might +--I will speak it plainly--have led to your union. For her happiness-- +if such a word belongs to mortal pilgrimage--I shall care for it +sufficiently. She leaves this place to-day, under the guardianship of +a sure friend." + +"Not of----?" exclaimed Peveril, and stopped short; for he felt he had +no right to pronounce the name which came to his lips. + +"Why do you pause?" said Bridgenorth; "a sudden thought is often a +wise, almost always an honest one. With whom did you suppose I meant +to entrust my child, that the idea called forth so anxious an +expression?" + +"Again I should ask your forgiveness," said Julian, "for meddling +where I have little right to interfere. But I saw a face here that is +known to me--the person calls himself Ganlesse--Is it with him that +you mean to entrust your daughter?" + +"Even to the person who call himself Ganlesse," said Bridgenorth, +without expressing either anger or surprise. + +"And do you know to whom you commit a charge so precious to all who +know her, and so dear to yourself?" said Julian. + +"Do /you/ know, who ask me the question?" answered Bridgenorth. + +"I own I do not," answered Julian; "but I have seen him in a character +so different from that he now wears, that I feel it my duty to warn +you, how you entrust the charge of your child to one who can +alternately play the profligate or the hypocrite, as it suits his own +interest or humour." + +Bridgenorth smiled contemptuously. "I might be angry," he said, "with +the officious zeal which supposes that its green conceptions can +instruct my grey hairs; but, good Julian, I do but only ask from you +the liberal construction, that I, who have had much converse with +mankind, know with whom I trust what is dearest to me. He of whom thou +speakest hath one visage to his friends, though he may have others to +the world, living amongst those before whom honest features should be +concealed under a grotesque vizard; even as in the sinful sports of +the day, called maskings and mummeries, where the wise, if he show +himself at all, must be contented to play the apish and fantastic +fool." + +"I would only pray your wisdom to beware," said Julian, "of one, who, +as he has a vizard for others, may also have one which can disguise +his real features from you yourself." + +"This is being over careful, young man," replied Bridgenorth, more +shortly than he had hitherto spoken; "if you would walk by my counsel, +you will attend to your own affairs, which, credit me, deserve all +your care, and leave others to the management of theirs." + +This was too plain to be misunderstood; and Peveril was compelled to +take his leave of Bridgenorth, and of Moultrassie Hall, without +farther parley or explanation. The reader may imagine how oft he +looked back, and tried to guess, amongst the lights which continued to +twinkle in various parts of the building, which sparkle it was that +gleamed from the bower of Alice. When the road turned into another +direction, he sunk into deep reverie, from which he was at length +roused by the voice of Lance, who demanded where he intended to +quarter for the night. He was unprepared to answer the question, but +the honest keeper himself prompted a solution of the problem, by +requesting that he would occupy a spare bed in the Lodge; to which +Julian willingly agreed. The rest of the inhabitants had retired to +rest when they entered; but Dame Ellesmere, apprised by a messenger of +her nephew's hospitable intent, had everything in the best readiness +she could, for the son of her ancient patron. Peveril betook himself +to rest; and, notwithstanding so many subjects of anxiety, slept +soundly till the morning was far advanced. + +His slumbers were first broken by Lance, who had been long up, and +already active in his service. He informed him, that his horse, arms, +and small cloak-bag had been sent from the Castle by one of Major +Bridgenorth's servants, who brought a letter, discharging from the +Major's service the unfortunate Deborah Debbitch, and prohibiting her +return to the Hall. The officer of the House of Commons, escorted by a +strong guard, had left Martindale Castle that morning early, +travelling in Sir Geoffrey's carriage--his lady being also permitted +to attend on him. To this he had to add, that the property at the +Castle was taken possession of by Master Win-the-fight, the attorney, +from Chesterfield, with other officers of law, in name of Major +Bridgenorth, a large creditor of the unfortunate knight. + +Having told these Job's tidings, Lance paused; and, after a moment's +hesitation, declared he was resolved to quit the country, and go up to +London along with his young master. Julian argued the point with him; +and insisted he had better stay to take charge of his aunt, in case +she should be disturbed by these strangers. Lance replied, "She would +have one with her, who would protect her well enough; for there was +wherewithal to buy protection amongst them. But for himself, he was +resolved to follow Master Julian to the death." + +Julian heartily thanked him for his love. + +"Nay, it is not altogether out of love neither," said Lance, "though I +am as loving as another; but it is, as it were, partly out of fear, +lest I be called over the coals for last night's matter; for as for +the miners, they will never trouble them, as the creatures only act +after their kind." + +"I will write in your behalf to Major Bridgenorth, who is bound to +afford you protection, if you have such fear," said Julian. + +"Nay, for that matter, it is not altogether fear, more than altogether +love," answered the enigmatical keeper, "although it hath a tasting of +both in it. And, to speak plain truth, thus it is--Dame Debbitch and +Naunt Ellesmere have resolved to set up their horses together, and +have made up all their quarrels. And of all ghosts in the world, the +worst is, when an old true-love comes back to haunt a poor fellow like +me. Mistress Deborah, though distressed enow for the loss of her +place, has been already speaking of a broken sixpence, or some such +token, as if a man could remember such things for so many years, even +if she had not gone over seas, like woodcock, in the meanwhile." + +Julian could scarce forbear laughing. "I thought you too much of a +man, Lance, to fear a woman marrying you whether you would or no." + +"It has been many an honest man's luck, for all that," said Lance; +"and a woman in the very house has so many deuced opportunities. And +then there would be two upon one; for Naunt, though high enough when +any of /your/ folks are concerned, hath some look to the main chance; +and it seems Mistress Deb is as rich as a Jew." + +"And you, Lance," said Julian, "have no mind to marry for cake and +pudding." + +"No, truly, master," answered Lance, "unless I knew of what dough they +were baked. How the devil do I know how the jade came by so much? And +then if she speaks of tokens and love-passages, let her be the same +tight lass I broke the sixpence with, and I will be the same true lad +to her. But I never heard of true love lasting ten years; and hers, if +it lives at all, must be nearer twenty." + +"Well, then, Lance," said Julian, "since you are resolved on the +thing, we will go to London together; where, if I cannot retain you in +my service, and if my father recovers not these misfortunes, I will +endeavour to promote you elsewhere." + +"Nay, nay," said Lance, "I trust to be back to bonny Martindale before +it is long, and to keep the greenwood, as I have been wont to do; for, +as to Dame Debbitch, when they have not me for their common butt, +Naunt and she will soon bend bows on each other. So here comes old +Dame Ellesmere with your breakfast. I will but give some directions +about the deer to Rough Ralph, my helper, and saddle my forest pony, +and your honour's horse, which is no prime one, and we will be ready +to trot." + +Julian was not sorry for this addition to his establishment; for Lance +had shown himself, on the preceding evening, a shrewd and bold fellow, +and attached to his master. He therefore set himself to reconcile his +aunt to parting with her nephew for some time. Her unlimited devotion +for "the family," readily induced the old lady to acquiesce in his +proposal, though not without a gentle sigh over the ruins of a castle +in the air, which was founded on the well-saved purse of Mistress +Deborah Debbitch. "At any rate," she thought, "it was as well that +Lance should be out of the way of that bold, long-legged, beggarly +trollop, Cis Sellok." But to poor Deb herself, the expatriation of +Lance, whom she had looked to as a sailor to a port under his lee, for +which he can run, if weather becomes foul, was a second severe blow, +following close on her dismissal from the profitable service of Major +Bridgenorth. + +Julian visited the disconsolate damsel, in hopes of gaining some light +upon Bridgenorth's projects regarding his daughter--the character of +this Ganlesse--and other matters, with which her residence in the +family might have made her acquainted; but he found her by far too +much troubled in mind to afford him the least information. The name of +Ganlesse she did not seem to recollect--that of Alice rendered her +hysterical--that of Bridgenorth, furious. She numbered up the various +services she had rendered in the family--and denounced the plague of +swartness to the linen--of leanness to the poultry--of dearth and +dishonour to the housekeeping--and of lingering sickness and early +death to Alice;--all which evils, she averred, had only been kept off +by her continued, watchful, and incessant cares.--Then again turning +to the subject of the fugitive Lance, she expressed such a total +contempt of that mean-spirited fellow, in a tone between laughing and +crying, as satisfied Julian it was not a topic likely to act as a +sedative; and that, therefore, unless he made a longer stay than the +urgent state of his affairs permitted, he was not likely to find +Mistress Deborah in such a state of composure as might enable him to +obtain from her any rational or useful information. + +Lance, who good-naturedly took upon himself the whole burden of Dame +Debbitch's mental alienation, or "taking on," as such fits of /passio +hysterica/ are usually termed in the country, had too much feeling to +present himself before the victim of her own sensibility, and of his +obduracy. He therefore intimated to Julian, by his assistant Ralph, +that the horses stood saddled behind the Lodge, and that all was ready +for their departure. + +Julian took the hint, and they were soon mounted, and clearing the +road, at a rapid trot, in the direction of London; but not by the most +usual route. Julian calculated that the carriage in which his father +was transported would travel slowly; and it was his purpose, if +possible, to get to London before it should arrive there, in order to +have time to consult, with the friends of his family, what measures +should be taken in his father's behalf. + +In this manner they advanced a day's journey towards London; at the +conclusion of which, Julian found his resting-place in a small inn +upon the road. No one came, at the first call, to attend upon the +guests and their horses, although the house was well lighted up; and +there was a prodigious chattering in the kitchen, such as can only be +produced by a French cook when his mystery is in the very moment of +projection. It instantly occurred to Julian--so rare was the ministry +of these Gallic artists at that time--that the clamour he heard must +necessarily be produced by the Sieur Chaubert, on whose /plats/ he had +lately feasted, along with Smith and Ganlesse. + +One, or both of these, were therefore probably in the little inn; and +if so, he might have some opportunity to discover their real purpose +and character. How to avail himself of such a meeting he knew not; but +chance favoured him more than he could have expected. + +"I can scarce receive you, gentlefolks," said the landlord, who at +length appeared at the door; "here be a sort of quality in my house +to-night, whom less than all will not satisfy; nor all neither, for +that matter." + +"We are but plain fellows, landlord," said Julian; "we are bound for +Moseley-market, and can get no farther to-night. Any hole will serve +us, no matter what." + +"Why," said the honest host, "if that be the case, I must e'en put one +of you behind the bar, though the gentlemen have desired to be +private; the other must take heart of grace and help me at the tap." + +"The tap for me," said Lance, without waiting his master's decision. +"It is an element which I could live and die in." + +"The bar, then, for me," said Peveril; and stepping back, whispered to +Lance to exchange cloaks with him, desirous, if possible, to avoid +being recognised. + +The exchange was made in an instant; and presently afterwards the +landlord brought a light; and as he guided Julian into his hostelry, +cautioned him to sit quiet in the place where he should stow him; and +if he was discovered, to say that he was one of the house, and leave +him to make it good. "You will hear what the gallants say," he added; +"but I think thou wilt carry away but little on it; for when it is not +French, it is Court gibberish; and that is as hard to construe." + +The bar, into which our hero was inducted on these conditions, seemed +formed, with respect to the public room, upon the principle of a +citadel, intended to observe and bridle a rebellious capital. Here sat +the host on the Saturday evenings, screened from the observation of +his guests, yet with the power of observing both their wants and their +behaviour, and also that of overhearing their conversation--a practice +which he was much addicted to, being one of that numerous class of +philanthropists, to whom their neighbours' business is of as much +consequence, or rather more, than their own. + +Here he planted his new guest, with a repeated caution not to disturb +the gentlemen by speech or motion; and a promise that he should be +speedily accommodated with a cold buttock of beef, and a tankard of +home-brewed. And here he left him with no other light than that which +glimmered from the well-illuminated apartment within, through a sort +of shuttle which accommodated the landlord with a view into it. + +This situation, inconvenient enough in itself, was, on the present +occasion, precisely what Julian would have selected. He wrapped +himself in the weather-beaten cloak of Lance Outram, which had been +stained, by age and weather, into a thousand variations from its +original Lincoln green; and with as little noise as he could, set +himself to observe the two inmates, who had engrossed to themselves +the whole of the apartment, which was usually open to the public. They +sat by a table well covered with such costly rarities, as could only +have been procured by much forecast, and prepared by the exquisite +Mons. Chaubert; to which both seemed to do much justice. + +Julian had little difficulty in ascertaining, that one of the +travellers was, as he had anticipated, the master of the said +Chaubert, or, as he was called by Ganlesse, Smith; the other, who +faced him, he had never seen before. This last was dressed like a +gallant of the first order. His periwig, indeed, as he travelled on +horseback, did not much exceed in size the bar-wig of a modern lawyer; +but then the essence which he shook from it with every motion, +impregnated a whole apartment, which was usually only perfumed by that +vulgar herb, tobacco. His riding-coat was laced in the newest and most +courtly style; and Grammont himself might have envied the embroidery +of his waistcoat, and the peculiar cut of his breeches, which buttoned +above the knee, permitting the shape of a very handsome leg to be +completely seen. This, by the proprietor thereof, had been stretched +out upon a stool, and he contemplated its proportions, from time to +time, with infinite satisfaction. + +The conversation between these worthies was so interesting, that we +propose to assign to it another chapter. + + + + CHAPTER XXVII + + ----This is some creature of the elements, + Most like your sea-gull. He can wheel and whistle + His screaming song, e'en when the storm is loudest-- + Take for his sheeted couch the restless foam + Of the wild wave-crest--slumber in the calm, + And daily with the storm. Yet 'tis a gull, + An arrant gull, with all this. + --THE CHAMPION. + +"And here is to thee," said the fashionable gallant whom we have +described, "honest Tom; and a cup of welcome to thee out of Looby- +land. Why, thou hast been so long in the country, that thou hast got a +bumpkinly clod-compelling sort of look thyself. That greasy doublet +fits thee as if it were thy reserved Sunday's apparel; and the points +seem as if they were stay-laces bought for thy true-love Marjory. I +marvel thou canst still relish a ragout. Methinks now, to a stomach +bound in such a jacket, eggs and bacon were a diet more conforming." + +"Rally away, my good lord, while wit lasts," answered his companion; +"yours is not the sort of ammunition which will bear much expenditure. +Or rather, tell me news from Court, since we have met so opportunely." + +"You would have asked me these an hour ago," said the lord, "had not +your very soul been under Chaubert's covered dishes. You remembered +King's affairs will keep cool, and /entre-mets/ must be eaten hot." + +"Not so, my lord; I only kept common talk whilst that eavesdropping +rascal of a landlord was in the room; so that, now the coast is clear +once more, I pray you for news from Court." + +"The Plot is nonsuited," answered the courtier--"Sir George Wakeman +acquitted--the witnesses discredited by the jury--Scroggs, who ranted +on one side, is now ranting on t'other." + +"Rat the Plot, Wakeman, witnesses, Papists, and Protestants, all +together! Do you think I care for such trash as that?--Till the Plot +comes up the Palace backstair, and gets possession of old Rowley's own +imagination, I care not a farthing who believes or disbelieves. I hang +by him will bear me out." + +"Well, then," said the lord, "the next news is Rochester's disgrace." + +"Disgraced!--How, and for what? The morning I came off he stood as +fair as any one." + +"That's over--the epitaph[*] has broken his neck--and now he may write +one for his own Court favour, for it is dead and buried." + +[*] The epitaph alluded to is the celebrated epigram made by Rochester + on Charles II. It was composed at the King's request, who + nevertheless resented its poignancy. + + The lines are well known:-- + + "Here lies our sovereign lord the King, + Whose word no man relies on, + Who never said a foolish thing, + And never did a wise one." + +"The epitaph!" exclaimed Tom; "why, I was by when it was made; and it +passed for an excellent good jest with him whom it was made upon." + +"Ay, so it did amongst ourselves," answered his companion; "but it got +abroad, and had a run like a mill-race. It was in every coffee-house, +and in half the diurnals. Grammont translated it into French too; and +there is no laughing at so sharp a jest, when it is dinned into your +ears on all sides. So disgraced is the author; and but for his Grace +of Buckingham, the Court would be as dull as my Lord Chancellor's +wig." + +"Or as the head it covers.--Well, my lord, the fewer at Court, there +is the more room for those that can bustle there. But there are two +mainstrings of Shaftesbury's fiddle broken--the Popish Plot fallen +into discredit--and Rochester disgraced. Changeful times--but here is +to the little man who shall mend them." + +"I apprehend you," replied his lordship; "and meet your health with my +love. Trust me, my lord loves you, and longs for you.--Nay, I have +done you reason.--By your leave, the cup is with me. Here is to his +buxom Grace of Bucks." + +"As blithe a peer," said Smith, "as ever turned night to day. Nay, it +shall be an overflowing bumper, an you will; and I will drink it +/super naculum/.--And how stands the great Madam?"[*] + +[*] The Duchess of Portsmouth, Charles II.'s favourite mistress; very + unpopular at the time of the Popish Plot, as well from her + religion as her country, being a Frenchwoman and a Catholic. + +"Stoutly against all change," answered the lord--"Little Anthony[*] +can make nought of her." + +[*] Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, the politician and + intriguer of the period. + +"Then he shall bring her influence to nought. Hark in thine ear. Thou +knowest----" (Here he whispered so low that Julian could not catch the +sound.) + +"Know him?" answered the other--"Know Ned of the Island?--To be sure I +do." + +"He is the man that shall knot the great fiddle-strings that have +snapped. Say I told you so; and thereupon I give thee his health." + +"And thereupon I pledge thee," said the young nobleman, "which on any +other argument I were loath to do--thinking of Ned as somewhat the cut +of a villain." + +"Granted, man--granted," said the other,--"a very thorough-paced +rascal; but able, my lord, able and necessary; and, in this plan, +indispensable.--Pshaw!--This champagne turns stronger as it gets +older, I think." + +"Hark, mine honest fellow," said the courtier; "I would thou wouldst +give me some item of all this mystery. Thou hast it, I know; for whom +do men entrust but trusty Chiffinch?" + +"It is your pleasure to say so, my lord," answered Smith (whom we +shall hereafter call by his real name of Chiffinch) with such drunken +gravity, for his speech had become a little altered by his copious +libations in the course of the evening,--"few men know more, or say +less, than I do; and it well becomes my station. /Conticuere omnes/, +as the grammar hath it--all men should learn to hold their tongue." + +"Except with a friend, Tom--except with a friend. Thou wilt never be +such a dogbolt as to refuse a hint to a friend? Come, you get too wise +and statesman-like for your office.--The ligatures of thy most +peasantly jacket there are like to burst with thy secret. Come, undo a +button, man; it is for the health of thy constitution--Let out a reef; +and let thy chosen friend know what is meditating. Thou knowest I am +as true as thyself to little Anthony, if he can but get uppermost." + +"/If/, thou lordly infidel!" said Chiffinch--"talk'st thou to me of +/ifs?/--There is neither /if/ nor /and/ in the matter. The great Madam +shall be pulled a peg down--the great Plot screwed a peg or two up. +Thou knowest Ned?--Honest Ned had a brother's death to revenge." + +"I have heard so," said the nobleman; "and that his persevering +resentment of that injury was one of the few points which seemed to be +a sort of heathenish virtue in him." + +"Well," continued Chiffinch, "in manoeuvring to bring about this +revenge, which he hath laboured at many a day, he hath discovered a +treasure." + +"What!--In the Isle of Man?" said his companion. + +"Assure yourself of it.--She is a creature so lovely, that she needs +but be seen to put down every one of the favourites, from Portsmouth +and Cleveland down to that threepenny baggage, Mistress Nelly." + +"By my word, Chiffinch," said my lord, "that is a reinforcement after +the fashion of thine own best tactics. But bethink thee, man! To make +such a conquest, there wants more than a cherry-cheek and a bright +eye--there must be wit--wit, man, and manners, and a little sense +besides, to keep influence when it is gotten." + +"Pshaw! will you tell me what goes to this vocation?" said Chiffinch. +"Here, pledge me her health in a brimmer.--Nay, you shall do it on +knees, too.--Never such a triumphant beauty was seen--I went to church +on purpose, for the first time these ten years--Yet I lie, it was not +to church neither--it was to chapel." + +"To chapel!--What the devil, is she a Puritan?" exclaimed the other +courtier. + +"To be sure she is. Do you think I would be accessory to bringing a +Papist into favour in these times, when, as my good Lord said in the +House, there should not be a Popish manservant, nor a Popish maid- +servant, not so much as dog or cat, left to bark or mew about the +King!"[*] + +[*] Such was the extravagance of Shaftesbury's eloquence. + +"But consider, Chiffie, the dislikelihood of her pleasing," said the +noble courtier.--"What! old Rowley, with his wit, and love of wit--his +wildness, and love of wildness--he form a league with a silly, +scrupulous, unidea'd Puritan!--Not if she were Venus." + +"Thou knowest nought of the matter," answered Chiffinch. "I tell thee, +the fine contrast between the seeming saint and falling sinner will +give zest to the old gentleman's inclination. If I do not know him, +who does?--Her health, my lord, on your bare knee, as you would live +to be of the bedchamber." + +"I pledge you most devoutly," answered his friend. "But you have not +told me how the acquaintance is to be made; for you cannot, I think, +carry her to Whitehall." + +"Aha, my dear lord, you would have the whole secret! but that I cannot +afford--I can spare a friend a peep at my ends, but no one must look +on the means by which they are achieved."--So saying, he shook his +drunken head most wisely. + +The villainous design which this discourse implied, and which his +heart told him was designed against Alice Bridgenorth, stirred Julian +so extremely, that he involuntarily shifted his posture, and laid his +hand on his sword hilt. + +Chiffinch heard a rustling, and broke off, exclaiming, "Hark!-- +Zounds, something moved--I trust I have told the tale to no ears but +thine." + +"I will cut off any which have drunk in but a syllable of thy words," +said the nobleman; and raising a candle, he took a hasty survey of the +apartment. Seeing nothing that could incur his menaced resentment, he +replaced the light and continued:--"Well, suppose the Belle Louise de +Querouaille[*] shoots from her high station in the firmament, how will +you rear up the downfallen Plot again--for without that same Plot, +think of it as thou wilt, we have no change of hands--and matters +remain as they were, with a Protestant courtezan instead of a Papist-- +Little Anthony can but little speed without that Plot of his--I +believe, in my conscience, he begot it himself."[+] + +[*] Charles's principal mistress /en titre/. She was created Duchess + of Portsmouth. + +[+] Shaftesbury himself is supposed to have said that he knew not who + was the inventor of the Plot, but that he himself had all the + advantage of the discovery. + +"Whoever begot it," said Chiffinch, "he hath adopted it; and a +thriving babe it has been to him. Well, then, though it lies out of my +way, I will play Saint Peter again--up with t'other key, and unlock +t'other mystery." + +"Now thou speakest like a good fellow; and I will, with my own hands, +unwire this fresh flask, to begin a brimmer to the success of thy +achievement." + +"Well, then," continued the communicative Chiffinch, "thou knowest +that they have long had a nibbling at the old Countess of Derby.--So +Ned was sent down--he owes her an old accompt, thou knowest--with +private instructions to possess himself of the island, if he could, by +help of some of his old friends. He hath ever kept up spies upon her; +and happy man was he, to think his hour of vengeance was come so nigh. +But he missed his blow; and the old girl being placed on her guard, +was soon in a condition to make Ned smoke for it. Out of the island he +came with little advantage for having entered it; when, by some means +--for the devil, I think, stands ever his friend--he obtained +information concerning a messenger, whom her old Majesty of Man had +sent to London to make party in her behalf. Ned stuck himself to this +fellow--a raw, half-bred lad, son of an old blundering Cavalier of the +old stamp, down in Derbyshire--and so managed the swain, that he +brought him to the place where I was waiting, in anxious expectation +of the pretty one I told you of. By Saint Anthony, for I will swear by +no meaner oath, I stared when I saw this great lout--not that the +fellow is so ill-looked neither--I stared like--like--good now, help +me to a simile." + +"Like Saint Anthony's pig, an it were sleek," said the young lord; +"your eyes, Chiffie, have the very blink of one. But what hath all +this to do with the Plot? Hold, I have had wine enough." + +"You shall not balk me," said Chiffinch; and a jingling was heard, as +if he were filling his comrade's glass with a very unsteady hand. "Hey +--What the devil is the matter?--I used to carry my glass steady--very +steady." + +"Well, but this stranger?" + +"Why, he swept at game and ragout as he would at spring beef or summer +mutton. Never saw so unnurtured a cub--Knew no more what he ate than +an infidel--I cursed him by my gods when I saw Chaubert's /chef-d' +oeuvres/ glutted down so indifferent a throat. We took the freedom to +spice his goblet a little, and ease him of his packet of letters; and +the fool went on his way the next morning with a budget artificially +filled with grey paper. Ned would have kept him, in hopes to have made +a witness of him, but the boy was not of that mettle." + +"How will you prove your letters?" said the courtier. + +"La you there, my lord," said Chiffinch; "one may see with half an +eye, for all your laced doublet, that you have been of the family of +Furnival's, before your brother's death sent you to Court. How prove +the letters?--Why, we have but let the sparrow fly with a string round +his foot.--We have him again so soon as we list." + +"Why, thou art turned a very Machiavel, Chiffinch," said his friend. +"But how if the youth proved restive?--I have heard these Peak men +have hot heads and hard hands." + +"Trouble not yourself--that was cared for, my lord," said Chiffinch-- +"his pistols might bark, but they could not bite." + +"Most exquisite Chiffinch, thou art turned micher as well as padder-- +Canst both rob a man and kidnap him!" + +"Micher and padder--what terms be these?" said Chiffinch. "Methinks +these are sounds to lug out upon. You will have me angry to the degree +of falling foul--robber and kidnapper!" + +"You mistake verb for noun-substantive," replied his lordship; "I said +/rob/ and /kidnap/--a man may do either once and away without being +professional." + +"But not without spilling a little foolish noble blood, or some such +red-coloured gear," said Chiffinch, starting up. + +"Oh yes," said his lordship; "all this may be without these dire +consequences, and as you will find to-morrow, when you return to +England; for at present you are in the land of Champagne, Chiffie; and +that you may continue so, I drink thee this parting cup to line thy +nightcap." + +"I do not refuse your pledge," said Chiffinch; "but I drink to thee in +dudgeon and in hostility--It is cup of wrath, and a gage of battle. +To-morrow, by dawn, I will have thee at point of fox, wert thou the +last of the Savilles.--What the devil! think you I fear you because +you are a lord?" + +"Not so, Chiffinch," answered his companion. "I know thou fearest +nothing but beans and bacon, washed down with bumpkin-like beer.-- +Adieu, sweet Chiffinch--to bed--Chiffinch--to bed." + +So saying, he lifted a candle, and left the apartment. And Chiffinch, +whom the last draught had nearly overpowered, had just strength enough +left to do the same, muttering, as he staggered out, "Yes, he shall +answer it.--Dawn of day? D--n me--It is come already--Yonder's the +dawn--No, d--n me, 'tis the fire glancing on the cursed red lattice-- +It is the smell of the brandy in this cursed room--It could not be the +wine--Well, old Rowley shall send me no more errands to the country +again--Steady, steady." + +So saying, he reeled out of the apartment, leaving Peveril to think +over the extraordinary conversation he had just heard. + +The name of Chiffinch, the well-known minister of Charles's pleasures, +was nearly allied to the part which he seemed about to play in the +present intrigue; but that Christian, whom he had always supposed a +Puritan as strict as his brother-in-law, Bridgenorth, should be +associated with him in a plot so infamous, seemed alike unnatural and +monstrous. The near relationship might blind Bridgenorth, and warrant +him in confiding his daughter to such a man's charge; but what a +wretch he must be, that could coolly meditate such an ignominious +abuse of his trust! In doubt whether he could credit for a moment the +tale which Chiffinch had revealed, he hastily examined his packet, and +found that the sealskin case in which it had been wrapt up, now only +contained an equal quantity of waste paper. If he had wanted farther +confirmation, the failure of the shot which he fired at Bridgenorth, +and of which the wadding only struck him, showed that his arms had +been tampered with. He examined the pistol which still remained +charged, and found that the ball had been drawn. "May I perish," said +he to himself, "amid these villainous intrigues, but thou shalt be +more surely loaded, and to better purpose! The contents of these +papers may undo my benefactress--their having been found on me, may +ruin my father--that I have been the bearer of them, may cost, in +these fiery times, my own life--that I care least for--they form a +branch of the scheme laid against the honour and happiness of a +creature so innocent, that it is almost sin to think of her within the +neighbourhood of such infamous knaves. I will recover the letters at +all risks--But how?--that is to be thought on.--Lance is stout and +trusty; and when a bold deed is once resolved upon, there never yet +lacked the means of executing it." + +His host now entered, with an apology for his long absence; and after +providing Peveril with some refreshments, invited him to accept, for +his night-quarters, the accommodation of a remote hayloft, which he +was to share with his comrade; professing, at the same time, he could +hardly have afforded them this courtesy, but out of deference to the +exquisite talents of Lance Outram, as assistant at the tap; where, +indeed, it seems probable that he, as well as the admiring landlord, +did that evening contrive to drink nearly as much liquor as they drew. + +But Lance was a seasoned vessel, on whom liquor made no lasting +impression; so that when Peveril awaked that trusty follower at dawn, +he found him cool enough to comprehend and enter into the design which +he expressed, of recovering the letters which had been abstracted from +his person. + +Having considered the whole matter with much attention, Lance +shrugged, grinned, and scratched his head; and at length manfully +expressed his resolution. "Well, my naunt speaks truth in her old +saw---- + + 'He that serves Peveril maunna be slack, + Neither for weather, nor yet for wrack.' + +And then again, my good dame was wont to say, that whenever Peveril +was in a broil, Outram was in a stew; so I will never bear a base +mind, but even hold a part with you as my fathers have done with +yours, for four generations, whatever more." + +"Spoken like a most gallant Outram," said Julian; "and were we but rid +of that puppy lord and his retinue, we two could easily deal with the +other three." + +"Two Londoners and a Frenchman?" said Lance,--"I would take them in +mine own hand. And as for my Lord Saville, as they call him, I heard +word last night that he and all his men of gilded gingerbread--that +looked at an honest fellow like me, as if they were the ore and I the +dross--are all to be off this morning to some races, or such-like +junketings, about Tutbury. It was that brought him down here, where he +met this other civet-cat by accident." + +In truth, even as Lance spoke, a trampling was heard of horses in the +yard; and from the hatch of their hayloft they beheld Lord Saville's +attendants mustered, and ready to set out as soon as he could make his +appearance. + +"So ho, Master Jeremy," said one of the fellows, to a sort of +principal attendant, who just came out of the house, "methinks the +wine has proved a sleeping cup to my lord this morning." + +"No," answered Jeremy, "he hath been up before light writing letters +for London; and to punish thy irreverence, thou, Jonathan, shalt be +the man to ride back with them." + +"And so to miss the race?" said Jonathan sulkily; "I thank you for +this good turn, good Master Jeremy; and hang me if I forget it." + +Farther discussion was cut short by the appearance of the young +nobleman, who, as he came out of the inn, said to Jeremy, "These be +the letters. Let one of the knaves ride to London for life and death, +and deliver them as directed; and the rest of them get to horse and +follow me." + +Jeremy gave Jonathan the packet with a malicious smile; and the +disappointed groom turned his horse's head sullenly towards London, +while Lord Saville, and the rest of his retinue, rode briskly off in +an opposite direction, pursued by the benedictions of the host and his +family, who stood bowing and courtesying at the door, in gratitude, +doubtless, for the receipt of an unconscionable reckoning. + +It was full three hours after their departure, that Chiffinch lounged +into the room in which they had supped, in a brocade nightgown, and +green velvet cap, turned up with the most costly Brussels lace. He +seemed but half awake; and it was with drowsy voice that he called for +a cup of cold small beer. His manner and appearance were those of a +man who had wrestled hard with Bacchus on the preceding evening, and +had scarce recovered the effects of his contest with the jolly god. +Lance, instructed by his master to watch the motions of the courtier, +officiously attended with the cooling beverage he called for, +pleading, as an excuse to the landlord, his wish to see a Londoner in +his morning-gown and cap. + +No sooner had Chiffinch taken his morning draught, than he inquired +after Lord Saville. + +"His lordship was mounted and away by peep of dawn," was Lance's +reply. + +"What the devil!" exclaimed Chiffinch; "why, this is scarce civil.-- +What! off for the races with his whole retinue?" + +"All but one," replied Lance, "whom his lordship sent back to London +with letters." + +"To London with letters!" said Chiffinch. "Why, I am for London, and +could have saved his express a labour.--But stop--hold--I begin to +recollect--d----n, can I have blabbed?--I have--I have--I remember it +all now--I have blabbed; and to the very weasel of the Court, who +sucks the yelk out of every man's secret. Furies and fire--that my +afternoons should ruin my mornings thus!--I must turn boon companion +and good fellow in my cups--and have my confidences and my quarrels-- +my friends and my enemies, with a plague to me, as if any one could do +a man much good or harm but his own self. His messenger must be +stopped, though--I will put a spoke in his wheel.--Hark ye, drawer- +fellow--call my groom hither--call Tom Beacon." + +Lance obeyed; but failed not, when he had introduced the domestic, to +remain in the apartment, in order to hear what should pass betwixt him +and his master. + +"Hark ye, Tom," said Chiffinch, "here are five pieces for you." + +"What's to be done now, I trow?" said Tom, without even the ceremony +of returning thanks, which he was probably well aware would not be +received even in part payment of the debt he was incurring. + +"Mount your fleet nag, Tom--ride like the devil--overtake the groom +whom Lord Saville despatched to London this morning--lame his horse-- +break his bones--fill him as drunk as the Baltic sea; or do whatever +may best and most effectively stop his journey.--Why does the lout +stand there without answering me? Dost understand me?" + +"Why, ay, Master Chiffinch," said Tom; "and so I am thinking doth this +honest man here, who need not have heard quite so much of your +counsel, an it had been your will." + +"I am bewitched this morning," said Chiffinch to himself, "or else the +champagne runs in my head still. My brain has become the very lowlands +of Holland--a gill-cup would inundate it--Hark thee, fellow," he +added, addressing Lance, "keep my counsel--there is a wager betwixt +Lord Saville and me, which of us shall first have a letter in London. +Here is to drink my health, and bring luck on my side. Say nothing of +it; but help Tom to his nag.--Tom, ere thou startest come for thy +credentials--I will give thee a letter to the Duke of Bucks, that may +be evidence thou wert first in town." + +Tom Beacon ducked and exited; and Lance, after having made some show +of helping him to horse, ran back to tell his master the joyful +intelligence, that a lucky accident had abated Chiffinch's party to +their own number. + +Peveril immediately ordered his horses to be got ready; and, so soon +as Tom Beacon was despatched towards London, on a rapid trot, had the +satisfaction to observe Chiffinch, with his favourite Chaubert, mount +to pursue the same journey, though at a more moderate rate. He +permitted them to attain such a distance, that they might be dogged +without suspicion; then paid his reckoning, mounted his horse, and +followed, keeping his men carefully in view, until he should come to a +place proper for the enterprise which he meditated. + +It had been Peveril's intention, that when they came to some solitary +part of the road, they should gradually mend their pace, until they +overtook Chaubert--that Lance Outram should then drop behind, in order +to assail the man of spits and stoves, while he himself, spurring +onwards, should grapple with Chiffinch. But this scheme presupposed +that the master and servant should travel in the usual manner--the +latter riding a few yards behind the former. Whereas, such and so +interesting were the subjects of discussion betwixt Chiffinch and the +French cook, that, without heeding the rules of etiquette, they rode +on together, amicably abreast, carrying on a conversation on the +mysteries of the table, which the ancient Comus, or a modern +gastronome, might have listened to with pleasure. It was therefore +necessary to venture on them both at once. + +For this purpose, when they saw a long tract of road before them, +unvaried by the least appearance of man, beast, or human habitation, +they began to mend their pace, that they might come up to Chiffinch, +without giving him any alarm, by a sudden and suspicious increase of +haste. In this manner they lessened the distance which separated them +till they were within about twenty yards, when Peveril, afraid that +Chiffinch might recognise him at a nearer approach, and so trust to +his horse's heels, made Lance the signal to charge. + +At the sudden increase of their speed, and the noise with which it was +necessarily attended, Chiffinch looked around, but had time to do no +more, for Lance, who had pricked his pony (which was much more speedy +than Julian's horse) into full gallop, pushed, without ceremony, +betwixt the courtier and his attendant; and ere Chaubert had time for +more than one exclamation, he upset both horse and Frenchman,-- +/morbleu!/ thrilling from his tongue as he rolled on the ground +amongst the various articles of his occupation, which, escaping from +the budget in which he bore them, lay tumbled upon the highway in +strange disorder; while Lance, springing from his palfrey, commanded +his foeman to be still, under no less a penalty than that of death, if +he attempted to rise. + +Before Chiffinch could avenge his trusty follower's downfall, his own +bridle was seized by Julian, who presented a pistol with the other +hand, and commanded him to stand or die. + +Chiffinch, though effeminate, was no coward. He stood still as +commanded, and said, with firmness, "Rogue, you have taken me at +surprise. If you are highwaymen, there is my purse. Do us no bodily +harm, and spare the budget of spices and sauces." + +"Look you, Master Chiffinch," said Peveril, "this is no time for +dallying. I am no highwayman, but a man of honour. Give me back that +packet which you stole from me the other night; or, by all that is +good, I will send a brace of balls through you, and search for it at +leisure." + +"What night?--What packet?" answered Chiffinch, confused; yet willing +to protract the time for the chance of assistance, or to put Peveril +off his guard. "I know nothing of what you mean. If you are a man of +honour, let me draw my sword, and I will do you right, as a gentleman +should do to another." + +"Dishonourable rascal!" said Peveril, "you escape not in this manner. +You plundered me when you had me at odds; and I am not the fool to let +my advantage escape, now that my turn is come. Yield up the packet; +and then, if you will, I will fight you on equal terms. But first," he +reiterated, "yield up the packet, or I will instantly send you where +the tenor of your life will be hard to answer for." + +The tone of Peveril's voice, the fierceness of his eye, and the manner +in which he held the loaded weapon, within a hand's-breadth of +Chiffinch's head, convinced the last there was neither room for +compromise, nor time for trifling. He thrust his hand into a side +pocket of his cloak, and with visible reluctance, produced those +papers and despatches with which Julian had been entrusted by the +Countess of Derby. + +"They are five in number," said Julian; "and you have given me only +four. Your life depends on full restitution." + +"It escaped from my hand," said Chiffinch, producing the missing +document--"There it is. Now, sir, your pleasure is fulfilled, unless," +he added sulkily, "you design either murder or farther robbery." + +"Base wretch!" said Peveril, withdrawing his pistol, yet keeping a +watchful eye on Chiffinch's motions, "thou art unworthy any honest +man's sword; and yet, if you dare draw your own, as you proposed but +now, I am willing to give you a chance upon fair equality of terms." + +"Equality!" said Chiffinch sneeringly; "yes, a proper equality--sword +and pistol against single rapier, and two men upon one, for Chaubert +is no fighter. No sir; I shall seek amends upon some more fitting +occasion, and with more equal weapons." + +"By backbiting, or by poison, base pander!" said Julian; "these are +thy means of vengeance. But mark me--I know your vile purpose +respecting a lady who is too worthy that her name should be uttered in +such a worthless ear. Thou hast done me one injury, and thou see'st I +have repaid it. But prosecute this farther villainy, and be assured I +will put thee to death like a foul reptile, whose very slaver is fatal +to humanity. Rely upon this, as if Machiavel had sworn it; for so +surely as you keep your purpose, so surely will I prosecute my +revenge.--Follow me, Lance, and leave him to think on what I have told +him." + +Lance had, after the first shock, sustained a very easy part in this +recontre; for all he had to do, was to point the butt of his whip, in +the manner of a gun, at the intimidated Frenchman, who, lying on his +back, and gazing at random on the skies, had as little the power or +purpose of resistance, as any pig which had ever come under his own +slaughter-knife. + +Summoned by his master from the easy duty of guarding such an +unresisting prisoner, Lance remounted his horse, and they both rode +off, leaving their discomfited antagonists to console themselves for +their misadventure as they best could. But consolation was hard to +come by in the circumstances. The French artist had to lament the +dispersion of his spices, and the destruction of his magazine of +sauces--an enchanter despoiled of his magic wand and talisman, could +scarce have been in more desperate extremity. Chiffinch had to mourn +the downfall of his intrigue, and its premature discovery. "To this +fellow, at least," he thought, "I can have bragged none--here my evil +genius alone has betrayed me. With this infernal discovery, which may +cost me so dear on all hands, champagne had nought to do. If there be +a flask left unbroken, I will drink it after dinner, and try if it may +not even yet suggest some scheme of redemption and of revenge." + +With this manly resolution, he prosecuted his journey to London. + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII + + A man so various, that he seem'd to be + Not one, but all mankind's epitome; + Stiff in opinions--always in the wrong-- + Was everything by starts, but nothing long; + Who, in the course of one revolving moon, + Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon; + Then, all for women, painting, fiddling, drinking; + Besides a thousand freaks that died in thinking. + --DRYDEN. + +We must now transport the reader to the magnificent hotel in ---- +Street, inhabited at this time by the celebrated George Villiers, Duke +of Buckingham, whom Dryden has doomed to a painful immortality by the +few lines which we have prefixed to this chapter. Amid the gay and +licentious of the laughing Court of Charles, the Duke was the most +licentious and most gay; yet, while expending a princely fortune, a +strong constitution, and excellent talents, in pursuit of frivolous +pleasures, he nevertheless nourished deeper and more extensive +designs; in which he only failed from want of that fixed purpose and +regulated perseverance essential to all important enterprises, but +particularly in politics. + +It was long past noon; and the usual hour of the Duke's levee--if +anything could be termed usual where all was irregular--had been long +past. His hall was filled with lackeys and footmen, in the most +splendid liveries; the interior apartments, with the gentlemen and +pages of his household, arrayed as persons of the first quality, and, +in that respect, rather exceeding than falling short of the Duke in +personal splendour. But his antechamber, in particular, might be +compared to a gathering of eagles to the slaughter, were not the +simile too dignified to express that vile race, who, by a hundred +devices all tending to one common end, live upon the wants of needy +greatness, or administer to the pleasures of summer-teeming luxury, or +stimulate the wild wishes of lavish and wasteful extravagance, by +devising new modes and fresh motives of profusion. There stood the +projector, with his mysterious brow, promising unbounded wealth to +whomsoever might choose to furnish the small preliminary sum necessary +to change egg-shells into the great /arcanum/. There was Captain +Seagull, undertaker for a foreign settlement, with the map under his +arm of Indian or American kingdoms, beautiful as the primitive Eden, +waiting the bold occupants, for whom a generous patron should equip +two brigantines and a fly-boat. Thither came, fast and frequent, the +gamesters, in their different forms and calling. This, light, young, +gay in appearance, the thoughtless youth of wit and pleasure--the +pigeon rather than the rook--but at heart the same sly, shrewd, cold- +blooded calculator, as yonder old hard-featured professor of the same +science, whose eyes are grown dim with watching of the dice at +midnight; and whose fingers are even now assisting his mental +computation of chances and of odds. The fine arts, too--I would it +were otherwise--have their professors amongst this sordid train. The +poor poet, half ashamed, in spite of habit, of the part which he is +about to perform, and abashed by consciousness at once of his base +motive and his shabby black coat, lurks in yonder corner for the +favourable moment to offer his dedication. Much better attired, the +architect presents his splendid vision of front and wings, and designs +a palace, the expense of which may transfer his employer to a jail. +But uppermost of all, the favourite musician, or singer, who waits on +my lord to receive, in solid gold, the value of the dulcet sounds +which solaced the banquet of the preceding evening. + +Such, and many such like, were the morning attendants of the Duke of +Buckingham--all genuine descendants of the daughter of the horse- +leech, whose cry is "Give, give." + +But the levee of his Grace contained other and very different +characters; and was indeed as various as his own opinions and +pursuits. Besides many of the young nobility and wealthy gentry of +England, who made his Grace the glass at which they dressed themselves +for the day, and who learned from him how to travel, with the newest +and best grace, the general Road to Ruin; there were others of a +graver character--discarded statesmen, political spies, opposition +orators, servile tools of administration, men who met not elsewhere, +but who regarded the Duke's mansion as a sort of neutral ground; sure, +that if he was not of their opinion to-day, this very circumstance +rendered it most likely he should think with them to-morrow. The +Puritans themselves did not shun intercourse with a man whose talents +must have rendered him formidable, even if they had not been united +with high rank and an immense fortune. Several grave personages, with +black suits, short cloaks, and band-strings of a formal cut, were +mingled, as we see their portraits in a gallery of paintings, among +the gallants who ruffled in silk and embroidery. It is true, they +escaped the scandal of being thought intimates of the Duke, by their +business being supposed to refer to money matters. Whether these grave +and professing citizens mixed politics with money lending, was not +known; but it had been long observed, that the Jews, who in general +confine themselves to the latter department, had become for some time +faithful attendants at the Duke's levee. + +It was high-tide in the antechamber, and had been so for more than an +hour, ere the Duke's gentleman-in-ordinary ventured into his +bedchamber, carefully darkened, so as to make midnight at noonday, to +know his Grace's pleasure. His soft and serene whisper, in which he +asked whether it were his Grace's pleasure to rise, was briefly and +sharply answered by the counter questions, "Who waits?--What's +o'clock?" + +"It is Jerningham, your Grace," said the attendant. "It is one, +afternoon; and your Grace appointed some of the people without at +eleven." + +"Who are they?--What do they want?" + +"A message from Whitehall, your Grace." + +"Pshaw! it will keep cold. Those who make all others wait, will be the +better of waiting in their turn. Were I to be guilty of ill-breeding, +it should rather be to a king than a beggar." + +"The gentlemen from the city." + +"I am tired of them--tired of their all cant, and no religion--all +Protestantism, and no charity. Tell them to go to Shaftesbury--to +Aldersgate Street with them--that's the best market for their wares." + +"Jockey, my lord, from Newmarket." + +"Let him ride to the devil--he has horse of mine, and spurs of his +own. Any more?" + +"The whole antechamber is full, my lord--knights and squires, doctors +and dicers." + +"The dicers, with their doctors[*] in their pockets, I presume." + +[*] Doctor, a cant name for false dice. + +"Counts, captains, and clergymen." + +"You are alliterative, Jerningham," said the Duke; "and that is a +proof you are poetical. Hand me my writing things." + +Getting half out of bed--thrusting one arm into a brocade nightgown, +deeply furred with sables, and one foot into a velvet slipper, while +the other pressed in primitive nudity the rich carpet--his Grace, +without thinking farther on the assembly without, began to pen a few +lines of a satirical poem; then suddenly stopped--threw the pen into +the chimney--exclaimed that the humour was past--and asked his +attendant if there were any letters. Jerningham produced a huge +packet. + +"What the devil!" said his Grace, "do you think I will read all these? +I am like Clarence, who asked a cup of wine, and was soused into a +butt of sack. I mean, is there anything which presses?" + +"This letter, your Grace," said Jerningham, "concerning the Yorkshire +mortgage." + +"Did I not bid thee carry it to old Gatheral, my steward?" + +"I did, my lord," answered the other; "but Gatheral says there are +difficulties." + +"Let the usurers foreclose, then--there is no difficulty in that; and +out of a hundred manors I shall scarce miss one," answered the Duke. +"And hark ye, bring me my chocolate." + +"Nay, my lord, Gatheral does not say it is impossible--only +difficult." + +"And what is the use of him, if he cannot make it easy? But you are +all born to make difficulties," replied the Duke. + +"Nay, if your Grace approves the terms in this schedule, and pleases +to sign it, Gatheral will undertake for the matter," answered +Jerningham. + +"And could you not have said so at first, you blockhead?" said the +Duke, signing the paper without looking at the contents--"What other +letters? And remember, I must be plagued with no more business." + +"Billets-doux, my lord--five or six of them. This left at the porter's +lodge by a vizard mask." + +"Pshaw!" answered the Duke, tossing them over, while his attendant +assisted in dressing him--"an acquaintance of a quarter's standing." + +"This given to one of the pages by my Lady ----'s waiting-woman." + +"Plague on it--a Jeremiade on the subject of perjury and treachery, +and not a single new line to the old tune," said the Duke, glancing +over the billet. "Here is the old cant--/cruel man--broken vows-- +Heaven's just revenge/. Why, the woman is thinking of murder--not of +love. No one should pretend to write upon so threadbare a topic +without having at least some novelty of expression. /The despairing +Araminta/--Lie there, fair desperate. And this--how comes it?" + +"Flung into the window of the hall, by a fellow who ran off at full +speed," answered Jerningham. + +"This is a better text," said the Duke; "and yet it is an old one too +--three weeks old at least--The little Countess with the jealous lord +--I should not care a farthing for her, save for that same jealous +lord--Plague on't, and he's gone down to the country--/this evening-- +in silence and safety--written with a quill pulled from the wing of +Cupid/--Your ladyship has left him pen-feathers enough to fly away +with--better clipped his wings when you had caught him, my lady--And +/so confident of her Buckingham's faith/,--I hate confidence in a +young person. She must be taught better--I will not go." + +"You Grace will not be so cruel!" said Jerningham. + +"Thou art a compassionate fellow, Jerningham; but conceit must be +punished." + +"But if your lordship should resume your fancy for her?" + +"Why, then, you must swear the billet-doux miscarried," answered the +Duke. "And stay, a thought strikes me--it shall miscarry in great +style. Hark ye--Is--what is the fellow's name--the poet--is he +yonder?" + +"There are six gentlemen, sir, who, from the reams of paper in their +pocket, and the threadbare seams at their elbows, appear to wear the +livery of the Muses." + +"Poetical once more, Jerningham. He, I mean, who wrote the last +lampoon," said the Duke. + +"To whom your Grace said you owed five pieces and a beating!" replied +Jerningham. + +"The money for his satire, and the cudgel for his praise--Good--find +him--give him the five pieces, and thrust the Countess's billet-doux-- +Hold--take Araminta's and the rest of them--thrust them all into his +portfolio--All will come out at the Wit's Coffee-house; and if the +promulgator be not cudgelled into all the colours of the rainbow, +there is no spite in woman, no faith in crabtree, or pith in heart of +oak--Araminta's wrath alone would overburden one pair of mortal +shoulders." + +"But, my Lord Duke," said his attendant, "this Settle[*] is so dull a +rascal, that nothing he can write will take." + +[*] Elkana Settle, the unworthy scribbler whom the envy of Rochester + and others tried to raise to public estimation, as a rival to + Dryden; a circumstance which has been the means of elevating him + to a very painful species of immortality. + +"Then as we have given him steel to head the arrow," said the Duke, +"we will give him wings to waft it with--wood, he has enough of his +own to make a shaft or bolt of. Hand me my own unfinished lampoon-- +give it to him with the letters--let him make what he can of them +all." + +"My Lord Duke--I crave pardon--but your Grace's style will be +discovered; and though the ladies' names are not at the letters, yet +they will be traced." + +"I would have it so, you blockhead. Have you lived with me so long, +and cannot discover that the éclat of an intrigue is, with me, worth +all the rest of it?" + +"But the danger, my Lord Duke?" replied Jerningham. "There are +husbands, brothers, friends, whose revenge may be awakened." + +"And beaten to sleep again," said Buckingham haughtily. "I have Black +Will and his cudgel for plebeian grumblers; and those of quality I can +deal with myself. I lack breathing and exercise of late." + +"But yet your Grace----" + +"Hold your peace, fool! I tell you that your poor dwarfish spirit +cannot measure the scope of mine. I tell thee I would have the course +of my life a torrent--I am weary of easy achievements, and wish for +obstacles, that I can sweep before my irresistible course." + +Another gentleman now entered the apartment. "I humbly crave your +Grace's pardon," he said; "but Master Christian is so importunate for +admission instantly, that I am obliged to take your Grace's pleasure." + +"Tell him to call three hours hence. Damn his politic pate, that would +make all men dance after his pipe!" + +"I thank thee for the compliment, my Lord Duke," said Christian, +entering the apartment in somewhat a more courtly garb, but with the +same unpretending and undistinguished mien, and in the same placid and +indifferent manner with which he had accosted Julian Peveril upon +different occasions during his journey to London. "It is precisely my +present object to pipe to you; and you may dance to your own profit, +if you will." + +"On my word, Master Christian," said the Duke haughtily, "the affair +should be weighty, that removes ceremony so entirely from betwixt us. +If it relates to the subject of our last conversation, I must request +our interview be postponed to some farther opportunity. I am engaged +in an affair of some weight." Then turning his back on Christian, he +went on with his conversation with Jerningham. "Find the person you +wot of, and give him the papers; and hark ye, give him this gold to +pay for the shaft of his arrow--the steel-head and peacock's wing we +have already provided." + +"This is all well, my lord," said Christian calmly, and taking his +seat at the same time in an easy-chair at some distance; "but your +Grace's levity is no match for my equanimity. It is necessary I should +speak with you; and I will await your Grace's leisure in the +apartment." + +"/Very well/, sir," said the Duke peevishly; "if an evil is to be +undergone, the sooner it is over the better--I can take measures to +prevent its being renewed. So let me hear your errand without farther +delay." + +"I will wait till your Grace's toilette is completed," said Christian, +with the indifferent tone which was natural to him. "What I have to +say must be between ourselves." + +"Begone, Jerningham; and remain without till I call. Leave my doublet +on the couch.--How now, I have worn this cloth of silver a hundred +times." + +"Only twice, if it please your Grace," replied Jerningham. + +"As well twenty times--keep it for yourself, or give it to my valet, +if you are too proud of your gentility." + +"Your Grace has made better men than me wear your cast clothes," said +Jerningham submissively. + +"Thou art sharp, Jerningham," said the Duke--"in one sense I have, and +I may again. So now, that pearl-coloured will do with the ribbon and +George. Get away with thee.--And now that he is gone, Master +Christian, may I once more crave your pleasure?" + +"My Lord Duke," said Christian, "you are a worshipper of difficulties +in state affairs, as in love matters." + +"I trust you have been no eavesdropper, Master Christian," replied the +Duke; "it scarce argues the respect due to me, or to my roof." + +"I know not what you mean, my lord," replied Christian. + +"Nay, I care not if the whole world heard what I said but now to +Jerningham. But to the matter," replied the Duke of Buckingham. + +"Your Grace is so much occupied with conquests over the fair and over +the witty, that you have perhaps forgotten what a stake you have in +the little Island of Man." + +"Not a whit, Master Christian. I remember well enough that my +roundheaded father-in-law, Fairfax, had the island from the Long +Parliament; and was ass enough to quit hold of it at the Restoration, +when, if he had closed his clutches, and held fast, like a true bird +of prey, as he should have done, he might have kept it for him and +his. It had been a rare thing to have had a little kingdom--made laws +of my own--had my Chamberlain with his white staff--I would have +taught Jerningham, in half a day, to look as wise, walk as stiffly, +and speak as silly, as Harry Bennet." + +"You might have done this, and more, if it had pleased your Grace." + +"Ay, and if it had pleased my Grace, thou, Ned Christian, shouldst +have been the Jack Ketch of my dominions." + +"/I/ your Jack Ketch, my lord?" said Christian, more in a tone of +surprise than of displeasure. + +"Why, ay; thou hast been perpetually intriguing against the life of +yonder poor old woman. It were a kingdom to thee to gratify thy spleen +with thy own hands." + +"I only seek justice against the Countess," said Christian. + +"And the end of justice is always a gibbet," said the Duke. + +"Be it so," answered Christian. "Well, the Countess is in the Plot." + +"The devil confound the Plot, as I believe he first invented it!" said +the Duke of Buckingham; "I have heard of nothing else for months. If +one must go to hell, I would it were by some new road, and in +gentlemen's company. I should not like to travel with Oates, Bedloe, +and the rest of that famous cloud of witnesses." + +"Your Grace is then resolved to forego all the advantages which may +arise? If the House of Derby fall under forfeiture, the grant to +Fairfax, now worthily represented by your Duchess, revives, and you +become the Lord and Sovereign of Man." + +"In right of a woman," said the Duke; "but, in troth, my godly dame +owes me some advantage for having lived the first year of our marriage +with her and old Black Tom, her grim, fighting, puritanic father. A +man might as well have married the Devil's daughter, and set up +housekeeping with his father-in-law."[*] + +[*] Mary, daughter of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, was wedded to the Duke of + Buckingham, whose versatility made him capable of rendering + himself for a time as agreeable to his father-in-law, though a + rigid Presbyterian, as to the gay Charles II. + +"I understand you are willing, then, to join your interest for a heave +at the House of Derby, my Lord Duke?" + +"As they are unlawfully possessed of my wife's kingdom, they certainly +can expect no favour at my hand. But thou knowest there is an interest +at Whitehall predominant over mine." + +"That is only by your Grace's sufferance," said Christian. + +"No, no; I tell thee a hundred times, no," said the Duke, rousing +himself to anger at the recollection. "I tell thee that base +courtezan, the Duchess of Portsmouth, hath impudently set herself to +thwart and contradict me; and Charles has given me both cloudy looks +and hard words before the Court. I would he could but guess what is +the offence between her and me! I would he knew but that! But I will +have her plumes picked, or my name is not Villiers. A worthless French +fille-de-joie to brave me thus!--Christian, thou art right; there is +no passion so spirit-stirring as revenge. I will patronise the Plot, +if it be but to spite her, and make it impossible for the King to +uphold her." + +As the Duke spoke, he gradually wrought himself into a passion, and +traversed the apartment with as much vehemence as if the only object +he had on earth was to deprive the Duchess of her power and favour +with the King. Christian smiled internally to see him approach the +state of mind in which he was most easily worked upon, and judiciously +kept silence, until the Duke called out to him, in a pet, "Well, Sir +Oracle, you that have laid so many schemes to supplant this she-wolf +of Gaul, where are all your contrivances now?--Where is the exquisite +beauty who was to catch the Sovereign's eye at the first glance?-- +Chiffinch, hath he seen her?--and what does he say, that exquisite +critic in beauty and blank-mange, women and wine?" + +"He has /seen/ and approves, but has not yet heard her; and her speech +answers to all the rest. We came here yesterday; and to-day I intend +to introduce Chiffinch to her, the instant he arrives from the +country; and I expect him every hour. I am but afraid of the damsel's +peevish virtue, for she hath been brought up after the fashion of our +grandmothers--our mothers had better sense." + +"What! so fair, so young, so quick-witted, and so difficult?" said the +Duke. "By your leave, you shall introduce me as well as Chiffinch." + +"That your Grace may cure her of her intractable modesty?" said +Christian. + +"Why," replied the Duke, "it will but teach her to stand in her own +light. Kings do not love to court and sue; they should have their game +run down for them." + +"Under your Grace's favour," said Christian, "this cannot be--/Non +omnibus dormio/--Your Grace knows the classic allusion. If this maiden +become a Prince's favourite, rank gilds the shame and the sin. But to +any under Majesty, she must not vail topsail." + +"Why, thou suspicious fool, I was but in jest," said the Duke. "Do you +think I would interfere to spoil a plan so much to my own advantage as +that which you have laid before me?" + +Christian smiled and shook his head. "My lord," he said, "I know your +Grace as well, or better, perhaps, than you know yourself. To spoil a +well-concerted intrigue by some cross stroke of your own, would give +you more pleasure, than to bring it to a successful termination +according to the plans of others. But Shaftesbury, and all concerned, +have determined that our scheme shall at least have fair play. We +reckon, therefore, on your help; and--forgive me when I say so--we +will not permit ourselves to be impeded by your levity and fickleness +of purpose." + +"Who?--I light and fickle of purpose?" said the Duke. "You see me here +as resolved as any of you, to dispossess the mistress, and to carry on +the plot; these are the only two things I live for in this world. No +one can play the man of business like me, when I please, to the very +filing and labelling of my letters. I am regular as a scrivener." + +"You have Chiffinch's letter from the country; he told me he had +written to you about some passages betwixt him and the young Lord +Saville." + +"He did so--he did so," said the Duke, looking among his letters; "but +I see not his letter just now--I scarcely noted the contents--I was +busy when it came--but I have it safely." + +"You should have acted on it," answered Christian. "The fool suffered +himself to be choused out of his secret, and prayed you to see that my +lord's messenger got not to the Duchess with some despatches which he +sent up from Derbyshire, betraying our mystery." + +The Duke was now alarmed, and rang the bell hastily. Jerningham +appeared. "Where is the letter I had from Master Chiffinch some hours +since?" + +"If it be not amongst those your Grace has before you, I know nothing +of it," said Jerningham. "I saw none such arrive." + +"You lie, you rascal," said Buckingham; "have you a right to remember +better than I do?" + +"If your Grace will forgive me reminding you, you have scarce opened a +letter this week," said his gentleman. + +"Did you ever hear such a provoking rascal?" said the Duke. "He might +be a witness in the Plot. He has knocked my character for regularity +entirely on the head with his damned counter-evidence." + +"Your Grace's talent and capacity will at least remain unimpeached," +said Christian; "and it is those that must serve yourself and your +friends. If I might advise, you will hasten to Court, and lay some +foundation for the impression we wish to make. If your Grace can take +the first word, and throw out a hint to crossbite Saville, it will be +well. But above all, keep the King's ear employed, which no one can do +so well as you. Leave Chiffinch to fill his heart with a proper +object. Another thing is, there is a blockhead of an old Cavalier, who +must needs be a bustler in the Countess of Derby's behalf--he is fast +in hold, with the whole tribe of witnesses at his haunches." + +"Nay, then, take him, Topham." + +"Topham has taken him already, my lord," said Christian; "and there +is, besides, a young gallant, a son of the said Knight, who was bred +in the household of the Countess of Derby, and who has brought letters +from her to the Provincial of the Jesuits, and others in London." + +"What are their names?" said the Duke dryly. + +"Sir Geoffrey Peveril of Martindale Castle, in Derbyshire, and his son +Julian." + +"What! Peveril of the Peak?" said the Duke,--"a stout old Cavalier as +ever swore an oath.--A Worcester-man, too--and, in truth, a man of all +work, when blows were going. I will not consent to his ruin, +Christian. These fellows must be flogged of such false scents--flogged +in every sense, they must, and will be, when the nation comes to its +eyesight again." + +"It is of more than the last importance, in the meantime, to the +furtherance of our plan," said Christian, "that your Grace should +stand for a space between them and the King's favour. The youth hath +influence with the maiden, which we should find scarce favourable to +our views; besides, her father holds him as high as he can any one who +is no such puritanic fool as himself." + +"Well, most Christian Christian," said the Duke, "I have heard your +commands at length. I will endeavour to stop the earths under the +throne, that neither the lord, knight, nor squire in question, shall +find it possible to burrow there. For the fair one, I must leave +Chiffinch and you to manage her introduction to her high destinies, +since I am not to be trusted. Adieu, most Christian Christian." + +He fixed his eyes on him, and then exclaimed, as he shut the door of +the apartment,--"Most profligate and damnable villain! And what +provokes me most of all, is the knave's composed insolence. Your Grace +will do this--and your Grace will condescend to do that--A pretty +puppet I should be, to play the second part, or rather the third, in +such a scheme! No, they shall all walk according to my purpose, or I +will cross them. I will find this girl out in spite of them, and judge +if their scheme is likely to be successful. If so, she shall be mine-- +mine entirely, before she becomes the King's; and I will command her +who is to guide Charles.--Jerningham" (his gentleman entered), "cause +Christian to be dogged where-ever he goes, for the next four-and- +twenty hours, and find out where he visits a female newly come to +town.--You smile, you knave?" + +"I did but suspect a fresh rival to Araminta and the little Countess," +said Jerningham. + +"Away to your business, knave," said the Duke, "and let me think of +mine.--To subdue a Puritan in Esse--a King's favourite in Posse--the +very muster of western beauties--that is point first. The impudence of +this Manx mongrel to be corrected--the pride of Madame la Duchesse to +be pulled down--and important state intrigue to be farthered, or +baffled, as circumstances render most to my own honour and glory--I +wished for business but now, and I have got enough of it. But +Buckingham will keep his own steerage-way through shoal and through +weather." + + + + CHAPTER XXIX + + ----Mark you this, Bassanio-- + The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose. + --MERCHANT OF VENICE. + +After leaving the proud mansion of the Duke of Buckingham, Christian, +full of the deep and treacherous schemes which he meditated, hastened +to the city, where, in a decent inn, kept by a person of his own +persuasion, he had been unexpectedly summoned to meet with Ralph +Bridgenorth of Moultrassie. He was not disappointed--the Major had +arrived that morning, and anxiously expected him. The usual gloom of +his countenance was darkened into a yet deeper shade of anxiety, which +was scarcely relieved, even while, in answer to his inquiry after his +daughter, Christian gave the most favourable account of her health and +spirits, naturally and unaffectedly intermingled with such praises of +her beauty and her disposition, as were likely to be most grateful to +a father's ear. + +But Christian had too much cunning to expatiate on this theme, however +soothing. He stopped short exactly at the point where, as an +affectionate relative, he might be supposed to have said enough. "The +lady," he said, "with whom he had placed Alice, was delighted with her +aspect and manners, and undertook to be responsible for her health and +happiness. He had not, he said, deserved so little confidence at the +hand of his brother, Bridgenorth, as that the Major should, contrary +to his purpose, and to the plan which they had adjusted together, have +hurried up from the country, as if his own presence were necessary for +Alice's protection." + +"Brother Christian," said Bridgenorth in reply, "I must see my child-- +I must see this person with whom she is entrusted." + +"To what purpose?" answered Christian. "Have you not often confessed +that the over excess of the carnal affection which you have +entertained for your daughter, hath been a snare to you?--Have you +not, more than once, been on the point of resigning those great +designs which should place righteousness as a counsellor beside the +throne, because you desired to gratify your daughter's girlish passion +for this descendant of your old persecutor--this Julian Peveril?" + +"I own it," said Bridgenorth; "and worlds would I have given, and +would yet give, to clasp that youth to my bosom, and call him my son. +The spirit of his mother looks from his eye, and his stately step is +as that of his father, when he daily spoke comfort to me in my +distress, and said, 'The child liveth.'" + +"But the youth walks," said Christian, "after his own lights, and +mistakes the meteor of the marsh for the Polar star. Ralph +Bridgenorth, I will speak to thee in friendly sincerity. Thou must not +think to serve both the good cause and Baal. Obey, if thou wilt, thine +own carnal affections, summon this Julian Peveril to thy house, and +let him wed thy daughter--But mark the reception she will meet with +from the proud old knight, whose spirit is now, even now, as little +broken with his chains, as after the sword of the Saints had prevailed +at Worcester. Thou wilt see thy daughter spurned from his feet like an +outcast." + +"Christian," said Bridgenorth, interrupting him, "thou dost urge me +hard; but thou dost it in love, my brother, and I forgive thee--Alice +shall never be spurned.--But this friend of thine--this lady--thou art +my child's uncle; and after me, thou art next to her in love and +affection--Still, thou art not her father--hast not her father's +fears. Art thou sure of the character of this woman to whom my child +is entrusted?" + +"Am I sure of my own?--Am I sure that my name is Christian--yours +Bridgenorth?--Is it a thing I am likely to be insecure in?--Have I not +dwelt for many years in this city?--Do I not know this Court?--And am +I likely to be imposed upon? For I will not think you can fear my +imposing upon you." + +"Thou art my brother," said Bridgenorth--"the blood and bone of my +departed Saint--and I am determined that I will trust thee in this +matter." + +"Thou dost well," said Christian; "and who knows what reward may be in +store for thee?--I cannot look upon Alice, but it is strongly borne in +on my mind, that there will be work for a creature so excellent beyond +ordinary women. Courageous Judith freed Bethulia by her valour, and +the comely features of Esther made her a safeguard and a defence to +her people in the land of captivity, when she found favour in the +sight of King Ahasuerus." + +"Be it with her as Heaven wills," said Bridgenorth; "and now tell me +what progress there is in the great work." + +"The people are weary of the iniquity of this Court," said Christian; +"and if this man will continue to reign, it must be by calling to his +councils men of another stamp. The alarm excited by the damnable +practices of the Papists has called up men's souls, and awakened their +eyes to the dangers of their state.--He himself--for he will give up +brother and wife to save himself--is not averse to a change of +measures; and though we cannot at first see the Court purged as with a +winnowing fan, yet there will be enough of the good to control the bad +--enough of the sober party to compel the grant of that universal +toleration, for which we have sighed so long, as a maiden for her +beloved. Time and opportunity will lead the way to more thorough +reformation; and that will be done without stroke of sword, which our +friends failed to establish on a sure foundation, even when their +victorious blades were in their hands." + +"May God grant it!" said Bridgenorth; "for I fear me I should scruple +to do aught which should once more unsheath the civil sword; but +welcome all that comes in a peaceful and parliamentary way." + +"Ay," said Christian, "and which will bring with it the bitter amends, +which our enemies have so long merited at our hands. How long hath our +brother's blood cried for vengeance from the altar!--Now shall that +cruel Frenchwoman find that neither lapse of years, nor her powerful +friends, nor the name of Stanley, nor the Sovereignty of Man, shall +stop the stern course of the pursuer of blood. Her name shall be +struck from the noble, and her heritage shall another take." + +"Nay, but, brother Christian," said Bridgenorth, "art thou not over +eager in pursuing this thing?--It is thy duty as a Christian to +forgive thine enemies." + +"Ay, but not the enemies of Heaven--not those who shed the blood of +the saints," said Christian, his eyes kindling that vehement and fiery +expression which at times gave to his uninteresting countenance the +only character of passion which it ever exhibited. "No, Bridgenorth," +he continued, "I esteem this purpose of revenge holy--I account it a +propitiatory sacrifice for what may have been evil in my life. I have +submitted to be spurned by the haughty--I have humbled myself to be as +a servant; but in my breast was the proud thought, I who do this--do +it that I may avenge my brother's blood." + +"Still, my brother," said Bridgenorth, "although I participate thy +purpose, and have aided thee against this Moabitish woman, I cannot +but think thy revenge is more after the law of Moses than after the +law of love." + +"This comes well from thee, Ralph Bridgenorth," answered Christian; +"from thee, who has just smiled over the downfall of thine own enemy." + +"If you mean Sir Geoffrey Peveril," said Bridgenorth, "I smile not on +his ruin. It is well he is abased; but if it lies with me, I may +humble his pride, but will never ruin his house." + +"You know your purpose best," said Christian; "and I do justice, +brother Bridgenorth, to the purity of your principles; but men who see +with but worldly eyes, would discern little purpose of mercy in the +strict magistrate and severe creditor--and such have you been to +Peveril." + +"And, brother Christian," said Bridgenorth, his colour rising as he +spoke, "neither do I doubt your purpose, nor deny the surprising +address with which you have procured such perfect information +concerning the purposes of yonder woman of Ammon. But it is free to me +to think, that in your intercourse with the Court, and with courtiers, +you may, in your carnal and worldly policy, sink the value of those +spiritual gifts, for which you were once so much celebrated among the +brethren." + +"Do not apprehend it," said Christian, recovering his temper, which +had been a little ruffled by the previous discussion. "Let us but work +together as heretofore; and I trust each of us shall be found doing +the work of a faithful servant to that good old cause for which we +have heretofore drawn the sword." + +So saying, he took his hat, and bidding Bridgenorth farewell, declared +his intention of returning in the evening. + +"Fare thee well!" said Bridgenorth; "to that cause wilt thou find me +ever a true and devoted adherent. I will act by that counsel of thine, +and will not even ask thee--though it may grieve my heart as a parent +--with whom, or where, thou hast entrusted my child. I will try to cut +off, and cast from me, even my right hand, and my right eye; but for +thee, Christian, if thou dost deal otherwise than prudently and +honestly in this matter, it is what God and man will require at thy +hand." + +"Fear not me," said Christian hastily, and left the place, agitated by +reflections of no pleasant kind. + +"I ought to have persuaded him to return," he said, as he stepped out +into the street. "Even his hovering in this neighbourhood may spoil +the plan on which depends the rise of my fortunes--ay, and of his +child's. Will men say I have ruined her, when I shall have raised her +to the dazzling height of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and perhaps made +her a mother to a long line of princes? Chiffinch hath vouched for +opportunity; and the voluptuary's fortune depends upon his gratifying +the taste of his master for variety. If she makes an impression, it +must be a deep one; and once seated in his affections, I fear not her +being supplanted.--What will her father say? Will he, like a prudent +man, put his shame in his pocket, because it is well gilded? or will +he think it fitting to make a display of moral wrath and parental +frenzy? I fear the latter--He has ever kept too strict a course to +admit his conniving at such licence. But what will his anger avail?--I +need not be seen in the matter--those who are will care little for the +resentment of a country Puritan. And after all, what I am labouring to +bring about is best for himself, the wench, and above all, for me, +Edward Christian." + +With such base opiates did this unhappy wretch stifle his own +conscience, while anticipating the disgrace of his friend's family, +and the ruin of a near relative, committed in confidence to his +charge. The character of this man was of no common description; nor +was it by an ordinary road that he had arrived at the present climax +of unfeeling and infamous selfishness. + +Edward Christian, as the reader is aware, was the brother of that +William Christian, who was the principal instrument in delivering up +the Isle of Man to the Republic, and who became the victim of the +Countess of Derby's revenge on that account. Both had been educated as +Puritans, but William was a soldier, which somewhat modified the +strictness of his religious opinions; Edward, a civilian, seemed to +entertain these principles in the utmost rigour. But it was only +seeming. The exactness of deportment, which procured him great honour +and influence among the /sober party/, as they were wont to term +themselves, covered a voluptuous disposition, the gratification of +which was sweet to him as stolen waters, and pleasant as bread eaten +in secret. While, therefore, his seeming godliness brought him worldly +gain, his secret pleasures compensated for his outward austerity; +until the Restoration, and the Countess's violent proceedings against +his brother interrupted the course of both. He then fled from his +native island, burning with the desire of revenging his brother's +death--the only passion foreign to his own gratification which he was +ever known to cherish, and which was also, at least, partly selfish, +since it concerned the restoration of his own fortunes. + +He found easy access to Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who, in right of +his Duchess, claimed such of the Derby estate as had been bestowed by +the Parliament on his celebrated father-in-law, Lord Fairfax. His +influence at the Court of Charles, where a jest was a better plea than +a long claim of faithful service, was so successfully exerted, as to +contribute greatly to the depression of that loyal and ill-rewarded +family. But Buckingham was incapable, even for his own interest, of +pursuing the steady course which Christian suggested to him; and his +vacillation probably saved the remnant of the large estates of the +Earl of Derby. + +Meantime, Christian was too useful a follower to be dismissed. From +Buckingham, and others of that stamp, he did not affect to conceal the +laxity of his morals; but towards the numerous and powerful party to +which he belonged, he was able to disguise them by a seeming gravity +of exterior, which he never laid aside. Indeed, so wide and absolute +was then the distinction betwixt the Court and the city, that a man +might have for some time played two several parts, as in two different +spheres, without its being discovered in the one that he exhibited +himself in a different light in the other. Besides, when a man of +talent shows himself an able and useful partisan, his party will +continue to protect and accredit him, in spite of conduct the most +contradictory to their own principles. Some facts are, in such cases, +denied--some are glossed over--and party zeal is permitted to cover at +least as many defects as ever doth charity. + +Edward Christian had often need of the partial indulgence of his +friends; but he experienced it, for he was eminently useful. +Buckingham, and other courtiers of the same class, however dissolute +in their lives, were desirous of keeping some connection with the +Dissenting or Puritanic party, as it was termed; thereby to strengthen +themselves against their opponents at Court. In such intrigues, +Christian was a notable agent; and at one time had nearly procured an +absolute union between a class which professed the most rigid +principles of religion and morality, and the latitudinarian courtiers, +who set all principle at defiance. + +Amidst the vicissitudes of a life of intrigue, during which +Buckingham's ambitious schemes, and his own, repeatedly sent him +across the Atlantic, it was Edward Christian's boast that he never +lost sight of his principal object,--revenge on the Countess of Derby. +He maintained a close and intimate correspondence with his native +island, so as to be perfectly informed of whatever took place there; +and he stimulated, on every favourable opportunity, the cupidity of +Buckingham to possess himself of this petty kingdom, by procuring the +forfeiture of its present Lord. It was not difficult to keep his +patron's wild wishes alive on this topic, for his own mercurial +imagination attached particular charms to the idea of becoming a sort +of sovereign even in this little island; and he was, like Catiline, as +covetous of the property of others, as he was profuse of his own. + +But it was not until the pretended discovery of the Papist Plot that +the schemes of Christian could be brought to ripen; and then, so +odious were the Catholics in the eyes of the credulous people of +England, that, upon the accusation of the most infamous of mankind, +common informers, the scourings of jails, and the refuse of the +whipping-post, the most atrocious charges against persons of the +highest rank and fairest character were readily received and credited. + +This was a period which Christian did not fail to improve. He drew +close his intimacy with Bridgenorth, which had indeed never been +interrupted, and readily engaged him in his schemes, which, in the +eyes of his brother-in-law, were alike honourable and patriotic. But, +while he flattered Bridgenorth with the achieving a complete +reformation in the state--checking the profligacy of the Court-- +relieving the consciences of the Dissenters from the pressures of the +penal laws--amending, in fine, the crying grievances of the time-- +while he showed him also, in prospect, revenge upon the Countess of +Derby, and a humbling dispensation on the house of Peveril, from whom +Bridgenorth had suffered such indignity, Christian did not neglect, in +the meanwhile, to consider how he could best benefit himself by the +confidence reposed in him by his unsuspicious relation. + +The extreme beauty of Alice Bridgenorth--the great wealth which time +and economy had accumulated on her father--pointed her out as a most +desirable match to repair the wasted fortunes of some of the followers +of the Court; and he flattered himself that he could conduct such a +negotiation so as to be in a high degree conducive to his own +advantage. He found there would be little difficulty in prevailing on +Major Bridgenorth to entrust him with the guardianship of his +daughter. That unfortunate gentleman had accustomed himself, from the +very period of her birth, to regard the presence of his child as a +worldly indulgence too great to be allowed to him; and Christian had +little trouble in convincing him that the strong inclination which he +felt to bestow her on Julian Peveril, provided he could be brought +over to his own political opinions, was a blameable compromise with +his more severe principles. Late circumstances had taught him the +incapacity and unfitness of Dame Debbitch for the sole charge of so +dear a pledge; and he readily and thankfully embraced the kind offer +of her maternal uncle, Christian, to place Alice under the protection +of a lady of rank in London, whilst he himself was to be engaged in +the scenes of bustle and blood, which, in common with all good +Protestants, he expected was speedily to take place on a general +rising of the Papists, unless prevented by the active and energetic +measures of the good people of England. He even confessed his fears, +that his partial regard for Alice's happiness might enervate his +efforts in behalf of his country; and Christian had little trouble in +eliciting from him a promise, that he would forbear to inquire after +her for some time. + +Thus certain of being the temporary guardian of his niece for a space +long enough, he flattered himself, for the execution of his purpose, +Christian endeavoured to pave the way by consulting Chiffinch, whose +known skill in Court policy qualified him best as an adviser on this +occasion. But this worthy person, being, in fact, a purveyor for his +Majesty's pleasures, and on that account high in his good graces, +thought it fell within the line of his duty to suggest another scheme +than that on which Christian consulted him. A woman of such exquisite +beauty as Alice was described, he deemed more worthy to be a partaker +of the affections of the merry Monarch, whose taste in female beauty +was so exquisite, than to be made the wife of some worn-out prodigal +of quality. And then, doing perfect justice to his own character, he +felt it would not be one whit impaired, while his fortune would be, in +every respect, greatly amended, if, after sharing the short reign of +the Gwyns, the Davises, the Robertses, and so forth, Alice Bridgenorth +should retire from the state of a royal favourite, into the humble +condition of Mrs. Chiffinch. + +After cautiously sounding Christian, and finding that the near +prospect of interest to himself effectually prevented his starting at +this iniquitous scheme, Chiffinch detailed it to him fully, carefully +keeping the final termination out of sight, and talking of the favour +to be acquired by the fair Alice as no passing caprice, but the +commencement of a reign as long and absolute as that of the Duchess of +Portsmouth, of whose avarice and domineering temper Charles was now +understood to be much tired, though the force of habit rendered him +unequal to free himself of her yoke. + +Thus chalked out, the scene prepared was no longer the intrigue of a +Court pander, and a villainous resolution for the ruin of an innocent +girl, but became a state intrigue, for the removal of an obnoxious +favourite, and the subsequent change of the King's sentiments upon +various material points, in which he was at present influenced by the +Duchess of Portsmouth. In this light it was exhibited to the Duke of +Buckingham, who, either to sustain his character for daring gallantry, +or in order to gratify some capricious fancy, had at one time made +love to the reigning favourite, and experienced a repulse which he had +never forgiven. + +But one scheme was too little to occupy the active and enterprising +spirit of the Duke. An appendix of the Popish Plot was easily so +contrived as to involve the Countess of Derby, who, from character and +religion, was precisely the person whom the credulous part of the +public were inclined to suppose the likely accomplice of such a +conspiracy. Christian and Bridgenorth undertook the perilous +commission of attacking her even in her own little kingdom of Man, and +had commissions for this purpose, which were only to be produced in +case of their scheme taking effect. + +It miscarried, as the reader is aware, from the Countess's alert +preparations for defence; and neither Christian nor Bridgenorth held +it sound policy to practise openly, even under parliamentary +authority, against a lady so little liable to hesitate upon the +measures most likely to secure her feudal sovereignty; wisely +considering that even the omnipotence, as it has been somewhat too +largely styled, of Parliament, might fail to relieve them from the +personal consequences of a failure. + +On the continent of Britain, however, no opposition was to be feared; +and so well was Christian acquainted with all the motions in the +interior of the Countess's little court, or household, that Peveril +would have been arrested the instant he set foot on shore, but for the +gale of wind which obliged the vessel, in which he was a passenger, to +run for Liverpool. Here Christian, under the name of Ganlesse, +unexpectedly met with him, and preserved him from the fangs of the +well-breathed witnesses of the Plot, with the purpose of securing his +despatches, or, if necessary, his person also, in such a manner as to +place him at his own discretion--a narrow and perilous game, which he +thought it better, however, to undertake, than to permit these +subordinate agents, who were always ready to mutiny against all in +league with them, to obtain the credit which they must have done by +the seizure of the Countess of Derby's despatches. It was, besides, +essential to Buckingham's schemes that these should not pass into the +hands of a public officer like Topham, who, however pompous and +stupid, was upright and well-intentioned, until they had undergone the +revisal of a private committee, where something might have probably +been suppressed, even supposing that nothing had been added. In short, +Christian, in carrying on his own separate and peculiar intrigue, by +the agency of the Great Popish Plot, as it was called, acted just like +an engineer, who derives the principle of motion which turns his +machinery, by means of a steam-engine, or large water-wheel, +constructed to drive a separate and larger engine. Accordingly, he was +determined that, while he took all the advantage he could from their +supposed discoveries, no one should be admitted to tamper or interfere +with his own plans of profit and revenge. + +Chiffinch, who, desirous of satisfying himself with his own eyes of +that excellent beauty which had been so highly extolled, had gone down +to Derbyshire on purpose, was infinitely delighted, when, during the +course of a two hours' sermon at the dissenting chapel in Liverpool, +which afforded him ample leisure for a deliberate survey, he arrived +at the conclusion that he had never seen a form or face more +captivating. His eyes having confirmed what was told him, he hurried +back to the little inn which formed their place of rendezvous, and +there awaited Christian and his niece, with a degree of confidence in +the success of their project which he had not before entertained; and +with an apparatus of luxury, calculated, as he thought, to make a +favourable impression on the mind of a rustic girl. He was somewhat +surprised, when, instead of Alice Bridgenorth, to whom he expected +that night to have been introduced, he found that Christian was +accompanied by Julian Peveril. It was indeed a severe disappointment, +for he had prevailed on his own indolence to venture this far from the +Court, in order that he might judge, with his own paramount taste, +whether Alice was really the prodigy which her uncle's praises had +bespoken her, and, as such, a victim worthy of the fate to which she +was destined. + +A few words betwixt the worthy confederates determined them on the +plan of stripping Peveril of the Countess's despatches; Chiffinch +absolutely refusing to take any share in arresting him, as a matter of +which his Master's approbation might be very uncertain. + +Christian had also his own reasons for abstaining from so decisive a +step. It was by no means likely to be agreeable to Bridgenorth, whom +it was necessary to keep in good humour;--it was not necessary, for +the Countess's despatches were of far more importance than the person +of Julian. Lastly, it was superfluous in this respect also, that +Julian was on the road to his father's castle, where it was likely he +would be seized, as a matter of course, along with the other +suspicious persons who fell under Topham's warrant, and the +denunciations of his infamous companions. He, therefore, far from +using any violence to Peveril, assumed towards him such a friendly +tone, as might seem to warn him against receiving damage from others, +and vindicate himself from having any share in depriving him of his +charge. This last manoeuvre was achieved by an infusion of a strong +narcotic into Julian's wine; under the influence of which he slumbered +so soundly, that the confederates were easily able to accomplish their +inhospitable purpose. + +The events of the succeeding days are already known to the reader. +Chiffinch set forward to return to London, with the packet, which it +was desirable should be in Buckingham's hands as soon as possible; +while Christian went to Moultrassie, to receive Alice from her father, +and convey her safely to London--his accomplice agreeing to defer his +curiosity to see more of her until they should have arrived in that +city. + +Before parting with Bridgenorth, Christian had exerted his utmost +address to prevail on him to remain at Moultrassie; he had even +overstepped the bounds of prudence, and, by his urgency, awakened some +suspicions of an indefinite nature, which he found it difficult to +allay. Bridgenorth, therefore, followed his brother-in-law to London; +and the reader has already been made acquainted with the arts which +Christian used to prevent his farther interference with the destinies +of his daughter, or the unhallowed schemes of her ill-chosen guardian. +Still Christian, as he strode along the street in profound reflection, +saw that his undertaking was attended with a thousand perils; and the +drops stood like beads on his brow when he thought of the presumptuous +levity and fickle temper of Buckingham--the frivolity and intemperance +of Chiffinch--the suspicions of the melancholy and bigoted, yet +sagacious and honest Bridgenorth. "Had I," he thought, "but tools +fitted, each to their portion of the work, how easily could I heave +asunder and disjoint the strength that opposes me! But with these +frail and insufficient implements, I am in daily, hourly, momentary +danger, that one lever or other gives way, and that the whole ruin +recoils on my own head. And yet, were it not for those failings I +complain of, how were it possible for me to have acquired that power +over them all which constitutes them my passive tools, even when they +seem most to exert their own free will? Yes, the bigots have some +right when they affirm that all is for the best." + +It may seem strange, that, amidst the various subjects of Christian's +apprehension, he was never visited by any long or permanent doubt that +the virtue of his niece might prove the shoal on which his voyage +should be wrecked. But he was an arrant rogue, as well as a hardened +libertine; and, in both characters, a professed disbeliever in the +virtue of the fair sex. + + + + CHAPTER XXX + + As for John Dryden's Charles, I own that King + Was never any very mighty thing; + And yet he was a devilish honest fellow-- + Enjoy'd his friend and bottle, and got mellow. + --DR. WOLOOT. + +London, the grand central point of intrigues of every description, had +now attracted within its dark and shadowy region the greater number of +the personages whom we have had occasion to mention. + +Julian Peveril, amongst others of the /dramatis personæ/, had arrived, +and taken up his abode in a remote inn in the suburbs. His business, +he conceived, was to remain incognito until he should have +communicated in private with the friends who were most likely to lend +assistance to his parents, as well as to his patroness, in their +present situation of doubt and danger. Amongst these, the most +powerful was the Duke of Ormond, whose faithful services, high rank, +and acknowledged worth and virtue, still preserved an ascendancy in +that very Court, where, in general, he was regarded as out of favour. +Indeed, so much consciousness did Charles display in his demeanour +towards that celebrated noble, and servant of his father, that +Buckingham once took the freedom to ask the King whether the Duke of +Ormond had lost his Majesty's favour, or his Majesty the Duke's? +since, whenever they chanced to meet, the King appeared the more +embarrassed of the two. But it was not Peveril's good fortune to +obtain the advice or countenance of this distinguished person. His +Grace of Ormond was not at that time in London. + +The letter, about the delivery of which the Countess had seemed most +anxious after that to the Duke of Ormond, was addressed to Captain +Barstow (a Jesuit, whose real name was Fenwicke), to be found, or at +least to be heard of, in the house of one Martin Christal in the +Savoy. To this place hastened Peveril, upon learning the absence of +the Duke of Ormond. He was not ignorant of the danger which he +personally incurred, by thus becoming a medium of communication +betwixt a Popish priest and a suspected Catholic. But when he +undertook the perilous commission of his patroness, he had done so +frankly, and with the unreserved resolution of serving her in the +manner in which she most desired her affairs to be conducted. Yet he +could not forbear some secret apprehension, when he felt himself +engaged in the labyrinth of passages and galleries, which led to +different obscure sets of apartments in the ancient building termed +the Savoy. + +This antiquated and almost ruinous pile occupied a part of the site of +the public offices in the Strand, commonly called Somerset House. The +Savoy had been formerly a palace, and took its name from an Earl of +Savoy, by whom it was founded. It had been the habitation of John of +Gaunt, and various persons of distinction--had become a convent, an +hospital, and finally, in Charles II.'s time, a waste of dilapidated +buildings and ruinous apartments, inhabited chiefly by those who had +some connection with, or dependence upon, the neighbouring palace of +Somerset House, which, more fortunate than the Savoy, had still +retained its royal title, and was the abode of a part of the Court, +and occasionally of the King himself, who had apartments there. + +It was not without several inquiries, and more than one mistake, that, +at the end of a long and dusky passage, composed of boards so wasted +by time that they threatened to give way under his feet, Julian at +length found the name of Martin Christal, broker and appraiser, upon a +shattered door. He was about to knock, when some one pulled his cloak; +and looking round, to his great astonishment, which indeed almost +amounted to fear, he saw the little mute damsel, who had accompanied +him for a part of the way on his voyage from the Isle of Man. + +"Fenella!" he exclaimed, forgetting that she could neither hear nor +reply,--"Fenella! Can this be you?" + +Fenella, assuming the air of warning and authority, which she had +heretofore endeavoured to adopt towards him, interposed betwixt Julian +and the door at which he was about to knock--pointed with her finger +towards it in a prohibiting manner, and at the same time bent her +brows, and shook her head sternly. + +After a moment's consideration, Julian could place but one +interpretation upon Fenella's appearance and conduct, and that was, by +supposing her lady had come up to London, and had despatched this mute +attendant, as a confidential person, to apprise him of some change of +her intended operations, which might render the delivery of her +letters to Barstow, /alias/ Fenwicke, superfluous, or perhaps +dangerous. He made signs to Fenella, demanding to know whether she had +any commission from the Countess. She nodded. "Had she any letter?" he +continued, by the same mode of inquiry. She shook her head +impatiently, and, walking hastily along the passage, made a signal to +him to follow. He did so, having little doubt that he was about to be +conducted into the Countess's presence; but his surprise, at first +excited by Fenella's appearance, was increased by the rapidity and +ease with which she seemed to track the dusky and decayed mazes of the +dilapidated Savoy, equal to that with which he had seen her formerly +lead the way through the gloomy vaults of Castle Rushin, in the Isle +of Man. + +When he recollected, however, that Fenella had accompanied the +Countess on a long visit to London, it appeared not improbable that +she might then have acquired this local knowledge which seemed so +accurate. Many foreigners, dependent on Queen or Queen Dowager, had +apartments in the Savoy. Many Catholic priests also found refuge in +its recesses, under various disguises, and in defiance of the severity +of the laws against Popery. What was more likely than that the +Countess of Derby, a Catholic and a Frenchwoman, should have had +secret commissions amongst such people; and that the execution of such +should be entrusted, at least occasionally, to Fenella? + +Thus reflecting, Julian continued to follow her light and active +footsteps as she glided from the Strand to Spring-Garden, and thence +into the Park. + +It was still early in the morning, and the Mall was untenanted, save +by a few walkers, who frequented these shades for the wholesome +purposes of air and exercise. Splendour, gaiety, and display, did not +come forth, at that period, until noon was approaching. All readers +have heard that the whole space where the Horse Guards are now built, +made, in the time of Charles II., a part of St. James's Park; and that +the old building, now called the Treasury, was a part of the ancient +Palace of Whitehall, which was thus immediately connected with the +Park. The canal had been constructed, by the celebrated Le Notre, for +the purpose of draining the Park; and it communicated with the Thames +by a decoy, stocked with a quantity of the rarer waterfowl. It was +towards this decoy that Fenella bent her way with unabated speed; and +they were approaching a group of two or three gentlemen, who sauntered +by its banks, when, on looking closely at him who appeared to be the +chief of the party, Julian felt his heart beat uncommonly thick, as if +conscious of approaching some one of the highest consequence. + +The person whom he looked upon was past the middle age of life, of a +dark complexion, corresponding with the long, black, full-bottomed +periwig, which he wore instead of his own hair. His dress was plain +black velvet, with a diamond star, however, on his cloak, which hung +carelessly over one shoulder. His features, strongly lined, even to +harshness, had yet an expression of dignified good-humour; he was well +and strongly built, walked upright and yet easily, and had upon the +whole the air of a person of the highest consideration. He kept rather +in advance of his companions, but turned and spoke to them, from time +to time, with much affability, and probably with some liveliness, +judging by the smiles, and sometimes the scarce restrained laughter, +by which some of his sallies were received by his attendants. They +also wore only morning dresses; but their looks and manner were those +of men of rank, in presence of one in station still more elevated. +They shared the attention of their principal in common with seven or +eight little black curly-haired spaniels, or rather, as they are now +called, cockers, which attended their master as closely, and perhaps +with as deep sentiments of attachment, as the bipeds of the group; and +whose gambols, which seemed to afford him much amusement, he sometimes +checked, and sometimes encouraged. In addition to this pastime, a +lackey, or groom, was also in attendance, with one or two little +baskets and bags, from which the gentleman we have described took, +from time to time, a handful of seeds, and amused himself with +throwing them to the waterfowl. + +This the King's favourite occupation, together with his remarkable +countenance, and the deportment of the rest of the company towards +him, satisfied Julian Peveril that he was approaching, perhaps +indecorously, near the person of Charles Stewart, the second of that +unhappy name. + +While he hesitated to follow his dumb guide any nearer, and felt the +embarrassment of being unable to communicate to her his repugnance to +further intrusion, a person in the royal retinue touched a light and +lively air on the flageolet, at a signal from the King, who desired to +have some tune repeated which had struck him in the theatre on the +preceding evening. While the good-natured monarch marked time with his +foot, and with the motion of his hand, Fenella continued to approach +him, and threw into her manner the appearance of one who was +attracted, as it were in spite of herself, by the sounds of the +instrument. + +Anxious to know how this was to end, and astonished to see the dumb +girl imitate so accurately the manner of one who actually heard the +musical notes, Peveril also drew near, though at somewhat greater +distance. + +The King looked good-humouredly at both, as if he admitted their +musical enthusiasm as an excuse for their intrusion; but his eyes +became riveted on Fenella, whose face and appearance, although rather +singular than beautiful, had something in them wild, fantastic, and, +as being so, even captivating, to an eye which had been gratified +perhaps to satiety with the ordinary forms of female beauty. She did +not appear to notice how closely she was observed; but, as if acting +under an irresistible impulse, derived from the sounds to which she +seemed to listen, she undid the bodkin round which her long tresses +were winded, and flinging them suddenly over her slender person, as if +using them as a natural veil, she began to dance, with infinite grace +and agility, to the tune which the flageolet played. + +Peveril lost almost his sense of the King's presence, when he observed +with what wonderful grace and agility Fenella kept time to notes, +which could only be known to her by the motions of the musician's +fingers. He had heard, indeed, among other prodigies, of a person in +Fenella's unhappy situation acquiring, by some unaccountable and +mysterious tact, the power of acting as an instrumental musician, nay, +becoming so accurate a performer as to be capable of leading a musical +band; and he also heard of deaf and dumb persons dancing with +sufficient accuracy, by observing the motions of their partner. But +Fenella's performance seemed more wonderful than either, since the +musician was guided by his written notes, and the dancer by the +motions of the others; whereas Fenella had no intimation, save what +she seemed to gather, with infinite accuracy, by observing the motion +of the artist's fingers on his small instrument. + +As for the King, who was ignorant of the particular circumstances +which rendered Fenella's performance almost marvellous, he was +contented, at her first commencement, to authorise what seemed to him +the frolic of this singular-looking damsel, by a good-natured smile, +but when he perceived the exquisite truth and justice, as well as the +wonderful combination of grace and agility, with which she executed to +this favourite air a dance which was perfectly new to him, Charles +turned his mere acquiescence into something like enthusiastic +applause. He bore time to her motions with the movement of his foot-- +applauded with head and with hand--and seemed, like herself, carried +away by the enthusiasm of the gestic art. + +After a rapid yet graceful succession of /entrechats/, Fenella +introduced a slow movement, which terminated the dance; then dropping +a profound courtesy, she continued to stand motionless before the +King, her arms folded on her bosom, her head stooped, and her eyes +cast down, after the manner of an Oriental slave; while through the +misty veil of her shadowy locks, it might be observed, that the colour +which exercise had called to her cheeks was dying fast away, and +resigning them to their native dusky hue. + +"By my honour," exclaimed the King, "she is like a fairy who trips it +in moonlight. There must be more of air and fire than of earth in her +composition. It is well poor Nelly Gwyn saw her not, or she would have +died of grief and envy. Come, gentlemen, which of you contrived this +pretty piece of morning pastime?" + +The courtiers looked at each other, but none of them felt authorised +to claim the merit of a service so agreeable. + +"We must ask the quick-eyed nymph herself then," said the King; and, +looking at Fenella, he added, "Tell us, my pretty one, to whom we owe +the pleasure of seeing you?--I suspect the Duke of Buckingham; for +this is exactly a /tour de son métier/." + +Fenella, on observing that the King addressed her, bowed low, and +shook her head, in signal that she did not understand what he said. +"Oddsfish, that is true," said the King; "she must perforce be a +foreigner--her complexion and agility speak it. France or Italy has +had the moulding of those elastic limbs, dark cheek, and eye of fire." +He then put to her in French, and again in Italian, the question, "By +whom she had been sent hither?" + +At the second repetition, Fenella threw back her veiling tresses, so +as to show the melancholy which sat on her brow; while she sadly shook +her head, and intimated by imperfect muttering, but of the softest and +most plaintive kind, her organic deficiency. + +"Is it possible Nature can have made such a fault?" said Charles. "Can +she have left so curious a piece as thou art without the melody of +voice, whilst she has made thee so exquisitely sensible to the beauty +of sound?--Stay: what means this? and what young fellow are you +bringing up there? Oh, the master of the show, I suppose.--Friend," he +added, addressing himself to Peveril, who, on the signal of Fenella, +stepped forward almost instinctively, and kneeled down, "we thank thee +for the pleasure of this morning.--My Lord Marquis, you rooked me at +piquet last night; for which disloyal deed thou shalt now atone, by +giving a couple of pieces to this honest youth, and five to the girl." + +As the nobleman drew out his purse and came forward to perform the +King's generous commission, Julian felt some embarrassment ere he was +able to explain, that he had not title to be benefited by the young +person's performance, and that his Majesty had mistaken his character. + +"And who art thou, then, my friend?" said Charles; "but, above all, +and particularly, who is this dancing nymph, whom thou standest +waiting on like an attendant fawn?" + +"The young person is a retainer of the Countess-Dowager of Derby, so +please your Majesty," said Peveril, in a low tone of voice; "and I +am----" + +"Hold, hold," said the King; "this is a dance to another tune, and not +fit for a place so public. Hark thee, friend; do thou and the young +woman follow Empson where he will conduct thee.--Empson, carry them-- +hark in thy ear." + +"May it please your Majesty, I ought to say," said Peveril, "that I am +guiltless of any purpose of intrusion----" + +"Now a plague on him who can take no hint," said the King, cutting +short his apology. "Oddsfish, man, there are times when civility is +the greatest impertinence in the world. Do thou follow Empson, and +amuse thyself for a half-hour's space with the fairy's company, till +we shall send for you." + +Charles spoke this not without casting an anxious eye around, and in a +tone which intimated apprehension of being overheard. Julian could +only bow obedience, and follow Empson, who was the same person that +played so rarely on the flageolet. + +When they were out of sight of the King and his party, the musician +wished to enter into conversation with his companions, and addressed +himself first to Fenella with a broad compliment of, "By the mass, ye +dance rarely--ne'er a slut on the boards shows such a shank! I would +be content to play to you till my throat were as dry as my whistle. +Come, be a little free--old Rowley will not quit the Park till nine. I +will carry you to Spring-Garden, and bestow sweet-cakes and a quart of +Rhenish on both of you; and we'll be cameradoes,--What the devil? no +answer?--How's this, brother?--Is this neat wench of yours deaf or +dumb or both? I should laugh at that, and she trip it so well to the +flageolet." + +To rid himself of this fellow's discourse, Peveril answered him in +French, that he was a foreigner, and spoke no English; glad to escape, +though at the expense of a fiction, from the additional embarrassment +of a fool, who was likely to ask more questions than his own wisdom +might have enabled him to answer. + +"/Étranger/--that means stranger," muttered their guide; "more French +dogs and jades come to lick the good English butter of our bread, or +perhaps an Italian puppet-show. Well if it were not that they have a +mortal enmity to the whole /gamut/, this were enough to make any +honest fellow turn Puritan. But if I am to play to her at the +Duchess's, I'll be d--d but I put her out in the tune, just to teach +her to have the impudence to come to England, and to speak no +English." + +Having muttered to himself this truly British resolution, the musician +walked briskly on towards a large house near the bottom of St. James's +Street, and entered the court, by a grated door from the Park, of +which the mansion commanded an extensive prospect. + +Peveril finding himself in front of a handsome portico, under which +opened a stately pair of folding-doors, was about to ascend the steps +that led to the main entrance, when his guide seized him by the arm, +exclaiming. "Hold, Mounseer! What! you'll lose nothing, I see, for +want of courage; but you must keep the back way, for all your fine +doublet. Here it is not, knock, and it shall be opened; but may be +instead, knock and you shall be knocked." + +Suffering himself to be guided by Empson, Julian deviated from the +principal door, to one which opened, with less ostentation, in an +angle of the courtyard. On a modest tap from the flute-player, +admittance was afforded him and his companions by a footman, who +conducted them through a variety of stone passages, to a very handsome +summer parlour, where a lady, or something resembling one, dressed in +a style of extra elegance, was trifling with a play-book while she +finished her chocolate. It would not be easy to describe her, but by +weighing her natural good qualities against the affectations which +counterbalanced them. She would have been handsome, but for rouge and +/minauderie/--would have been civil, but for overstrained airs of +patronage and condescension--would have had an agreeable voice, had +she spoken in her natural tone--and fine eyes, had she not made such +desperate hard use of them. She could only spoil a pretty ankle by too +liberal display; but her shape, though she could not yet be thirty +years old, had the embon-point which might have suited better with ten +years more advanced. She pointed Empson to a seat with the air of a +Duchess, and asked him, languidly, how he did this age, that she had +not seen him? and what folks these were he had brought with him? + +"Foreigners, madam; d--d foreigners," answered Empson; "starving +beggars, that our old friend has picked up in the Park this morning-- +the wench dances, and the fellow plays on the Jew's trump, I believe. +On my life, madam, I begin to be ashamed of old Rowley; I must +discard him, unless he keeps better company in future." + +"Fie, Empson," said the lady; "consider it is our duty to countenance +him, and keep him afloat; and indeed I always make a principle of it. +Hark ye, he comes not hither this morning?" + +"He will be here," answered Empson, "in the walking of a minuet." + +"My God!" exclaimed the lady, with unaffected alarm; and starting up +with utter neglect of her usual and graceful languor, she tripped as +swiftly as a milk-maid into an adjoining apartment, where they heard +presently a few words of eager and animated discussion. + +"Something to be put out of the way, I suppose," said Empson. "Well +for madam I gave her the hint. There he goes, the happy swain." + +Julian was so situated, that he could, from the same casement through +which Empson was peeping, observe a man in a laced roquelaure, and +carrying his rapier under his arm, glide from the door by which he had +himself entered, and out of the court, keeping as much as possible +under the shade of the buildings. + +The lady re-entered at this moment, and observing how Empson's eyes +were directed, said with a slight appearance of hurry, "A gentleman of +the Duchess of Portsmouth's with a billet; and so tiresomely pressing +for an answer, that I was obliged to write without my diamond pen. I +have daubed my fingers, I dare say," she added, looking at a very +pretty hand, and presently after dipping her fingers in a little +silver vase of rose-water. "But that little exotic monster of yours, +Empson, I hope she really understands no English?--On my life she +coloured.--Is she such a rare dancer?--I must see her dance, and hear +him play on the Jew's harp." + +"Dance!" replied Empson; "she danced well enough when /I/ played to +her. I can make anything dance. Old Counsellor Clubfoot danced when he +had a fit of the gout; you have seen no such /pas seul/ in the +theatre. I would engage to make the Archbishop of Canterbury dance the +hays like a Frenchman. There is nothing in dancing; it all lies in the +music. Rowley does not know that now. He saw this poor wench dance; +and thought so much on't, when it was all along of me. I would have +defied her to sit still. And Rowley gives her the credit of it, and +five pieces to boot; and I have only two for my morning's work!" + +"True, Master Empson," said the lady; "but you are of the family, +though in a lower station; and you ought to consider----" + +"By G--, madam," answered Empson, "all I consider is, that I play the +best flageolet in England; and that they can no more supply my place, +if they were to discard me, than they could fill Thames from Fleet- +Ditch." + +"Well, Master Empson, I do not dispute but you are a man of talents," +replied the lady; "still, I say, mind the main chance--you please the +ear to-day--another has the advantage of you to-morrow." + +"Never, mistress, while ears have the heavenly power of distinguishing +one note from another." + +"Heavenly power, say you, Master Empson?" said the lady. + +"Ay, madam, heavenly; for some very neat verses which we had at our +festival say, + + 'What know we of the blest above, + But that they sing and that they love?' + +It is Master Waller wrote them, as I think; who, upon my word, ought +to be encouraged." + +"And so should you, my dear Empson," said the dame, yawning, "were it +only for the honour you do to your own profession. But in the +meantime, will you ask these people to have some refreshment?--and +will you take some yourself?--the chocolate is that which the +Ambassador Portuguese fellow brought over to the Queen." + +"If it be genuine," said the musician. + +"How, sir?" said the fair one, half rising from her pile of cushions-- +"Not genuine, and in this house!--Let me understand you, Master Empson +--I think, when I first saw you, you scarce knew chocolate from +coffee." + +"By G--, madam," answered the flageolet-player, "you are perfectly +right. And how can I show better how much I have profited by your +ladyship's excellent cheer, except by being critical?" + +"You stand excused, Master Empson," said the /petite maitresse/, +sinking gently back on the downy couch, from which a momentary +irritation had startled her--"I think the chocolate will please you, +though scarce equal to what we had from the Spanish resident Mendoza. +--But we must offer these strange people something. Will you ask them +if they would have coffee and chocolate, or cold wild-fowl, fruit, and +wine? They must be treated, so as to show them where they are, since +here they are." + +"Unquestionably, madam," said Empson; "but I have just at this instant +forgot the French for chocolate, hot bread, coffee, game, and +drinkables." + +"It is odd," said the lady; "and I have forgot my French and Italian +at the same moment. But it signifies little--I will order the things +to be brought, and they will remember the names of them themselves." + +Empson laughed loudly at this jest, and pawned his soul that the cold +sirloin which entered immediately after, was the best emblem of roast- +beef all the world over. Plentiful refreshments were offered to all +the party, of which both Fenella and Peveril partook. + +In the meanwhile, the flageolet-player drew closer to the side of the +lady of the mansion--their intimacy was cemented, and their spirits +set afloat, by a glass of liqueur, which gave them additional +confidence in discussing the characters, as well of the superior +attendants of the Court, as of the inferior rank, to which they +themselves might be supposed to belong. + +The lady, indeed, during this conversation, frequently exerted her +complete and absolute superiority over Master Empson; in which that +musical gentleman humbly acquiesced whenever the circumstance was +recalled to his attention, whether in the way of blunt contradiction, +sarcastic insinuation, downright assumption of higher importance, or +in any of the other various modes by which such superiority is usually +asserted and maintained. But the lady's obvious love of scandal was +the lure which very soon brought her again down from the dignified +part which for a moment she assumed, and placed her once more on a +gossiping level with her companion. + +Their conversation was too trivial, and too much allied to petty Court +intrigues, with which he was totally unacquainted, to be in the least +interesting to Julian. As it continued for more than an hour, he soon +ceased to pay the least attention to a discourse consisting of +nicknames, patchwork, and innuendo; and employed himself in reflecting +on his own complicated affairs, and the probable issue of his +approaching audience with the King, which had been brought about by so +singular an agent, and by means so unexpected. He often looked to his +guide, Fenella; and observed that she was, for the greater part of the +time, drowned in deep and abstracted meditation. But three or four +times--and it was when the assumed airs and affected importance of the +musician and their hostess rose to the most extravagant excess--he +observed that Fenella dealt askance on them some of those bitter and +almost blighting elfin looks, which in the Isle of Man were held to +imply contemptuous execration. There was something in all her manner +so extraordinary, joined to her sudden appearance, and her demeanour +in the King's presence, so oddly, yet so well contrived to procure him +a private audience--which he might, by graver means, have sought in +vain--that it almost justified the idea, though he smiled at it +internally, that the little mute agent was aided in her machinations +by the kindred imps, to whom, according to Manx superstition, her +genealogy was to be traced. + +Another idea sometimes occurred to Julian, though he rejected the +question, as being equally wild with those doubts which referred +Fenella to a race different from that of mortals--"Was she really +afflicted with those organical imperfections which had always seemed +to sever her from humanity?--If not, what could be the motives of so +young a creature practising so dreadful a penance for such an +unremitted term of years? And how formidable must be the strength of +mind which could condemn itself to so terrific a sacrifice--How deep +and strong the purpose for which it was undertaken!" + +But a brief recollection of past events enabled him to dismiss this +conjecture as altogether wild and visionary. He had but to call to +memory the various stratagems practised by his light-hearted +companion, the young Earl of Derby, upon this forlorn girl--the +conversations held in her presence, in which the character of a +creature so irritable and sensitive upon all occasions, was freely, +and sometimes satirically discussed, without her expressing the least +acquaintance with what was going forward, to convince him that so deep +a deception could never have been practised for so many years, by a +being of a turn of mind so peculiarly jealous and irascible. + +He renounced, therefore, the idea, and turned his thoughts to his own +affairs, and his approaching interview with his Sovereign; in which +meditation we propose to leave him, until we briefly review the +changes which had taken place in the situation of Alice Bridgenorth. + + + + CHAPTER XXXI + + I fear the devil worst when gown and cassock, + Or, in the lack of them, old Calvin's cloak, + Conceals his cloven hoof. + --ANONYMOUS. + +Julian Peveril had scarce set sail for Whitehaven, when Alice +Bridgenorth and her governante, at the hasty command of her father, +were embarked with equal speed and secrecy on board of a bark bound +for Liverpool. Christian accompanied them on their voyage, as the +friend to whose guardianship Alice was to be consigned during any +future separation from her father, and whose amusing conversation, +joined to his pleasing though cold manners, as well as his near +relationship, induced Alice, in her forlorn situation, to consider her +fate as fortunate in having such a guardian. + +At Liverpool, as the reader already knows, Christian took the first +overt step in the villainy which he had contrived against the innocent +girl, by exposing her at a meeting-house to the unhallowed gaze of +Chiffinch, in order to convince him she was possessed of such uncommon +beauty as might well deserve the infamous promotion to which they +meditated to raise her. + +Highly satisfied with her personal appearance, Chiffinch was no less +so with the sense and delicacy of her conversation, when he met her in +company with her uncle afterwards in London. The simplicity, and at +the same time the spirit of her remarks, made him regard her as his +scientific attendant the cook might have done a newly invented sauce, +sufficiently /piquante/ in its qualities to awaken the jaded appetite +of a cloyed and gorged epicure. She was, he said and swore, the very +corner-stone on which, with proper management, and with his +instruction, a few honest fellows might build a Court fortune. + +That the necessary introduction might take place, the confederates +judged fit she should be put under the charge of an experienced lady, +whom some called Mistress Chiffinch, and others Chiffinch's mistress-- +one of those obliging creatures who are willing to discharge all the +duties of a wife, without the inconvenient and indissoluble ceremony. + +It was one, and not perhaps the least prejudicial consequence of the +license of that ill-governed time, that the bounds betwixt virtue and +vice were so far smoothed down and levelled, that the frail wife, or +the tender friend who was no wife, did not necessarily lose their +place in society; but, on the contrary, if they moved in the higher +circles, were permitted and encouraged to mingle with women whose rank +was certain, and whose reputation was untainted. + +A regular /liaison/, like that of Chiffinch and his fair one, inferred +little scandal; and such was his influence, as prime minister of his +master's pleasures, that, as Charles himself expressed it, the lady +whom we introduced to our readers in the last chapter, had obtained a +brevet commission to rank as a married woman. And to do the gentle +dame justice, no wife could have been more attentive to forward his +plans, or more liberal in disposing of his income. + +She inhabited a set of apartments called Chiffinch's--the scene of +many an intrigue, both of love and politics; and where Charles often +held his private parties for the evening, when, as frequently +happened, the ill-humour of the Duchess of Portsmouth, his reigning +Sultana, prevented his supping with her. The hold which such an +arrangement gave a man like Chiffinch, used as he well knew how to use +it, made him of too much consequence to be slighted even by the first +persons in the state, unless they stood aloof from all manner of +politics and Court intrigue. + +In the charge of Mistress Chiffinch, and of him whose name she bore, +Edward Christian placed the daughter of his sister, and of his +confiding friend, calmly contemplating her ruin as an event certain to +follow; and hoping to ground upon it his own chance of a more assured +fortune, than a life spent in intrigue had hitherto been able to +procure for him. + +The innocent Alice, without being able to discover what was wrong +either in the scenes of unusual luxury with which she was surrounded, +or in the manners of her hostess, which, both from nature and policy, +were kind and caressing--felt nevertheless an instinctive apprehension +that all was not right--a feeling in the human mind, allied, perhaps, +to that sense of danger which animals exhibit when placed in the +vicinity of the natural enemies of their race, and which makes birds +cower when the hawk is in the air, and beasts tremble when the tiger +is abroad in the desert. There was a heaviness at her heart which she +could not dispel; and the few hours which she had already spent at +Chiffinch's were like those passed in prison by one unconscious of the +cause or event of his captivity. It was the third morning after her +arrival in London, that the scene took place which we now recur to. + +The impertinence and vulgarity of Empson, which was permitted to him +as an unrivalled performer upon his instrument, were exhausting +themselves at the expense of all other musical professors, and Mrs. +Chiffinch was listening with careless indifference, when some one was +heard speaking loudly, and with animation, in the inner apartment. + +"Oh, gemini and gilliflower water!" exclaimed the damsel, startled out +of her fine airs into her natural vulgarity of exclamation, and +running to the door of communication--"if he has not come back again +after all!--and if old Rowley----" + +A tap at the farther and opposite door here arrested her attention-- +she quitted the handle of that which she was about to open as speedily +as if it had burnt her fingers, and, moving back towards her couch, +asked, "Who is there?" + +"Old Rowley himself, madam," said the King, entering the apartment +with his usual air of easy composure. + +"O crimini!--your Majesty!--I thought----" + +"That I was out of hearing, doubtless," said the King; "and spoke of +me as folk speak of absent friends. Make no apology. I think I have +heard ladies say of their lace, that a rent is better than a darn.-- +Nay, be seated.--Where is Chiffinch?" + +"He is down at York House, your Majesty," said the dame, recovering, +though with no small difficulty, the calm affectation of her usual +demeanour. "Shall I send your Majesty's commands?" + +"I will wait his return," said the King.--"Permit me to taste your +chocolate." + +"There is some fresh frothed in the office," said the lady; and using +a little silver call, or whistle, a black boy, superbly dressed, like +an Oriental page, with gold bracelets on his naked arms, and a gold +collar around his equally bare neck, attended with the favourite +beverage of the morning, in an apparatus of the richest china. + +While he sipped his cup of chocolate, the King looked round the +apartment, and observing Fenella, Peveril, and the musician, who +remained standing beside a large Indian screen, he continued, +addressing Mistress Chiffinch, though with polite indifference, "I +sent you the fiddles this morning--or rather the flute--Empson, and a +fairy elf whom I met in the Park, who dances divinely. She has brought +us the very newest saraband from the Court of Queen Mab, and I sent +her here, that you may see it at leisure." + +"Your Majesty does me by far too much honour," said Chiffinch, her +eyes properly cast down, and her accents minced into becoming +humility. + +"Nay, little Chiffinch," answered the King, in a tone of as +contemptuous familiarity as was consistent with his good-breeding, "it +was not altogether for thine own private ear, though quite deserving +of all sweet sounds; but I thought Nelly had been with thee this +morning." + +"I can send Bajazet for her, your Majesty," answered the lady. + +"Nay, I will not trouble your little heathen sultan to go so far. +Still it strikes me that Chiffinch said you had company--some country +cousin, or such a matter--Is there not such a person?" + +"There is a young person from the country," said Mistress Chiffinch, +striving to conceal a considerable portion of embarrassment; "but she +is unprepared for such an honour as to be admitted into your Majesty's +presence, and----" + +"And therefore the fitter to receive it, Chiffinch. There is nothing +in nature so beautiful as the first blush of a little rustic between +joy and fear, and wonder and curiosity. It is the down on the peach-- +pity it decays so soon!--the fruit remains, but the first high +colouring and exquisite flavour are gone.--Never put up thy lip for +the matter, Chiffinch, for it is as I tell you; so pray let us have +/la belle cousine/." + +Mistress Chiffinch, more embarrassed than ever, again advanced towards +the door of communication, which she had been in the act of opening +when his Majesty entered. But just as she coughed pretty loudly, +perhaps as a signal to some one within, voices were again heard in a +raised tone of altercation----the door was flung open, and Alice +rushed out of the inner apartment, followed to the door of it by the +enterprising Duke of Buckingham, who stood fixed with astonishment on +finding his pursuit of the flying fair one had hurried him into the +presence of the King. + +Alice Bridgenorth appeared too much transported with anger to permit +her to pay attention to the rank or character of the company into +which she had thus suddenly entered. "I remain no longer here, madam," +she said to Mrs. Chiffinch, in a tone of uncontrollable resolution; "I +leave instantly a house where I am exposed to company which I detest, +and to solicitations which I despise." + +The dismayed Mrs. Chiffinch could only implore her, in broken +whispers, to be silent; adding, while she pointed to Charles, who +stood with his eyes fixed rather on his audacious courtier than on the +game which he pursued, "The King--the King!" + +"If I am in the King's presence," said Alice aloud, and in the same +torrent of passionate feeling, while her eye sparkled through tears of +resentment and insulted modesty, "it is the better--it is his +Majesty's duty to protect me; and on his protection I throw myself." + +These words, which were spoken aloud, and boldly, at once recalled +Julian to himself, who had hitherto stood, as it were, bewildered. He +approached Alice, and, whispering in her ear that she had beside her +one who would defend her with his life, implored her to trust to his +guardianship in this emergency. + +Clinging to his arm in all the ecstasy of gratitude and joy, the +spirit which had so lately invigorated Alice in her own defence, gave +way in a flood of tears, when she saw herself supported by him whom +perhaps she most wished to recognise as her protector. She permitted +Peveril gently to draw her back towards the screen before which he had +been standing; where, holding by his arm, but at the same time +endeavouring to conceal herself behind him, they waited the conclusion +of a scene so singular. + +The King seemed at first so much surprised at the unexpected +apparition of the Duke of Buckingham, as to pay little or no attention +to Alice, who had been the means of thus unceremoniously introducing +his Grace into the presence at a most unsuitable moment. In that +intriguing Court, it had not been the first time that the Duke had +ventured to enter the lists of gallantry in rivalry of his Sovereign, +which made the present insult the more intolerable. His purpose of +lying concealed in those private apartments was explained by the +exclamations of Alice; and Charles, notwithstanding the placidity of +his disposition, and his habitual guard over his passions, resented +the attempt to seduce his destined mistress, as an Eastern Sultan +would have done the insolence of a vizier, who anticipated his +intended purchases of captive beauty in the slave-market. The swarthy +features of Charles reddened, and the strong lines on his dark visage +seemed to become inflated, as he said, in a voice which faltered with +passion, "Buckingham, you dared not have thus insulted your equal! To +your master you may securely offer any affront, since his rank glues +his sword to the scabbard." + +The haughty Duke did not brook this taunt unanswered. "My sword," he +said, with emphasis, "was never in the scabbard, when your Majesty's +service required it should be unsheathed." + +"Your Grace means, when its service was required for its master's +interest," said the King; "for you could only gain the coronet of a +Duke by fighting for the royal crown. But it is over--I have treated +you as a friend--a companion--almost an equal--you have repaid me with +insolence and ingratitude." + +"Sire," answered the Duke firmly, but respectfully, "I am unhappy in +your displeasure; yet thus far fortunate, that while your words can +confer honour, they cannot impair or take it away.--It is hard," he +added, lowering his voice, so as only to be heard by the King,--"It is +hard that the squall of a peevish wench should cancel the services of +so many years!" + +"It is harder," said the King, in the same subdued tone, which both +preserved through the rest of the conversation, "that a wench's bright +eyes can make a nobleman forget the decencies due to his Sovereign's +privacy." + +"May I presume to ask your Majesty what decencies are those?" said the +Duke. + +Charles bit his lip to keep himself from smiling. "Buckingham," he +said, "this is a foolish business; and we must not forget (as we have +nearly done), that we have an audience to witness this scene, and +should walk the stage with dignity. I will show you your fault in +private." + +"It is enough that your Majesty has been displeased, and that I have +unhappily been the occasion," said the Duke, kneeling; "although quite +ignorant of any purpose beyond a few words of gallantry; and I sue +thus low for your Majesty's pardon." + +So saying, he kneeled gracefully down. "Thou hast it, George," said +the placable Prince. "I believe thou wilt be sooner tired of offending +than I of forgiving." + +"Long may your Majesty live to give the offence, with which it is your +royal pleasure at present to charge my innocence," said the Duke. + +"What mean you by that, my lord?" said Charles, the angry shade +returning to his brow for a moment. + +"My Liege," replied the Duke, "you are too honourable to deny your +custom of shooting with Cupid's bird-bolts in other men's warrens. You +have ta'en the royal right of free-forestry over every man's park. It +is hard that you should be so much displeased at hearing a chance +arrow whizz near your own pales." + +"No more on't," said the King; "but let us see where the dove has +harboured." + +"The Helen has found a Paris while we were quarrelling," replied the +Duke. + +"Rather an Orpheus," said the King; "and what is worse, one that is +already provided with a Eurydice--She is clinging to the fiddler." + +"It is mere fright," said Buckingham, "like Rochester's, when he crept +into the bass-viol to hide himself from Sir Dermot O'Cleaver." + +"We must make the people show their talents," said the King, "and stop +their mouths with money and civility, or we shall have this foolish +encounter over half the town." + +The King then approached Julian, and desired him to take his +instrument, and cause his female companion to perform a saraband. + +"I had already the honour to inform your Majesty," said Julian, "that +I cannot contribute to your pleasure in the way you command me; and +that this young person is----" + +"A retainer of the Lady Powis," said the King, upon whose mind things +not connected with his pleasures made a very slight impression. "Poor +lady, she is in trouble about the lords in the Tower." + +"Pardon me, sir," said Julian, "she is a dependant of the Countess of +Derby." + +"True, true," answered Charles; "it is indeed of Lady Derby, who hath +also her own distresses in these times. Do you know who taught the +young person to dance? Some of her steps mightily resemble Le Jeune's +of Paris." + +"I presume she was taught abroad, sir," said Julian; "for myself, I am +charged with some weighty business by the Countess, which I would +willingly communicate to your Majesty." + +"We will send you to our Secretary of State," said the King. "But this +dancing envoy will oblige us once more, will she not?--Empson, now +that I remember, it was to your pipe that she danced--Strike up, man, +and put mettle into her feet." + +Empson began to play a well-known measure; and, as he had threatened, +made more than one false note, until the King, whose ear was very +accurate, rebuked him with, "Sirrah, art thou drunk at this early +hour, or must thou too be playing thy slippery tricks with me? Thou +thinkest thou art born to beat time, but I will have time beat into +thee." + +The hint was sufficient, and Empson took good care so to perform his +air as to merit his high and deserved reputation. But on Fenella it +made not the slightest impression. She rather leant than stood against +the wall of the apartment; her countenance as pale as death, her arms +and hands hanging down as if stiffened, and her existence only +testified by the sobs which agitated her bosom, and the tears which +flowed from her half-closed eyes. + +"A plague on it," said the King, "some evil spirit is abroad this +morning; and the wenches are all bewitched, I think. Cheer up, my +girl. What, in the devil's name, has changed thee at once from a Nymph +to a Niobe? If thou standest there longer thou wilt grow to the very +marble wall--Or--oddsfish, George, have you been bird-bolting in this +quarter also?" + +Ere Buckingham could answer to this charge, Julian again kneeled down +to the King, and prayed to be heard, were it only for five minutes. +"The young woman," he said, "had been long in attendance of the +Countess of Derby. She was bereaved of the faculties of speech and +hearing." + +"Oddsfish, man, and dances so well?" said the King. "Nay, all Gresham +College shall never make me believe that." + +"I would have thought it equally impossible, but for what I to-day +witnessed," said Julian; "but only permit me, sir, to deliver the +petition of my lady the Countess." + +"And who art thou thyself, man?" said the Sovereign; "for though +everything which wears bodice and breast-knot has a right to speak to +a King, and be answered, I know not that they have a title to audience +through an envoy extraordinary." + +"I am Julian Peveril of Derbyshire," answered the supplicant, "the son +of Sir Geoffrey Peveril of Martindale Castle, who----" + +"Body of me--the old Worcester man?" said the King. "Oddsfish, I +remember him well--some harm has happened to him, I think--Is he not +dead, or very sick at least?" + +"Ill at ease, and it please your Majesty, but not ill in health. He +has been imprisoned on account of an alleged accession to this Plot." + +"Look you there," said the King; "I knew he was in trouble; and yet +how to help the stout old Knight, I can hardly tell. I can scarce +escape suspicion of the Plot myself, though the principal object of it +is to take away my own life. Were I to stir to save a plotter, I +should certainly be brought in as an accessory.--Buckingham, thou hast +some interest with those who built this fine state engine, or at least +who have driven it on--be good-natured for once, though it is scarcely +thy wont, and interfere to shelter our old Worcester friend, Sir +Godfrey. You have not forgot him?" + +"No, sir," answered the Duke; "for I never heard the name." + +"It is Sir Geoffrey his Majesty would say," said Julian. + +"And if his Majesty /did/ say Sir Geoffrey, Master Peveril, I cannot +see of what use I can be to your father," replied the Duke coldly. "He +is accused of a heavy crime; and a British subject so accused, can +have no shelter either from prince or peer, but must stand to the +award and deliverance of God and his country." + +"Now, Heaven forgive thee thy hypocrisy, George," said the King +hastily. "I would rather hear the devil preach religion than thee +teach patriotism. Thou knowest as well as I, that the nation is in a +scarlet fever for fear of the poor Catholics, who are not two men to +five hundred; and that the public mind is so harassed with new +narrations of conspiracy, and fresh horrors every day, that people +have as little real sense of what is just or unjust as men who talk in +their sleep of what is sense or nonsense. I have borne, and borne with +it--I have seen blood flow on the scaffold, fearing to thwart the +nation in its fury--and I pray to God that I or mine be not called on +to answer for it. I will no longer swim with the torrent, which honour +and conscience call upon me to stem--I will act the part of a +Sovereign, and save my people from doing injustice, even in their own +despite." + +Charles walked hastily up and down the room as he expressed these +unwonted sentiments, with energy equally unwonted. After a momentary +pause, the Duke answered him gravely, "Spoken like a Royal King, sir, +but--pardon me--not like a King of England." + +Charles paused, as the Duke spoke, beside a window which looked full +on Whitehall, and his eye was involuntarily attracted by the fatal +window of the Banqueting House out of which his unhappy father was +conducted to execution. Charles was naturally, or, more purposely, +constitutionally brave; but a life of pleasure, together with the +habit of governing his course rather by what was expedient than by +what was right, rendered him unapt to dare the same scene of danger or +of martyrdom, which had closed his father's life and reign; and the +thought came over his half-formed resolution, like the rain upon a +kindling beacon. In another man, his perplexity would have seemed +almost ludicrous; but Charles would not lose, even under these +circumstances, the dignity and grace, which were as natural to him as +his indifference and good humour. "Our Council must decide in this +matter," he said, looking to the Duke; "and be assured, young man," he +added, addressing Julian, "your father shall not want an intercessor +in his King, so far as the laws will permit my interference in his +behalf." + +Julian was about to retire, when Fenella, with a marked look, put into +his hand a slip of paper, on which she had hastily written, "The +packet--give him the packet." + +After a moment's hesitation, during which he reflected that Fenella +was the organ of the Countess's pleasure, Julian resolved to obey. +"Permit me, then, Sire," he said, "to place in your royal hands this +packet, entrusted to me by the Countess of Derby. The letters have +already been once taken from me; and I have little hope that I can now +deliver them as they are addressed. I place them, therefore, in your +royal hands, certain that they will evince the innocence of the +writer." + +The King shook his head as he took the packet reluctantly. "It is no +safe office you have undertaken, young man. A messenger has sometimes +his throat cut for the sake of his despatches--But give them to me; +and, Chiffinch, give me wax and a taper." He employed himself in +folding the Countess's packet in another envelope. "Buckingham," he +said, "you are evidence that I do not read them till the Council shall +see them." + +Buckingham approached, and offered his services in folding the parcel, +but Charles rejected his assistance; and having finished his task, he +sealed the packet with his own signet-ring. The Duke bit his lip and +retired. + +"And now, young man," said the King, "your errand is sped, so far as +it can at present be forwarded." + +Julian bowed deeply, as to take leave at these words, which he rightly +interpreted as a signal for his departure. Alice Bridgenorth still +clung to his arm, and motioned to withdraw along with him. The King +and Buckingham looked at each other in conscious astonishment, and yet +not without a desire to smile, so strange did it seem to them that a +prize, for which, an instant before, they had been mutually +contending, should thus glide out of their grasp, or rather be borne +off by a third and very inferior competitor. + +"Mistress Chiffinch," said the King, with a hesitation which he could +not disguise, "I hope your fair charge is not about to leave you?" + +"Certainly not, your Majesty," answered Chiffinch. "Alice, my love-- +you mistake--that opposite door leads to your apartments." + +"Pardon me, madam," answered Alice; "I have indeed mistaken my road, +but it was when I came hither." + +"The errant damosel," said Buckingham, looking at Charles with as much +intelligence as etiquette permitted him to throw into his eye, and +then turning it towards Alice, as she still held by Julian's arm, "is +resolved not to mistake her road a second time. She has chosen a +sufficient guide." + +"And yet stories tell that such guides have led maidens astray," said +the King. + +Alice blushed deeply, but instantly recovered her composure so soon as +she saw that her liberty was likely to depend upon the immediate +exercise of resolution. She quitted, from a sense of insulted +delicacy, the arm of Julian, to which she had hitherto clung; but as +she spoke, she continued to retain a slight grasp of his cloak. "I +have indeed mistaken my way," she repeated still addressing Mrs. +Chiffinch, "but it was when I crossed this threshold. The usage to +which I have been exposed in your house has determined me to quit it +instantly." + +"I will not permit that, my young mistress," answered Mrs. Chiffinch, +"until your uncle, who placed you under my care, shall relieve me of +the charge of you." + +"I will answer for my conduct, both to my uncle, and, what is of more +importance, to my father," said Alice. "You must permit me to depart, +madam; I am free-born, and you have no right to detain me." + +"Pardon me, my young madam," said Mistress Chiffinch, "I have a right, +and I will maintain it too." + +"I will know that before quitting this presence," said Alice firmly; +and, advancing a step or two, she dropped on her knee before the King. +"Your Majesty," said she, "if indeed I kneel before King Charles, is +the father of your subjects." + +"Of a good many of them," said the Duke of Buckingham apart. + +"I demand protection of you, in the name of God, and of the oath your +Majesty swore when you placed on your head the crown of this kingdom!" + +"You have my protection," said the King, a little confused by an +appeal so unexpected and so solemn. "Do but remain quiet with this +lady, with whom your parents have placed you; neither Buckingham nor +any one else shall intrude on you." + +"His Majesty," added Buckingham, in the same tone, and speaking from +the restless and mischief-making spirit of contradiction, which he +never could restrain, even when indulging it was most contrary, not +only to propriety, but to his own interest,--"His Majesty will protect +you, fair lady, from all intrusion save what must not be termed such." + +Alice darted a keen look on the Duke, as if to read his meaning; +another on Charles, to know whether she had guessed it rightly. There +was a guilty confession on the King's brow, which confirmed Alice's +determination to depart. "Your Majesty will forgive me," she said; "it +is not here that I can enjoy the advantage of your royal protection. I +am resolved to leave this house. If I am detained, it must be by +violence, which I trust no one dare offer to me in your Majesty's +presence. This gentleman, whom I have long known, will conduct me to +my friends." + +"We make but an indifferent figure in this scene, methinks," said the +King, addressing the Duke of Buckingham, and speaking in a whisper; +"but she must go--I neither will, nor dare, stop her from returning to +her father." + +"And if she does," swore the Duke internally, "I would, as Sir Andrew +Smith saith, I might never touch fair lady's hand." And stepping back, +he spoke a few words with Empson the musician, who left the apartment, +for a few minutes, and presently returned. + +The King seemed irresolute concerning the part he should act under +circumstances so peculiar. To be foiled in a gallant intrigue, was to +subject himself to the ridicule of his gay court; to persist in it by +any means which approached to constraint, would have been tyrannical; +and, what perhaps he might judge as severe an imputation, it would +have been unbecoming a gentleman. "Upon my honour, young lady," he +said, with an emphasis, "you have nothing to fear in this house. But +it is improper, for your own sake, that you should leave it in this +abrupt manner. If you will have the goodness to wait but a quarter of +an hour, Mistress Chiffinch's coach will be placed at your command, to +transport you where you will. Spare yourself the ridicule, and me the +pain of seeing you leave the house of one of my servants, as if you +were escaping from a prison." + +The King spoke in good-natured sincerity, and Alice was inclined for +an instant to listen to his advice; but recollecting that she had to +search for her father and uncle, or, failing them, for some suitable +place of secure residence, it rushed on her mind that the attendants +of Mistress Chiffinch were not likely to prove trusty guides or +assistants in such a purpose. Firmly and respectfully she announced +her purpose of instant departure. She needed no other escort, she +said, than what this gentleman, Master Julian Peveril, who was well +known to her father, would willingly afford her; nor did she need that +farther than until she had reached her father's residence. + +"Farewell, then, lady, a God's name!" said the King; "I am sorry so +much beauty should be wedded to so many shrewish suspicions.--For you, +Master Peveril, I should have thought you had enough to do with your +own affairs without interfering with the humours of the fair sex. The +duty of conducting all strayed damsels into the right path is, as +matters go in this good city, rather too weighty an undertaking for +your youth and inexperience." + +Julian, eager to conduct Alice from a place of which he began fully to +appreciate the perils, answered nothing to this taunt, but bowing +reverently, led her from the apartment. Her sudden appearance, and the +animated scene which followed, had entirely absorbed, for the moment, +the recollection of his father and of the Countess of Derby; and while +the dumb attendant of the latter remained in the room, a silent, and, +as it were, stunned spectator of all that had happened, Peveril had +become, in the predominating interest of Alice's critical situation, +totally forgetful of her presence. But no sooner had he left the room, +without noticing or attending to her, than Fenella, starting, as from +a trance, drew herself up, and looked wildly around, like one waking +from a dream, as if to assure herself that her companion was gone, and +gone without paying the slightest attention to her. She folded her +hands together, and cast her eyes upwards, with an expression of such +agony as explained to Charles (as he thought) what painful ideas were +passing in her mind. "This Peveril is a perfect pattern of successful +perfidy, carrying off this Queen of the Amazons, but he has left us, I +think, a disconsolate Ariadne in her place.--But weep not, my princess +of pretty movements," he said, addressing himself to Fenella; "if we +cannot call in Bacchus to console you, we will commit you to the care +of Empson, who shall drink with /Liber Pater/ for a thousand pounds, +and I will say done first." + +As the King spoke these words, Fenella rushed past him with her wonted +rapidity of step, and, with much less courtesy than was due to the +royal presence, hurried downstairs, and out of the house, without +attempting to open any communication with the Monarch. He saw her +abrupt departure with more surprise than displeasure; and presently +afterwards, bursting into a fit of laughter, he said to the Duke, +"Oddsfish, George, this young spark might teach the best of us how to +manage the wenches. I have had my own experience, but I could never +yet contrive either to win or lose them with so little ceremony." + +"Experience, sir," replied the duke, "cannot be acquired without +years." + +"True, George; and you would, I suppose, insinuate," said Charles, +"that the gallant who acquires it, loses as much in youth as he gains +in art? I defy your insinuation, George. You cannot overreach your +master, old as you think him, either in love or politics. You have not +the secret /plumer la poule sans la faire crier/, witness this +morning's work. I will give you odds at all games--ay, and at the Mall +too, if thou darest accept my challenge.--Chiffinch, what for dost +thou convulse thy pretty throat and face with sobbing and hatching +tears, which seem rather unwilling to make their appearance!" + +"It is for fear," whined Chiffinch, "that your Majesty should think-- +that you should expect----" + +"That I should expect gratitude from a courtier, or faith from a +woman?" answered the King, patting her at the same time under the +chin, to make her raise her face--"Tush! chicken, I am not so +superfluous." + +"There it is now," said Chiffinch, continuing to sob the more +bitterly, as she felt herself unable to produce any tears; "I see your +Majesty is determined to lay all the blame on me, when I am innocent +as an unborn babe--I will be judged by his Grace." + +"No doubt, no doubt, Chiffie," said the King. "His Grace and you will +be excellent judges in each other's cause, and as good witnesses in +each other's favour. But to investigate the matter impartially, we +must examine our evidence apart.--My Lord Duke, we meet at the Mall at +noon, if your Grace dare accept my challenge." + +His Grace of Buckingham bowed, and retired. + + + + CHAPTER XXXII + + But when the bully with assuming pace, + Cocks his broad hat, edged round with tarnish'd lace, + Yield not the way--defy his strutting pride, + And thrust him to the muddy kennel's side, + Yet rather bear the shower and toils of mud, + Than in the doubtful quarrel risk thy blood. + --GAY'S TRIVIA. + +Julian Peveril, half-leading, half-supporting, Alice Bridgenorth, had +reached the middle of Saint Jame's Street ere the doubt occurred to +him which way they should bend their course. He then asked Alice +whither he should conduct her, and learned, to his surprise and +embarrassment, that, far from knowing where her father was to be +found, she had no certain knowledge that he was in London, and only +hoped that he had arrived, from the expressions which he had used at +parting. She mentioned her uncle Christian's address, but it was with +doubt and hesitation, arising from the hands in which he had already +placed her; and her reluctance to go again under his protection was +strongly confirmed by her youthful guide, when a few words had +established to his conviction the identity of Ganlesse and Christian. +--What then was to be done? + +"Alice," said Julian, after a moment's reflection, "you must seek your +earliest and best friend--I mean my mother. She has now no castle in +which to receive you--she has but a miserable lodging, so near the +jail in which my father is confined, that it seems almost a cell of +the same prison. I have not seen her since my coming hither; but thus +much have I learned by inquiry. We will now go to her apartment; such +as it is, I know she will share it with one so innocent and so +unprotected as you are." + +"Gracious Heaven!" said the poor girl, "am I then so totally deserted, +that I must throw myself on the mercy of her who, of all the world, +has most reason to spurn me from her?--Julian, can you advise me to +this?--Is there none else who will afford me a few hours' refuge, till +I can hear from my father?--No other protectress but her whose ruin +has, I fear, been accelerated by----Julian, I dare not appear before +your mother! she must hate me for my family, and despise me for my +meanness. To be a second time cast on her protection, when the first +has been so evil repaid--Julian, I dare not go with you." + +"She has never ceased to love you, Alice," said her conductor, whose +steps she continued to attend, even while declaring her resolution not +to go with him, "she never felt anything but kindness towards you, +nay, towards your father; for though his dealings with us have been +harsh, she can allow much for the provocation which he has received. +Believe me, with her you will be safe as with a mother--perhaps it may +be the means of reconciling the divisions by which we have suffered so +much." + +"Might God grant it!" said Alice. "Yet how shall I face your mother? +And will she be able to protect me against these powerful men--against +my uncle Christian? Alas, that I must call him my worst enemy!" + +"She has the ascendancy which honour hath over infamy, and virtue over +vice," said Julian; "and to no human power but your father's will she +resign you, if you consent to choose her for your protectress. Come, +then, with me, Alice; and----" + +Julian was interrupted by some one, who, laying an unceremonious hold +of his cloak, pulled it with so much force as compelled him to stop +and lay his hand on his sword. He turned at the same time, and, when +he turned, beheld Fenella. The cheek of the mute glowed like fire; her +eyes sparkled, and her lips were forcibly drawn together, as if she +had difficulty to repress those wild screams which usually attended +her agonies of passion, and which, uttered in the open street, must +instantly have collected a crowd. As it was, her appearance was so +singular, and her emotion so evident, that men gazed as they came on, +and looked back after they had passed, at the singular vivacity of her +gestures; while, holding Peveril's cloak with one hand, she made with +the other the most eager and imperious signs that he should leave +Alice Bridgenorth and follow her. She touched the plume in her bonnet +to remind him of the Earl--pointed to her heart, to imitate the +Countess--raised her closed hand, as if to command him in their name-- +and next moment folded both, as if to supplicate him in her own; while +pointing to Alice with an expression at once of angry and scornful +derision, she waved her hand repeatedly and disdainfully, to intimate +that Peveril ought to cast her off, as something undeserving his +protection. + +Frightened, she knew not why, at these wild gestures, Alice clung +closer to Julian's arm than she had at first dared to do; and this +mark of confidence in his protection seemed to increase the passion of +Fenella. + +Julian was dreadfully embarrassed; his situation was sufficiently +precarious, even before Fenella's ungovernable passions threatened to +ruin the only plan which he had been able to suggest. What she wanted +with him--how far the fate of the Earl and Countess might depend on +his following her, he could not even conjecture; but be the call how +peremptory soever, he resolved not to comply with it until he had seen +Alice placed in safety. In the meantime, he determined not to lose +sight of Fenella; and disregarding her repeated, disdainful, and +impetuous rejection of the hand which he offered her, he at length +seemed so far to have soothed her, that she seized upon his right arm, +and, as if despairing of his following /her/ path, appeared reconciled +to attend him on that which he himself should choose. + +Thus, with a youthful female clinging to each arm, and both remarkably +calculated to attract the public eye, though from very different +reasons, Julian resolved to make the shortest road to the water-side, +and there to take boat for Blackfriars, as the nearest point of +landing to Newgate, where he concluded that Lance had already +announced his arrival in London to Sir Geoffrey, then inhabiting that +dismal region, and to his lady, who, so far as the jailer's rigour +permitted, shared and softened his imprisonment. + +Julian's embarrassment in passing Charing Cross and Northumberland +House was so great as to excite the attention of the passengers; for +he had to compose his steps so as to moderate the unequal and rapid +pace of Fenella to the timid and faint progress of his left-hand +companion; and while it would have been needless to address himself to +the former, who could not comprehend him, he dared not speak himself +to Alice, for fear of awakening into frenzy the jealousy, or at least +the impatience of Fenella. + +Many passengers looked at them with wonder, and some with smiles; but +Julian remarked that there were two who never lost sight of them, and +to whom his situation, and the demeanour of his companions, seemed to +afford matter of undisguised merriment. These were young men, such as +may be seen in the same precincts in the present day, allowing for the +difference in the fashion of their apparel. They abounded in periwig, +and fluttered with many hundred yards of ribbon, disposed in bow-knots +upon their sleeves, their breeches, and their waistcoats, in the very +extremity of the existing mode. A quantity of lace and embroidery made +their habits rather fine than tasteful. In a word, they were dressed +in that caricature of the fashion, which sometimes denotes a +harebrained man of quality who has a mind to be distinguished as a fop +of the first order, but is much more frequently in the disguise of +those who desire to be esteemed men of rank on account of their dress, +having no other pretension to the distinction. + +These two gallants passed Peveril more than once, linked arm in arm, +then sauntered, so as to oblige him to pass them in turn, laughing and +whispering during these manoeuvres--staring broadly at Peveril and his +female companions--and affording them, as they came into contact, none +of those facilities of giving place which are required on such +occasions by the ordinary rules of the pavé. + +Peveril did not immediately observe their impertinence; but when it +was too gross to escape his notice, his gall began to arise; and, in +addition to all the other embarrassments of his situation, he had to +combat the longing desire which he felt to cudgel handsomely the two +coxcombs who seemed thus determined on insulting him. Patience and +sufferance were indeed strongly imposed on him by circumstances; but +at length it became scarcely possible to observe their dictates any +longer. + +When, for the third time, Julian found himself obliged, with his +companions, to pass this troublesome brace of fops, they kept walking +close behind him, speaking so loud as to be heard, and in a tone of +perfect indifference whether he listened to them or not. + +"This is bumpkin's best luck," said the taller of the two (who was +indeed a man of remarkable size, alluding to the plainness of +Peveril's dress, which was scarce fit for the streets of London)--"Two +such fine wenches, and under guard of a grey frock and an oaken +riding-rod!" + +"Nay, Puritan's luck rather, and more than enough of it," said his +companion. "You may read Puritan in his pace and in his patience." + +"Right as a pint bumper, Tom," said his friend--"Isschar is an ass +that stoopeth between two burdens." + +"I have a mind to ease long-eared Laurence of one of his +encumbrances," said the shorter fellow. "That black-eyed sparkler +looks as if she had a mind to run away from him." + +"Ay," answered the taller, "and the blue-eyed trembler looks as if she +would fall behind into my loving arms." + +At these words, Alice, holding still closer by Peveril's arm than +formerly, mended her pace almost to running, in order to escape from +men whose language was so alarming; and Fenella walked hastily forward +in the same manner, having perhaps caught, from the men's gestures and +demeanour, that apprehension which Alice had taken from their +language. + +Fearful of the consequences of a fray in the streets, which must +necessarily separate him from these unprotected females, Peveril +endeavoured to compound betwixt the prudence necessary for their +protection and his own rising resentment; and as this troublesome pair +of attendants endeavoured again to pass them close to Hungerford +Stairs, he said to them with constrained calmness, "Gentlemen, I owe +you something for the attention you have bestowed on the affairs of a +stranger. If you have any pretension to the name I have given you, you +will tell me where you are to be found." + +"And with what purpose," said the taller of the two sneeringly, "does +your most rustic gravity, or your most grave rusticity, require of us +such information?" + +So saying, they both faced about, in such a manner as to make it +impossible for Julian to advance any farther. + +"Make for the stairs, Alice," he said; "I will be with you in an +instant." Then freeing himself with difficulty from the grasp of his +companions, he cast his cloak hastily round his left arm, and said, +sternly, to his opponents, "Will you give me your names, sirs; or will +you be pleased to make way?" + +"Not till we know for whom we are to give place," said one of them. + +"For one who will else teach you what you want--good manners," said +Peveril, and advanced as if to push between them. + +They separated, but one of them stretched forth his foot before +Peveril, as if he meant to trip him. The blood of his ancestors was +already boiling within him; he struck the man on the face with the +oaken rod which he had just sneered at, and throwing it from him, +instantly unsheathed his sword. Both the others drew, and pushed at +once; but he caught the point of the one rapier in his cloak, and +parried the other thrust with his own weapon. He must have been less +lucky in the second close, but a cry arose among the watermen, of +"Shame, shame! two upon one!" + +"They are men of the Duke of Buckingham's," said one fellow--"there's +no safe meddling with them." + +"They may be the devil's men, if they will," said an ancient Triton, +flourishing his stretcher; "but I say fair play, and old England for +ever; and, I say, knock the gold-laced puppies down, unless they will +fight turn about with grey jerkin, like honest fellows. One down-- +t'other come on." + +The lower orders of London have in all times been remarkable for the +delight which they have taken in club-law, or fist-law; and for +the equity and impartiality with which they see it administered. The +noble science of defence was then so generally known, that a bout at +single rapier excited at that time as much interest and as little +wonder as a boxing-match in our own days. The bystanders experienced +in such affrays, presently formed a ring, within which Peveril and the +taller and more forward of his antagonists were soon engaged in close +combat with their swords, whilst the other, overawed by the +spectators, was prevented from interfering. + +"Well done the tall fellow!"--"Well thrust, long-legs!'--"Huzza for +two ells and a quarter!" were the sounds with which the fray was at +first cheered; for Peveril's opponent not only showed great activity +and skill in fence, but had also a decided advantage, from the anxiety +with which Julian looked out for Alice Bridgenorth; the care for whose +safety diverted him in the beginning of the onset from that which he +ought to have exclusively bestowed on the defence of his own life. A +slight flesh-wound in the side at once punished, and warned him of, +his inadvertence; when, turning his whole thoughts on the business in +which he was engaged, and animated with anger against his impertinent +intruder, the rencontre speedily began to assume another face, amidst +cries of "Well done, grey jerkin!"--"Try the metal of his gold +doublet!"--"Finely thrust!"--"Curiously parried!"--"There went another +eyelet-hole to his broidered jerkin!"--"Fairly pinked, by G--d!" In +applause, accompanying a successful and conclusive lunge, by which +Peveril ran his gigantic antagonist through the body. He looked at his +prostrate foe for a moment; then, recovering himself, called loudly to +know what had become of the lady. + +"Never mind the lady, if you be wise," said one of the watermen; "the +constable will be here in an instant. I'll give your honour a cast +across the water in a moment. It may be as much as your neck's worth. +Shall only charge a Jacobus." + +"You be d--d!" said one of his rivals in profession, "as your father +was before you; for a Jacobus, I'll set the gentleman into Alsatia, +where neither bailiff nor constable dare trespass." + +"The lady, you scoundrels, the lady!" exclaimed Peveril---"Where is +the lady?" + +"I'll carry your honour where you shall have enough of ladies, if that +be your want," said the old Triton; and as he spoke, the clamour +amongst the watermen was renewed, each hoping to cut his own profit +out of the emergency of Julian's situation. + +"A sculler will be least suspected, your honour," said one fellow. + +"A pair of oars will carry you through the water like a wild-duck," +said another. + +"But you have got never a tilt, brother," said a third. "Now I can put +the gentleman as snug as if he were under hatches." + +In the midst of the oaths and clamour attending this aquatic +controversy for his custom, Peveril at length made them understand +that he would bestow a Jacobus, not on him whose boat was first oars, +but on whomsoever should inform him of the fate of the lady. + +"Of which lady?" said a sharp fellow: "for, to my thought, there was a +pair of them." + +"Of both, of both," answered Peveril; "but first, of the fair-haired +lady?" + +"Ay, ay, that was she that shrieked so when gold-jacket's companion +handed her into No. 20." + +"Who--what--who dared to hand her?" exclaimed Peveril. + +"Nay, master, you have heard enough of my tale without a fee," said +the waterman. + +"Sordid rascal!" said Peveril, giving him a gold piece, "speak out, or +I'll run my sword through you!" + +"For the matter of that, master," answered the fellow, "not while I +can handle this trunnion--but a bargain's a bargain; and so I'll tell +you, for your gold piece, that the comrade of the fellow forced one of +your wenches, her with the fair hair, will she, nill she, into +Tickling Tom's wherry; and they are far enough up Thames by this time, +with wind and tide." + +"Sacred Heaven, and I stand here!" exclaimed Julian. + +"Why, that is because your honour will not take a boat." + +"You are right, my friend--a boat--a boat instantly!" + +"Follow me, then, squire.--Here, Tom, bear a hand--the gentleman is +our fare." + +A volley of water language was exchanged betwixt the successful +candidate for Peveril's custom and his disappointed brethren, which +concluded by the ancient Triton's bellowing out, in a tone above them +all, "that the gentleman was in a fair way to make a voyage to the +isle of gulls, for that sly Jack was only bantering him--No. 20 had +rowed for York Buildings." + +"To the isle of gallows," cried another; "for here comes one who will +mar his trip up Thames, and carry him down to Execution Dock." + +In fact, as he spoke the word, a constable, with three or four of his +assistants, armed with the old-fashioned brown bills, which were still +used for arming those guardians of the peace, cut off our hero's +farther progress to the water's edge, by arresting him in the King's +name. To attempt resistance would have been madness, as he was +surrounded on all sides; so Peveril was disarmed, and carried before +the nearest Justice of the Peace, for examination and committal. + +The legal sage before whom Julian was taken was a man very honest in +his intentions, very bounded in his talents, and rather timid in his +disposition. Before the general alarm given to England, and to the +city of London in particular, by the notable discovery of the Popish +Plot, Master Maulstatute had taken serene and undisturbed pride and +pleasure in the discharge of his duties as a Justice of the Peace, +with the exercise of all its honorary privileges and awful authority. +But the murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey had made a strong, nay, an +indelible impression on his mind; and he walked the Courts of Themis +with fear and trembling after that memorable and melancholy event. + +Having a high idea of his official importance, and rather an exalted +notion of his personal consequence, his honour saw nothing from that +time but cords and daggers before his eyes, and never stepped out of +his own house, which he fortified, and in some measure garrisoned, +with half-a-dozen tall watchmen and constables, without seeing himself +watched by a Papist in disguise, with a drawn sword under his cloak. +It was even whispered, that, in the agonies of his fears, the +worshipful Master Maulstatute mistook the kitchen-wench with a +tinderbox, for a Jesuit with a pistol; but if any one dared to laugh +at such an error, he would have done well to conceal his mirth, lest +he fell under the heavy inculpation of being a banterer and stifler +of the Plot--a crime almost as deep as that of being himself a +plotter. In fact, the fears of the honest Justice, however +ridiculously exorbitant, were kept so much in countenance by the +outcry of the day, and the general nervous fever, which afflicted +every good Protestant, that Master Maulstatute was accounted the +bolder man and the better magistrate, while, under the terror of the +air-drawn dagger which fancy placed continually before his eyes, he +continued to dole forth Justice in the recesses of his private +chamber, nay, occasionally to attend Quarter-Sessions, when the hall +was guarded by a sufficient body of the militia. Such was the wight, +at whose door, well chained and doubly bolted, the constable who had +Julian in custody now gave his important and well-known knock. + +Notwithstanding this official signal, the party was not admitted until +the clerk, who acted the part of high-warder, had reconnoitred them +through a grated wicket; for who could say whether the Papists might +not have made themselves master of Master Constable's sign, and have +prepared a pseudo watch to burst in and murder the Justice, under +pretence of bringing in a criminal before him?--Less hopeful projects +had figured in the Narrative of the Popish Plot. + +All being found right, the key was turned, the bolts were drawn, and +the chain unhooked, so as to permit entrance to the constable, the +prisoner, and the assistants; and the door was then a suddenly shut +against the witnesses, who, as less trustworthy persons, were +requested (through the wicket) to remain in the yard, until they +should be called in their respective turns. + +Had Julian been inclined for mirth, as was far from being the case, he +must have smiled at the incongruity of the clerk's apparel, who had +belted over his black buckram suit a buff baldric, sustaining a +broadsword, and a pair of huge horse-pistols; and, instead of the low +flat hat, which, coming in place of the city cap, completed the dress +of a scrivener, had placed on his greasy locks a rusted steel-cap, +which had seen Marston-Moor; across which projected his well-used +quill, in the guise of a plume--the shape of the morion not admitting +of its being stuck, as usual, behind his ear. + +This whimsical figure conducted the constable, his assistants, and the +prisoner, into the low hall, where his principal dealt forth justice; +who presented an appearance still more singular than that of his +dependant. + +Sundry good Protestants, who thought so highly of themselves as to +suppose they were worthy to be distinguished as objects of Catholic +cruelty, had taken to defensive arms on the occasion. But it was +quickly found that a breast-plate and back-plate of proof, fastened +together with iron clasps, was no convenient enclosure for a man who +meant to eat venison and custard; and that a buff-coat or shirt of +mail was scarcely more accommodating to the exertions necessary on +such active occasions. Besides, there were other objections, as the +alarming and menacing aspects which such warlike habiliments gave to +the Exchange, and other places, where merchants most do congregate; +and excoriations were bitterly complained of by many, who, not +belonging to the artillery company, or trained bands, had no +experience in bearing defensive armour. + +To obviate these objections, and, at the same time, to secure the +persons of all true Protestant citizens against open force or privy +assassinations on the part of the Papists, some ingenious artist, +belonging, we may presume, to the worshipful Mercers' Company, had +contrived a species of armour, of which neither the horse-armory in +the Tower, nor Gwynnap's Gothic Hall, no, nor Dr. Meyrick's invaluable +collection of ancient arms, has preserved any specimen. It was called +silk-armour, being composed of a doublet and breeches of quilted silk, +so closely stitched, and of such thickness, as to be proof against +either bullet or steel; while a thick bonnet of the same materials, +with ear-flaps attached to it, and on the whole, much resembling a +nightcap, completed the equipment and ascertained the security of the +wearer from the head to the knee. + +Master Maulstatute, among other worthy citizens, had adopted this +singular panoply, which had the advantage of being soft, and warm, and +flexible, as well as safe. And he now sat in his judicial elbow-chair +--a short, rotund figure, hung round, as it were, with cushions, for +such was the appearance of the quilted garments; and with a nose +protruded from under the silken casque, the size of which, together +with the unwieldiness of the whole figure, gave his worship no +indifferent resemblance to the sign of the Hog in Armour, which was +considerably improved by the defensive garment being of dusty orange +colour, not altogether unlike the hue of those half-wild swine which +are to be found in the forest of Hampshire. + +Secure in these invulnerable envelopments, his worship had rested +content, although severed from his own death-doing weapons, of rapier, +poniard, and pistols, which were placed nevertheless, at no great +distance from his chair. One offensive implement, indeed, he thought +it prudent to keep on the table beside his huge Coke upon Lyttleton. +This was a sort of pocket flail, consisting of a piece of strong ash, +about eighteen inches long, to which was attached a swinging club of +/lignum-vitæ/, nearly twice as long as the handle, but jointed so as +to be easily folded up. This instrument, which bore at that time the +singular name of the Protestant flail, might be concealed under the +coat, until circumstances demanded its public appearance. A better +precaution against surprise than his arms, whether offensive or +defensive, was a strong iron grating, which, crossing the room in +front of the justice's table, and communicating by a grated door, +which was usually kept locked, effectually separated the accused party +from his judge. + +Justice Maulstatute, such as we have described him, chose to hear the +accusation of the witnesses before calling on Peveril for his defence. +The detail of the affray was briefly given by the bystanders, and +seemed deeply to touch the spirit of the examinator. He shook his +silken casque emphatically, when he understood that, after some +language betwixt the parties, which the witnesses did not quite +understand, the young man in custody struck the first blow, and drew +his sword before the wounded party had unsheathed his weapon. Again he +shook his crested head yet more solemnly, when the result of the +conflict was known; and yet again, when one of the witnesses declared, +that, to the best of his knowledge, the sufferer in the fray was a +gentleman belonging to the household of his Grace the Duke of +Buckingham. + +"A worthy peer," quoth the armed magistrate--"a true Protestant, and a +friend to his country. Mercy on us, to what a height of audacity hath +this age arisen! We see well, and could, were we as blind as a mole, +out of what quiver this shaft hath been drawn." + +He then put on his spectacles, and having desired Julian to be brought +forward, he glared upon him awfully with those glazen eyes, from under +the shade of his quilted turban. + +"So young," he said, "and so hardened--lack-a-day!--and a Papist, I'll +warrant." + +Peveril had time enough to recollect the necessity of his being at +large, if he could possibly obtain his freedom, and interposed here a +civil contradiction of his worship's gracious supposition. "He was no +Catholic," he said, "but an unworthy member of the Church of England." + +"Perhaps but a lukewarm Protestant, notwithstanding," said the sage +Justice; "there are those amongst us who ride tantivy to Rome, and +have already made out half the journey--ahem!" + +Peveril disowned his being any such. + +"And who art thou, then?" said the Justice; "for, friend, to tell you +plainly, I like not your visage--ahem!" + +These short and emphatic coughs were accompanied each by a succinct +nod, intimating the perfect conviction of the speaker that he had made +the best, the wisest, and the most acute observation, of which the +premises admitted. + +Julian, irritated by the whole circumstances of his detention, +answered the Justice's interrogation in rather a lofty tone. "My name +is Julian Peveril!" + +"Now, Heaven be around us!" said the terrified Justice--"the son of +that black-hearted Papist and traitor, Sir Geoffrey Peveril, now in +hands, and on the verge of trial!" + +"How, sir!" exclaimed Julian, forgetting his situation, and, stepping +forward to the grating, with a violence which made the bars clatter, +he so startled the appalled Justice, that, snatching his Protestant +flail, Master Maulstatute aimed a blow at his prisoner, to repel what +he apprehended was a premeditated attack. But whether it was owing to +the Justice's hurry of mind, or inexperience in managing the weapon, +he not only missed his aim, but brought the swinging part of the +machine round his own skull, with such a severe counter-buff, as +completely to try the efficacy of his cushioned helmet, and, in spite +of its defence, to convey a stunning sensation, which he rather +hastily imputed to the consequence of a blow received from Peveril. + +His assistants did not directly confirm the opinion which the Justice +had so unwarrantably adopted; but all with one voice agreed that, but +for their own active and instantaneous interference, there was no +knowing what mischief might have been done by a person so dangerous as +the prisoner. The general opinion that he meant to proceed in the +matter of his own rescue, /par voie du fait/, was indeed so deeply +impressed on all present, that Julian saw it would be in vain to offer +any defence, especially being but too conscious that the alarming and +probably the fatal consequences of his rencontre with the bully, +rendered his commitment inevitable. He contented himself with asking +into what prison he was to be thrown; and when the formidable word +Newgate was returned as full answer, he had at least the satisfaction +to reflect, that, stern and dangerous as was the shelter of that roof, +he should at least enjoy it in company with his father; and that, by +some means or other, they might perhaps obtain the satisfaction of a +melancholy meeting, under the circumstances of mutual calamity, which +seemed impending over their house. + +Assuming the virtue of more patience than he actually possessed, +Julian gave the magistrate (to whom all the mildness of his demeanour +could not, however, reconcile him), the direction to the house where +he lodged, together with a request that his servant, Lance Outram, +might be permitted to send him his money and wearing apparel; adding, +that all which might be in his possession, either of arms or writings, +--the former amounting to a pair of travelling pistols, and the last +to a few memoranda of little consequence, he willingly consented to +place at the disposal of the magistrate. It was in that moment that he +entertained, with sincere satisfaction, the comforting reflection, +that the important papers of Lady Derby were already in the possession +of the sovereign. + +The Justice promised attention to his requests; but reminded him, with +great dignity, that his present complacent and submissive behaviour +ought, for his own sake, to have been adopted from the beginning, +instead of disturbing the presence of magistracy with such atrocious +marks of the malignant, rebellious, and murderous spirit of Popery, as +he had at first exhibited. "Yet," he said, "as he was a goodly young +man, and of honourable quality, he would not suffer him to be dragged +through the streets as a felon, but had ordered a coach for his +accommodation." + +His honour, Master Maulstatute, uttered the word "coach" with the +importance of one who, as Dr. Johnson saith of later date, is +conscious of the dignity of putting horses to his chariot. The +worshipful Master Maulstatute did not, however on this occasion, do +Julian the honour of yoking to his huge family caroche the two +"frampal jades" (to use the term of the period), which were wont to +drag that ark to the meeting house of pure and precious Master +Howlaglass, on a Thursday's evening for lecture, and on a Sunday for a +four-hours' sermon. He had recourse to a leathern convenience, then +more rare, but just introduced, with every prospect of the great +facility which has since been afforded by hackney coaches, to all +manner of communication, honest and dishonest, legal and illegal. Our +friend Julian, hitherto much more accustomed to the saddle than to any +other conveyance, soon found himself in a hackney carriage, with the +constable and two assistants for his companions, armed up to the teeth +--the port of destination being, as they had already intimated, the +ancient fortress of Newgate. + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII + + 'Tis the black ban-dog of our jail--Pray look on him, + But at a wary distance--rouse him not-- + He bays not till he worries. + --THE BLACK DOG OF NEWGATE. + +The coach stopped before those tremendous gates, which resemble those +of Tartarus, save only that they rather more frequently permit safe +and honourable egress; although at the price of the same anxiety and +labour with which Hercules, and one or two of the demi-gods, +extricated themselves from the Hell of the ancient mythology, and +sometimes, it is said, by the assistance of the golden boughs. + +Julian stepped out of the vehicle, carefully supported on either side +by his companions, and also by one or two turnkeys, whom the first +summons of the deep bell at the gate had called to their assistance. +That attention, it may be guessed, was not bestowed lest he should +make a false step, so much as for fear of his attempting an escape, of +which he had no intentions. A few prentices and straggling boys of the +neighbouring market, which derived considerable advantage from +increase of custom, in consequence of the numerous committals on +account of the Popish Plot, and who therefore were zealous of +Protestants, saluted him on his descent with jubilee shouts of "Whoop, +Papist! whoop, Papist! D----n to the Pope, and all his adherents!" + +Under such auspices, Peveril was ushered in beneath that gloomy +gateway, where so many bid adieu on their entrance at once to honour +and to life. The dark and dismal arch under which he soon found +himself opened upon a large courtyard, where a number of debtors were +employed in playing at handball, pitch-and-toss, hustle-cap, and other +games, for which relaxations the rigour of their creditors afforded +them full leisure, while it debarred them the means of pursuing the +honest labour by which they might have redeemed their affairs, and +maintained their starving and beggared families. + +But with this careless and desperate group Julian was not to be +numbered, being led, or rather forced, by his conductors, into a low +arched door, which, carefully secured by bolts and bars, opened for +his reception on one side of the archway, and closed, with all its +fastenings, the moment after his hasty entrance. He was then conducted +along two or three gloomy passages, which, where they intersected each +other, were guarded by as many strong wickets, one of iron gates, and +the others of stout oak, clinched with plates, and studded with nails +of the same metal. He was not allowed to pause until he found himself +hurried into a little round vaulted room, which several of these +passages opened into, and which seemed, with respect to the labyrinth +through part of which he had passed, to resemble the central point of +a spider's web, in which the main lines of that reptile's curious maze +are always found to terminate. + +The resemblance did not end here; for in this small vaulted apartment, +the walls of which were hung round with musketoons, pistols, +cutlasses, and other weapons, as well as with many sets of fetters and +irons of different construction, all disposed in great order, and +ready for employment, a person sat, who might not unaptly be compared +to a huge bloated and bottled spider, placed there to secure the prey +which had fallen into his toils. + +This official had originally been a very strong and square-built man, +of large size, but was now so overgrown, from overfeeding, perhaps, +and want of exercise, as to bear the same resemblance to his former +self which a stall-fed ox still retains to a wild bull. The look of no +man is so inauspicious as a fat man, upon whose features ill-nature +has marked an habitual stamp. He seems to have reversed the old +proverb of "laugh and be fat," and to have thriven under the influence +of the worst affections of the mind. Passionate we can allow a jolly +mortal to be; but it seems unnatural to his goodly case to be sulky +and brutal. Now this man's features, surly and tallow-coloured; his +limbs, swelled and disproportioned; his huge paunch and unwieldy +carcass, suggested the idea, that, having once found his way into this +central recess, he had there fattened, like the weasel in the fable, +and fed largely and foully, until he had become incapable of +retreating through any of the narrow paths that terminated at his +cell; and was thus compelled to remain, like a toad under the cold +stone, fattening amid the squalid airs of the dungeons by which he was +surrounded, which would have proved pestiferous to any other than such +a congenial inhabitant. Huge iron-clasped books lay before this +ominous specimen of pinguitude--the records of the realm of misery, in +which office he officiated as prime minister; and had Peveril come +thither as an unconcerned visitor, his heart would have sunk within +him at considering the mass of human wretchedness which must needs be +registered in these fatal volumes. But his own distresses sat too +heavy on his mind to permit any general reflections of this nature. + +The constable and this bulky official whispered together, after the +former had delivered to the latter the warrant of Julian's commitment. +The word /whispered/ is not quite accurate, for their communication +was carried on less by words than by looks and expressive signs; by +which, in all such situations, men learn to supply the use of +language, and to add mystery to what is in itself sufficiently +terrible to the captive. The only words which could be heard were +those of the Warden, or, as he was called then, the Captain of the +Jail, "Another bird to the cage----?" + +"Who will whistle 'Pretty Pope of Rome,' with any starling in your +Knight's ward," answered the constable, with a facetious air, checked, +however, by the due respect to the supreme presence in which he stood. + +The Grim Feature relaxed into something like a smile as he heard the +officer's observation; but instantly composing himself into the stern +solemnity which for an instant had been disturbed, he looked fiercely +at his new guest, and pronounced with an awful and emphatic, yet +rather an under-voice, the single and impressive word, "/Garnish!/" + +Julian Peveril replied with assumed composure; for he had heard of the +customs of such places, and was resolved to comply with them, so as if +possible to obtain the favour of seeing his father, which he shrewdly +guessed must depend on his gratifying the avarice of the keeper. "I am +quite ready," he said, "to accede to the customs of the place in which +I unhappily find myself. You have but to name your demands, and I will +satisfy them." + +So saying, he drew out his purse, thinking himself at the same time +fortunate that he had retained about him a considerable sum of gold. +The Captain remarked its width, depth, its extension, and depression, +with an involuntary smile, which had scarce contorted his hanging +under-lip, and the wiry and greasy moustache which thatched the upper, +when it was checked by the recollection that there were regulations +which set bounds to his rapacity, and prevented him from pouncing on +his prey like a kite, and swooping it all off at once. + +This chilling reflection produced the following sullen reply to +Peveril:--"There were sundry rates. Gentlemen must choose for +themselves. He asked nothing but his fees. But civility," he muttered, +"must be paid for." + +"And shall, if I can have it for payment," said Peveril; "but the +price, my good sir, the price?" + +He spoke with some degree of scorn, which he was the less anxious to +repress, that he saw, even in this jail, his purse gave him an +indirect but powerful influence over his jailer. + +The Captain seemed to feel the same; for, as he spoke, he plucked from +his head, almost involuntarily, a sort of scalded fur-cap, which +served it for covering. But his fingers revolting from so unusual an +act of complaisance, began to indemnify themselves by scratching his +grizzly shock-head, as he muttered, in a tone resembling the softened +growling of a mastiff when he has ceased to bay the intruder who shows +no fear of him,--"There are different rates. There is the Little Ease, +for common fees of the crown--rather dark, and the common sewer runs +below it; and some gentlemen object to the company, who are chiefly +padders and michers. Then the Master's side--the garnish came to one +piece--and none lay stowed there but who were in for murder at the +least." + +"Name your highest price, sir, and take it," was Julian's concise +reply. + +"Three pieces for the Knight's ward," answered the governor of this +terrestrial Tartarus. + +"Take five, and place me with Sir Geoffrey," was again Julian's +answer, throwing down the money upon the desk before him. + +"Sir Geoffrey?--Hum!--ay, Sir Geoffrey," said the jailer, as if +meditating what he ought to do. "Well, many a man has paid money to +see Sir Geoffrey--Scarce so much as you have, though. But then you are +like to see the last of him.--Ha, ha ha!" + +These broken muttered exclamations, which terminated somewhat like the +joyous growl of a tiger over his meal, Julian could not comprehend; +and only replied to by repeating his request to be placed in the same +cell with Sir Geoffrey. + +"Ay, master," said the jailer, "never fear; I'll keep word with you, +as you seem to know something of what belongs to your station and +mine. And hark ye, Jem Clink will fetch you the darbies." + +"Derby!" interrupted Julian,--"Has the Earl or Countess----" + +"Earl or Countess!--Ha, ha, ha!" again laughed, or rather growled, the +warden. "What is your head running on? You are a high fellow belike! +but all is one here. The darbies are the fetlocks--the fast-keepers, +my boy--the bail for good behaviour, my darling; and if you are not +the more conforming, I can add you a steel nightcap, and a curious +bosom-friend, to keep you warm of a winter night. But don't be +disheartened; you have behaved genteel; and you shall not be put upon. +And as for this here matter, ten to one it will turn out chance- +medley, or manslaughter, at the worst on it; and then it is but a +singed thumb instead of a twisted neck--always if there be no Papistry +about it, for then I warrant nothing.--Take the gentleman's worship +away, Clink." + +A turnkey, who was one of the party that had ushered Peveril into the +presence of this Cerberus, now conveyed him out in silence; and, under +his guidance, the prisoner was carried through a second labyrinth of +passages with cells opening on each side, to that which was destined +for his reception. + +On the road through this sad region, the turnkey more than once +ejaculated, "Why, the gentleman must be stark-mad! Could have had the +best crown cell to himself for less than half the garnish, and must +pay double to pig in with Sir Geoffrey! Ha, ha!--Is Sir Geoffrey akin +to you, if any one may make free to ask?" + +"I am his son," answered Peveril sternly, in hopes to impose some curb +on the fellow's impertinence; but the man only laughed louder than +before. + +"His son!--Why, that's best of all--Why, you are a strapping youth-- +five feet ten, if you be an inch--and Sir Geoffrey's son!--Ha, ha, +ha!" + +"Truce with your impertinence," said Julian. "My situation gives you +no title to insult me!" + +"No more I do," said the turnkey, smothering his mirth at the +recollection, perhaps, that the prisoner's purse was not exhausted. "I +only laughed because you said you were Sir Geoffrey's son. But no +matter--'tis a wise child that knows his own father. And here is Sir +Geoffrey's cell; so you and he may settle the fatherhood between you." + +So saying, he ushered his prisoner into a cell, or rather a strong +room of the better order, in which there were four chairs, a truckle- +bed, and one or two other articles of furniture. + +Julian looked eagerly around for his father; but to his surprise the +room appeared totally empty. He turned with anger on the turnkey, and +charged him with misleading him; but the fellow answered, "No, no, +master; I have kept faith with you. Your father, if you call him so, +is only tappiced in some corner. A small hole will hide him; but I'll +rouse him out presently for you.--Here, hoicks!--Turn out, Sir +Geoffrey!--Here is--Ha, ha, ha!--your son--or your wife's son--for I +think you have but little share in him--come to wait on you." + +Peveril knew not how to resent the man's insolence; and indeed his +anxiety, and apprehension of some strange mistake, mingled with, and +in some degree neutralised his anger. He looked again and again, +around and around the room; until at length he became aware of +something rolled up in a dark corner, which rather resembled a small +bundle of crimson cloth than any living creature. At the vociferation +of the turnkey, however, the object seemed to acquire life and motion, +uncoiled itself in some degree, and, after an effort or two, gained an +erect posture; still covered from top to toe with the crimson drapery +in which it was at first wrapped. Julian, at the first glance, +imagined from the size that he saw a child of five years old; but a +shrill and peculiar tone of voice soon assured him of his mistake. + +"Warder," said this unearthly sound, "what is the meaning of this +disturbance? Have you more insults to heap on the head of one who hath +ever been the butt of fortune's malice? But I have a soul that can +wrestle with all my misfortunes; it is as large as any of your +bodies." + +"Nay, Sir Geoffrey, if this be the way you welcome your own son!" said +the turnkey; "but you quality folks know your own ways best." + +"My son!" exclaimed the little figure. "Audacious----" + +"Here is some strange mistake," said Peveril, in the same breath. "I +sought Sir Geoffrey----" + +"And you have him before you, young man," said the pigmy tenant of the +cell, with an air of dignity; at the same time casting on the floor +his crimson cloak, and standing before them in his full dignity of +three feet six inches of height. "I who was the favoured servant of +three successive Sovereigns of the Crown of England, am now the tenant +of this dungeon, and the sport of its brutal keepers. I am Sir +Geoffrey Hudson." + +Julian, though he had never before seen this important personage, had +no difficulty in recognising, from description, the celebrated dwarf +of Henrietta Maria, who had survived the dangers of civil war and +private quarrel--the murder of his royal master, Charles I., and the +exile of his widow--to fall upon evil tongues and evil days, amidst +the unsparing accusations connected with the Popish Plot. He bowed to +the unhappy old man, and hastened to explain to him, and to the +turnkey, that it was Sir Geoffrey Peveril, of Martindale Castle in +Derbyshire whose prison he desired to share. + +"You should have said that before you parted with the gold-dust, my +master," answered the turnkey; "for t'other Sir Geoffrey, that is the +big, tall, grey-haired man, was sent to the Tower last night; and the +Captain will think he has kept his word well enow with you, by lodging +you with this here Sir Geoffrey Hudson, who is the better show of the +two." + +"I pray you go to your master," said Peveril; "explain the mistake; +and say to him I beg to be sent to the Tower." + +"The Tower!--Ha, ha, ha!" exclaimed the fellow. "The Tower is for +lords and knights, and not for squires of low degree--for high +treason, and not for ruffing on the streets with rapier and dagger; +and there must go a secretary's warrant to send you there." + +"At least, let me not be a burden on this gentleman," said Julian. +"There can be no use in quartering us together, since we are not even +acquainted. Go tell your master of the mistake." + +"Why, so I should," said Clink, still grinning, "if I were not sure +that he knew it already. You paid to be sent to Sir Geoffrey, and he +sent you to Sir Geoffrey. You are so put down in the register, and he +will blot it for no man. Come, come, be comfortable, and you shall +have light and easy irons--that's all I can do for you." + +Resistance and expostulation being out of the question, Peveril +submitted to have a light pair of fetters secured on his ankles, which +allowed him, nevertheless, the power of traversing the apartment. + +During this operation, he reflected that the jailer, who had taken the +advantage of the equivoque betwixt the two Sir Geoffreys, must have +acted as his assistant had hinted, and cheated him from malice +prepense, since the warrant of committal described him as the son of +Sir Geoffrey Peveril. It was therefore in vain, as well as degrading, +to make farther application to such a man on the subject. Julian +determined to submit to his fate, as what could not be averted by any +effort of his own. + +Even the turnkey was moved in some degree by his youth, good mien, and +the patience with which, after the first effervescence of +disappointment, the new prisoner resigned himself to his situation. +"You seem a brave young gentleman," he said; "and shall at least have +a good dinner, and as good a pallet to sleep on, as is within the walls +of Newgate.----And, Master Sir Geoffrey, you ought to make much of +him, since you do not like tall fellows; for I can tell you that Master +Peveril is in for pinking long Jack Jenkins, that was the Master of +Defence--as tall a man as in London, always excepting the King's +Porter, Master Evans, that carried you about in his pocket, Sir +Geoffrey, as all the world heard tell." + +"Begone, fellow!" answered the dwarf. "Fellow, I scorn you!" + +The turnkey sneered, withdrew, and locked the door behind him. + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV + + Degenerate youth, and not of Tydeus' kind, + Whose little body lodged a mighty mind. + --ILIAD. + +Left quiet at least, if not alone, for the first time after the events +of this troubled and varied day, Julian threw himself on an old oaken +seat, beside the embers of a sea-coal fire, and began to muse on the +miserable situation of anxiety and danger in which he was placed; +where, whether he contemplated the interests of his love, his family +affections, or his friendships, all seemed such a prospect as that of +a sailor who looks upon breakers on every hand, from the deck of a +vessel which no longer obeys the helm. + +As Peveril sat sunk in despondency, his companion in misfortune drew a +chair to the opposite side of the chimney-corner, and began to gaze at +him with a sort of solemn earnestness, which at length compelled him, +though almost in spite of himself, to pay some attention to the +singular figure who seemed so much engrossed with contemplating him. + +Geoffrey Hudson (we drop occasionally the title of knighthood, which +the King had bestowed on him in a frolic, but which might introduce +some confusion into our history), although a dwarf of the least +possible size, had nothing positively ugly in his countenance, or +actually distorted in his limbs. His head, hands, and feet were indeed +large, and disproportioned to the height of his body, and his body +itself much thicker than was consistent with symmetry, but in a degree +which was rather ludicrous than disagreeable to look upon. His +countenance, in particular, had he been a little taller, would have +been accounted, in youth, handsome, and now, in age, striking and +expressive; it was but the uncommon disproportion betwixt the head and +the trunk which made the features seem whimsical and bizarre--an +effect which was considerably increased by the dwarf's moustaches, +which it was his pleasure to wear so large, that they almost twisted +back amongst, and mingled with, his grizzled hair. + +The dress of this singular wight announced that he was not entirely +free from the unhappy taste which frequently induces those whom nature +has marked by personal deformity, to distinguish, and at the same time +to render themselves ridiculous, by the use of showy colours, and +garments fantastically and extraordinarily fashioned. But poor +Geoffrey Hudson's laces, embroideries, and the rest of his finery, +were sorely worn and tarnished by the time which he had spent in jail, +under the vague and malicious accusation that he was somehow or other +an accomplice in this all-involving, all-devouring whirlpool of a +Popish conspiracy--an impeachment which, if pronounced by a mouth the +foulest and most malicious, was at that time sufficiently predominant +to sully the fairest reputation. It will presently appear, that in the +poor man's manner of thinking, and tone of conversation, there was +something analogous to his absurd fashion of apparel; for, as in the +latter, good stuff and valuable decorations were rendered ludicrous by +the fantastic fashion in which they were made up; so, such glimmerings +of good sense and honourable feeling as the little man often evinced, +were made ridiculous by a restless desire to assume certain airs of +importance, and a great jealousy of being despised, on account of the +peculiarity of his outward form. + +After the fellow-prisoners had looked at each other for some time in +silence, the dwarf, conscious of his dignity as first owner of their +joint apartment, thought it necessary to do the honours of it to the +new-comer. "Sir," he said, modifying the alternate harsh and squeaking +tones of his voice into accents as harmonious as they could attain, "I +understand you to be the son of my worthy namesake, and ancient +acquaintance, the stout Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak. I promise +you, I have seen your father where blows have been going more plenty +than gold pieces; and for a tall heavy man, who lacked, as we +martialists thought, some of the lightness and activity of our more +slightly made Cavaliers, he performed his duty as a man might desire. +I am happy to see you, his son; and, though by a mistake, I am glad we +are to share this comfortless cabin together." + +Julian bowed, and thanked his courtesy; and Geoffrey Hudson, having +broken the ice, preceded to question him without further ceremony. +"You are no courtier, I presume, young gentleman?" + +Julian replied in the negative. + +"I thought so," continued the dwarf; "for although I have now no +official duty at Court, the region in which my early years were spent, +and where I once held a considerable office, yet I still, when I had +my liberty, visited the Presence from time to time, as in duty bound +for former service; and am wont, from old habit, to take some note of +the courtly gallants, those choice spirits of the age, among whom I +was once enrolled. You are, not to compliment you, a marked figure, +Master Peveril--though something of the tallest, as was your father's +case; I think, I could scarce have seen you anywhere without +remembering you." + +Peveril thought he might, with great justice, have returned the +compliment, but contented himself with saying, "he had scarce seen the +British Court." + +"Tis pity," said Hudson; "a gallant can hardly be formed without +frequenting it. But you have been perhaps in a rougher school; you +have served, doubtless?" + +"My Maker, I hope," said Julian. + +"Fie on it, you mistake. I meant," said Hudson, "/á la François/,--you +have served in the army?" + +"No. I have not yet had that honour," said Julian. + +"What! neither courtier nor soldier, Master Peveril?" said the +important little man: "your father is to blame. By cock and pie he is, +Master Peveril! How shall a man be known, or distinguished, unless by +his bearing in peace and war? I tell you, sir, that at Newberry, where +I charged with my troop abreast with Prince Rupert, and when, as you +may have heard, we were both beaten off by those cuckoldly hinds the +Trained Bands of London,--we did what men could; and I think it was a +matter of three or four minutes after most of our gentlemen had been +driven off, that his Highness and I continued to cut at their long +pikes with our swords; and I think might have broken in, but that I +had a tall, long-legged brute of a horse, and my sword was somewhat +short,--in fine, at last we were obliged to make volte-face, and then, +as I was going to say, the fellows were so glad to get rid of us, that +they set up a great jubilee cry of 'There goes Prince Robin and Cock +Robin!'--Ay, ay, every scoundrel among them knew me well. But those +days are over.--And where were you educated, young gentleman?" + +Peveril named the household of the Countess of Derby. + +"A most honourable lady, upon my word as a gentleman," said Hudson.-- +"I knew the noble Countess well when I was about the person of my +royal mistress, Henrietta Maria. She was then the very muster of all +that was noble, loyal, and lovely. She was, indeed, one of the fifteen +fair ones of the Court, whom I permitted to call me Piccoluomini--a +foolish jest on my somewhat diminutive figure, which always +distinguished me from ordinary beings, even when I was young--I have +now lost much stature by stooping; but, always the ladies had their +jest at me.--Perhaps, young man, I had my own amends of some of them +somewhere, and somehow or other--I /say/ nothing if I had or no; far +less do I insinuate disrespect to the noble Countess. She was daughter +of the Duc de la Tremouille, or, more correctly, des Thouars. But +certainly to serve the ladies, and condescend to their humours, even +when somewhat too free, or too fantastic, is the true decorum of +gentle blood." + +Depressed as his spirits were, Peveril could scarce forbear smiling +when he looked at the pigmy creature, who told these stories with +infinite complacency, and appeared disposed to proclaim, as his own +herald, that he had been a very model of valour and gallantry, though +love and arms seemed to be pursuits totally irreconcilable to his +shrivelled, weather-beaten countenance, and wasted limbs. Julian was, +however, so careful to avoid giving his companion pain, that he +endeavoured to humour him, by saying, that, "unquestionably, one bred +up like Sir Geoffrey Hudson, in court and camps, knew exactly when to +suffer personal freedoms, and when to control them." + +The little Knight, with great vivacity, though with some difficulty, +began to drag his seat from the side of the fire opposite to that +where Julian was seated, and at length succeeded in bringing it near +him, in token of increasing cordiality. + +"You say well, Master Peveril," said the dwarf; "and I have given +proofs both of bearing and forbearing. Yes, sir, there was not that +thing which my most royal mistress, Henrietta Maria, could have +required of me, that I would not have complied with, sir; I was her +sworn servant, both in war and in festival, in battle and pageant, +sir. At her Majesty's particular request, I once condescended to +become--ladies, you know, have strange fancies--to become the tenant, +for a time, of the interior of a pie." + +"Of a pie?" said Julian, somewhat amazed. + +"Yes, sir, of a pie. I hope you find nothing risible in my +complaisance?" replied his companion, something jealously. + +"Not I, sir," said Peveril; "I have other matters than laughter in my +head at present." + +"So had I," said the dwarfish champion, "when I found myself +imprisoned in a huge platter, of no ordinary dimensions you may be +assured, since I could lie at length in it, and when I was entombed, +as it were, in walls of standing crust, and a huge cover of pastry, +the whole constituting a sort of sarcophagus, of size enough to have +recorded the epitaph of a general officer or an archbishop on the lid. +Sir, notwithstanding the conveniences which were made to give me air, +it was more like being buried alive than aught else which I could +think of." + +"I conceive it, sir," said Julian. + +"Moreover, sir," continued the dwarf, "there were few in the secret, +which was contrived for the Queen's divertisement; for advancing of +which I would have crept into a filbert nut, had it been possible; and +few, as I said, being private in the scheme, there was a risk of +accidents. I doubted, while in my darksome abode, whether some awkward +attendant might not have let me fall, as I have seen happen to a +venison pasty; or whether some hungry guest might not anticipate the +moment of my resurrection, by sticking his knife into my upper crust. +And though I had my weapons about me, young man, as has been my custom +in every case of peril, yet, if such a rash person had plunged deep +into the bowels of the supposed pasty, my sword and dagger could +barely have served me to avenge, assuredly not to prevent, either of +these catastrophes." + +"Certainly I do so understand it," said Julian, who began, however, to +feel that the company of little Hudson, talkative as he showed +himself, was likely rather to aggravate than to alleviate the +inconveniences of a prison. + +"Nay," continued the little man, enlarging on his former topic, "I had +other subjects of apprehension; for it pleased my Lord of Buckingham, +his Grace's father who now bears the title, in his plenitude of Court +favour, to command the pasty to be carried down to the office, and +committed anew to the oven, alleging preposterously that it was better +to be eaten warm than cold." + +"And did this, sir, not disturb your equanimity?" said Julian. + +"My young friend," said Geoffrey Hudson, "I cannot deny it.--Nature +will claim her rights from the best and boldest of us.--I thought of +Nebuchadnezzar and his fiery furnace; and I waxed warm with +apprehension.--But, I thank Heaven, I also thought of my sworn duty to +my royal mistress; and was thereby obliged and enabled to resist all +temptations to make myself prematurely known. Nevertheless, the Duke-- +if of malice, may Heaven forgive him--followed down into the office +himself, and urged the master-cook very hard that the pasty should be +heated, were it but for five minutes. But the master-cook, being privy +to the very different intentions of my royal mistress, did most +manfully resist the order; and I was again reconveyed in safety to the +royal table." + +"And in due time liberated from your confinement, I doubt not?" said +Peveril. + +"Yes, sir; that happy, and I may say, glorious moment, at length +arrived," continued the dwarf. "The upper crust was removed--I started +up to the sound of trumpet and clarion, like the soul of a warrior +when the last summons shall sound--or rather (if that simile be over +audacious), like a spell-bound champion relieved from his enchanted +state. It was then that, with my buckler on my arm, and my trusty +Bilboa in my hand, I executed a sort of warlike dance, in which my +skill and agility then rendered me pre-eminent, displaying, at the +same time my postures, both of defence and offence, in a manner so +totally inimitable, that I was almost deafened with the applause of +all around me, and half-drowned by the scented waters with which the +ladies of the Court deluged me from their casting bottles. I had +amends of his Grace of Buckingham also; for as I tripped a hasty +morris hither and thither upon the dining-table, now offering my +blade, now recovering it, I made a blow at his nose--a sort of +estramaçon--the dexterity of which consists in coming mighty near to +the object you seem to aim at, yet not attaining it. You may have seen +a barber make such a flourish with his razor. I promise you his Grace +sprung back a half-yard at least. He was pleased to threaten to brain +me with a chicken-bone, as he disdainfully expressed it; but the King +said, 'George, you have but a Rowland for an Oliver.' And so I tripped +on, showing a bold heedlessness of his displeasure, which few dared to +have done at that time, albeit countenanced to the utmost like me by +the smiles of the brave and the fair. But, well-a-day! sir, youth, its +fashions, its follies, its frolics, and all its pomp and pride, are as +idle and transitory as the crackling of thorns under a pot." + +"The flower that is cast into the oven were a better simile," thought +Peveril. "Good God, that a man should live to regret not being young +enough to be still treated as baked meat, and served up in a pie!" + +His companion, whose tongue had for many days been as closely +imprisoned as his person, seemed resolved to indemnify his loquacity, +by continuing to indulge it on the present occasion at his companion's +expense. He proceeded, therefore, in a solemn tone, to moralise on the +adventure which he had narrated. + +"Young men will no doubt think one to be envied," he said, "who was +thus enabled to be the darling and admiration of the Court"--(Julian +internally stood self-exculpated from the suspicion)--"and yet it is +better to possess fewer means of distinction, and remain free from the +backbiting, the slander, and the odium, which are always the share of +Court favour. Men who had no other cause, cast reflections upon me +because my size varied somewhat from the common proportion; and jests +were sometimes unthinkingly passed upon me by those I was bound to, +who did not in that case, peradventure, sufficiently consider that the +wren is made by the same hand which formed the bustard, and that the +diamond, though small in size, out-values ten thousand-fold the rude +granite. Nevertheless, they proceeded in the vein of humour; and as I +could not in duty or gratitude retort upon nobles and princes, I was +compelled to cast about in my mind how to vindicate my honour towards +those, who, being in the same rank with myself, as servants and +courtiers, nevertheless bore themselves towards me as if they were of +a superior class in the rank of honour, as well as in the accidental +circumstance of stature. And as a lesson to my own pride, and that of +others, it so happened, that the pageant which I have but just +narrated--which I justly reckon the most honourable moment of my life, +excepting perhaps my distinguished share in the battle of Round-way- +down--became the cause of a most tragic event, in which I acknowledge +the greatest misfortune of my existence." + +The dwarf here paused, fetched a sigh, big at once with regret, and +with the importance becoming the subject of a tragic history; then +proceeded as follows:-- + +"You would have thought in your simplicity, young gentleman, that the +pretty pageant I have mentioned could only have been quoted to my +advantage, as a rare masking frolic, prettily devised, and not less +deftly executed; and yet the malice of the courtiers, who maligned and +envied me, made them strain their wit, and exhaust their ingenuity, in +putting false and ridiculous constructions upon it. In short, my ears +were so much offended with allusions to pies, puff-paste, ovens, and +the like, that I was compelled to prohibit such subject of mirth, +under penalty of my instant and severe displeasure. But it happ'd +there was then a gallant about the Court, a man of good quality, son +to a knight baronet, and in high esteem with the best in that sphere, +also a familiar friend of mine own, from whom, therefore, I had no +reason to expect any of that species of gibing which I had intimated +my purpose to treat as offensive. Howbeit, it pleased the Honourable +Mr. Crofts, so was this youth called and designed, one night, at the +Groom Porter's being full of wine and waggery, to introduce this +threadbare subject, and to say something concerning a goose-pie, which +I could not but consider as levelled at me. Nevertheless, I did but +calmly and solidly pray him to choose a different subject; failing +which, I let him know I should be sudden in my resentment. +Notwithstanding, he continued in the same tone, and even aggravated +the offence, by speaking of a tomtit, and other unnecessary and +obnoxious comparisons; whereupon I was compelled to send him a cartel, +and we met accordingly. Now, as I really loved the youth, it was my +intention only to correct him by a flesh wound or two; and I would +willingly that he had named the sword for his weapon. Nevertheless, he +made pistols his election; and being on horseback, he produced by way +of his own weapon, a foolish engine, which children are wont, in their +roguery, to use for spouting water; a--a--in short, I forget the +name." + +"A squirt, doubtless," said Peveril, who began to recollect having +heard something of this adventure. + +"You are right," said the dwarf; "you have indeed the name of the +little engine, of which I have had experience in passing the yards at +Westminster.--Well, sir, this token of slight regard compelled me to +give the gentleman such language, as soon rendered it necessary for +him to make more serious arms. We fought on horseback--breaking +ground, and advancing by signal; and, as I never miss aim, I had the +misadventure to kill the Honourable Master Crofts at the first shot. I +would not wish my worst foe the pain which I felt, when I saw him reel +on his saddle, and so fall down to the earth!--and, when I perceived +that the life-blood was pouring fast, I could not but wish to Heaven +that it had been my own instead of his. Thus fell youth, hopes, and +bravery, a sacrifice to a silly and thoughtless jest; yet, alas! +wherein had I choice, seeing that honour is, as it were, the very +breath in our nostrils; and that in no sense can we be said to live, +if we permit ourselves to be deprived of it?" + +The tone of feeling in which the dwarfish hero concluded his story, +gave Julian a better opinion of his heart, and even of his +understanding, than he had been able to form of one who gloried in +having, upon a grand occasion, formed the contents of a pasty. He was +indeed enabled to conjecture that the little champion was seduced into +such exhibitions, by the necessity attached to his condition, by his +own vanity, and by the flattery bestowed on him by those who sought +pleasure in practical jokes. The fate of the unlucky Master Crofts, +however, as well as various exploits of this diminutive person during +the Civil Wars, in which he actually, and with great gallantry, +commanded a troop of horse, rendered most men cautious of openly +rallying him; which was indeed the less necessary, as, when left +alone, he seldom failed voluntarily to show himself on the ludicrous +side. + +At one hour after noon, the turnkey, true to his word, supplied the +prisoners with a very tolerable dinner and a flask of well-flavoured +though light claret; which the old man, who was something of a bon- +vivant, regretted to observe, was nearly as diminutive as himself. The +evening also passed away, but not without continued symptoms of +garrulity on the part of Geoffrey Hudson. + +It is true these were of a graver character than he had hitherto +exhibited, for when the flask was empty, he repeated a long Latin +prayer. But the religious act in which he had been engaged, only gave +his discourse a more serious turn than belonged to his former themes, +of war, lady's love, and courtly splendour. + +The little Knight harangued, at first on polemical points of divinity, +and diverged from this thorny path, into the neighbouring and twilight +walk of mysticism. He talked of secret warnings--of the predictions of +sad-eyed prophets--of the visits of monitory spirits, and the +Rosicrucian secrets of the Cabala; all which topics he treated of with +such apparent conviction, nay, with so many appeals to personal +experience, that one would have supposed him a member of the +fraternity of gnomes, or fairies, whom he resembled so much in point +of size. + +In short, he persevered for a stricken hour in such a torrent of +unnecessary tattle, as determined Peveril, at all events, to endeavour +to procure a separate lodging. Having repeated his evening prayers in +Latin, as formerly (for the old gentleman was a Catholic, which was +the sole cause of his falling under suspicion), he set off on a new +score, as they were undressing, and continued to prattle until he had +fairly talked both himself and his companion to sleep. + + + + CHAPTER XXXV + + Of airy tongues that syllable men's names. + --COMUS. + +Julian had fallen asleep, with his brain rather filled with his own +sad reflections, than with the mystical lore of the little Knight; and +yet it seemed as if in his visions the latter had been more present to +his mind than the former. + +He dreamed of gliding spirits, gibbering phantoms, bloody hands, +which, dimly seen by twilight, seemed to beckon him forward like +errant-knight on sad adventure bound. More than once he started from +his sleep, so lively was the influence of these visions on his +imagination; and he always awaked under the impression that some one +stood by his bedside. The chillness of his ankles, the weight and +clatter of the fetters, as he turned himself on his pallet, reminded +him on these occasions where he was, and under what circumstances. The +extremity to which he saw all that was dear to him at present reduced, +struck a deeper cold on his heart than the iron upon his limbs; nor +could he compose himself again to rest without a mental prayer to +Heaven for protection. But when he had been for a third time awakened +from repose by these thick-stirring fancies, his distress of mind +vented itself in speech, and he was unable to suppress the almost +despairing ejaculation, "God have mercy upon us!" + +"Amen!" answered a voice as sweet and "soft as honey dew," which +sounded as if the words were spoken close by his bedside. + +The natural inference was, that Geoffrey Hudson, his companion in +calamity, had echoed the prayer which was so proper to the situation +of both. But the tone of voice was so different from the harsh and +dissonant sounds of the dwarf's enunciation, that Peveril was +impressed with the certainty it could not proceed from Hudson. He was +struck with involuntary terror, for which he could give no sufficient +reason; and it was not without an effort that he was able to utter the +question, "Sir Geoffrey, did you speak?" + +No answer was returned. He repeated the question louder; and the same +silver-toned voice, which had formerly said "/Amen/" to his prayers, +answered to his interrogatory, "Your companion will not awake while I +am here." + +"And who are you?--What seek you?--How came you into this place?" said +Peveril, huddling, eagerly, question upon question. + +"I am a wretched being, but one who loves you well.--I come for your +good.--Concern yourself no farther." + +It now rushed on Julian's mind that he had heard of persons possessed +of the wonderful talent of counterfeiting sounds to such accuracy, +that they could impose on their hearers the belief, that they +proceeded from a point of the apartment entirely opposite to that +which the real speaker occupied. Persuaded that he had now gained the +depth of the mystery, he replied, "This trifling, Sir Geoffrey, is +unseasonable. Say what you have to say in your own voice and manner. +These apish pleasantries do not become midnight in a Newgate dungeon." + +"But the being who speaks with you," answered the voice, "is fitted +for the darkest hour, and the most melancholy haunts." + +Impatient of suspense, and determined to satisfy his curiosity, Julian +jumped at once from his pallet, hoping to secure the speaker, whose +voice indicated he was so near. But he altogether failed in his +attempt, and grasped nothing save thin air. + +For a turn or two, Peveril shuffled at random about the room, with his +arms extended; and then at last recollected, that with the impediment +of his shackles, and the noise which necessarily accompanied his +motions, and announced where he was, it would be impossible for him to +lay hands on any one who might be disposed to keep out of his reach. +He therefore endeavoured to return to his bed; but, in groping for his +way, lighted first on that of his fellow-prisoner. The little captive +slept deep and heavy, as was evinced from his breathing; and upon +listening a moment, Julian became again certain, either that his +companion was the most artful of ventriloquists and of dissemblers, or +that there was actually within the precincts of that guarded chamber, +some third being, whose very presence there seemed to intimate that it +belonged not to the ordinary line of humanity. + +Julian was no ready believer in the supernatural; but that age was +very far from being so incredulous concerning ghostly occurrences as +our own; and it was no way derogatory to his good sense, that he +shared the prejudices of his time. His hair began to bristle, and the +moisture to stand on his brow, as he called on his companion to awake, +for Heaven's sake. + +The dwarf answered--but he spoke without awaking.--"The day may dawn +and be d--d. Tell the master of the horse I will not go to the +hunting, unless I have the little black jennet." + +"I tell you," said Julian, "there is some one in the apartment. Have +you not a tinder-box to strike a light?" + +"I care not how slight my horse be," replied the slumberer, pursuing +his own train of ideas, which, doubtless, carried him back to the +green woods of Windsor, and the royal deer-hunts which he had +witnessed there. "I am not overweight--I will not ride that great +Holstein brute, that I must climb up to by a ladder, and then sit on +his back like a pin-cushion on an elephant." + +Julian at length put his hand to the sleeper's shoulder, and shook +him, so as to awake him from his dream; when, after two or three +snorts and groans, the dwarf asked peevishly, what the devil ailed +him? + +"The devil himself, for what I know," said Peveril, "is at this very +moment in the room here beside us." + +The dwarf on this information started up, crossed himself, and began +to hammer a flint and steel with all despatch, until he had lighted a +little piece of candle, which he said was consecrated to Saint +Bridget, and as powerful as the herb called /fuga dæmonum/, or the +liver of the fish burnt by Tobit in the house of Raguel, for chasing +all goblins, and evil or dubious spirits, from the place of its +radiance; "if, indeed," as the dwarf carefully guarded his +proposition, "they existed anywhere, save in the imagination of his +fellow-prisoner." + +Accordingly, the apartment was no sooner enlightened by this holy +candle's end, than Julian began to doubt the evidence of his own ears; +for not only was there no one in the room save Sir Geoffrey Hudson and +himself, but all the fastenings of the door were so secure, that it +seemed impossible that they could have been opened and again fixed, +without a great deal of noise, which, on the last occasion at least, +could not possibly have escaped his ears, seeing that he must have +been on his feet, and employed in searching the chamber, when the +unknown, if an earthly being, was in the act of retreating from it. + +Julian gazed for a moment with great earnestness, and no little +perplexity, first on the bolted door, then on the grated window; and +began to accuse his own imagination of having played him an unpleasant +trick. He answered little to the questions of Hudson, and returning to +his bed, heard, in silence, a long studied oration on the merits of +Saint Bridget, which comprehended the greater part of her long-winded +legend, and concluded with the assurance, that, from all accounts +preserved of her, that holy saint was the least of all possible women, +except those of the pigmy kind. + +By the time the dwarf had ceased to speak, Julian's desire of sleep +had returned; and after a few glances around the apartment, which was +still illuminated by the expiring beams of the holy taper, his eyes +were again closed in forgetfulness, and his repose was not again +disturbed in the course of that night. + +Morning dawns on Newgate, as well as on the freest mountain-turf which +Welshman or wild-goat ever trode; but in so different a fashion, that +the very beams of heaven's precious sun, when they penetrate into the +recesses of the prison-house, have the air of being committed to jail. +Still, with the light of day around him, Peveril easily persuaded +himself of the vanity of his preceding night's visions; and smiled +when he reflected that fancies, similar to those to which his ear was +often exposed in the Isle of Man, had been able to arrange themselves +in a manner so impressive, when he heard them from the mouth of so +singular a character as Hudson, and in the solitude of a prison. + +Before Julian had awaked, the dwarf had already quitted his bed, and +was seated in the chimney-corner of the apartment, where, with his own +hands, he had arranged a morsel of fire, partly attending to the +simmering of a small pot, which he had placed on the flame, partly +occupied with a huge folio volume which lay on the table before him, +and seemed well-nigh as tall and bulky as himself. He was wrapped up +in the dusky crimson cloak already mentioned, which served him for a +morning-gown, as well as a mantle against the cold, and which +corresponded with a large montero-cap, that enveloped his head. The +singularity of his features, and of the eyes, armed with spectacles, +which were now cast on the subject of his studies, now directed +towards his little cauldron, would have tempted Rembrandt to exhibit +him on canvas, either in the character of an alchymist, or of a +necromancer, engaged in some strange experiment, under the direction +of one of the huge manuals which treat of the theory of these mystic +arts. + +The attention of the dwarf was bent, however, upon a more domestic +object. He was only preparing soup, of no unsavoury quality, for +breakfast, which he invited Peveril to partake with him. "I am an old +soldier," he said, "and, I must add, an old prisoner; and understand +how to shift for myself better than you can do, young man.--Confusion +to the scoundrel Clink, he has put the spice-box out of my reach!-- +Will you hand it me from the mantelpiece?--I will teach you, as the +French have it, /faire la cuisine;/ and then, if you please, we will +divide, like brethren, the labours of our prison house." + +Julian readily assented to the little man's friendly proposal, without +interposing any doubt as to his continuing an inmate of the same cell. +Truth is, that although, upon the whole, he was inclined to regard the +whispering voice of the preceding evening as the impression of his own +excited fancy, he felt, nevertheless, curiosity to see how a second +night was to pass over in the same cell; and the tone of the invisible +intruder, which at midnight had been heard by him with terror, now +excited, on recollection, a gentle and not unpleasing species of +agitation--the combined effect of awe, and of awakened curiosity. + +Days of captivity have little to mark them as they glide away. That +which followed the night which we have described afforded no +circumstance of note. The dwarf imparted to his youthful companion a +volume similar to that which formed his own studies, and which proved +to be a tome of one of Scuderi's now forgotten romances, of which +Geoffrey Hudson was a great admirer, and which were then very +fashionable both at the French and English Courts; although they +contrive to unite in their immense folios all the improbabilities and +absurdities of the old romances of chivalry, without that tone of +imagination which pervades them, and all the metaphysical absurdities +which Cowley and the poets of the age had heaped upon the passion of +love, like so many load of small coal upon a slender fire, which it +smothers instead of aiding. + +But Julian had no alternative, saving only to muse over the sorrows of +Artamenes and Mandane, or on the complicated distresses of his own +situation; and in these disagreeable divertisements, the morning crept +through as it could. + +Noon first, and thereafter nightfall, were successively marked by a +brief visit from their stern turnkey, who, with noiseless step and +sullen demeanour, did in silence the necessary offices about the meals +of the prisoners, exchanging with them as few words as an official in +the Spanish Inquisition might have permitted himself upon a similar +occasion. With the same taciturn gravity, very different from the +laughing humour into which he had been surprised on a former occasion, +he struck their fetters with a small hammer, to ascertain, by the +sound thus produced, whether they had been tampered with by file or +otherwise. He next mounted on a table, to make the same experiment on +the window-grating. + +Julian's heart throbbed; for might not one of those grates have been +so tampered with as to give entrance to the nocturnal visitant? But +they returned to the experienced ear of Master Clink, when he struck +them in turn with the hammer, a clear and ringing sound, which assured +him of their security. + +"It would be difficult for any one to get in through these defences," +said Julian, giving vent in words to his own feelings. + +"Few wish that," answered the surly groom, misconstruing what was +passing in Peveril's mind; "and let me tell you, master, folks will +find it quite as difficult to get out." He retired, and night came on. + +The dwarf, who took upon himself for the day the whole duties of the +apartment, trundled about the room, making a most important clatter as +he extinguished their fire, and put aside various matters which had +been in use in the course of the day, talking to himself all the while +in a tone of no little consequence, occasionally grounded on the +dexterity with which an old soldier could turn his hand to anything. +Then came the repetition of his accustomed prayers; but his +disposition to converse did not, as on the former occasion, revive +after his devotions. On the contrary, long before Julian had closed an +eye, the heavy breathing from Sir Geoffrey Hudson's pallet declared +that the dwarf was already in the arms of Morpheus. + +Amid the total darkness of the apartment, and with a longing desire, +and at the same time no small fear, for the recurrence of the +mysterious address of the preceding evening, Julian lay long awake +without his thoughts receiving any interruption save when the clock +told the passing hour from the neighbouring steeple of St. Sepulchre. +At length he sunk into slumber; but had not slept to his judgment +above an hour, when he was roused by the sound which his waking ear +had so long expected in vain. + +"Can you sleep?--Will you sleep?--Dare you sleep?" were the questions +impressed on his ear, in the same clear, soft, and melodious voice, +which had addressed him on the preceding night. + +"Who is it asks me the question?" answered Julian. "But be the +questioner good or evil, I reply that I am a guiltless prisoner; and +that innocence may wish and dare to sleep soundly." + +"Ask no questions of me," said the voice; "neither attempt to discover +who speaks to you; and be assured that folly alone can sleep, with +fraud around and danger before him." + +"Can you, who tell me of dangers, counsel me how to combat or how to +avoid them?" said Julian. + +"My power is limited," said the voice; "yet something I can do, as the +glow-worm can show a precipice. But you must confide in me." + +"Confidence must beget confidence," answered Julian. "I cannot repose +trust in I know not what or whom." + +"Speak not so loud," replied the voice, sinking almost into a whisper. + +"Last night you said my companion would not awake," said Julian. + +"To-night I warrant not that he shall sleep," said the voice. And as +it spoke, the hoarse, snatching, discordant tones of the dwarf were +heard, demanding of Julian why he talked in his sleep--wherefore he +did not rest himself, and let other people rest--and, finally, whether +his visions of last night were returned upon him again? + +"Say yes," said the voice in a whisper, so low, yet so distinct, that +Julian almost doubted whether it was not an echo of his own thought.-- +"Say but yes--and I part to return no more!" + +In desperate circumstances men look to strange and unusual remedies; +and although unable to calculate the chances of advantage which this +singular communication opened to him, Julian did not feel inclined to +let them at once escape from him. He answered the dwarf, that he had +been troubled by an alarming dream. + +"I could have sworn it, from the sound of your voice," said Hudson. +"It is strange, now, that you overgrown men never possess the extreme +firmness of nerves proper to us who are cast in a more compact mould. +My own voice retains its masculine sounds on all occasions. Dr. +Cockerel was of opinion, that there was the same allowance of nerve +and sinew to men of every size, and that nature spun the stock out +thinner or stronger, according to the extent of surface which they +were to cover. Hence, the least creatures are oftentimes the +strongest. Place a beetle under a tall candlestick, and the insect +will move it by its efforts to get out; which is, in point of +comparative strength, as if one of us should shake his Majesty's +prison of Newgate by similar struggles. Cats also, and weasels, are +creatures of greater exertion or endurance than dogs or sheep. And in +general, you may remark, that little men dance better, and are more +unwearied under exertion of every kind, than those to whom their own +weight must necessarily be burdensome. I respect you, Master Peveril, +because I am told you have killed one of those gigantic fellows, who +go about swaggering as if their souls were taller than ours, because +their noses are nearer to the clouds by a cubit or two. But do not +value yourself on this as anything very unusual. I would have you to +know it hath been always thus; and that, in the history of all ages, +the clean, tight, dapper little fellow, hath proved an overmatch for +his bulky antagonist. I need only instance out of Holy Writ, the +celebrated downfall of Goliah, and of another lubbard, who had more +fingers to his hand, and more inches to his stature, than ought to +belong to an honest man, and who was slain by a nephew of good King +David; and of many others whom I do not remember; nevertheless they +were all Philistines of gigantic stature. In the classics, also, you +have Tydeus, and other tight, compact heroes, whose diminutive bodies +were the abode of large minds. And indeed you may observe, in sacred +as well as profane history, that your giants are ever heretics and +blasphemers, robbers and oppressors, outragers of the female sex, and +scoffers at regular authority. Such were Gog and Magog, whom our +authentic chronicles vouch to have been slain near to Plymouth, by the +good little Knight Corineus, who gave name to Cornwall. Ascaparte also +was subdued by Bevis, and Colbrand by Guy, as Southampton and Warwick +can testify. Like unto these was the giant Hoel, slain in Bretagne by +King Arthur. And if Ryence, King of North Wales, who was done to death +by the same worthy champion of Christendom, be not actually termed a +giant, it is plain he was little better, since he required twenty-four +kings' beards, which were then worn full and long, to fur his gown; +whereby computing each beard at eighteen inches (and you cannot allow +less for a beard-royal), and supposing only the front of the gown +trimmed therewith, as we use ermine; and that the back was mounted and +lined, instead of cat-skins and squirrels' fur, with the beards of +earls and dukes, and other inferior dignitaries--may amount to--But I +will work the question to-morrow." + +Nothing is more soporific to any (save a philosopher or moneyed man) +than the operation of figures; and when in bed, the effect is +irresistible. Sir Geoffrey fell asleep in the act of calculating King +Ryence's height, from the supposed length of his mantle. Indeed, had +he not stumbled on this abstruse subject of calculation, there is no +guessing how long he might have held forth upon the superiority of men +of little stature, which was so great a favourite with him, that, +numerous as such narratives are, the dwarf had collected almost all +the instances of their victories over giants, which history or romance +afforded. + +No sooner had unequivocal signs of the dwarf's sound slumbers reached +Julian's ears, than he began to listen eagerly for the renewal of that +mysterious communication which was at once interesting and awful. +Even whilst Hudson was speaking, he had, instead of bestowing his +attention upon his eulogy on persons of low statue, kept his ears on +watchful guard to mark if possible, the lightest sounds of any sort +which might occur in the apartment; so that he thought it scarce +possible that even a fly should have left it withouts its motion being +overheard. If, therefore, his invisible monitor was indeed a creature +of this world--an opinion which Julian's sound sense rendered him +unwilling to renounce--that being could not have left the apartment; +and he waited impatiently for a renewal of their communication. He was +disappointed; not the slightest sound reached his ear; and the +nocturnal visitor, if still in the room, appeared determined on +silence. + +It was in vain that Peveril coughed, hemmed, and gave other symptoms +of being awake; at length, such became his impatience, that he +resolved, at any risk, to speak first, in hopes of renewing the +communication betwixt them. "Whoever thou art," he said, in a voice +loud enough to be heard by a waking person, but not so high as to +disturb his sleeping companion--"Whoever, or whatever thou art, thou +hast shown some interest in the fate of such a castaway as Julian +Peveril, speak once more, I conjure thee; and be your communication +for good or evil, believe me, I am equally prepared to abide the +issue." + +No answer of any kind was returned to this invocation; nor did the +least sound intimate the presence of the being to whom it was so +solemnly addressed. + +"I speak in vain," said Julian; "and perhaps I am but invoking that +which is insensible of human feeling, or which takes a malign pleasure +in human suffering." + +There was a gentle and half-broken sigh from a corner of the +apartment, which, answering to this exclamation, seemed to contradict +the imputation which it conveyed. + +Julian, naturally courageous, and familiarised by this time to his +situation, raised himself in bed, and stretched out his arm, to repeat +his adjuration, when the voice, as if alarmed at his action and +energy, whispered, in a tone more hurried than that which it had +hitherto used, "Be still--move not--or I am mute for ever!" + +"It is then a mortal being who is present with me," was the natural +inference of Julian, "and one who is probably afraid of being +detected; I have then some power over my visitor, though I must be +cautious how I use it.--If your intents are friendly," he proceeded, +"there was never a time in which I lacked friends more, or would be +more grateful for kindness. The fate of all who are dear to me is +weighed in the balance, and with worlds would I buy the tidings of +their safety." + +"I have said my power is limited," replied the voice. "/You/ I may be +able to preserve--the fate of your friends is beyond my control." + +"Let me at least know it," said Julian; "and, be it as it may, I will +not shun to share it." + +"For whom would you inquire?" said the soft, sweet voice, not without +a tremulousness of accent, as if the question was put with diffident +reluctance. + +"My parents," said Julian, after a moment's hesitation; "how fare +they?--What will be their fate?" + +"They fare as the fort under which the enemy has dug a deadly mine. +The work may have cost the labour of years, such were the impediments +to the engineers; but Time brings opportunity upon its wings." + +"And what will be the event?" said Peveril. + +"Can I read the future," answered the voice, "save by comparison with +past?--Who has been hunted on these stern and unmitigable accusations, +but has been at last brought to bay? Did high and noble birth, +honoured age, and approved benevolence, save the unfortunate Lord +Stafford? Did learning, capacity of intrigue, or high Court favour, +redeem Coleman, although the confidential servant of the heir +presumptive of the Crown of England?--Did subtilty and genius, and +exertions of a numerous sect, save Fenwicke, or Whitbread, or any +other of the accused priests?--Were Groves, Pickering, or the other +humble wretches who have suffered, safe in their obscurity? There is +no condition in life, no degree of talent, no form of principle, which +affords protection against an accusation, which levels conditions, +confounds characters, renders men's virtues their sins, and rates them +as dangerous in proportion as they have influence, though attained in +the noblest manner, and used for the best purposes. Call such a one +but an accessory to the Plot--let him be mouthed in the evidence of +Oates or Dugdale--and the blindest shall foresee the issue of their +trial." + +"Prophet of Evil!" said Julian, "my father has a shield invulnerable +to protect him. He is innocent." + +"Let him plead his innocence at the bar of Heaven," said the voice; +"it will serve him little where Scroggs presides." + +"Still I fear not," said Julian, counterfeiting more confidence than +he really possessed; "my father's cause will be pleaded before twelve +Englishmen." + +"Better before twelve wild beasts," answered the Invisible, "than +before Englishmen, influenced with party prejudice, passion, and +epidemic terror of an imaginary danger. They are bold in guilt in +proportion to the number amongst whom the crime is divided." + +"Ill-omened speaker," said Julian, "thine is indeed a voice fitted +only to sound with the midnight bell, and the screeching owl. Yet +speak again. Tell me, if thou canst"--(He would have said of Alice +Bridgenorth, but the word would not leave his tongue)--"Tell me," he +said, "if the noble house of Derby----" + +"Let them keep their rock like the sea-fowl in the tempest; and it may +so fall out," answered the voice, "that their rock may be a safe +refuge. But there is blood on their ermine; and revenge has dogged +them for many a year, like a bloodhound that hath been distanced in +the morning chase, but may yet grapple the quarry ere the sun shall +set. At present, however, they are safe.--Am I now to speak farther on +your own affairs, which involve little short of your life and honour?" + +"There is," said Julian, "one, from whom I was violently parted +yesterday; if I knew but of her safety, I were little anxious for my +own." + +"One!" returned the voice, "only /one/ from whom you were parted +yesterday?" + +"But in parting from whom," said Julian, "I felt separated from all +happiness which the world can give me." + +"You mean Alice Bridgenorth," said the Invisible, with some bitterness +of accent; "but her you will never see more. Your own life and hers +depend on your forgetting each other." + +"I cannot purchase my own life at that price," replied Julian. + +"Then DIE in your obstinacy," returned the Invisible; nor to all the +entreaties which he used was he able obtain another word in the course +of that remarkable night. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI + + A short hough'd man, but full of pride. + --ALLAN RAMSAY. + +The blood of Julian Peveril was so much fevered by the state in which +his invisible visitor left him, that he was unable, for a length of +time, to find repose. He swore to himself, that he would discover and +expose the nocturnal demon which stole on his hours of rest, only to +add gall to bitterness, and to pour poison into those wounds which +already smarted so severely. There was nothing which his power +extended to, that, in his rage, he did not threaten. He proposed a +closer and a more rigorous survey of his cell, so that he might +discover the mode by which his tormentor entered, were it as +unnoticeable as an auger-hole. If his diligence should prove +unavailing, he determined to inform the jailers, to whom it could not +be indifferent to know, that their prison was open to such +intrusions. He proposed to himself, to discover from their looks +whether they were already privy to these visits; and if so, to +denounce them to the magistrates, to the judges, to the House of +Commons, was the least that his resentment proposed. Sleep surprised +his worn-out frame in the midst of his projects of discovery and +vengeance, and, as frequently happens, the light of the ensuing day +proved favourable to calmer resolutions. + +He now reflected that he had no ground to consider the motives of his +visitor as positively malevolent, although he had afforded him little +encouragement to hope for assistance on the points he had most at +heart. Towards himself, there had been expressed a decided feeling, +both of sympathy and interest; if through means of these he could +acquire his liberty, he might, when possessed of freedom, turn it to +the benefit of those for whom he was more interested than for his own +welfare. "I have behaved like a fool," he said; "I ought to have +temporised with this singular being, learned the motives of its +interference, and availed myself of its succour, provided I could do +so without any dishonourable conditions. It would have been always +time enough to reject such when they should have been proposed to me." + +So saying, he was forming projects for regulating his intercourse with +the stranger more prudently, in case their communication should be +renewed, when his meditations were interrupted by the peremptory +summons of Sir Geoffrey Hudson, that he would, in his turn, be pleased +to perform those domestic duties of their common habitation, which the +dwarf had yesterday taken upon himself. + +There was no resisting a request so reasonable, and Peveril +accordingly rose and betook himself to the arrangement of their +prison, while Sir Hudson, perched upon a stool from which his legs did +not by half-way reach the ground, sat in a posture of elegant languor, +twangling upon an old broken-winded guitar, and singing songs in +Spanish, Moorish, and Lingua Franca, most detestably out of tune. He +failed not, at the conclusion of each ditty, to favour Julian with +some account of what he had sung, either in the way of translation, or +historical anecdote, or as the lay was connected with some peculiar +part of his own eventful history, in the course of which the poor +little man had chanced to have been taken by a Sallee rover, and +carried captive into Morocco. + +This part of his life Hudson used to make the era of many strange +adventures; and, if he could himself be believed, he had made wild +work among the affections of the Emperor's seraglio. But, although few +were in a situation to cross-examine him on gallantries and intrigues +of which the scene was so remote, the officers of the garrison of +Tangier had a report current amongst them, that the only use to which +the tyrannical Moors could convert a slave of such slender corporeal +strength, was to employ him to lie a-bed all day and hatch turkey's +eggs. The least allusion to this rumour used to drive him well-nigh +frantic, and the fatal termination of his duel with young Crofts, +which began in wanton mirth, and ended in bloodshed, made men more coy +than they had formerly been, of making the fiery little hero the +subject of their raillery. + +While Peveril did the drudgery of the apartment, the dwarf remained +much at his ease, carolling in the manner we have described; but when +he beheld Julian attempting the task of the cook, Sir Geoffrey Hudson +sprang from the stool on which he sat /en Signor/, at the risk of +breaking both his guitar and his neck, exclaiming, "That he would +rather prepare breakfast every morning betwixt this and the day of +judgment, than commit a task of such consequence to an inexperienced +bungler like his companion." + +The young man gladly resigned his task to the splenetic little Knight, +and only smiled at his resentment when he added, that, to be but a +mortal of middle stature, Julian was as stupid as a giant. Leaving the +dwarf to prepare the meal after his own pleasure, Peveril employed +himself in measuring the room with his eyes on every side, and in +endeavouring to discover some private entrance, such as might admit +his midnight visitant, and perhaps could be employed in case of need +for effecting his own escape. The floor next engaged a scrutiny +equally minute, but more successful. + +Close by his own pallet, and dropped in such a manner that he must +have seen it sooner but for the hurry with which he obeyed the summons +of the impatient dwarf, lay a slip of paper, sealed, and directed with +the initial letters, J.P., which seemed to ascertain that it was +addressed to himself. He took the opportunity of opening it while the +soup was in the very moment of projection, and the full attention of +his companion was occupied by what he, in common with wiser and taller +men, considered as one of the principal occupations of life; so that, +without incurring his observation or awaking his curiosity, Julian had +the opportunity to read as follows:-- + + + "Rash and infatuated as you are, there is one who would forfeit + much to stand betwixt you and your fate. You are to-morrow to be + removed to the Tower, where your life cannot be assured for a + single day; for, during the few hours you have been in London, you + have provoked a resentment which is not easily slaked. There is + but one chance for you,--renounce A.B.--think no more of her. If + that be impossible, think of her but as one whom you can never see + again. If your heart can resolve to give up an attachment which it + should never have entertained, and which it would be madness to + cherish longer, make your acquiescence in this condition known by + putting on your hat a white band, or white feather, or knot of + ribbon of the same colour, whichever you may most easily come by. + A boat will, in that case, run, as if by accident, on board of + that which is to convey you to the Tower. Do you in the confusion + jump overboard, and swim to the Southwark side of the Thames. + Friends will attend there to secure your escape, and you will find + yourself with one who will rather lose character and life, than + that a hair of your head should fall to the ground; but who, if + you reject the warning, can only think of you as of the fool who + perishes in his folly. May Heaven guide you to a sound judgment of + your condition! So prays one who would be your friend, if you + pleased, + "UNKNOWN." + + +The Tower!--it was a word of terror, even more so than a civil prison; +for how many passages to death did that dark structure present! The +severe executions which it had witnessed in preceding reigns, were not +perhaps more numerous than the secret murders which had taken place +within its walls; yet Peveril did not a moment hesitate on the part +which he had to perform. "I will share my father's fate," he said; "I +thought but of him when they brought me hither; I will think of +nothing else when they convey me to yonder still more dreadful place +of confinement; it is his, and it is but meet that it should be his +son's.--And thou, Alice Bridgenorth, the day that I renounce thee, may +I be held alike a traitor and a dastard!--Go, false adviser, and share +the fate of seducers and heretical teachers!" + +He could not help uttering this last expression aloud, as he threw the +billet into the fire, with a vehemence which made the dwarf start with +surprise. "What say you of burning heretics, young man?" he exclaimed; +"by my faith, your zeal must be warmer than mine, if you talk on such +a subject when the heretics are the prevailing number. May I measure +six feet without my shoes, but the heretics would have the best of it +if we came to that work. Beware of such words." + +"Too late to beware of words spoken and heard," said the turnkey, who, +opening the door with unusual precautions to avoid noise, had stolen +unperceived into the room; "However, Master Peveril has behaved like a +gentlemen, and I am no tale-bearer, on condition he will consider I +have had trouble in his matters." + +Julian had no alternative but to take the fellow's hint and administer +a bribe, with which Master Clink was so well satisfied, that he +exclaimed, "It went to his heart to take leave of such a kind-natured +gentleman, and that he could have turned the key on him for twenty +years with pleasure. But the best friends must part." + +"I am to be removed, then?" said Julian. + +"Ay, truly, master, the warrant is come from the Council." + +"To convey me to the Tower." + +"Whew!" exclaimed the officer of the law--"who the devil told you +that? But since you do know it, there is no harm to say ay. So make +yourself ready to move immediately; and first, hold out your dew- +beaters till I take off the darbies." + +"Is that usual?" said Peveril, stretching out his feet as the fellow +directed, while his fetters were unlocked. + +"Why, ay, master, these fetters belong to the keeper; they are not a- +going to send them to the Lieutenant, I trow. No, no, the warders must +bring their own gear with them; they get none here, I promise them. +Nevertheless, if your honour hath a fancy to go in fetters, as +thinking it may move compassion of your case----" + +"I have no intention to make my case seem worse than it is," said +Julian; whilst at the same time it crossed his mind that his anonymous +correspondent must be well acquainted both with his own personal +habits, since the letter proposed a plan of escape which could only be +executed by a bold swimmer, and with the fashions of prison, since it +was foreseen that he would not be ironed on his passage to the Tower. +The turnkey's next speech made him carry conjecture still farther. + +"There is nothing in life I would not do for so brave a guest," said +Clink; "I would nab one of my wife's ribbons for you, if your honour +had the fancy to mount the white flag in your beaver." + +"To what good purpose?" said Julian, shortly connecting, as was +natural, the man's proposed civility with the advice given and the +signal prescribed in the letter. + +"Nay, to no good purpose I know of," said the turnkey; "only it is the +fashion to seem white and harmless--a sort of token of not-guiltiness, +as I may say, which folks desire to show the world, whether they be +truly guilty or not; but I cannot say that guiltiness or not- +guiltiness argufies much, saving they be words in the verdict." + +"Strange," thought Peveril, although the man seemed to speak quite +naturally, and without any double meaning, "strange that all should +apparently combine to realise the plan of escape, could I but give my +consent to it! And had I not better consent? Whoever does so much for +me must wish me well, and a well-wisher would never enforce the unjust +conditions on which I am required to consent to my liberation." + +But this misgiving of his resolution was but for a moment. He speedily +recollected, that whoever aided him in escaping, must be necessarily +exposed to great risk, and had a right to name the stipulation on +which he was willing to incur it. He also recollected that falsehood +is equally base, whether expressed in words or in dumb show; and that +he should lie as flatly by using the signal agreed upon in evidence of +his renouncing Alice Bridgenorth, as he would in direct terms if he +made such renunciation without the purpose of abiding by it. + +"If you would oblige me," he said to the turnkey, "let me have a piece +of black silk or crape for the purpose you mention." + +"Of crape!" said the fellow; "what should that signify? Why, the bien +morts, who bing out to tour at you,[*] will think you a chimney- +sweeper on Mayday." + +[*] The smart girls, who turn out to look at you. + +"It will show my settled sorrow," said Julian, "as well as my +determined resolution." + +"As you will, sir," answered the fellow; "I'll provide you with a +black rag of some kind or other. So, now; let us be moving." + +Julian intimated his readiness to attend him, and proceeded to bid +farewell to his late companion, the stout Geoffrey Hudson. The parting +was not without emotion on both sides, more particularly on that of +the poor little man, who had taken a particular liking to the +companion of whom he was now about to be deprived. "Fare ye well," he +said, "my young friend," taking Julian's hand in both his own uplifted +palms, in which action he somewhat resembled the attitude of a sailor +pulling a rope overhead,--"Many in my situation would think himself +wronged, as a soldier and servant of the king's chamber, in seeing you +removed to a more honourable prison than that which I am limited +unto. But, I thank God, I grudge you not the Tower, nor the rocks of +Scilly, nor even Carisbrooke Castle, though the latter was graced with +the captivity of my blessed and martyred master. Go where you will, I +wish you all the distinction of an honourable prison-house, and a safe +and speedy deliverance in God's own time. For myself, my race is near +a close, and that because I fall martyr to the over-tenderness of my +own heart. There is a circumstance, good Master Julian Peveril, which +should have been yours, had Providence permitted our farther intimacy, +but it fits not the present hour. Go, then, my friend, and bear +witness in life and death, that Geoffrey Hudson scorns the insults and +persecutions of fortune, as he would despise, and has often despised, +the mischievous pranks of an overgrown schoolboy." + +So saying, he turned away, and hid his face with his little +handkerchief, while Julian felt towards him that tragi-comic sensation +which makes us pity the object which excites it, not the less that we +are somewhat inclined to laugh amid our sympathy. The jailer made him +a signal, which Peveril obeyed, leaving the dwarf to disconsolate +solitude. + +As Julian followed the keeper through the various windings of his +penal labyrinth, the man observed, that "he was a rum fellow, that +little Sir Geoffrey, and, for gallantry, a perfect Cock of Bantam, for +as old as he was. There was a certain gay wench," he said, "that had +hooked him; but what she could make of him, save she carried him to +Smithfield, and took money for him, as for a motion of puppets, it +was," he said, "hard to gather." + +Encouraged by this opening, Julian asked if his attendant knew why his +prison was changed. "To teach you to become a King's post without +commission," answered the fellow. + +He stopped in his tattle as they approached that formidable central +point, in which lay couched on his leathern elbow-chair the fat +commander of the fortress, stationed apparently for ever in the midst +of his citadel, as the huge Boa is sometimes said to lie stretched as +a guard upon the subterranean treasures of Eastern Rajas. This +overgrown man of authority eyed Julian wistfully and sullenly, as the +miser the guinea which he must part with, or the hungry mastiff the +food which is carried to another kennel. He growled to himself as he +turned the leaves of his ominous register, in order to make the +necessary entry respecting the removal of his prisoner. "To the Tower +--to the Tower--ay, ay, all must to the Tower--that's the fashion of +it--free Britons to a military prison, as if we had neither bolts nor +chains here!--I hope Parliament will have it up, this Towering work, +that's all.--Well, the youngster will take no good by the change, and +that is one comfort." + +Having finished at once his official act of registration, and his +soliloquy, he made a signal to his assistants to remove Julian, who +was led along the same stern passages which he had traversed upon his +entrance, to the gate of the prison, whence a coach, escorted by two +officers of justice, conveyed him to the water-side. + +A boat here waited him, with four warders of the Tower, to whose +custody he was formally resigned by his late attendants. Clink, +however, the turnkey, with whom he was more especially acquainted, did +not take leave of him without furnishing him with the piece of black +crape which he requested. Peveril fixed it on his hat amid the +whispers of his new guardians. "The gentleman is in a hurry to go into +mourning," said one; "mayhap he had better wait till he has cause." + +"Perhaps others may wear mourning for him, ere he can mourn for any +one," answered another of these functionaries. + +Yet notwithstanding the tenor of these whispers, their behaviour to +their prisoner was more respectful than he had experienced from his +former keepers, and might be termed a sullen civility. The ordinary +officers of the law were in general rude, as having to do with felons +of every description; whereas these men were only employed with +persons accused of state crimes--men who were from birth and +circumstances usually entitled to expect, and able to reward, decent +usage. + +The change of keepers passed unnoticed by Julian, as did the gay and +busy scene presented by the broad and beautiful river on which he was +now launched. A hundred boats shot past them, bearing parties intent +on business, or on pleasure. Julian only viewed them with the stern +hope, that whoever had endeavoured to bribe him from his fidelity by +the hope of freedom, might see, from the colour of the badge which he +had assumed, how determined he was to resist the temptation presented +to him. + +It was about high-water, and a stout wherry came up the river, with +sail and oar, so directly upon that in which Julian was embarked, that +it seemed as if likely to run her aboard. "Get your carabines ready," +cried the principal warder to his assistants. "What the devil can +these scoundrels mean?" + +But the crew in the other boat seemed to have perceived their error, +for they suddenly altered their course, and struck off into the middle +stream, while a torrent of mutual abuse was exchanged betwixt them and +the boat whose course they had threatened to impede. + +"The Unknown has kept his faith," said Julian to himself; "I too have +kept mine." + +It even seemed to him, as the boats neared each other, that he heard, +from the other wherry, something like a stifled scream or groan; and +when the momentary bustle was over, he asked the warder who sat next +him, what boat that was. + +"Men-of-war's-men, on a frolic, I suppose," answered the warder. "I +know no one else would be so impudent as run foul of the King's boat; +for I am sure the fellow put the helm up on purpose. But mayhap you, +sir, know more of the matter than I do." + +This insinuation effectually prevented Julian from putting farther +questions, and he remained silent until the boat came under the dusky +bastions of the Tower. The tide carried them up under a dark and +lowering arch, closed at the upper end by the well-known Traitor's +gate,[*] formed like a wicket of huge intersecting bars of wood, +through which might be seen a dim and imperfect view of soldiers and +warders upon duty, and of the steep ascending causeway which leads up +from the river into the interior of the fortress. By this gate,--and +it is the well-known circumstance which assigned its name,--those +accused of state crimes were usually committed to the Tower. The +Thames afforded a secret and silent mode of conveyance for +transporting thither such whose fallen fortunes might move the +commiseration, or whose popular qualities might excite the sympathy, +of the public; and even where no cause for especial secrecy existed, +the peace of the city was undisturbed by the tumult attending the +passage of the prisoner and his guards through the most frequented +streets. + +[*] See note, "Fortunes of Nigel." + +Yet this custom, however recommended by state policy, must have often +struck chill upon the heart of the criminal, who thus, stolen, as it +were, out of society, reached the place of his confinement, without +encountering even one glance of compassion on the road; and as, from +under the dusky arch, he landed on those flinty steps, worn by many a +footstep anxious as his own, against which the tide lapped fitfully +with small successive waves, and hence looked forward to the steep +ascent into a Gothic state prison, and backward to such part of the +river as the low-brow'd vault suffered to become visible, he must +often have felt that he was leaving daylight, hope, and life itself, +behind him. + +While the warder's challenge was made and answered, Peveril +endeavoured to obtain information from his conductors where he was +likely to be confined; but the answer was brief and general--"Where +the Lieutenant should direct." + +"Could he not be permitted to share the imprisonment of his father, +Sir Geoffrey Peveril?" He forgot not, on this occasion, to add the +surname of his house. + +The warder, an old man of respectable appearance, stared, as if at the +extravagance of the demand, and said bluntly, "It is impossible." + +"At least," said Peveril, "show me where my father is confined, that I +may look upon the walls which separate us." + +"Young gentleman," said the senior warder, shaking his grey head, "I +am sorry for you; but asking questions will do you no service. In this +place we know nothing of fathers and sons." + +Yet chance seemed, in a few minutes afterwards, to offer Peveril that +satisfaction which the rigour of his keepers was disposed to deny to +him. As he was conveyed up the steep passage which leads under what is +called the Wakefield Tower, a female voice, in a tone wherein grief +and joy were indescribably mixed, exclaimed, "My son!--My dear son!" + +Even those who guarded Julian seemed softened by a tone of such acute +feeling. They slackened their pace. They almost paused to permit him +to look up towards the casement from which the sounds of maternal +agony proceeded; but the aperture was so narrow, and so closely +grated, that nothing was visible save a white female hand, which +grasped one of those rusty barricadoes, as if for supporting the +person within, while another streamed a white handkerchief, and then +let it fall. The casement was instantly deserted. + +"Give it me," said Julian to the officer who lifted the handkerchief; +"it is perhaps a mother's last gift." + +The old warder lifted the napkin, and looked at it with the jealous +minuteness of one who is accustomed to detect secret correspondence in +the most trifling acts of intercourse. + +"There may be writing on it with invisible ink," said one of his +comrades. + +"It is wetted, but I think it is only with tears," answered the +senior. "I cannot keep it from the poor young gentleman." + +"Ah, Master Coleby," said his comrade, in a gentle tone of reproach, +"you would have been wearing a better coat than a yeoman's to-day, had +it not been for your tender heart." + +"It signifies little," said old Coleby, "while my heart is true to my +King, what I feel in discharging my duty, or what coat keeps my old +bosom from the cold weather." + +Peveril, meanwhile, folded in his breast the token of his mother's +affection which chance had favoured him with; and when placed in the +small and solitary chamber which he was told to consider as his own +during his residence in the Tower, he was soothed even to weeping by +this trifling circumstance, which he could not help considering as an +omen, that his unfortunate house was not entirely deserted by +Providence. + +But the thoughts and occurrences of a prison are too uniform for a +narrative, and we must now convey our readers into a more bustling +scene. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII + + Henceforth 'tis done--Fortune and I are friends; + And I must live, for Buckingham commends. + --POPE. + +The spacious mansion of the Duke of Buckingham, with the demesne +belonging to it, originally bore the name of York House and occupied a +large portion of the ground adjacent to the Savoy. + +This had been laid out by the munificence of his father, the favourite +of Charles the First, in a most splendid manner, so as almost to rival +Whitehall itself. But during the increasing rage for building new +streets, and the creating of almost an additional town, in order to +connect London and Westminster, this ground had become of very great +value; and the second Duke of Buckingham, who was at once fond of +scheming, and needy of money, had agreed to a plan laid before him by +some adventurous architect, for converting the extensive grounds +around his palace into those streets, lanes, and courts, which still +perpetuate his name and titles; though those who live in Buckingham +Street, Duke Street, Villiers Street, or in Of-alley (for even that +connecting particle is locally commemorated), probably think seldom of +the memory of the witty, eccentric, and licentious George Villiers, +Duke of Buckingham, whose titles are preserved in the names of their +residence and its neighbourhood. + +This building-plan the Duke had entered upon with all the eagerness +which he usually attached to novelty. His gardens were destroyed--his +pavilions levelled--his splendid stables demolished--the whole pomp of +his suburban demesne laid waste, cumbered with ruins, and intersected +with the foundations of new buildings and cellars, and the process of +levelling different lines for the intended streets. But the +undertaking, although it proved afterwards both lucrative and +successful, met with a check at the outset, partly from want of the +necessary funds, partly from the impatient and mercurial temper of the +Duke, which soon carried him off in pursuit of some more new object. +So that, though much was demolished, very little, in comparison, was +reared up in the stead, and nothing was completed. The principal part +of the ducal mansion still remained uninjured; but the demesne in +which it stood bore a strange analogy to the irregular mind of its +noble owner. Here stood a beautiful group of exotic trees and shrubs, +the remnant of the garden, amid yawning common-sewers, and heaps of +rubbish. In one place an old tower threatened to fall upon the +spectator; and in another he ran the risk of being swallowed up by a +modern vault. Grandeur of conception could be discovered in the +undertaking, but was almost everywhere marred by poverty or negligence +of execution. In short, the whole place was the true emblem of an +understanding and talents run to waste, and become more dangerous than +advantageous to society, by the want of steady principle, and the +improvidence of the possessor. + +There were men who took a different view of the Duke's purpose in +permitting his mansion to be thus surrounded, and his demesne occupied +by modern buildings which were incomplete, and ancient which were but +half demolished. They alleged, that, engaged as he was in so many +mysteries of love and of politics, and having the character of the +most daring and dangerous intriguer of his time, his Grace found it +convenient to surround himself with this ruinous arena, into which +officers of justice could not penetrate without some difficulty and +hazard; and which might afford, upon occasion, a safe and secret +shelter for such tools as were fit for desperate enterprises, and a +private and unobserved mode of access to those whom he might have any +special reason for receiving in secret. + +Leaving Peveril in the Tower, we must once more convey our readers to +the Levee of the Duke, who, on the morning of Julian's transference to +that fortress, thus addressed his minister-in-chief, and principal +attendant: "I have been so pleased with your conduct in this matter, +Jerningham, that if Old Nick were to arise in our presence, and offer +me his best imp as a familiar in thy room, I would hold it but a poor +compliment." + +"A legion of imps," said Jerningham, bowing, "could not have been more +busy than I in your Grace's service; but if your Grace will permit me +to say so, your whole plan was well-nigh marred by your not returning +home till last night, or rather this morning." + +"And why, I pray you, sage Master Jerningham," said his Grace, "should +I have returned home an instant sooner than my pleasure and +convenience served?" + +"Nay, my Lord Duke," replied the attendant, "I know not; only, when +you sent us word by Empson, in Chiffinch's apartment, to command us to +make sure of the girl at any rate, and at all risks, you said you +would be here so soon as you could get freed of the King." + +"Freed of the King, you rascal! What sort of phrase is that?" demanded +the Duke. + +"It was Empson who used it, my lord, as coming from your Grace." + +"There is much very fit for my Grace to say, that misbecomes such +mouths as Empson's or yours to repeat," answered the Duke haughtily, +but instantly resumed his tone of familiarity, for his humour was as +capricious as his pursuits. "But I know what thou wouldst have; first, +your wisdom would know what became of me since thou hadst my commands +at Chiffinch's; and next, your valour would fain sound another +flourish of trumpets on thine own most artificial retreat, leaving thy +comrade in the hands of the Philistines." + +"May it please your Grace," said Jerningham, "I did but retreat for +the preservation of the baggage." + +"What! do you play at crambo with me?" said the Duke. "I would have +you to know that the common parish fool should be whipt, were he to +attempt to pass pun or quodlibet as a genuine jest, even amongst +ticket-porters and hackney chairmen." + +"And yet I have heard your Grace indulge in the /jeu de mots/," +answered the attendant. + +"Sirrah Jerningham," answered the patron, "discard they memory, or +keep it under correction, else it will hamper thy rise in the world. +Thou mayst perchance have seen me also have a fancy to play at trap- +ball, or to kiss a serving wench, or to guzzle ale and eat toasted +cheese in a porterly whimsy; but is it fitting thou shouldst remember +such follies? No more on't.--Hark you; how came the long lubberly +fool, Jenkins, being a master of the noble science of defence, to +suffer himself to be run through the body so simply by a rustic swain +like this same Peveril?" + +"Please your Grace, this same Corydon is no such novice. I saw the +onset; and, except in one hand, I never saw a sword managed with such +life, grace, and facility." + +"Ay, indeed?" said the Duke, taking his own sheathed rapier in his +hand, "I could not have thought that. I am somewhat rusted, and have +need of breathing. Peveril is a name of note. As well go to the Barns- +elms, or behind Montagu House, with him as with another. His father a +rumoured plotter, too. The public would have noted it in me as +becoming a zealous Protestant. Needful I do something to maintain my +good name in the city, to atone for non-attendance on prayer and +preaching. But your Laertes is fast in the Fleet; and I suppose his +blundering blockhead of an antagonist is dead or dying." + +"Recovering, my lord, on the contrary," replied Jerningham; "the blade +fortunately avoided his vitals." + +"D--n his vitals!" answered the Duke. "Tell him to postpone his +recovery, or I will put him to death in earnest." + +"I will caution his surgeon," said Jerningham, "which will answer +equally well." + +"Do so; and tell him he had better be on his own deathbed as cure his +patient till I send him notice.--That young fellow must be let loose +again at no rate." + +"There is little danger," said the attendant. "I hear some of the +witnesses have got their net flung over him on account of some matters +down in the north; and that he is to be translated to the Tower for +that, and for some letters of the Countess of Derby, as rumour goes." + +"To the Tower let him go, and get out as he can," replied the Duke; +"and when you hear he is fast there, let the fencing fellow recover as +fast as the surgeon and he can mutually settle it." + +The Duke, having said this, took two or three turns in the apartment, +and appeared to be in deep thought. His attendant waited the issue of +his meditations with patience, being well aware that such moods, +during which his mind was strongly directed in one point, were never +of so long duration with his patron as to prove a severe burden to his +own patience. + +Accordingly, after the silence of seven or eight minutes, the Duke +broke through it, taking from the toilette a large silk purse, which +seemed full of gold. "Jerningham," he said, "thou art a faithful +fellow, and it would be sin not to cherish thee. I beat the King at +Mall on his bold defiance. The honour is enough for me; and thou, my +boy, shalt have the winnings." + +Jerningham pocketed the purse with due acknowledgements. + +"Jerningham," his Grace continued, "I know you blame me for changing +my plans too often; and on my soul I have heard you so learned on the +subject, that I have become of your opinion, and have been vexed at +myself for two or three hours together, for not sticking as constantly +to one object, as doubtless I shall, when age (touching his forehead) +shall make this same weathercock too rusty to turn with the changing +breeze. But as yet, while I have spirit and action, let it whirl like +the vane at the mast-head, which teaches the pilot how to steer his +course; and when I shift mine, think I am bound to follow Fortune, and +not to control her." + +"I can understand nothing from all this, please your Grace," replied +Jerningham, "save that you have been pleased to change some purposed +measures, and think that you have profited by doing so." + +"You shall judge yourself," replied the Duke. "I have seen the Duchess +of Portsmouth.--You start. It is true, by Heaven! I have seen her, and +from sworn enemies we have become sworn friends. The treaty between +such high and mighty powers had some weighty articles; besides, I had +a French negotiator to deal with; so that you will allow a few hours' +absence was but a necessary interval to make up our matters of +diplomacy." + +"Your Grace astonishes me," said Jerningham. "Christian's plan of +supplanting the great lady is then entirely abandoned? I thought you +had but desired to have the fair successor here, in order to carry it +on under your own management." + +"I forgot what I meant at the time," said the Duke; "unless that I was +resolved she should not jilt me as she did the good-natured man of +royalty; and so I am still determined, since you put me in mind of the +fair Dowsabelle. But I had a contrite note from the Duchess while we +were at the Mall. I went to see her, and found her a perfect Niobe.-- +On my soul, in spite of red eyes and swelled features, and dishevelled +hair, there are, after all, Jerningham, some women who do, as the +poets say, look lovely in affliction. Out came the cause; and with +such humility, such penitence, such throwing herself on my mercy (she +the proudest devil, too, in the whole Court), that I must have had +heart of steel to resist it all. In short, Chiffinch in a drunken fit +had played the babbler, and let young Saville into our intrigue. +Saville plays the rogue, and informs the Duchess by a messenger, who +luckily came a little late into the market. She learned, too, being a +very devil for intelligence, that there had been some jarring between +the master and me about this new Phillis; and that I was most likely +to catch the bird,--as any one may see who looks on us both. It must +have been Empson who fluted all this into her Grace's ear; and +thinking she saw how her ladyship and I could hunt in couples, she +entreats me to break Christian's scheme, and keep the wench out of the +King's sight, especially if she were such a rare piece of perfection +as fame has reported her." + +"And your Grace has promised her your hand to uphold the influence +which you have so often threatened to ruin?" said Jerningham. + +"Ay, Jerningham; my turn was as much served when she seemed to own +herself in my power, and cry me mercy.--And observe, it is all one to +me by which ladder I climb into the King's cabinet. That of Portsmouth +is ready fixed--better ascend by it than fling it down to put up +another--I hate all unnecessary trouble." + +"And Christian?" said Jerningham. + +"May go to the devil for a self-conceited ass. One pleasure of this +twist of intrigue is, to revenge me of that villain, who thought +himself so essential, that, by Heaven! he forced himself on my +privacy, and lectured me like a schoolboy. Hang the cold-blooded +hypocritical vermin! If he mutters, I will have his nose slit as wide +as Coventry's.[*]--Hark ye, is the Colonel come?" + +"I expect him every moment, your Grace," + +[*] The ill-usage of Sir John Coventry by some of the Life Guardsmen, + in revenge of something said in Parliament concerning the King's + theatrical amours, gave rise to what was called Coventry's Act, + against cutting and maiming the person. + +"Send him up when he arrives," said the Duke.----"Why do you stand +looking at me? What would you have?" + +"Your Grace's direction respecting the young lady," said Jerningham. + +"Odd zooks," said the Duke, "I had totally forgotten her.--Is she very +tearful?--Exceedingly afflicted?" + +"She does not take on so violently as I have seen some do," said +Jerningham; "but for a strong, firm, concentrated indignation, I have +seen none to match her." + +"Well, we will permit her to cool. I will not face the affliction of a +second fair one immediately. I am tired of snivelling, and swelled +eyes, and blubbered cheeks for some time; and, moreover, must husband +my powers of consolation. Begone, and send the Colonel." + +"Will your Grace permit me one other question?" demanded his +confidant. + +"Ask what thou wilt, Jerningham, and then begone." + +"Your Grace has determined to give up Christian," said the attendant. +"May I ask what becomes of the kingdom of Man?" + +"Forgotten, as I have a Christian soul!" said the Duke; "as much +forgotten as if I had never nourished that scheme of royal ambition.-- +D--n it, we must knit up the ravelled skein of that intrigue.--Yet it +is but a miserable rock, not worth the trouble I have been bestowing +on it; and for a kingdom--it has a sound indeed; but, in reality, I +might as well stick a cock-chicken's feather into my hat, and call it +a plume. Besides, now I think upon it, it would scarce be honourable +to sweep that petty royalty out of Derby's possession. I won a +thousand pieces of the young Earl when he was last here, and suffered +him to hang about me at Court. I question if the whole revenue of his +kingdom is worth twice as much. Easily I could win it of him, were he +here, with less trouble than it would cost me to carry on these +troublesome intrigues of Christian's." + +"If I may be permitted to say so, please your Grace," answered +Jerningham, "although your Grace is perhaps somewhat liable to change +your mind, no man in England can afford better reasons for doing so." + +"I think so myself, Jerningham," said the Duke; "and it may be it is +one reason for my changing. One likes to vindicate his own conduct, +and to find out fine reasons for doing what one has a mind to.--And +now, once again, begone. Or, hark ye--hark ye--I shall need some loose +gold. You may leave the purse I gave you; and I will give you an order +for as much, and two years' interest, on old Jacob Doublefee." + +"As your Grace pleases," said Jerningham, his whole stock of +complaisance scarcely able to conceal his mortification at exchanging +for a distant order, of a kind which of late had not been very +regularly honoured, the sunny contents of the purse which had actually +been in his pocket. Secretly, but solemnly did he make a vow, that two +years' interest alone should not be the compensation for this +involuntary exchange in the form of his remuneration. + +As the discontented dependant left the apartment, he met, at the head +of the grand staircase, Christian himself, who, exercising the freedom +of an ancient friend of the house, was making his way, unannounced, to +the Duke's dressing apartment. Jerningham, conjecturing that his visit +at this crisis would be anything but well timed, or well taken, +endeavoured to avert his purpose by asserting that the Duke was +indisposed, and in his bedchamber; and this he said so loud that his +master might hear him, and, if he pleased, realise the apology which +he offered in his name, by retreating into the bedroom as his last +sanctuary, and drawing the bolt against intrusion. + +But, far from adopting a stratagem to which he had had recourse on +former occasions, in order to avoid those who came upon him, though at +an appointed hour, and upon business of importance, Buckingham called, +in a loud voice, from his dressing apartment, commanding his +chamberlain instantly to introduce his good friend Master Christian, +and censuring him for hesitating for an instant to do so. + +"Now," thought Jerningham within himself, "if Christian knew the Duke +as well as I do, he would sooner stand the leap of a lion, like the +London 'prentice bold, than venture on my master at this moment, who +is even now in a humour nearly as dangerous as the animal." + +He then ushered Christian into his master's presence, taking care to +post himself within earshot of the door. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII + + "Speak not of niceness, when there's chance of wreck," + The captain said, as ladies writhed their neck + To see the dying dolphin flap the deck: + "If we go down, on us these gentry sup; + We dine upon them, if we haul them up. + Wise men applaud us when we eat the eaters, + As the devil laughs when keen folks cheat the cheaters." + --THE SEA VOYAGE. + +There was nothing in Duke's manner towards Christian which could have +conveyed to that latter personage, experienced as he was in the worst +possible ways of the world, that Buckingham would, at that particular +moment, rather have seen the devil than himself; unless it was that +Buckingham's reception of him, being rather extraordinarily courteous +towards so old an acquaintance, might have excited some degree of +suspicion. + +Having escaped with some difficulty from the vague region of general +compliments, which bears the same relation to that of business that +Milton informs us the /Limbo Patrum/ has to the sensible and material +earth, Christian asked his Grace of Buckingham, with the same blunt +plainness with which he usually veiled a very deep and artificial +character, whether he had lately seen Chiffinch or his helpmate? + +"Neither of them lately," answered Buckingham. "Have not you waited on +them yourself?--I thought you would have been more anxious about the +great scheme." + +"I have called once and again," said Christian, "but I can gain no +access to the sight of that important couple. I begin to be afraid +they are paltering with me." + +"Which, by the welkin and its stars, you would not be slow in +avenging, Master Christian. I know your puritanical principles on that +point well," said the Duke. "Revenge may be well said to be sweet, +when so many grave and wise men are ready to exchange for it all the +sugar-plums which pleasures offer to the poor sinful people of the +world, besides the reversion of those which they talk of expecting in +the way of /post obit/." + +"You may jest, my lord," said Christian, "but still----" + +"But still you will be revenged on Chiffinch, and his little +commodious companion. And yet the task may be difficult--Chiffinch has +so many ways of obliging his master--his little woman is such a +convenient pretty sort of a screen, and has such winning little ways +of her own, that, in faith, in your case, I would not meddle with +them. What is this refusing their door, man? We all do it to our best +friends now and then, as well as to duns and dull company." + +"If your Grace is in a humour of rambling thus wildly in your talk," +said Christian, "you know my old faculty of patience--I can wait till +it be your pleasure to talk more seriously." + +"Seriously!" said his Grace--"Wherefore not?--I only wait to know what +your serious business may be." + +"In a word, my lord, from Chiffinch's refusal to see me, and some vain +calls which I have made at your Grace's mansion, I am afraid either +that our plan has miscarried, or that there is some intention to +exclude me from the farther conduct of the matter." Christian +pronounced these words with considerable emphasis. + +"That were folly as well as treachery," returned the Duke, "to exclude +from the spoil the very engineer who conducted the attack. But hark +ye, Christian--I am sorry to tell bad news without preparation; but as +you insist on knowing the worst, and are not ashamed to suspect your +best friends, out it must come--Your niece left Chiffinch's house the +morning before yesterday." + +Christian staggered, as if he had received a severe blow; and the +blood ran to his face in such a current of passion, that the Duke +concluded he was struck with an apoplexy. But, exerting the +extraordinary command which he could maintain under the most trying +circumstances, he said, with a voice, the composure of which had an +unnatural contrast with the alteration of his countenance, "Am I to +conclude, that in leaving the protection of the roof in which I placed +her, the girl has found shelter under that of your Grace?" + +"Sir," replied Buckingham gravely, "the supposition does my gallantry +more credit than it deserves." + +"Oh, my Lord Duke," answered Christian, "I am not one whom you can +impose on by this species of courtly jargon. I know of what your Grace +is capable; and that to gratify the caprice of a moment you would not +hesitate to disappoint even the schemes at which you yourself have +laboured most busily.--Suppose this jest played off. Take your laugh +at those simple precautions by which I intended to protect your +Grace's interest, as well as that of others. Let us know the extent of +your frolic, and consider how far its consequences can be repaired." + +"On my word, Christian," said the Duke, laughing, "you are the most +obliging of uncles and of guardians. Let your niece pass through as +many adventures as Boccaccio's bride of the King of Garba, you care +not. Pure or soiled, she will still make the footstool of your +fortune." + +An Indian proverb says, that the dart of contempt will even pierce +through the shell of the tortoise; but this is more peculiarly the +case when conscience tells the subject of the sarcasm that it is +justly merited. Christian, stung with Buckingham's reproach, at once +assumed a haughty and threatening mien, totally inconsistent with that +in which sufferance seemed to be as much his badge as that of Shylock. +"You are a foul-mouthed and most unworthy lord," he said; "and as such +I will proclaim you, unless you make reparation for the injury you +have done me." + +"And what," said the Duke of Buckingham, "shall I proclaim /you/, that +can give you the least title to notice from such as I am? What name +shall I bestow on the little transaction which has given rise to such +unexpected misunderstanding?" + +Christian was silent, either from rage or from mental conviction. + +"Come, come, Christian," said the Duke, smiling, "we know too much of +each other to make a quarrel safe. Hate each other we may--circumvent +each other--it is the way of Courts--but proclaim!--a fico for the +phrase." + +"I used it not," said Christian, "till your Grace drove me to +extremity. You know, my lord, I have fought both at home and abroad; +and you should not rashly think that I will endure any indignity which +blood can wipe away." + +"On the contrary," said the Duke, with the same civil and sneering +manner, "I can confidently assert, that the life of half a score of +your friends would seem very light to you, Christian, if their +existence interfered, I do not say with your character, as being a +thing of much less consequence, but with any advantage which their +existence might intercept. Fie upon it, man, we have known each other +long. I never thought you a coward; and am only glad to see I could +strike a few sparkles of heat out of your cold and constant +disposition. I will now, if you please, tell you at once the fate of +the young lady, in which I pray you to believe that I am truly +interested." + +"I hear you, my Lord Duke," said Christian. "The curl of your upper +lip, and your eyebrow, does not escape me. Your Grace knows the French +proverb, 'He laughs best who laughs last.' But I hear you." + +"Thank Heaven you do," said Buckingham; "for your case requires haste, +I promise you, and involves no laughing matter. Well then, hear a +simple truth, on which (if it became me to offer any pledge for what I +assert to be such) I could pledge life, fortune, and honour. It was +the morning before last, when meeting with the King at Chiffinch's +unexpectedly--in fact I had looked in to fool an hour away, and to +learn how your scheme advanced--I saw a singular scene. Your niece +terrified little Chiffinch--(the hen Chiffinch, I mean)--bid the King +defiance to his teeth, and walked out of the presence triumphantly, +under the guardianship of a young fellow of little mark or likelihood, +excepting a tolerable personal presence, and the advantage of a most +unconquerable impudence. Egad, I can hardly help laughing to think how +the King and I were both baffled; for I will not deny, that I had +tried to trifle for a moment with the fair Indamora. But, egad, the +young fellow swooped her off from under our noses, like my own +Drawcansir clearing off the banquet from the two Kings of Brentford. +There was a dignity in the gallant's swaggering retreat which I must +try to teach Mohun;[*] it will suit his part admirably." + +[*] Then a noted actor. + +"This is incomprehensible, my Lord Duke," said Christian, who by this +time had recovered all his usual coolness; "you cannot expect me to +believe this. Who dared be so bold as to carry of my niece in such a +manner, and from so august a presence? And with whom, a stranger as he +must have been, would she, wise and cautious as I know her, have +consented to depart in such a manner?--My lord, I cannot believe +this." + +"One of your priests, my most devoted Christian," replied the Duke, +"would only answer, Die, infidel, in thine unbelief; but I am only a +poor worldling sinner, and I will add what mite of information I can. +The young fellow's name, as I am given to understand, is Julian, son +of Sir Geoffrey, whom men call Peveril of the Peak." + +"Peveril of the Devil, who hath his cavern there!" said Christian +warmly; "for I know that gallant, and believe him capable of anything +bold and desperate. But how could he intrude himself into the royal +presence? Either Hell aids him, or Heaven looks nearer into mortal +dealings than I have yet believed. If so, may God forgive us, who +deemed he thought not on us at all!" + +"Amen, most Christian Christian," replied the Duke. "I am glad to see +thou hast yet some touch of grace that leads thee to augur so. But +Empson, the hen Chiffinch, and half-a-dozen more, saw the swain's +entrance and departure. Please examine these witnesses with your own +wisdom, if you think your time may not be better employed in tracing +the fugitives. I believe he gained entrance as one of some dancing or +masking party. Rowley, you know, is accessible to all who will come +forth to make him sport. So in stole this termagant tearing gallant, +like Samson among the Philistines, to pull down our fine scheme about +our ears." + +"I believe you, my lord," said Christian; "I cannot but believe you; +and I forgive you, since it is your nature, for making sport of what +is ruin and destruction. But which way did they take?" + +"To Derbyshire, I should presume, to seek her father," said the Duke. +"She spoke of going into paternal protection, instead of yours, Master +Christian. Something had chanced at Chiffinch's, to give her cause to +suspect that you had not altogether provided for his daughter in the +manner which her father was likely to approve of." + +"Now, Heaven be praised," said Christian, "she knows not her father is +come to London! and they must be gone down either to Martindale +Castle, or to Moultrassie Hall; in either case they are in my power--I +must follow them close. I will return instantly to Derbyshire--I am +undone if she meet her father until these errors are amended. Adieu, +my lord. I forgive the part which I fear your Grace must have had in +baulking our enterprise--it is no time for mutual reproaches." + +"You speak truth, Master Christian," said the Duke, "and I wish you +all success. Can I help you with men, or horses, or money?" + +"I thank your Grace," said Christian, and hastily left the apartment. + +The Duke watched his descending footsteps on the staircase, until they +could be heard no longer, and then exclaimed to Jerningham, who +entered, "/Victoria! victoria! magna est veritas et prævalebit!/--Had +I told the villain a word of a lie, he is so familiar with all the +regions of falsehood--his whole life has been such an absolute +imposture, that I had stood detected in an instant; but I told him +truth, and that was the only means of deceiving him. Victoria! my dear +Jerningham, I am prouder of cheating Christian, than I should have +been of circumventing a minister of state." + +"Your Grace holds his wisdom very high," said the attendant. + +"His cunning, at least, I do, which, in Court affairs, often takes the +weather-gage of wisdom,--as in Yarmouth Roads a herring-buss will +baffle a frigate. He shall not return to London if I can help it, +until all these intrigues are over." + +As his Grace spoke, the Colonel, after whom he had repeatedly made +inquiry, was announced by a gentleman of his household. "He met not +Christian, did he?" said the Duke hastily. + +"No, my lord," returned the domestic, "the Colonel came by the old +garden staircase." + +"I judged as much," replied the Duke; "'tis an owl that will not take +wing in daylight, when there is a thicket left to skulk under. Here he +comes from threading lane, vault, and ruinous alley, very near ominous +a creature as the fowl of ill augury which he resembles." + +The Colonel, to whom no other appellation seemed to be given, than +that which belonged to his military station, now entered the +apartment. He was tall, strongly built, and past the middle period of +life, and his countenance, but for the heavy cloud which dwelt upon +it, might have been pronounced a handsome one. While the Duke spoke to +him, either from humility or some other cause, his large serious eye +was cast down upon the ground; but he raised it when he answered, with +a keen look of earnest observation. His dress was very plain, and more +allied to that of the Puritans than of the Cavaliers of the time; a +shadowy black hat, like the Spanish sombrero; a large black mantle or +cloak, and a long rapier, gave him something the air of a Castilione, +to which his gravity and stiffness of demeanour added considerable +strength. + +"Well, Colonel," said the Duke, "we have been long strangers--how have +matters gone with you?" + +"As with other men of action in quiet times," answered the colonel, +"or as a good war-caper[*] that lies high and dry in a muddy creek, +till seams and planks are rent and riven." + +[*] A privateer. + +"Well, Colonel," said the Duke, "I have used your valour before now, +and I may again; so that I shall speedily see that the vessel is +careened, and undergoes a thorough repair." + +"I conjecture, then," said the Colonel, "that your Grace has some +voyage in hand?" + +"No, but there is one which I want to interrupt," replied the Duke. + +"Tis but another stave of the same tune.--Well, my lord, I listen," +answered the stranger. + +"Nay," said the Duke, "it is but a trifling matter after all.--You +know Ned Christian?" + +"Ay, surely, my lord," replied the Colonel, "we have been long known +to each other." + +"He is about to go down to Derbyshire to seek a certain niece of his, +whom he will scarcely find there. Now, I trust to your tried +friendship to interrupt his return to London. Go with him, or meet +him, cajole him, or assail him, or do what thou wilt with him--only +keep him from London for a fortnight at least, and then I care little +how soon he comes." + +"For by that time, I suppose," replied the Colonel, "any one may find +the wench that thinks her worth the looking for." + +"Thou mayst think her worth the looking for thyself, Colonel," +rejoined the Duke; "I promise you she hath many a thousand stitched to +her petticoat; such a wife would save thee from skeldering on the +public." + +"My lord, I sell my blood and my sword, but not my honour," answered +the man sullenly; "if I marry, my bed may be a poor, but it shall be +an honest one." + +"Then thy wife will be the only honest matter in thy possession, +Colonel--at least since I have known you," replied the Duke. + +"Why, truly, your Grace may speak your pleasure on that point. It is +chiefly your business which I have done of late; and if it were less +strictly honest than I could have wished, the employer was to blame as +well as the agent. But for marrying a cast-off mistress, the man +(saving your Grace, to whom I am bound) lives not who dares propose it +to me." + +The Duke laughed loudly. "Why, this is mine Ancient Pistol's vein," he +replied. + + ----"Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become, + And by my side wear steel?--then Lucifer take all!" + +"My breeding is too plain to understand ends of playhouse verse, my +lord," said the Colonel suddenly. "Has your Grace no other service to +command me?" + +"None--only I am told you have published a Narrative concerning the +Plot." + +"What should ail me, my lord?" said the Colonel; "I hope I am a +witness as competent as any that has yet appeared?" + +"Truly, I think so to the full," said the Duke; "and it would have +been hard, when so much profitable mischief was going, if so excellent +a Protestant as yourself had not come in for a share." + +"I came to take your Grace's commands, not to be the object of your +wit," said the Colonel. + +"Gallantly spoken, most resolute and most immaculate Colonel! As you +are to be on full pay in my service for a month to come, I pray your +acceptance of this purse, for contingents and equipments, and you +shall have my instructions from time to time." + +"They shall be punctually obeyed, my lord," said the Colonel; "I know +the duty of a subaltern officer. I wish your Grace a good morning." + +So saying, he pocketed the purse, without either affecting hesitation, +or expressing gratitude, but merely as a part of a transaction in the +regular way of business, and stalked from the apartment with the same +sullen gravity which marked his entrance. "Now, there goes a scoundrel +after my own heart," said the Duke; "a robber from his cradle, a +murderer since he could hold a knife, a profound hypocrite in +religion, and a worse and deeper hypocrite in honour,--would sell his +soul to the devil to accomplish any villainy, and would cut the throat +of his brother, did he dare to give the villainy he had so acted its +right name.--Now, why stand you amazed, good Master Jerningham, and +look on me as you would on some monster of Ind, when you had paid your +shilling to see it, and were staring out your pennyworth with your +eyes as round as a pair of spectacles? Wink, man, and save them, and +then let thy tongue untie the mystery." + +"On my word, my Lord Duke," answered Jerningham, "since I am compelled +to speak, I can only say, that the longer I live with your Grace, I am +the more at a loss to fathom your motives of action. Others lay plans, +either to attain profit or pleasure by their execution; but your +Grace's delight is to counteract your own schemes, when in the very +act of performance; like a child--forgive me--that breaks its +favourite toy, or a man who should set fire to the house he has half +built." + +"And why not, if he wanted to warm his hands at the blaze?" said the +Duke. + +"Ay, my lord," replied his dependent; "but what if, in doing so, he +should burn his fingers?--My lord, it is one of your noblest +qualities, that you will sometimes listen to the truth without taking +offence; but were it otherwise, I could not, at this moment, help +speaking out at every risk." + +"Well, say on, I can bear it," said the Duke, throwing himself into an +easy-chair, and using his toothpick with graceful indifference and +equanimity; "I love to hear what such potsherds as thou art, think of +the proceeding of us who are of the pure porcelain clay of the earth." + +"In the name of Heaven, my lord, let me then ask you," said +Jerningham, "what merit you claim, or what advantage you expect, from +having embroiled everything in which you are concerned to a degree +which equals the chaos of the blind old Roundhead's poem which your +Grace is so fond of? To begin with the King. In spite of good-humour, +he will be incensed at your repeated rivalry." + +"His Majesty defied me to it." + +"You have lost all hopes of the Isle, by quarrelling with Christian." + +"I have ceased to care a farthing about it," replied the Duke. + +"In Christian himself, whom you have insulted, and to whose family you +intend dishonour, you have lost a sagacious, artful, and cool-headed +instrument and adherent," said the monitor. + +"Poor Jerningham!" answered the Duke; "Christian would say as much for +thee, I doubt not, wert thou discarded tomorrow. It is the common +error of such tools as you and he to think themselves indispensable. +As to his family, what was never honourable cannot be dishonoured by +any connection with my house." + +"I say nothing of Chiffinch," said Jerningham, "offended as he will be +when he learns why, and by whom, his scheme has been ruined, and the +lady spirited away--He and his wife, I say nothing of them." + +"You need not," said the Duke; "for were they even fit persons to +speak to me about, the Duchess of Portsmouth has bargained for their +disgrace." + +"Then this bloodhound of a Colonel, as he calls himself, your Grace +cannot even lay /him/ on a quest which is to do you service, but you +must do him such indignity at the same time, as he will not fail to +remember, and be sure to fly at your throat should he ever have an +opportunity of turning on you." + +"I will take care he has none," said the Duke; "and yours, Jerningham, +is a low-lived apprehension. Beat your spaniel heartily if you would +have him under command. Ever let your agents see you know what they +are, and prize them accordingly. A rogue, who must needs be treated as +a man of honour, is apt to get above his work. Enough, therefore, of +your advice and censure, Jerningham; we differ in every particular. +Were we both engineers, you would spend your life in watching some old +woman's wheel, which spins flax by the ounce; I must be in the midst +of the most varied and counteracting machinery, regulating checks and +counter-checks, balancing weights, proving springs and wheels, +directing and controlling a hundred combined powers." + +"And your fortune, in the meanwhile?" said Jerningham; "pardon this +last hint, my lord." + +"My fortune," said the Duke, "is too vast to be hurt by a petty wound; +and I have, as thou knowest, a thousand salves in store for the +scratches and scars which it sometimes receives in greasing my +machinery." + +"Your Grace does not mean Dr. Wilderhead's powder of projection?" + +"Pshaw! he is a quacksalver, and mountebank, and beggar." + +"Or Solicitor Drowndland's plan for draining the fens?" + +"He is a cheat,--/videlicet/, an attorney." + +"Or the Laird of Lackpelf's sale of Highland woods?" + +"He is a Scotsman," said the Duke,--"/videlicet/, both cheat and +beggar." + +"These streets here, upon the site of your noble mansion-house?" said +Jerningham. + +"The architect's a bite, and the plan's a bubble. I am sick of the +sight of this rubbish, and I will soon replace our old alcoves, +alleys, and flower-pots by an Italian garden and a new palace." + +"That, my lord, would be to waste, not to improve your fortune," said +his domestic. + +"Clodpate, and muddy spirit that thou art, thou hast forgot the most +hopeful scheme of all--the South Sea Fisheries--their stock is up 50 +per cent. already. Post down to the Alley, and tell old Mansses to buy +£20,000 for me.--Forgive me, Plutus, I forgot to lay my sacrifice on +thy shrine, and yet expected thy favours!--Fly post-haste, Jerningham +--for thy life, for thy life, for thy life!"[*] + +[*] Stock-jobbing, as it is called, that is, dealing in shares of + monopolies, patent, and joint-stock companies of every + description, was at least as common in Charles II.'s time as our + own; and as the exercise of ingenuity in this way promised a road + to wealth without the necessity of industry, it was then much + pursued by dissolute courtiers. + +With hands and eyes uplifted, Jerningham left the apartment; and the +Duke, without thinking a moment farther on old or new intrigues--on +the friendship he had formed, or the enmity he had provoked--on the +beauty whom he had carried off from her natural protectors, as well as +from her lover--or on the monarch against whom he had placed himself +in rivalship,--sat down to calculate chances with all the zeal of +Demoivre, tired of the drudgery in half-an-hour, and refused to see +the zealous agent whom he had employed in the city, because he was +busily engaged in writing a new lampoon. + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX + + Ah! changeful head, and fickle heart! + --PROGRESS OF DISCONTENT. + +No event is more ordinary in narratives of this nature, than the +abduction of the female on whose fate the interest is supposed to +turn; but that of Alice Bridgenorth was thus far particular, that she +was spirited away by the Duke of Buckingham, more in contradiction +than in the rivalry of passion; and that, as he made his first +addresses to her at Chiffinch's, rather in the spirit of rivalry to +this Sovereign, than from any strong impression which her beauty had +made on his affections, so he had formed the sudden plan of spiriting +her away by means of his dependents, rather to perplex Christian, the +King, Chiffinch, and all concerned, than because he had any particular +desire for her society at his own mansion. Indeed, so far was this +from being the case, that his Grace was rather surprised than +delighted with the success of the enterprise which had made her an +inmate there, although it is probable he might have thrown himself +into an uncontrollable passion, had he learned its miscarriage instead +of its success. + +Twenty-four hours had passed over since he had returned to his own +roof, before, notwithstanding sundry hints from Jerningham, he could +even determine on the exertion necessary to pay his fair captive a +visit; and then it was with the internal reluctance of one who can +only be stirred from indolence by novelty. + +"I wonder what made me plague myself about this wench," said he, "and +doom myself to encounter all the hysterical rhapsodies of a country +Phillis, with her head stuffed with her grandmother's lessons about +virtue and the Bible-book, when the finest and best-bred women in town +may be had upon more easy terms. It is a pity one cannot mount the +victor's car of triumph without having a victory to boast of; yet, +faith, it is what most of our modern gallants do, though it would not +become Buckingham.--Well, I must see her," he concluded, "though it +were but to rid the house of her. The Portsmouth will not hear of her +being set at liberty near Charles, so much is she afraid of a new fair +seducing the old sinner from his allegiance. So how the girl is to be +disposed of--for I shall have little fancy to keep her here, and she +is too wealthy to be sent down to Cliefden as a housekeeper--is a +matter to be thought on." + +He then called for such a dress as might set off his natural good mien +--a compliment which he considered as due to his own merit; for as to +anything farther, he went to pay his respects to his fair prisoner +with almost as little zeal in the cause, as a gallant to fight a duel +in which he has no warmer interest than the maintenance of his +reputation as man of honour. + +The set of apartments consecrated to the use of those favourites who +occasionally made Buckingham's mansion their place of abode, and who +were, so far as liberty was concerned, often required to observe the +regulations of a convent, were separated from the rest of the Duke's +extensive mansion. He lived in the age when what was called gallantry +warranted the most atrocious actions of deceit and violence; as may be +best illustrated by the catastrophe of an unfortunate actress, whose +beauty attracted the attention of the last De Vere, Earl of Oxford. +While her virtue defied his seductions, he ruined her under colour of +a mock marriage, and was rewarded for a success which occasioned the +death of his victim, by the general applause of the men of wit and +gallantry who filled the drawing-room of Charles. + +Buckingham had made provision in the interior of his ducal mansion for +exploits of a similar nature; and the set of apartments which he now +visited were alternately used to confine the reluctant, and to +accommodate the willing. + +Being now destined for the former purpose, the key was delivered to +the Duke by a hooded and spectacled old lady, who sat reading a devout +book in the outer hall which divided these apartments (usually called +the Nunnery) from the rest of the house. This experienced dowager +acted as mistress of the ceremonies on such occasions, and was the +trusty depositary of more intrigues than were known to any dozen of +her worshipful calling besides. + +"As sweet a linnet," she said, as she undid the outward door, "as ever +sung in a cage." + +"I was afraid she might have been more for moping than for singing, +Dowlas," said the Duke. + +"Till yesterday she was so, please your Grace," answered Dowlas; "or, +to speak sooth, till early this morning, we heard of nothing but +Lachrymæ. But the air of your noble Grace's house is favourable to +singing-birds; and to-day matters have been a-much mended." + +"Tis sudden, dame," said the Duke; "and 'tis something strange, +considering that I have never visited her, that the pretty trembler +should have been so soon reconciled to her fate." + +"Ah, your Grace has such magic, that it communicates itself to your +very walls; as wholesome Scripture says, Exodus, first and seventh, +'It cleaveth to the walls and the doorposts.'" + +"You are too partial, Dame Dowlas," said the Duke of Buckingham. + +"Not a word but truth," said the dame; "and I wish I may be an outcast +from the fold of the lambs, but I think this damsel's very frame has +changed since she was under your Grace's roof. Methinks she hath a +lighter form, a finer step, a more displayed ankle--I cannot tell, but +I think there is a change. But, lack-a-day, your Grace knows I am as +old as I am trusty, and that my eyes wax something uncertain." + +"Especially when you wash them with a cup of canary, Dame Dowlas," +answered the Duke, who was aware that temperance was not amongst the +cardinal virtues which were most familiar to the old lady's practice. + +"Was it canary, your Grace said?--Was it indeed with canary, that your +Grace should have supposed me to have washed my eyes?" said the +offended matron. "I am sorry that your Grace should know me no +better." + +"I crave your pardon, dame," said the Duke, shaking aside, +fastidiously, the grasp which, in the earnestness of her exculpation, +Madam Dowlas had clutched upon his sleeve. "I crave your pardon. Your +nearer approach has convinced me of my erroneous imputation--I should +have said nantz--not canary." + +So saying, he walked forward into the inner apartments, which were +fitted up with an air of voluptuous magnificence. + +"The dame said true, however," said the proud deviser and proprietor +of the splendid mansion--"A country Phillis might well reconcile +herself to such a prison as this, even without a skilful bird-fancier +to touch a bird-call. But I wonder where she can be, this rural +Phidele. Is it possible she can have retreated, like a despairing +commandant, into her bedchamber, the very citadel of the place, +without even an attempt to defend the outworks?" + +As he made this reflection, he passed through an antechamber and +little eating parlour, exquisitely furnished, and hung with excellent +paintings of the Venetian school. + +Beyond these lay a withdrawing-room, fitted up in a style of still +more studied elegance. The windows were darkened with painted glass, +of such a deep and rich colour, as made the midday beams, which found +their way into the apartment, imitate the rich colours of sunset; and, +in the celebrated expression of the poet, "taught light to counterfeit +a gloom." + +Buckingham's feelings and taste had been too much, and too often, and +too readily gratified, to permit him, in the general case, to be +easily accessible, even to those pleasures which it had been the +business of his life to pursue. The hackneyed voluptuary is like the +jaded epicure, the mere listlessness of whose appetite becomes at +length a sufficient penalty for having made it the principal object of +his enjoyment and cultivation. Yet novelty has always some charms, and +uncertainty has more. + +The doubt how he was to be received--the change of mood which his +prisoner was said to have evinced--the curiosity to know how such a +creature as Alice Bridgenorth had been described, was likely to bear +herself under the circumstances in which she was so unexpectedly +placed, had upon Buckingham the effect of exciting unusual interest. +On his own part, he had none of those feelings of anxiety with which a +man, even of the most vulgar mind, comes to the presence of the female +whom he wishes to please, far less the more refined sentiments of +love, respect, desire, and awe, with which the more refined lover +approaches the beloved object. He had been, to use an expressive +French phrase, too completely /blasé/ even from his earliest youth, to +permit him now to experience the animal eagerness of the one, far less +the more sentimental pleasure of the other. It is no small aggravation +of this jaded and uncomfortable state of mind, that the voluptuary +cannot renounce the pursuits with which he is satiated, but must +continue, for his character's sake, or from the mere force of habit, +to take all the toil, fatigue, and danger of the chase, while he has +so little real interest in the termination. + +Buckingham, therefore, felt it due to his reputation as a successful +hero of intrigue, to pay his addresses to Alice Bridgenorth with +dissembled eagerness; and, as he opened the door of the inner +apartment, he paused to consider, whether the tone of gallantry, or +that of passion, was fittest to use on the occasion. This delay +enabled him to hear a few notes of a lute touched with exquisite +skill, and accompanied by the still sweeter strains of a female voice, +which, without executing any complete melody, seemed to sport itself +in rivalship of the silver sound of the instrument. + +"A creature so well educated," said the Duke, "with the sense she is +said to possess, would, rustic as she is, laugh at the assumed rants +of Oroondates. It is the vein of Dorimont--once, Buckingham, thine own +--that must here do the feat, besides that the part is easier." + +So thinking, he entered the room with that easy grace which +characterised the gay courtiers among whom he flourished, and +approached the fair tenant, whom he found seated near a table covered +with books and music, and having on her left hand the large half-open +casement, dim with stained glass, admitting only a doubtful light into +this lordly retiring-room, which, hung with the richest tapestry of +the Gobelines, and ornamented with piles if china and splendid +mirrors, seemed like a bower built for a prince to receive his bride. + +The splendid dress of the inmate corresponded with the taste of the +apartment which she occupied and partook of the Oriental costume which +the much-admired Roxalana had the brought into fashion. A slender foot +and ankle, which escaped from the wide trowser of richly ornamented +and embroidered blue satin, was the only part of her person distinctly +seen; the rest was enveloped, from head to foot, in a long veil of +silver gauze, which, like a feathery and light mist on a beautiful +landscape, suffered you to perceive that what it concealed was rarely +lovely, yet induced the imagination even to enhance the charms it +shaded. Such part of the dress as could be discovered was, like the +veil and the trowsers, in the Oriental taste; a rich turban, and +splendid caftan, were rather indicated than distinguished through the +folds of the former. The whole attire argued at least coquetry on the +part of the fair one, who must have expected, from her situation, a +visitor of some pretension; and induced Buckingham to smile internally +at Christian's account of the extreme simplicity and purity of his +niece. + +He approached the lady /en cavalier/, and addressed her with the air +of being conscious, while he acknowledged his offences, that his +condescending to do so formed a sufficient apology for them. "Fair +Mistress Alice," he said, "I am sensible how deeply I ought to sue for +pardon for the mistaken zeal of my servants, who, seeing you deserted +and exposed without protection during an unlucky affray, took it upon +them to bring you under the roof of one who would expose his life +rather than suffer you to sustain a moment's anxiety. Was it my fault +that those around me should have judged it necessary to interfere for +your preservation; or that, aware of the interest I must take in you, +they have detained you till I could myself, in personal attendance, +receive your commands?" + +"That attendance has not been speedily rendered, my lord," answered +the lady. "I have been a prisoner for two days--neglected, and left to +the charge of menials." + +"How say you, lady?--Neglected!" exclaimed the Duke. "By Heaven, if +the best in my household has failed in his duty, I will discard him on +the instant!" + +"I complain of no lack of courtesy from your servants, my lord," she +replied; "but methinks it had been but complaisant in the Duke himself +to explain to me earlier wherefore he has had the boldness to detain +me as a state prisoner." + +"And can the divine Alice doubt," said Buckingham, "that, had time and +space, those cruel enemies to the flight of passion, given permission, +the instant in which you crossed your vassal's threshold had seen its +devoted master at your feet, who hath thought, since he saw you, of +nothing but the charms which that fatal morning placed before him at +Chiffinch's?" + +"I understand, then, my lord," said the lady, "that you have been +absent, and have had no part in the restraint which has been exercised +upon me?" + +"Absent on the King's command, lady, and employed in the discharge of +his duty," answered Buckingham without hesitation. "What could I do?-- +The moment you left Chiffinch's, his Majesty commanded me to the +saddle in such haste, that I had no time to change my satin buskins +for riding-boots.[*] If my absence has occasioned you a moment of +inconvenience, blame the inconsiderate zeal of those who, seeing me +depart from London, half distracted at my separation from you, were +willing to contribute their unmannered, though well-meant exertions, +to preserve their master from despair, by retaining the fair Alice +within his reach. To whom, indeed, could they have restored you? He +whom you selected as your champion is in prison, or fled--your father +absent from town--your uncle in the north. To Chiffinch's house you +had expressed your well-founded aversion; and what fitter asylum +remained than that of your devoted slave, where you must ever reign a +queen?" + +[*] This case is not without precedent. Among the jealousies and fears + expressed by the Long Parliament, they insisted much upon an agent + for the King departing for the continent so abruptly, that he had + not time to change his court dress--white buskins, to wit, and + black silk pantaloons--for an equipment more suitable to travel + with. + +"An imprisoned one," said the lady. "I desire not royalty." + +"Alas! how wilfully you misconstrue me!" said the Duke, kneeling on +one knee; "and what right can you have to complain of a few hours' +gentle restraint--you, who destine so many to hopeless captivity? Be +merciful for once, and withdraw that envious veil; for the divinities +are ever most cruel when they deliver their oracles from such clouded +recesses. Suffer at least my rash hand----" + +"I will save your Grace that unworthy trouble," said the lady +haughtily; and rising up, she flung back over her shoulders the veil +which shrouded her, saying, at the same time, "Look on me, my Lord +Duke, and see if these be indeed the charms which have made on your +Grace an impression so powerful." + +Buckingham did look; and the effect produced on him by surprise was so +strong, that he rose hastily from his knee, and remained for a few +seconds as if he had been petrified. The figure that stood before him +had neither the height nor the rich shape of Alice Bridgenorth; and, +though perfectly well made, was so slightly formed, as to seem almost +infantine. Her dress was three or four short vests of embroidered +satin, disposed one over the other, of different colours, or rather +different shades of similar colours; for strong contrast was carefully +avoided. These opened in front, so as to show part of the throat and +neck, partially obscured by an inner covering of the finest lace; over +the uppermost vest was worn a sort of mantle, or coat of rich fur. A +small but magnificent turban was carelessly placed on her head, from +under which flowed a profusion of coal-black tresses, which Cleopatra +might have envied. The taste and splendour of the Eastern dress +corresponded with the complexion of the lady's face, which was +brunette, of a shade so dark as might almost have served an Indian. + +Amidst a set of features, in which rapid and keen expression made +amends for the want of regular beauty, the essential points of eyes as +bright as diamonds, and teeth as white as pearls, did not escape the +Duke of Buckingham, a professed connoisseur in female charms. In a +word, the fanciful and singular female who thus unexpectedly produced +herself before him, had one of those faces which are never seen +without making an impression; which, when removed, are long after +remembered; and for which, in our idleness, we are tempted to invent a +hundred histories, that we may please our fancy by supposing the +features under the influence of different kinds of emotion. Every one +must have in recollection countenances of this kind, which, from a +captivating and stimulating originality of expression, abide longer in +the memory, and are more seductive to the imagination, than ever +regular beauty. + +"My Lord Duke," said the lady, "it seems the lifting of my veil has +done the work of magic upon your Grace. Alas, for the captive +princess, whose nod was to command a vassal so costly as your Grace! +She runs, methinks, no slight chance of being turned out of doors, +like a second Cinderella, to seek her fortune among lackeys and +lightermen." + +"I am astonished!" said the Duke. "That villain, Jerningham--I will +have the scoundrel's blood!" + +"Nay, never abuse Jerningham for the matter," said the Unknown; "but +lament your own unhappy engagements. While you, my Lord Duke, were +posting northward, in white satin buskins, to toil in the King's +affairs, the right and lawful princess sat weeping in sables in the +uncheered solitude to which your absence condemned her. Two days she +was disconsolate in vain; on the third came an African enchantress to +change the scene for her, and the person for your Grace. Methinks, my +lord, this adventure will tell but ill, when some faithful squire +shall recount or record the gallant adventures of the second Duke of +Buckingham." + +"Fairly bit and bantered to boot," said the Duke--"the monkey has a +turn for satire, too, by all that is /piquante/.--Hark ye, fair +Princess, how dared you adventure on such a trick as you have been +accomplice to?" + +"Dare, my lord," answered the stranger; "put the question to others, +not to one who fears nothing." + +"By my faith, I believe so; for thy front is bronzed by nature.--Hark +ye, once more, mistress--What is your name and condition?" + +"My condition I have told you--I am a Mauritanian sorceress by +profession, and my name is Zarah," replied the Eastern maiden. + +"But methinks that face, shape, and eyes"--said the Duke--"when didst +thou pass for a dancing fairy?--Some such imp thou wert not many days +since." + +"My sister you may have seen--my twin sister; but not me, my lord," +answered Zarah. + +"Indeed," said the Duke, "that duplicate of thine, if it was not thy +very self, was possessed with a dumb spirit, as thou with a talking +one. I am still in the mind that you are the same; and that Satan, +always so powerful with your sex, had art enough on our former +meeting, to make thee hold thy tongue." + +"Believe what you will of it, my lord," replied Zarah, "it cannot +change the truth.--And now, my lord, I bid you farewell. Have you any +commands to Mauritania?" + +"Tarry a little, my Princess," said the Duke; "and remember, that you +have voluntarily entered yourself as pledge for another; and are +justly subjected to any penalty which it is my pleasure to exact. None +must brave Buckingham with impunity." + +"I am in no hurry to depart, if your Grace hath any commands for me." + +"What! are you neither afraid of my resentment, nor of my love, fair +Zarah?" said the Duke. + +"Of neither, by this glove," answered the lady. "Your resentment must +be a pretty passion indeed, if it could stoop to such a helpless +object as I am; and for your love--good lack! good lack!" + +"And why good lack with such a tone of contempt, lady?" said the +Duke, piqued in spite of himself. "Think you Buckingham cannot love, +or has never been beloved in return?" + +"He may have thought himself beloved," said the maiden; "but by what +slight creatures!--things whose heads could be rendered giddy by a +playhouse rant--whose brains were only filled with red-heeled shoes +and satin buskins--and who run altogether mad on the argument of a +George and a star." + +"And are there no such frail fair ones in your climate, most scornful +Princess?" said the Duke. + +"There are," said the lady; "but men rate them as parrots and monkeys +--things without either sense or soul, head or heart. The nearness we +bear to the sun has purified, while it strengthens, our passions. The +icicles of your frozen climate shall as soon hammer hot bars into +ploughshares, as shall the foppery and folly of your pretended +gallantry make an instant's impression on a breast like mine." + +"You speak like one who knows what passion is," said the Duke. "Sit +down, fair lady, and grieve not that I detain you. Who can consent to +part with a tongue of so much melody, or an eye of such expressive +eloquence!--You have known then what it is to love?" + +"I know--no matter if by experience, or through the report of others-- +but I do know, that to love, as I would love, would be to yield not an +iota to avarice, not one inch to vanity, not to sacrifice the +slightest feeling to interest or to ambition; but to give up all to +fidelity of heart and reciprocal affection." + +"And how many women, think you, are capable of feeling such +disinterested passion?" + +"More, by thousands, than there are men who merit it," answered Zarah. +"Alas! how often do you see the female, pale, and wretched, and +degraded, still following with patient constancy the footsteps of some +predominating tyrant, and submitting to all his injustice with the +endurance of a faithful and misused spaniel, which prizes a look from +his master, though the surliest groom that ever disgraced humanity, +more than all the pleasure which the world besides can furnish him? +Think what such would be to one who merited and repaid her devotion." + +"Perhaps the very reverse," said the Duke; "and for your simile, I can +see little resemblance. I cannot charge my spaniel with any perfidy; +but for my mistresses--to confess truth, I must always be in a cursed +hurry if I would have the credit of changing them before they leave +me." + +"And they serve you but rightly, my lord," answered the lady; "for +what are you?--Nay, frown not; for you must hear the truth for once. +Nature has done its part, and made a fair outside, and courtly +education hath added its share. You are noble, it is the accident of +birth--handsome, it is the caprice of Nature--generous, because to +give is more easy than to refuse--well-apparelled, it is to the credit +of your tailor--well-natured in the main, because you have youth and +health--brave, because to be otherwise were to be degraded--and witty, +because you cannot help it." + +The Duke darted a glance on one of the large mirrors. "Noble, and +handsome, and court-like, generous, well-attired, good-humoured, +brave, and witty!--You allow me more, madam, than I have the slightest +pretension to, and surely enough to make my way, at some point at +least, to female favour." + +"I have neither allowed you a heart nor a head," said Zarah calmly.-- +"Nay, never redden as if you would fly at me. I say not but nature may +have given you both; but folly has confounded the one, and selfishness +perverted the other. The man whom I call deserving the name is one +whose thoughts and exertions are for others, rather than himself,-- +whose high purpose is adopted on just principles, and never abandoned +while heaven or earth affords means of accomplishing it. He is one who +will neither seek an indirect advantage by a specious road, nor take +an evil path to gain a real good purpose. Such a man were one for whom +a woman's heart should beat constant while he breathes, and break when +he dies." + +She spoke with so much energy that the water sparkled in her eyes, and +her cheek coloured with the vehemence of her feelings. + +"You speak," said the Duke, "as if you had yourself a heart which +could pay the full tribute to the merit which you describe so warmly." + +"And have I not?" said she, laying her hand on her bosom. "Here beats +one that would bear me out in what I have said, whether in life or in +death." + +"Were it in my power," said the Duke, who began to get farther +interested in his visitor than he could at first have thought possible +--"Were it in my power to deserve such faithful attachment, methinks +it should be my care to requite it." + +"Your wealth, your titles, your reputation as a gallant--all you +possess, were too little to merit such sincere affection." + +"Come, fair lady," said the Duke, a good deal piqued, "do not be quite +so disdainful. Bethink you, that if your love be as pure as coined +gold, still a poor fellow like myself may offer you an equivalent in +silver--The quantity of my affection must make up for its quality." + +"But I am not carrying my affection to market, my lord; and therefore +I need none of the base coin you offer in change for it." + +"How do I know that, my fairest?" said the Duke. "This is the realm of +Paphos--You have invaded it, with what purpose you best know; but I +think with none consistent with your present assumption of cruelty. +Come, come--eyes that are so intelligent can laugh with delight, as +well as gleam with scorn and anger. You are here a waif on Cupid's +manor, and I must seize on you in name of the deity." + +"Do not think of touching me, my lord," said the lady. "Approach me +not, if you would hope to learn the purpose of my being here. Your +Grace may suppose yourself a Solomon if you please, but I am no +travelling princess, come from distant climes, either to flatter your +pride, or wonder at your glory." + +"A defiance, by Jupiter!" said the Duke. + +"You mistake the signal," said the 'dark ladye'; "I came not here +without taking sufficient precautions for my retreat." + +"You mouth it bravely," said the Duke; "but never fortress so boasted +its resources but the garrison had some thoughts of surrender. Thus I +open the first parallel." + +They had been hitherto divided from each other by a long narrow table, +which, placed in the recess of the large casement we have mentioned, +had formed a sort of barrier on the lady's side, against the +adventurous gallant. The Duke went hastily to remove it as he spoke; +but, attentive to all his motions, his visitor instantly darted +through the half-open window. Buckingham uttered a cry of horror and +surprise, having no doubt, at first, that she had precipitated herself +from a height of at least fourteen feet; for so far the window was +distant from the ground. But when he sprung to the spot, he perceived, +to his astonishment, that she had effected her descent with equal +agility and safety. + +The outside of this stately mansion was decorated with a quantity of +carving, in the mixed state, betwixt the Gothic and Grecian styles, +which marks the age of Elizabeth and her successor; and though the +feat seemed a surprising one, the projections of these ornaments were +sufficient to afford footing to a creature so light and active, even +in her hasty descent. + +Inflamed alike by mortification and curiosity, Buckingham at first +entertained some thought of following her by the same dangerous route, +and had actually got upon the sill of the window for that purpose; and +was contemplating what might be his next safe movement, when, from a +neighbouring thicket of shrubs, amongst which his visitor had +disappeared, he heard her chant a verse of a comic song, then much in +fashion, concerning a despairing lover who had recourse to a +precipice-- + + "But when he came near, + Beholding how steep + The sides did appear, + And the bottom how deep; + Though his suit was rejected, + He sadly reflected, + That a lover forsaken + A new love may get; + But a neck that's once broken + Can never be set." + +The Duke could not help laughing, though much against his will, at the +resemblance which the verses bore to his own absurd situation, and, +stepping back into the apartment, desisted from an attempt which might +have proved dangerous as well as ridiculous. He called his attendants, +and contented himself with watching the little thicket, unwilling to +think that a female, who had thrown herself in a great measure into +his way, meant absolutely to mortify him by a retreat. + +That question was determined in an instant. A form, wrapped in a +mantle, with a slouched hat and shadowy plume, issued from the bushes, +and was lost in a moment amongst the ruins of ancient and of modern +buildings, with which, as we have already stated, the demesne formerly +termed York House, was now encumbered in all directions. + +The Duke's servants, who had obeyed his impatient summons, were +hastily directed to search for this tantalising siren in every +direction. Their master, in the meantime, eager and vehement in every +new pursuit, but especially when his vanity was piqued, encouraged +their diligence by bribes, and threats, and commands. All was in vain. +They found nothing of the Mauritanian Princess, as she called herself, +but the turban and the veil; both of which she had left in the +thicket, together with her satin slippers; which articles, doubtless, +she had thrown aside as she exchanged them for others less remarkable. + +Finding all his search in vain, the Duke of Buckingham, after the +example of spoiled children of all ages and stations, gave a loose to +the frantic vehemence of passion; and fiercely he swore vengeance on +his late visitor, whom he termed by a thousand opprobrious epithets, +of which the elegant phrase "Jilt" was most frequently repeated. + +Even Jerningham, who knew the depths and the shallows of his master's +mood, and was bold to fathom them at almost every state of his +passions, kept out of his way on the present occasion; and, cabineted +with the pious old housekeeper, declared to her, over a bottle of +ratafia, that, in his apprehension, if his Grace did not learn to put +some control on his temper, chains, darkness, straw, and Bedlam, would +be the final doom of the gifted and admired Duke of Buckingham. + + + + CHAPTER XL + + ----Contentious fierce, + Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause. + --ALBION. + +The quarrels between man and wife are proverbial; but let not these +honest folks think that connections of a less permanent nature are +free from similar jars. The frolic of the Duke of Buckingham, and the +subsequent escape of Alice Bridgenorth, had kindled fierce dissension +in Chiffinch's family, when, on his arrival in town, he learned these +two stunning events: "I tell you," he said to his obliging helpmate, +who seemed but little moved by all that he could say on the subject, +"that your d--d carelessness has ruined the work of years." + +"I think it is the twentieth time you have said so," replied the dame; +"and without such frequent assurance, I was quite ready to believe +that a very trifling matter would overset any scheme of yours, however +long thought of." + +"How on earth could you have the folly to let the Duke into the house +when you expected the King?" said the irritated courtier. + +"Lord, Chiffinch," answered the lady, "ought not you to ask the porter +rather than me, that sort of question?--I was putting on my cap to +receive his Majesty." + +"With the address of a madge-howlet," said Chiffinch, "and in the +meanwhile you gave the cat the cream to keep." + +"Indeed, Chiffinch," said the lady, "these jaunts to the country do +render you excessively vulgar! there is a brutality about your very +boots! nay, your muslin ruffles, being somewhat soiled, give to your +knuckles a sort of rural rusticity, as I may call it." + +"It were a good deed," muttered Chiffinch, "to make both boots and +knuckles bang the folly and affectation out of thee." Then speaking +aloud, he added, like a man who would fain break off an argument, by +extorting from his adversary a confession that he has reason on his +side, "I am sure, Kate, you must be sensible that our all depends on +his Majesty's pleasure." + +"Leave that to me," said she; "I know how to pleasure his Majesty +better than you can teach me. Do you think his Majesty is booby enough +to cry like a schoolboy because his sparrow has flown away? His +Majesty has better taste. I am surprised at you, Chiffinch," she +added, drawing herself up, "who were once thought to know the points +of a fine woman, that you should have made such a roaring about this +country wench. Why, she has not even the country quality of being +plump as a barn-door fowl, but is more like a Dunstable lark, that one +must crack bones and all if you would make a mouthful of it. What +signifies whence she came, or where she goes? There will be those +behind that are much more worthy of his Majesty's condescending +attention, even when the Duchess of Portsmouth takes the frumps." + +"You mean your neighbour, Mistress Nelly," said her worthy helpmate; +"but Kate, her date is out. Wit she has, let her keep herself warm +with it in worse company, for the cant of a gang of strollers is not +language for a prince's chamber."[*] + +[*] In Evelyn's Memoirs is the following curious passage respecting + Nell Gwyn, who is hinted at in the text:--"I walked with him [King + Charles II.] through Saint James Park to the garden, where I both + saw and heard a very familiar discourse between ... [/the King/] + and Mrs. Nelly, as they called her, an intimate comedian, she + looking out of her garden on a terrace at the top of the wall, and + [/the King/] standing on the green walk under it. I was heartily + sorry at this scene."--EVELYN'S /Memoirs/, vol. i. p.413. + +"It is no matter what I mean, or whom I mean," said Mrs. Chiffinch; +"but I tell you, Tom Chiffinch, that you will find your master quite +consoled for loss of the piece of prudish puritanism that you would +need saddle him with; as if the good man were not plagued enough with +them in Parliament, but you must, forsooth, bring them into his very +bedchamber." + +"Well, Kate," said Chiffinch, "if a man were to speak all the sense of +the seven wise masters, a woman would find nonsense enough to +overwhelm him with; so I shall say no more, but that I would to Heaven +I may find the King in no worse humour than you describe him. I am +commanded to attend him down the river to the Tower to-day, where he +is to make some survey of arms and stores. They are clever fellows who +contrive to keep Rowley from engaging in business, for, by my word, he +has a turn for it." + +"I warrant you," said Chiffinch the female, nodding, but rather to her +own figure, reflected from a mirror, than to her politic husband,--"I +warrant you we will find means of occupying him that will sufficiently +fill up his time." + +"On my honour, Kate," said the male Chiffinch, "I find you strangely +altered, and, to speak truth, grown most extremely opinionative. I +shall be happy if you have good reason for your confidence." + +The dame smiled superciliously, but deigned no other answer, unless +this were one,--"I shall order a boat to go upon the Thames to-day +with the royal party." + +"Take care what you do, Kate; there are none dare presume so far but +women of the first rank. Duchess of Bolton--of Buckingham--of----" + +"Who cares for a list of names? why may not I be as forward as the +greatest B. amongst your string of them?" + +"Nay, faith, thou mayest match the greatest B. in Court already," +answered Chiffinch; "so e'en take thy own course of it. But do not let +Chaubert forget to get some collation ready, and a /souper au petit +couvert/, in case it should be commanded for the evening." + +"Ay, there your boasted knowledge of Court matters begins and ends.-- +Chiffinch, Chaubert, and Company;--dissolve that partnership, and you +break Tom Chiffinch for a courtier." + +"Amen, Kate," replied Chiffinch; "and let me tell you it is as safe to +rely on another person's fingers as on our own wit. But I must give +orders for the water.--If you will take the pinnace, there are the +cloth-of-gold cushions in the chapel may serve to cover the benches +for the day. They are never wanted where they lie, so you may make +free with them too." + +Madam Chiffinch accordingly mingled with the flotilla which attended +the King on his voyage down the Thames, amongst whom was the Queen, +attended by some of the principal ladies of the Court. The little +plump Cleopatra, dressed to as much advantage as her taste could +devise, and seated upon her embroidered cushions like Venus in her +shell, neglected nothing that effrontery and minauderie could perform +to draw upon herself some portion of the King's observation; but +Charles was not in the vein, and did not even pay her the slightest +passing attention of any kind, until her boatmen having ventured to +approach nearer to the Queen's barge than etiquette permitted, +received a peremptory order to back their oars, and fall out of the +royal procession. Madam Chiffinch cried for spite, and transgressed +Solomon's warning, by cursing the King in her heart; but had no better +course than to return to Westminster, and direct Chaubert's +preparations for the evening. + +In the meantime the royal barge paused at the Tower; and, accompanied +by a laughing train of ladies and of courtiers, the gay Monarch made +the echoes of the old prison-towers ring with the unwonted sounds of +mirth and revelry. As they ascended from the river-side to the centre +of the building, where the fine old keep of William the Conqueror, +called the White Tower, predominates over the exterior defences, +Heaven only knows how many gallant jests, good or bad, were run on the +comparison of his Majesty's state-prison to that of Cupid, and what +killing similes were drawn between the ladies' eyes and the guns of +the fortress, which, spoken with a fashionable congée, and listened to +with a smile from a fair lady, formed the fine conversations of the +day. + +This gay swarm of flutterers did not, however, attend close on the +King's person, though they had accompanied him upon his party on the +river. Charles, who often formed manly and sensible resolutions, +though he was too easily diverted from them by indolence or pleasure, +had some desire to make himself personally acquainted with the state +of the military stores, arms, &c. of which the Tower was then, as now, +the magazine; and, although he had brought with him the usual number +of his courtiers, only three or four attended him on the scrutiny +which he intended. Whilst, therefore, the rest of the train amused +themselves as they might in other parts of the Tower, the King, +accompanied by the Dukes of Buckingham, Ormond, and one or two others, +walked through the well-known hall, in which is preserved the most +splendid magazine of arms in the world, and which, though far from +exhibiting its present extraordinary state of perfection, was even +then an arsenal worthy of the great nation to which it belonged. + +The Duke of Ormond, well known for his services during the Great Civil +War, was, as we have elsewhere noticed, at present rather on cold +terms with his Sovereign, who nevertheless asked his advice on many +occasions, and who required it on the present amongst others, when it +was not a little feared that the Parliament, in their zeal for the +Protestant religion, might desire to take the magazines of arms and +ammunition under their own exclusive orders. While Charles sadly +hinted at such a termination of the popular jealousies of the period, +and discussed with Ormond the means of resisting, or evading it, +Buckingham, falling a little behind, amused himself with ridiculing +the antiquated appearance and embarrassed demeanour of the old warder +who attended on the occasion, and who chanced to be the very same who +escorted Julian Peveril to his present place of confinement. The Duke +prosecuted his raillery with the greater activity, that he found the +old man, though restrained by the place and presence, was rather upon +the whole testy, and disposed to afford what sportsmen call /play/ to +his persecutor. The various pieces of ancient armour, with which the +wall was covered, afforded the principal source of the Duke's wit, as +he insisted upon knowing from the old man, who, he said, could best +remember matters from the days of King Arthur downwards at the least, +the history of the different warlike weapons, and anecdotes of the +battles in which they had been wielded. The old man obviously +suffered, when he was obliged, by repeated questions, to tell the +legends (often sufficiently absurd) which the tradition of the place +had assigned to particular relics. Far from flourishing his partisan, +and augmenting the emphasis of his voice, as was and is the prevailing +fashion of these warlike Ciceroni, it was scarcely possible to extort +from him a single word concerning those topics on which their +information is usually overflowing. + +"Do you know, my friend," said the Duke to him at last, "I begin to +change my mind respecting you. I supposed you must have served as a +Yeoman of the Guard since bluff King Henry's time, and expected to +hear something from you about the Field of the Cloth of Gold,--and I +thought of asking you the colour of Anne Bullen's breastknot, which +cost the Pope three kingdoms; but I am afraid you are but a novice in +such recollections of love and chivalry. Art sure thou didst not creep +into thy warlike office from some dark shop in Tower-Hamlets, and that +thou hast not converted an unlawful measuring-yard into that glorious +halberd?--I warrant thou canst not even tell you whom this piece of +antique panoply pertained to?" + +The Duke pointed at random to a cuirass which hung amongst others, but +was rather remarkable from being better cleansed. + +"I should know that piece of iron," said the warder bluntly, yet with +some change in his voice; "for I have known a man within side of it +who would not have endured half the impertinence I have heard spoken +to-day." + +The tone of the old man, as well as the words, attracted the attention +of Charles and the Duke of Ormond, who were only two steps before the +speaker. They both stopped, and turned round; the former saying at the +same time,--"how now, sirrah!--what answers are these?--What man do +you speak of?" + +"Of one who is none now," said the warder, "whatever he may have +been." + +"The old man surely speaks of himself," said the Duke of Ormond, +closely examining the countenance of the warder, which he in vain +endeavoured to turn away. "I am sure I remember these features--Are +not you my old friend, Major Coleby?" + +"I wish your Grace's memory had been less accurate," said the old man, +colouring deeply, and fixing his eyes on the ground. + +The King was greatly shocked.--"Good God!" he said, "the gallant Major +Coleby, who joined us with his four sons and a hundred and fifty men +at Warrington!--And is this all we could do for an old Worcester +friend?" + +The tears rushed thick into the old man's eyes as he said in broken +accents, "Never mind me, sire; I am well enough here--a worn-out +soldier rusting among old armour. Where one old Cavalier is better, +there are twenty worse.--I am sorry your Majesty should know anything +of it, since it grieves you." + +With that kindness, which was a redeeming point of his character, +Charles, while the old man was speaking, took the partisan from him +with his own hand, and put it into that of Buckingham, saying, "What +Coleby's hand has borne, can disgrace neither yours nor mine,--and you +owe him this atonement. Time has been with him, that, for less +provocation, he would have laid it about your ears." + +The Duke bowed deeply, but coloured with resentment, and took an +immediate opportunity to place the weapon carelessly against a pile of +arms. The King did not observe a contemptuous motion, which, perhaps, +would not have pleased him, being at the moment occupied with the +veteran, whom he exhorted to lean upon him, as he conveyed him to a +seat, permitting no other person to assist him. "Rest there," he said, +"my brave old friend; and Charles Stewart must be poor indeed, if you +wear that dress an hour longer.--You look very pale, my good Coleby, +to have had so much colour a few minutes since. Be not vexed at what +Buckingham says; no one minds his folly.--You look worse and worse. +Come, come, you are too much hurried by this meeting. Sit still--do +not rise--do not attempt to kneel. I command you to repose yourself +till I have made the round of these apartments." + +The old Cavalier stooped his head in token of acquiescence in the +command of his Sovereign, but he raised it not again. The tumultuous +agitation of the moment had been too much for spirits which had been +long in a state of depression, and health which was much decayed. When +the King and his attendants, after half-an-hour's absence, returned to +the spot where they had left the veteran, they found him dead, and +already cold, in the attitude of one who has fallen easily asleep. The +King was dreadfully shocked; and it was with a low and faltering voice +that he directed the body, in due time, to be honourably buried in the +chapel of the Tower.[*] He was then silent, until he attained the +steps in front of the arsenal, where the party in attendance upon his +person began to assemble at his approach, along with some other +persons of respectable appearance, whom curiosity had attracted. + +[*] A story of this nature is current in the legends of the Tower. The + affecting circumstances are, I believe, recorded in one of the + little manuals which are put into the hands of visitors, but are + not to be found in the later editions. + +"This is dreadful," said the King. "We must find some means of +relieving the distresses, and rewarding the fidelity of our suffering +followers, or posterity will cry fie upon our memory." + +"Your Majesty has had often such plans agitated in your Council," said +Buckingham. + +"True, George," said the King. "I can safely say it is not my fault. I +have thought of it for years." + +"It cannot be too well considered," said Buckingham; "besides, every +year makes the task of relief easier." + +"True," said the Duke of Ormond, "by diminishing the number of +sufferers. Here is poor old Coleby will no longer be a burden to the +Crown." + +"You are too severe, my Lord of Ormond," said the King, "and should +respect the feelings you trespass on. You cannot suppose that we would +have permitted this poor man to hold such a situation, had we known of +the circumstances?" + +"For God's sake, then, sire," said the Duke of Ormond, "turn your +eyes, which have just rested on the corpse of one old friend, upon +the distresses of others. Here is the valiant old Sir Geoffrey Peveril +of the Peak, who fought through the whole war, wherever blows were +going, and was the last man, I believe, in England, who laid down his +arms--Here is his son, of whom I have the highest accounts, as a +gallant of spirit, accomplishments, and courage--Here is the +unfortunate House of Derby--for pity's sake, interfere in behalf of +these victims, whom the folds of this hydra-plot have entangled, in +order to crush them to death--rebuke the fiends that are seeking to +devour their lives, and disappoint the harpies that are gaping for +their property. This very day seven-night the unfortunate family, +father and son, are to be brought upon trial for crimes of which they +are as guiltless, I boldly pronounce, as any who stand in this +presence. For God's sake, sire, let us hope that, should the +prejudices of the people condemn them, as it has done others, you will +at last step in between the blood-hunters and their prey." + +The King looked, as he really was, exceedingly perplexed. + +Buckingham, between whom and Ormond there existed a constant and +almost mortal quarrel, interfered to effect a diversion in Charles's +favour. "Your Majesty's royal benevolence," he said, "needs never +want exercise, while the Duke of Ormond is near your person. He has +his sleeve cut in the old and ample fashion, that he may always have +store of ruined cavaliers stowed in it to produce at demand, rare old +raw-boned boys, with Malmsey noses, bald heads, spindle shanks, and +merciless histories of Edgehill and Naseby." + +"My sleeve is, I dare say, of an antique cut," said Ormond, looking +full at the Duke; "but I pin neither bravoes nor ruffians upon it, my +Lord of Buckingham, as I see fastened to coats of the new mode." + +"That is a little too sharp for our presence, my lord," said the King. + +"Not if I make my words good," said Ormond.--"My Lord of Buckingham, +will you name the man you spoke to as you left the boat?" + +"I spoke to no one," said the Duke hastily--"nay, I mistake, I +remember a fellow whispered in my ear, that one, who I thought had +left London was still lingering in town. A person whom I had business +with." + +"Was yon the messenger?" said Ormond, singling out from the crowd who +stood in the court-yard a tall dark-looking man, muffled in a large +cloak, wearing a broad shadowy black beaver hat, with a long sword of +the Spanish fashion--the very Colonel, in short, whom Buckingham had +despatched in quest of Christian, with the intention of detaining him +in the country. + +When Buckingham's eyes had followed the direction of Ormond's finger, +he could not help blushing so deeply as to attract the King's +attention. + +"What new frolic is this, George?" he said. "Gentlemen, bring that +fellow forward. On my life, a truculent-looking caitiff--Hark ye, +friend, who are you? If an honest man, Nature has forgot to label it +upon your countenance.--Does none here know him? + + 'With every symptom of a knave complete, + If he be honest, he's a devilish cheat.'" + +"He is well known to many, sire," replied Ormond; "and that he walks +in this area with his neck safe, and his limbs unshackled, is an +instance, amongst many, that we live under the sway of the most +merciful Prince of Europe." + +"Oddsfish! who is the man, my Lord Duke?" said the King. "Your Grace +talks mysteries--Buckingham blushes--and the rogue himself is dumb." + +"That honest gentleman, please your Majesty," replied the Duke of +Ormond, "whose modesty makes him mute, though it cannot make him +blush, is the notorious Colonel Blood, as he calls himself, whose +attempt to possess himself of your Majesty's royal crown took place at +no very distant date, in this very Tower of London." + +"That exploit is not easily forgotten," said the King; "but that the +fellow lives, shows your Grace's clemency as well as mine." + +"I cannot deny that I was in his hands, sire," said Ormond, "and had +certainly been murdered by him, had he chosen to take my life on the +spot, instead of destining me--I thank him for the honour--to be +hanged at Tyburn. I had certainly been sped, if he had thought me +worth knife or pistol, or anything short of the cord.--Look at him +sire! If the rascal dared, he would say at this moment, like Caliban +in the play, 'Ho, ho, I would I had done it!'" + +"Why, oddsfish!" answered the King, "he hath a villainous sneer, my +lord, which seems to say as much; but, my Lord Duke, we have pardoned +him, and so has your Grace." + +"It would ill have become me," said the Duke of Ormond, "to have been +severe in prosecuting an attempt on my poor life, when your Majesty +was pleased to remit his more outrageous and insolent attempt upon +your royal crown. But I must conceive it as a piece of supreme +insolence on the part of this bloodthirsty bully, by whomsoever he may +be now backed, to appear in the Tower, which was the theatre of one of +his villainies, or before me, who was well-nigh the victim of +another." + +"It shall be amended in future," said the King.--"Hark ye, sirrah +Blood, if you again presume to thrust yourself in the way you have +done but now, I will have the hangman's knife and your knavish ears +made acquainted." + +Blood bowed, and with a coolness of impudence which did his nerves +great honour, he said he had only come to the Tower accidentally, to +communicate with a particular friend on business of importance. "My +Lord Duke of Buckingham," he said, "knew he had no other intentions." + +"Get you gone, you scoundrelly cut-throat," said the Duke, as much +impatient of Colonel Blood's claim of acquaintance, as a town-rake of +the low and blackguard companions of his midnight rambles, when they +accost him in daylight amidst better company; "if you dare to quote my +name again, I will have you thrown into the Thames." + +Blood, thus repulsed, turned round with the most insolent composure, +and walked away down from the parade, all men looking at him, as at +some strange and monstrous prodigy, so much was he renowned for daring +and desperate villainy. Some even followed him, to have a better +survey of the notorious Colonel Blood, like the smaller tribe of birds +which keep fluttering round an owl when he appears in the light of the +sun. But as, in the latter case, these thoughtless flutterers are +careful to keep out of reach of the beak and claws of the bird of +Minerva, so none of those who followed and gazed on Blood as something +ominous, cared to bandy looks with him, or to endure and return the +lowering and deadly glances, which he shot from time to time on those +who pressed nearest to him. He stalked on in this manner, like a +daunted, yet sullen wolf, afraid to stop, yet unwilling to fly, until +he reached the Traitor's Gate, and getting on board a sculler which +waited for him, he disappeared from their eyes. + +Charles would fain have obliterated all recollection of his +appearance, by the observation, "It were a shame that such a reprobate +scoundrel should be the subject of discord between two noblemen of +distinction;" and he recommended to the Dukes of Buckingham and Ormond +to join hands, and forget a misunderstanding which rose on so unworthy +a subject. + +Buckingham answered carelessly, "That the Duke of Ormond's honoured +white hairs were a sufficient apology for his making the first +overtures to a reconciliation," and he held out his hand accordingly. +But Ormond only bowed in return, and said, "The King had no cause to +expect that the Court would be disturbed by his personal resentments, +since time would not yield him back twenty years, nor the grave +restore his gallant son Ossory. As to the ruffian who had intruded +himself there, he was obliged to him, since, by showing that his +Majesty's clemency extended even to the very worst of criminals, he +strengthened his hopes of obtaining the King's favour for such of his +innocent friends as were now in prison, and in danger, from the odious +charges brought against them on the score of the Popish Plot." + +The King made no other answer to this insinuation, than by directing +that the company should embark for their return to Whitehall; and thus +took leave of the officers of the Tower who were in attendance, with +one of those well-turned compliments to their discharge of duty, which +no man knew better how to express; and issued at the same time strict +and anxious orders for protection and defence of the important +fortress confided to them, and all which it contained. + +Before he parted with Ormond on their arrival at Whitehall, he turned +round to him, as one who has made up his resolution, and said, "Be +satisfied, my Lord Duke--our friends' case shall be looked to." + +In the same evening the Attorney-General, and North, Lord Chief +Justice of the Common Pleas, had orders with all secrecy, to meet his +Majesty that evening on especial matters of state, at the apartments +of Chiffinch, the centre of all affairs, whether of gallantry or +business. + + + + CHAPTER XLI + + Yet, Corah, thou shalt from oblivion pass; + Erect thyself, thou monumental brass, + High as the serpent of thy metal made, + While nations stand secure beneath thy shade. + --ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL. + +The morning which Charles had spent in visiting the Tower, had been +very differently employed by those unhappy individuals, whom their bad +fate, and the singular temper of the times, had made the innocent +tenants of that state prison, and who had received official notice +that they were to stand their trial in the Court of Queen's Bench at +Westminster, on the seventh succeeding day. The stout old Cavalier at +first only railed at the officer for spoiling his breakfast with the +news, but evinced great feeling when he was told that Julian was to be +put under the same indictment. + +We intend to dwell only very generally on the nature of their trial, +which corresponded, in the outline, with almost all those which took +place during the prevalence of the Popish Plot. That is, one or two +infamous and perjured evidences, whose profession of common informers +had become frightfully lucrative, made oath to the prisoners having +expressed themselves interested in the great confederacy of the +Catholics. A number of others brought forward facts or suspicions, +affecting the character of the parties as honest Protestants and good +subjects; and betwixt the direct and presumptive evidence, enough was +usually extracted for justifying, to a corrupted court and perjured +jury, the fatal verdict of Guilty. + +The fury of the people had, however, now begun to pass away, exhausted +even by its own violence. The English nation differ from all others, +indeed even from those of the sister kingdoms, in being very easily +sated with punishment, even when they suppose it most merited. Other +nations are like the tamed tiger, which, when once its native appetite +for slaughter is indulged in one instance, rushes on in promiscuous +ravages. But the English public have always rather resembled what is +told of the sleuth-dog, which, eager, fierce, and clamorous in pursuit +of his prey, desists from it so soon as blood is sprinkled upon his +path. + +Men's minds were now beginning to cool--the character of the witnesses +was more closely sifted--their testimonies did not in all cases tally +--and a wholesome suspicion began to be entertained of men, who would +never say they had made a full discovery of all they knew, but +avowedly reserved some points of evidence to bear on future trials. + +The King also, who had lain passive during the first burst of popular +fury, was now beginning to bestir himself, which produced a marked +effect on the conduct of the Crown Counsel, and even the Judges. Sir +George Wakeman had been acquitted in spite of Oates's direct +testimony; and public attention was strongly excited concerning the +event of the next trial; which chanced to be that of the Peverils, +father and son, with whom, I know not from what concatenation, little +Hudson the dwarf was placed at the bar of the Court of King's Bench. + +It was a piteous sight to behold a father and son, who had been so +long separated, meet under circumstances so melancholy; and many tears +were shed, when the majestic old man--for such he was, though now +broken with years--folded his son to his bosom, with a mixture of joy, +affection, and a bitter anticipation of the event of the impending +trial. There was a feeling in the Court that for a moment overcame +every prejudice and party feeling. Many spectators shed tears; and +there was even a low moaning, as of those who weep aloud. + +Such as felt themselves sufficiently at ease to remark the conduct of +poor little Geoffrey Hudson, who was scarcely observed amid the +preponderating interest created by his companions in misfortune, could +not but notice a strong degree of mortification on the part of that +diminutive gentleman. He had soothed his great mind by the thoughts of +playing the character which he was called on to sustain, in a manner +which should be long remembered in that place; and on his entrance, +had saluted the numerous spectators, as well as the Court, with a +cavalier air, which he meant should express grace, high-breeding, +perfect coolness, with a noble disregard to the issue of their +proceedings. But his little person was so obscured and jostled aside, +on the meeting of the father and son, who had been brought in +different boats from the Tower, and placed at the bar at the same +moment, that his distress and his dignity were alike thrown into the +background, and attracted neither sympathy nor admiration. + +The dwarf's wisest way to attract attention would have been to remain +quiet, when so remarkable an exterior would certainly have received in +its turn the share of public notice which he so eagerly coveted. But +when did personal vanity listen to the suggestions of prudence?--Our +impatient friend scrambled, with some difficulty, on the top of the +bench intended for his seat; and there, "paining himself to stand a- +tiptoe," like Chaucer's gallant Sir Chaunticlere, he challenged the +notice of the audience as he stood bowing and claiming acquaintance of +his namesake Sir Geoffrey the larger, with whose shoulders, +notwithstanding his elevated situation, he was scarcely yet upon a +level. + +The taller Knight, whose mind was occupied in a very different manner, +took no notice of these advances upon the dwarf's part, but sat down +with the determination rather to die on the spot than evince any +symptoms of weakness before Roundheads and Presbyterians; under which +obnoxious epithets, being too old-fashioned to find out party +designations of newer date, he comprehended all persons concerned in +his present trouble. + +By Sir Geoffrey the larger's change of position, his face was thus +brought on a level with that of Sir Geoffrey the less, who had an +opportunity of pulling him by the cloak. He of Martindale Castle, +rather mechanically than consciously, turned his head towards the +large wrinkled visage, which, struggling between an assumed air of +easy importance, and an anxious desire to be noticed, was grimacing +within a yard of him. But neither the singular physiognomy, the nods +and smiles of greeting and recognition into which it was wreathed, nor +the strange little form by which it was supported, had at that moment +the power of exciting any recollections in the old Knight's mind; and +having stared for a moment at the poor little man, his bulky namesake +turned away his head without farther notice. + +Julian Peveril, the dwarf's more recent acquaintance, had, even amid +his own anxious feelings, room for sympathy with those of his little +fellow-sufferer. As soon as he discovered that he was at the same +terrible bar with himself, although he could not conceive how their +causes came to be conjoined, he acknowledged him by a hearty shake of +the hand, which the old man returned with affected dignity and real +gratitude. "Worthy youth," he said, "thy presence is restorative, like +the nepenthe of Homer even in this syncopé of our mutual fate. I am +concerned to see that your father hath not the same alacrity of soul +as that of ours, which are lodged within smaller compass; and that he +hath forgotten an ancient comrade and fellow-soldier, who now stands +beside him to perform, perhaps, their last campaign." + +Julian briefly replied, that his father had much to occupy him. But +the little man--who, to do him justice, cared no more (in his own +phrase) for imminent danger or death, than he did for the puncture of +a flea's proboscis--did not so easily renounce the secret object of +his ambition, which was to acquire the notice of the large and lofty +Sir Geoffrey Peveril, who, being at least three inches taller than his +son, was in so far possessed of that superior excellence, which the +poor dwarf, in his secret soul, valued before all other distinctions, +although in his conversation, he was constantly depreciating it. "Good +comrade and namesake," he proceeded, stretching out his hand, so as to +again to reach the elder Peveril's cloak, "I forgive your want of +reminiscence, seeing it is long since I saw you at Naseby, fighting as +if you had as many arms as the fabled Briareus." + +The Knight of Martindale, who had again turned his head towards the +little man, and had listened, as if endeavouring to make something out +of his discourse, here interrupted him with a peevish, "Pshaw!" + +"Pshaw!" repeated Sir Geoffrey the less; "/Pshaw/ is an expression of +slight esteem,--nay, of contempt,--in all languages; and were this a +befitting place----" + +But the Judges had now taken their places, the criers called silence, +and the stern voice of the Lord Chief Justice (the notorious Scroggs) +demanded what the officers meant by permitting the accused to +communicate together in open court. + +It may here be observed, that this celebrated personage was, upon the +present occasion, at a great loss how to proceed. A calm, dignified, +judicial demeanour, was at no time the characteristic of his official +conduct. He always ranted and roared either on the one side or the +other; and of late, he had been much unsettled which side to take, +being totally incapable of anything resembling impartiality. At the +first trials for the Plot, when the whole stream of popularity ran +against the accused, no one had been so loud as Scroggs; to attempt to +the character of Oates or Bedloe, or any other leading witnesses, he +treated as a crime more heinous than it would have been to blaspheme +the Gospel on which they had been sworn--it was a stifling of the +Plot, or discrediting of the King's witnesses--a crime not greatly, if +at all, short of high treason against the King himself. + +But, of late, a new light had begun to glimmer upon the understanding +of this interpreter of the laws. Sagacious in the signs of the times, +he began to see that the tide was turning; and that Court favour at +least, and probably popular opinion also, were likely, in a short +time, to declare against the witnesses, and in favour of the accused. + +The opinion which Scroggs had hitherto entertained of the high respect +in which Shaftesbury, the patron of the Plot, was held by Charles, had +been definitely shaken by a whisper from his brother North to the +following effect: "His Lordship has no more interest at Court than +your footman." + +This notice, from a sure hand, and received but that morning, had put +the Judge to a sore dilemma; for, however indifferent to actual +consistency, he was most anxious to save appearances. He could not but +recollect how violent he had been on former occasions in favour of +these prosecutions; and being sensible at the same time that the +credit of the witnesses, though shaken in the opinion of the more +judicious, was, amongst the bulk of the people out of doors, as strong +as ever, he had a difficult part to play. His conduct, therefore, +during the whole trial, resembled the appearance of a vessel about to +go upon another tack, when her sails are shivering in the wind, ere +they have yet caught the impulse which is to send her forth in a new +direction. In a word, he was so uncertain which side it was his +interest to favour, that he might be said on that occasion to have +come nearer a state of total impartiality than he was ever capable of +attaining, whether before or afterwards. This was shown by his +bullying now the accused, and now the witnesses, like a mastiff too +much irritated to lie still without baying, but uncertain whom he +shall first bite. + +The indictment was then read; and Sir Geoffrey Peveril heard, with +some composure, the first part of it, which stated him to have placed +his son in the household of the Countess of Derby, a recusant Papist, +for the purpose of aiding the horrible and bloodthirsty Popish Plot-- +with having had arms and ammunition concealed in his house--and with +receiving a blank commission from the Lord Stafford, who had suffered +death on account of the Plot. But when the charge went on to state +that he had communicated for the same purpose with Geoffrey Hudson, +sometimes called Sir Geoffrey Hudson, now, or formerly in the domestic +service of the Queen Dowager, he looked at his companion as if he +suddenly recalled him to remembrance, and broke out impatiently, +"These lies are too gross to require a moment's consideration. I might +have had enough of intercourse, though in nothing but what was loyal +and innocent, with my noble kinsman, the late Lord Stafford--I will +call him so in spite of his misfortunes--and with my wife's relation, +the Honourable Countess of Derby. But what likelihood can there be +that I should have colleagued with a decrepit buffoon, with whom I +never had an instant's communication, save once at an Easter feast, +when I whistled a hornpipe, as he danced on a trencher to amuse the +company?" + +The rage of the poor dwarf brought tears in his eyes, while, with an +affected laugh, he said, that instead of those juvenile and festive +passages, Sir Geoffrey Peveril might have remembered his charging +along with him at Wiggan Lane. + +"On my word," said Sir Geoffrey, after a moment's recollection, "I +will do you justice, Master Hudson--I believe you were there--I think +I heard you did good service. But you will allow you might have been +near one without his seeing you." + +A sort of titter ran through the Court at the simplicity of the larger +Sir Geoffrey's testimony, which the dwarf endeavoured to control, by +standing on his tiptoes, and looking fiercely around, as if to +admonish the laughers that they indulged their mirth at their own +peril. But perceiving that this only excited farther scorn, he +composed himself into a semblance of careless contempt, observing, +with a smile, that no one feared the glance of a chained lion; a +magnificent simile, which rather increased than diminished the mirth +of those who heard it. + +Against Julian Peveril there failed not to be charged the aggravated +fact, that he had been bearer of letters between the Countess of Derby +and other Papists and priests, engaged in the universal treasonable +conspiracy of the Catholics; and the attack of the house at +Moultrassie Hall,--with his skirmish with Chiffinch, and his assault, +as it was termed, on the person of John Jenkins, servant to the Duke +of Buckingham, were all narrated at length, as so many open and overt +acts of treasonable import. To this charge Peveril contented himself +with pleading--Not Guilty. + +His little companion was not satisfied with so simple a plea; for when +he heard it read, as a part of the charge applying to him, that he had +received from an agent of the Plot a blank commission as Colonel of a +regiment of grenadiers, he replied, in wrath and scorn, that if +Goliath of Gath had come to him with such a proposal, and proffered +him the command of the whole sons of Anak in a body, he should never +have had occasion or opportunity to repeat the temptation to another. +"I would have slain him," said the little man of loyalty, "even where +he stood." + +The charge was stated anew by the Counsel for the Crown; and forth +came the notorious Doctor Oates, rustling in the full silken +canonicals of priesthood, for it was a time when he affected no small +dignity of exterior decoration and deportment. + +This singular man, who, aided by the obscure intrigues of the +Catholics themselves, and the fortuitous circumstance of Godfrey's +murder, had been able to cram down the public throat such a mass of +absurdity as his evidence amounts to, had no other talent for +imposture than an impudence which set conviction and shame alike at +defiance. A man of sense or reflection, by trying to give his plot an +appearance of more probability, would most likely have failed, as wise +men often to do in addressing the multitude, from not daring to +calculate upon the prodigious extent of their credulity, especially +where the figments presented to them involve the fearful and the +terrible. + +Oates was by nature choleric; and the credit he had acquired made him +insolent and conceited. Even his exterior was portentous. A fleece of +white periwig showed a most uncouth visage, of great length, having +the mouth, as the organ by use of which he was to rise to eminence, +placed in the very centre of the countenance, and exhibiting to the +astonished spectator as much chin below as there was nose and brow +above the aperture. His pronunciation, too, was after a conceited +fashion of his own, in which he accented the vowels in a manner +altogether peculiar to himself. + +This notorious personage, such as we have described him, stood forth +on the present trial, and delivered his astonishing testimony +concerning the existence of a Catholic Plot for the subversion of the +government and murder of the King, in the same general outline in +which it may be found in every English history. But as the doctor +always had in reserve some special piece of evidence affecting those +immediately on trial, he was pleased, on the present occasion, deeply +to inculpate the Countess of Derby. "He had seen," as he said, "that +honourable lady when he was at the Jesuits' College at Saint Omer's. +She had sent for him to an inn, or /auberge/, as it was there termed-- +the sign of the Golden Lamb; and had ordered him to breakfast in the +same room with her ladyship; and afterwards told him, that, knowing he +was trusted by the Fathers of the Society, she was determined that he +should have a share of her secrets also; and therewithal, that she +drew from her bosom a broad sharp-pointed knife, such as butchers kill +sheep with, and demanded of him what he thought of it for /the +purpose/; and when he, the witness, said for what purpose she rapt him +on the fingers with her fan, called him a dull fellow, and said it was +designed to kill the King with." + +Here Sir Geoffrey Peveril could no longer refrain his indignation and +surprise. "Mercy of Heaven!" he said, "did ever one hear of ladies of +quality carrying butchering knives about them, and telling every +scurvy companion she meant to kill the King with them?--Gentleman of +the Jury, do but think if this is reasonable--though, if the villain +could prove by any honest evidence, that my Lady of Derby ever let +such a scum as himself come to speech of her, I would believe all he +can say." + +"Sir Geoffrey," said the Judge, "rest you quiet--You must not fly out +--passion helps you not here--the Doctor must be suffered to proceed." + +Doctor Oates went on to state how the lady complained of the wrongs +the House of Derby had sustained from the King and the oppression of +her religion, and boasted of the schemes of the Jesuits and seminary +priests; and how they would be farthered by her noble kinsman of the +House of Stanley. He finally averred that both the Countess and the +Fathers of the seminary abroad, founded much upon the talents and +courage of Sir Geoffrey Peveril and his son--the latter of whom was a +member of her family. Of Hudson, he only recollected of having heard +one of the Fathers say, that although but a dwarf in stature, he would +prove a giant in the cause of the Church. + +When he had ended his evidence, there was a pause, until the Judge, as +if the thought had suddenly occurred to him, demanded of Dr. Oates, +whether he had ever mentioned the names of the Countess of Derby in +any of the previous informations which he had lodged before the Privy +Council, and elsewhere, upon this affair. + +Oates seemed rather surprised at the question, and coloured with +anger, as he answered, in his peculiar mode of pronunciation, "Whoy, +no, maay laard." + +"And pray, Doctor," said the Judge, "how came so great a revealer of +mysteries as you have lately proved, to have suffered so material a +circumstance as the accession of this powerful family to the Plot to +have remained undiscovered?" + +"Maay laard," said Oates, with much effrontery, "aye do not come here +to have my evidence questioned as touching the Plaat." + +"I do not question your evidence, Doctor," said Scroggs, for the time +was not arrived that he dared treat him roughly; "nor do I doubt the +existence of the /Plaat/, since it is your pleasure to swear to it. I +would only have you, for your own sake, and the satisfaction of all +good Protestants, to explain why you have kept back such a weighty +point of information from the King and country." + +"Maay laard," said Oates, "I will tell you a pretty fable." + +"I hope," answered the Judge, "it may be the first and last which you +shall tell in this place." + +"Maay laard," continued Oates, "there was once a faux, who having to +carry a goose over a frazen river, and being afraid the aice would not +bear him and his booty, did caarry aaver a staane, my laard, in the +first instance, to prove the strength of the aice." + +"So your former evidence was but the stone, and now, for the first +time, you have brought us the goose?" said Sir William Scroggs; "to +tell us this, Doctor, is to make geese of the Court and Jury." + +"I desoire your laardship's honest construction," said Oates, who saw +the current changing against him, but was determined to pay the score +with effrontery. "All men knaw at what coast and praice I have given +my evidence, which has been always, under Gaad, the means of awakening +this poor naation to the dangerous state in which it staunds. Many +here knaw that I have been obliged to faartify my ladging at Whitehall +against the bloody Papists. It was not to be thought that I should +have brought all the story out at aance. I think your wisdome would +have advised me otherwise."[*] + +[*] It was on such terms that Dr. Oates was pleased to claim the + extraordinary privilege of dealing out the information which he + chose to communicate to a court of justice. The only sense in + which his story of the fox, stone, and goose could be applicable, + is by supposing that he was determined to ascertain the extent of + his countrymen's credulity before supplying it with a full meal. + +"Nay, Doctor," said the Judge, "it is not for me to direct you in this +affair; and it is for the Jury to believe you or not; and as for +myself, I sit here to do justice to both--the Jury have heard your +answer to my question." + +Doctor Oates retired from the witness-box reddening like a turkey- +cock, as one totally unused to have such accounts questioned as he +chose to lay before the courts of justice; and there was, perhaps, for +the first time, amongst the counsel and solicitors, as well as the +templars and students of law there present, a murmur, distinct and +audible, unfavourable to the character of the great father of the +Popish Plot. + +Everett and Dangerfield, with whom the reader is already acquainted, +were then called in succession to sustain the accusation. They were +subordinate informers--a sort of under-spur-leathers, as the cant term +went--who followed the path of Oates, with all deference to his +superior genius and invention, and made their own fictions chime in +and harmonise with his, as well as their talents could devise. But as +their evidence had at no time received the full credence into which +the impudence of Oates had cajoled the public, so they now began to +fall into discredit rather more hastily than their prototype, as the +super-added turrets of an ill-constructed building are naturally the +first to give way. + +It was in vain that Everett, with the precision of a hypocrite, and +Dangerfield, with the audacity of a bully, narrated, with added +circumstances of suspicion and criminality, their meeting with Julian +Peveril in Liverpool, and again at Martindale Castle. It was in vain +they described the arms and accoutrements which they pretended to have +discovered in old Sir Geoffrey's possession; and that they gave a most +dreadful account of the escape of the younger Peveril from Moultrassie +Hall, by means of an armed force. + +The Jury listened coldly, and it was visible that they were but little +moved by the accusation; especially as the Judge, always professing +his belief in the Plot, and his zeal for the Protestant religion, was +ever and anon reminding them that presumptions were no proofs--that +hearsay was no evidence--that those who made a trade of discovery +were likely to aid their researches by invention--and that without +doubting the guilt of the unfortunate persons at the bar, he would +gladly hear some evidence brought against them of a different nature. +"Here we are told of a riot, and an escape achieved by the younger +Peveril, at the house of a grave and worthy magistrate, known, I +think, to most of us. Why, Master Attorney, bring ye not Master +Bridgenorth himself to prove the fact, or all his household, if it be +necessary?--A rising in arms is an affair over public to be left on +the hearsay tale of these two men--though Heaven forbid that I should +suppose they speak one word more than they believe! They are the +witnesses for the King--and, what is equally dear to us, the +Protestant religion--and witnesses against a most foul and heathenish +Plot. On the other hand, here is a worshipful old knight, for such I +must suppose him to be, since he has bled often in battle for the +King,--such, I must say, I suppose him to be, until he is proved +otherwise. And here is his son, a hopeful young gentleman--we must see +that they have right, Master Attorney." + +"Unquestionably, my lord," answered the Attorney. "God forbid else! +But we will make out these matters against these unhappy gentlemen in +a manner more close, if your lordship will permit us to bring in our +evidence." + +"Go on, Master Attorney," said the Judge, throwing himself back in his +seat. "Heaven forbid I hinder proving the King's accusation! I only +say, what you know as well as I, that /de non apparentibus et non +existentibus eadem est ratio/." + +"We shall then call Master Bridgenorth, as your lordship advised, who +I think is in waiting." + +"No!" answered a voice from the crowd, apparently that of a female; +"he is too wise and too honest to be here." + +The voice was distinct as that of Lady Fairfax, when she expressed +herself to a similar effect on the trial of Charles the First; but the +researches which were made on the present occasion to discover the +speaker were unsuccessful. + +After the slight confusion occasioned by this circumstance was abated, +the Attorney, who had been talking aside with the conductors of the +prosecution, said, "Whoever favoured us with that information, my +lord, had good reason for what they said. Master Bridgenorth has +become, I am told, suddenly invisible since this morning." + +"Look you there now, Master Attorney," said the Judge--"This comes of +not keeping the crown witnesses together and in readiness--I am sure I +cannot help the consequences." + +"Nor I either, my lord," said the Attorney pettishly. "I could have +proved by this worshipful gentleman, Master Justice Bridgenorth, the +ancient friendship betwixt this party, Sir Geoffrey Peveril, and the +Countess of Derby, of whose doings and intentions Dr. Oates has given +such a deliberate evidence. I could have proved his having sheltered +her in his Castle against a process of law, and rescued her, by force +of arms, from this very Justice Bridgenorth, not without actual +violence. Moreover, I could have proved against young Peveril the +whole affray charged upon him by the same worshipful evidence." + +Here the Judge stuck his thumbs into his girdle, which was a favourite +attitude of his on such occasions, and exclaimed, "Pshaw, pshaw, +Master Attorney!--Tell me not that you /could/ have proved that, or +that, or this--Prove what you will, but let it be through the mouths +of your evidence. Men are not to be licked out of their lives by the +rough side of a lawyer's tongue." + +"Nor is a foul Plot to be smothered," said the Attorney, "for all the +haste your lordship is in. I cannot call Master Chiffinch neither, as +he is employed on the King's especial affairs, as I am this instant +certiorated from the Court at Whitehall." + +"Produce the papers, then, Master Attorney, of which this young man is +said to be the bearer," said the Judge. + +"They are before the Privy Council, my lord." + +"Then why do you found on them here?" said the Judge--"This is +something like trifling with the Court." + +"Since your lordship gives it that name," said the Attorney, sitting +down in a huff, "you may manage the cause as you will." + +"If you do not bring more evidence, I pray you to charge the Jury," +said the Judge. + +"I shall not take the trouble to do so," said the Crown Counsel. "I +see plainly how the matter is to go." + +"Nay, but be better advised," said Scroggs. "Consider, your case is +but half proved respecting the two Peverils, and doth not pinch on the +little man at all, saving that Doctor Oates said that he was in a +certain case to prove a giant, which seems no very probable Popish +miracle." + +This sally occasioned a laugh in the Court, which the Attorney-General +seemed to take in great dudgeon. + +"Master Attorney," said Oates, who always interfered in the management +of these law-suits, "this is a plain an absolute giving away of the +cause--I must needs say it, a mere stoifling of the Plaat." + +"Then the devil who bred it may blow wind into it again, if he lists," +answered the Attorney-General; and, flinging down his brief, he left +the Court, as if in a huff with all who were concerned in the affair. + +The Judge having obtained silence,--for a murmur arose in the Court +when the Counsel for the prosecution threw up his brief,--began to +charge the Jury, balancing, as he had done throughout the whole day, +the different opinions by which he seemed alternately swayed. He +protested on his salvation that he had no more doubt of the existence +of the horrid and damnable conspiracy called the Popish Plot, than he +had of the treachery of Judas Iscariot; and that he considered Oates +as the instrument under Providence of preserving the nation from all +the miseries of his Majesty's assassination, and of a second Saint +Bartholomew, acted in the streets of London. But then he stated it was +the candid construction of the law of England, that the worse the +crime, the more strong should be the evidence. Here was the case of +accessories tried, whilst their principal--for such he should call the +Countess of Derby--was unconvicted and at large; and for Doctor Oates, +he had but spoke of matters which personally applied to that noble +lady, whose words, if she used such in passion, touching aid which she +expected in some treasonable matters from these Peverils, and from her +kinsmen, or her son's kinsmen, of the House of Stanley, may have been +but a burst of female resentment--/dulcis Amaryllidis ira/, as the +poet hath it. Who knoweth but Doctor Oates did mistake--he being a +gentleman of a comely countenance and easy demeanour--this same rap +with the fan as a chastisement for lack of courage in the Catholic +cause, when, peradventure, it was otherwise meant, as Popish ladies +will put, it is said, such neophytes and youthful candidates for +orders, to many severe trials. "I speak these things jocularly," said +the Judge, "having no wish to stain the reputation either of the +Honourable Countess or the Reverend Doctor; only I think the bearing +between them may have related to something short of high treason. As +for what the Attorney-General hath set forth of rescues and force, and +I wot not what, sure I am, that in a civil country, when such things +happen such things may be proved; and that you and I, gentlemen, are +not to take them for granted gratuitously. Touching this other +prisoner, this /Galfridus minimus/, he must needs say," he continued, +"he could not discover even a shadow of suspicion against him. Was it +to be thought so abortive a creature would thrust himself into depths +of policy, far less into stratagems of war? They had but to look at +him to conclude the contrary--the creature was, from his age, fitter +for the grave than a conspiracy--and by his size and appearance, for +the inside of a raree-show, than the mysteries of a plot." + +The dwarf here broke in upon the Judge by force of screaming, to +assure him that he had been, simple as he sat there, engaged in seven +plots in Cromwell's time; and, as he proudly added, with some of the +tallest men of England. The matchless look and air with which Sir +Geoffrey made this vaunt, set all a-laughing, and increased the +ridicule with which the whole trial began to be received; so that it +was amidst shaking sides and watery eyes that a general verdict of +Not Guilty was pronounced, and the prisoners dismissed from the bar. + +But a warmer sentiment awakened among those who saw the father and son +throw themselves into each other's arms, and, after a hearty embrace, +extend their hands to their poor little companion in peril, who, like +a dog, when present at a similar scene, had at last succeeded, by +stretching himself up to them and whimpering at the same time, to +secure to himself a portion of their sympathy and gratulation. + +Such was the singular termination of this trial. Charles himself was +desirous to have taken considerable credit with the Duke of Ormond for +the evasion of the law, which had been thus effected by his private +connivance; and was both surprised and mortified at the coldness with +which his Grace replied, that he was rejoiced at the poor gentleman's +safety, but would rather have had the King redeem them like a prince, +by his royal prerogative of mercy, than that his Judge should convey +them out of the power of the law, like a juggler with his cups and +balls. + + + + CHAPTER XLII + + ----On fair ground + I could beat forty of them! + --CORIOLANUS. + +It doubtless occurred to many that were present at the trial we have +described, that it was managed in a singular manner, and that the +quarrel, which had the appearance of having taken place between the +Court and the Crown Counsel, might proceed from some private +understanding betwixt them, the object of which was the miscarriage of +the accusation. Yet though such underhand dealing was much suspected, +the greater part of the audience, being well educated and intelligent, +had already suspected the bubble of the Popish Plot, and were glad to +see that accusations, founded on what had already cost so much blood, +could be evaded in any way. But the crowd, who waited in the Court of +Requests, and in the hall, and without doors, viewed in a very +different light the combination, as they interpreted it, between the +Judge and the Attorney-General, for the escape of the prisoners. + +Oates, whom less provocation than he had that day received often +induced to behave like one frantic with passion, threw himself amongst +the crowd, and repeated till he was hoarse, "Theay are stoifling the +Plaat!--theay are straangling the Plaat!--My Laard Justice and Maaster +Attarney are in league to secure the escape of the plaaters and +Paapists!" + +"It is the device of the Papist whore of Portsmouth," said one. + +"Of old Rowley himself," said another. + +"If he could be murdered by himself, why hang those that would hinder +it!" exclaimed a third. + +"He should be tried," said a fourth, "for conspiring his own death, +and hanged /in terrorem/." + +In the meanwhile, Sir Geoffrey, his son, and their little companion, +left the hall, intending to go to Lady Peveril's lodgings, which had +been removed to Fleet Street. She had been relieved from considerable +inconvenience, as Sir Geoffrey gave Julian hastily to understand, by +an angel, in the shape of a young friend, and she now expected them +doubtless with impatience. Humanity, and some indistinct idea of +having unintentionally hurt the feelings of the poor dwarf, induced +the honest Cavalier to ask this unprotected being to go with them. "He +knew Lady Peveril's lodgings were but small," he said; "but it would +be strange, if there was not some cupboard large enough to accommodate +the little gentleman." + +The dwarf registered this well-meant remark in his mind, to be the +subject of a proper explanation, along with the unhappy reminiscence +of the trencher-hornpipe, whenever time should permit an argument of +such nicety. + +And thus they sallied from the hall, attracting general observation, +both from the circumstances in which they had stood so lately, and +from their resemblance, as a wag of the Inner Temple expressed it, to +the three degrees of comparison, Large, Lesser, Least. But they had +not passed far along the street, when Julian perceived that more +malevolent passions than mere curiosity began to actuate the crowd +which followed, and, as it were, dogged their motions. + +"There go the Papist cut-throats, tantivy for Rome!" said one fellow. + +"Tantivy to Whitehall, you mean!" said another. + +"Ah! the bloodthirsty villains!" cried a woman: "Shame, one of them +should be suffered to live, after poor Sir Edmondsbury's cruel +murder." + +"Out upon the mealy-mouthed Jury, that turned out the bloodhounds on +an innocent town!" cried a fourth. + +In short, the tumult thickened, and the word began to pass among the +more desperate, "Lambe them, lads; lambe them!"--a cant phrase of the +time, derived from the fate of Dr. Lambe, an astrologer and quack, who +was knocked on the head by the rabble in Charles the First's time. + +Julian began to be much alarmed at these symptoms of violence, and +regretted that they had not gone down to the city by water. It was now +too late to think of that mode of retreating, and he therefore +requested his father in a whisper, to walk steadily forward towards +Charing Cross, taking no notice of the insults which might be cast +upon them, while the steadiness of their pace and appearance might +prevent the rabble from resorting to actual violence. The execution of +this prudent resolution was prevented after they had passed the +palace, by the hasty disposition of the elder Sir Geoffrey, and the no +less choleric temper of Galfridus Minimus, who had a soul which +spurned all odds, as well of numbers as of size. + +"Now a murrain take the knaves, with their hollowing and whooping," +said the large knight; "by this day, if I could but light on a weapon, +I would cudgel reason and loyalty into some of their carcasses!" + +"And I also," said the dwarf, who was toiling to keep up with the +longer strides of his companions, and therefore spoke in a very +phthisical tone.--"I also will cudgel the plebeian knaves beyond +measure--he!--hem!" + +Among the crowd who thronged around them, impeded, and did all but +assault them, was a mischievous shoemaker's apprentice, who, hearing +this unlucky vaunt of the valorous dwarf, repaid it by flapping him on +the head with a boot which he was carrying home to the owner, so as to +knock the little gentleman's hat over his eyes. The dwarf, thus +rendered unable to discover the urchin that had given him the offence, +flew with instinctive ambition against the biggest fellow in the +crowd, who received the onset with a kick on the stomach, which made +the poor little champion reel back to his companions. They were now +assaulted on all sides; but fortune complying with the wish of Sir +Geoffrey the larger, ordained that the scuffle should happen near the +booth of a cutler, from amongst whose wares, as they stood exposed to +the public, Sir Geoffrey Peveril snatched a broadsword, which he +brandished with the formidable address of one who had for many a day +been in the familiar practice of using such a weapon. Julian, while at +the same time he called loudly for a peace-officer, and reminded the +assailants that they were attacking inoffensive passengers, saw +nothing better for it than to imitate his father's example, and seized +also one of the weapons thus opportunely offered. + +When they displayed these demonstrations of defence, the rush which +the rabble at first made towards them was so great as to throw down +the unfortunate dwarf, who would have been trampled to death in the +scuffle, had not his stout old namesake cleared the rascal crowd from +about him with a few flourishes of his weapon, and seizing on the +fallen champion, put him out of danger (except from missiles), by +suddenly placing him on the bulk-head, that is to say, the flat wooden +roof of the cutler's projecting booth. From the rusty ironware, which +was displayed there, the dwarf instantly snatched an old rapier and +target, and covering himself with the one, stood making passes with +the other, at the faces and eyes of the people in the street; so much +delighted with his post of vantage, that he called loudly to his +friends who were skirmishing with the riotous on more equal terms as +to position, to lose no time in putting themselves under his +protection. But far from being in a situation to need his assistance, +the father and son might easily have extricated themselves from the +rabble by their own exertions, could they have thought of leaving the +mannikin in the forlorn situation, in which, to every eye but his own, +he stood like a diminutive puppet, tricked out with sword and target +as a fencing-master's sign. + +Stones and sticks began now to fly very thick, and the crowd, +notwithstanding the exertions of the Peverils to disperse them with as +little harm as possible, seemed determined on mischief, when some +gentlemen who had been at the trial, understanding that the prisoners +who had been just acquitted were in danger of being murdered by the +populace, drew their swords, and made forward to effect their rescue, +which was completed by a small party of the King's Life Guards, who +had been despatched from their ordinary post of alarm, upon +intelligence of what was passing. When this unexpected reinforcement +arrived, the old jolly Knight at once recognised, amidst the cries of +those who then entered upon action, some of the sounds which had +animated his more active years. + +"Where be these cuckoldly Roundheads," cried some.--"Down with the +sneaking knaves!" cried others.--"The King and his friends, and the +devil a one else!" exclaimed a third set, with more oaths and d--n +me's, than, in the present more correct age, it is necessary to commit +to paper. + +The old soldier, pricking up his ears like an ancient hunter at the +cry of the hounds, would gladly have scoured the Strand, with the +charitable purpose, now he saw himself so well supported, of knocking +the London knaves, who had insulted him, into twiggen bottles; but he +was withheld by the prudence of Julian, who, though himself extremely +irritated by the unprovoked ill-usage which they had received, saw +himself in a situation in which it was necessary to exercise more +caution than vengeance. He prayed and pressed his father to seek some +temporary place of retreat from the fury of the populace, while that +prudent measure was yet in their power. The subaltern officer, who +commanded the party of the Life Guards, exhorted the old Cavalier +eagerly to the same sage counsel, using, as a spice of compulsion, the +name of the King; while Julian strongly urged that of his mother. The +old Knight looked at his blade, crimsoned with cross-cuts and slashes +which he had given to the most forward of the assailants, with the eye +of one not half sufficed. + +"I would I had pinked one of the knaves at least--but I know not how +it was, when I looked on their broad round English faces, I shunned to +use my point, and only sliced the rogues a little." + +"But the King's pleasure," said the officer, "is, that no tumult be +prosecuted." + +"My mother," said Julian, "will die with fright, if the rumour of this +scuffle reaches her ere we see her." + +"Ay, ay," said the Knight, "the King's Majesty and my good dame--well, +their pleasure be done, that's all I can say--Kings and ladies must be +obeyed. But which way to retreat, since retreat we must?" + +Julian would have been at some loss to advise what course to take, for +everybody in the vicinity had shut up their shops, and chained their +doors, upon observing the confusion become so formidable. The poor +cutler, however, with whose goods they made so free, offered them an +asylum on the part of his landlord, whose house served as a rest for +his shop, and only intimated gently, he hoped the gentleman would +consider him for the use of his weapons. + +Julian was hastily revolving whether they ought, in prudence, to +accept this man's invitation, aware, by experience, how many trepans, +as they were then termed, were used betwixt two contending factions, +each too inveterate to be very scrupulous of the character of fair +play to an enemy, when the dwarf, exerting his cracked voice to the +uttermost, and shrieking like an exhausted herald, from the exalted +station which he still occupied on the bulk-head, exhorted them to +accept the offer of the worthy man of the mansion. "He himself," he +said, as he reposed himself after the glorious conquest in which he +had some share, "had been favoured with a beatific vision, too +splendid to be described to common and mere mortal ears, but which had +commanded him, in a voice to which his heart had bounded as to a +trumpet sound, to take refuge with the worthy person of the house, and +cause his friends to do so." + +"Vision!" said the Knight of the Peak,--"sound of a trumpet!--the +little man is stark mad." + +But the cutler, in great haste, intimated to them that their little +friend had received an intimation from a gentlewoman of his +acquaintance, who spoke to him from the window, while he stood on the +bulk-head, that they would find a safe retreat in his landlord's; and +desiring them to attend to two or three deep though distant huzzas, +made them aware that the rabble were up still, and would soon be upon +them with renewed violence, and increased numbers. + +The father and son, therefore, hastily thanked the officer and his +party, as well as the other gentlemen who had volunteered in their +assistance, lifted little Sir Geoffrey Hudson from the conspicuous +post which he had so creditably occupied during the skirmish, and +followed the footsteps of the tenant of the booth, who conducted them +down a blind alley and through one or two courts, in case, as he said, +any one might have watched where they burrowed, and so into a back- +door. This entrance admitted them to a staircase carefully hung with +straw mats to exclude damp, from the upper step of which they entered +upon a tolerably large withdrawing-room, hung with coarse green serge +edged with gilded leather, which the poorer or more economical +citizens at that time use instead of tapestry or wainscoting. + +Here the poor cutler received from Julian such a gratuity for the loan +of the swords, that he generously abandoned the property to the +gentlemen who had used them so well; "the rather," he said, "that he +saw, by the way they handed their weapons, that they were men of +mettle, and tall fellows." + +Here the dwarf smiled on him courteously, and bowed, thrusting at the +same time, his hand into his pocket, which however, he withdrew +carelessly probably because he found he had not the means of making +the small donation which he had meditated. + +The cutler proceeded to say, as he bowed and was about to withdraw, +that he saw there would be merry days yet in Old England, and that +Bilboa blades would fetch as good a price as ever. "I remember," he +said, "gentlemen, though I was then but a 'prentice, the demand for +weapons in the years forty-one and forty-two; sword blades were more +in request than toothpicks, and Old Ironsides, my master, took more +for rascally Provant rapiers, than I dare ask nowadays for a Toledo. +But, to be sure, a man's life then rested on the blade he carried; the +Cavaliers and Roundheads fought every day at the gates of Whitehall, +as it is like, gentlemen, by your good example, they may do again, +when I shall be enabled to leave my pitiful booth, and open a shop of +better quality. I hope you will recommend me, gentlemen, to your +friends. I am always provided with ware which a gentleman may risk his +life on." + +"Thank you, good friend," said Julian, "I prithee begone. I trust we +shall need thy ware no more for some time at least." + +The cutler retired, while the dwarf hollowed after him downstairs, +that he would call on him soon, and equip himself with a longer blade, +and one more proper for action; although, he said, the little weapon +he had did well enough for a walking-sword, or in a skirmish with such +/canaille/ as they had been engaged with. + +The cutler returned at this summons, and agreed to pleasure the little +man with a weapon more suitable to his magnanimity; then, as if the +thought had suddenly occurred to him, he said, "But, gentlemen, it +will be wild work to walk with your naked swords through the Strand, +and it can scarce fail to raise the rabble again. If you please, while +you repose yourselves here, I can fit the blades with sheaths." + +The proposal seemed so reasonable, that Julian and his father gave up +their weapons to the friendly cutler, an example which the dwarf +followed, after a moment's hesitation, not caring, as he magnificently +expressed it, to part so soon with the trusty friend which fortune had +but the moment before restored to his hand. The man retired with the +weapons under his arm; and, in shutting the door behind him, they +heard him turn the key. + +"Did you hear that?" said Sir Geoffrey to his son--"and we are +disarmed!" + +Julian, without reply, examined the door, which was fast secured; and +then looked at the casements, which were at a storey's height from the +ground, and grated besides with iron. "I cannot think," he said, after +a moment's pause, "that the fellow means to trepan us; and, in any +event, I trust we should have no difficulty in forcing the door, or +otherwise making escape. But, before resorting to such violent +measures, I think it is better to give the rabble leisure to disperse, +by waiting this man's return with our weapons within a reasonable +time, when, if he does not appear, I trust we shall find little +difficulty in extricating ourselves." As he spoke thus, the hangings +were pulled aside, and from a small door which was concealed behind +them, Major Bridgenorth entered the room. + + + + CHAPTER XLIII + + He came amongst them like a new raised spirit + To speak of dreadful judgments that impend, + And of the wrath to come. + --THE REFORMER. + +The astonishment of Julian at the unexpected apparition of +Bridgenorth, was instantly succeeded by apprehension of his father's +violence, which he had every reason to believe would break forth +against one, whom he himself could not but reverence on account of his +own merits, as well as because he was the father of Alice. The +appearance of Bridgenorth was not however, such as to awaken +resentment. His countenance was calm, his step slow and composed, his +eye not without the indication of some deep-seated anxiety, but +without any expression either of anger or of triumph. "You are +welcome," he said, "Sir Geoffrey Peveril, to the shelter and +hospitality of this house; as welcome as you would have been in other +days, when we called each other neighbours and friends." + +"Odzooks," said the old Cavalier; "and had I known it was thy house, +man, I would sooner had my heart's blood run down the kennel, than my +foot should have crossed your threshold--in the way of seeking safety, +that is." + +"I forgive your inveteracy," said Major Bridgenorth, "on account of +your prejudices." + +"Keep your forgiveness," answered the Cavalier, "until you are +pardoned yourself. By Saint George I have sworn, if ever I got my +heels out of yon rascally prison, whither I was sent much through your +means, Master Bridgenorth,--that you should pay the reckoning for my +bad lodging.--I will strike no man in his own house; but if you will +cause the fellow to bring back my weapon, and take a turn in that +blind court there below, along with me, you shall soon see what chance +a traitor hath with a true man, and a kennel-blooded Puritan with +Peveril of the Peak." + +Bridgenorth smiled with much composure. "When I was younger and more +warm-blooded," he replied, "I refused your challenge, Sir Geoffrey; +it is not likely I should now accept it, when each is within a stride +of the grave. I have not spared, and will not spare, my blood, when my +country wants it." + +"That is when there is any chance of treason against the King," said +Sir Geoffrey. + +"Nay, my father," said Julian, "let us hear Master Bridgenorth! We +have been sheltered in his house; and although we now see him in +London, we should remember that he did not appear against us this day, +when perhaps his evidence might have given a fatal turn to our +situation." + +"You are right, young man," said Bridgenorth; "and it should be some +pledge of my sincere goodwill, that I was this day absent from +Westminster, when a few words from my mouth had ended the long line of +Peveril of the Peak: it needed but ten minutes to walk to Westminster +Hall, to have ensured your condemnation. But could I have done this, +knowing, as I now know, that to thee, Julian Peveril, I owe the +extrication of my daughter--of my dearest Alice--the memory of her +departed mother--from the snares which hell and profligacy had opened +around her?" + +"She is, I trust safe," said Peveril eagerly, and almost forgetting +his father's presence; "she is, I trust, safe, and in your own +wardship?" + +"Not in mine," said the dejected father; "but in that of one in whose +protection, next to that of Heaven, I can most fully confide." + +"Are you sure--are you very sure of that?" repeated Julian eagerly. "I +found her under the charge of one to whom she had been trusted, and +who yet----" + +"And who yet was the basest of women," answered Bridgenorth; "but he +who selected her for the charge was deceived in her character." + +"Say rather you were deceived in his; remember that when we parted in +Moultrassie, I warned you of that Ganlesse--that----" + +"I know your meaning," said Bridgenorth; "nor did you err in +describing him as a worldly-wise man. But he has atoned for his error +by recovering Alice from the dangers into which she has plunged when +separated from you; and besides, I have not thought meet again to +entrust him with the charge that is dearest to me." + +"I thank God your eyes are thus far opened!" said Julian. + +"This day will open them wide, or close them for ever," answered +Bridgenorth. + +During this dialogue, which the speakers hurried through without +attending to the others who were present, Sir Geoffrey listened with +surprise and eagerness, endeavouring to catch something which should +render their conversation intelligible; but as he totally failed in +gaining any such key to their meaning, he broke in with,--"'Sblood and +thunder, Julian, what unprofitable gossip is this? What hast thou to +do with this fellow, more than to bastinado him, if you should think +it worth while to beat so old a rogue?" + +"My dearest father," said Julian, "you know not this gentleman--I am +certain you do him injustice. My own obligations to him are many; and +I am sure when you come to know them----" + +"I hope I shall die ere that moment come," said Sir Geoffrey; and +continued with increasing violence, "I hope in the mercy of Heaven, +that I shall be in the grave of my ancestors, ere I learn that my son +--my only son--the last hope of my ancient house--the last remnant of +the name of Peveril--hath consented to receive obligations from the +man on earth I am most bound to hate, were I not still more bound to +contemn him!--Degenerate dog-whelp!" he repeated with great vehemence, +"you colour without replying! Speak, and disown such disgrace; or, by +the God of my fathers----" + +The dwarf suddenly stepped forward and called out, "Forbear!" with a +voice at once so discordant and commanding, that it sounded +supernatural. "Man of sin and pride," he said, "forbear; and call not +the name of a holy God to witness thine unhallowed resentments." + +The rebuke so boldly and decidedly given, and the moral enthusiasm +with which he spoke, gave the despised dwarf an ascendancy for the +moment over the fiery spirit of his gigantic namesake. Sir Geoffrey +Peveril eyed him for an instant askance and shyly, as he might have +done a supernatural apparition, and then muttered, "What knowest thou +of my cause of wrath?" + +"Nothing," said the dwarf;--"nothing but this--that no cause can +warrant the oath thou wert about to swear. Ungrateful man! thou wert +to-day rescued from the devouring wrath of the wicked, by a marvellous +conjunction of circumstances--Is this a day, thinkest thou, on which +to indulge thine own hasty resentments?" + +"I stand rebuked," said Sir Geoffrey, "and by a singular monitor--the +grasshopper, as the prayer-book saith, hath become a burden to me.-- +Julian, I will speak to thee of these matters hereafter;--and for you, +Master Bridgenorth, I desire to have no farther communication with +you, either in peace or in anger. Our time passes fast, and I would +fain return to my family. Cause our weapons to be restored; unbar the +doors, and let us part without farther altercation, which can but +disturb and aggravate our spirits." + +"Sir Geoffrey Peveril," said Bridgenorth, "I have no desire to vex +your spirit or my own; but, for thus soon dismissing you, that may +hardly be, it being a course inconsistent with the work which I have +on hand." + +"How, sir! Do you mean that we should abide here, whether with or +against our inclinations?" said the dwarf. "Were it not that I am laid +under charge to remain here, by one who hath the best right to command +this poor microcosm, I would show thee that bolts and bars are +unavailing restraints on such as I am." + +"Truly," said Sir Geoffrey, "I think, upon an emergency, the little +man might make his escape through the keyhole." + +Bridgenorth's face was moved into something like a smile at the +swaggering speech of the pigmy hero, and the contemptuous commentary +of Sir Geoffrey Peveril; but such an expression never dwelt on his +features for two seconds together, and he replied in these words:-- +"Gentlemen, each and all of you must be fain to content yourselves. +Believe me, no hurt is intended towards you; on the contrary, your +remaining here will be a means of securing your safety, which would be +otherwise deeply endangered. It will be your own fault if a hair of +your head is hurt. But the stronger force is on my side; and, whatever +harm you may meet with should you attempt to break forth by violence, +the blame must rest with yourselves. It you will not believe me, I +will permit Master Julian Peveril to accompany me, where he shall see +that I am provided fully with the means of repressing violence." + +"Treason!--treason!" exclaimed the old Knight--"Treason against God +and King Charles!--Oh, for one half-hour of the broadsword which I +parted with like an ass!" + +"Hold, my father, I conjure you!" said Julian. "I will go with Master +Bridgenorth, since he requests it. I will satisfy myself whether there +be danger, and of what nature. It is possible I may prevail on him to +desist from some desperate measure, if such be indeed in agitation. +Should it be necessary, fear not that your son will behave as he ought +to do." + +"Do your pleasure, Julian," said his father; "I will confide in thee. +But if you betray my confidence, a father's curse shall cleave to +you." + +Bridgenorth now motioned to Peveril to follow him, and they passed +through the small door by which he entered. + +The passage led to a vestibule or anteroom, in which several other +doors and passages seemed to centre. Through one of these Julian was +conducted by Bridgenorth, walking with silence and precaution, in +obedience to a signal made by his guide to that effect. As they +advanced, he heard sounds, like those of the human voice, engaged in +urgent and emphatic declamation. With slow and light steps Bridgenorth +conducted him through a door which terminated this passage; and as he +entered a little gallery, having a curtain in front, the sound of the +preacher's voice--for such it now seemed--became distinct and audible. + +Julian now doubted not that he was in one of those conventicles, +which, though contrary to the existing laws, still continued to be +regularly held in different parts of London and the suburbs. Many of +these, as frequented by persons of moderate political principles, +though dissenters from the Church for conscience' sake, were connived +at by the prudence or timidity of the government. But some of them, in +which assembled the fiercer and more exalted sects of Independents, +Anabaptists, Fifth-Monarchy men, and other sectaries, whose stern +enthusiasm had contributed so greatly to effect the overthrow of the +late King's throne, were sought after, suppressed, and dispersed, +whenever they could be discovered. + +Julian was soon satisfied that the meeting into which he was thus +secretly introduced was one of the latter class; and, to judge by the +violence of the preacher, of the most desperate character. He was +still more effectually convinced of this, when, at a sign from +Bridgenorth, he cautiously unclosed a part of the curtain which hung +before the gallery, and thus, unseen himself, looked down on the +audience, and obtained a view of the preacher. + +About two hundred persons were assembled beneath, in an area filled up +with benches, as if for the exercise of worship; and they were all of +the male sex, and well armed with pikes and muskets, as well as swords +and pistols. Most of them had the appearance of veteran soldiers, now +past the middle of life, yet retaining such an appearance of strength +as might well supply the loss of youthful agility. They stood, or sat, +in various attitudes of stern attention; and, resting on their spears +and muskets, kept their eyes firmly fixed on the preacher, who ended +the violence of his declamation by displaying from the pulpit a +banner, on which was represented a lion, with the motto, "/Vicit Leo +ex tribu Judæ./" + +The torrent of mystical yet animating eloquence of the preacher--an +old grey-haired man, whom zeal seemed to supply with the powers of +voice and action, of which years had deprived him--was suited to the +taste of his audience, but could not be transferred to these pages +without scandal and impropriety. He menaced the rulers of England with +all the judgments denounced on those of Moab and Assyria--he called +upon the saints to be strong, to be up and doing; and promised those +miracles which, in the campaigns of Joshua, and his successors, the +valiant Judges of Israel, supplied all odds against the Amorites, +Midianites, and Philistines. He sounded trumpets, opened vials, broke +seals, and denounced approaching judgments under all the mystical +signs of the Apocalypse. The end of the world was announced, +accompanied with all its preliminary terrors. + +Julian, with deep anxiety, soon heard enough to make him aware that +the meeting was likely to terminate in open insurrection, like that of +the Fifth-Monarchy men, under Venner, at an earlier period of +Charles's reign; and he was not a little concerned at the probability +of Bridgenorth being implicated in so criminal and desperate an +undertaking. If he had retained any doubts of the issue of the +meeting, they must have been removed when the preacher called on his +hearers to renounce all expectation which had hitherto been +entertained of safety to the nation, from the execution of the +ordinary laws of the land. This, he said, was at best but a carnal +seeking after earthly aid--a going down to Egypt for help, which the +jealousy of their Divine Leader would resent as a fleeing to another +rock, and a different banner, from that which was this day displayed +over them.--And here he solemnly swung the bannered lion over their +heads, as the only sign under which they ought to seek for life and +safety. He then proceeded to insist, that recourse to ordinary justice +was vain as well as sinful. + +"The event of that day at Westminster," he said, "might teach them +that the man at Whitehall was even as the man his father;" and closed +a long tirade against the vices of the Court, with assurance "that +Tophet was ordained of old--for the King it was made hot." + +As the preacher entered on a description of the approaching theocracy, +which he dared to prophesy, Bridgenorth, who appeared for a time to +have forgotten the presence of Julian, whilst with stern and fixed +attention he drunk in the words of the preacher, seemed suddenly to +collect himself, and, taking Julian by the hand, led him out of the +gallery, of which he carefully closed the door, into an apartment at +no great distance. + +When they arrived there, he anticipated the expostulations of Julian, +by asking him, in a tone of severe triumph, whether these men he had +seen were likely to do their work negligently, or whether it would not +be perilous to attempt to force their way from a house, when all the +avenues were guarded by such as he had now seen--men of war from their +childhood upwards. + +"In the name of Heaven," said Julian, without replying to +Bridgenorth's question, "for what desperate purpose have you assembled +so many desperate men? I am well aware that your sentiments of +religion are peculiar; but beware how you deceive yourself--No views +of religion can sanction rebellion and murder; and such are the +natural and necessary consequences of the doctrine we have just heard +poured into the ears of fanatical and violent enthusiasts." + +"My son," said Bridgenorth calmly, "in the days of my non-age, I +thought as you do. I deemed it sufficient to pay my tithes of cummin +and aniseed--my poor petty moral observances of the old law; and I +thought I was heaping up precious things, when they were in value no +more than the husks of the swine-trough. Praised be Heaven, the scales +are fallen from mine eyes; and after forty years' wandering in the +desert of Sinai, I am at length arrived in the Land of Promise--My +corrupt human nature has left me--I have cast my slough, and can now +with some conscience put my hand to the plough, certain that there is +no weakness left in me where-through I may look back. The furrows," he +added, bending his brows, while a gloomy fire filled his large eyes, +"must be drawn long and deep, and watered by the blood of the mighty." + +There was a change in Bridgenorth's tone and manner, when he used +these singular expressions, which convinced Julian that his mind, +which had wavered for so many years between his natural good sense and +the insane enthusiasm of the time, had finally given way to the +latter; and, sensible of the danger in which the unhappy man himself, +the innocent and beautiful Alice, and his own father, were likely to +be placed--to say nothing of the general risk of the community by a +sudden insurrection, he at the same time felt that there was no chance +of reasoning effectually with one, who would oppose spiritual +conviction to all arguments which reason could urge against his wild +schemes. To touch his feeling seemed a more probable resource; and +Julian therefore conjured Bridgenorth to think how much his daughter's +honour and safety were concerned in his abstaining from the dangerous +course which he meditated. "If you fall," he said, "must she not pass +under the power and guardianship of her uncle, whom you allow to have +shown himself capable of the grossest mistake in the choice of her +female protectress; and whom I believe, upon good grounds, to have +made that infamous choice with his eyes open?" + +"Young man," answered Bridgenorth, "you make me feel like the poor +bird, around whose wing some wanton boy has fixed a line, to pull the +struggling wretch to earth at his pleasure. Know, since thou wilt play +this cruel part, and drag me down from higher contemplations, that she +with whom Alice is placed, and who hath in future full power to guide +her motions, and decide her fate, despite of Christian and every one +else, is--I will not tell thee who she is--Enough--no one--thou least +of all, needs to fear for her safety." + +At this moment a side-door opened, and Christian himself came into the +apartment. He started and coloured when he saw Julian Peveril; then +turning to Bridgenorth with an assumed air of indifference, asked, "Is +Saul among the prophets?--Is a Peveril among the saints?" + +"No, brother," replied Bridgenorth, "his time is not come more than +thine own--thou art too deep in the ambitious intrigues of manhood, +and he in the giddy passions of youth, to hear the still calm voice-- +You will both hear it, as I trust and pray." + +"Master Ganlesse, or Christian, or by whatever name you are called," +said Julian, "by whatever reasons you guide yourself in this most +perilous matter, /you/ at least are not influenced by any idea of an +immediate divine command for commencing hostilities against the state. +Leaving, therefore, for the present, whatever subjects of discussion +may be between us, I implore you, as a man of shrewdness and sense, to +join with me in dissuading Master Bridgenorth from the fatal +enterprise which he now meditates." + +"Young gentleman," said Christian, with great composure, "when we met +in the west, I was willing to have made a friend of you, but you +rejected the overture. You might, however, even then have seen enough +of me to be assured, that I am not likely to rush too rashly on any +desperate undertaking. As to this which lies before us, my brother +Bridgenorth brings to it the simplicity, though not the harmlessness +of the dove, and I the subtilty of the serpent. He hath the leading +of saints who are moved by the spirit; and I can add to their efforts +a powerful body, who have for their instigators the world, the devil, +and the flesh." + +"And can you," said Julian, looking at Bridgenorth, "accede to such an +unworthy union?" + +"I unite not with them," said Bridgenorth; "but I may not, without +guilt, reject the aid which Providence sends to assist His servants. +We are ourselves few, though determined--Those whose swords come to +help the cutting down of the harvest, must be welcome--When their work +is wrought, they will be converted or scattered.--Have you been at +York Place, brother, with that unstable epicure? We must have his last +resolution, and that within an hour." + +Christian looked at Julian, as if his presence prevented him from +returning an answer; upon which Bridgenorth arose, and taking the +young man by the arm, led him out of the apartment, into that in which +they had left his father; assuring him by the way, that determined and +vigilant guards were placed in every different quarter by which escape +could be effected, and that he would do well to persuade his father to +remain a quiet prisoner for a few hours. + +Julian returned him no answer, and Bridgenorth presently retired, +leaving him alone with his father and Hudson. To their questions he +could only briefly reply, that he feared they were trepanned, since +they were in the house with at least two hundred fanatics, completely +armed, and apparently prepared for desperate enterprise. Their own +want of arms precluded the possibility of open violence; and however +unpleasant it might be to remain in such a condition, it seemed +difficult, from the strength of the fastenings at doors and windows, +to attempt any secret escape without instantaneous detection. + +The valiant dwarf alone nursed hopes, with which he in vain +endeavoured to inspire his companions in affliction. "The fair one, +whose eyes," he said, "were like the twin stars of Leda"--for the +little man was a great admirer of lofty language--"had not invited +him, the most devoted, and, it might be, not the least favoured of her +servants, into this place as a harbour, in order that he might therein +suffer shipwreck; and he generously assured his friends, that in his +safety they also should be safe." + +Sir Geoffrey, little cheered by this intimation, expressed his despair +at not being able to get the length of Whitehall, where he trusted to +find as many jolly Cavaliers as would help him to stifle the whole +nest of wasps in their hive; while Julian was of opinion that the best +service he could now render Bridgenorth, would be timeously to +disclose his plot, and, if possible, to send him at the same time +warning to save his person. + +But we must leave them to meditate over their plans at leisure; no one +of which, as they all depended on their previous escape from +confinement, seemed in any great chance of being executed. + + + + CHAPTER XLIV + + And some for safety took the dreadful leap; + Some for the voice of Heaven seem'd calling on them; + Some for advancement, or for lucre's sake-- + I leap'd in frolic. + --THE DREAM. + +After a private conversation with Bridgenorth, Christian hastened to +the Duke of Buckingham's hotel, taking at the same time such a route +as to avoid meeting with any acquaintance. He was ushered into the +apartment of the Duke, whom he found cracking and eating filberts, +with a flask of excellent white wine at his elbow. "Christian," said +his Grace, "come help me to laugh--I have bit Sir Charles Sedley-- +flung him for a thousand, by the gods!" + +"I am glad at your luck, my Lord Duke," replied Christian; "but I am +come here on serious business." + +"Serious?--why, I shall hardly be serious in my life again--ha, ha, +ha!--and for luck, it was no such thing--sheer wit, and excellent +contrivance; and but that I don't care to affront Fortune, like the +old Greek general, I might tell her to her face--In this thou hadst no +share. You have heard, Ned Christian, that Mother Cresswell is dead?" + +"Yes, I did hear that the devil hath got his due," answered Christian. + +"Well," said the Duke, "you are ungrateful; for I know you have been +obliged to her, as well as others. Before George, a most benevolent +and helpful old lady; and that she might not sleep in an unblest +grave, I betted--do you mark me--with Sedley, that I would write her +funeral sermon; that it should be every word in praise of her life and +conversation, that it should be all true, and yet that the diocesan +should be unable to lay his thumb on Quodling, my little chaplain, who +should preach it." + +"I perfectly see the difficulty, my lord," said Christian, who well +knew that if he wished to secure attention from this volatile +nobleman, he must first suffer, nay, encourage him, to exhaust the +topic, whatever it might be, that had got temporary possession of his +pineal gland. + +"Why," said the Duke, "I had caused my little Quodling to go through +his oration thus--'That whatever evil reports had passed current +during the lifetime of the worthy matron whom they had restored to +dust that day, malice herself could not deny that she was born well, +married well, lived well, and died well; since she was born in +Shadwell, married to Cresswell, lived in Camberwell, and died in +Bridewell.' Here ended the oration, and with it Sedley's ambitious +hopes of overreaching Buckingham--ha, ha, ha!--And now, Master +Christian, what are your commands for me to-day?" + +"First, to thank your Grace for being so attentive as to send so +formidable a person as Colonel Blood, to wait upon your poor friend +and servant. Faith, he took such an interest in my leaving town, that +he wanted to compel me to do it at point of fox, so I was obliged to +spill a little of his malapert blood. Your Grace's swordsmen have had +ill luck of late; and it is hard, since you always choose the best +hands, and such scrupleless knaves too." + +"Come now, Christian," said the Duke, "do not thus exult over me; a +great man, if I may so call myself, is never greater than amid +miscarriage. I only played this little trick on you, Christian, to +impress on you a wholesome idea of the interest I take in your +motions. The scoundrel's having dared to draw upon you, is a thing not +to be forgiven.--What! injure my old friend Christian?" + +"And why not," said Christian coolly, "if your old friend was so +stubborn as not to go out of town, like a good boy, when your Grace +required him to do so, for the civil purpose of entertaining his niece +in his absence?" + +"How--what!--how do you mean by /my/ entertaining your niece, Master +Christian?" said the Duke. "She was a personage far beyond my poor +attentions, being destined, if I recollect aright, to something like +royal favour." + +"It was her fate, however, to be the guest of your Grace's convent for +a brace of days, or so. Marry, my lord, the father confessor was not +at home, and--for convents have been scaled of late--returned not till +the bird was flown." + +"Christian, thou art an old reynard--I see there is no doubling with +thee. It was thou, then, that stole away my pretty prize, but left me +something so much prettier in my mind, that, had it not made itself +wings to fly away with, I would have placed it in a cage of gold. +Never be downcast, man; I forgive thee--I forgive thee." + +"Your Grace is of a most merciful disposition, especially considering +it is I who have had the wrong; and sages have said, that he who doth +the injury is less apt to forgive than he who only sustains it." + +"True, true, Christian," said the Duke, "which, as you say, is +something quite new, and places my clemency in a striking point of +view. Well, then, thou forgiven man, when shall I see my Mauritanian +Princess again?" + +"Wherever I am certain that a quibble, and a carwhichit, for a play or +a sermon, will not banish her from your Grace's memory." + +"Not all the wit of South, or of Etherege," said Buckingham hastily, +"to say nothing of my own, shall in future make me oblivious of what I +owe the Morisco Princess." + +"Yet, to leave the fair lady out of thought for a little while--a very +little while," said Christian, "since I swear that in due time your +Grace shall see her, and know in her the most extraordinary woman that +the age has produced--to leave her, I say out of sight for a little +while, has your Grace had late notice of your Duchess's health?" + +"Health," said the Duke. "Umph--no--nothing particular. She has been +ill--but----" + +"She is no longer so," subjoined Christian; "she died in Yorkshire +forty-eight hours since." + +"Thou must deal with the devil," said the Duke. + +"It would ill become one of my name to do so," replied Christian. "But +in the brief interval, since your Grace hath known of an event which +hath not yet reached the public ear, you have, I believe, made +proposals to the King for the hand of the Lady Anne, second daughter +of the Duke of York, and your Grace's proposals have been rejected." + +"Fiends and firebrands, villain!" said the Duke, starting up and +seizing Christian by the collar; "who hath told thee that?" + +"Take your hand from my cloak, my Lord Duke, and I may answer you," +said Christian. "I have a scurvy touch of old puritanical humour about +me. I abide not the imposition of hands--take off your grasp from my +cloak, or I will find means to make you unloose it." + +The Duke, who had kept his right hand on his dagger-hilt while he held +Christian's collar with his left, unloosed it as he spoke, but slowly, +and as one who rather suspends than abandons the execution of some +hasty impulse; while Christian, adjusting his cloak with perfect +composure, said, "Soh--my cloak being at liberty, we speak on equal +terms. I come not to insult your Grace, but to offer you vengeance for +the insult you have received." + +"Vengeance!" said the Duke--"It is the dearest proffer man can present +to me in my present mood. I hunger for vengeance--thirst for vengeance +--could die to ensure vengeance!---'Sdeath!" he continued, walking up +and down the large apartment with the most unrestrained and violent +agitation; "I have chased this repulse out of my brain with ten +thousand trifles, because I thought no one knew it. But it is known, +and to thee, the very common-sewer of Court-secrets--the honour of +Villiers is in thy keeping, Ned Christian! Speak, thou man of wiles +and of intrigue--on whom dost thou promise the vengeance? Speak! and +if thy answers meet my desires, I will make a bargain with thee as +willingly as with thy master, Satan himself." + +"I will not be," said Christian, "so unreasonable in my terms as +stories tell of the old apostate; I will offer your Grace, as he might +do, temporal prosperity and revenge, which is his frequent recruiting +money, but I leave it to yourself to provide, as you may be pleased, +for your future salvation." + +The Duke, gazing upon him fixedly and sadly, replied, "I would to God, +Christian, that I could read what purpose of damnable villainy thou +hast to propose to me in thy countenance, without the necessity of thy +using words!" + +"Your Grace can but try a guess," said Christian, calmly smiling. + +"No," replied the Duke, after gazing at him again for the space of a +minute; "thou art so deeply dyed a hypocrite, that thy mean features, +and clear grey eye, are as likely to conceal treason, as any petty +scheme of theft or larceny more corresponding to your degree." + +"Treason, my lord!" echoed Christian; "you may have guessed more +nearly than you were aware of. I honour your Grace's penetration." + +"Treason?" echoed the Duke. "Who dare name such a crime to me?" + +"If a name startles your Grace, you may call it vengeance--vengeance +on the cabal of councillors, who have ever countermined you, in spite +of your wit and your interest with the King.--Vengeance on Arlington, +Ormond--on Charles himself." + +"No, by Heaven," said the Duke, resuming his disordered walk through +the apartment--"Vengeance on these rats of the Privy Council,--come at +it as you will. But the King!--never--never. I have provoked him a +hundred times, where he has stirred me once. I have crossed his path +in state intrigue--rivalled him in love--had the advantage in both,-- +and, d--n it, he has forgiven me! If treason would put me in his +throne, I have no apology for it--it were worse than bestial +ingratitude." + +"Nobly spoken, my lord," said Christian; "and consistent alike with +the obligations under which your Grace lies to Charles Stewart, and +the sense you have ever shown of them.--But it signifies not. If your +Grace patronise not our enterprise, there is Shaftesbury--there is +Monmouth----" + +"Scoundrel!" exclaimed the Duke, even more vehemently agitated than +before, "think you that you shall carry on with others an enterprise +which I have refused?--No, by every heathen and every Christian god!-- +Hark ye, Christian, I will arrest you on the spot--I will, by gods and +devils, and carry you to unravel your plot at Whitehall." + +"Where the first words I speak," answered the imperturbable Christian, +"will be to inform the Privy Council in what place they may find +certain letters, wherewith your Grace has honoured your poor vassal, +containing, as I think, particulars which his Majesty will read with +more surprise than pleasure." + +"'Sdeath, villain!" said the Duke, once more laying his hand on his +poniard-hilt, "thou hast me again at advantage. I know not why I +forbear to poniard you where you stand!" + +"I might fall, my Lord Duke," said Christian, slightly colouring, and +putting his right hand into his bosom, "though not, I think, unavenged +--for I have not put my person into this peril altogether without +means of defence. I might fall, but, alas! your Grace's correspondence +is in hands, which, by that very act, would be rendered sufficiently +active in handing them to the King and the Privy Council. What say you +to the Moorish Princess, my Lord Duke? What if I have left her +executrix of my will, with certain instructions how to proceed if I +return not unharmed from York Place? Oh, my lord, though my head is in +the wolf's mouth, I was not goose enough to place it there without +settling how many carabines should be fired on the wolf, so soon as my +dying cackle was heard.--Pshaw, my Lord Duke! you deal with a man of +sense and courage, yet you speak to him as a child and a coward." + +The Duke threw himself into a chair, fixed his eyes on the ground, +and spoke without raising them. "I am about to call Jerningham," he +said; "but fear nothing--it is only for a draught of wine--That stuff +on the table may be a vehicle of filberts, and walnuts, but not for +such communications as yours.--Bring me champagne," he said to the +attendant who answered to his summons. + +The domestic returned, and brought a flask of champagne, with two +large silver cups. One of them he filled for Buckingham, who, contrary +to the usual etiquette, was always served first at home, and then +offered the other to Christian, who declined to receive it. + +The Duke drank off the large goblet which was presented to him, and +for a moment covered his forehead with the palm of his hand; then +instantly withdrew it, and said, "Christian, speak your errand +plainly. We know each other. If my reputation be in some degree in +your hands, you are well aware that your life is in mine. Sit down," +he said, taking a pistol from his bosom and laying it on the table-- +"Sit down, and let me hear your proposal." + +"My lord," said Christian, smiling, "I shall produce no such ultimate +argument on my part, though possibly, in time of need, I may not be +found destitute of them. But my defence is in the situation of things, +and in the composed view which, doubtless, your Majesty will take of +them." + +"Majesty!" repeated the Duke--"My good friend Christian, you have kept +company with the Puritans so long, that you confuse the ordinary +titles of the Court." + +"I know not how to apologise," said Christian, "unless your Grace will +suppose that I spoke by prophecy." + +"Such as the devil delivered to Macbeth," said the Duke--again paced +the chamber, and again seated himself, and said, "Be plain, Christian +--speak out at once, and manfully, what is it you intend?" + +"/I/," said Christian--"What should I do?--I can do nothing in such a +matter; but I thought it right that your Grace should know that the +godly of this city"--(he spoke the word with a kind of ironical grin) +--"are impatient of inactivity, and must needs be up and doing. My +brother Bridgenorth is at the head of all old Weiver's congregation; +for you must know, that, after floundering from one faith to another, +he hath now got beyond ordinances, and is become a Fifth-Monarchy man. +He has nigh two hundred of Weiver's people, fully equipped, and ready +to fall on; and, with slight aid from your Grace's people, they must +carry Whitehall, and make prisoners of all within it." + +"Rascal!" said the Duke, "and is it to a Peer of England you make this +communication?" + +"Nay," answered Christian, "I admit it would be extreme folly in your +Grace to appear until all is over. But let me give Blood and the +others a hint on your part. There are the four Germans also--right +Knipperdolings and Anabaptists--will be specially useful. You are +wise, my lord, and know the value of a corps of domestic gladiators, +as well as did Octavius, Lepidus, and Anthony, when, by such family +forces, they divided the world by indenture tripartite." + +"Stay, stay," said the Duke. "Even if these bloodhounds were to join +with you--not that I would permit it without the most positive +assurances for the King's personal safety--but say the villains were +to join, what hope have you of carrying the Court?" + +"Bully Tom Armstrong,[*] my lord, hath promised his interest with the +Life Guards. Then there are my Lord Shaftesbury's brisk boys in the +city--thirty thousand on the holding up a finger." + +[*] Thomas, or Sir Thomas Armstrong, a person who had distinguished + himself in youth by duels and drunken exploits. He was + particularly connected with the Duke of Monmouth, and was said to + be concerned in the Rye-House Plot, for which he suffered capital + punishment, 20th June 1684. + +"Let him hold up both hands, and if he count a hundred for each +finger," said the Duke, "it will be more than I expect. You have not +spoken to him?" + +"Surely not till your Grace's pleasure was known. But, if he is not +applied to, there is the Dutch train, Hans Snorehout's congregation, +in the Strand--there are the French Protestants in Piccadilly--there +are the family of Levi in Lewkenor's Lane--the Muggletonians in Thames +Street----" + +"Ah, faugh!--Out upon them--out upon them!--How the knaves will stink +of cheese and tobacco when they come upon action!--they will drown all +the perfumes in Whitehall. Spare me the detail; and let me know, my +dearest Ned, the sum total of thy most odoriferous forces." + +"Fifteen hundred men, well armed," said Christian, "besides the rabble +that will rise to a certainty--they have already nearly torn to pieces +the prisoners who were this day acquitted on account of the Plot." + +"All, then, I understand.--And now, hark ye, most Christian +Christian," said he, wheeling his chair full in front of that on which +his agent was seated, "you have told me many things to-day--Shall I be +equally communicative? Shall I show you that my accuracy of +information matches yours? Shall I tell you, in a word, why you have +at once resolved to push every one, from the Puritan to the free- +thinker, upon a general attack of the Palace of Whitehall, without +allowing me, a peer of the realm, time either to pause upon or to +prepare for a step so desperate? Shall I tell you why you would lead +or drive, seduce or compel me, into countenancing your measures?" + +"My lord, if you please to form a guess," said Christian, "I will +answer with all sincerity, if you have assigned the right cause." + +"The Countess of Derby is this day arrived, and attends the Court this +evening, with hopes of the kindest reception. She may be surprised +amid the mêlée?--Ha! said I not right, Master Christian? You, who +pretend to offer me revenge, know yourself its exquisite sweetness." + +"I would not presume," said Christian, half smiling, "to offer your +Grace a dish without acting as your taster as well as purveyor." + +"That's honestly said," said the Duke. "Away then, my friend. Give +Blood this ring--he knows it, and knows how to obey him who bears it. +Let him assemble my gladiators, as thou dost most wittily term my +/coup jarrets/. The old scheme of the German music may be resorted to, +for I think thou hast the instruments ready. But take notice, I know +nothing on't; and Rowley's person must be safe--I will hang and burn +on all hands if a hair of his black periwig[*] be but singed.--Then +what is to follow--a Lord Protector of the realm--or stay--Cromwell +has made the word somewhat slovenly and unpopular--a Lord Lieutenant +of the Kingdom?--The patriots who take it on themselves to avenge the +injustice done to the country, and to remove evil counsellors from +before the King's throne, that it may be henceforward established in +righteousness--so I think the rubric runs--cannot fail to make a +fitting choice." + +[*] Charles, to suit his dark complexion, always wore a black peruke. + He used to say of the players, that if they wished to represent a + villain on the stage, "Oddsfish, they always clapp'd on him a + black periwig, whereas the greatest rogue in England [meaning, + probably, Dr. Oates] wears a white one."--/See CIBBER's Apology/. + +"They cannot, my Lord Duke," said Christian, "since there is but one +man in the three kingdoms on whom that choice can possibly fall." + +"I thank you Christian," said his Grace; "and I trust you. Away, and +make all ready. Be assured your services shall not be forgot. We will +have you near to us." + +"My Lord Duke," said Christian, "you bind me doubly to you. But +remember that as your Grace is spared any obnoxious proceedings which +may befall in the way of military execution, or otherwise, so it will +be advisable that you hold yourself in preparation, upon a moment's +notice, to put yourself at the head of a band of honourable friends +and allies, and come presently to the palace, where you will be +received by the victors as a commander, and by the vanquished as a +preserver." + +"I conceive you--I conceive you. I will be in prompt readiness," said +the Duke. + +"Ay, my lord," continued Christian; "and for Heaven's sake, let none +of those toys, which are the very Delilahs of your imagination, come +across your Grace this evening, and interfere with the execution of +this sublime scheme." + +"Why, Christian, dost think me mad?" was his Grace's emphatic reply. +"It is you who linger, when all should be ordered for a deed so +daring. Go then.--But hark ye, Ned; ere you go, tell me when I shall +again see yonder thing of fire and air--yon Eastern Peri, that glides +into apartments by the keyhole, and leaves them through the casement-- +yon black-eyed houri of the Mahometan paradise--when, I say, shall I +see her once more?" + +"When your Grace has the truncheon of Lord Lieutenant of the Kingdom," +said Christian, and left the apartment. + +Buckingham stood fixed in contemplation for a moment after he was +gone. "Should I have done this?" he said, arguing the matter with +himself; "or had I the choice rather of doing aught else? Should I not +hasten to the Court, and make Charles aware of the treason which +besets him? I will, by Heaven?--Here, Jerningham, my coach, with the +despatch of light!--I will throw myself at his feet, and tell him of +all the follies which I have dreamed of with this Christian.--And then +he will laugh at me, and spurn me.--No, I have kneeled to him to-day +already, and my repulse was nothing gentle. To be spurned once in the +sun's daily round is enough for Buckingham." + +Having made this reflection, he seated himself, and began hastily to +mark down the young nobles and gentlemen of quality, and others, their +very ignoble companions, who he supposed might be likely to assume him +for their leader in any popular disturbance. He had nearly completed +it, when Jerningham entered, to say the coach would be ready in an +instant, and to bring his master's sword, hat, and cloak. + +"Let the coachman draw off," said the Duke, "but be in readiness. And +send to the gentlemen thou wilt find named in this list; say I am but +ill at ease, and wish their company to a light collation. Let instant +expedition be made, and care not for expense; you will find most of +them at the Club House in Fuller's Rents."[*] + +[*] The place of meeting of the Green Ribbon Club. "Their place of + meeting," says Roger North, "was in a sort of Carrefour at + Chancery Lance, in a centre of business and company most proper + for such anglers of fools. The house was double balconied in + front, as may yet be seen, for the clubbers to issue forth /in + fresco/, with hats and no perukes, pipes in their mouths, merry + faces, and dilated throats for vocal encouragement of the + canaglia below on usual and unusual occasions." + +The preparations for festivity were speedily made, and the intended +guests, most of them persons who were at leisure for any call that +promised pleasure, though sometimes more deaf to those of duty, began +speedily to assemble. There were many youths of the highest rank, and +with them, as is usual in those circles, many of a different class, +whom talents, or impudence, or wit, or a turn for gambling, had reared +up into companions for the great and the gay. The Duke of Buckingham +was a general patron of persons of this description; and a numerous +attendance took place on the present occasion. + +The festivity was pursued with the usual appliances of wine, music, +and games of hazard; with which, however, there mingled in that period +much more wit, and a good deal more gross profligacy of conversation, +than the talents of the present generation can supply, or their taste +would permit. + +The Duke himself proved the complete command which he possessed over +his versatile character, by maintaining the frolic, the laugh, and the +jest, while his ear caught up, and with eagerness, the most distant +sounds, as intimating the commencement of Christian's revolutionary +project. Such sounds were heard from time to time, and from time to +time they died away, without any of those consequences which +Buckingham expected. + +At length, and when it was late in the evening, Jerningham announced +Master Chiffinch from the Court; and that worthy personage followed +the annunciation. + +"Strange things have happened, my Lord Duke," he said; "your presence +at Court is instantly required by his Majesty." + +"You alarm me," said Buckingham, standing up. "I hope nothing has +happened--I hope there is nothing wrong--I hope his Majesty is well?" + +"Perfectly well," said Chiffinch; "and desirous to see your Grace +without a moment's delay." + +"This is sudden," said the Duke. "You see I have had merry fellows +about me, and am scarce in case to appear, Chiffinch." + +"Your Grace seems to be in very handsome plight," said Chiffinch; "and +you know his Majesty is gracious enough to make allowances." + +"True," said the Duke, not a little anxious in his mind, touching the +cause of this unexpected summons--"True--his Majesty is most gracious +--I will order my coach." + +"Mine is below," replied the royal messenger; "it will save time, if +your Grace will condescend to use it." + +Forced from every evasion, Buckingham took a goblet from the table, +and requested his friends to remain at his palace so long as they +could find the means of amusement there. He expected, he said, to +return almost immediately; if not, he would take farewell of them with +his usual toast, "May all of us that are not hanged in the interval, +meet together again here on the first Monday of next month." + +This standing toast of the Duke bore reference to the character of +several of his guests; but he did not drink it on the present occasion +without some anticipation concerning his own fate, in case Christian +had betrayed him. He hastily made some addition to his dress, and +attended Chiffinch in the chariot to Whitehall. + + + + CHAPTER XLV + + High feasting was there there--the gilded roofs + Rung to the wassail-health--the dancer's step + Sprung to the chord responsive--the gay gamester + To fate's disposal flung his heap of gold, + And laugh'd alike when it increased or lessen'd: + Such virtue hath court-air to teach us patience + Which schoolmen preach in vain. + --WHY COME YE NOT TO COURT? + +Upon the afternoon of this eventful day, Charles held his Court in the +Queen's apartments, which were opened at a particular hour to invited +guests of a certain lower degree, but accessible without restriction +to the higher classes of nobility who had from birth, and to the +courtiers who held by office the privilege of the /entrée/. + +It was one part of Charles's character, which unquestionably rendered +him personally popular, and postponed to a subsequent reign the +precipitation of his family from the throne, that he banished from his +Court many of the formal restrictions with which it was in other +reigns surrounded. He was conscious of the good-natured grace of his +manners, and trusted to it, often not in vain, to remove evil +impressions arising from actions, which he was sensible could not be +justified on the grounds of liberal or national policy. + +In the daytime the King was commonly seen in the public walks alone, +or only attended by one or two persons; and his answer to the +remonstrance of his brother, on the risk of thus exposing his person, +is well known:--"Believe me, James," he said, "no one will murder +/me/, to make /you/ King." + +In the same manner, Charles's evenings, unless such as were destined +to more secret pleasures, were frequently spent amongst all who had +any pretence to approach a courtly circle; and thus it was upon the +night which we are treating of. Queen Catherine, reconciled or humbled +to her fate, had long ceased to express any feelings of jealousy, nay, +seemed so absolutely dead to such a passion, that she received at her +drawing-room, without scruple, and even with encouragement, the +Duchesses of Portsmouth and Cleveland, and others, who enjoyed, though +in a less avowed character, the credit of having been royal +favourites. Constraint of every kind was banished from a circle so +composed, and which was frequented at the same time, if not by the +wisest, at least by the wittiest courtiers, who ever assembled round a +monarch, and who, as many of them had shared the wants, and shifts, +and frolics of his exile, had then acquired a sort of prescriptive +licence, which the good-natured prince, when he attained his period of +prosperity, could hardly have restrained had it suited his temper to +do so. This, however, was the least of Charles's thoughts. His manners +were such as secured him from indelicate obtrusion; and he sought no +other protection from over-familiarity, than what these and his ready +wit afforded him. + +On the present occasion, he was peculiarly disposed to enjoy the scene +of pleasure which had been prepared. The singular death of Major +Coleby, which, taking place in his own presence, had proclaimed, with +the voice of a passing bell, the ungrateful neglect of the Prince for +whom he had sacrificed everything, had given Charles much pain. But, +in his own opinion at least, he had completely atoned for this +negligence by the trouble which he had taken for Sir Geoffrey Peveril +and his son, whose liberation he looked upon not only as an excellent +good deed in itself, but, in spite of the grave rebuke of Ormond, as +achieved in a very pardonable manner, considering the difficulties +with which he was surrounded. He even felt a degree of satisfaction on +receiving intelligence from the city that there had been disturbances +in the streets, and that some of the more violent fanatics had betaken +themselves to their meeting-houses, upon sudden summons, to inquire, +as their preachers phrased it, into the causes of Heaven's wrath, and +into the backsliding of the Court, lawyers, and jury, by whom the +false and bloody favourers of the Popish Plot were screened and +cloaked from deserved punishment. + +The King, we repeat, seemed to hear these accounts with pleasure, even +when he was reminded of the dangerous and susceptible character of +those with whom such suspicions originated. "Will any one now assert," +he said, with self-complacence, "that I am so utterly negligent of the +interest of friends?--You see the peril in which I place myself, and +even the risk to which I have exposed the public peace, to rescue a +man whom I have scarce seen for twenty years, and then only in his +buff-coat and bandoleers, with other Train-Band officers who kissed +hands upon the Restoration. They say Kings have long hands--I think +they have as much occasion for long memories, since they are expected +to watch over and reward every man in England, who hath but shown his +goodwill by crying 'God save the King!'" + +"Nay, the rogues are even more unreasonable still," said Sedley; "for +every knave of them thinks himself entitled to your Majesty's +protection in a good cause, whether he has cried God save the King or +no." + +The King smiled, and turned to another part of the stately hall, where +everything was assembled which could, according to the taste of the +age, make the time glide pleasantly away. + +In one place, a group of the young nobility, and of the ladies of the +Court, listened to the reader's acquaintance Empson, who was +accompanying with his unrivalled breathings on the flute, a young +siren, who, while her bosom palpitated with pride and with fear, +warbled to the courtly and august presence the beautiful air +beginning-- + + "Young I am, and yet unskill'd, + How to make a lover yield," &c. + +She performed her task in a manner so corresponding with the strains +of the amatory poet, and the voluptuous air with which the words had +been invested by the celebrated Purcel, that the men crowded around in +ecstasies, while most of the ladies thought it proper either to look +extremely indifferent to the words she sung, or to withdraw from the +circle as quietly as possible. To the song succeeded a concerto, +performed by a select band of most admirable musicians, which the +King, whose taste was indisputable, had himself selected. + +At other tables in the apartment, the elder courtiers worshipped +Fortune, at the various fashionable games of ombre, quadrille, hazard, +and the like; while heaps of gold which lay before the players, +augmented or dwindled with every turn of a card or cast of a die. Many +a year's rent of fair estates was ventured upon the main or the odds; +which, spent in the old deserted manor-house, had repaired the ravages +of Cromwell upon its walls, and replaced the sources of good +housekeeping and hospitality, that, exhausted in the last age by fine +and sequestration, were now in a fair way of being annihilated by +careless prodigality. Elsewhere, under cover of observing the +gamester, or listening to the music, the gallantries of that all- +licensed age were practised among the gay and fair, closely watched +the whilst by the ugly or the old, who promised themselves at least +the pleasure of observing, and it may be that of proclaiming, +intrigues in which they could not be sharers. + +From one table to another glided the merry Monarch, exchanging now a +glance with a Court beauty, now a jest with a Court wit, now beating +time to the music, and anon losing or winning a few pieces of gold on +the chance of the game to which he stood nearest;--the most amiable of +voluptuaries--the gayest and best-natured of companions--the man that +would, of all others, have best sustained his character, had life been +a continued banquet, and its only end to enjoy the passing hour, and +send it away as pleasantly as might be. + +But Kings are least of all exempted from the ordinary lot of humanity; +and Seged of Ethiopia is, amongst monarchs, no solitary example of the +vanity of reckoning on a day or an hour of undisturbed serenity. An +attendant on the Court announced suddenly to their Majesties that a +lady, who would only announce herself as a Peeress of England, desired +to be admitted into the presence. + +The Queen said, hastily, it was /impossible/. No peeress, without +announcing her title, was entitled to the privilege of her rank. + +"I could be sworn," said a nobleman in attendance, "that it is some +whim of the Duchess of Newcastle." + +The attendant who brought the message, said that he did indeed believe +it to be the Duchess, both from the singularity of the message, and +that the lady spoke with somewhat a foreign accent. + +"In the name of madness, then," said the King, "let us admit her. Her +Grace is an entire raree-show in her own person--a universal +masquerade--indeed a sort of private Bedlam-hospital, her whole ideas +being like so many patients crazed upon the subjects of love and +literature, who act nothing in their vagaries, save Minerva, Venus, +and the nine Muses." + +"Your Majesty's pleasure must always supersede mine," said the Queen. +"I only hope I shall not be expected to entertain so fantastic a +personage. The last time she came to Court, Isabella"--(she spoke to +one of her Portuguese ladies of honour)--"you had not returned from +our lovely Lisbon!--her Grace had the assurance to assume a right to +bring a train-bearer into my apartment; and when this was not allowed, +what then, think you, she did?--even caused her train to be made so +long, that three mortal yards of satin and silver remained in the +antechamber, supported by four wenches, while the other end was +attached to her Grace's person, as she paid her duty at the upper end +of the presence-room. Full thirty yards of the most beautiful silk did +her Grace's madness employ in this manner." + +"And most beautiful damsels they were who bore this portentous train," +said the King--"a train never equalled save by that of the great comet +in sixty-six. Sedley and Etherege told us wonders of them; for it is +one advantage of this new fashion brought up by the Duchess, that a +matron may be totally unconscious of the coquetry of her train and its +attendants." + +"Am I to understand, then, your Majesty's pleasure is, that the lady +is to be admitted?" said the usher. + +"Certainly," said the King; "that is, if the incognita be really +entitled to the honour.--It may be as well to inquire her title--there +are more madwomen abroad than the Duchess of Newcastle. I will walk +into the anteroom myself, and receive your answer." + +But ere Charles had reached the lower end of the apartment in his +progress to the anteroom, the usher surprised the assembly by +announcing a name which had not for many a year been heard in these +courtly halls--"the Countess of Derby!" + +Stately and tall, and still, at an advanced period of life, having a +person unbroken by years, the noble lady advanced towards her +Sovereign, with a step resembling that with which she might have met +an equal. There was indeed nothing in her manner that indicated either +haughtiness or assumption unbecoming that presence; but her +consciousness of wrongs, sustained from the administration of Charles, +and of the superiority of the injured party over those from whom, or +in whose name, the injury had been offered, gave her look dignity, and +her step firmness. She was dressed in widow's weeds, of the same +fashion which were worn at the time her husband was brought to the +scaffold; and which, in the thirty years subsequent to that event, she +had never permitted her tirewoman to alter. + +The surprise was no pleasing one to the King; and cursing in his heart +the rashness which had allowed the lady entrance on the gay scene in +which they were engaged, he saw at the same time the necessity of +receiving her in a manner suitable to his own character, and her rank +in the British Court. He approached her with an air of welcome, into +which he threw all his natural grace, while he began, "/Chère Comtesse +de Derby, puissante Reine de Man, notre très auguste sœur----/" + +"Speak English, sire, if I may presume to ask such a favour," said the +Countess. "I am a Peeress of this nation--mother to one English Earl, +and widow, alas, to another! In England I have spent my brief days of +happiness, my long years of widowhood and sorrow. France and its +language are but to me the dreams of an uninteresting childhood. I +know no tongue save that of my husband and my son. Permit me, as the +widow and mother of Derby, thus to render my homage." + +She would have kneeled, but the King gracefully prevented her, and, +saluting her cheek, according to the form, led her towards the Queen, +and himself performed the ceremony of introduction. "Your Majesty," he +said, "must be informed that the Countess has imposed a restriction on +French--the language of gallantry and compliment. I trust your Majesty +will, though a foreigner, like herself, find enough of honest English +to assure the Countess of Derby with what pleasure we see her at +Court, after the absence of so many years." + +"I will endeavour to do so, at least," said the Queen, on whom the +appearance of the Countess of Derby made a more favourable impression +than that of many strangers, whom, at the King's request, she was in +the habit of receiving with courtesy. + +Charles himself again spoke. "To any other lady of the same rank I +might put the question, why she was so long absent from the circle? I +fear I can only ask the Countess of Derby, what fortunate cause +produces the pleasure of seeing her here?" + +"No fortunate cause, my liege, though one most strong and urgent." + +The King augured nothing agreeable from this commencement; and in +truth, from the Countess's first entrance, he had anticipated some +unpleasant explanation, which he therefore hastened to parry, having +first composed his features into an expression of sympathy and +interest. + +"If," said he, "the cause is of a nature in which we can render +assistance, we cannot expect your ladyship should enter upon it at the +present time; but a memorial addressed to our secretary, or, if it is +more satisfactory, to ourselves directly, will receive our immediate, +and I trust I need not add, our favourable construction." + +The Countess bowed with some state, and answered, "My business, sire, +is indeed important; but so brief, that it need not for more than a +few minutes withdraw your ear from what is more pleasing;--yet it is +so urgent, that I am afraid to postpone it even for a moment." + +"This is unusual," said Charles. "But you, Countess of Derby, are an +unwonted guest, and must command my time. Does the matter require my +private ear?" + +"For my part," said the Countess, "the whole Court might listen; but +you Majesty may prefer hearing me in the presence of one or two of +your counsellors." + +"Ormond," said the King, looking around, "attend us for an instant-- +and do you, Arlington, do the same." + +The King led the way into an adjoining cabinet, and, seating himself, +requested the Countess would also take a chair. "It needs not, sire," +she replied; then pausing for a moment, as if to collect her spirits, +she proceeded with firmness. + +"Your Majesty well said that no light cause had drawn me from my +lonely habitation. I came not hither when the property of my son--that +property which descended to him from a father who died for your +Majesty's rights--was conjured away from him under pretext of justice, +that it might first feed the avarice of the rebel Fairfax, and then +supply the prodigality of his son-in-law, Buckingham." + +"These are over harsh terms, lady," said the King. "A legal penalty +was, as we remember, incurred by an act of irregular violence--so our +courts and our laws term it, though personally I have no objection to +call it, with you, an honourable revenge. But admit it were such, in +prosecution of the laws of honour, bitter legal consequences are often +necessarily incurred." + +"I come not to argue for my son's wasted and forfeited inheritance, +sire," said the Countess; "I only take credit for my patience, under +that afflicting dispensation. I now come to redeem the honour of the +House of Derby, more dear to me than all the treasures and lands which +ever belonged to it." + +"And by whom is the honour of the House of Derby impeached?" said the +King; "for on my word you bring me the first news of it." + +"Has there one Narrative, as these wild fictions are termed, been +printed with regard to the Popish Plot--this pretended Plot as I will +call it--in which the honour of our house has not been touched and +tainted? And are there not two noble gentlemen, father and son, allies +of the House of Stanley, about to be placed in jeopardy of their +lives, on account of matters in which we are the parties first +impeached?" + +The King looked around, and smiled to Arlington and Ormond. "The +Countess's courage, methinks, shames ours. What lips dared have called +the immaculate Plot /pretended/, or the Narrative of the witnesses, +our preservers from Popish knives, a wild fiction?--But, madam," he +said, "though I admire the generosity of your interference in behalf +of the two Peverils, I must acquaint you, that your interference is +unnecessary--they are this morning acquitted." + +"Now may God be praised!" said the Countess, folding her hands. "I +have scarce slept since I heard the news of their impeachment; and +have arrived here to surrender myself to your Majesty's justice, or to +the prejudices of the nation, in hopes, by so doing, I might at least +save the lives of my noble and generous friends, enveloped in +suspicion only, or chiefly, by their connection with us.--Are they +indeed acquitted?" + +"They are, by my honour," said the King. "I marvel you heard it not." + +"I arrived but last night, and remained in the strictest seclusion," +said the Countess, "afraid to make any inquiries that might occasion +discovery ere I saw your Majesty." + +"And now that we /have/ met," said the King, taking her hand kindly-- +"a meeting which gives me the greatest pleasure--may I recommend to +you speedily to return to your royal island with as little /éclat/ as +you came thither? The world, my dear Countess, has changed since we +were young. Men fought in the Civil War with good swords and muskets; +but now we fight with indictments and oaths, and such like legal +weapons. You are no adept in such warfare; and though I am well aware +you know how to hold out a castle, I doubt much if you have the art to +parry off an impeachment. This Plot has come upon us like a land storm +--there is no steering the vessel in the teeth of the tempest--we must +run for the nearest haven, and happy if we can reach one." + +"This is cowardice, my liege," said the Countess--"Forgive the word!-- +it is but a woman who speaks it. Call your noble friends around you, +and make a stand like your royal father. There is but one right and +one wrong--one honourable and forward course; and all others which +deviate are oblique and unworthy." + +"Your language, my venerated friend," said Ormond, who saw the +necessity of interfering betwixt the dignity of the actual Sovereign +and the freedom of the Countess, who was generally accustomed to +receive, not to pay observance,--"your language is strong and decided, +but it applies not to the times. It might occasion a renewal of the +Civil War, and of all its miseries, but could hardly be attended with +the effects you sanguinely anticipate." + +"You are too rash, my Lady Countess," said Arlington, "not only to +rush upon this danger yourself, but to desire to involve his Majesty. +Let me say plainly, that, in this jealous time, you have done but ill +to exchange the security of Castle Rushin for the chance of a lodging +in the Tower of London." + +"And were I to kiss the block there," said the Countess, "as did my +husband at Bolton-on-the-Moors, I would do so willingly, rather than +forsake a friend!--and one, too, whom, as in the case of the younger +Peveril, I have thrust upon danger." + +"But have I not assured you that both of the Peverils, elder and +younger, are freed from peril?" said the King; "and, my dear Countess, +what can else tempt you to thrust /yourself/ on danger, from which, +doubtless, you expect to be relieved by my intervention? Methinks a +lady of your judgment should not voluntarily throw herself into a +river, merely that her friends might have the risk and merit of +dragging her out." + +The Countess reiterated her intention to claim a fair trial.--The two +counsellors again pressed their advice that she should withdraw, +though under the charge of absconding from justice, and remain in her +own feudal kingdom. + +The King, seeing no termination to the debate, gently reminded the +Countess that her Majesty would be jealous if he detained her ladyship +longer, and offered her his hand to conduct her back to the company. +This she was under the necessity of accepting, and returned +accordingly to the apartments of state, where an event occurred +immediately afterwards, which must be transferred to the next chapter. + + + + CHAPTER XLVI + + Here stand I tight and trim, + Quick of eye, though little of limb; + He who denieth the word I have spoken, + Betwixt him and me shall lances be broken. + --LAY OF THE LITTLE JOHN DE SAINTRE. + +When Charles had reconducted the Countess of Derby into the presence- +chamber, before he parted with her, he entreated her, in a whisper, to +be governed by good counsel, and to regard her own safety; and then +turned easily from her, as if to distribute his attentions equally +among the other guests. + +These were a good deal circumscribed at the instant, by the arrival of +a party of five or six musicians; one of whom, a German, under the +patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, was particularly renowned for his +performance on the violoncello, but had been detained in inactivity in +the antechamber by the non-arrival of his instrument, which had now at +length made its appearance. + +The domestic who placed it before the owner, shrouded as it was within +its wooden case, seemed heartily glad to be rid of his load, and +lingered for a moment, as if interested in discovering what sort of +instrument was to be produced that could weigh so heavily. His +curiosity was satisfied, and in a most extraordinary manner; for, +while the musician was fumbling with the key, the case being for his +greater convenience placed upright against the wall, the case and +instrument itself at once flew open, and out started the dwarf, +Geoffrey Hudson,--at sight of whose unearthly appearance, thus +suddenly introduced, the ladies shrieked, and ran backwards; the +gentlemen started, and the poor German, on seeing the portentous +delivery of his fiddle-case, tumbled on the floor in an agony, +supposing, it might be, that his instrument was metamorphosed into the +strange figure which supplied its place. So soon, however, as he +recovered, he glided out of the apartment, and was followed by most of +his companions. + +"Hudson!" said the King--"My little old friend, I am not sorry to see +you; though Buckingham, who I suppose is the purveyor of this jest, +hath served us up but a stale one." + +"Will your Majesty honour me with one moment's attention?" said +Hudson. + +"Assuredly, my good friend," said the King. "Old acquaintances are +springing up in every quarter to-night; and our leisure can hardly be +better employed than in listening to them.--It was an idle trick of +Buckingham," he added, in a whisper to Ormond, "to send the poor thing +hither, especially as he was to-day tried for the affair of the plot. +At any rate he comes not to ask protection from us, having had the +rare fortune to come off /Plot-free/. He is but fishing, I suppose, +for some little present or pension." + +The little man, precise in Court etiquette, yet impatient of the +King's delaying to attend to him, stood in the midst of the floor, +most valorously pawing and prancing, like a Scots pony assuming the +airs of a war-horse, waving meanwhile his little hat with the +tarnished feather, and bowing from time to time, as if impatient to be +heard. + +"Speak on, then, my friend," said Charles; "if thou hast some poetical +address penned for thee, out with it, that thou mayst have time to +repose these flourishing little limbs of thine." + +"No poetical speech have I, most mighty Sovereign," answered the +dwarf; "but, in plain and most loyal prose, I do accuse, before this +company, the once noble Duke of Buckingham of high treason!" + +"Well spoken, and manfully--Get on, man," said the King, who never +doubted that this was the introduction to something burlesque or +witty, not conceiving that the charge was made in solemn earnest. + +A great laugh took place among such courtiers as heard, and among many +who did not hear, what was uttered by the dwarf; the former +entertained by the extravagant emphasis and gesticulation of the +little champion, and the others laughing not the less loud that they +laughed for example's sake, and upon trust. + +"What matter is there for all this mirth?" said he, very indignantly-- +"Is it fit subject for laughing, that I, Geoffrey Hudson, Knight, do, +before King and nobles, impeach George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, +of high treason?" + +"No subject of mirth, certainly," said Charles, composing his +features; "but great matter of wonder.--Come, cease this mouthing, and +prancing, and mummery.--If there be a jest, come out with it, man; and +if not, even get thee to the beaffet, and drink a cup of wine to +refresh thee after thy close lodging." + +"I tell you, my liege," said Hudson impatiently, yet in a whisper, +intended only to be audible by the King, "that if you spend overmuch +time in trifling, you will be convinced by dire experience of +Buckingham's treason. I tell you,--I asseverate to your Majesty,--two +hundred armed fanatics will be here within the hour, to surprise the +guards." + +"Stand back, ladies," said the King, "or you may hear more than you +will care to listen to. My Lord of Buckingham's jests are not always, +you know, quite fitted for female ears; besides, we want a few words +in private with our little friend. You, my Lord of Ormond--you, +Arlington" (and he named one or two others), "may remain with us." + +The gay crowd bore back, and dispersed through the apartment--the men +to conjecture what the end of this mummery, as they supposed it, was +likely to prove; and what jest, as Sedley said, the bass-fiddle had +been brought to bed of--and the ladies to admire and criticise the +antique dress, and richly embroidered ruff and hood of the Countess of +Derby, to whom the Queen was showing particular attention. + +"And now, in the name of Heaven, and amongst friends," said the King +to the dwarf, "what means all this?" + +"Treason, my lord the King!--Treason to his Majesty of England!--When +I was chambered in yonder instrument, my lord, the High-Dutch fellows +who bore me, carried me into a certain chapel, to see, as they said to +each other, that all was ready. Sire, I went where bass-fiddle never +went before, even into a conventicle of Fifth-Monarchists; and when +they brought me away, the preacher was concluding his sermon, and was +within a 'Now to apply' of setting off like the bell-wether at the +head of his flock, to surprise your Majesty in your royal Court! I +heard him through the sound-holes of my instrument, when the fellow +set me down for a moment to profit by this precious doctrine." + +"It would be singular," said Lord Arlington, "were there some reality +at the bottom of this buffoonery; for we know these wild men have been +consulting together to-day, and five conventicles have held a solemn +fast." + +"Nay," said the King, "if that be the case, they are certainly +determined on some villainy." + +"Might I advise," said the Duke of Ormond, "I would summon the Duke of +Buckingham to this presence. His connections with the fanatics are +well known, though he affects to conceal them." + +"You would not, my lord, do his Grace the injustice to treat him as a +criminal on such a charge as this?" said the King. "However," he +added, after a moment's consideration, "Buckingham is accessible to +every sort of temptation, from the flightiness of his genius. I should +not be surprised if he nourished hopes of an aspiring kind--I think we +had some proof of it lately.--Hark ye, Chiffinch; go to him instantly, +and bring him here on any fair pretext thou canst devise. I would fain +save him from what lawyers call an overt act. The Court would be dull +as a dead horse were Buckingham to miscarry." + +"Will not your Majesty order the Horse Guards to turn out?" said young +Selby, who was present, and an officer. + +"No, Selby," said the King, "I like not horse-play. But let them be +prepared; and let the High Bailiff collect his civil officers, and +command the Sheriffs to summon their worshipful attendants from +javelin-men to hangmen, and have them in readiness, in case of any +sudden tumult--double the sentinels on the doors of the palace--and +see no strangers get in." + +"Or /out/," said the Duke of Ormond. "Where are the foreign fellows +who brought in the dwarf?" + +They were sought for, but they were not to be found. They had +retreated, leaving their instruments--a circumstance which seemed to +bear hard on the Duke of Buckingham, their patron. + +Hasty preparations were made to provide resistance to any effort of +despair which the supposed conspirators might be driven to; and in the +meanwhile, the King, withdrawing with Arlington, Ormond, and a few +other counsellors, into the cabinet where the Countess of Derby had +had her audience, resumed the examination of the little discoverer. +His declaration, though singular, was quite coherent; the strain of +romance intermingled with it, being in fact a part of his character, +which often gained him the fate of being laughed at, when he would +otherwise have been pitied, or even esteemed. + +He commenced with a flourish about his sufferings for the Plot, which +the impatience of Ormond would have cut short, had not the King +reminded his Grace, that a top, when it is not flogged, must needs go +down of itself at the end of a definite time, while the application of +the whip may keep it up for hours. + +Geoffrey Hudson was, therefore, allowed to exhaust himself on the +subject of his prison-house, which he informed the King was not +without a beam of light--an emanation of loveliness--a mortal angel-- +quick of step and beautiful of eye, who had more than once visited his +confinement with words of cheering and comfort. + +"By my faith," said the King, "they fare better in Newgate than I was +aware of. Who would have thought of the little gentleman being solaced +with female society in such a place?" + +"I pray your Majesty," said the dwarf, after the manner of a solemn +protest, "to understand nothing amiss. My devotion to this fair +creature is rather like what we poor Catholics pay to the blessed +saints, than mixed with any grosser quality. Indeed, she seems rather +a sylphid of the Rosicrucian system, than aught more carnal; being +slighter, lighter, and less than the females of common life, who have +something of that coarseness of make which is doubtless derived from +the sinful and gigantic race of the antediluvians." + +"Well, say on, man," quoth Charles. "Didst thou not discover this +sylph to be a mere mortal wench after all?" + +"Who?--I, my liege?--Oh, fie!" + +"Nay, little gentleman, do not be so particularly scandalised," said +the King; "I promise you I suspect you of no audacity of gallantry." + +"Time wears fast," said the Duke of Ormond impatiently, and looking at +his watch. "Chiffinch hath been gone ten minutes, and ten minutes will +bring him back." + +"True," said Charles gravely. "Come to the point, Hudson; and tell us +what this female has to do with your coming hither in this +extraordinary manner." + +"Everything, my lord," said little Hudson. "I saw her twice during my +confinement in Newgate, and, in my thought, she is the very angel who +guards my life and welfare; for, after my acquittal, as I walked +towards the city with two tall gentlemen, who had been in trouble +along with me, and just while we stood to our defence against a +rascally mob, and just as I had taken possession of an elevated +situation, to have some vantage against the great odds of numbers, I +heard a heavenly voice sound, as it were, from a window behind me, +counselling me to take refuge in a certain house; to which measure I +readily persuaded my gallant friends the Peverils, who have always +shown themselves willing to be counselled by me." + +"Showing therein their wisdom at once and modesty," said the King. +"But what chanced next? Be brief--be like thyself, man." + +"For a time, sire," said the dwarf, "it seemed as if I were not the +principal object of attention. First, the younger Peveril was +withdrawn from us by a gentleman of venerable appearance, though +something smacking of a Puritan, having boots of neat's leather, and +wearing his weapon without a sword-knot. When Master Julian returned, +he informed us, for the first time, that we were in the power of a +body of armed fanatics who were, as the poet says, prompt for direful +act. And your Majesty will remark, that both father and son were in +some measure desperate, and disregardful from that moment of the +assurances which I gave them, that the star which I was bound to +worship, would, in her own time, shine forth in signal of our safety. +May it please your Majesty, in answer to my hilarious exhortations to +confidence, the father did but say /tush/, and the son /pshaw/, which +showed how men's prudence and manners are disturbed by affliction. +Nevertheless, these two gentlemen, the Peverils, forming a strong +opinion of the necessity there was to break forth, were it only to +convey a knowledge of these dangerous passages to your Majesty, +commenced an assault on the door of the apartment, I also assisting +with the strength which Heaven hath given, and some threescore years +have left me. We could not, as it unhappily proved, manage our attempt +so silently, but that our guards overheard us, and, entering in +numbers, separated us from each other, and compelled my companions, at +point of pike and poniard, to go to some other and more distant +apartment, thus separating our fair society. I was again enclosed in +the now solitary chamber, and I will own that I felt a certain +depression of soul. But when bale is at highest, as the poet singeth, +boot is at nighest, for a door of hope was suddenly opened----" + +"In the name of God, my liege," said the Duke of Ormond, "let this +poor creature's story be translated into the language of common sense +by some of the scribblers of romances about Court, and we may be able +to make meaning of it." + +Geoffrey Hudson looked with a frowning countenance of reproof upon the +impatient old Irish nobleman, and said, with a very dignified air, +"That one Duke upon a poor gentleman's hand was enough at a time, and +that, but for his present engagement and dependency with the Duke of +Buckingham, he would have endured no such terms from the Duke of +Ormond." + +"Abate your valour, and diminish your choler, at our request, most +puissant Sir Geoffrey Hudson," said the King; "and forgive the Duke of +Ormond for my sake; but at all events go on with your story." + +Geoffrey Hudson laid his hand on his bosom, and bowed in proud and +dignified submission to his Sovereign; then waved his forgiveness +gracefully to Ormond, accompanied with a horrible grin, which he +designed for a smile of gracious forgiveness and conciliation. "Under +the Duke's favour, then," he proceeded, "when I said a door of hope +was opened to me, I meant a door behind the tapestry, from whence +issued that fair vision--yet not so fair as lustrously dark, like the +beauty of a continental night, where the cloudless azure sky shrouds +us in a veil more lovely than that of day!--but I note your Majesty's +impatience;--enough. I followed my beautiful guide into an apartment, +where there lay, strangely intermingled, warlike arms and musical +instruments. Amongst these I saw my own late place of temporary +obscurity--a violoncello. To my astonishment, she turned around the +instrument, and opening it behind the pressure of a spring, showed +that it was filled with pistols, daggers, and ammunition made up in +bandoleers. 'These,' she said, 'are this night destined to surprise +the Court of the unwary Charles'--your Majesty must pardon my using +her own words; 'but if thou darest go in their stead, thou mayst be +the saviour of king and kingdoms; if thou art afraid, keep secret, I +will myself try the adventure.' Now may Heaven forbid, that Geoffrey +Hudson were craven enough, said I, to let thee run such a risk! You +know not--you cannot know, what belongs to such ambuscades and +concealments--I am accustomed to them--have lurked in the pocket of a +giant, and have formed the contents of a pasty. 'Get in then,' she +said, 'and lose no time.' Nevertheless, while I prepared to obey, I +will not deny that some cold apprehensions came over my hot valour, +and I confessed to her, if it might be so, I would rather find my way +to the palace on my own feet. But she would not listen to me, saying +hastily, 'I would be intercepted, or refused admittance, and that I +must embrace the means she offered me of introduction into the +presence, and when there, tell the King to be on his guard--little +more is necessary; for once the scheme is known, it becomes +desperate.' Rashly and boldly, I bid adieu to the daylight which was +then fading away. She withdrew the contents of the instrument destined +for my concealment, and having put them behind the chimney-board, +introduced me in their room. As she clasped me in, I implored her to +warn the men who were to be entrusted with me, to take heed and keep +the neck of the violoncello uppermost; but ere I had completed my +request, I found I was left alone, and in darkness, Presently, two or +three fellows entered, whom, by their language, which I in some sort +understood, I perceived to be Germans, and under the influence of the +Duke of Buckingham. I heard them receive from the leader a charge how +they were to deport themselves, when they should assume the concealed +arms--and--for I will do the Duke no wrong--I understood their orders +were precise, not only to spare the person of the King, but also those +of the courtiers, and to protect all who might be in the presence +against an irruption of the fanatics. In other respects, they had +charge to disarm the Gentlemen-pensioners in the guard-room, and, in +fine, to obtain the command of the Court." + +The King looked disconcerted and thoughtful at this communication, and +bade Lord Arlington see that Selby quietly made search into the +contents of the other cases which had been brought as containing +musical instruments. He then signed to the dwarf to proceed in his +story, asking him again and again, and very solemnly, whether he was +sure that he heard the Duke's name mentioned, as commanding or +approving this action. + +The dwarf answered in the affirmative. + +"This," said the King, "is carrying the frolic somewhat far." + +The dwarf proceeded to state, that he was carried after his +metamorphosis into the chapel, where he heard the preacher seemingly +about the close of his harangue, the tenor of which he also mentioned. +Words, he said, could not express the agony which he felt when he +found that his bearer, in placing the instrument in a corner, was +about to invert its position, in which case, he said, human frailty +might have proved too great for love, for loyalty, for true obedience, +nay, for the fear of death, which was like to ensue on discovery; and +he concluded, that he greatly doubted he could not have stood on his +head for many minutes without screaming aloud. + +"I could not have blamed you," said the King; "placed in such a +posture in the royal oak, I must needs have roared myself.--Is this +all you have to tell us of this strange conspiracy?" Sir Geoffrey +Hudson replied in the affirmative, and the King presently subjoined-- +"Go, my little friend, your services shall not be forgotten. Since +thou hast crept into the bowels of a fiddle for our service, we are +bound, in duty and conscience, to find you a more roomy dwelling in +future." + +"It was a violoncello, if your Majesty is pleased to remember," said +the little jealous man, "not a common fiddle; though, for your +Majesty's service, I would have crept even into a kit." + +"Whatever of that nature could have been performed by any subject of +ours, thou wouldst have enacted in our behalf--of that we hold +ourselves certain. Withdraw for a little; and hark ye, for the +present, beware what you say about this matter. Let your appearance be +considered--do you mark me--as a frolic of the Duke of Buckingham; and +not a word of conspiracy." + +"Were it not better to put him under some restraint, sire?" said the +Duke of Ormond, when Hudson had left the room. + +"It is unnecessary," said the King. "I remember the little wretch of +old. Fortune, to make him the model of absurdity, has closed a most +lofty soul within that little miserable carcass. For wielding his +sword and keeping his word, he is a perfect Don Quixote in decimo- +octavo. He shall be taken care of.--But, oddsfish, my lords, is not +this freak of Buckingham too villainous and ungrateful?" + +"He had not had the means of being so, had your Majesty," said the +Duke of Ormond, "been less lenient on other occasions." + +"My lord, my lord," said Charles hastily--"your lordship is +Buckingham's known enemy--we will take other and more impartial +counsel--Arlington, what think you of all this?" + +"May it please your Majesty," said Arlington, "I think the thing is +absolutely impossible, unless the Duke has had some quarrel with your +Majesty, of which we know nothing. His Grace is very flighty, +doubtless, but this seems actual insanity." + +"Why, faith," said the King, "some words passed betwixt us this +morning--his Duchess it seems is dead--and to lose no time, his Grace +had cast his eyes about for means of repairing the loss, and had the +assurance to ask our consent to woo my niece Lady Anne." + +"Which your Majesty of course rejected?" said the statesman. + +"And not without rebuking his assurance," added the King. + +"In private, sire, or before any witnesses?" said the Duke of Ormond. + +"Before no one," said the King,--"excepting, indeed, little Chiffinch; +and he, you know, is no one." + +"/Hinc illæ lachrymæ/," said Ormond. "I know his Grace well. While the +rebuke of his aspiring petulance was a matter betwixt your Majesty and +him, he might have let it pass by; but a check before a fellow from +whom it was likely enough to travel through the Court, was a matter to +be revenged." + +Here Selby came hastily from the other room, to say, that his Grace of +Buckingham had just entered the presence-chamber. + +The King rose. "Let a boat be in readiness, with a party of the +yeomen," said he. "It may be necessary to attach him of treason, and +send him to the Tower." + +"Should not a Secretary of State's warrant be prepared?" said Ormond. + +"No, my Lord Duke," said the King sharply. "I still hope that the +necessity may be avoided." + + + + CHAPTER XLVII + + High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect. + --RICHARD III. + +Before giving the reader an account of the meeting betwixt Buckingham +and his injured Sovereign, we may mention a trifling circumstance or +two which took place betwixt his Grace and Chiffinch, in the short +drive betwixt York Place and Whitehall. + +In the outset, the Duke endeavoured to learn from the courtier the +special cause of his being summoned so hastily to the Court. Chiffinch +answered, cautiously, that he believed there were some gambols going +forward, at which the King desired the Duke's presence. + +This did not quite satisfy Buckingham, for, conscious of his own rash +purpose, he could not but apprehend discovery. After a moment's +silence, "Chiffinch," he said abruptly, "did you mention to any one +what the King said to me this morning touching the Lady Anne?" + +"My Lord Duke," said Chiffinch, hesitantly, "surely my duty to the +King--my respect to your Grace----" + +"You mentioned it to no one, then?" said the Duke sternly. + +"To no one," replied Chiffinch faintly, for he was intimidated by the +Duke's increasing severity of manner. + +"Ye lie, like a scoundrel!" said the Duke--"You told Christian!" + +"Your Grace," said Chiffinch--"your Grace--your Grace ought to +remember that I told you Christian's secret; that the Countess of +Derby was come up." + +"And you think the one point of treachery may balance for the other? +But no. I must have a better atonement. Be assured I will blow your +brains out, ere you leave this carriage, unless you tell me the truth +of this message from Court." + +As Chiffinch hesitated what reply to make, a man, who, by the blaze of +the torches, then always borne, as well by the lackeys who hung behind +the carriage, as by the footmen who ran by the side, might easily see +who sat in the coach, approached, and sung in a deep manly voice, the +burden of an old French song on the battle of Marignan, in which is +imitated the German French of the defeated Swiss. + + "/Tout est verlore + La tintelore, + Tout est verlore/ + Bei Got." + +"I am betrayed," said the Duke, who instantly conceived that this +chorus, expressing "all is lost," was sung by one of his faithful +agents, as a hint to him that their machinations were discovered. + +He attempted to throw himself from the carriage, but Chiffinch held +him with a firm, though respectful grasp. "Do not destroy yourself, my +lord," he said, in a tone of deep humility--"there are soldiers and +officers of the peace around the carriage, to enforce your Grace's +coming to Whitehall, and to prevent your escape. To attempt it would +be to confess guilt; and I advise you strongly against that--the King +is your friend--be your own." + +The Duke, after a moment's consideration, said sullenly, "I believe +you are right. Why should I fly, when I am guilty of nothing but +sending some fireworks to entertain the Court, instead of a concert of +music?" + +"And the dwarf, who came so unexpectedly out of the bass-viol----" + +"Was a masking device of my own, Chiffinch," said the Duke, though the +circumstance was then first known to him. "Chiffinch, you will bind me +for ever, if you will permit me to have a minute's conversation with +Christian." + +"With Christian, my lord?--Where could you find him?--You are aware we +must go straight to the Court." + +"True," said the Duke, "but I think I cannot miss finding him; and +you, Master Chiffinch, are no officer, and have no warrant either to +detain me prisoner, or prevent my speaking to whom I please." + +Chiffinch replied, "My Lord Duke, your genius is so great, and your +escapes so numerous, that it will be from no wish of my own if I am +forced to hurt a man so skilful and so popular." + +"Nay, then, there is life in it yet," said the Duke, and whistled; +when, from beside the little cutler's booth, with which the reader is +acquainted, appeared, suddenly, Master Christian, and was in a moment +at the side of the coach. "/Ganz ist verloren/," said the Duke. + +"I know it," said Christian; "and all our godly friends are dispersed +upon the news. Luckily the Colonel and these German rascals gave a +hint. All is safe--You go to Court--Hark ye, I will follow." + +"You, Christian? that would be more friendly than wise." + +"Why, what is there against me?" said Christian. "I am innocent as the +child unborn--so is your Grace. There is but one creature who can bear +witness to our guilt; but I trust to bring her on the stage in our +favour--besides, if I were not, I should presently be sent for." + +"The familiar of whom I have heard you speak, I warrant?" + +"Hark in your ear again." + +"I understand," said the Duke, "and will delay Master Chiffinch,--for +he, you must know, is my conductor,--no longer.--Well, Chiffinch, let +them drive on.--/Vogue la Galère!/" he exclaimed, as the carriage went +onward; "I have sailed through worse perils than this yet." + +"It is not for me to judge," said Chiffinch; "your Grace is a bold +commander; and Christian hath the cunning of the devil for a pilot; +but----However, I remain your Grace's poor friend, and will heartily +rejoice in your extrication." + +"Give me a proof of your friendship," said the Duke. "Tell me what you +know of Christian's familiar, as he calls her." + +"I believe it to be the same dancing wench who came with Empson to my +house on the morning that Mistress Alice made her escape from us. But +you have seen her, my lord?" + +"I?" said the Duke; "when did I see her?" + +"She was employed by Christian, I believe, to set his niece at +liberty, when he found himself obliged to gratify his fanatical +brother-in-law, by restoring his child; besides being prompted by a +private desire, as I think, of bantering your Grace." + +"Umph! I suspected so much. I will repay it," said the Duke. "But +first to get out of this dilemma.--That little Numidian witch, then, +was his familiar; and she joined in the plot to tantalise me?--But +here we reach Whitehall.--Now, Chiffinch, be no worse than thy word, +and--now, Buckingham, be thyself!" + +But ere we follow Buckingham into the presence, where he had so +difficult a part to sustain, it may not be amiss to follow Christian +after his brief conversation with him. On re-entering the house, which +he did by a circuitous passage, leading from a distant alley, and +through several courts, Christian hastened to a low matted apartment, +in which Bridgenorth sat alone, reading the Bible by the light of a +small brazen lamp, with the utmost serenity of countenance. + +"Have you dismissed the Peverils?" said Christian hastily. + +"I have," said the Major. + +"And upon what pledge--that they will not carry information against +you to Whitehall?" + +"They gave me their promise voluntarily, when I showed them our armed +friends were dismissed. To-morrow, I believe, it is their purpose to +lodge informations." + +"And why not to-night, I pray you?" said Christian. + +"Because they allow us that time for escape." + +"Why, then, do you not avail yourself of it? Wherefore are you here?" +said Christian. + +"Nay, rather, why do /you/ not fly?" said Bridgenorth. "Of a surety, +you are as deeply engaged as I." + +"Brother Bridgenorth, I am the fox, who knows a hundred modes of +deceiving the hounds; you are the deer, whose sole resource is in +hasty flight. Therefore lose no time--begone to the country--or +rather, Zedekiah Fish's vessel, the /Good Hope/, lies in the river, +bound for Massachusetts--take the wings of the morning, and begone-- +she can fall down to Gravesend with the tide." + +"And leave to thee, brother Christian," said Bridgenorth, "the charge +of my fortune and my daughter? No, brother; my opinion of your good +faith must be re-established ere I again trust thee." + +"Go thy ways, then, for a suspicious fool," said Christian, +suppressing his strong desire to use language more offensive; "or +rather stay where thou art, and take thy chance of the gallows!" + +"It is appointed to all men to die once," said Bridgenorth; "my life +hath been a living death. My fairest boughs have been stripped by the +axe of the forester--that which survives must, if it shall blossom, be +grafted elsewhere, and at a distance from my aged trunk. The sooner, +then, the root feels the axe, the stroke is more welcome. I had been +pleased, indeed, had I been called to bringing yonder licentious Court +to a purer character, and relieving the yoke of the suffering people +of God. That youth too--son to that precious woman, to whom I owe the +last tie that feebly links my wearied spirit to humanity--could I have +travailed with /him/ in the good cause!--But that, with all my other +hopes is broken for ever; and since I am not worthy to be an +instrument in so great a work, I have little desire to abide longer in +this vale of sorrow." + +"Farewell, then, desponding fool!" said Christian, unable, with all +his calmness, any longer to suppress his contempt for the resigned and +hopeless predestinarian. "That fate should have clogged me with such +confederates!" he muttered, as he left the apartment--"this bigoted +fool is now nearly irreclaimable--I must to Zarah; for she, or no one, +must carry us through these straits. If I can but soothe her sullen +temper, and excite her vanity to action,--betwixt her address, the +King's partiality for the Duke, Buckingham's matchless effrontery, and +my own hand upon the helm, we may yet weather the tempest that darkens +around us. But what we do must be hastily done." + +In another apartment he found the person he sought--the same who +visited the Duke of Buckingham's harem, and, having relieved Alice +Bridgenorth from her confinement there, had occupied her place as has +been already narrated, or rather intimated. She was now much more +plainly attired than when she had tantalised the Duke with her +presence; but her dress had still something of the Oriental character, +which corresponded with the dark complexion and quick eye of the +wearer. She had the kerchief at her eyes as Christian entered the +apartment, but suddenly withdrew it, and, flashing on him a glance of +scorn and indignation, asked him what he meant by intruding where his +company was alike unsought for and undesired. + +"A proper question," said Christian, "from a slave to her master!" + +"Rather, say, a proper question, and of all questions the most proper, +from a mistress to her slave! Know you not, that from the hour in +which you discovered your ineffable baseness, you have made me +mistress of your lot? While you seemed but a demon of vengeance, you +commanded terror, and to good purpose; but such a foul fiend as thou +hast of late shown thyself--such a very worthless, base trickster of +the devil--such a sordid grovelling imp of perdition, can gain nothing +but scorn from a soul like mine." + +"Gallantly mouthed," said Christian, "and with good emphasis." + +"Yes," answered Zarah, "I can speak--sometimes--I can also be mute; +and that no one knows better than thou." + +"Thou art a spoiled child, Zarah, and dost but abuse the indulgence I +entertain for your freakish humour," replied Christian; "thy wits have +been disturbed since ever you landed in England, and all for the sake +of one who cares for thee no more than for the most worthless object +who walks the streets, amongst whom he left you to engage in a brawl +for one he loved better." + +"It is no matter," said Zarah, obviously repressing very bitter +emotion; "it signifies not that he loves another better; there is none +--no, none--that ever did, or can, love him so well." + +"I pity you, Zarah!" said Christian, with some scorn. + +"I deserve your pity," she replied, "were your pity worth my +accepting. Whom have I to thank for my wretchedness but you?--You bred +me up in thirst of vengeance, ere I knew that good and evil were +anything better than names;--to gain your applause, and to gratify the +vanity you had excited, I have for years undergone a penance, from +which a thousand would have shrunk." + +"A thousand, Zarah!" answered Christian; "ay, a hundred thousand, and +a million to boot; the creature is not on earth, being mere mortal +woman, that would have undergone the thirtieth part of thy self- +denial." + +"I believe it," said Zarah, drawing up her slight but elegant figure; +"I believe it--I have gone through a trial that few indeed could have +sustained. I have renounced the dear intercourse of my kind; compelled +my tongue only to utter, like that of a spy, the knowledge which my +ear had only collected as a base eavesdropper. This I have done for +years--for years--and all for the sake of your private applause--and +the hope of vengeance on a woman, who, if she did ill in murdering my +father, has been bitterly repaid by nourishing a serpent in her bosom, +that had the tooth, but not the deafened ear, of the adder." + +"Well--well--well," reiterated Christian; "and had you not your reward +in my approbation--in the consequences of your own unequalled +dexterity--by which, superior to anything of thy sex that history has +ever known, you endured what woman never before endured, insolence +without notice, admiration without answer, and sarcasm without reply?" + +"Not without reply!" said Zarah fiercely. "Gave not Nature to my +feelings a course of expression more impressive than words? and did +not those tremble at my shrieks, who would have little minded my +entreaties or my complaints? And my proud lady, who sauced her +charities with the taunts she thought I heard not--she was justly paid +by the passing her dearest and most secret concerns into the hands of +her mortal enemy; and the vain Earl--yet he was a thing as +insignificant as the plume that nodded in his cap;--and the maidens +and ladies who taunted me--I had, or can easily have, my revenge upon +them. But there is /one/," she added, looking upward, "who never +taunted me; one whose generous feelings could treat the poor dumb girl +even as his sister; who never spoke word of her but was to excuse or +defend--and you tell me I must not love him, and that it is madness to +love him!--I /will/ be mad then, for I will love till the latest +breath of my life!" + +"Think but an instant, silly girl--silly but in one respect, since in +all others thou mayest brave the world of women. Think what I have +proposed to thee, for the loss of this hopeless affection, a career so +brilliant!--Think only that it rests with thyself to be the wife--the +wedded wife--of the princely Buckingham! With my talents--with thy wit +and beauty--with his passionate love of these attributes--a short +space might rank you among England's princesses.--Be but guided by me +--he is now at deadly pass--needs every assistance to retrieve his +fortunes--above all, that which we alone can render him. Put yourself +under my conduct, and not fate itself shall prevent your wearing a +Duchess's coronet." + +"A coronet of thistle-down, entwined with thistle-leaves," said Zarah. +--"I know not a slighter thing than your Buckingham! I saw him at your +request--saw him when, as a man, he should have shown himself generous +and noble--I stood the proof at your desire, for I laugh at those +dangers from which the poor blushing wailers of my sex shrink and +withdraw themselves. What did I find him?--a poor wavering voluptuary +--his nearest attempt to passion like the fire on a wretched stubble- +field, that may singe, indeed, or smoke, but can neither warm nor +devour. Christian! were his coronet at my feet this moment, I would +sooner take up a crown of gilded gingerbread, than extend my hand to +raise it." + +"You are mad, Zarah--with all your taste and talent, you are utterly +mad! But let Buckingham pass--Do you owe /me/ nothing on this +emergency?--Nothing to one who rescued you from the cruelty of your +owner, the posture-master, to place you in ease and affluence?" + +"Christian," she replied, "I owe you much. Had I not felt I did so, I +would, as I have been often tempted to do, have denounced thee to the +fierce Countess, who would have gibbeted you on her feudal walls of +Castle Rushin, and bid your family seek redress from the eagles, that +would long since have thatched their nest with your hair, and fed +their young ospreys with your flesh." + +"I am truly glad you have had so much forbearance for me," answered +Christian. + +"I have it, in truth and in sincerity," replied Zarah--"Not for your +benefits to me--such as they were, they were every one interested, and +conferred from the most selfish considerations. I have overpaid them a +thousand times by the devotion to your will, which I have displayed at +the greatest personal risk. But till of late I respected your powers +of mind--your inimitable command of passion--the force of intellect +which I have ever seen you exercise over all others, from the bigot +Bridgenorth to the debauched Buckingham--in that, indeed, I have +recognised my master." + +"And those powers," said Christian, "are unlimited as ever; and with +thy assistance, thou shalt see the strongest meshes that the laws of +civil society ever wove to limit the natural dignity of man, broke +asunder like a spider's web." + +She paused and answered, "While a noble motive fired thee--ay, a noble +motive, though irregular--for I was born to gaze on the sun which the +pale daughters of Europe shrink from--I could serve thee--I could have +followed, while revenge or ambition had guided thee--but love of +/wealth/, and by what means acquired!--What sympathy can I hold with +that?--Wouldst thou not have pandered to the lust of the King, though +the object was thine own orphan niece?--You smile?--Smile again when I +ask you whether you meant not my own prostitution, when you charged me +to remain in the house of that wretched Buckingham?--Smile at that +question, and by Heaven, I stab you to the heart!" And she thrust her +hand into her bosom, and partly showed the hilt of a small poniard. + +"And if I smile," said Christian, "it is but in scorn of so odious an +accusation. Girl, I will not tell thee the reason, but there exists +not on earth the living thing over whose safety and honour I would +keep watch as over thine. Buckingham's wife, indeed, I wished thee; +and through thy own beauty and thy wit, I doubted not to bring the +match to pass." + +"Vain flatterer," said Zarah, yet seeming soothed even by the flattery +which she scoffed at, "you would persuade me that it was honourable +love which you expected the Duke was to have offered me. How durst you +urge a gross a deception, to which time, place, and circumstance gave +the lie?--How dare you now again mention it, when you well know, that +at the time you mention, the Duchess was still in life?" + +"In life, but on her deathbed," said Christian; "and for time, place, +and circumstance, had your virtue, my Zarah, depended on these, how +couldst thou have been the creature thou art? I knew thee all- +sufficient to bid him defiance--else--for thou art dearer to me than +thou thinkest--I had not risked thee to win the Duke of Buckingham; +ay, and the kingdom of England to boot. So now, wilt thou be ruled and +go on with me?" + +Zarah, or Fenella, for our readers must have been long aware of the +identity of these two personages, cast down her eyes, and was silent +for a long time. "Christian," she said at last, in a solemn voice, "if +my ideas of right and of wrong be wild and incoherent, I owe it, +first, to the wild fever which my native sun communicated to my veins; +next, to my childhood, trained amidst the shifts, tricks, and feats of +jugglers and mountebanks; and then, to a youth of fraud and deception, +through the course thou didst prescribe me, in which I might, indeed, +hear everything, but communicate with no one. The last cause of my +wild errors, if such they are, originates, O Christian, with you +alone; by whose intrigues I was placed with yonder lady, and who +taught me, that to revenge my father's death, was my first great duty +on earth, and that I was bound by nature to hate and injure her by +whom I was fed and fostered, though as she would have fed and caressed +a dog, or any other mute animal. I also think--for I will deal fairly +with you--that you had not so easily detected your niece, in the child +whose surprising agility was making yonder brutal mountebank's +fortune; nor so readily induced him to part with his bond-slave, had +you not, for your own purposes, placed me under his charge, and +reserved the privilege of claiming me when you pleased. I could not, +under any other tuition, have identified myself with the personage of +a mute, which it has been your desire that I should perform through +life." + +"You do me injustice, Zarah," said Christian--"I found you capable of +the avenging of your father's death--I consecrated you to it, as I +consecrated my own life and hopes; and you held the duty sacred, till +these mad feeling towards a youth who loves your cousin----" + +"Who--loves--my--cousin," repeated Zarah (for we will continue to call +her by her real name) slowly, and as if the words dropped +unconsciously from her lips. "Well--be it so!--Man of many wiles, I +will follow thy course for a little, a very little farther; but take +heed--tease me not with remonstrances against the treasure of my +secret thoughts--I mean my most hopeless affection to Julian Peveril-- +and bring me not as an assistant to any snare which you may design to +cast around him. You and your Duke shall rue the hour most bitterly, +in which you provoke me. You may suppose you have me in your power; +but remember, the snakes of my burning climate are never so fatal as +when you grasp them." + +"I care not for these Peverils," said Christian--"I care not for their +fate a poor straw, unless where it bears on that of the destined +woman, whose hands are red in your father's blood. Believe me, I can +divide her fate and theirs. I will explain to you how. And for the +Duke, he may pass among men of the town for wit, and among soldiers +for valour, among courtiers for manners and for form; and why, with +his high rank and immense fortune, you should throw away an +opportunity, which, as I could now improve it----" + +"Speak not of it," said Zarah, "if thou wouldst have our truce-- +remember it is no peace--if, I say, thou wouldst have our truce grow +to be an hour old!" + +"This, then," said Christian, with a last effort to work upon the +vanity of this singular being, "is she who pretended such superiority +to human passion, that she could walk indifferently and unmoved +through the halls of the prosperous, and the prison cells of the +captive, unknowing and unknown, sympathising neither with the +pleasures of the one, nor the woes of the other, but advancing with +sure, though silent steps, her own plans, in despite and regardless of +either!" + +"My own plans!" said Zarah--"/Thy/ plans, Christian--thy plans of +extorting from the surprised prisoners, means whereby to convict them +--thine own plans, formed with those more powerful than thyself, to +sound men's secrets, and, by using them as a matter of accusation, to +keep up the great delusion of the nation." + +"Such access was indeed given you as my agent," said Christian, "and +for advancing a great national change. But how did you use it?--to +advance your insane passion." + +"Insane!" said Zarah--"Had he been less than insane whom I addressed, +he and I had ere now been far from the toils which you have pitched +for us both. I had means prepared for everything; and ere this, the +shores of Britain had been lost to our sight for ever." + +"The dwarf, too," said Christian--"Was it worthy of you to delude that +poor creature with flattering visions--lull him asleep with drugs! Was +/that/ my doing?" + +"He was my destined tool," said Zarah haughtily. "I remembered your +lessons too well not to use him as such. Yet scorn him not too much. I +tell you, that yon very miserable dwarf, whom I made my sport in the +prison--yon wretched abortion of nature, I would select for a husband, +ere I would marry your Buckingham;--the vain and imbecile pigmy has +yet the warm heart and noble feelings, that a man should hold his +highest honour." + +"In God's name, then, take your own way," said Christian; "and, for my +sake, let never man hereafter limit a woman in the use of her tongue, +since he must make it amply up to her, in allowing her the privilege +of her own will. Who would have thought it? But the colt has slipped +the bridle, and I must needs follow, since I cannot guide her." + +Our narrative returns to the Court of King Charles at Whitehall. + + + + CHAPTER XLVIII + + ----But oh! + What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop; thou cruel, + Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature! + Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels, + That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, + That almost mightst have coined me into gold, + Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use? + --HENRY V. + +At no period of his life, not even when that life was in imminent +danger, did the constitutional gaiety of Charles seem more +overclouded, than when waiting for the return of Chiffinch with the +Duke of Buckingham. His mind revolted at the idea, that the person to +whom he had been so particularly indulgent, and whom he had selected +as the friend of his lighter hours and amusements, should prove +capable of having tampered with a plot apparently directed against his +liberty and life. He more than once examined the dwarf anew, but could +extract nothing more than his first narrative contained. The +apparition of the female to him in the cell of Newgate, he described +in such fanciful and romantic colours, that the King could not help +thinking the poor man's head a little turned; and, as nothing was +found in the kettledrum, and other musical instruments brought for the +use of the Duke's band of foreigners, he nourished some slight hope +that the whole plan might be either a mere jest, or that the idea of +an actual conspiracy was founded in mistake. + +The persons who had been despatched to watch the motions of Mr. +Weiver's congregation, brought back word that they had quietly +dispersed. It was known, at the same time, that they had met in arms, +but this augured no particular design of aggression, at a time when +all true Protestants conceived themselves in danger of immediate +massacre; when the fathers of the city had repeatedly called out the +Train-Bands, and alarmed the citizens of London, under the idea of an +instant insurrection of the Catholics; and when, to sum the whole up, +in the emphatic words of an alderman of the day, there was a general +belief that they would all waken some unhappy morning with their +throats cut. Who was to do these dire deeds, it was more difficult to +suppose; but all admitted the possibility that they might be achieved, +since one Justice of the Peace was already murdered. There was, +therefore, no inference of hostile intentions against the State, to be +decidedly derived from a congregation of Protestants /par excellence/, +military from old associations, bringing their arms with them to a +place of worship, in the midst of a panic so universal. + +Neither did the violent language of the minister, supposing that to be +proved, absolutely infer meditated violence. The favourite parables of +the preachers, and the metaphors and ornaments which they selected, +were at all times of a military cast; and the taking the kingdom of +heaven by storm, a strong and beautiful metaphor, when used generally +as in Scripture, was detailed in their sermons in all the technical +language of the attack and defence of a fortified place. The danger, +in short, whatever might have been its actual degree, had disappeared +as suddenly as a bubble upon the water, when broken by a casual touch, +and had left as little trace behind it. It became, therefore, matter +of much doubt, whether it had ever actually existed. + +While various reports were making from without, and while their tenor +was discussed by the King, and such nobles and statesmen as he thought +proper to consult on the occasion, a gradual sadness and anxiety +mingled with, and finally silenced, the mirth of the evening. All +became sensible that something unusual was going forward; and the +unwonted distance which Charles maintained from his guests, while it +added greatly to the dulness that began to predominate in the +presence-chamber, gave intimation that something unusual was labouring +in the King's mind. + +Thus play was neglected--the music was silent, or played without being +heard--gallants ceased to make compliments, and ladies to expect them; +and a sort of apprehensive curiosity pervaded the circle. Each asked +the others why they were grave; and no answer was returned, any more +than could have been rendered by a herd of cattle instinctively +disturbed by the approach of a thunderstorm. + +To add to the general apprehension, it began to be whispered, that one +or two of the guests, who were desirous of leaving the palace, had +been informed no one could be permitted to retire until the general +hour of dismissal. And these, gliding back into the hall, +communicated in whispers that the sentinels at the gates were doubled, +and that there was a troop of the Horse Guards drawn up in the court-- +circumstances so unusual, as to excite the most anxious curiosity. + +Such was the state of the Court, when wheels were heard without, and +the bustle which took place denoted the arrival of some person of +consequence. + +"Here comes Chiffinch," said the King, "with his prey in his clutch." + +It was indeed the Duke of Buckingham; nor did he approach the royal +presence without emotion. On entering the court, the flambeaux which +were borne around the carriage gleamed on the scarlet coats, laced +hats, and drawn broadswords of the Horse Guards--a sight unusual, and +calculated to strike terror into a conscience which was none of the +clearest. + +The Duke alighted from the carriage, and only said to the officer, +whom he saw upon duty, "You are late under arms to-night, Captain +Carleton." + +"Such are our orders, sir," answered Carleton, with military brevity; +and then commanded the four dismounted sentinels at the under gate to +make way for the Duke of Buckingham. His Grace had no sooner entered, +than he heard behind him the command, "Move close up, sentinels-- +closer yet to the gate." And he felt as if all chance of rescue were +excluded by the sound. + +As he advanced up the grand staircase, there were other symptoms of +alarm and precaution. The Yeomen of the Guard were mustered in unusual +numbers, and carried carabines instead of their halberds; and the +Gentlemen-pensioners, with their partisans, appeared also in +proportional force. In short, all that sort of defence which the royal +household possesses within itself, seemed, for some hasty and urgent +reason, to have been placed under arms, and upon duty. + +Buckingham ascended the royal staircase with an eye attentive to these +preparations, and a step steady and slow, as if he counted each step +on which he trode. "Who," he asked himself, "shall ensure Christian's +fidelity? Let him but stand fast, and we are secure. Otherwise----" + +As he shaped the alternative, he entered the presence-chamber. + +The King stood in the midst of the apartment, surrounded by the +personages with whom he had been consulting. The rest of the brilliant +assembly, scattered into groups, looked on at some distance. All were +silent when Buckingham entered, in hopes of receiving some explanation +of the mysteries of the evening. All bent forward, though etiquette +forbade them to advance, to catch, if possible, something of what was +about to pass betwixt the King and his intriguing statesman. At the +same time, those counsellors who stood around Charles, drew back on +either side, so as to permit the Duke to pay his respects to his +Majesty in the usual form. He went through the ceremonial with his +accustomed grace, but was received by Charles with much unwonted +gravity. + +"We have waited for you some time, my Lord Duke. It is long since +Chiffinch left us, to request your attendance here. I see you are +elaborately dressed. Your toilette was needless on the present +occasion." + +"Needless to the splendour of your Majesty's Court," said the Duke, +"but not needless on my part. This chanced to be Black Monday at York +Place, and my club of /Pendables/ were in full glee when your +Majesty's summons arrived. I could not be in the company of Ogle, +Maniduc, Dawson, and so forth, but what I must needs make some +preparation, and some ablution, ere entering the circle here." + +"I trust the purification will be complete," said the King, without +any tendency to the smile which always softened features, that, +ungilded by its influence, were dark, harsh, and even severe. "We +wished to ask your Grace concerning the import of a sort of musical +mask which you designed us here, but which miscarried, as we are given +to understand." + +"It must have been a great miscarriage indeed," said the Duke, "since +your Majesty looks so serious on it. I thought to have done your +Majesty pleasure (as I have seen you condescend to be pleased with +such passages), by sending the contents of that bass-viol; but I fear +the jest has been unacceptable--I fear the fireworks may have done +mischief." + +"Not the mischief they were designed for, perhaps," said the King +gravely; "you see, my lord, we are all alive, and unsinged." + +"Long may your Majesty remain so," said the Duke; "yet I see there is +something misconstrued on my part--it must be a matter unpardonable, +however little intended, since it hath displeased so indulgent a +master." + +"Too indulgent a master, indeed, Buckingham," replied the King; "and +the fruit of my indulgence has been to change loyal men into +traitors." + +"May it please your Majesty, I cannot understand this," said the Duke. + +"Follow us, my lord," answered Charles, "and we will endeavour to +explain our meaning." + +Attended by the same lords who stood around him, and followed by the +Duke of Buckingham, on whom all eyes were fixed, Charles retired into +the same cabinet which had been the scene of repeated consultations in +the course of the evening. There, leaning with his arms crossed on the +back of an easy-chair, Charles proceeded to interrogate the suspected +nobleman. + +"Let us be plain with each other. Speak out, Buckingham. What, in one +word, was to have been the regale intended for us this evening?" + +"A petty mask, my lord. I had destined a little dancing-girl to come +out of that instrument, who, I thought, would have performed to your +Majesty's liking--a few Chinese fireworks there were, thinking the +entertainment was to have taken place in the marble hall, might, I +hoped, have been discharged with good effect, and without the +slightest alarm, at the first appearance of my little sorceress, and +were designed to have masked, as it were, her entrance upon the stage. +I hope there have been no perukes singed--no ladies frightened--no +hopes of noble descent interrupted by my ill-fancied jest." + +"We have seen no such fireworks, my lord; and your female dancer, of +whom we now hear for the first time, came forth in the form of our old +acquaintance Geoffrey Hudson, whose dancing days are surely ended." + +"Your Majesty surprises me! I beseech you, let Christian be sent for-- +Edward Christian--he will be found lodging in a large old house near +Sharper the cutler's, in the Strand. As I live by bread, sire, I +trusted him with the arrangement of this matter, as indeed the +dancing-girl was his property. If he has done aught to dishonour my +concert, or disparage my character, he shall die under the baton." + +"It is singular," said the King, "and I have often observed it, that +this fellow Christian bears the blame of all men's enormities--he +performs the part which, in a great family, is usually assigned to +that mischief-doing personage, Nobody. When Chiffinch blunders, he +always quotes Christian. When Sheffield writes a lampoon, I am sure to +hear of Christian having corrected, or copied, or dispersed it--he is +the /ame damnée/ of every one about my Court--the scapegoat, who is to +carry away all their iniquities; and he will have a cruel load to bear +into the wilderness. But for Buckingham's sins, in particular, he is +the regular and uniform sponsor; and I am convinced his Grace expects +Christian should suffer every penalty he has incurred, in this world +or the next." + +"Not so," with the deepest reverence replied the Duke. "I have no hope +of being either hanged or damned by proxy; but it is clear some one +hath tampered with and altered my device. If I am accused of aught, +let me at least hear the charge, and see my accuser." + +"That is but fair," said the King. "Bring our little friend from +behind the chimney-board. [Hudson being accordingly produced, he +continued.] There stands the Duke of Buckingham. Repeat before him the +tale you told us. Let him hear what were those contents of the bass- +viol which were removed that you might enter it. Be not afraid of any +one, but speak the truth boldly." + +"May it please your Majesty," said Hudson, "fear is a thing unknown to +me." + +"His body has no room to hold such a passion; or there is too little +of it to be worth fearing for," said Buckingham.--"But let him speak." + +Ere Hudson had completed his tale, Buckingham interrupted him by +exclaiming, "Is it possible that I can be suspected by your Majesty on +the word of this pitiful variety of the baboon tribe?" + +"Villain-Lord, I appeal thee to the combat!" said the little man, +highly offended at the appellation thus bestowed on him. + +"La you there now!" said the Duke--"The little animal is quite crazed, +and defies a man who need ask no other weapon than a corking-pin to +run him through the lungs, and whose single kick could hoist him from +Dover to Calais without yacht or wherry. And what can you expect from +an idiot, who is /engoué/ of a common rope-dancing girl, that capered +on a pack-thread at Ghent in Flanders, unless they were to club their +talents to set up a booth at Bartholomew Fair?--Is it not plain, that +supposing the little animal is not malicious, as indeed his whole kind +bear a general and most cankered malice against those who have the +ordinary proportions of humanity--Grant, I say, that this were not a +malicious falsehood of his, why, what does it amount to?--That he has +mistaken squibs and Chinese crackers for arms! He says not he himself +touched or handled them; and judging by the sight alone, I question if +the infirm old creature, when any whim or preconception hath +possession of his noddle, can distinguish betwixt a blunderbuss and a +black-pudding." + +The horrible clamour which the dwarf made so soon as he heard this +disparagement of his military skill--the haste with which he blundered +out a detail of this warlike experiences--and the absurd grimaces +which he made in order to enforce his story, provoked not only the +risibility of Charles, but even of the statesmen around him, and added +absurdity to the motley complexion of the scene. The King terminated +this dispute, by commanding the dwarf to withdraw. + +A more regular discussion of his evidence was then resumed, and Ormond +was the first who pointed out, that it went farther than had been +noticed, since the little man had mentioned a certain extraordinary +and treasonable conversation held by the Duke's dependents, by whom he +had been conveyed to the palace. + +"I am sure not to lack my lord of Ormond's good word," said the Duke +scornfully; "but I defy him alike, and all my other enemies, and shall +find it easy to show that this alleged conspiracy, if any grounds for +it at all exist, in a mere sham-plot, got up to turn the odium justly +attached to the Papists upon the Protestants. Here is a half-hanged +creature, who, on the very day he escapes from the gallows, which many +believe was his most deserved destiny, comes to take away the +reputation of a Protestant Peer--and on what?--on the treasonable +conversation of three or four German fiddlers, heard through the +sound-holes of a violoncello, and that, too, when the creature was +incased in it, and mounted on a man's shoulders! The urchin, too, in +repeating their language, shows he understands German as little as my +horse does; and if he did rightly hear, truly comprehend, and +accurately report what they said, still, is my honour to be touched by +the language held by such persons as these are, with whom I have never +communicated, otherwise than men of my rank do with those of their +calling and capacity?--Pardon me, sire, if I presume to say, that the +profound statesmen who endeavoured to stifle the Popish conspiracy by +the pretended Meal-tub Plot, will take little more credit by their +figments about fiddles and concertos." + +The assistant counsellors looked at each other; and Charles turned on +his heel, and walked through the room with long steps. + +At this period the Peverils, father and son, were announced to have +reached the palace, and were ordered into the royal presence. + +These gentlemen had received the royal mandate at a moment of great +interest. After being dismissed from their confinement by the elder +Bridgenorth, in the manner and upon the terms which the reader must +have gathered from the conversation of the latter with Christian, they +reached the lodgings of Lady Peveril, who awaited them with joy, +mingled with terror and uncertainty. The news of the acquittal had +reached her by the exertions of the faithful Lance Outram, but her +mind had been since harassed by the long delay of their appearance, +and rumours of disturbances which had taken place in Fleet Street and +in the Strand. + +When the first rapturous meeting was over, Lady Peveril, with an +anxious look towards her son, as if recommending caution, said she was +now about to present to him the daughter of an old friend, whom he had +/never/ (there was an emphasis on the word) seen before. "This young +lady," she continued, "was the only child of Colonel Mitford, in North +Wales, who had sent her to remain under her guardianship for an +interval, finding himself unequal to attempt the task of her +education." + +"Ay, ay," said Sir Geoffrey, "Dick Mitford must be old now--beyond the +threescore and ten, I think. He was no chicken, though a cock of the +game, when he joined the Marquis of Hertford at Namptwich with two +hundred wild Welshmen.--Before George, Julian, I love that girl as if +she was my own flesh and blood! Lady Peveril would never have got +through this work without her; and Dick Mitford sent me a thousand +pieces, too, in excellent time, when there was scarce a cross to keep +the devil from dancing in our pockets, much more for these law-doings. +I used it without scruple, for there is wood ready to be cut at +Martindale when we get down there, and Dick Mitford knows I would have +done the like for him. Strange that he should have been the only one +of my friends to reflect I might want a few pieces." + +Whilst Sir Geoffrey thus run on, the meeting betwixt Alice and Julian +Peveril was accomplished, without any particular notice on his side, +except to say, "Kiss her, Julian--kiss her. What the devil! is that +the way you learned to accost a lady at the Isle of Man, as if her +lips were a red-hot horseshoe?--And do not you be offended, my pretty +one; Julian is naturally bashful, and has been bred by an old lady, +but you will find him, by-and-by, as gallant as thou hast found me, my +princess.--And now, Dame Peveril, to dinner, to dinner! the old fox +must have his belly-timber, though the hounds have been after him the +whole day." + +Lance, whose joyous congratulations were next to be undergone, had the +consideration to cut them short, in order to provide a plain but +hearty meal from the next cook's shop, at which Julian sat, like one +enchanted, betwixt his mistress and his mother. He easily conceived +that the last was the confidential friend to whom Bridgenorth had +finally committed the charge of his daughter, and his only anxiety now +was, to anticipate the confusion that was likely to arise when her +real parentage was made known to his father. Wisely, however, he +suffered not these anticipations to interfere with the delight of his +present situation, in the course of which many slight but delightful +tokens of recognition were exchanged, without censure, under the eye +of Lady Peveril, under cover of the boisterous mirth of the old +Baronet, who spoke for two, ate for four, and drank wine for half-a- +dozen. His progress in the latter exercise might have proceeded rather +too far, had he not been interrupted by a gentleman bearing the King's +orders, that he should instantly attend upon the presence at +Whitehall, and bring his son along with him. + +Lady Peveril was alarmed, and Alice grew pale with sympathetic +anxiety; but the old Knight, who never saw more than what lay straight +before him, set it down to the King's hasty anxiety to congratulate +him on his escape; an interest on his Majesty's part which he +considered by no means extravagant, conscious that it was reciprocal +on his own side. It came upon him, indeed, with the more joyful +surprise that he had received a previous hint, ere he left the court +of justice, that it would be prudent in him to go down to Martindale +before presenting himself at Court--a restriction which he supposed as +repugnant to his Majesty's feelings as it was to his own. + +While he consulted with Lance Outram about cleaning his buff-belt and +sword-hilt, as well as time admitted, Lady Peveril had the means to +give Julian more distinct information, that Alice was under her +protection by her father's authority, and with his consent to their +union, if it could be accomplished. She added that it was her +determination to employ the mediation of the Countess of Derby, to +overcome the obstacles which might be foreseen on the part of Sir +Geoffrey. + + + + CHAPTER XLIX + + In the King's name, + Let fall your swords and daggers! + --CRITIC. + +When the father and son entered the cabinet of audience, it was easily +visible that Sir Geoffrey had obeyed the summons as he would have done +the trumpet's call to horse; and his dishevelled grey locks and half- +arranged dress, though they showed zeal and haste, such as he would +have used when Charles I. called him to attend a council of war, +seemed rather indecorous in a pacific drawing-room. He paused at the +door of the cabinet, but when the King called on him to advance, came +hastily forward, with every feeling of his earlier and later life +afloat, and contending in his memory, threw himself on his knees +before the King, seized his hand, and, without even an effort to +speak, wept aloud. Charles, who generally felt deeply so long as an +impressive object was before his eyes, indulged for a moment the old +man's rapture.--"My good Sir Geoffrey," he said, "you have had some +hard measure; we owe you amends, and will find time to pay our debt." + +"No suffering--no debt," said the old man; "I cared not what the +rogues said of me--I knew they could never get twelve honest fellows +to believe a word of their most damnable lies. I did long to beat them +when they called me traitor to your Majesty--that I confess--But to +have such an early opportunity of paying my duty to your Majesty, +overpays it all. The villains would have persuaded me I ought not to +come to Court--aha!" + +The Duke of Ormond perceived that the King coloured much; for in truth +it was from the Court that the private intimation had been given to +Sir Geoffrey to go down to the country, without appearing at +Whitehall; and he, moreover, suspected that the jolly old Knight had +not risen from his dinner altogether dry-lipped, after the fatigues of +a day so agitating.--"My old friend," he whispered, "you forget that +your son is to be presented--permit me to have that honour." + +"I crave your Grace's pardon humbly," said Sir Geoffrey, "but it is an +honour I design for myself, as I apprehend no one can so utterly +surrender and deliver him up to his Majesty's service as the father +that begot him is entitled to do.--Julian, come forward, and kneel.-- +Here he is, please your Majesty--Julian Peveril--a chip of the old +block--as stout, though scarce so tall a tree, as the old trunk, when +at the freshest. Take him to you, sir, for a faithful servant, /à +pendre/, as the French say; if he fears fire or steel, axe or gallows, +in your Majesty's service, I renounce him--he is no son of mine--I +disown him, and he may go to the Isle of Man, the Isle of Dogs, or the +Isle of Devils, for what I care." + +Charles winked to Ormond, and having, with his wonted courtesy, +expressed his thorough conviction that Julian would imitate the +loyalty of his ancestors, and especially of his father, added, that he +believed his Grace of Ormond had something to communicate which was of +consequence to his service. Sir Geoffrey made his military reverence +at this hint, and marched off in the rear of the Duke, who proceeded +to inquire of him concerning the events of the day. Charles, in the +meanwhile, having in the first place, ascertained that the son was not +in the same genial condition with the father, demanded and received +from him a precise account of all the proceedings subsequent to the +trial. + +Julian, with the plainness and precision which such a subject +demanded, when treated in such a presence, narrated all that happened +down to the entrance of Bridgenorth; and his Majesty was so much +pleased with his manner, that he congratulated Arlington on their +having gained the evidence of at least one man of sense to these dark +and mysterious events. But when Bridgenorth was brought upon the +scene, Julian hesitated to bestow a name upon him; and although he +mentioned the chapel which he had seen filled with men in arms, and +the violent language of the preacher, he added, with earnestness, that +notwithstanding all this, the men departed without coming to any +extremity, and had all left the place before his father and he were +set at liberty. + +"And you retired quietly to your dinner in Fleet Street, young man," +said the King severely, "without giving a magistrate notice of the +dangerous meeting which was held in the vicinity of our palace, and +who did not conceal their intention of proceeding to extremities?" + +Peveril blushed, and was silent. The King frowned, and stepped aside +to communicate with Ormond, who reported that the father seemed to +have known nothing of the matter. + +"And the son, I am sorry to say," said the King, "seems more unwilling +to speak the truth than I should have expected. We have all variety of +evidence in this singular investigation--a mad witness like the dwarf, +a drunken witness like the father, and now a dumb witness.--Young +man," he continued, addressing Julian, "your behaviour is less frank +than I expected from your father's son. I must know who this person is +with whom you held such familiar intercourse--you know him, I +presume?" + +Julian acknowledged that he did, but, kneeling on one knee, entreated +his Majesty's forgiveness for concealing his name; "he had been +freed," he said, "from his confinement, on promising to that effect." + +"That was a promise made, by your own account, under compulsion," +answered the King, "and I cannot authorise your keeping it; it is your +duty to speak the truth--if you are afraid of Buckingham, the Duke +shall withdraw." + +"I have no reason to fear the Duke of Buckingham," said Peveril; "that +I had an affair with one of his household, was the man's own fault and +not mine." + +"Oddsfish!" said the King, "the light begins to break in on me--I +thought I remembered thy physiognomy. Wert thou not the very fellow +whom I met at Chiffinch's yonder morning?--The matter escaped me +since; but now I recollect thou saidst then, that thou wert the son of +that jolly old three-bottle Baronet yonder." + +"It is true," said Julian, "that I met your Majesty at Master +Chiffinch's, and I am afraid had the misfortune to displease you; +but----" + +"No more of that, young man--no more of that--But I recollect you had +with you that beautiful dancing siren.--Buckingham, I will hold you +gold to silver, that she was the intended tenant of that bass-fiddle?" + +"Your Majesty has rightly guessed it," said the Duke; "and I suspect +she has put a trick upon me, by substituting the dwarf in her place; +for Christian thinks----" + +"Damn Christian!" said the King hastily--"I wish they would bring him +hither, that universal referee."--And as the wish was uttered, +Christian's arrival was announced. "Let him attend," said the King: +"But hark--a thought strikes me.--Here, Master Peveril--yonder dancing +maiden that introduced you to us by the singular agility of her +performance, is she not, by your account, a dependent of the Countess +of Derby?" + +"I have known her such for years," answered Julian. + +"Then will we call the Countess hither," said the King: "It is fit we +should learn who this little fairy really is; and if she be now so +absolutely at the beck of Buckingham, and this Master Christian of +his--why I think it would be but charity to let her ladyship know so +much, since I question if she will wish, in that case, to retain her +in her service. Besides," he continued, speaking apart, "this Julian, +to whom suspicion attaches in these matters from his obstinate +silence, is also of the Countess's household. We will sift this matter +to the bottom, and do justice to all." + +The Countess of Derby, hastily summoned, entered the royal closet at +one door, just as Christian and Zarah, or Fenella, were ushered in by +the other. The old Knight of Martindale, who had ere this returned to +the presence, was scarce controlled, even by the signs which she made, +so much was he desirous of greeting his old friend; but as Ormond laid +a kind restraining hand upon his arm, he was prevailed on to sit +still. + +The Countess, after a deep reverence to the King, acknowledged the +rest of the nobility present by a slighter reverence, smiled to Julian +Peveril, and looked with surprise at the unexpected apparition of +Fenella. Buckingham bit his lip, for he saw the introduction of Lady +Derby was likely to confuse and embroil every preparation which he had +arranged for his defence; and he stole a glance at Christian, whose +eye, when fixed on the Countess, assumed the deadly sharpness which +sparkles in the adder's, while his cheek grew almost black under the +influence of strong emotion. + +"Is there any one in this presence whom your ladyship recognises," +said the King graciously, "besides your old friends of Ormond and +Arlington?" + +"I see, my liege, two worthy friends of my husband's house," replied +the Countess; "Sir Geoffrey Peveril and his son--the latter a +distinguished member of my son's household." + +"Any one else?" continued the King. + +"An unfortunate female of my family, who disappeared from the Island +of Man at the same time when Julian Peveril left it upon business of +importance. She was thought to have fallen from the cliff into the +sea." + +"Had your ladyship any reason to suspect--pardon me," said the King, +"for putting such a question--any improper intimacy between Master +Peveril and this same female attendant?" + +"My liege," said the Countess, colouring indignantly, "my household is +of reputation." + +"Nay, my lady, be not angry," said the King; "I did but ask--such +things will befall in the best regulated families." + +"Not in mine, sire," said the Countess. "Besides that, in common pride +and in common honesty, Julian Peveril is incapable of intriguing with +an unhappy creature, removed by her misfortune almost beyond the +limits of humanity." + +Zarah looked at her, and compressed her lips, as if to keep in the +words that would fain break from them. + +"I know how it is," said the King--"What your ladyship says may be +true in the main, yet men's tastes have strange vagaries. This girl is +lost in Man as soon as the youth leaves it, and is found in Saint +Jame's Park, bouncing and dancing like a fairy, so soon as he appears +in London." + +"Impossible!" said the Countess; "she cannot dance." + +"I believe," said the King, "she can do more feats than your ladyship +either suspects or would approve of." + +The Countess drew up, and was indignantly silent. + +The King proceeded--"No sooner is Peveril in Newgate, than, by the +account of the venerable little gentleman, this merry maiden is even +there also for company. Now, without inquiring how she got in, I think +charitably that she had better taste than to come there on the dwarf's +account.--Ah ha! I think Master Julian is touched in conscience!" + +Julian did indeed start as the King spoke, for it reminded him of the +midnight visit in his cell. + +The King looked fixedly at him, and then proceeded--"Well, gentlemen, +Peveril is carried to his trial, and is no sooner at liberty, than we +find him in the house where the Duke of Buckingham was arranging what +he calls a musical mask.--Egad, I hold it next to certain, that this +wench put the change on his Grace, and popt the poor dwarf into the +bass-viol, reserving her own more precious hours to be spent with +Master Julian Peveril.--Think you not so, Sir Christian, you, the +universal referee? Is there any truth in this conjecture?" + +Christian stole a glance at Zarah, and read that in her eye which +embarrassed him. "He did not know," he said; "he had indeed engaged +this unrivalled performer to take the proposed part in the mask; and +she was to have come forth in the midst of a shower of lambent fire, +very artificially prepared with perfumes, to overcome the smell of the +powder; but he knew not why--excepting that she was wilful and +capricious, like all great geniuses--she had certainly spoiled the +concert by cramming in that more bulky dwarf." + +"I should like," said the King, "to see this little maiden stand +forth, and bear witness, in such manner as she can express herself, on +this mysterious matter. Can any one here understand her mode of +communication?" + +Christian said, he knew something of it since he had become acquainted +with her in London. The Countess spoke not till the King asked her, +and then owned dryly, that she had necessarily some habitual means of +intercourse with one who had been immediately about her person for so +many years. + +"I should think," said Charles, "that this same Master Peveril has the +more direct key to her language, after all we have heard." + +The King looked first at Peveril, who blushed like a maiden at the +inference which the King's remark implied, and then suddenly turned +his eyes on the supposed mute, on whose cheek a faint colour was dying +away. A moment afterwards, at a signal from the Countess, Fenella, or +Zarah, stepped forward, and having kissed her lady's hand, stood with +her arms folded on her breast, with a humble air, as different from +that which she wore in the harem of the Duke of Buckingham, as that of +a Magdalene from a Judith. Yet this was the least show of her talent +of versatility, for so well did she play the part of the dumb girl, +that Buckingham, sharp as his discernment was, remained undecided +whether the creature which stood before him could possibly be the same +with her, who had, in a different dress, made such an impression on +his imagination, or indeed was the imperfect creature she now +represented. She had at once all that could mark the imperfection of +hearing, and all that could show the wonderful address by which nature +so often makes up of the deficiency. There was the lip that trembles +not at any sound--the seeming insensibility to the conversation that +passed around; while, on the other hand, was the quick and vivid +glance; that seemed anxious to devour the meaning of those sounds, +which she could gather no otherwise than by the motion of the lips. + +Examined after her own fashion, Zarah confirmed the tale of Christian +in all its points, and admitted that she had deranged the project laid +for a mask, by placing the dwarf in her own stead; the cause of her +doing so she declined to assign, and the Countess pressed her no +farther. + +"Everything tells to exculpate my Lord of Buckingham," said Charles, +"from so absurd an accusation: the dwarf's testimony is too fantastic, +that of the two Peverils does not in the least affect the Duke; that +of the dumb damsel completely contradicts the possibility of his +guilt. Methinks, my lords, we should acquaint him that he stands +acquitted of a complaint, too ridiculous to have been subjected to a +more serious scrutiny than we have hastily made upon this occasion." + +Arlington bowed in acquiescence, but Ormond spoke plainly.--"I should +suffer, sire, in the opinion of the Duke of Buckingham, brilliant as +his talents are known to be, should I say that I am satisfied in my +own mind on this occasion. But I subscribe to the spirit of the times; +and I agree it would be highly dangerous, on such accusations as we +have been able to collect, to impeach the character of a zealous +Protestant like his Grace--Had he been a Catholic, under such +circumstances of suspicion, the Tower had been too good a prison for +him." + +Buckingham bowed to the Duke of Ormond, with a meaning which even his +triumph could not disguise.--"/Tu me la pagherai!/" he muttered, in a +tone of deep and abiding resentment; but the stout old Irishman, who +had long since braved his utmost wrath, cared little for this +expression of his displeasure. + +The King then, signing to the other nobles to pass into the public +apartments, stopped Buckingham as he was about to follow them; and +when they were alone, asked, with a significant tone, which brought +all the blood in the Duke's veins into his countenance, "When was it, +George, that your useful friend Colonel Blood became a musician?--You +are silent," he said; "do not deny the charge, for yonder villain, +once seen, is remembered for ever. Down, down on your knees, George, +and acknowledge that you have abused my easy temper.--Seek for no +apology--none will serve your turn. I saw the man myself, among your +Germans as you call them; and you know what I must needs believe from +such a circumstance." + +"Believe that I have been guilty--most guilty, my liege and King," +said the Duke, conscience-stricken, and kneeling down;--"believe that +I was misguided--that I was mad--Believe anything but that I was +capable of harming, or being accessory to harm, your person." + +"I do not believe it," said the King; "I think of you, Villiers, as +the companion of my dangers and my exile, and am so far from supposing +you mean worse than you say, that I am convinced you acknowledge more +than ever you meant to attempt." + +"By all that is sacred," said the Duke, still kneeling, "had I not +been involved to the extent of life and fortune with the villain +Christian----" + +"Nay, if you bring Christian on the stage again," said the King, +smiling, "it is time for me to withdraw. Come, Villiers, rise--I +forgive thee, and only recommend one act of penance--the curse you +yourself bestowed on the dog who bit you--marriage, and retirement to +your country-seat." + +The Duke rose abashed, and followed the King into the circle, which +Charles entered, leaning on the shoulder of his repentant peer; to +whom he showed so much countenance, as led the most acute observers +present, to doubt the possibility of there existing any real cause for +the surmises to the Duke's prejudice. + +The Countess of Derby had in the meanwhile consulted with the Duke of +Ormond, with the Peverils, and with her other friends; and, by their +unanimous advice, though with considerable difficulty, became +satisfied, that to have thus shown herself at Court, was sufficient to +vindicate the honour of her house; and that it was her wisest course, +after having done so, to retire to her insular dominions, without +farther provoking the resentment of a powerful faction. She took +farewell of the King in form, and demanded his permission to carry +back with her the helpless creature who had so strangely escaped from +her protection, into a world where her condition rendered her so +subject to every species of misfortune. + +"Will your ladyship forgive me?" said Charles. "I have studied your +sex long--I am mistaken if your little maiden is not as capable of +caring for herself as any of us." + +"Impossible!" said the Countess. + +"Possible, and most true," whispered the King. "I will instantly +convince you of the fact, though the experiment is too delicate to be +made by any but your ladyship. Yonder she stands, looking as if she +heard no more than the marble pillar against which she leans. Now, if +Lady Derby will contrive either to place her hand near the region of +the damsel's heart, or at least on her arm, so that she can feel the +sensation of the blood when the pulse increases, then do you, my Lord +of Ormond, beckon Julian Peveril out of sight--I will show you in a +moment that it can stir at sounds spoken." + +The Countess, much surprised, afraid of some embarrassing pleasantry +on the part of Charles, yet unable to repress her curiosity, placed +herself near Fenella, as she called her little mute; and, while making +signs to her, contrived to place her hand on her wrist. + +At this moment the King, passing near them, said, "This is a horrid +deed--the villain Christian has stabbed young Peveril!" + +The mute evidence of the pulse, which bounded as if a cannon had been +discharged close by the poor girl's ear, was accompanied by such a +loud scream of agony, as distressed, while it startled, the good- +natured monarch himself. "I did but jest," he said; "Julian is well, +my pretty maiden. I only used the wand of a certain blind deity, +called Cupid, to bring a deaf and dumb vassal of his to the exercise +of her faculties." + +"I am betrayed!" she said, with her eyes fixed on the ground--"I am +betrayed!--and it is fit that she, whose life has been spent in +practising treason on others, should be caught in her own snare. But +where is my tutor in iniquity?--where is Christian, who taught me to +play the part of spy on this unsuspicious lady, until I had well-nigh +delivered her into his bloody hands?" + +"This," said the King, "craves more secret examination. Let all leave +the apartment who are not immediately connected with these +proceedings, and let this Christian be again brought before us.-- +Wretched man," he continued, addressing Christian, "what wiles are +these you have practised, and by what extraordinary means?" + +"She has betrayed me, then!" said Christian--"Betrayed me to bonds and +death, merely for an idle passion, which can never be successful!--But +know, Zarah," he added, addressing her sternly, "when my life is +forfeited through thy evidence, the daughter has murdered the father!" + +The unfortunate girl stared on him in astonishment. "You said," at +length she stammered forth, "that I was the daughter of your +slaughtered brother?" + +"That was partly to reconcile thee to the part thou wert to play in my +destined drama of vengeance--partly to hide what men call the infamy +of thy birth. But /my/ daughter thou art! and from the eastern clime, +in which thy mother was born, you derive that fierce torrent of +passion which I laboured to train to my purposes, but which, turned +into another channel, has become the cause of your father's +destruction.--My destiny is the Tower, I suppose?" + +He spoke these words with great composure, and scarce seemed to regard +the agonies of his daughter, who, throwing herself at his feet, sobbed +and wept most bitterly. + +"This must not be," said the King, moved with compassion at this scene +of misery. "If you consent, Christian, to leave this country, there is +a vessel in the river bound for New England--Go, carry your dark +intrigues to other lands." + +"I might dispute the sentence," said Christian boldly; "and if I +submit to it, it is a matter of my own choice.--One half-hour had made +me even with that proud woman, but fortune hath cast the balance +against me.--Rise, Zarah, Fenella no more! Tell the Lady of Derby, +that, if the daughter of Edward Christian, the niece of her murdered +victim, served her as a menial, it was but for the purpose of +vengeance--miserably, miserably frustrated!--Thou seest thy folly now +--thou wouldst follow yonder ungrateful stripling--thou wouldst +forsake all other thoughts to gain his slightest notice; and now thou +art a forlorn outcast, ridiculed and insulted by those on whose necks +you might have trod, had you governed yourself with more wisdom!--But +come, thou art still my daughter--there are other skies than that +which canopies Britain." + +"Stop him," said the King; "we must know by what means this maiden +found access to those confined in our prisons." + +"I refer your Majesty to your most Protestant jailer, and to the most +Protestant Peers, who, in order to obtain perfect knowledge of the +depth of the Popish Plot, have contrived these ingenious apertures for +visiting them in their cells by night or day. His Grace of Buckingham +can assist your Majesty, if you are inclined to make the inquiry."[*] + +[*] It was said that very unfair means were used to compel the + prisoners, committed on account of the Popish Plot, to make + disclosures, and that several of them were privately put to the + torture. + +"Christian," said the Duke, "thou art the most barefaced villain who +ever breathed." + +"Of a commoner, I may," answered Christian, and led his daughter out +of the presence. + +"See after him, Selby," said the King; "lose not sight of him till the +ship sail; if he dare return to Britain, it shall be at his peril. +Would to God we had as good riddance of others as dangerous! And I +would also," he added, after a moment's pause, "that all our political +intrigues and feverish alarms could terminate as harmlessly as now. +Here is a plot without a drop of blood; and all the elements of a +romance, without its conclusion. Here we have a wandering island +princess (I pray my Lady of Derby's pardon), a dwarf, a Moorish +sorceress, an impenitent rogue, and a repentant man of rank, and yet +all ends without either hanging or marriage." + +"Not altogether without the latter," said the Countess, who had an +opportunity, during the evening, of much private conversation with +Julian Peveril. "There is a certain Major Bridgenorth, who, since your +Majesty relinquishes farther inquiry into these proceedings, which he +had otherwise intended to abide, designs, as we are informed, to leave +England for ever. Now, this Bridgenorth, by dint of law, hath acquired +strong possession over the domains of Peveril, which he is desirous to +restore to the ancient owners, with much fair land besides, +conditionally, that our young Julian will receive them as the dowry of +his only child and heir." + +"By my faith," said the King, "she must be a foul-favoured wench, +indeed, if Julian requires to be pressed to accept her on such fair +conditions." + +"They love each other like lovers of the last age," said the Countess; +"but the stout old Knight likes not the round-headed alliance." + +"Our royal recommendation shall put that to rights," said the King; +"Sir Geoffrey Peveril has not suffered hardship so often at our +command, that he will refuse our recommendation when it comes to make +him amends for all his losses." + +It may be supposed the King did not speak without being fully aware of +the unlimited ascendancy which he possessed over the old Tory; for +within four weeks afterwards, the bells of Martindale-Moultrassie were +ringing for the union of the families, from whose estates it takes its +compound name, and the beacon-light of the Castle blazed high over +hill and dale, and summoned all to rejoice who were within twenty +miles of its gleam. + + + + THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PEVERIL OF THE PEAK *** + +This file should be named pever10.txt or pever10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, pever11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pever10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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