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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Barnaby Rudge, by Charles Dickens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Barnaby Rudge
+
+Author: Charles Dickens
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2006 [EBook #917]
+Last updated: October 7, 2015
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARNABY RUDGE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+BARNABY RUDGE
+
+A TALE OF THE RIOTS OF 'EIGHTY
+
+
+by Charles Dickens
+
+
+
+Contibutor's Note:
+
+I've left in archaic forms such as 'to-morrow' or 'to-day' as they
+occured in my copy. Also please be aware if spell-checking, that within
+dialog many 'mispelled' words exist, i.e. 'wery' for 'very', as intended
+by the author.
+
+D.L.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The late Mr Waterton having, some time ago, expressed his opinion that
+ravens are gradually becoming extinct in England, I offered the few
+following words about my experience of these birds.
+
+The raven in this story is a compound of two great originals, of whom I
+was, at different times, the proud possessor. The first was in the bloom
+of his youth, when he was discovered in a modest retirement in London,
+by a friend of mine, and given to me. He had from the first, as Sir Hugh
+Evans says of Anne Page, 'good gifts', which he improved by study and
+attention in a most exemplary manner. He slept in a stable--generally
+on horseback--and so terrified a Newfoundland dog by his preternatural
+sagacity, that he has been known, by the mere superiority of his genius,
+to walk off unmolested with the dog's dinner, from before his face. He
+was rapidly rising in acquirements and virtues, when, in an evil hour,
+his stable was newly painted. He observed the workmen closely, saw that
+they were careful of the paint, and immediately burned to possess it. On
+their going to dinner, he ate up all they had left behind, consisting of
+a pound or two of white lead; and this youthful indiscretion terminated
+in death.
+
+While I was yet inconsolable for his loss, another friend of mine
+in Yorkshire discovered an older and more gifted raven at a village
+public-house, which he prevailed upon the landlord to part with for a
+consideration, and sent up to me. The first act of this Sage, was, to
+administer to the effects of his predecessor, by disinterring all the
+cheese and halfpence he had buried in the garden--a work of immense
+labour and research, to which he devoted all the energies of his mind.
+When he had achieved this task, he applied himself to the acquisition
+of stable language, in which he soon became such an adept, that he would
+perch outside my window and drive imaginary horses with great skill,
+all day. Perhaps even I never saw him at his best, for his former master
+sent his duty with him, 'and if I wished the bird to come out very
+strong, would I be so good as to show him a drunken man'--which I never
+did, having (unfortunately) none but sober people at hand.
+
+But I could hardly have respected him more, whatever the stimulating
+influences of this sight might have been. He had not the least respect,
+I am sorry to say, for me in return, or for anybody but the cook; to
+whom he was attached--but only, I fear, as a Policeman might have been.
+Once, I met him unexpectedly, about half-a-mile from my house, walking
+down the middle of a public street, attended by a pretty large crowd,
+and spontaneously exhibiting the whole of his accomplishments. His
+gravity under those trying circumstances, I can never forget, nor the
+extraordinary gallantry with which, refusing to be brought home, he
+defended himself behind a pump, until overpowered by numbers. It may
+have been that he was too bright a genius to live long, or it may have
+been that he took some pernicious substance into his bill, and thence
+into his maw--which is not improbable, seeing that he new-pointed
+the greater part of the garden-wall by digging out the mortar, broke
+countless squares of glass by scraping away the putty all round the
+frames, and tore up and swallowed, in splinters, the greater part of a
+wooden staircase of six steps and a landing--but after some three years
+he too was taken ill, and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye
+to the last upon the meat as it roasted, and suddenly turned over
+on his back with a sepulchral cry of 'Cuckoo!' Since then I have been
+ravenless.
+
+No account of the Gordon Riots having been to my knowledge introduced
+into any Work of Fiction, and the subject presenting very extraordinary
+and remarkable features, I was led to project this Tale.
+
+It is unnecessary to say, that those shameful tumults, while they
+reflect indelible disgrace upon the time in which they occurred, and all
+who had act or part in them, teach a good lesson. That what we falsely
+call a religious cry is easily raised by men who have no religion, and
+who in their daily practice set at nought the commonest principles of
+right and wrong; that it is begotten of intolerance and persecution;
+that it is senseless, besotted, inveterate and unmerciful; all History
+teaches us. But perhaps we do not know it in our hearts too well,
+to profit by even so humble an example as the 'No Popery' riots of
+Seventeen Hundred and Eighty.
+
+However imperfectly those disturbances are set forth in the following
+pages, they are impartially painted by one who has no sympathy with the
+Romish Church, though he acknowledges, as most men do, some esteemed
+friends among the followers of its creed.
+
+In the description of the principal outrages, reference has been had to
+the best authorities of that time, such as they are; the account given
+in this Tale, of all the main features of the Riots, is substantially
+correct.
+
+Mr Dennis's allusions to the flourishing condition of his trade in those
+days, have their foundation in Truth, and not in the Author's fancy. Any
+file of old Newspapers, or odd volume of the Annual Register, will prove
+this with terrible ease.
+
+Even the case of Mary Jones, dwelt upon with so much pleasure by the
+same character, is no effort of invention. The facts were stated,
+exactly as they are stated here, in the House of Commons. Whether they
+afforded as much entertainment to the merry gentlemen assembled there,
+as some other most affecting circumstances of a similar nature mentioned
+by Sir Samuel Romilly, is not recorded.
+
+That the case of Mary Jones may speak the more emphatically for
+itself, I subjoin it, as related by SIR WILLIAM MEREDITH in a speech in
+Parliament, 'on Frequent Executions', made in 1777.
+
+'Under this act,' the Shop-lifting Act, 'one Mary Jones was executed,
+whose case I shall just mention; it was at the time when press warrants
+were issued, on the alarm about Falkland Islands. The woman's husband
+was pressed, their goods seized for some debts of his, and she, with two
+small children, turned into the streets a-begging. It is a circumstance
+not to be forgotten, that she was very young (under nineteen), and most
+remarkably handsome. She went to a linen-draper's shop, took some coarse
+linen off the counter, and slipped it under her cloak; the shopman saw
+her, and she laid it down: for this she was hanged. Her defence was (I
+have the trial in my pocket), "that she had lived in credit, and wanted
+for nothing, till a press-gang came and stole her husband from her; but
+since then, she had no bed to lie on; nothing to give her children
+to eat; and they were almost naked; and perhaps she might have done
+something wrong, for she hardly knew what she did." The parish officers
+testified the truth of this story; but it seems, there had been a good
+deal of shop-lifting about Ludgate; an example was thought necessary;
+and this woman was hanged for the comfort and satisfaction of
+shopkeepers in Ludgate Street. When brought to receive sentence,
+she behaved in such a frantic manner, as proved her mind to be in a
+distracted and desponding state; and the child was sucking at her breast
+when she set out for Tyburn.'
+
+
+
+Chapter 1
+
+
+In the year 1775, there stood upon the borders of Epping Forest, at a
+distance of about twelve miles from London--measuring from the Standard
+in Cornhill, or rather from the spot on or near to which the Standard
+used to be in days of yore--a house of public entertainment called the
+Maypole; which fact was demonstrated to all such travellers as
+could neither read nor write (and at that time a vast number both of
+travellers and stay-at-homes were in this condition) by the emblem
+reared on the roadside over against the house, which, if not of those
+goodly proportions that Maypoles were wont to present in olden times,
+was a fair young ash, thirty feet in height, and straight as any arrow
+that ever English yeoman drew.
+
+The Maypole--by which term from henceforth is meant the house, and not
+its sign--the Maypole was an old building, with more gable ends than a
+lazy man would care to count on a sunny day; huge zig-zag chimneys, out
+of which it seemed as though even smoke could not choose but come in
+more than naturally fantastic shapes, imparted to it in its tortuous
+progress; and vast stables, gloomy, ruinous, and empty. The place was
+said to have been built in the days of King Henry the Eighth; and there
+was a legend, not only that Queen Elizabeth had slept there one night
+while upon a hunting excursion, to wit, in a certain oak-panelled room
+with a deep bay window, but that next morning, while standing on a
+mounting block before the door with one foot in the stirrup, the virgin
+monarch had then and there boxed and cuffed an unlucky page for some
+neglect of duty. The matter-of-fact and doubtful folks, of whom there
+were a few among the Maypole customers, as unluckily there always are
+in every little community, were inclined to look upon this tradition as
+rather apocryphal; but, whenever the landlord of that ancient hostelry
+appealed to the mounting block itself as evidence, and triumphantly
+pointed out that there it stood in the same place to that very day, the
+doubters never failed to be put down by a large majority, and all true
+believers exulted as in a victory.
+
+Whether these, and many other stories of the like nature, were true or
+untrue, the Maypole was really an old house, a very old house, perhaps
+as old as it claimed to be, and perhaps older, which will sometimes
+happen with houses of an uncertain, as with ladies of a certain, age.
+Its windows were old diamond-pane lattices, its floors were sunken
+and uneven, its ceilings blackened by the hand of time, and heavy with
+massive beams. Over the doorway was an ancient porch, quaintly and
+grotesquely carved; and here on summer evenings the more favoured
+customers smoked and drank--ay, and sang many a good song too,
+sometimes--reposing on two grim-looking high-backed settles, which,
+like the twin dragons of some fairy tale, guarded the entrance to the
+mansion.
+
+In the chimneys of the disused rooms, swallows had built their nests
+for many a long year, and from earliest spring to latest autumn whole
+colonies of sparrows chirped and twittered in the eaves. There were more
+pigeons about the dreary stable-yard and out-buildings than anybody
+but the landlord could reckon up. The wheeling and circling flights
+of runts, fantails, tumblers, and pouters, were perhaps not quite
+consistent with the grave and sober character of the building, but the
+monotonous cooing, which never ceased to be raised by some among them
+all day long, suited it exactly, and seemed to lull it to rest. With its
+overhanging stories, drowsy little panes of glass, and front bulging
+out and projecting over the pathway, the old house looked as if it were
+nodding in its sleep. Indeed, it needed no very great stretch of fancy
+to detect in it other resemblances to humanity. The bricks of which it
+was built had originally been a deep dark red, but had grown yellow and
+discoloured like an old man's skin; the sturdy timbers had decayed like
+teeth; and here and there the ivy, like a warm garment to comfort it in
+its age, wrapt its green leaves closely round the time-worn walls.
+
+It was a hale and hearty age though, still: and in the summer or
+autumn evenings, when the glow of the setting sun fell upon the oak and
+chestnut trees of the adjacent forest, the old house, partaking of its
+lustre, seemed their fit companion, and to have many good years of life
+in him yet.
+
+The evening with which we have to do, was neither a summer nor an autumn
+one, but the twilight of a day in March, when the wind howled dismally
+among the bare branches of the trees, and rumbling in the wide chimneys
+and driving the rain against the windows of the Maypole Inn, gave such
+of its frequenters as chanced to be there at the moment an undeniable
+reason for prolonging their stay, and caused the landlord to prophesy
+that the night would certainly clear at eleven o'clock precisely,--which
+by a remarkable coincidence was the hour at which he always closed his
+house.
+
+The name of him upon whom the spirit of prophecy thus descended was
+John Willet, a burly, large-headed man with a fat face, which betokened
+profound obstinacy and slowness of apprehension, combined with a very
+strong reliance upon his own merits. It was John Willet's ordinary
+boast in his more placid moods that if he were slow he was sure; which
+assertion could, in one sense at least, be by no means gainsaid, seeing
+that he was in everything unquestionably the reverse of fast, and withal
+one of the most dogged and positive fellows in existence--always sure
+that what he thought or said or did was right, and holding it as a thing
+quite settled and ordained by the laws of nature and Providence, that
+anybody who said or did or thought otherwise must be inevitably and of
+necessity wrong.
+
+Mr Willet walked slowly up to the window, flattened his fat nose
+against the cold glass, and shading his eyes that his sight might not
+be affected by the ruddy glow of the fire, looked abroad. Then he
+walked slowly back to his old seat in the chimney-corner, and, composing
+himself in it with a slight shiver, such as a man might give way to and
+so acquire an additional relish for the warm blaze, said, looking round
+upon his guests:
+
+'It'll clear at eleven o'clock. No sooner and no later. Not before and
+not arterwards.'
+
+'How do you make out that?' said a little man in the opposite corner.
+'The moon is past the full, and she rises at nine.'
+
+John looked sedately and solemnly at his questioner until he had brought
+his mind to bear upon the whole of his observation, and then made
+answer, in a tone which seemed to imply that the moon was peculiarly his
+business and nobody else's:
+
+'Never you mind about the moon. Don't you trouble yourself about her.
+You let the moon alone, and I'll let you alone.'
+
+'No offence I hope?' said the little man.
+
+Again John waited leisurely until the observation had thoroughly
+penetrated to his brain, and then replying, 'No offence as YET,' applied
+a light to his pipe and smoked in placid silence; now and then casting
+a sidelong look at a man wrapped in a loose riding-coat with huge cuffs
+ornamented with tarnished silver lace and large metal buttons, who
+sat apart from the regular frequenters of the house, and wearing a hat
+flapped over his face, which was still further shaded by the hand on
+which his forehead rested, looked unsociable enough.
+
+There was another guest, who sat, booted and spurred, at some distance
+from the fire also, and whose thoughts--to judge from his folded
+arms and knitted brows, and from the untasted liquor before him--were
+occupied with other matters than the topics under discussion or
+the persons who discussed them. This was a young man of about
+eight-and-twenty, rather above the middle height, and though of somewhat
+slight figure, gracefully and strongly made. He wore his own dark hair,
+and was accoutred in a riding dress, which together with his large boots
+(resembling in shape and fashion those worn by our Life Guardsmen at
+the present day), showed indisputable traces of the bad condition of
+the roads. But travel-stained though he was, he was well and even richly
+attired, and without being overdressed looked a gallant gentleman.
+
+Lying upon the table beside him, as he had carelessly thrown them down,
+were a heavy riding-whip and a slouched hat, the latter worn no doubt as
+being best suited to the inclemency of the weather. There, too, were a
+pair of pistols in a holster-case, and a short riding-cloak. Little of
+his face was visible, except the long dark lashes which concealed his
+downcast eyes, but an air of careless ease and natural gracefulness
+of demeanour pervaded the figure, and seemed to comprehend even those
+slight accessories, which were all handsome, and in good keeping.
+
+Towards this young gentleman the eyes of Mr Willet wandered but once,
+and then as if in mute inquiry whether he had observed his silent
+neighbour. It was plain that John and the young gentleman had often met
+before. Finding that his look was not returned, or indeed observed by
+the person to whom it was addressed, John gradually concentrated the
+whole power of his eyes into one focus, and brought it to bear upon the
+man in the flapped hat, at whom he came to stare in course of time with
+an intensity so remarkable, that it affected his fireside cronies, who
+all, as with one accord, took their pipes from their lips, and stared
+with open mouths at the stranger likewise.
+
+The sturdy landlord had a large pair of dull fish-like eyes, and the
+little man who had hazarded the remark about the moon (and who was the
+parish-clerk and bell-ringer of Chigwell, a village hard by) had little
+round black shiny eyes like beads; moreover this little man wore at the
+knees of his rusty black breeches, and on his rusty black coat, and
+all down his long flapped waistcoat, little queer buttons like nothing
+except his eyes; but so like them, that as they twinkled and glistened
+in the light of the fire, which shone too in his bright shoe-buckles,
+he seemed all eyes from head to foot, and to be gazing with every one of
+them at the unknown customer. No wonder that a man should grow restless
+under such an inspection as this, to say nothing of the eyes belonging
+to short Tom Cobb the general chandler and post-office keeper, and long
+Phil Parkes the ranger, both of whom, infected by the example of their
+companions, regarded him of the flapped hat no less attentively.
+
+The stranger became restless; perhaps from being exposed to this raking
+fire of eyes, perhaps from the nature of his previous meditations--most
+probably from the latter cause, for as he changed his position and
+looked hastily round, he started to find himself the object of such keen
+regard, and darted an angry and suspicious glance at the fireside group.
+It had the effect of immediately diverting all eyes to the chimney,
+except those of John Willet, who finding himself as it were, caught in
+the fact, and not being (as has been already observed) of a very ready
+nature, remained staring at his guest in a particularly awkward and
+disconcerted manner.
+
+'Well?' said the stranger.
+
+Well. There was not much in well. It was not a long speech. 'I thought
+you gave an order,' said the landlord, after a pause of two or three
+minutes for consideration.
+
+The stranger took off his hat, and disclosed the hard features of a man
+of sixty or thereabouts, much weatherbeaten and worn by time, and
+the naturally harsh expression of which was not improved by a dark
+handkerchief which was bound tightly round his head, and, while it
+served the purpose of a wig, shaded his forehead, and almost hid his
+eyebrows. If it were intended to conceal or divert attention from a deep
+gash, now healed into an ugly seam, which when it was first inflicted
+must have laid bare his cheekbone, the object was but indifferently
+attained, for it could scarcely fail to be noted at a glance. His
+complexion was of a cadaverous hue, and he had a grizzly jagged beard
+of some three weeks' date. Such was the figure (very meanly and poorly
+clad) that now rose from the seat, and stalking across the room sat down
+in a corner of the chimney, which the politeness or fears of the little
+clerk very readily assigned to him.
+
+'A highwayman!' whispered Tom Cobb to Parkes the ranger.
+
+'Do you suppose highwaymen don't dress handsomer than that?' replied
+Parkes. 'It's a better business than you think for, Tom, and highwaymen
+don't need or use to be shabby, take my word for it.'
+
+Meanwhile the subject of their speculations had done due honour to the
+house by calling for some drink, which was promptly supplied by the
+landlord's son Joe, a broad-shouldered strapping young fellow of twenty,
+whom it pleased his father still to consider a little boy, and to treat
+accordingly. Stretching out his hands to warm them by the blazing fire,
+the man turned his head towards the company, and after running his eye
+sharply over them, said in a voice well suited to his appearance:
+
+'What house is that which stands a mile or so from here?'
+
+'Public-house?' said the landlord, with his usual deliberation.
+
+'Public-house, father!' exclaimed Joe, 'where's the public-house
+within a mile or so of the Maypole? He means the great house--the
+Warren--naturally and of course. The old red brick house, sir, that
+stands in its own grounds--?'
+
+'Aye,' said the stranger.
+
+'And that fifteen or twenty years ago stood in a park five times as
+broad, which with other and richer property has bit by bit changed hands
+and dwindled away--more's the pity!' pursued the young man.
+
+'Maybe,' was the reply. 'But my question related to the owner. What it
+has been I don't care to know, and what it is I can see for myself.'
+
+The heir-apparent to the Maypole pressed his finger on his lips, and
+glancing at the young gentleman already noticed, who had changed his
+attitude when the house was first mentioned, replied in a lower tone:
+
+'The owner's name is Haredale, Mr Geoffrey Haredale, and'--again
+he glanced in the same direction as before--'and a worthy gentleman
+too--hem!'
+
+Paying as little regard to this admonitory cough, as to the significant
+gesture that had preceded it, the stranger pursued his questioning.
+
+'I turned out of my way coming here, and took the footpath that crosses
+the grounds. Who was the young lady that I saw entering a carriage? His
+daughter?'
+
+'Why, how should I know, honest man?' replied Joe, contriving in the
+course of some arrangements about the hearth, to advance close to his
+questioner and pluck him by the sleeve, 'I didn't see the young lady,
+you know. Whew! There's the wind again--AND rain--well it IS a night!'
+
+Rough weather indeed!' observed the strange man.
+
+'You're used to it?' said Joe, catching at anything which seemed to
+promise a diversion of the subject.
+
+'Pretty well,' returned the other. 'About the young lady--has Mr
+Haredale a daughter?'
+
+'No, no,' said the young fellow fretfully, 'he's a single
+gentleman--he's--be quiet, can't you, man? Don't you see this talk is
+not relished yonder?'
+
+Regardless of this whispered remonstrance, and affecting not to hear it,
+his tormentor provokingly continued:
+
+'Single men have had daughters before now. Perhaps she may be his
+daughter, though he is not married.'
+
+'What do you mean?' said Joe, adding in an undertone as he approached
+him again, 'You'll come in for it presently, I know you will!'
+
+'I mean no harm'--returned the traveller boldly, 'and have said none
+that I know of. I ask a few questions--as any stranger may, and not
+unnaturally--about the inmates of a remarkable house in a neighbourhood
+which is new to me, and you are as aghast and disturbed as if I were
+talking treason against King George. Perhaps you can tell me why, sir,
+for (as I say) I am a stranger, and this is Greek to me?'
+
+The latter observation was addressed to the obvious cause of Joe
+Willet's discomposure, who had risen and was adjusting his riding-cloak
+preparatory to sallying abroad. Briefly replying that he could give him
+no information, the young man beckoned to Joe, and handing him a piece
+of money in payment of his reckoning, hurried out attended by young
+Willet himself, who taking up a candle followed to light him to the
+house-door.
+
+While Joe was absent on this errand, the elder Willet and his three
+companions continued to smoke with profound gravity, and in a deep
+silence, each having his eyes fixed on a huge copper boiler that was
+suspended over the fire. After some time John Willet slowly shook his
+head, and thereupon his friends slowly shook theirs; but no man withdrew
+his eyes from the boiler, or altered the solemn expression of his
+countenance in the slightest degree.
+
+At length Joe returned--very talkative and conciliatory, as though with
+a strong presentiment that he was going to be found fault with.
+
+'Such a thing as love is!' he said, drawing a chair near the fire, and
+looking round for sympathy. 'He has set off to walk to London,--all
+the way to London. His nag gone lame in riding out here this blessed
+afternoon, and comfortably littered down in our stable at this minute;
+and he giving up a good hot supper and our best bed, because Miss
+Haredale has gone to a masquerade up in town, and he has set his heart
+upon seeing her! I don't think I could persuade myself to do that,
+beautiful as she is,--but then I'm not in love (at least I don't think I
+am) and that's the whole difference.'
+
+'He is in love then?' said the stranger.
+
+'Rather,' replied Joe. 'He'll never be more in love, and may very easily
+be less.'
+
+'Silence, sir!' cried his father.
+
+'What a chap you are, Joe!' said Long Parkes.
+
+'Such a inconsiderate lad!' murmured Tom Cobb.
+
+'Putting himself forward and wringing the very nose off his own father's
+face!' exclaimed the parish-clerk, metaphorically.
+
+'What HAVE I done?' reasoned poor Joe.
+
+'Silence, sir!' returned his father, 'what do you mean by talking, when
+you see people that are more than two or three times your age, sitting
+still and silent and not dreaming of saying a word?'
+
+'Why that's the proper time for me to talk, isn't it?' said Joe
+rebelliously.
+
+'The proper time, sir!' retorted his father, 'the proper time's no
+time.'
+
+'Ah to be sure!' muttered Parkes, nodding gravely to the other two who
+nodded likewise, observing under their breaths that that was the point.
+
+'The proper time's no time, sir,' repeated John Willet; 'when I was
+your age I never talked, I never wanted to talk. I listened and improved
+myself that's what I did.'
+
+'And you'd find your father rather a tough customer in argeyment, Joe,
+if anybody was to try and tackle him,' said Parkes.
+
+'For the matter o' that, Phil!' observed Mr Willet, blowing a long,
+thin, spiral cloud of smoke out of the corner of his mouth, and staring
+at it abstractedly as it floated away; 'For the matter o' that, Phil,
+argeyment is a gift of Natur. If Natur has gifted a man with powers
+of argeyment, a man has a right to make the best of 'em, and has not
+a right to stand on false delicacy, and deny that he is so gifted; for
+that is a turning of his back on Natur, a flouting of her, a slighting
+of her precious caskets, and a proving of one's self to be a swine that
+isn't worth her scattering pearls before.'
+
+The landlord pausing here for a very long time, Mr Parkes naturally
+concluded that he had brought his discourse to an end; and therefore,
+turning to the young man with some austerity, exclaimed:
+
+'You hear what your father says, Joe? You wouldn't much like to tackle
+him in argeyment, I'm thinking, sir.'
+
+'IF,' said John Willet, turning his eyes from the ceiling to the face of
+his interrupter, and uttering the monosyllable in capitals, to apprise
+him that he had put in his oar, as the vulgar say, with unbecoming
+and irreverent haste; 'IF, sir, Natur has fixed upon me the gift of
+argeyment, why should I not own to it, and rather glory in the same?
+Yes, sir, I AM a tough customer that way. You are right, sir. My
+toughness has been proved, sir, in this room many and many a time, as I
+think you know; and if you don't know,' added John, putting his pipe in
+his mouth again, 'so much the better, for I an't proud and am not going
+to tell you.'
+
+A general murmur from his three cronies, and a general shaking of
+heads at the copper boiler, assured John Willet that they had had good
+experience of his powers and needed no further evidence to assure them
+of his superiority. John smoked with a little more dignity and surveyed
+them in silence.
+
+'It's all very fine talking,' muttered Joe, who had been fidgeting in
+his chair with divers uneasy gestures. 'But if you mean to tell me that
+I'm never to open my lips--'
+
+'Silence, sir!' roared his father. 'No, you never are. When your
+opinion's wanted, you give it. When you're spoke to, you speak. When
+your opinion's not wanted and you're not spoke to, don't you give an
+opinion and don't you speak. The world's undergone a nice alteration
+since my time, certainly. My belief is that there an't any boys
+left--that there isn't such a thing as a boy--that there's nothing now
+between a male baby and a man--and that all the boys went out with his
+blessed Majesty King George the Second.'
+
+'That's a very true observation, always excepting the young princes,'
+said the parish-clerk, who, as the representative of church and state in
+that company, held himself bound to the nicest loyalty. 'If it's godly
+and righteous for boys, being of the ages of boys, to behave themselves
+like boys, then the young princes must be boys and cannot be otherwise.'
+
+'Did you ever hear tell of mermaids, sir?' said Mr Willet.
+
+'Certainly I have,' replied the clerk.
+
+'Very good,' said Mr Willet. 'According to the constitution of mermaids,
+so much of a mermaid as is not a woman must be a fish. According to the
+constitution of young princes, so much of a young prince (if anything)
+as is not actually an angel, must be godly and righteous. Therefore if
+it's becoming and godly and righteous in the young princes (as it is
+at their ages) that they should be boys, they are and must be boys, and
+cannot by possibility be anything else.'
+
+This elucidation of a knotty point being received with such marks of
+approval as to put John Willet into a good humour, he contented himself
+with repeating to his son his command of silence, and addressing the
+stranger, said:
+
+'If you had asked your questions of a grown-up person--of me or any of
+these gentlemen--you'd have had some satisfaction, and wouldn't have
+wasted breath. Miss Haredale is Mr Geoffrey Haredale's niece.'
+
+'Is her father alive?' said the man, carelessly.
+
+'No,' rejoined the landlord, 'he is not alive, and he is not dead--'
+
+'Not dead!' cried the other.
+
+'Not dead in a common sort of way,' said the landlord.
+
+The cronies nodded to each other, and Mr Parkes remarked in an
+undertone, shaking his head meanwhile as who should say, 'let no man
+contradict me, for I won't believe him,' that John Willet was in amazing
+force to-night, and fit to tackle a Chief Justice.
+
+The stranger suffered a short pause to elapse, and then asked abruptly,
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'More than you think for, friend,' returned John Willet. 'Perhaps
+there's more meaning in them words than you suspect.'
+
+'Perhaps there is,' said the strange man, gruffly; 'but what the devil
+do you speak in such mysteries for? You tell me, first, that a man is
+not alive, nor yet dead--then, that he's not dead in a common sort of
+way--then, that you mean a great deal more than I think for. To tell
+you the truth, you may do that easily; for so far as I can make out, you
+mean nothing. What DO you mean, I ask again?'
+
+'That,' returned the landlord, a little brought down from his dignity
+by the stranger's surliness, 'is a Maypole story, and has been any time
+these four-and-twenty years. That story is Solomon Daisy's story. It
+belongs to the house; and nobody but Solomon Daisy has ever told it
+under this roof, or ever shall--that's more.'
+
+The man glanced at the parish-clerk, whose air of consciousness and
+importance plainly betokened him to be the person referred to, and,
+observing that he had taken his pipe from his lips, after a very long
+whiff to keep it alight, and was evidently about to tell his story
+without further solicitation, gathered his large coat about him, and
+shrinking further back was almost lost in the gloom of the spacious
+chimney-corner, except when the flame, struggling from under a great
+faggot, whose weight almost crushed it for the time, shot upward with a
+strong and sudden glare, and illumining his figure for a moment, seemed
+afterwards to cast it into deeper obscurity than before.
+
+By this flickering light, which made the old room, with its heavy
+timbers and panelled walls, look as if it were built of polished
+ebony--the wind roaring and howling without, now rattling the latch
+and creaking the hinges of the stout oaken door, and now driving at
+the casement as though it would beat it in--by this light, and under
+circumstances so auspicious, Solomon Daisy began his tale:
+
+'It was Mr Reuben Haredale, Mr Geoffrey's elder brother--'
+
+Here he came to a dead stop, and made so long a pause that even John
+Willet grew impatient and asked why he did not proceed.
+
+'Cobb,' said Solomon Daisy, dropping his voice and appealing to the
+post-office keeper; 'what day of the month is this?'
+
+'The nineteenth.'
+
+'Of March,' said the clerk, bending forward, 'the nineteenth of March;
+that's very strange.'
+
+In a low voice they all acquiesced, and Solomon went on:
+
+'It was Mr Reuben Haredale, Mr Geoffrey's elder brother, that twenty-two
+years ago was the owner of the Warren, which, as Joe has said--not that
+you remember it, Joe, for a boy like you can't do that, but because you
+have often heard me say so--was then a much larger and better place, and
+a much more valuable property than it is now. His lady was lately
+dead, and he was left with one child--the Miss Haredale you have been
+inquiring about--who was then scarcely a year old.'
+
+Although the speaker addressed himself to the man who had shown so much
+curiosity about this same family, and made a pause here as if expecting
+some exclamation of surprise or encouragement, the latter made no
+remark, nor gave any indication that he heard or was interested in what
+was said. Solomon therefore turned to his old companions, whose noses
+were brightly illuminated by the deep red glow from the bowls of their
+pipes; assured, by long experience, of their attention, and resolved to
+show his sense of such indecent behaviour.
+
+'Mr Haredale,' said Solomon, turning his back upon the strange man,
+'left this place when his lady died, feeling it lonely like, and went
+up to London, where he stopped some months; but finding that place as
+lonely as this--as I suppose and have always heard say--he suddenly
+came back again with his little girl to the Warren, bringing with him
+besides, that day, only two women servants, and his steward, and a
+gardener.'
+
+Mr Daisy stopped to take a whiff at his pipe, which was going out,
+and then proceeded--at first in a snuffling tone, occasioned by keen
+enjoyment of the tobacco and strong pulling at the pipe, and afterwards
+with increasing distinctness:
+
+'--Bringing with him two women servants, and his steward, and a
+gardener. The rest stopped behind up in London, and were to follow next
+day. It happened that that night, an old gentleman who lived at Chigwell
+Row, and had long been poorly, deceased, and an order came to me at half
+after twelve o'clock at night to go and toll the passing-bell.'
+
+There was a movement in the little group of listeners, sufficiently
+indicative of the strong repugnance any one of them would have felt to
+have turned out at such a time upon such an errand. The clerk felt and
+understood it, and pursued his theme accordingly.
+
+'It WAS a dreary thing, especially as the grave-digger was laid up in
+his bed, from long working in a damp soil and sitting down to take his
+dinner on cold tombstones, and I was consequently under obligation to go
+alone, for it was too late to hope to get any other companion. However,
+I wasn't unprepared for it; as the old gentleman had often made it a
+request that the bell should be tolled as soon as possible after the
+breath was out of his body, and he had been expected to go for some
+days. I put as good a face upon it as I could, and muffling myself up
+(for it was mortal cold), started out with a lighted lantern in one hand
+and the key of the church in the other.'
+
+At this point of the narrative, the dress of the strange man rustled as
+if he had turned himself to hear more distinctly. Slightly pointing over
+his shoulder, Solomon elevated his eyebrows and nodded a silent inquiry
+to Joe whether this was the case. Joe shaded his eyes with his hand and
+peered into the corner, but could make out nothing, and so shook his
+head.
+
+'It was just such a night as this; blowing a hurricane, raining heavily,
+and very dark--I often think now, darker than I ever saw it before or
+since; that may be my fancy, but the houses were all close shut and the
+folks in doors, and perhaps there is only one other man who knows how
+dark it really was. I got into the church, chained the door back so that
+it should keep ajar--for, to tell the truth, I didn't like to be shut
+in there alone--and putting my lantern on the stone seat in the little
+corner where the bell-rope is, sat down beside it to trim the candle.
+
+'I sat down to trim the candle, and when I had done so I could not
+persuade myself to get up again, and go about my work. I don't know how
+it was, but I thought of all the ghost stories I had ever heard, even
+those that I had heard when I was a boy at school, and had forgotten
+long ago; and they didn't come into my mind one after another, but
+all crowding at once, like. I recollected one story there was in the
+village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very
+night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground
+and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning. This made me
+think how many people I had known, were buried between the church-door
+and the churchyard gate, and what a dreadful thing it would be to have
+to pass among them and know them again, so earthy and unlike themselves.
+I had known all the niches and arches in the church from a child; still,
+I couldn't persuade myself that those were their natural shadows which
+I saw on the pavement, but felt sure there were some ugly figures hiding
+among 'em and peeping out. Thinking on in this way, I began to think of
+the old gentleman who was just dead, and I could have sworn, as I looked
+up the dark chancel, that I saw him in his usual place, wrapping his
+shroud about him and shivering as if he felt it cold. All this time I
+sat listening and listening, and hardly dared to breathe. At length
+I started up and took the bell-rope in my hands. At that minute there
+rang--not that bell, for I had hardly touched the rope--but another!
+
+'I heard the ringing of another bell, and a deep bell too, plainly. It
+was only for an instant, and even then the wind carried the sound away,
+but I heard it. I listened for a long time, but it rang no more. I had
+heard of corpse candles, and at last I persuaded myself that this must
+be a corpse bell tolling of itself at midnight for the dead. I tolled my
+bell--how, or how long, I don't know--and ran home to bed as fast as I
+could touch the ground.
+
+'I was up early next morning after a restless night, and told the story
+to my neighbours. Some were serious and some made light of it; I don't
+think anybody believed it real. But, that morning, Mr Reuben Haredale
+was found murdered in his bedchamber; and in his hand was a piece of the
+cord attached to an alarm-bell outside the roof, which hung in his room
+and had been cut asunder, no doubt by the murderer, when he seized it.
+
+'That was the bell I heard.
+
+'A bureau was found opened, and a cash-box, which Mr Haredale had
+brought down that day, and was supposed to contain a large sum of money,
+was gone. The steward and gardener were both missing and both suspected
+for a long time, but they were never found, though hunted far and wide.
+And far enough they might have looked for poor Mr Rudge the steward,
+whose body--scarcely to be recognised by his clothes and the watch and
+ring he wore--was found, months afterwards, at the bottom of a piece of
+water in the grounds, with a deep gash in the breast where he had been
+stabbed with a knife. He was only partly dressed; and people all agreed
+that he had been sitting up reading in his own room, where there were
+many traces of blood, and was suddenly fallen upon and killed before his
+master.
+
+Everybody now knew that the gardener must be the murderer, and though
+he has never been heard of from that day to this, he will be, mark my
+words. The crime was committed this day two-and-twenty years--on the
+nineteenth of March, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three. On the
+nineteenth of March in some year--no matter when--I know it, I am sure
+of it, for we have always, in some strange way or other, been brought
+back to the subject on that day ever since--on the nineteenth of March
+in some year, sooner or later, that man will be discovered.'
+
+
+
+Chapter 2
+
+
+'A strange story!' said the man who had been the cause of the
+narration.--'Stranger still if it comes about as you predict. Is that
+all?'
+
+A question so unexpected, nettled Solomon Daisy not a little. By dint of
+relating the story very often, and ornamenting it (according to village
+report) with a few flourishes suggested by the various hearers from time
+to time, he had come by degrees to tell it with great effect; and 'Is
+that all?' after the climax, was not what he was accustomed to.
+
+'Is that all?' he repeated, 'yes, that's all, sir. And enough too, I
+think.'
+
+'I think so too. My horse, young man! He is but a hack hired from a
+roadside posting house, but he must carry me to London to-night.'
+
+'To-night!' said Joe.
+
+'To-night,' returned the other. 'What do you stare at? This tavern
+would seem to be a house of call for all the gaping idlers of the
+neighbourhood!'
+
+At this remark, which evidently had reference to the scrutiny he had
+undergone, as mentioned in the foregoing chapter, the eyes of John
+Willet and his friends were diverted with marvellous rapidity to the
+copper boiler again. Not so with Joe, who, being a mettlesome fellow,
+returned the stranger's angry glance with a steady look, and rejoined:
+
+'It is not a very bold thing to wonder at your going on to-night. Surely
+you have been asked such a harmless question in an inn before, and in
+better weather than this. I thought you mightn't know the way, as you
+seem strange to this part.'
+
+'The way--' repeated the other, irritably.
+
+'Yes. DO you know it?'
+
+'I'll--humph!--I'll find it,' replied the man, waving his hand and
+turning on his heel. 'Landlord, take the reckoning here.'
+
+John Willet did as he was desired; for on that point he was seldom slow,
+except in the particulars of giving change, and testing the goodness of
+any piece of coin that was proffered to him, by the application of his
+teeth or his tongue, or some other test, or in doubtful cases, by a long
+series of tests terminating in its rejection. The guest then wrapped his
+garments about him so as to shelter himself as effectually as he could
+from the rough weather, and without any word or sign of farewell betook
+himself to the stableyard. Here Joe (who had left the room on the
+conclusion of their short dialogue) was protecting himself and the horse
+from the rain under the shelter of an old penthouse roof.
+
+'He's pretty much of my opinion,' said Joe, patting the horse upon the
+neck. 'I'll wager that your stopping here to-night would please him
+better than it would please me.'
+
+'He and I are of different opinions, as we have been more than once on
+our way here,' was the short reply.
+
+'So I was thinking before you came out, for he has felt your spurs, poor
+beast.'
+
+The stranger adjusted his coat-collar about his face, and made no
+answer.
+
+'You'll know me again, I see,' he said, marking the young fellow's
+earnest gaze, when he had sprung into the saddle.
+
+'The man's worth knowing, master, who travels a road he don't know,
+mounted on a jaded horse, and leaves good quarters to do it on such a
+night as this.'
+
+'You have sharp eyes and a sharp tongue, I find.'
+
+'Both I hope by nature, but the last grows rusty sometimes for want of
+using.'
+
+'Use the first less too, and keep their sharpness for your sweethearts,
+boy,' said the man.
+
+So saying he shook his hand from the bridle, struck him roughly on the
+head with the butt end of his whip, and galloped away; dashing through
+the mud and darkness with a headlong speed, which few badly mounted
+horsemen would have cared to venture, even had they been thoroughly
+acquainted with the country; and which, to one who knew nothing of the
+way he rode, was attended at every step with great hazard and danger.
+
+The roads, even within twelve miles of London, were at that time
+ill paved, seldom repaired, and very badly made. The way this rider
+traversed had been ploughed up by the wheels of heavy waggons, and
+rendered rotten by the frosts and thaws of the preceding winter, or
+possibly of many winters. Great holes and gaps had been worn into the
+soil, which, being now filled with water from the late rains, were not
+easily distinguishable even by day; and a plunge into any one of them
+might have brought down a surer-footed horse than the poor beast now
+urged forward to the utmost extent of his powers. Sharp flints and
+stones rolled from under his hoofs continually; the rider could scarcely
+see beyond the animal's head, or farther on either side than his own
+arm would have extended. At that time, too, all the roads in the
+neighbourhood of the metropolis were infested by footpads or highwaymen,
+and it was a night, of all others, in which any evil-disposed person of
+this class might have pursued his unlawful calling with little fear of
+detection.
+
+Still, the traveller dashed forward at the same reckless pace,
+regardless alike of the dirt and wet which flew about his head, the
+profound darkness of the night, and the probability of encountering
+some desperate characters abroad. At every turn and angle, even where
+a deviation from the direct course might have been least expected, and
+could not possibly be seen until he was close upon it, he guided the
+bridle with an unerring hand, and kept the middle of the road. Thus he
+sped onward, raising himself in the stirrups, leaning his body forward
+until it almost touched the horse's neck, and flourishing his heavy whip
+above his head with the fervour of a madman.
+
+There are times when, the elements being in unusual commotion, those who
+are bent on daring enterprises, or agitated by great thoughts, whether
+of good or evil, feel a mysterious sympathy with the tumult of nature,
+and are roused into corresponding violence. In the midst of thunder,
+lightning, and storm, many tremendous deeds have been committed; men,
+self-possessed before, have given a sudden loose to passions they could
+no longer control. The demons of wrath and despair have striven to
+emulate those who ride the whirlwind and direct the storm; and man,
+lashed into madness with the roaring winds and boiling waters, has
+become for the time as wild and merciless as the elements themselves.
+
+Whether the traveller was possessed by thoughts which the fury of the
+night had heated and stimulated into a quicker current, or was merely
+impelled by some strong motive to reach his journey's end, on he swept
+more like a hunted phantom than a man, nor checked his pace until,
+arriving at some cross roads, one of which led by a longer route to
+the place whence he had lately started, he bore down so suddenly upon a
+vehicle which was coming towards him, that in the effort to avoid it he
+well-nigh pulled his horse upon his haunches, and narrowly escaped being
+thrown.
+
+'Yoho!' cried the voice of a man. 'What's that? Who goes there?'
+
+'A friend!' replied the traveller.
+
+'A friend!' repeated the voice. 'Who calls himself a friend and rides
+like that, abusing Heaven's gifts in the shape of horseflesh, and
+endangering, not only his own neck (which might be no great matter) but
+the necks of other people?'
+
+'You have a lantern there, I see,' said the traveller dismounting, 'lend
+it me for a moment. You have wounded my horse, I think, with your shaft
+or wheel.'
+
+'Wounded him!' cried the other, 'if I haven't killed him, it's no fault
+of yours. What do you mean by galloping along the king's highway like
+that, eh?'
+
+'Give me the light,' returned the traveller, snatching it from his hand,
+'and don't ask idle questions of a man who is in no mood for talking.'
+
+'If you had said you were in no mood for talking before, I should
+perhaps have been in no mood for lighting,' said the voice. 'Hows'ever
+as it's the poor horse that's damaged and not you, one of you is welcome
+to the light at all events--but it's not the crusty one.'
+
+The traveller returned no answer to this speech, but holding the light
+near to his panting and reeking beast, examined him in limb and carcass.
+Meanwhile, the other man sat very composedly in his vehicle, which was
+a kind of chaise with a depository for a large bag of tools, and watched
+his proceedings with a careful eye.
+
+The looker-on was a round, red-faced, sturdy yeoman, with a double chin,
+and a voice husky with good living, good sleeping, good humour, and good
+health. He was past the prime of life, but Father Time is not always a
+hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays
+his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men
+and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young
+and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression
+of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle
+but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.
+
+The person whom the traveller had so abruptly encountered was of
+this kind: bluff, hale, hearty, and in a green old age: at peace with
+himself, and evidently disposed to be so with all the world. Although
+muffled up in divers coats and handkerchiefs--one of which, passed over
+his crown, and tied in a convenient crease of his double chin, secured
+his three-cornered hat and bob-wig from blowing off his head--there
+was no disguising his plump and comfortable figure; neither did certain
+dirty finger-marks upon his face give it any other than an odd and
+comical expression, through which its natural good humour shone with
+undiminished lustre.
+
+'He is not hurt,' said the traveller at length, raising his head and the
+lantern together.
+
+'You have found that out at last, have you?' rejoined the old man. 'My
+eyes have seen more light than yours, but I wouldn't change with you.'
+
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'Mean! I could have told you he wasn't hurt, five minutes ago. Give me
+the light, friend; ride forward at a gentler pace; and good night.'
+
+In handing up the lantern, the man necessarily cast its rays full on the
+speaker's face. Their eyes met at the instant. He suddenly dropped it
+and crushed it with his foot.
+
+'Did you never see a locksmith before, that you start as if you had come
+upon a ghost?' cried the old man in the chaise, 'or is this,' he added
+hastily, thrusting his hand into the tool basket and drawing out a
+hammer, 'a scheme for robbing me? I know these roads, friend. When I
+travel them, I carry nothing but a few shillings, and not a crown's
+worth of them. I tell you plainly, to save us both trouble, that there's
+nothing to be got from me but a pretty stout arm considering my years,
+and this tool, which, mayhap from long acquaintance with, I can use
+pretty briskly. You shall not have it all your own way, I promise you,
+if you play at that game. With these words he stood upon the defensive.
+
+'I am not what you take me for, Gabriel Varden,' replied the other.
+
+'Then what and who are you?' returned the locksmith. 'You know my name,
+it seems. Let me know yours.'
+
+'I have not gained the information from any confidence of yours, but
+from the inscription on your cart which tells it to all the town,'
+replied the traveller.
+
+'You have better eyes for that than you had for your horse, then,' said
+Varden, descending nimbly from his chaise; 'who are you? Let me see your
+face.'
+
+While the locksmith alighted, the traveller had regained his saddle,
+from which he now confronted the old man, who, moving as the horse moved
+in chafing under the tightened rein, kept close beside him.
+
+'Let me see your face, I say.'
+
+'Stand off!'
+
+'No masquerading tricks,' said the locksmith, 'and tales at the club
+to-morrow, how Gabriel Varden was frightened by a surly voice and a dark
+night. Stand--let me see your face.'
+
+Finding that further resistance would only involve him in a personal
+struggle with an antagonist by no means to be despised, the traveller
+threw back his coat, and stooping down looked steadily at the locksmith.
+
+Perhaps two men more powerfully contrasted, never opposed each other
+face to face. The ruddy features of the locksmith so set off and
+heightened the excessive paleness of the man on horseback, that he
+looked like a bloodless ghost, while the moisture, which hard riding had
+brought out upon his skin, hung there in dark and heavy drops, like dews
+of agony and death. The countenance of the old locksmith lighted up with
+the smile of one expecting to detect in this unpromising stranger some
+latent roguery of eye or lip, which should reveal a familiar person in
+that arch disguise, and spoil his jest. The face of the other, sullen
+and fierce, but shrinking too, was that of a man who stood at bay; while
+his firmly closed jaws, his puckered mouth, and more than all a certain
+stealthy motion of the hand within his breast, seemed to announce a
+desperate purpose very foreign to acting, or child's play.
+
+Thus they regarded each other for some time, in silence.
+
+'Humph!' he said when he had scanned his features; 'I don't know you.'
+
+'Don't desire to?'--returned the other, muffling himself as before.
+
+'I don't,' said Gabriel; 'to be plain with you, friend, you don't carry
+in your countenance a letter of recommendation.'
+
+'It's not my wish,' said the traveller. 'My humour is to be avoided.'
+
+'Well,' said the locksmith bluntly, 'I think you'll have your humour.'
+
+'I will, at any cost,' rejoined the traveller. 'In proof of it, lay this
+to heart--that you were never in such peril of your life as you have
+been within these few moments; when you are within five minutes of
+breathing your last, you will not be nearer death than you have been
+to-night!'
+
+'Aye!' said the sturdy locksmith.
+
+'Aye! and a violent death.'
+
+'From whose hand?'
+
+'From mine,' replied the traveller.
+
+With that he put spurs to his horse, and rode away; at first plashing
+heavily through the mire at a smart trot, but gradually increasing in
+speed until the last sound of his horse's hoofs died away upon the wind;
+when he was again hurrying on at the same furious gallop, which had been
+his pace when the locksmith first encountered him.
+
+Gabriel Varden remained standing in the road with the broken lantern in
+his hand, listening in stupefied silence until no sound reached his ear
+but the moaning of the wind, and the fast-falling rain; when he struck
+himself one or two smart blows in the breast by way of rousing himself,
+and broke into an exclamation of surprise.
+
+'What in the name of wonder can this fellow be! a madman? a highwayman?
+a cut-throat? If he had not scoured off so fast, we'd have seen who was
+in most danger, he or I. I never nearer death than I have been to-night!
+I hope I may be no nearer to it for a score of years to come--if so,
+I'll be content to be no farther from it. My stars!--a pretty brag this
+to a stout man--pooh, pooh!'
+
+Gabriel resumed his seat, and looked wistfully up the road by which the
+traveller had come; murmuring in a half whisper:
+
+'The Maypole--two miles to the Maypole. I came the other road from the
+Warren after a long day's work at locks and bells, on purpose that I
+should not come by the Maypole and break my promise to Martha by looking
+in--there's resolution! It would be dangerous to go on to London without
+a light; and it's four miles, and a good half mile besides, to the
+Halfway-House; and between this and that is the very place where one
+needs a light most. Two miles to the Maypole! I told Martha I wouldn't;
+I said I wouldn't, and I didn't--there's resolution!'
+
+Repeating these two last words very often, as if to compensate for the
+little resolution he was going to show by piquing himself on the great
+resolution he had shown, Gabriel Varden quietly turned back, determining
+to get a light at the Maypole, and to take nothing but a light.
+
+When he got to the Maypole, however, and Joe, responding to his
+well-known hail, came running out to the horse's head, leaving the door
+open behind him, and disclosing a delicious perspective of warmth and
+brightness--when the ruddy gleam of the fire, streaming through the old
+red curtains of the common room, seemed to bring with it, as part of
+itself, a pleasant hum of voices, and a fragrant odour of steaming grog
+and rare tobacco, all steeped as it were in the cheerful glow--when the
+shadows, flitting across the curtain, showed that those inside had risen
+from their snug seats, and were making room in the snuggest corner (how
+well he knew that corner!) for the honest locksmith, and a broad glare,
+suddenly streaming up, bespoke the goodness of the crackling log from
+which a brilliant train of sparks was doubtless at that moment whirling
+up the chimney in honour of his coming--when, superadded to these
+enticements, there stole upon him from the distant kitchen a gentle
+sound of frying, with a musical clatter of plates and dishes, and a
+savoury smell that made even the boisterous wind a perfume--Gabriel
+felt his firmness oozing rapidly away. He tried to look stoically at the
+tavern, but his features would relax into a look of fondness. He turned
+his head the other way, and the cold black country seemed to frown him
+off, and drive him for a refuge into its hospitable arms.
+
+'The merciful man, Joe,' said the locksmith, 'is merciful to his beast.
+I'll get out for a little while.'
+
+And how natural it was to get out! And how unnatural it seemed for a
+sober man to be plodding wearily along through miry roads, encountering
+the rude buffets of the wind and pelting of the rain, when there was
+a clean floor covered with crisp white sand, a well swept hearth, a
+blazing fire, a table decorated with white cloth, bright pewter flagons,
+and other tempting preparations for a well-cooked meal--when there were
+these things, and company disposed to make the most of them, all ready
+to his hand, and entreating him to enjoyment!
+
+
+
+Chapter 3
+
+
+Such were the locksmith's thoughts when first seated in the snug corner,
+and slowly recovering from a pleasant defect of vision--pleasant,
+because occasioned by the wind blowing in his eyes--which made it a
+matter of sound policy and duty to himself, that he should take refuge
+from the weather, and tempted him, for the same reason, to aggravate
+a slight cough, and declare he felt but poorly. Such were still his
+thoughts more than a full hour afterwards, when, supper over, he still
+sat with shining jovial face in the same warm nook, listening to the
+cricket-like chirrup of little Solomon Daisy, and bearing no unimportant
+or slightly respected part in the social gossip round the Maypole fire.
+
+'I wish he may be an honest man, that's all,' said Solomon, winding up
+a variety of speculations relative to the stranger, concerning whom
+Gabriel had compared notes with the company, and so raised a grave
+discussion; 'I wish he may be an honest man.'
+
+'So we all do, I suppose, don't we?' observed the locksmith.
+
+'I don't,' said Joe.
+
+'No!' cried Gabriel.
+
+'No. He struck me with his whip, the coward, when he was mounted and I
+afoot, and I should be better pleased that he turned out what I think
+him.'
+
+'And what may that be, Joe?'
+
+'No good, Mr Varden. You may shake your head, father, but I say no good,
+and will say no good, and I would say no good a hundred times over, if
+that would bring him back to have the drubbing he deserves.'
+
+'Hold your tongue, sir,' said John Willet.
+
+'I won't, father. It's all along of you that he ventured to do what he
+did. Seeing me treated like a child, and put down like a fool, HE plucks
+up a heart and has a fling at a fellow that he thinks--and may well
+think too--hasn't a grain of spirit. But he's mistaken, as I'll show
+him, and as I'll show all of you before long.'
+
+'Does the boy know what he's a saying of!' cried the astonished John
+Willet.
+
+'Father,' returned Joe, 'I know what I say and mean, well--better than
+you do when you hear me. I can bear with you, but I cannot bear the
+contempt that your treating me in the way you do, brings upon me from
+others every day. Look at other young men of my age. Have they no
+liberty, no will, no right to speak? Are they obliged to sit mumchance,
+and to be ordered about till they are the laughing-stock of young and
+old? I am a bye-word all over Chigwell, and I say--and it's fairer
+my saying so now, than waiting till you are dead, and I have got your
+money--I say, that before long I shall be driven to break such bounds,
+and that when I do, it won't be me that you'll have to blame, but your
+own self, and no other.'
+
+John Willet was so amazed by the exasperation and boldness of his
+hopeful son, that he sat as one bewildered, staring in a ludicrous
+manner at the boiler, and endeavouring, but quite ineffectually, to
+collect his tardy thoughts, and invent an answer. The guests, scarcely
+less disturbed, were equally at a loss; and at length, with a variety
+of muttered, half-expressed condolences, and pieces of advice, rose to
+depart; being at the same time slightly muddled with liquor.
+
+The honest locksmith alone addressed a few words of coherent and
+sensible advice to both parties, urging John Willet to remember that
+Joe was nearly arrived at man's estate, and should not be ruled with
+too tight a hand, and exhorting Joe himself to bear with his father's
+caprices, and rather endeavour to turn them aside by temperate
+remonstrance than by ill-timed rebellion. This advice was received as
+such advice usually is. On John Willet it made almost as much impression
+as on the sign outside the door, while Joe, who took it in the best
+part, avowed himself more obliged than he could well express, but
+politely intimated his intention nevertheless of taking his own course
+uninfluenced by anybody.
+
+'You have always been a very good friend to me, Mr Varden,' he said,
+as they stood without, in the porch, and the locksmith was equipping
+himself for his journey home; 'I take it very kind of you to say all
+this, but the time's nearly come when the Maypole and I must part
+company.'
+
+'Roving stones gather no moss, Joe,' said Gabriel.
+
+'Nor milestones much,' replied Joe. 'I'm little better than one here,
+and see as much of the world.'
+
+'Then, what would you do, Joe?' pursued the locksmith, stroking his chin
+reflectively. 'What could you be? Where could you go, you see?'
+
+'I must trust to chance, Mr Varden.'
+
+'A bad thing to trust to, Joe. I don't like it. I always tell my girl
+when we talk about a husband for her, never to trust to chance, but to
+make sure beforehand that she has a good man and true, and then chance
+will neither make her nor break her. What are you fidgeting about there,
+Joe? Nothing gone in the harness, I hope?'
+
+'No no,' said Joe--finding, however, something very engrossing to do in
+the way of strapping and buckling--'Miss Dolly quite well?'
+
+'Hearty, thankye. She looks pretty enough to be well, and good too.'
+
+'She's always both, sir'--
+
+'So she is, thank God!'
+
+'I hope,' said Joe after some hesitation, 'that you won't tell this
+story against me--this of my having been beat like the boy they'd make
+of me--at all events, till I have met this man again and settled the
+account. It'll be a better story then.'
+
+'Why who should I tell it to?' returned Gabriel. 'They know it here, and
+I'm not likely to come across anybody else who would care about it.'
+
+'That's true enough,' said the young fellow with a sigh. 'I quite forgot
+that. Yes, that's true!'
+
+So saying, he raised his face, which was very red,--no doubt from the
+exertion of strapping and buckling as aforesaid,--and giving the reins
+to the old man, who had by this time taken his seat, sighed again and
+bade him good night.
+
+'Good night!' cried Gabriel. 'Now think better of what we have just
+been speaking of; and don't be rash, there's a good fellow! I have an
+interest in you, and wouldn't have you cast yourself away. Good night!'
+
+Returning his cheery farewell with cordial goodwill, Joe Willet lingered
+until the sound of wheels ceased to vibrate in his ears, and then,
+shaking his head mournfully, re-entered the house.
+
+Gabriel Varden went his way towards London, thinking of a great
+many things, and most of all of flaming terms in which to relate his
+adventure, and so account satisfactorily to Mrs Varden for visiting the
+Maypole, despite certain solemn covenants between himself and that lady.
+Thinking begets, not only thought, but drowsiness occasionally, and the
+more the locksmith thought, the more sleepy he became.
+
+A man may be very sober--or at least firmly set upon his legs on that
+neutral ground which lies between the confines of perfect sobriety and
+slight tipsiness--and yet feel a strong tendency to mingle up present
+circumstances with others which have no manner of connection with them;
+to confound all consideration of persons, things, times, and places;
+and to jumble his disjointed thoughts together in a kind of mental
+kaleidoscope, producing combinations as unexpected as they are
+transitory. This was Gabriel Varden's state, as, nodding in his dog
+sleep, and leaving his horse to pursue a road with which he was well
+acquainted, he got over the ground unconsciously, and drew nearer and
+nearer home. He had roused himself once, when the horse stopped until
+the turnpike gate was opened, and had cried a lusty 'good night!' to the
+toll-keeper; but then he awoke out of a dream about picking a lock in
+the stomach of the Great Mogul, and even when he did wake, mixed up the
+turnpike man with his mother-in-law who had been dead twenty years. It
+is not surprising, therefore, that he soon relapsed, and jogged heavily
+along, quite insensible to his progress.
+
+And, now, he approached the great city, which lay outstretched before
+him like a dark shadow on the ground, reddening the sluggish air with a
+deep dull light, that told of labyrinths of public ways and shops, and
+swarms of busy people. Approaching nearer and nearer yet, this halo
+began to fade, and the causes which produced it slowly to develop
+themselves. Long lines of poorly lighted streets might be faintly
+traced, with here and there a lighter spot, where lamps were clustered
+round a square or market, or round some great building; after a time
+these grew more distinct, and the lamps themselves were visible; slight
+yellow specks, that seemed to be rapidly snuffed out, one by one, as
+intervening obstacles hid them from the sight. Then, sounds arose--the
+striking of church clocks, the distant bark of dogs, the hum of traffic
+in the streets; then outlines might be traced--tall steeples looming
+in the air, and piles of unequal roofs oppressed by chimneys; then,
+the noise swelled into a louder sound, and forms grew more distinct and
+numerous still, and London--visible in the darkness by its own faint
+light, and not by that of Heaven--was at hand.
+
+The locksmith, however, all unconscious of its near vicinity, still
+jogged on, half sleeping and half waking, when a loud cry at no great
+distance ahead, roused him with a start.
+
+For a moment or two he looked about him like a man who had been
+transported to some strange country in his sleep, but soon recognising
+familiar objects, rubbed his eyes lazily and might have relapsed again,
+but that the cry was repeated--not once or twice or thrice, but many
+times, and each time, if possible, with increased vehemence. Thoroughly
+aroused, Gabriel, who was a bold man and not easily daunted, made
+straight to the spot, urging on his stout little horse as if for life or
+death.
+
+The matter indeed looked sufficiently serious, for, coming to the place
+whence the cries had proceeded, he descried the figure of a man extended
+in an apparently lifeless state upon the pathway, and, hovering round
+him, another person with a torch in his hand, which he waved in the air
+with a wild impatience, redoubling meanwhile those cries for help which
+had brought the locksmith to the spot.
+
+'What's here to do?' said the old man, alighting. 'How's
+this--what--Barnaby?'
+
+The bearer of the torch shook his long loose hair back from his eyes,
+and thrusting his face eagerly into that of the locksmith, fixed upon
+him a look which told his history at once.
+
+'You know me, Barnaby?' said Varden.
+
+He nodded--not once or twice, but a score of times, and that with a
+fantastic exaggeration which would have kept his head in motion for
+an hour, but that the locksmith held up his finger, and fixing his eye
+sternly upon him caused him to desist; then pointed to the body with an
+inquiring look.
+
+'There's blood upon him,' said Barnaby with a shudder. 'It makes me
+sick!'
+
+'How came it there?' demanded Varden.
+
+'Steel, steel, steel!' he replied fiercely, imitating with his hand the
+thrust of a sword.
+
+'Is he robbed?' said the locksmith.
+
+Barnaby caught him by the arm, and nodded 'Yes;' then pointed towards
+the city.
+
+'Oh!' said the old man, bending over the body and looking round as he
+spoke into Barnaby's pale face, strangely lighted up by something that
+was NOT intellect. 'The robber made off that way, did he? Well, well,
+never mind that just now. Hold your torch this way--a little farther
+off--so. Now stand quiet, while I try to see what harm is done.'
+
+With these words, he applied himself to a closer examination of
+the prostrate form, while Barnaby, holding the torch as he had been
+directed, looked on in silence, fascinated by interest or curiosity, but
+repelled nevertheless by some strong and secret horror which convulsed
+him in every nerve.
+
+As he stood, at that moment, half shrinking back and half bending
+forward, both his face and figure were full in the strong glare of the
+link, and as distinctly revealed as though it had been broad day. He
+was about three-and-twenty years old, and though rather spare, of a fair
+height and strong make. His hair, of which he had a great profusion, was
+red, and hanging in disorder about his face and shoulders, gave to his
+restless looks an expression quite unearthly--enhanced by the paleness
+of his complexion, and the glassy lustre of his large protruding eyes.
+Startling as his aspect was, the features were good, and there was
+something even plaintive in his wan and haggard aspect. But, the absence
+of the soul is far more terrible in a living man than in a dead one; and
+in this unfortunate being its noblest powers were wanting.
+
+His dress was of green, clumsily trimmed here and there--apparently by
+his own hands--with gaudy lace; brightest where the cloth was most
+worn and soiled, and poorest where it was at the best. A pair of tawdry
+ruffles dangled at his wrists, while his throat was nearly bare. He had
+ornamented his hat with a cluster of peacock's feathers, but they were
+limp and broken, and now trailed negligently down his back. Girt to his
+side was the steel hilt of an old sword without blade or scabbard; and
+some particoloured ends of ribands and poor glass toys completed the
+ornamental portion of his attire. The fluttered and confused disposition
+of all the motley scraps that formed his dress, bespoke, in a scarcely
+less degree than his eager and unsettled manner, the disorder of his
+mind, and by a grotesque contrast set off and heightened the more
+impressive wildness of his face.
+
+'Barnaby,' said the locksmith, after a hasty but careful inspection,
+'this man is not dead, but he has a wound in his side, and is in a
+fainting-fit.'
+
+'I know him, I know him!' cried Barnaby, clapping his hands.
+
+'Know him?' repeated the locksmith.
+
+'Hush!' said Barnaby, laying his fingers upon his lips. 'He went out
+to-day a wooing. I wouldn't for a light guinea that he should never go
+a wooing again, for, if he did, some eyes would grow dim that are now as
+bright as--see, when I talk of eyes, the stars come out! Whose eyes are
+they? If they are angels' eyes, why do they look down here and see good
+men hurt, and only wink and sparkle all the night?'
+
+'Now Heaven help this silly fellow,' murmured the perplexed locksmith;
+'can he know this gentleman? His mother's house is not far off; I had
+better see if she can tell me who he is. Barnaby, my man, help me to put
+him in the chaise, and we'll ride home together.'
+
+'I can't touch him!' cried the idiot falling back, and shuddering as
+with a strong spasm; 'he's bloody!'
+
+'It's in his nature, I know,' muttered the locksmith, 'it's cruel to ask
+him, but I must have help. Barnaby--good Barnaby--dear Barnaby--if you
+know this gentleman, for the sake of his life and everybody's life that
+loves him, help me to raise him and lay him down.'
+
+'Cover him then, wrap him close--don't let me see it--smell it--hear the
+word. Don't speak the word--don't!'
+
+'No, no, I'll not. There, you see he's covered now. Gently. Well done,
+well done!'
+
+They placed him in the carriage with great ease, for Barnaby was strong
+and active, but all the time they were so occupied he shivered from head
+to foot, and evidently experienced an ecstasy of terror.
+
+This accomplished, and the wounded man being covered with Varden's own
+greatcoat which he took off for the purpose, they proceeded onward at
+a brisk pace: Barnaby gaily counting the stars upon his fingers, and
+Gabriel inwardly congratulating himself upon having an adventure now,
+which would silence Mrs Varden on the subject of the Maypole, for that
+night, or there was no faith in woman.
+
+
+
+Chapter 4
+
+
+In the venerable suburb--it was a suburb once--of Clerkenwell, towards
+that part of its confines which is nearest to the Charter House, and in
+one of those cool, shady streets, of which a few, widely scattered
+and dispersed, yet remain in such old parts of the metropolis,--each
+tenement quietly vegetating like an ancient citizen who long ago retired
+from business, and dozing on in its infirmity until in course of time it
+tumbles down, and is replaced by some extravagant young heir, flaunting
+in stucco and ornamental work, and all the vanities of modern days,--in
+this quarter, and in a street of this description, the business of the
+present chapter lies.
+
+At the time of which it treats, though only six-and-sixty years ago,
+a very large part of what is London now had no existence. Even in the
+brains of the wildest speculators, there had sprung up no long rows of
+streets connecting Highgate with Whitechapel, no assemblages of palaces
+in the swampy levels, nor little cities in the open fields. Although
+this part of town was then, as now, parcelled out in streets, and
+plentifully peopled, it wore a different aspect. There were gardens
+to many of the houses, and trees by the pavement side; with an air of
+freshness breathing up and down, which in these days would be sought
+in vain. Fields were nigh at hand, through which the New River took its
+winding course, and where there was merry haymaking in the summer time.
+Nature was not so far removed, or hard to get at, as in these days; and
+although there were busy trades in Clerkenwell, and working jewellers
+by scores, it was a purer place, with farm-houses nearer to it than many
+modern Londoners would readily believe, and lovers' walks at no great
+distance, which turned into squalid courts, long before the lovers of
+this age were born, or, as the phrase goes, thought of.
+
+In one of these streets, the cleanest of them all, and on the shady
+side of the way--for good housewives know that sunlight damages their
+cherished furniture, and so choose the shade rather than its intrusive
+glare--there stood the house with which we have to deal. It was a modest
+building, not very straight, not large, not tall; not bold-faced, with
+great staring windows, but a shy, blinking house, with a conical roof
+going up into a peak over its garret window of four small panes of
+glass, like a cocked hat on the head of an elderly gentleman with one
+eye. It was not built of brick or lofty stone, but of wood and plaster;
+it was not planned with a dull and wearisome regard to regularity,
+for no one window matched the other, or seemed to have the slightest
+reference to anything besides itself.
+
+The shop--for it had a shop--was, with reference to the first floor,
+where shops usually are; and there all resemblance between it and any
+other shop stopped short and ceased. People who went in and out didn't
+go up a flight of steps to it, or walk easily in upon a level with the
+street, but dived down three steep stairs, as into a cellar. Its floor
+was paved with stone and brick, as that of any other cellar might be;
+and in lieu of window framed and glazed it had a great black wooden flap
+or shutter, nearly breast high from the ground, which turned back in
+the day-time, admitting as much cold air as light, and very often more.
+Behind this shop was a wainscoted parlour, looking first into a paved
+yard, and beyond that again into a little terrace garden, raised some
+feet above it. Any stranger would have supposed that this wainscoted
+parlour, saving for the door of communication by which he had entered,
+was cut off and detached from all the world; and indeed most strangers
+on their first entrance were observed to grow extremely thoughtful, as
+weighing and pondering in their minds whether the upper rooms were only
+approachable by ladders from without; never suspecting that two of
+the most unassuming and unlikely doors in existence, which the most
+ingenious mechanician on earth must of necessity have supposed to be
+the doors of closets, opened out of this room--each without the smallest
+preparation, or so much as a quarter of an inch of passage--upon two
+dark winding flights of stairs, the one upward, the other downward,
+which were the sole means of communication between that chamber and the
+other portions of the house.
+
+With all these oddities, there was not a neater, more scrupulously tidy,
+or more punctiliously ordered house, in Clerkenwell, in London, in all
+England. There were not cleaner windows, or whiter floors, or brighter
+Stoves, or more highly shining articles of furniture in old mahogany;
+there was not more rubbing, scrubbing, burnishing and polishing, in the
+whole street put together. Nor was this excellence attained without some
+cost and trouble and great expenditure of voice, as the neighbours
+were frequently reminded when the good lady of the house overlooked and
+assisted in its being put to rights on cleaning days--which were usually
+from Monday morning till Saturday night, both days inclusive.
+
+Leaning against the door-post of this, his dwelling, the locksmith
+stood early on the morning after he had met with the wounded man, gazing
+disconsolately at a great wooden emblem of a key, painted in vivid
+yellow to resemble gold, which dangled from the house-front, and swung
+to and fro with a mournful creaking noise, as if complaining that it had
+nothing to unlock. Sometimes, he looked over his shoulder into the shop,
+which was so dark and dingy with numerous tokens of his trade, and so
+blackened by the smoke of a little forge, near which his 'prentice
+was at work, that it would have been difficult for one unused to such
+espials to have distinguished anything but various tools of uncouth make
+and shape, great bunches of rusty keys, fragments of iron, half-finished
+locks, and such like things, which garnished the walls and hung in
+clusters from the ceiling.
+
+After a long and patient contemplation of the golden key, and many such
+backward glances, Gabriel stepped into the road, and stole a look at the
+upper windows. One of them chanced to be thrown open at the moment,
+and a roguish face met his; a face lighted up by the loveliest pair of
+sparkling eyes that ever locksmith looked upon; the face of a pretty,
+laughing, girl; dimpled and fresh, and healthful--the very impersonation
+of good-humour and blooming beauty.
+
+'Hush!' she whispered, bending forward and pointing archly to the window
+underneath. 'Mother is still asleep.'
+
+'Still, my dear,' returned the locksmith in the same tone. 'You talk as
+if she had been asleep all night, instead of little more than half an
+hour. But I'm very thankful. Sleep's a blessing--no doubt about it.' The
+last few words he muttered to himself.
+
+'How cruel of you to keep us up so late this morning, and never tell us
+where you were, or send us word!' said the girl.
+
+'Ah Dolly, Dolly!' returned the locksmith, shaking his head, and
+smiling, 'how cruel of you to run upstairs to bed! Come down to
+breakfast, madcap, and come down lightly, or you'll wake your mother.
+She must be tired, I am sure--I am.'
+
+Keeping these latter words to himself, and returning his daughter's nod,
+he was passing into the workshop, with the smile she had awakened still
+beaming on his face, when he just caught sight of his 'prentice's brown
+paper cap ducking down to avoid observation, and shrinking from the
+window back to its former place, which the wearer no sooner reached than
+he began to hammer lustily.
+
+'Listening again, Simon!' said Gabriel to himself. 'That's bad. What in
+the name of wonder does he expect the girl to say, that I always catch
+him listening when SHE speaks, and never at any other time! A bad habit,
+Sim, a sneaking, underhanded way. Ah! you may hammer, but you won't beat
+that out of me, if you work at it till your time's up!'
+
+So saying, and shaking his head gravely, he re-entered the workshop, and
+confronted the subject of these remarks.
+
+'There's enough of that just now,' said the locksmith. 'You needn't make
+any more of that confounded clatter. Breakfast's ready.'
+
+'Sir,' said Sim, looking up with amazing politeness, and a peculiar
+little bow cut short off at the neck, 'I shall attend you immediately.'
+
+'I suppose,' muttered Gabriel, 'that's out of the 'Prentice's Garland or
+the 'Prentice's Delight, or the 'Prentice's Warbler, or the Prentice's
+Guide to the Gallows, or some such improving textbook. Now he's going to
+beautify himself--here's a precious locksmith!'
+
+Quite unconscious that his master was looking on from the dark corner by
+the parlour door, Sim threw off the paper cap, sprang from his seat,
+and in two extraordinary steps, something between skating and minuet
+dancing, bounded to a washing place at the other end of the shop,
+and there removed from his face and hands all traces of his previous
+work--practising the same step all the time with the utmost gravity.
+This done, he drew from some concealed place a little scrap of
+looking-glass, and with its assistance arranged his hair, and
+ascertained the exact state of a little carbuncle on his nose. Having
+now completed his toilet, he placed the fragment of mirror on a low
+bench, and looked over his shoulder at so much of his legs as could be
+reflected in that small compass, with the greatest possible complacency
+and satisfaction.
+
+Sim, as he was called in the locksmith's family, or Mr Simon Tappertit,
+as he called himself, and required all men to style him out of doors,
+on holidays, and Sundays out,--was an old-fashioned, thin-faced,
+sleek-haired, sharp-nosed, small-eyed little fellow, very little more
+than five feet high, and thoroughly convinced in his own mind that he
+was above the middle size; rather tall, in fact, than otherwise. Of his
+figure, which was well enough formed, though somewhat of the leanest,
+he entertained the highest admiration; and with his legs, which, in
+knee-breeches, were perfect curiosities of littleness, he was enraptured
+to a degree amounting to enthusiasm. He also had some majestic, shadowy
+ideas, which had never been quite fathomed by his intimate friends,
+concerning the power of his eye. Indeed he had been known to go so far
+as to boast that he could utterly quell and subdue the haughtiest beauty
+by a simple process, which he termed 'eyeing her over;' but it must
+be added, that neither of this faculty, nor of the power he claimed
+to have, through the same gift, of vanquishing and heaving down dumb
+animals, even in a rabid state, had he ever furnished evidence which
+could be deemed quite satisfactory and conclusive.
+
+It may be inferred from these premises, that in the small body of Mr
+Tappertit there was locked up an ambitious and aspiring soul. As
+certain liquors, confined in casks too cramped in their dimensions, will
+ferment, and fret, and chafe in their imprisonment, so the spiritual
+essence or soul of Mr Tappertit would sometimes fume within that
+precious cask, his body, until, with great foam and froth and splutter,
+it would force a vent, and carry all before it. It was his custom to
+remark, in reference to any one of these occasions, that his soul had
+got into his head; and in this novel kind of intoxication many scrapes
+and mishaps befell him, which he had frequently concealed with no small
+difficulty from his worthy master.
+
+Sim Tappertit, among the other fancies upon which his before-mentioned
+soul was for ever feasting and regaling itself (and which fancies,
+like the liver of Prometheus, grew as they were fed upon), had a mighty
+notion of his order; and had been heard by the servant-maid openly
+expressing his regret that the 'prentices no longer carried clubs
+wherewith to mace the citizens: that was his strong expression. He was
+likewise reported to have said that in former times a stigma had been
+cast upon the body by the execution of George Barnwell, to which they
+should not have basely submitted, but should have demanded him of
+the legislature--temperately at first; then by an appeal to arms, if
+necessary--to be dealt with as they in their wisdom might think fit.
+These thoughts always led him to consider what a glorious engine the
+'prentices might yet become if they had but a master spirit at their
+head; and then he would darkly, and to the terror of his hearers, hint
+at certain reckless fellows that he knew of, and at a certain Lion Heart
+ready to become their captain, who, once afoot, would make the Lord
+Mayor tremble on his throne.
+
+In respect of dress and personal decoration, Sim Tappertit was no less
+of an adventurous and enterprising character. He had been seen, beyond
+dispute, to pull off ruffles of the finest quality at the corner of the
+street on Sunday nights, and to put them carefully in his pocket before
+returning home; and it was quite notorious that on all great holiday
+occasions it was his habit to exchange his plain steel knee-buckles for
+a pair of glittering paste, under cover of a friendly post, planted most
+conveniently in that same spot. Add to this that he was in years just
+twenty, in his looks much older, and in conceit at least two hundred;
+that he had no objection to be jested with, touching his admiration
+of his master's daughter; and had even, when called upon at a certain
+obscure tavern to pledge the lady whom he honoured with his love,
+toasted, with many winks and leers, a fair creature whose Christian
+name, he said, began with a D--;--and as much is known of Sim Tappertit,
+who has by this time followed the locksmith in to breakfast, as is
+necessary to be known in making his acquaintance.
+
+It was a substantial meal; for, over and above the ordinary tea
+equipage, the board creaked beneath the weight of a jolly round of beef,
+a ham of the first magnitude, and sundry towers of buttered Yorkshire
+cake, piled slice upon slice in most alluring order. There was also
+a goodly jug of well-browned clay, fashioned into the form of an old
+gentleman, not by any means unlike the locksmith, atop of whose bald
+head was a fine white froth answering to his wig, indicative, beyond
+dispute, of sparkling home-brewed ale. But, better far than fair
+home-brewed, or Yorkshire cake, or ham, or beef, or anything to eat or
+drink that earth or air or water can supply, there sat, presiding over
+all, the locksmith's rosy daughter, before whose dark eyes even beef
+grew insignificant, and malt became as nothing.
+
+Fathers should never kiss their daughters when young men are by. It's
+too much. There are bounds to human endurance. So thought Sim Tappertit
+when Gabriel drew those rosy lips to his--those lips within Sim's reach
+from day to day, and yet so far off. He had a respect for his master,
+but he wished the Yorkshire cake might choke him.
+
+'Father,' said the locksmith's daughter, when this salute was over, and
+they took their seats at table, 'what is this I hear about last night?'
+
+'All true, my dear; true as the Gospel, Doll.'
+
+'Young Mr Chester robbed, and lying wounded in the road, when you came
+up!'
+
+'Ay--Mr Edward. And beside him, Barnaby, calling for help with all his
+might. It was well it happened as it did; for the road's a lonely one,
+the hour was late, and, the night being cold, and poor Barnaby even less
+sensible than usual from surprise and fright, the young gentleman might
+have met his death in a very short time.'
+
+'I dread to think of it!' cried his daughter with a shudder. 'How did
+you know him?'
+
+'Know him!' returned the locksmith. 'I didn't know him--how could I? I
+had never seen him, often as I had heard and spoken of him. I took him
+to Mrs Rudge's; and she no sooner saw him than the truth came out.'
+
+'Miss Emma, father--If this news should reach her, enlarged upon as it
+is sure to be, she will go distracted.'
+
+'Why, lookye there again, how a man suffers for being good-natured,'
+said the locksmith. 'Miss Emma was with her uncle at the masquerade at
+Carlisle House, where she had gone, as the people at the Warren told me,
+sorely against her will. What does your blockhead father when he and Mrs
+Rudge have laid their heads together, but goes there when he ought to be
+abed, makes interest with his friend the doorkeeper, slips him on a mask
+and domino, and mixes with the masquers.'
+
+'And like himself to do so!' cried the girl, putting her fair arm round
+his neck, and giving him a most enthusiastic kiss.
+
+'Like himself!' repeated Gabriel, affecting to grumble, but evidently
+delighted with the part he had taken, and with her praise. 'Very like
+himself--so your mother said. However, he mingled with the crowd,
+and prettily worried and badgered he was, I warrant you, with people
+squeaking, "Don't you know me?" and "I've found you out," and all that
+kind of nonsense in his ears. He might have wandered on till now, but
+in a little room there was a young lady who had taken off her mask, on
+account of the place being very warm, and was sitting there alone.'
+
+'And that was she?' said his daughter hastily.
+
+'And that was she,' replied the locksmith; 'and I no sooner whispered to
+her what the matter was--as softly, Doll, and with nearly as much art as
+you could have used yourself--than she gives a kind of scream and faints
+away.'
+
+'What did you do--what happened next?' asked his daughter. 'Why, the
+masks came flocking round, with a general noise and hubbub, and I
+thought myself in luck to get clear off, that's all,' rejoined the
+locksmith. 'What happened when I reached home you may guess, if you
+didn't hear it. Ah! Well, it's a poor heart that never rejoices.--Put
+Toby this way, my dear.'
+
+This Toby was the brown jug of which previous mention has been made.
+Applying his lips to the worthy old gentleman's benevolent forehead, the
+locksmith, who had all this time been ravaging among the eatables, kept
+them there so long, at the same time raising the vessel slowly in
+the air, that at length Toby stood on his head upon his nose, when he
+smacked his lips, and set him on the table again with fond reluctance.
+
+Although Sim Tappertit had taken no share in this conversation, no part
+of it being addressed to him, he had not been wanting in such silent
+manifestations of astonishment, as he deemed most compatible with the
+favourable display of his eyes. Regarding the pause which now ensued, as
+a particularly advantageous opportunity for doing great execution with
+them upon the locksmith's daughter (who he had no doubt was looking
+at him in mute admiration), he began to screw and twist his face,
+and especially those features, into such extraordinary, hideous, and
+unparalleled contortions, that Gabriel, who happened to look towards
+him, was stricken with amazement.
+
+'Why, what the devil's the matter with the lad?' cried the locksmith.
+'Is he choking?'
+
+'Who?' demanded Sim, with some disdain.
+
+'Who? Why, you,' returned his master. 'What do you mean by making those
+horrible faces over your breakfast?'
+
+'Faces are matters of taste, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, rather
+discomfited; not the less so because he saw the locksmith's daughter
+smiling.
+
+'Sim,' rejoined Gabriel, laughing heartily. 'Don't be a fool, for I'd
+rather see you in your senses. These young fellows,' he added, turning
+to his daughter, 'are always committing some folly or another. There was
+a quarrel between Joe Willet and old John last night though I can't say
+Joe was much in fault either. He'll be missing one of these mornings,
+and will have gone away upon some wild-goose errand, seeking his
+fortune.--Why, what's the matter, Doll? YOU are making faces now. The
+girls are as bad as the boys every bit!'
+
+'It's the tea,' said Dolly, turning alternately very red and very white,
+which is no doubt the effect of a slight scald--'so very hot.'
+
+Mr Tappertit looked immensely big at a quartern loaf on the table, and
+breathed hard.
+
+'Is that all?' returned the locksmith. 'Put some more milk in it.--Yes,
+I am sorry for Joe, because he is a likely young fellow, and gains upon
+one every time one sees him. But he'll start off, you'll find. Indeed he
+told me as much himself!'
+
+'Indeed!' cried Dolly in a faint voice. 'In-deed!'
+
+'Is the tea tickling your throat still, my dear?' said the locksmith.
+
+But, before his daughter could make him any answer, she was taken with
+a troublesome cough, and it was such a very unpleasant cough, that,
+when she left off, the tears were starting in her bright eyes. The
+good-natured locksmith was still patting her on the back and applying
+such gentle restoratives, when a message arrived from Mrs Varden, making
+known to all whom it might concern, that she felt too much indisposed
+to rise after her great agitation and anxiety of the previous night; and
+therefore desired to be immediately accommodated with the little black
+teapot of strong mixed tea, a couple of rounds of buttered toast, a
+middling-sized dish of beef and ham cut thin, and the Protestant Manual
+in two volumes post octavo. Like some other ladies who in remote
+ages flourished upon this globe, Mrs Varden was most devout when most
+ill-tempered. Whenever she and her husband were at unusual variance,
+then the Protestant Manual was in high feather.
+
+Knowing from experience what these requests portended, the triumvirate
+broke up; Dolly, to see the orders executed with all despatch; Gabriel,
+to some out-of-door work in his little chaise; and Sim, to his daily
+duty in the workshop, to which retreat he carried the big look, although
+the loaf remained behind.
+
+Indeed the big look increased immensely, and when he had tied his apron
+on, became quite gigantic. It was not until he had several times walked
+up and down with folded arms, and the longest strides he could take,
+and had kicked a great many small articles out of his way, that his lip
+began to curl. At length, a gloomy derision came upon his features, and
+he smiled; uttering meanwhile with supreme contempt the monosyllable
+'Joe!'
+
+'I eyed her over, while he talked about the fellow,' he said, 'and that
+was of course the reason of her being confused. Joe!'
+
+He walked up and down again much quicker than before, and if possible
+with longer strides; sometimes stopping to take a glance at his legs,
+and sometimes to jerk out, and cast from him, another 'Joe!' In the
+course of a quarter of an hour or so he again assumed the paper cap and
+tried to work. No. It could not be done.
+
+'I'll do nothing to-day,' said Mr Tappertit, dashing it down again, 'but
+grind. I'll grind up all the tools. Grinding will suit my present humour
+well. Joe!'
+
+Whirr-r-r-r. The grindstone was soon in motion; the sparks were flying
+off in showers. This was the occupation for his heated spirit.
+
+Whirr-r-r-r-r-r-r.
+
+'Something will come of this!' said Mr Tappertit, pausing as if in
+triumph, and wiping his heated face upon his sleeve. 'Something will
+come of this. I hope it mayn't be human gore!'
+
+Whirr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r.
+
+
+
+Chapter 5
+
+
+As soon as the business of the day was over, the locksmith sallied
+forth, alone, to visit the wounded gentleman and ascertain the progress
+of his recovery. The house where he had left him was in a by-street
+in Southwark, not far from London Bridge; and thither he hied with all
+speed, bent upon returning with as little delay as might be, and getting
+to bed betimes.
+
+The evening was boisterous--scarcely better than the previous night had
+been. It was not easy for a stout man like Gabriel to keep his legs at
+the street corners, or to make head against the high wind, which often
+fairly got the better of him, and drove him back some paces, or, in
+defiance of all his energy, forced him to take shelter in an arch or
+doorway until the fury of the gust was spent. Occasionally a hat or wig,
+or both, came spinning and trundling past him, like a mad thing; while
+the more serious spectacle of falling tiles and slates, or of masses of
+brick and mortar or fragments of stone-coping rattling upon the pavement
+near at hand, and splitting into fragments, did not increase the
+pleasure of the journey, or make the way less dreary.
+
+'A trying night for a man like me to walk in!' said the locksmith, as
+he knocked softly at the widow's door. 'I'd rather be in old John's
+chimney-corner, faith!'
+
+'Who's there?' demanded a woman's voice from within. Being answered, it
+added a hasty word of welcome, and the door was quickly opened.
+
+She was about forty--perhaps two or three years older--with a cheerful
+aspect, and a face that had once been pretty. It bore traces of
+affliction and care, but they were of an old date, and Time had smoothed
+them. Any one who had bestowed but a casual glance on Barnaby might
+have known that this was his mother, from the strong resemblance between
+them; but where in his face there was wildness and vacancy, in hers
+there was the patient composure of long effort and quiet resignation.
+
+One thing about this face was very strange and startling. You could not
+look upon it in its most cheerful mood without feeling that it had some
+extraordinary capacity of expressing terror. It was not on the surface.
+It was in no one feature that it lingered. You could not take the
+eyes or mouth, or lines upon the cheek, and say, if this or that were
+otherwise, it would not be so. Yet there it always lurked--something for
+ever dimly seen, but ever there, and never absent for a moment. It was
+the faintest, palest shadow of some look, to which an instant of intense
+and most unutterable horror only could have given birth; but indistinct
+and feeble as it was, it did suggest what that look must have been, and
+fixed it in the mind as if it had had existence in a dream.
+
+More faintly imaged, and wanting force and purpose, as it were, because
+of his darkened intellect, there was this same stamp upon the son.
+Seen in a picture, it must have had some legend with it, and would have
+haunted those who looked upon the canvas. They who knew the Maypole
+story, and could remember what the widow was, before her husband's and
+his master's murder, understood it well. They recollected how the change
+had come, and could call to mind that when her son was born, upon the
+very day the deed was known, he bore upon his wrist what seemed a smear
+of blood but half washed out.
+
+'God save you, neighbour!' said the locksmith, as he followed her, with
+the air of an old friend, into a little parlour where a cheerful fire
+was burning.
+
+'And you,' she answered smiling. 'Your kind heart has brought you
+here again. Nothing will keep you at home, I know of old, if there are
+friends to serve or comfort, out of doors.'
+
+'Tut, tut,' returned the locksmith, rubbing his hands and warming them.
+'You women are such talkers. What of the patient, neighbour?'
+
+'He is sleeping now. He was very restless towards daylight, and for
+some hours tossed and tumbled sadly. But the fever has left him, and the
+doctor says he will soon mend. He must not be removed until to-morrow.'
+
+'He has had visitors to-day--humph?' said Gabriel, slyly.
+
+'Yes. Old Mr Chester has been here ever since we sent for him, and had
+not been gone many minutes when you knocked.'
+
+'No ladies?' said Gabriel, elevating his eyebrows and looking
+disappointed.
+
+'A letter,' replied the widow.
+
+'Come. That's better than nothing!' replied the locksmith. 'Who was the
+bearer?'
+
+'Barnaby, of course.'
+
+'Barnaby's a jewel!' said Varden; 'and comes and goes with ease where we
+who think ourselves much wiser would make but a poor hand of it. He is
+not out wandering, again, I hope?'
+
+'Thank Heaven he is in his bed; having been up all night, as you know,
+and on his feet all day. He was quite tired out. Ah, neighbour, if I
+could but see him oftener so--if I could but tame down that terrible
+restlessness--'
+
+'In good time,' said the locksmith, kindly, 'in good time--don't be
+down-hearted. To my mind he grows wiser every day.'
+
+The widow shook her head. And yet, though she knew the locksmith sought
+to cheer her, and spoke from no conviction of his own, she was glad to
+hear even this praise of her poor benighted son.
+
+'He will be a 'cute man yet,' resumed the locksmith. 'Take care, when we
+are growing old and foolish, Barnaby doesn't put us to the blush, that's
+all. But our other friend,' he added, looking under the table and
+about the floor--'sharpest and cunningest of all the sharp and cunning
+ones--where's he?'
+
+'In Barnaby's room,' rejoined the widow, with a faint smile.
+
+'Ah! He's a knowing blade!' said Varden, shaking his head. 'I should
+be sorry to talk secrets before him. Oh! He's a deep customer. I've no
+doubt he can read, and write, and cast accounts if he chooses. What was
+that? Him tapping at the door?'
+
+'No,' returned the widow. 'It was in the street, I think. Hark! Yes.
+There again! 'Tis some one knocking softly at the shutter. Who can it
+be!'
+
+They had been speaking in a low tone, for the invalid lay overhead, and
+the walls and ceilings being thin and poorly built, the sound of their
+voices might otherwise have disturbed his slumber. The party without,
+whoever it was, could have stood close to the shutter without hearing
+anything spoken; and, seeing the light through the chinks and finding
+all so quiet, might have been persuaded that only one person was there.
+
+'Some thief or ruffian maybe,' said the locksmith. 'Give me the light.'
+
+'No, no,' she returned hastily. 'Such visitors have never come to this
+poor dwelling. Do you stay here. You're within call, at the worst. I
+would rather go myself--alone.'
+
+'Why?' said the locksmith, unwillingly relinquishing the candle he had
+caught up from the table.
+
+'Because--I don't know why--because the wish is so strong upon me,' she
+rejoined. 'There again--do not detain me, I beg of you!'
+
+Gabriel looked at her, in great surprise to see one who was usually so
+mild and quiet thus agitated, and with so little cause. She left the
+room and closed the door behind her. She stood for a moment as if
+hesitating, with her hand upon the lock. In this short interval the
+knocking came again, and a voice close to the window--a voice the
+locksmith seemed to recollect, and to have some disagreeable association
+with--whispered 'Make haste.'
+
+The words were uttered in that low distinct voice which finds its way so
+readily to sleepers' ears, and wakes them in a fright. For a moment
+it startled even the locksmith; who involuntarily drew back from the
+window, and listened.
+
+The wind rumbling in the chimney made it difficult to hear what passed,
+but he could tell that the door was opened, that there was the tread of
+a man upon the creaking boards, and then a moment's silence--broken by a
+suppressed something which was not a shriek, or groan, or cry for help,
+and yet might have been either or all three; and the words 'My God!'
+uttered in a voice it chilled him to hear.
+
+He rushed out upon the instant. There, at last, was that dreadful
+look--the very one he seemed to know so well and yet had never seen
+before--upon her face. There she stood, frozen to the ground, gazing
+with starting eyes, and livid cheeks, and every feature fixed and
+ghastly, upon the man he had encountered in the dark last night. His
+eyes met those of the locksmith. It was but a flash, an instant, a
+breath upon a polished glass, and he was gone.
+
+The locksmith was upon him--had the skirts of his streaming garment
+almost in his grasp--when his arms were tightly clutched, and the widow
+flung herself upon the ground before him.
+
+'The other way--the other way,' she cried. 'He went the other way.
+Turn--turn!'
+
+'The other way! I see him now,' rejoined the locksmith,
+pointing--'yonder--there--there is his shadow passing by that light.
+What--who is this? Let me go.'
+
+'Come back, come back!' exclaimed the woman, clasping him; 'Do not
+touch him on your life. I charge you, come back. He carries other lives
+besides his own. Come back!'
+
+'What does this mean?' cried the locksmith.
+
+'No matter what it means, don't ask, don't speak, don't think about it.
+He is not to be followed, checked, or stopped. Come back!'
+
+The old man looked at her in wonder, as she writhed and clung about him;
+and, borne down by her passion, suffered her to drag him into the house.
+It was not until she had chained and double-locked the door, fastened
+every bolt and bar with the heat and fury of a maniac, and drawn him
+back into the room, that she turned upon him, once again, that stony
+look of horror, and, sinking down into a chair, covered her face, and
+shuddered, as though the hand of death were on her.
+
+
+
+Chapter 6
+
+
+Beyond all measure astonished by the strange occurrences which had
+passed with so much violence and rapidity, the locksmith gazed upon the
+shuddering figure in the chair like one half stupefied, and would have
+gazed much longer, had not his tongue been loosened by compassion and
+humanity.
+
+'You are ill,' said Gabriel. 'Let me call some neighbour in.'
+
+'Not for the world,' she rejoined, motioning to him with her trembling
+hand, and holding her face averted. 'It is enough that you have been by,
+to see this.'
+
+'Nay, more than enough--or less,' said Gabriel.
+
+'Be it so,' she returned. 'As you like. Ask me no questions, I entreat
+you.'
+
+'Neighbour,' said the locksmith, after a pause. 'Is this fair, or
+reasonable, or just to yourself? Is it like you, who have known me so
+long and sought my advice in all matters--like you, who from a girl have
+had a strong mind and a staunch heart?'
+
+'I have need of them,' she replied. 'I am growing old, both in years and
+care. Perhaps that, and too much trial, have made them weaker than they
+used to be. Do not speak to me.'
+
+'How can I see what I have seen, and hold my peace!' returned the
+locksmith. 'Who was that man, and why has his coming made this change in
+you?'
+
+She was silent, but held to the chair as though to save herself from
+falling on the ground.
+
+'I take the licence of an old acquaintance, Mary,' said the locksmith,
+'who has ever had a warm regard for you, and maybe has tried to prove it
+when he could. Who is this ill-favoured man, and what has he to do with
+you? Who is this ghost, that is only seen in the black nights and bad
+weather? How does he know, and why does he haunt this house, whispering
+through chinks and crevices, as if there was that between him and you,
+which neither durst so much as speak aloud of? Who is he?'
+
+'You do well to say he haunts this house,' returned the widow, faintly.
+'His shadow has been upon it and me, in light and darkness, at noonday
+and midnight. And now, at last, he has come in the body!'
+
+'But he wouldn't have gone in the body,' returned the locksmith with
+some irritation, 'if you had left my arms and legs at liberty. What
+riddle is this?'
+
+'It is one,' she answered, rising as she spoke, 'that must remain for
+ever as it is. I dare not say more than that.'
+
+'Dare not!' repeated the wondering locksmith.
+
+'Do not press me,' she replied. 'I am sick and faint, and every faculty
+of life seems dead within me.--No!--Do not touch me, either.'
+
+Gabriel, who had stepped forward to render her assistance, fell back as
+she made this hasty exclamation, and regarded her in silent wonder.
+
+'Let me go my way alone,' she said in a low voice, 'and let the hands of
+no honest man touch mine to-night.' When she had tottered to the door,
+she turned, and added with a stronger effort, 'This is a secret, which,
+of necessity, I trust to you. You are a true man. As you have ever been
+good and kind to me,--keep it. If any noise was heard above, make some
+excuse--say anything but what you really saw, and never let a word or
+look between us, recall this circumstance. I trust to you. Mind, I trust
+to you. How much I trust, you never can conceive.'
+
+Casting her eyes upon him for an instant, she withdrew, and left him
+there alone.
+
+Gabriel, not knowing what to think, stood staring at the door with a
+countenance full of surprise and dismay. The more he pondered on
+what had passed, the less able he was to give it any favourable
+interpretation. To find this widow woman, whose life for so many years
+had been supposed to be one of solitude and retirement, and who, in her
+quiet suffering character, had gained the good opinion and respect of
+all who knew her--to find her linked mysteriously with an ill-omened
+man, alarmed at his appearance, and yet favouring his escape, was a
+discovery that pained as much as startled him. Her reliance on his
+secrecy, and his tacit acquiescence, increased his distress of mind. If
+he had spoken boldly, persisted in questioning her, detained her
+when she rose to leave the room, made any kind of protest, instead of
+silently compromising himself, as he felt he had done, he would have
+been more at ease.
+
+'Why did I let her say it was a secret, and she trusted it to me!' said
+Gabriel, putting his wig on one side to scratch his head with greater
+ease, and looking ruefully at the fire. 'I have no more readiness than
+old John himself. Why didn't I say firmly, "You have no right to such
+secrets, and I demand of you to tell me what this means," instead of
+standing gaping at her, like an old moon-calf as I am! But there's my
+weakness. I can be obstinate enough with men if need be, but women may
+twist me round their fingers at their pleasure.'
+
+He took his wig off outright as he made this reflection, and, warming
+his handkerchief at the fire began to rub and polish his bald head with
+it, until it glistened again.
+
+'And yet,' said the locksmith, softening under this soothing process,
+and stopping to smile, 'it MAY be nothing. Any drunken brawler trying to
+make his way into the house, would have alarmed a quiet soul like her.
+But then'--and here was the vexation--'how came it to be that man; how
+comes he to have this influence over her; how came she to favour his
+getting away from me; and, more than all, how came she not to say it
+was a sudden fright, and nothing more? It's a sad thing to have, in one
+minute, reason to mistrust a person I have known so long, and an old
+sweetheart into the bargain; but what else can I do, with all this upon
+my mind!--Is that Barnaby outside there?'
+
+'Ay!' he cried, looking in and nodding. 'Sure enough it's Barnaby--how
+did you guess?'
+
+'By your shadow,' said the locksmith.
+
+'Oho!' cried Barnaby, glancing over his shoulder, 'He's a merry fellow,
+that shadow, and keeps close to me, though I AM silly. We have such
+pranks, such walks, such runs, such gambols on the grass! Sometimes
+he'll be half as tall as a church steeple, and sometimes no bigger
+than a dwarf. Now, he goes on before, and now behind, and anon he'll
+be stealing on, on this side, or on that, stopping whenever I stop, and
+thinking I can't see him, though I have my eye on him sharp enough. Oh!
+he's a merry fellow. Tell me--is he silly too? I think he is.'
+
+'Why?' asked Gabriel.
+
+'Because he never tires of mocking me, but does it all day long.--Why
+don't you come?'
+
+'Where?'
+
+'Upstairs. He wants you. Stay--where's HIS shadow? Come. You're a wise
+man; tell me that.'
+
+'Beside him, Barnaby; beside him, I suppose,' returned the locksmith.
+
+'No!' he replied, shaking his head. 'Guess again.'
+
+'Gone out a walking, maybe?'
+
+'He has changed shadows with a woman,' the idiot whispered in his ear,
+and then fell back with a look of triumph. 'Her shadow's always with
+him, and his with her. That's sport I think, eh?'
+
+'Barnaby,' said the locksmith, with a grave look; 'come hither, lad.'
+
+'I know what you want to say. I know!' he replied, keeping away from
+him. 'But I'm cunning, I'm silent. I only say so much to you--are you
+ready?' As he spoke, he caught up the light, and waved it with a wild
+laugh above his head.
+
+'Softly--gently,' said the locksmith, exerting all his influence to keep
+him calm and quiet. 'I thought you had been asleep.'
+
+'So I HAVE been asleep,' he rejoined, with widely-opened eyes. 'There
+have been great faces coming and going--close to my face, and then a
+mile away--low places to creep through, whether I would or no--high
+churches to fall down from--strange creatures crowded up together neck
+and heels, to sit upon the bed--that's sleep, eh?'
+
+'Dreams, Barnaby, dreams,' said the locksmith.
+
+'Dreams!' he echoed softly, drawing closer to him. 'Those are not
+dreams.'
+
+'What are,' replied the locksmith, 'if they are not?'
+
+'I dreamed,' said Barnaby, passing his arm through Varden's, and peering
+close into his face as he answered in a whisper, 'I dreamed just now
+that something--it was in the shape of a man--followed me--came softly
+after me--wouldn't let me be--but was always hiding and crouching, like
+a cat in dark corners, waiting till I should pass; when it crept out and
+came softly after me.--Did you ever see me run?'
+
+'Many a time, you know.'
+
+'You never saw me run as I did in this dream. Still it came creeping on
+to worry me. Nearer, nearer, nearer--I ran faster--leaped--sprung out
+of bed, and to the window--and there, in the street below--but he is
+waiting for us. Are you coming?'
+
+'What in the street below, Barnaby?' said Varden, imagining that
+he traced some connection between this vision and what had actually
+occurred.
+
+Barnaby looked into his face, muttered incoherently, waved the light
+above his head again, laughed, and drawing the locksmith's arm more
+tightly through his own, led him up the stairs in silence.
+
+They entered a homely bedchamber, garnished in a scanty way with chairs,
+whose spindle-shanks bespoke their age, and other furniture of very
+little worth; but clean and neatly kept. Reclining in an easy-chair
+before the fire, pale and weak from waste of blood, was Edward Chester,
+the young gentleman who had been the first to quit the Maypole on the
+previous night, and who, extending his hand to the locksmith, welcomed
+him as his preserver and friend.
+
+'Say no more, sir, say no more,' said Gabriel. 'I hope I would have done
+at least as much for any man in such a strait, and most of all for you,
+sir. A certain young lady,' he added, with some hesitation, 'has done us
+many a kind turn, and we naturally feel--I hope I give you no offence in
+saying this, sir?'
+
+The young man smiled and shook his head; at the same time moving in his
+chair as if in pain.
+
+'It's no great matter,' he said, in answer to the locksmith's
+sympathising look, 'a mere uneasiness arising at least as much from
+being cooped up here, as from the slight wound I have, or from the loss
+of blood. Be seated, Mr Varden.'
+
+'If I may make so bold, Mr Edward, as to lean upon your chair,' returned
+the locksmith, accommodating his action to his speech, and bending over
+him, 'I'll stand here for the convenience of speaking low. Barnaby is
+not in his quietest humour to-night, and at such times talking never
+does him good.'
+
+They both glanced at the subject of this remark, who had taken a seat on
+the other side of the fire, and, smiling vacantly, was making puzzles on
+his fingers with a skein of string.
+
+'Pray, tell me, sir,' said Varden, dropping his voice still lower,
+'exactly what happened last night. I have my reason for inquiring. You
+left the Maypole, alone?'
+
+'And walked homeward alone, until I had nearly reached the place where
+you found me, when I heard the gallop of a horse.'
+
+'Behind you?' said the locksmith.
+
+'Indeed, yes--behind me. It was a single rider, who soon overtook me,
+and checking his horse, inquired the way to London.'
+
+'You were on the alert, sir, knowing how many highwaymen there are,
+scouring the roads in all directions?' said Varden.
+
+'I was, but I had only a stick, having imprudently left my pistols
+in their holster-case with the landlord's son. I directed him as he
+desired. Before the words had passed my lips, he rode upon me furiously,
+as if bent on trampling me down beneath his horse's hoofs. In starting
+aside, I slipped and fell. You found me with this stab and an ugly
+bruise or two, and without my purse--in which he found little enough for
+his pains. And now, Mr Varden,' he added, shaking the locksmith by the
+hand, 'saving the extent of my gratitude to you, you know as much as I.'
+
+'Except,' said Gabriel, bending down yet more, and looking cautiously
+towards their silent neighhour, 'except in respect of the robber
+himself. What like was he, sir? Speak low, if you please. Barnaby means
+no harm, but I have watched him oftener than you, and I know, little as
+you would think it, that he's listening now.'
+
+It required a strong confidence in the locksmith's veracity to lead any
+one to this belief, for every sense and faculty that Barnaby possessed,
+seemed to be fixed upon his game, to the exclusion of all other things.
+Something in the young man's face expressed this opinion, for Gabriel
+repeated what he had just said, more earnestly than before, and with
+another glance towards Barnaby, again asked what like the man was.
+
+'The night was so dark,' said Edward, 'the attack so sudden, and he so
+wrapped and muffled up, that I can hardly say. It seems that--'
+
+'Don't mention his name, sir,' returned the locksmith, following his
+look towards Barnaby; 'I know HE saw him. I want to know what YOU saw.'
+
+'All I remember is,' said Edward, 'that as he checked his horse his
+hat was blown off. He caught it, and replaced it on his head, which
+I observed was bound with a dark handkerchief. A stranger entered the
+Maypole while I was there, whom I had not seen--for I had sat apart for
+reasons of my own--and when I rose to leave the room and glanced round,
+he was in the shadow of the chimney and hidden from my sight. But, if he
+and the robber were two different persons, their voices were strangely
+and most remarkably alike; for directly the man addressed me in the
+road, I recognised his speech again.'
+
+'It is as I feared. The very man was here to-night,' thought the
+locksmith, changing colour. 'What dark history is this!'
+
+'Halloa!' cried a hoarse voice in his ear. 'Halloa, halloa, halloa! Bow
+wow wow. What's the matter here! Hal-loa!'
+
+The speaker--who made the locksmith start as if he had been some
+supernatural agent--was a large raven, who had perched upon the top of
+the easy-chair, unseen by him and Edward, and listened with a polite
+attention and a most extraordinary appearance of comprehending every
+word, to all they had said up to this point; turning his head from one
+to the other, as if his office were to judge between them, and it were
+of the very last importance that he should not lose a word.
+
+'Look at him!' said Varden, divided between admiration of the bird and a
+kind of fear of him. 'Was there ever such a knowing imp as that! Oh he's
+a dreadful fellow!'
+
+The raven, with his head very much on one side, and his bright eye
+shining like a diamond, preserved a thoughtful silence for a few
+seconds, and then replied in a voice so hoarse and distant, that it
+seemed to come through his thick feathers rather than out of his mouth.
+
+'Halloa, halloa, halloa! What's the matter here! Keep up your spirits.
+Never say die. Bow wow wow. I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil.
+Hurrah!'--And then, as if exulting in his infernal character, he began
+to whistle.
+
+'I more than half believe he speaks the truth. Upon my word I do,'
+said Varden. 'Do you see how he looks at me, as if he knew what I was
+saying?'
+
+To which the bird, balancing himself on tiptoe, as it were, and moving
+his body up and down in a sort of grave dance, rejoined, 'I'm a devil,
+I'm a devil, I'm a devil,' and flapped his wings against his sides as
+if he were bursting with laughter. Barnaby clapped his hands, and fairly
+rolled upon the ground in an ecstasy of delight.
+
+'Strange companions, sir,' said the locksmith, shaking his head, and
+looking from one to the other. 'The bird has all the wit.'
+
+'Strange indeed!' said Edward, holding out his forefinger to the raven,
+who, in acknowledgment of the attention, made a dive at it immediately
+with his iron bill. 'Is he old?'
+
+'A mere boy, sir,' replied the locksmith. 'A hundred and twenty, or
+thereabouts. Call him down, Barnaby, my man.'
+
+'Call him!' echoed Barnaby, sitting upright upon the floor, and staring
+vacantly at Gabriel, as he thrust his hair back from his face. 'But who
+can make him come! He calls me, and makes me go where he will. He goes
+on before, and I follow. He's the master, and I'm the man. Is that the
+truth, Grip?'
+
+The raven gave a short, comfortable, confidential kind of croak;--a most
+expressive croak, which seemed to say, 'You needn't let these fellows
+into our secrets. We understand each other. It's all right.'
+
+'I make HIM come?' cried Barnaby, pointing to the bird. 'Him, who never
+goes to sleep, or so much as winks!--Why, any time of night, you may see
+his eyes in my dark room, shining like two sparks. And every night, and
+all night too, he's broad awake, talking to himself, thinking what he
+shall do to-morrow, where we shall go, and what he shall steal, and
+hide, and bury. I make HIM come! Ha ha ha!'
+
+On second thoughts, the bird appeared disposed to come of himself. After
+a short survey of the ground, and a few sidelong looks at the ceiling
+and at everybody present in turn, he fluttered to the floor, and went
+to Barnaby--not in a hop, or walk, or run, but in a pace like that of
+a very particular gentleman with exceedingly tight boots on, trying to
+walk fast over loose pebbles. Then, stepping into his extended hand,
+and condescending to be held out at arm's length, he gave vent to a
+succession of sounds, not unlike the drawing of some eight or ten dozen
+of long corks, and again asserted his brimstone birth and parentage with
+great distinctness.
+
+The locksmith shook his head--perhaps in some doubt of the creature's
+being really nothing but a bird--perhaps in pity for Barnaby, who by
+this time had him in his arms, and was rolling about, with him, on the
+ground. As he raised his eyes from the poor fellow he encountered those
+of his mother, who had entered the room, and was looking on in silence.
+
+She was quite white in the face, even to her lips, but had wholly
+subdued her emotion, and wore her usual quiet look. Varden fancied as he
+glanced at her that she shrunk from his eye; and that she busied herself
+about the wounded gentleman to avoid him the better.
+
+It was time he went to bed, she said. He was to be removed to his own
+home on the morrow, and he had already exceeded his time for sitting up,
+by a full hour. Acting on this hint, the locksmith prepared to take his
+leave.
+
+'By the bye,' said Edward, as he shook him by the hand, and looked from
+him to Mrs Rudge and back again, 'what noise was that below? I heard
+your voice in the midst of it, and should have inquired before, but our
+other conversation drove it from my memory. What was it?'
+
+The locksmith looked towards her, and bit his lip. She leant against the
+chair, and bent her eyes upon the ground. Barnaby too--he was listening.
+
+--'Some mad or drunken fellow, sir,' Varden at length made answer,
+looking steadily at the widow as he spoke. 'He mistook the house, and
+tried to force an entrance.'
+
+She breathed more freely, but stood quite motionless. As the locksmith
+said 'Good night,' and Barnaby caught up the candle to light him down
+the stairs, she took it from him, and charged him--with more haste and
+earnestness than so slight an occasion appeared to warrant--not to stir.
+The raven followed them to satisfy himself that all was right below,
+and when they reached the street-door, stood on the bottom stair drawing
+corks out of number.
+
+With a trembling hand she unfastened the chain and bolts, and turned
+the key. As she had her hand upon the latch, the locksmith said in a low
+voice,
+
+'I have told a lie to-night, for your sake, Mary, and for the sake of
+bygone times and old acquaintance, when I would scorn to do so for my
+own. I hope I may have done no harm, or led to none. I can't help the
+suspicions you have forced upon me, and I am loth, I tell you plainly,
+to leave Mr Edward here. Take care he comes to no hurt. I doubt the
+safety of this roof, and am glad he leaves it so soon. Now, let me go.'
+
+For a moment she hid her face in her hands and wept; but resisting the
+strong impulse which evidently moved her to reply, opened the door--no
+wider than was sufficient for the passage of his body--and motioned him
+away. As the locksmith stood upon the step, it was chained and locked
+behind him, and the raven, in furtherance of these precautions, barked
+like a lusty house-dog.
+
+'In league with that ill-looking figure that might have fallen from a
+gibbet--he listening and hiding here--Barnaby first upon the spot last
+night--can she who has always borne so fair a name be guilty of such
+crimes in secret!' said the locksmith, musing. 'Heaven forgive me if I
+am wrong, and send me just thoughts; but she is poor, the temptation
+may be great, and we daily hear of things as strange.--Ay, bark away, my
+friend. If there's any wickedness going on, that raven's in it, I'll be
+sworn.'
+
+
+
+Chapter 7
+
+
+Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper--a
+phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to
+make everybody more or less uncomfortable. Thus it generally happened,
+that when other people were merry, Mrs Varden was dull; and that
+when other people were dull, Mrs Varden was disposed to be amazingly
+cheerful. Indeed the worthy housewife was of such a capricious nature,
+that she not only attained a higher pitch of genius than Macbeth, in
+respect of her ability to be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,
+loyal and neutral in an instant, but would sometimes ring the changes
+backwards and forwards on all possible moods and flights in one short
+quarter of an hour; performing, as it were, a kind of triple bob major
+on the peal of instruments in the female belfry, with a skilfulness and
+rapidity of execution that astonished all who heard her.
+
+It had been observed in this good lady (who did not want for personal
+attractions, being plump and buxom to look at, though like her
+fair daughter, somewhat short in stature) that this uncertainty of
+disposition strengthened and increased with her temporal prosperity; and
+divers wise men and matrons, on friendly terms with the locksmith and
+his family, even went so far as to assert, that a tumble down some
+half-dozen rounds in the world's ladder--such as the breaking of the
+bank in which her husband kept his money, or some little fall of that
+kind--would be the making of her, and could hardly fail to render her
+one of the most agreeable companions in existence. Whether they were
+right or wrong in this conjecture, certain it is that minds, like
+bodies, will often fall into a pimpled ill-conditioned state from
+mere excess of comfort, and like them, are often successfully cured by
+remedies in themselves very nauseous and unpalatable.
+
+Mrs Varden's chief aider and abettor, and at the same time her principal
+victim and object of wrath, was her single domestic servant, one Miss
+Miggs; or as she was called, in conformity with those prejudices of
+society which lop and top from poor hand-maidens all such genteel
+excrescences--Miggs. This Miggs was a tall young lady, very much
+addicted to pattens in private life; slender and shrewish, of a rather
+uncomfortable figure, and though not absolutely ill-looking, of a sharp
+and acid visage. As a general principle and abstract proposition, Miggs
+held the male sex to be utterly contemptible and unworthy of notice;
+to be fickle, false, base, sottish, inclined to perjury, and wholly
+undeserving. When particularly exasperated against them (which, scandal
+said, was when Sim Tappertit slighted her most) she was accustomed to
+wish with great emphasis that the whole race of women could but die off,
+in order that the men might be brought to know the real value of the
+blessings by which they set so little store; nay, her feeling for her
+order ran so high, that she sometimes declared, if she could only have
+good security for a fair, round number--say ten thousand--of young
+virgins following her example, she would, to spite mankind, hang, drown,
+stab, or poison herself, with a joy past all expression.
+
+It was the voice of Miggs that greeted the locksmith, when he knocked at
+his own house, with a shrill cry of 'Who's there?'
+
+'Me, girl, me,' returned Gabriel.
+
+What, already, sir!' said Miggs, opening the door with a look of
+surprise. 'We were just getting on our nightcaps to sit up,--me and
+mistress. Oh, she has been SO bad!'
+
+Miggs said this with an air of uncommon candour and concern; but the
+parlour-door was standing open, and as Gabriel very well knew for whose
+ears it was designed, he regarded her with anything but an approving
+look as he passed in.
+
+'Master's come home, mim,' cried Miggs, running before him into the
+parlour. 'You was wrong, mim, and I was right. I thought he wouldn't
+keep us up so late, two nights running, mim. Master's always considerate
+so far. I'm so glad, mim, on your account. I'm a little'--here Miggs
+simpered--'a little sleepy myself; I'll own it now, mim, though I said I
+wasn't when you asked me. It ain't of no consequence, mim, of course.'
+
+'You had better,' said the locksmith, who most devoutly wished that
+Barnaby's raven was at Miggs's ankles, 'you had better get to bed at
+once then.'
+
+'Thanking you kindly, sir,' returned Miggs, 'I couldn't take my rest in
+peace, nor fix my thoughts upon my prayers, otherways than that I knew
+mistress was comfortable in her bed this night; by rights she ought to
+have been there, hours ago.'
+
+'You're talkative, mistress,' said Varden, pulling off his greatcoat,
+and looking at her askew.
+
+'Taking the hint, sir,' cried Miggs, with a flushed face, 'and thanking
+you for it most kindly, I will make bold to say, that if I give offence
+by having consideration for my mistress, I do not ask your pardon, but
+am content to get myself into trouble and to be in suffering.'
+
+Here Mrs Varden, who, with her countenance shrouded in a large nightcap,
+had been all this time intent upon the Protestant Manual, looked round,
+and acknowledged Miggs's championship by commanding her to hold her
+tongue.
+
+Every little bone in Miggs's throat and neck developed itself with a
+spitefulness quite alarming, as she replied, 'Yes, mim, I will.'
+
+'How do you find yourself now, my dear?' said the locksmith, taking a
+chair near his wife (who had resumed her book), and rubbing his knees
+hard as he made the inquiry.
+
+'You're very anxious to know, an't you?' returned Mrs Varden, with
+her eyes upon the print. 'You, that have not been near me all day, and
+wouldn't have been if I was dying!'
+
+'My dear Martha--' said Gabriel.
+
+Mrs Varden turned over to the next page; then went back again to the
+bottom line over leaf to be quite sure of the last words; and then went
+on reading with an appearance of the deepest interest and study.
+
+'My dear Martha,' said the locksmith, 'how can you say such things,
+when you know you don't mean them? If you were dying! Why, if there was
+anything serious the matter with you, Martha, shouldn't I be in constant
+attendance upon you?'
+
+'Yes!' cried Mrs Varden, bursting into tears, 'yes, you would. I don't
+doubt it, Varden. Certainly you would. That's as much as to tell me that
+you would be hovering round me like a vulture, waiting till the breath
+was out of my body, that you might go and marry somebody else.'
+
+Miggs groaned in sympathy--a little short groan, checked in its birth,
+and changed into a cough. It seemed to say, 'I can't help it. It's wrung
+from me by the dreadful brutality of that monster master.'
+
+'But you'll break my heart one of these days,' added Mrs Varden, with
+more resignation, 'and then we shall both be happy. My only desire is
+to see Dolly comfortably settled, and when she is, you may settle ME as
+soon as you like.'
+
+'Ah!' cried Miggs--and coughed again.
+
+Poor Gabriel twisted his wig about in silence for a long time, and then
+said mildly, 'Has Dolly gone to bed?'
+
+'Your master speaks to you,' said Mrs Varden, looking sternly over her
+shoulder at Miss Miggs in waiting.
+
+'No, my dear, I spoke to you,' suggested the locksmith.
+
+'Did you hear me, Miggs?' cried the obdurate lady, stamping her foot
+upon the ground. 'YOU are beginning to despise me now, are you? But this
+is example!'
+
+At this cruel rebuke, Miggs, whose tears were always ready, for large
+or small parties, on the shortest notice and the most reasonable terms,
+fell a crying violently; holding both her hands tight upon her heart
+meanwhile, as if nothing less would prevent its splitting into small
+fragments. Mrs Varden, who likewise possessed that faculty in high
+perfection, wept too, against Miggs; and with such effect that Miggs
+gave in after a time, and, except for an occasional sob, which seemed to
+threaten some remote intention of breaking out again, left her mistress
+in possession of the field. Her superiority being thoroughly asserted,
+that lady soon desisted likewise, and fell into a quiet melancholy.
+
+The relief was so great, and the fatiguing occurrences of last night so
+completely overpowered the locksmith, that he nodded in his chair, and
+would doubtless have slept there all night, but for the voice of Mrs
+Varden, which, after a pause of some five minutes, awoke him with a
+start.
+
+'If I am ever,' said Mrs V.--not scolding, but in a sort of monotonous
+remonstrance--'in spirits, if I am ever cheerful, if I am ever more than
+usually disposed to be talkative and comfortable, this is the way I am
+treated.'
+
+'Such spirits as you was in too, mim, but half an hour ago!' cried
+Miggs. 'I never see such company!'
+
+'Because,' said Mrs Varden, 'because I never interfere or interrupt;
+because I never question where anybody comes or goes; because my whole
+mind and soul is bent on saving where I can save, and labouring in this
+house;--therefore, they try me as they do.'
+
+'Martha,' urged the locksmith, endeavouring to look as wakeful as
+possible, 'what is it you complain of? I really came home with every
+wish and desire to be happy. I did, indeed.'
+
+'What do I complain of!' retorted his wife. 'Is it a chilling thing to
+have one's husband sulking and falling asleep directly he comes home--to
+have him freezing all one's warm-heartedness, and throwing cold water
+over the fireside? Is it natural, when I know he went out upon a matter
+in which I am as much interested as anybody can be, that I should wish
+to know all that has happened, or that he should tell me without my
+begging and praying him to do it? Is that natural, or is it not?'
+
+'I am very sorry, Martha,' said the good-natured locksmith. 'I was
+really afraid you were not disposed to talk pleasantly; I'll tell you
+everything; I shall only be too glad, my dear.'
+
+'No, Varden,' returned his wife, rising with dignity. 'I dare say--thank
+you! I'm not a child to be corrected one minute and petted the next--I'm
+a little too old for that, Varden. Miggs, carry the light.--YOU can be
+cheerful, Miggs, at least.'
+
+Miggs, who, to this moment, had been in the very depths of compassionate
+despondency, passed instantly into the liveliest state conceivable,
+and tossing her head as she glanced towards the locksmith, bore off her
+mistress and the light together.
+
+'Now, who would think,' thought Varden, shrugging his shoulders and
+drawing his chair nearer to the fire, 'that that woman could ever be
+pleasant and agreeable? And yet she can be. Well, well, all of us have
+our faults. I'll not be hard upon hers. We have been man and wife too
+long for that.'
+
+He dozed again--not the less pleasantly, perhaps, for his hearty temper.
+While his eyes were closed, the door leading to the upper stairs was
+partially opened; and a head appeared, which, at sight of him, hastily
+drew back again.
+
+'I wish,' murmured Gabriel, waking at the noise, and looking round
+the room, 'I wish somebody would marry Miggs. But that's impossible! I
+wonder whether there's any madman alive, who would marry Miggs!'
+
+This was such a vast speculation that he fell into a doze again, and
+slept until the fire was quite burnt out. At last he roused himself; and
+having double-locked the street-door according to custom, and put the
+key in his pocket, went off to bed.
+
+He had not left the room in darkness many minutes, when the head again
+appeared, and Sim Tappertit entered, bearing in his hand a little lamp.
+
+'What the devil business has he to stop up so late!' muttered Sim,
+passing into the workshop, and setting it down upon the forge. 'Here's
+half the night gone already. There's only one good that has ever come to
+me, out of this cursed old rusty mechanical trade, and that's this piece
+of ironmongery, upon my soul!'
+
+As he spoke, he drew from the right hand, or rather right leg pocket of
+his smalls, a clumsy large-sized key, which he inserted cautiously in
+the lock his master had secured, and softly opened the door. That done,
+he replaced his piece of secret workmanship in his pocket; and leaving
+the lamp burning, and closing the door carefully and without noise,
+stole out into the street--as little suspected by the locksmith in his
+sound deep sleep, as by Barnaby himself in his phantom-haunted dreams.
+
+
+
+Chapter 8
+
+
+Clear of the locksmith's house, Sim Tappertit laid aside his cautious
+manner, and assuming in its stead that of a ruffling, swaggering, roving
+blade, who would rather kill a man than otherwise, and eat him too if
+needful, made the best of his way along the darkened streets.
+
+Half pausing for an instant now and then to smite his pocket and assure
+himself of the safety of his master key, he hurried on to Barbican, and
+turning into one of the narrowest of the narrow streets which diverged
+from that centre, slackened his pace and wiped his heated brow, as if
+the termination of his walk were near at hand.
+
+It was not a very choice spot for midnight expeditions, being in truth
+one of more than questionable character, and of an appearance by no
+means inviting. From the main street he had entered, itself little
+better than an alley, a low-browed doorway led into a blind court, or
+yard, profoundly dark, unpaved, and reeking with stagnant odours. Into
+this ill-favoured pit, the locksmith's vagrant 'prentice groped his way;
+and stopping at a house from whose defaced and rotten front the rude
+effigy of a bottle swung to and fro like some gibbeted malefactor,
+struck thrice upon an iron grating with his foot. After listening in
+vain for some response to his signal, Mr Tappertit became impatient, and
+struck the grating thrice again.
+
+A further delay ensued, but it was not of long duration. The ground
+seemed to open at his feet, and a ragged head appeared.
+
+'Is that the captain?' said a voice as ragged as the head.
+
+'Yes,' replied Mr Tappertit haughtily, descending as he spoke, 'who
+should it be?'
+
+'It's so late, we gave you up,' returned the voice, as its owner stopped
+to shut and fasten the grating. 'You're late, sir.'
+
+'Lead on,' said Mr Tappertit, with a gloomy majesty, 'and make remarks
+when I require you. Forward!'
+
+This latter word of command was perhaps somewhat theatrical and
+unnecessary, inasmuch as the descent was by a very narrow, steep, and
+slippery flight of steps, and any rashness or departure from the beaten
+track must have ended in a yawning water-butt. But Mr Tappertit being,
+like some other great commanders, favourable to strong effects, and
+personal display, cried 'Forward!' again, in the hoarsest voice he could
+assume; and led the way, with folded arms and knitted brows, to the
+cellar down below, where there was a small copper fixed in one corner,
+a chair or two, a form and table, a glimmering fire, and a truckle-bed,
+covered with a ragged patchwork rug.
+
+'Welcome, noble captain!' cried a lanky figure, rising as from a nap.
+
+The captain nodded. Then, throwing off his outer coat, he stood composed
+in all his dignity, and eyed his follower over.
+
+'What news to-night?' he asked, when he had looked into his very soul.
+
+'Nothing particular,' replied the other, stretching himself--and he was
+so long already that it was quite alarming to see him do it--'how come
+you to be so late?'
+
+'No matter,' was all the captain deigned to say in answer. 'Is the room
+prepared?'
+
+'It is,' replied the follower.
+
+'The comrade--is he here?'
+
+'Yes. And a sprinkling of the others--you hear 'em?'
+
+'Playing skittles!' said the captain moodily. 'Light-hearted revellers!'
+
+There was no doubt respecting the particular amusement in which these
+heedless spirits were indulging, for even in the close and stifling
+atmosphere of the vault, the noise sounded like distant thunder. It
+certainly appeared, at first sight, a singular spot to choose, for that
+or any other purpose of relaxation, if the other cellars answered to
+the one in which this brief colloquy took place; for the floors were of
+sodden earth, the walls and roof of damp bare brick tapestried with
+the tracks of snails and slugs; the air was sickening, tainted, and
+offensive. It seemed, from one strong flavour which was uppermost among
+the various odours of the place, that it had, at no very distant period,
+been used as a storehouse for cheeses; a circumstance which, while it
+accounted for the greasy moisture that hung about it, was agreeably
+suggestive of rats. It was naturally damp besides, and little trees of
+fungus sprung from every mouldering corner.
+
+The proprietor of this charming retreat, and owner of the ragged head
+before mentioned--for he wore an old tie-wig as bare and frowzy as a
+stunted hearth-broom--had by this time joined them; and stood a little
+apart, rubbing his hands, wagging his hoary bristled chin, and smiling
+in silence. His eyes were closed; but had they been wide open, it would
+have been easy to tell, from the attentive expression of the face he
+turned towards them--pale and unwholesome as might be expected in one
+of his underground existence--and from a certain anxious raising and
+quivering of the lids, that he was blind.
+
+'Even Stagg hath been asleep,' said the long comrade, nodding towards
+this person.
+
+'Sound, captain, sound!' cried the blind man; 'what does my noble
+captain drink--is it brandy, rum, usquebaugh? Is it soaked gunpowder, or
+blazing oil? Give it a name, heart of oak, and we'd get it for you, if
+it was wine from a bishop's cellar, or melted gold from King George's
+mint.'
+
+'See,' said Mr Tappertit haughtily, 'that it's something strong, and
+comes quick; and so long as you take care of that, you may bring it from
+the devil's cellar, if you like.'
+
+'Boldly said, noble captain!' rejoined the blind man. 'Spoken like the
+'Prentices' Glory. Ha, ha! From the devil's cellar! A brave joke! The
+captain joketh. Ha, ha, ha!'
+
+'I'll tell you what, my fine feller,' said Mr Tappertit, eyeing the
+host over as he walked to a closet, and took out a bottle and glass as
+carelessly as if he had been in full possession of his sight, 'if you
+make that row, you'll find that the captain's very far from joking, and
+so I tell you.'
+
+'He's got his eyes on me!' cried Stagg, stopping short on his way back,
+and affecting to screen his face with the bottle. 'I feel 'em though I
+can't see 'em. Take 'em off, noble captain. Remove 'em, for they pierce
+like gimlets.'
+
+Mr Tappertit smiled grimly at his comrade; and twisting out one more
+look--a kind of ocular screw--under the influence of which the blind man
+feigned to undergo great anguish and torture, bade him, in a softened
+tone, approach, and hold his peace.
+
+'I obey you, captain,' cried Stagg, drawing close to him and filling
+out a bumper without spilling a drop, by reason that he held his little
+finger at the brim of the glass, and stopped at the instant the liquor
+touched it, 'drink, noble governor. Death to all masters, life to all
+'prentices, and love to all fair damsels. Drink, brave general, and warm
+your gallant heart!'
+
+Mr Tappertit condescended to take the glass from his outstretched hand.
+Stagg then dropped on one knee, and gently smoothed the calves of his
+legs, with an air of humble admiration.
+
+'That I had but eyes!' he cried, 'to behold my captain's symmetrical
+proportions! That I had but eyes, to look upon these twin invaders of
+domestic peace!'
+
+'Get out!' said Mr Tappertit, glancing downward at his favourite limbs.
+'Go along, will you, Stagg!'
+
+'When I touch my own afterwards,' cried the host, smiting them
+reproachfully, 'I hate 'em. Comparatively speaking, they've no more
+shape than wooden legs, beside these models of my noble captain's.'
+
+'Yours!' exclaimed Mr Tappertit. 'No, I should think not. Don't talk
+about those precious old toothpicks in the same breath with mine; that's
+rather too much. Here. Take the glass. Benjamin. Lead on. To business!'
+
+With these words, he folded his arms again; and frowning with a sullen
+majesty, passed with his companion through a little door at the upper
+end of the cellar, and disappeared; leaving Stagg to his private
+meditations.
+
+The vault they entered, strewn with sawdust and dimly lighted, was
+between the outer one from which they had just come, and that in which
+the skittle-players were diverting themselves; as was manifested by
+the increased noise and clamour of tongues, which was suddenly stopped,
+however, and replaced by a dead silence, at a signal from the long
+comrade. Then, this young gentleman, going to a little cupboard,
+returned with a thigh-bone, which in former times must have been part
+and parcel of some individual at least as long as himself, and placed
+the same in the hands of Mr Tappertit; who, receiving it as a sceptre
+and staff of authority, cocked his three-cornered hat fiercely on the
+top of his head, and mounted a large table, whereon a chair of state,
+cheerfully ornamented with a couple of skulls, was placed ready for his
+reception.
+
+He had no sooner assumed this position, than another young gentleman
+appeared, bearing in his arms a huge clasped book, who made him a
+profound obeisance, and delivering it to the long comrade, advanced to
+the table, and turning his back upon it, stood there Atlas-wise. Then,
+the long comrade got upon the table too; and seating himself in a lower
+chair than Mr Tappertit's, with much state and ceremony, placed the
+large book on the shoulders of their mute companion as deliberately as
+if he had been a wooden desk, and prepared to make entries therein with
+a pen of corresponding size.
+
+When the long comrade had made these preparations, he looked towards Mr
+Tappertit; and Mr Tappertit, flourishing the bone, knocked nine times
+therewith upon one of the skulls. At the ninth stroke, a third young
+gentleman emerged from the door leading to the skittle ground, and
+bowing low, awaited his commands.
+
+'Prentice!' said the mighty captain, 'who waits without?'
+
+The 'prentice made answer that a stranger was in attendance, who claimed
+admission into that secret society of 'Prentice Knights, and a free
+participation in their rights, privileges, and immunities. Thereupon
+Mr Tappertit flourished the bone again, and giving the other skull a
+prodigious rap on the nose, exclaimed 'Admit him!' At these dread words
+the 'prentice bowed once more, and so withdrew as he had come.
+
+There soon appeared at the same door, two other 'prentices, having
+between them a third, whose eyes were bandaged, and who was attired in a
+bag-wig, and a broad-skirted coat, trimmed with tarnished lace; and who
+was girded with a sword, in compliance with the laws of the Institution
+regulating the introduction of candidates, which required them to
+assume this courtly dress, and kept it constantly in lavender, for
+their convenience. One of the conductors of this novice held a rusty
+blunderbuss pointed towards his ear, and the other a very ancient
+sabre, with which he carved imaginary offenders as he came along in a
+sanguinary and anatomical manner.
+
+As this silent group advanced, Mr Tappertit fixed his hat upon his head.
+The novice then laid his hand upon his breast and bent before him. When
+he had humbled himself sufficiently, the captain ordered the bandage to
+be removed, and proceeded to eye him over.
+
+'Ha!' said the captain, thoughtfully, when he had concluded this ordeal.
+'Proceed.'
+
+The long comrade read aloud as follows:--'Mark Gilbert. Age, nineteen.
+Bound to Thomas Curzon, hosier, Golden Fleece, Aldgate. Loves Curzon's
+daughter. Cannot say that Curzon's daughter loves him. Should think it
+probable. Curzon pulled his ears last Tuesday week.'
+
+'How!' cried the captain, starting.
+
+'For looking at his daughter, please you,' said the novice.
+
+'Write Curzon down, Denounced,' said the captain. 'Put a black cross
+against the name of Curzon.'
+
+'So please you,' said the novice, 'that's not the worst--he calls his
+'prentice idle dog, and stops his beer unless he works to his liking. He
+gives Dutch cheese, too, eating Cheshire, sir, himself; and Sundays out,
+are only once a month.'
+
+'This,' said Mr Tappert gravely, 'is a flagrant case. Put two black
+crosses to the name of Curzon.'
+
+'If the society,' said the novice, who was an ill-looking, one-sided,
+shambling lad, with sunken eyes set close together in his head--'if the
+society would burn his house down--for he's not insured--or beat him
+as he comes home from his club at night, or help me to carry off his
+daughter, and marry her at the Fleet, whether she gave consent or no--'
+
+Mr Tappertit waved his grizzly truncheon as an admonition to him not to
+interrupt, and ordered three black crosses to the name of Curzon.
+
+'Which means,' he said in gracious explanation, 'vengeance, complete and
+terrible. 'Prentice, do you love the Constitution?'
+
+To which the novice (being to that end instructed by his attendant
+sponsors) replied 'I do!'
+
+'The Church, the State, and everything established--but the masters?'
+quoth the captain.
+
+Again the novice said 'I do.'
+
+Having said it, he listened meekly to the captain, who in an address
+prepared for such occasions, told him how that under that same
+Constitution (which was kept in a strong box somewhere, but where
+exactly he could not find out, or he would have endeavoured to procure a
+copy of it), the 'prentices had, in times gone by, had frequent holidays
+of right, broken people's heads by scores, defied their masters, nay,
+even achieved some glorious murders in the streets, which privileges
+had gradually been wrested from them, and in all which noble aspirations
+they were now restrained; how the degrading checks imposed upon them
+were unquestionably attributable to the innovating spirit of the times,
+and how they united therefore to resist all change, except such change
+as would restore those good old English customs, by which they would
+stand or fall. After illustrating the wisdom of going backward, by
+reference to that sagacious fish, the crab, and the not unfrequent
+practice of the mule and donkey, he described their general objects;
+which were briefly vengeance on their Tyrant Masters (of whose grievous
+and insupportable oppression no 'prentice could entertain a moment's
+doubt) and the restoration, as aforesaid, of their ancient rights and
+holidays; for neither of which objects were they now quite ripe, being
+barely twenty strong, but which they pledged themselves to pursue with
+fire and sword when needful. Then he described the oath which every
+member of that small remnant of a noble body took, and which was of a
+dreadful and impressive kind; binding him, at the bidding of his chief,
+to resist and obstruct the Lord Mayor, sword-bearer, and chaplain; to
+despise the authority of the sheriffs; and to hold the court of aldermen
+as nought; but not on any account, in case the fulness of time should
+bring a general rising of 'prentices, to damage or in any way disfigure
+Temple Bar, which was strictly constitutional and always to be
+approached with reverence. Having gone over these several heads with
+great eloquence and force, and having further informed the novice that
+this society had its origin in his own teeming brain, stimulated by a
+swelling sense of wrong and outrage, Mr Tappertit demanded whether he
+had strength of heart to take the mighty pledge required, or whether he
+would withdraw while retreat was yet in his power.
+
+To this the novice made rejoinder, that he would take the vow, though
+it should choke him; and it was accordingly administered with many
+impressive circumstances, among which the lighting up of the two skulls
+with a candle-end inside of each, and a great many flourishes with
+the bone, were chiefly conspicuous; not to mention a variety of grave
+exercises with the blunderbuss and sabre, and some dismal groaning by
+unseen 'prentices without. All these dark and direful ceremonies
+being at length completed, the table was put aside, the chair of state
+removed, the sceptre locked up in its usual cupboard, the doors of
+communication between the three cellars thrown freely open, and the
+'Prentice Knights resigned themselves to merriment.
+
+But Mr Tappertit, who had a soul above the vulgar herd, and who, on
+account of his greatness, could only afford to be merry now and then,
+threw himself on a bench with the air of a man who was faint with
+dignity. He looked with an indifferent eye, alike on skittles, cards,
+and dice, thinking only of the locksmith's daughter, and the base
+degenerate days on which he had fallen.
+
+'My noble captain neither games, nor sings, nor dances,' said his host,
+taking a seat beside him. 'Drink, gallant general!'
+
+Mr Tappertit drained the proffered goblet to the dregs; then thrust
+his hands into his pockets, and with a lowering visage walked among the
+skittles, while his followers (such is the influence of superior genius)
+restrained the ardent ball, and held his little shins in dumb respect.
+
+'If I had been born a corsair or a pirate, a brigand, genteel highwayman
+or patriot--and they're the same thing,' thought Mr Tappertit, musing
+among the nine-pins, 'I should have been all right. But to drag out a
+ignoble existence unbeknown to mankind in general--patience! I will be
+famous yet. A voice within me keeps on whispering Greatness. I shall
+burst out one of these days, and when I do, what power can keep me down?
+I feel my soul getting into my head at the idea. More drink there!'
+
+'The novice,' pursued Mr Tappertit, not exactly in a voice of thunder,
+for his tones, to say the truth were rather cracked and shrill--but very
+impressively, notwithstanding--'where is he?'
+
+'Here, noble captain!' cried Stagg. 'One stands beside me who I feel is
+a stranger.'
+
+'Have you,' said Mr Tappertit, letting his gaze fall on the party
+indicated, who was indeed the new knight, by this time restored to his
+own apparel; 'Have you the impression of your street-door key in wax?'
+
+The long comrade anticipated the reply, by producing it from the shelf
+on which it had been deposited.
+
+'Good,' said Mr Tappertit, scrutinising it attentively, while a
+breathless silence reigned around; for he had constructed secret
+door-keys for the whole society, and perhaps owed something of his
+influence to that mean and trivial circumstance--on such slight
+accidents do even men of mind depend!--'This is easily made. Come
+hither, friend.'
+
+With that, he beckoned the new knight apart, and putting the pattern in
+his pocket, motioned to him to walk by his side.
+
+'And so,' he said, when they had taken a few turns up and down, you--you
+love your master's daughter?'
+
+'I do,' said the 'prentice. 'Honour bright. No chaff, you know.'
+
+'Have you,' rejoined Mr Tappertit, catching him by the wrist, and
+giving him a look which would have been expressive of the most deadly
+malevolence, but for an accidental hiccup that rather interfered with
+it; 'have you a--a rival?'
+
+'Not as I know on,' replied the 'prentice.
+
+'If you had now--' said Mr Tappertit--'what would you--eh?--'
+
+The 'prentice looked fierce and clenched his fists.
+
+'It is enough,' cried Mr Tappertit hastily, 'we understand each other.
+We are observed. I thank you.'
+
+So saying, he cast him off again; and calling the long comrade aside
+after taking a few hasty turns by himself, bade him immediately write
+and post against the wall, a notice, proscribing one Joseph Willet
+(commonly known as Joe) of Chigwell; forbidding all 'Prentice Knights
+to succour, comfort, or hold communion with him; and requiring them,
+on pain of excommunication, to molest, hurt, wrong, annoy, and pick
+quarrels with the said Joseph, whensoever and wheresoever they, or any
+of them, should happen to encounter him.
+
+Having relieved his mind by this energetic proceeding, he condescended
+to approach the festive board, and warming by degrees, at length deigned
+to preside, and even to enchant the company with a song. After this,
+he rose to such a pitch as to consent to regale the society with a
+hornpipe, which he actually performed to the music of a fiddle (played
+by an ingenious member) with such surpassing agility and brilliancy of
+execution, that the spectators could not be sufficiently enthusiastic in
+their admiration; and their host protested, with tears in his eyes, that
+he had never truly felt his blindness until that moment.
+
+But the host withdrawing--probably to weep in secret--soon returned with
+the information that it wanted little more than an hour of day, and that
+all the cocks in Barbican had already begun to crow, as if their lives
+depended on it. At this intelligence, the 'Prentice Knights arose in
+haste, and marshalling into a line, filed off one by one and dispersed
+with all speed to their several homes, leaving their leader to pass the
+grating last.
+
+'Good night, noble captain,' whispered the blind man as he held it open
+for his passage out; 'Farewell, brave general. Bye, bye, illustrious
+commander. Good luck go with you for a--conceited, bragging,
+empty-headed, duck-legged idiot.'
+
+With which parting words, coolly added as he listened to his receding
+footsteps and locked the grate upon himself, he descended the steps,
+and lighting the fire below the little copper, prepared, without
+any assistance, for his daily occupation; which was to retail at the
+area-head above pennyworths of broth and soup, and savoury puddings,
+compounded of such scraps as were to be bought in the heap for the least
+money at Fleet Market in the evening time; and for the sale of which
+he had need to have depended chiefly on his private connection, for the
+court had no thoroughfare, and was not that kind of place in which
+many people were likely to take the air, or to frequent as an agreeable
+promenade.
+
+
+
+Chapter 9
+
+
+Chronicler's are privileged to enter where they list, to come and go
+through keyholes, to ride upon the wind, to overcome, in their soarings
+up and down, all obstacles of distance, time, and place. Thrice blessed
+be this last consideration, since it enables us to follow the disdainful
+Miggs even into the sanctity of her chamber, and to hold her in sweet
+companionship through the dreary watches of the night!
+
+Miss Miggs, having undone her mistress, as she phrased it (which means,
+assisted to undress her), and having seen her comfortably to bed in
+the back room on the first floor, withdrew to her own apartment, in
+the attic story. Notwithstanding her declaration in the locksmith's
+presence, she was in no mood for sleep; so, putting her light upon the
+table and withdrawing the little window curtain, she gazed out pensively
+at the wild night sky.
+
+Perhaps she wondered what star was destined for her habitation when
+she had run her little course below; perhaps speculated which of those
+glimmering spheres might be the natal orb of Mr Tappertit; perhaps
+marvelled how they could gaze down on that perfidious creature, man, and
+not sicken and turn green as chemists' lamps; perhaps thought of nothing
+in particular. Whatever she thought about, there she sat, until her
+attention, alive to anything connected with the insinuating 'prentice,
+was attracted by a noise in the next room to her own--his room; the room
+in which he slept, and dreamed--it might be, sometimes dreamed of her.
+
+That he was not dreaming now, unless he was taking a walk in his sleep,
+was clear, for every now and then there came a shuffling noise, as
+though he were engaged in polishing the whitewashed wall; then a gentle
+creaking of his door; then the faintest indication of his stealthy
+footsteps on the landing-place outside. Noting this latter circumstance,
+Miss Miggs turned pale and shuddered, as mistrusting his intentions; and
+more than once exclaimed, below her breath, 'Oh! what a Providence it
+is, as I am bolted in!'--which, owing doubtless to her alarm, was a
+confusion of ideas on her part between a bolt and its use; for though
+there was one on the door, it was not fastened.
+
+Miss Miggs's sense of hearing, however, having as sharp an edge as her
+temper, and being of the same snappish and suspicious kind, very soon
+informed her that the footsteps passed her door, and appeared to have
+some object quite separate and disconnected from herself. At this
+discovery she became more alarmed than ever, and was about to give
+utterance to those cries of 'Thieves!' and 'Murder!' which she had
+hitherto restrained, when it occurred to her to look softly out, and see
+that her fears had some good palpable foundation.
+
+Looking out accordingly, and stretching her neck over the handrail,
+she descried, to her great amazement, Mr Tappertit completely dressed,
+stealing downstairs, one step at a time, with his shoes in one hand
+and a lamp in the other. Following him with her eyes, and going down a
+little way herself to get the better of an intervening angle, she beheld
+him thrust his head in at the parlour-door, draw it back again with
+great swiftness, and immediately begin a retreat upstairs with all
+possible expedition.
+
+'Here's mysteries!' said the damsel, when she was safe in her own room
+again, quite out of breath. 'Oh, gracious, here's mysteries!'
+
+The prospect of finding anybody out in anything, would have kept Miss
+Miggs awake under the influence of henbane. Presently, she heard the
+step again, as she would have done if it had been that of a feather
+endowed with motion and walking down on tiptoe. Then gliding out as
+before, she again beheld the retreating figure of the 'prentice; again
+he looked cautiously in at the parlour-door, but this time instead of
+retreating, he passed in and disappeared.
+
+Miggs was back in her room, and had her head out of the window, before
+an elderly gentleman could have winked and recovered from it. Out he
+came at the street-door, shut it carefully behind him, tried it with
+his knee, and swaggered off, putting something in his pocket as he
+went along. At this spectacle Miggs cried 'Gracious!' again, and then
+'Goodness gracious!' and then 'Goodness gracious me!' and then, candle
+in hand, went downstairs as he had done. Coming to the workshop, she saw
+the lamp burning on the forge, and everything as Sim had left it.
+
+'Why I wish I may only have a walking funeral, and never be buried
+decent with a mourning-coach and feathers, if the boy hasn't been and
+made a key for his own self!' cried Miggs. 'Oh the little villain!'
+
+This conclusion was not arrived at without consideration, and much
+peeping and peering about; nor was it unassisted by the recollection
+that she had on several occasions come upon the 'prentice suddenly,
+and found him busy at some mysterious occupation. Lest the fact of Miss
+Miggs calling him, on whom she stooped to cast a favourable eye, a
+boy, should create surprise in any breast, it may be observed that she
+invariably affected to regard all male bipeds under thirty as mere chits
+and infants; which phenomenon is not unusual in ladies of Miss Miggs's
+temper, and is indeed generally found to be the associate of such
+indomitable and savage virtue.
+
+Miss Miggs deliberated within herself for some little time, looking hard
+at the shop-door while she did so, as though her eyes and thoughts were
+both upon it; and then, taking a sheet of paper from a drawer, twisted
+it into a long thin spiral tube. Having filled this instrument with a
+quantity of small coal-dust from the forge, she approached the door,
+and dropping on one knee before it, dexterously blew into the keyhole as
+much of these fine ashes as the lock would hold. When she had filled it
+to the brim in a very workmanlike and skilful manner, she crept upstairs
+again, and chuckled as she went.
+
+'There!' cried Miggs, rubbing her hands, 'now let's see whether you
+won't be glad to take some notice of me, mister. He, he, he! You'll have
+eyes for somebody besides Miss Dolly now, I think. A fat-faced puss she
+is, as ever I come across!'
+
+As she uttered this criticism, she glanced approvingly at her small
+mirror, as who should say, I thank my stars that can't be said of
+me!--as it certainly could not; for Miss Miggs's style of beauty was of
+that kind which Mr Tappertit himself had not inaptly termed, in private,
+'scraggy.'
+
+'I don't go to bed this night!' said Miggs, wrapping herself in a shawl,
+and drawing a couple of chairs near the window, flouncing down upon
+one, and putting her feet upon the other, 'till you come home, my lad. I
+wouldn't,' said Miggs viciously, 'no, not for five-and-forty pound!'
+
+With that, and with an expression of face in which a great number of
+opposite ingredients, such as mischief, cunning, malice, triumph,
+and patient expectation, were all mixed up together in a kind of
+physiognomical punch, Miss Miggs composed herself to wait and listen,
+like some fair ogress who had set a trap and was watching for a nibble
+from a plump young traveller.
+
+She sat there, with perfect composure, all night. At length, just upon
+break of day, there was a footstep in the street, and presently she
+could hear Mr Tappertit stop at the door. Then she could make out that
+he tried his key--that he was blowing into it--that he knocked it on the
+nearest post to beat the dust out--that he took it under a lamp to look
+at it--that he poked bits of stick into the lock to clear it--that
+he peeped into the keyhole, first with one eye, and then with the
+other--that he tried the key again--that he couldn't turn it, and what
+was worse, couldn't get it out--that he bent it--that then it was much
+less disposed to come out than before--that he gave it a mighty twist
+and a great pull, and then it came out so suddenly that he staggered
+backwards--that he kicked the door--that he shook it--finally, that he
+smote his forehead, and sat down on the step in despair.
+
+When this crisis had arrived, Miss Miggs, affecting to be exhausted
+with terror, and to cling to the window-sill for support, put out her
+nightcap, and demanded in a faint voice who was there.
+
+Mr Tappertit cried 'Hush!' and, backing to the road, exhorted her in
+frenzied pantomime to secrecy and silence.
+
+'Tell me one thing,' said Miggs. 'Is it thieves?'
+
+'No--no--no!' cried Mr Tappertit.
+
+'Then,' said Miggs, more faintly than before, 'it's fire. Where is it,
+sir? It's near this room, I know. I've a good conscience, sir, and would
+much rather die than go down a ladder. All I wish is, respecting my love
+to my married sister, Golden Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, second
+bell-handle on the right-hand door-post.'
+
+'Miggs!' cried Mr Tappertit, 'don't you know me? Sim, you know--Sim--'
+
+'Oh! what about him!' cried Miggs, clasping her hands. 'Is he in any
+danger? Is he in the midst of flames and blazes! Oh gracious, gracious!'
+
+'Why I'm here, an't I?' rejoined Mr Tappertit, knocking himself on the
+breast. 'Don't you see me? What a fool you are, Miggs!'
+
+'There!' cried Miggs, unmindful of this compliment. 'Why--so
+it--Goodness, what is the meaning of--If you please, mim, here's--'
+
+'No, no!' cried Mr Tappertit, standing on tiptoe, as if by that means
+he, in the street, were any nearer being able to stop the mouth of Miggs
+in the garret. 'Don't!--I've been out without leave, and something or
+another's the matter with the lock. Come down, and undo the shop window,
+that I may get in that way.'
+
+'I dursn't do it, Simmun,' cried Miggs--for that was her pronunciation
+of his Christian name. 'I dursn't do it, indeed. You know as well as
+anybody, how particular I am. And to come down in the dead of night,
+when the house is wrapped in slumbers and weiled in obscurity.' And
+there she stopped and shivered, for her modesty caught cold at the very
+thought.
+
+'But Miggs,' cried Mr Tappertit, getting under the lamp, that she might
+see his eyes. 'My darling Miggs--'
+
+Miggs screamed slightly.
+
+'--That I love so much, and never can help thinking of,' and it
+is impossible to describe the use he made of his eyes when he said
+this--'do--for my sake, do.'
+
+'Oh Simmun,' cried Miggs, 'this is worse than all. I know if I come
+down, you'll go, and--'
+
+'And what, my precious?' said Mr Tappertit.
+
+'And try,' said Miggs, hysterically, 'to kiss me, or some such
+dreadfulness; I know you will!'
+
+'I swear I won't,' said Mr Tappertit, with remarkable earnestness. 'Upon
+my soul I won't. It's getting broad day, and the watchman's waking
+up. Angelic Miggs! If you'll only come and let me in, I promise you
+faithfully and truly I won't.'
+
+Miss Miggs, whose gentle heart was touched, did not wait for the oath
+(knowing how strong the temptation was, and fearing he might forswear
+himself), but tripped lightly down the stairs, and with her own fair
+hands drew back the rough fastenings of the workshop window. Having
+helped the wayward 'prentice in, she faintly articulated the words
+'Simmun is safe!' and yielding to her woman's nature, immediately became
+insensible.
+
+'I knew I should quench her,' said Sim, rather embarrassed by this
+circumstance. 'Of course I was certain it would come to this, but there
+was nothing else to be done--if I hadn't eyed her over, she wouldn't
+have come down. Here. Keep up a minute, Miggs. What a slippery figure
+she is! There's no holding her, comfortably. Do keep up a minute, Miggs,
+will you?'
+
+As Miggs, however, was deaf to all entreaties, Mr Tappertit leant her
+against the wall as one might dispose of a walking-stick or umbrella,
+until he had secured the window, when he took her in his arms again,
+and, in short stages and with great difficulty--arising from her being
+tall and his being short, and perhaps in some degree from that peculiar
+physical conformation on which he had already remarked--carried her
+upstairs, and planting her, in the same umbrella and walking-stick
+fashion, just inside her own door, left her to her repose.
+
+'He may be as cool as he likes,' said Miss Miggs, recovering as soon
+as she was left alone; 'but I'm in his confidence and he can't help
+himself, nor couldn't if he was twenty Simmunses!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 10
+
+
+It was on one of those mornings, common in early spring, when the year,
+fickle and changeable in its youth like all other created things, is
+undecided whether to step backward into winter or forward into summer,
+and in its uncertainty inclines now to the one and now to the other, and
+now to both at once--wooing summer in the sunshine, and lingering still
+with winter in the shade--it was, in short, on one of those mornings,
+when it is hot and cold, wet and dry, bright and lowering, sad and
+cheerful, withering and genial, in the compass of one short hour, that
+old John Willet, who was dropping asleep over the copper boiler, was
+roused by the sound of a horse's feet, and glancing out at window,
+beheld a traveller of goodly promise, checking his bridle at the Maypole
+door.
+
+He was none of your flippant young fellows, who would call for a tankard
+of mulled ale, and make themselves as much at home as if they had
+ordered a hogshead of wine; none of your audacious young swaggerers, who
+would even penetrate into the bar--that solemn sanctuary--and, smiting
+old John upon the back, inquire if there was never a pretty girl in the
+house, and where he hid his little chambermaids, with a hundred other
+impertinences of that nature; none of your free-and-easy companions, who
+would scrape their boots upon the firedogs in the common room, and
+be not at all particular on the subject of spittoons; none of your
+unconscionable blades, requiring impossible chops, and taking unheard-of
+pickles for granted. He was a staid, grave, placid gentleman, something
+past the prime of life, yet upright in his carriage, for all that, and
+slim as a greyhound. He was well-mounted upon a sturdy chestnut cob, and
+had the graceful seat of an experienced horseman; while his riding gear,
+though free from such fopperies as were then in vogue, was handsome and
+well chosen. He wore a riding-coat of a somewhat brighter green than
+might have been expected to suit the taste of a gentleman of his years,
+with a short, black velvet cape, and laced pocket-holes and cuffs, all
+of a jaunty fashion; his linen, too, was of the finest kind, worked in a
+rich pattern at the wrists and throat, and scrupulously white. Although
+he seemed, judging from the mud he had picked up on the way, to have
+come from London, his horse was as smooth and cool as his own iron-grey
+periwig and pigtail. Neither man nor beast had turned a single hair; and
+saving for his soiled skirts and spatter-dashes, this gentleman, with
+his blooming face, white teeth, exactly-ordered dress, and perfect
+calmness, might have come from making an elaborate and leisurely toilet,
+to sit for an equestrian portrait at old John Willet's gate.
+
+It must not be supposed that John observed these several characteristics
+by other than very slow degrees, or that he took in more than half a one
+at a time, or that he even made up his mind upon that, without a great
+deal of very serious consideration. Indeed, if he had been distracted in
+the first instance by questionings and orders, it would have taken him
+at the least a fortnight to have noted what is here set down; but it
+happened that the gentleman, being struck with the old house, or with
+the plump pigeons which were skimming and curtseying about it, or with
+the tall maypole, on the top of which a weathercock, which had been out
+of order for fifteen years, performed a perpetual walk to the music of
+its own creaking, sat for some little time looking round in silence.
+Hence John, standing with his hand upon the horse's bridle, and
+his great eyes on the rider, and with nothing passing to divert his
+thoughts, had really got some of these little circumstances into his
+brain by the time he was called upon to speak.
+
+'A quaint place this,' said the gentleman--and his voice was as rich as
+his dress. 'Are you the landlord?'
+
+'At your service, sir,' replied John Willet.
+
+'You can give my horse good stabling, can you, and me an early dinner (I
+am not particular what, so that it be cleanly served), and a decent
+room of which there seems to be no lack in this great mansion,' said the
+stranger, again running his eyes over the exterior.
+
+'You can have, sir,' returned John with a readiness quite surprising,
+'anything you please.'
+
+'It's well I am easily satisfied,' returned the other with a smile,
+'or that might prove a hardy pledge, my friend.' And saying so, he
+dismounted, with the aid of the block before the door, in a twinkling.
+
+'Halloa there! Hugh!' roared John. 'I ask your pardon, sir, for keeping
+you standing in the porch; but my son has gone to town on business, and
+the boy being, as I may say, of a kind of use to me, I'm rather put
+out when he's away. Hugh!--a dreadful idle vagrant fellow, sir, half
+a gipsy, as I think--always sleeping in the sun in summer, and in
+the straw in winter time, sir--Hugh! Dear Lord, to keep a gentleman
+a waiting here through him!--Hugh! I wish that chap was dead, I do
+indeed.'
+
+'Possibly he is,' returned the other. 'I should think if he were living,
+he would have heard you by this time.'
+
+'In his fits of laziness, he sleeps so desperate hard,' said the
+distracted host, 'that if you were to fire off cannon-balls into his
+ears, it wouldn't wake him, sir.'
+
+The guest made no remark upon this novel cure for drowsiness, and recipe
+for making people lively, but, with his hands clasped behind him, stood
+in the porch, very much amused to see old John, with the bridle in his
+hand, wavering between a strong impulse to abandon the animal to his
+fate, and a half disposition to lead him into the house, and shut him up
+in the parlour, while he waited on his master.
+
+'Pillory the fellow, here he is at last!' cried John, in the very height
+and zenith of his distress. 'Did you hear me a calling, villain?'
+
+The figure he addressed made no answer, but putting his hand upon the
+saddle, sprung into it at a bound, turned the horse's head towards the
+stable, and was gone in an instant.
+
+'Brisk enough when he is awake,' said the guest.
+
+'Brisk enough, sir!' replied John, looking at the place where the horse
+had been, as if not yet understanding quite, what had become of him. 'He
+melts, I think. He goes like a drop of froth. You look at him, and there
+he is. You look at him again, and--there he isn't.'
+
+Having, in the absence of any more words, put this sudden climax to what
+he had faintly intended should be a long explanation of the whole life
+and character of his man, the oracular John Willet led the gentleman up
+his wide dismantled staircase into the Maypole's best apartment.
+
+It was spacious enough in all conscience, occupying the whole depth of
+the house, and having at either end a great bay window, as large as many
+modern rooms; in which some few panes of stained glass, emblazoned
+with fragments of armorial bearings, though cracked, and patched, and
+shattered, yet remained; attesting, by their presence, that the former
+owner had made the very light subservient to his state, and pressed the
+sun itself into his list of flatterers; bidding it, when it shone into
+his chamber, reflect the badges of his ancient family, and take new hues
+and colours from their pride.
+
+But those were old days, and now every little ray came and went as it
+would; telling the plain, bare, searching truth. Although the best room
+of the inn, it had the melancholy aspect of grandeur in decay, and was
+much too vast for comfort. Rich rustling hangings, waving on the walls;
+and, better far, the rustling of youth and beauty's dress; the light of
+women's eyes, outshining the tapers and their own rich jewels; the sound
+of gentle tongues, and music, and the tread of maiden feet, had once
+been there, and filled it with delight. But they were gone, and with
+them all its gladness. It was no longer a home; children were never born
+and bred there; the fireside had become mercenary--a something to be
+bought and sold--a very courtezan: let who would die, or sit beside, or
+leave it, it was still the same--it missed nobody, cared for nobody,
+had equal warmth and smiles for all. God help the man whose heart ever
+changes with the world, as an old mansion when it becomes an inn!
+
+No effort had been made to furnish this chilly waste, but before the
+broad chimney a colony of chairs and tables had been planted on a square
+of carpet, flanked by a ghostly screen, enriched with figures, grinning
+and grotesque. After lighting with his own hands the faggots which were
+heaped upon the hearth, old John withdrew to hold grave council with his
+cook, touching the stranger's entertainment; while the guest himself,
+seeing small comfort in the yet unkindled wood, opened a lattice in the
+distant window, and basked in a sickly gleam of cold March sun.
+
+Leaving the window now and then, to rake the crackling logs together,
+or pace the echoing room from end to end, he closed it when the fire was
+quite burnt up, and having wheeled the easiest chair into the warmest
+corner, summoned John Willet.
+
+'Sir,' said John.
+
+He wanted pen, ink, and paper. There was an old standish on the
+mantelshelf containing a dusty apology for all three. Having set this
+before him, the landlord was retiring, when he motioned him to stay.
+
+'There's a house not far from here,' said the guest when he had written
+a few lines, 'which you call the Warren, I believe?'
+
+As this was said in the tone of one who knew the fact, and asked the
+question as a thing of course, John contented himself with nodding his
+head in the affirmative; at the same time taking one hand out of his
+pockets to cough behind, and then putting it in again.
+
+'I want this note'--said the guest, glancing on what he had written, and
+folding it, 'conveyed there without loss of time, and an answer brought
+back here. Have you a messenger at hand?'
+
+John was thoughtful for a minute or thereabouts, and then said Yes.
+
+'Let me see him,' said the guest.
+
+This was disconcerting; for Joe being out, and Hugh engaged in rubbing
+down the chestnut cob, he designed sending on the errand, Barnaby, who
+had just then arrived in one of his rambles, and who, so that he thought
+himself employed on a grave and serious business, would go anywhere.
+
+'Why the truth is,' said John after a long pause, 'that the person who'd
+go quickest, is a sort of natural, as one may say, sir; and though quick
+of foot, and as much to be trusted as the post itself, he's not good at
+talking, being touched and flighty, sir.'
+
+'You don't,' said the guest, raising his eyes to John's fat face, 'you
+don't mean--what's the fellow's name--you don't mean Barnaby?'
+
+'Yes, I do,' returned the landlord, his features turning quite
+expressive with surprise.
+
+'How comes he to be here?' inquired the guest, leaning back in his
+chair; speaking in the bland, even tone, from which he never varied; and
+with the same soft, courteous, never-changing smile upon his face. 'I
+saw him in London last night.'
+
+'He's, for ever, here one hour, and there the next,' returned old John,
+after the usual pause to get the question in his mind. 'Sometimes he
+walks, and sometimes runs. He's known along the road by everybody, and
+sometimes comes here in a cart or chaise, and sometimes riding double.
+He comes and goes, through wind, rain, snow, and hail, and on the
+darkest nights. Nothing hurts HIM.'
+
+'He goes often to the Warren, does he not?' said the guest carelessly.
+'I seem to remember his mother telling me something to that effect
+yesterday. But I was not attending to the good woman much.'
+
+'You're right, sir,' John made answer, 'he does. His father, sir, was
+murdered in that house.'
+
+'So I have heard,' returned the guest, taking a gold toothpick from his
+pocket with the same sweet smile. 'A very disagreeable circumstance for
+the family.'
+
+'Very,' said John with a puzzled look, as if it occurred to him, dimly
+and afar off, that this might by possibility be a cool way of treating
+the subject.
+
+'All the circumstances after a murder,' said the guest soliloquising,
+'must be dreadfully unpleasant--so much bustle and disturbance--no
+repose--a constant dwelling upon one subject--and the running in and
+out, and up and down stairs, intolerable. I wouldn't have such a thing
+happen to anybody I was nearly interested in, on any account. 'Twould
+be enough to wear one's life out.--You were going to say, friend--' he
+added, turning to John again.
+
+'Only that Mrs Rudge lives on a little pension from the family, and that
+Barnaby's as free of the house as any cat or dog about it,' answered
+John. 'Shall he do your errand, sir?'
+
+'Oh yes,' replied the guest. 'Oh certainly. Let him do it by all means.
+Please to bring him here that I may charge him to be quick. If he
+objects to come you may tell him it's Mr Chester. He will remember my
+name, I dare say.'
+
+John was so very much astonished to find who his visitor was, that he
+could express no astonishment at all, by looks or otherwise, but left
+the room as if he were in the most placid and imperturbable of all
+possible conditions. It has been reported that when he got downstairs,
+he looked steadily at the boiler for ten minutes by the clock, and all
+that time never once left off shaking his head; for which statement
+there would seem to be some ground of truth and feasibility, inasmuch
+as that interval of time did certainly elapse, before he returned with
+Barnaby to the guest's apartment.
+
+'Come hither, lad,' said Mr Chester. 'You know Mr Geoffrey Haredale?'
+
+Barnaby laughed, and looked at the landlord as though he would say,
+'You hear him?' John, who was greatly shocked at this breach of decorum,
+clapped his finger to his nose, and shook his head in mute remonstrance.
+
+'He knows him, sir,' said John, frowning aside at Barnaby, 'as well as
+you or I do.'
+
+'I haven't the pleasure of much acquaintance with the gentleman,'
+returned his guest. 'YOU may have. Limit the comparison to yourself, my
+friend.'
+
+Although this was said with the same easy affability, and the same
+smile, John felt himself put down, and laying the indignity at Barnaby's
+door, determined to kick his raven, on the very first opportunity.
+
+'Give that,' said the guest, who had by this time sealed the note, and
+who beckoned his messenger towards him as he spoke, 'into Mr Haredale's
+own hands. Wait for an answer, and bring it back to me here. If you
+should find that Mr Haredale is engaged just now, tell him--can he
+remember a message, landlord?'
+
+'When he chooses, sir,' replied John. 'He won't forget this one.'
+
+'How are you sure of that?'
+
+John merely pointed to him as he stood with his head bent forward, and
+his earnest gaze fixed closely on his questioner's face; and nodded
+sagely.
+
+'Tell him then, Barnaby, should he be engaged,' said Mr Chester, 'that
+I shall be glad to wait his convenience here, and to see him (if he will
+call) at any time this evening.--At the worst I can have a bed here,
+Willet, I suppose?'
+
+Old John, immensely flattered by the personal notoriety implied in this
+familiar form of address, answered, with something like a knowing look,
+'I should believe you could, sir,' and was turning over in his mind
+various forms of eulogium, with the view of selecting one appropriate to
+the qualities of his best bed, when his ideas were put to flight by Mr
+Chester giving Barnaby the letter, and bidding him make all speed away.
+
+'Speed!' said Barnaby, folding the little packet in his breast, 'Speed!
+If you want to see hurry and mystery, come here. Here!'
+
+With that, he put his hand, very much to John Willet's horror, on the
+guest's fine broadcloth sleeve, and led him stealthily to the back
+window.
+
+'Look down there,' he said softly; 'do you mark how they whisper in each
+other's ears; then dance and leap, to make believe they are in sport?
+Do you see how they stop for a moment, when they think there is no one
+looking, and mutter among themselves again; and then how they roll and
+gambol, delighted with the mischief they've been plotting? Look at
+'em now. See how they whirl and plunge. And now they stop again, and
+whisper, cautiously together--little thinking, mind, how often I have
+lain upon the grass and watched them. I say what is it that they plot
+and hatch? Do you know?'
+
+'They are only clothes,' returned the guest, 'such as we wear; hanging
+on those lines to dry, and fluttering in the wind.'
+
+'Clothes!' echoed Barnaby, looking close into his face, and falling
+quickly back. 'Ha ha! Why, how much better to be silly, than as wise
+as you! You don't see shadowy people there, like those that live in
+sleep--not you. Nor eyes in the knotted panes of glass, nor swift ghosts
+when it blows hard, nor do you hear voices in the air, nor see men
+stalking in the sky--not you! I lead a merrier life than you, with all
+your cleverness. You're the dull men. We're the bright ones. Ha! ha!
+I'll not change with you, clever as you are,--not I!'
+
+With that, he waved his hat above his head, and darted off.
+
+'A strange creature, upon my word!' said the guest, pulling out a
+handsome box, and taking a pinch of snuff.
+
+'He wants imagination,' said Mr Willet, very slowly, and after a long
+silence; 'that's what he wants. I've tried to instil it into him, many
+and many's the time; but'--John added this in confidence--'he an't made
+for it; that's the fact.'
+
+To record that Mr Chester smiled at John's remark would be little to the
+purpose, for he preserved the same conciliatory and pleasant look at all
+times. He drew his chair nearer to the fire though, as a kind of hint
+that he would prefer to be alone, and John, having no reasonable excuse
+for remaining, left him to himself.
+
+Very thoughtful old John Willet was, while the dinner was preparing; and
+if his brain were ever less clear at one time than another, it is but
+reasonable to suppose that he addled it in no slight degree by shaking
+his head so much that day. That Mr Chester, between whom and Mr
+Haredale, it was notorious to all the neighbourhood, a deep and bitter
+animosity existed, should come down there for the sole purpose, as it
+seemed, of seeing him, and should choose the Maypole for their place
+of meeting, and should send to him express, were stumbling blocks John
+could not overcome. The only resource he had, was to consult the boiler,
+and wait impatiently for Barnaby's return.
+
+But Barnaby delayed beyond all precedent. The visitor's dinner was
+served, removed, his wine was set, the fire replenished, the hearth
+clean swept; the light waned without, it grew dusk, became quite dark,
+and still no Barnaby appeared. Yet, though John Willet was full of
+wonder and misgiving, his guest sat cross-legged in the easy-chair, to
+all appearance as little ruffled in his thoughts as in his dress--the
+same calm, easy, cool gentleman, without a care or thought beyond his
+golden toothpick.
+
+'Barnaby's late,' John ventured to observe, as he placed a pair of
+tarnished candlesticks, some three feet high, upon the table, and
+snuffed the lights they held.
+
+'He is rather so,' replied the guest, sipping his wine. 'He will not be
+much longer, I dare say.'
+
+John coughed and raked the fire together.
+
+'As your roads bear no very good character, if I may judge from my son's
+mishap, though,' said Mr Chester, 'and as I have no fancy to be knocked
+on the head--which is not only disconcerting at the moment, but places
+one, besides, in a ridiculous position with respect to the people who
+chance to pick one up--I shall stop here to-night. I think you said you
+had a bed to spare.'
+
+'Such a bed, sir,' returned John Willet; 'ay, such a bed as few, even
+of the gentry's houses, own. A fixter here, sir. I've heard say that
+bedstead is nigh two hundred years of age. Your noble son--a fine young
+gentleman--slept in it last, sir, half a year ago.'
+
+'Upon my life, a recommendation!' said the guest, shrugging his
+shoulders and wheeling his chair nearer to the fire. 'See that it be
+well aired, Mr Willet, and let a blazing fire be lighted there at once.
+This house is something damp and chilly.'
+
+John raked the faggots up again, more from habit than presence of mind,
+or any reference to this remark, and was about to withdraw, when a
+bounding step was heard upon the stair, and Barnaby came panting in.
+
+'He'll have his foot in the stirrup in an hour's time,' he cried,
+advancing. 'He has been riding hard all day--has just come home--but
+will be in the saddle again as soon as he has eat and drank, to meet his
+loving friend.'
+
+'Was that his message?' asked the visitor, looking up, but without the
+smallest discomposure--or at least without the show of any.
+
+'All but the last words,' Barnaby rejoined. 'He meant those. I saw that,
+in his face.'
+
+'This for your pains,' said the other, putting money in his hand, and
+glancing at him steadfastly.'This for your pains, sharp Barnaby.'
+
+'For Grip, and me, and Hugh, to share among us,' he rejoined, putting
+it up, and nodding, as he counted it on his fingers. 'Grip one, me two,
+Hugh three; the dog, the goat, the cats--well, we shall spend it pretty
+soon, I warn you. Stay.--Look. Do you wise men see nothing there, now?'
+
+He bent eagerly down on one knee, and gazed intently at the smoke, which
+was rolling up the chimney in a thick black cloud. John Willet, who
+appeared to consider himself particularly and chiefly referred to under
+the term wise men, looked that way likewise, and with great solidity of
+feature.
+
+'Now, where do they go to, when they spring so fast up there,' asked
+Barnaby; 'eh? Why do they tread so closely on each other's heels, and
+why are they always in a hurry--which is what you blame me for, when I
+only take pattern by these busy folk about me? More of 'em! catching to
+each other's skirts; and as fast as they go, others come! What a merry
+dance it is! I would that Grip and I could frisk like that!'
+
+'What has he in that basket at his back?' asked the guest after a few
+moments, during which Barnaby was still bending down to look higher up
+the chimney, and earnestly watching the smoke.
+
+'In this?' he answered, jumping up, before John Willet could
+reply--shaking it as he spoke, and stooping his head to listen. 'In
+this! What is there here? Tell him!'
+
+'A devil, a devil, a devil!' cried a hoarse voice.
+
+'Here's money!' said Barnaby, chinking it in his hand, 'money for a
+treat, Grip!'
+
+'Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!' replied the raven, 'keep up your spirits.
+Never say die. Bow, wow, wow!'
+
+Mr Willet, who appeared to entertain strong doubts whether a customer in
+a laced coat and fine linen could be supposed to have any acquaintance
+even with the existence of such unpolite gentry as the bird claimed
+to belong to, took Barnaby off at this juncture, with the view of
+preventing any other improper declarations, and quitted the room with
+his very best bow.
+
+
+
+Chapter 11
+
+
+There was great news that night for the regular Maypole customers, to
+each of whom, as he straggled in to occupy his allotted seat in the
+chimney-corner, John, with a most impressive slowness of delivery, and
+in an apoplectic whisper, communicated the fact that Mr Chester was
+alone in the large room upstairs, and was waiting the arrival of
+Mr Geoffrey Haredale, to whom he had sent a letter (doubtless of a
+threatening nature) by the hands of Barnaby, then and there present.
+
+For a little knot of smokers and solemn gossips, who had seldom any
+new topics of discussion, this was a perfect Godsend. Here was a good,
+dark-looking mystery progressing under that very roof--brought home to
+the fireside, as it were, and enjoyable without the smallest pains
+or trouble. It is extraordinary what a zest and relish it gave to the
+drink, and how it heightened the flavour of the tobacco. Every man
+smoked his pipe with a face of grave and serious delight, and looked at
+his neighbour with a sort of quiet congratulation. Nay, it was felt
+to be such a holiday and special night, that, on the motion of little
+Solomon Daisy, every man (including John himself) put down his sixpence
+for a can of flip, which grateful beverage was brewed with all despatch,
+and set down in the midst of them on the brick floor; both that it might
+simmer and stew before the fire, and that its fragrant steam, rising
+up among them, and mixing with the wreaths of vapour from their pipes,
+might shroud them in a delicious atmosphere of their own, and shut
+out all the world. The very furniture of the room seemed to mellow and
+deepen in its tone; the ceiling and walls looked blacker and more highly
+polished, the curtains of a ruddier red; the fire burnt clear and high,
+and the crickets in the hearthstone chirped with a more than wonted
+satisfaction.
+
+There were present two, however, who showed but little interest in the
+general contentment. Of these, one was Barnaby himself, who slept,
+or, to avoid being beset with questions, feigned to sleep, in the
+chimney-corner; the other, Hugh, who, sleeping too, lay stretched upon
+the bench on the opposite side, in the full glare of the blazing fire.
+
+The light that fell upon this slumbering form, showed it in all its
+muscular and handsome proportions. It was that of a young man, of a hale
+athletic figure, and a giant's strength, whose sunburnt face and swarthy
+throat, overgrown with jet black hair, might have served a painter for
+a model. Loosely attired, in the coarsest and roughest garb, with scraps
+of straw and hay--his usual bed--clinging here and there, and mingling
+with his uncombed locks, he had fallen asleep in a posture as careless
+as his dress. The negligence and disorder of the whole man, with
+something fierce and sullen in his features, gave him a picturesque
+appearance, that attracted the regards even of the Maypole customers who
+knew him well, and caused Long Parkes to say that Hugh looked more like
+a poaching rascal to-night than ever he had seen him yet.
+
+'He's waiting here, I suppose,' said Solomon, 'to take Mr Haredale's
+horse.'
+
+'That's it, sir,' replied John Willet. 'He's not often in the house, you
+know. He's more at his ease among horses than men. I look upon him as a
+animal himself.'
+
+Following up this opinion with a shrug that seemed meant to say, 'we
+can't expect everybody to be like us,' John put his pipe into his mouth
+again, and smoked like one who felt his superiority over the general run
+of mankind.
+
+'That chap, sir,' said John, taking it out again after a time, and
+pointing at him with the stem, 'though he's got all his faculties
+about him--bottled up and corked down, if I may say so, somewheres or
+another--'
+
+'Very good!' said Parkes, nodding his head. 'A very good expression,
+Johnny. You'll be a tackling somebody presently. You're in twig
+to-night, I see.'
+
+'Take care,' said Mr Willet, not at all grateful for the compliment,
+'that I don't tackle you, sir, which I shall certainly endeavour to do,
+if you interrupt me when I'm making observations.--That chap, I was
+a saying, though he has all his faculties about him, somewheres or
+another, bottled up and corked down, has no more imagination than
+Barnaby has. And why hasn't he?'
+
+The three friends shook their heads at each other; saying by that
+action, without the trouble of opening their lips, 'Do you observe what
+a philosophical mind our friend has?'
+
+'Why hasn't he?' said John, gently striking the table with his open
+hand. 'Because they was never drawed out of him when he was a boy.
+That's why. What would any of us have been, if our fathers hadn't drawed
+our faculties out of us? What would my boy Joe have been, if I hadn't
+drawed his faculties out of him?--Do you mind what I'm a saying of,
+gentlemen?'
+
+'Ah! we mind you,' cried Parkes. 'Go on improving of us, Johnny.'
+
+'Consequently, then,' said Mr Willet, 'that chap, whose mother was
+hung when he was a little boy, along with six others, for passing bad
+notes--and it's a blessed thing to think how many people are hung in
+batches every six weeks for that, and such like offences, as showing how
+wide awake our government is--that chap that was then turned loose, and
+had to mind cows, and frighten birds away, and what not, for a few pence
+to live on, and so got on by degrees to mind horses, and to sleep in
+course of time in lofts and litter, instead of under haystacks and
+hedges, till at last he come to be hostler at the Maypole for his board
+and lodging and a annual trifle--that chap that can't read nor write,
+and has never had much to do with anything but animals, and has never
+lived in any way but like the animals he has lived among, IS a animal.
+And,' said Mr Willet, arriving at his logical conclusion, 'is to be
+treated accordingly.'
+
+'Willet,' said Solomon Daisy, who had exhibited some impatience at the
+intrusion of so unworthy a subject on their more interesting theme,
+'when Mr Chester come this morning, did he order the large room?'
+
+'He signified, sir,' said John, 'that he wanted a large apartment. Yes.
+Certainly.'
+
+'Why then, I'll tell you what,' said Solomon, speaking softly and with
+an earnest look. 'He and Mr Haredale are going to fight a duel in it.'
+
+Everybody looked at Mr Willet, after this alarming suggestion. Mr Willet
+looked at the fire, weighing in his own mind the effect which such an
+occurrence would be likely to have on the establishment.
+
+'Well,' said John, 'I don't know--I am sure--I remember that when I went
+up last, he HAD put the lights upon the mantel-shelf.'
+
+'It's as plain,' returned Solomon, 'as the nose on Parkes's face'--Mr
+Parkes, who had a large nose, rubbed it, and looked as if he considered
+this a personal allusion--'they'll fight in that room. You know by
+the newspapers what a common thing it is for gentlemen to fight in
+coffee-houses without seconds. One of 'em will be wounded or perhaps
+killed in this house.'
+
+'That was a challenge that Barnaby took then, eh?' said John.
+
+'--Inclosing a slip of paper with the measure of his sword upon it, I'll
+bet a guinea,' answered the little man. 'We know what sort of gentleman
+Mr Haredale is. You have told us what Barnaby said about his looks, when
+he came back. Depend upon it, I'm right. Now, mind.'
+
+The flip had had no flavour till now. The tobacco had been of mere
+English growth, compared with its present taste. A duel in that great
+old rambling room upstairs, and the best bed ordered already for the
+wounded man!
+
+'Would it be swords or pistols, now?' said John.
+
+'Heaven knows. Perhaps both,' returned Solomon. 'The gentlemen wear
+swords, and may easily have pistols in their pockets--most likely have,
+indeed. If they fire at each other without effect, then they'll draw,
+and go to work in earnest.'
+
+A shade passed over Mr Willet's face as he thought of broken windows and
+disabled furniture, but bethinking himself that one of the parties would
+probably be left alive to pay the damage, he brightened up again.
+
+'And then,' said Solomon, looking from face to face, 'then we shall have
+one of those stains upon the floor that never come out. If Mr Haredale
+wins, depend upon it, it'll be a deep one; or if he loses, it will
+perhaps be deeper still, for he'll never give in unless he's beaten
+down. We know him better, eh?'
+
+'Better indeed!' they whispered all together.
+
+'As to its ever being got out again,' said Solomon, 'I tell you it never
+will, or can be. Why, do you know that it has been tried, at a certain
+house we are acquainted with?'
+
+'The Warren!' cried John. 'No, sure!'
+
+'Yes, sure--yes. It's only known by very few. It has been whispered
+about though, for all that. They planed the board away, but there it
+was. They went deep, but it went deeper. They put new boards down, but
+there was one great spot that came through still, and showed itself in
+the old place. And--harkye--draw nearer--Mr Geoffrey made that room his
+study, and sits there, always, with his foot (as I have heard) upon it;
+and he believes, through thinking of it long and very much, that it will
+never fade until he finds the man who did the deed.'
+
+As this recital ended, and they all drew closer round the fire, the
+tramp of a horse was heard without.
+
+'The very man!' cried John, starting up. 'Hugh! Hugh!'
+
+The sleeper staggered to his feet, and hurried after him. John quickly
+returned, ushering in with great attention and deference (for Mr
+Haredale was his landlord) the long-expected visitor, who strode into
+the room clanking his heavy boots upon the floor; and looking keenly
+round upon the bowing group, raised his hat in acknowledgment of their
+profound respect.
+
+'You have a stranger here, Willet, who sent to me,' he said, in a voice
+which sounded naturally stern and deep. 'Where is he?'
+
+'In the great room upstairs, sir,' answered John.
+
+'Show the way. Your staircase is dark, I know. Gentlemen, good night.'
+
+With that, he signed to the landlord to go on before; and went clanking
+out, and up the stairs; old John, in his agitation, ingeniously lighting
+everything but the way, and making a stumble at every second step.
+
+'Stop!' he said, when they reached the landing. 'I can announce myself.
+Don't wait.'
+
+He laid his hand upon the door, entered, and shut it heavily. Mr Willet
+was by no means disposed to stand there listening by himself, especially
+as the walls were very thick; so descended, with much greater alacrity
+than he had come up, and joined his friends below.
+
+
+
+Chapter 12
+
+
+There was a brief pause in the state-room of the Maypole, as Mr Haredale
+tried the lock to satisfy himself that he had shut the door securely,
+and, striding up the dark chamber to where the screen inclosed a little
+patch of light and warmth, presented himself, abruptly and in silence,
+before the smiling guest.
+
+If the two had no greater sympathy in their inward thoughts than in
+their outward bearing and appearance, the meeting did not seem likely to
+prove a very calm or pleasant one. With no great disparity between them
+in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and
+far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was
+soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly
+square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner,
+stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech. The
+one preserved a calm and placid smile; the other, a distrustful frown.
+The new-comer, indeed, appeared bent on showing by his every tone and
+gesture his determined opposition and hostility to the man he had come
+to meet. The guest who received him, on the other hand, seemed to feel
+that the contrast between them was all in his favour, and to derive a
+quiet exultation from it which put him more at his ease than ever.
+
+'Haredale,' said this gentleman, without the least appearance of
+embarrassment or reserve, 'I am very glad to see you.'
+
+'Let us dispense with compliments. They are misplaced between us,'
+returned the other, waving his hand, 'and say plainly what we have to
+say. You have asked me to meet you. I am here. Why do we stand face to
+face again?'
+
+'Still the same frank and sturdy character, I see!'
+
+'Good or bad, sir, I am,' returned the other, leaning his arm upon
+the chimney-piece, and turning a haughty look upon the occupant of
+the easy-chair, 'the man I used to be. I have lost no old likings or
+dislikings; my memory has not failed me by a hair's-breadth. You ask me
+to give you a meeting. I say, I am here.'
+
+'Our meeting, Haredale,' said Mr Chester, tapping his snuff-box, and
+following with a smile the impatient gesture he had made--perhaps
+unconsciously--towards his sword, 'is one of conference and peace, I
+hope?'
+
+'I have come here,' returned the other, 'at your desire, holding myself
+bound to meet you, when and where you would. I have not come to bandy
+pleasant speeches, or hollow professions. You are a smooth man of the
+world, sir, and at such play have me at a disadvantage. The very last
+man on this earth with whom I would enter the lists to combat with
+gentle compliments and masked faces, is Mr Chester, I do assure you. I
+am not his match at such weapons, and have reason to believe that few
+men are.'
+
+'You do me a great deal of honour Haredale,' returned the other, most
+composedly, 'and I thank you. I will be frank with you--'
+
+'I beg your pardon--will be what?'
+
+'Frank--open--perfectly candid.'
+
+'Hah!' cried Mr Haredale, drawing his breath. 'But don't let me
+interrupt you.'
+
+'So resolved am I to hold this course,' returned the other, tasting his
+wine with great deliberation; 'that I have determined not to quarrel
+with you, and not to be betrayed into a warm expression or a hasty
+word.'
+
+'There again,' said Mr Haredale, 'you have me at a great advantage. Your
+self-command--'
+
+'Is not to be disturbed, when it will serve my purpose, you would
+say'--rejoined the other, interrupting him with the same complacency.
+'Granted. I allow it. And I have a purpose to serve now. So have you. I
+am sure our object is the same. Let us attain it like sensible men, who
+have ceased to be boys some time.--Do you drink?'
+
+'With my friends,' returned the other.
+
+'At least,' said Mr Chester, 'you will be seated?'
+
+'I will stand,' returned Mr Haredale impatiently, 'on this dismantled,
+beggared hearth, and not pollute it, fallen as it is, with mockeries. Go
+on.'
+
+'You are wrong, Haredale,' said the other, crossing his legs, and
+smiling as he held his glass up in the bright glow of the fire. 'You are
+really very wrong. The world is a lively place enough, in which we must
+accommodate ourselves to circumstances, sail with the stream as glibly
+as we can, be content to take froth for substance, the surface for the
+depth, the counterfeit for the real coin. I wonder no philosopher has
+ever established that our globe itself is hollow. It should be, if
+Nature is consistent in her works.'
+
+'YOU think it is, perhaps?'
+
+'I should say,' he returned, sipping his wine, 'there could be no doubt
+about it. Well; we, in trifling with this jingling toy, have had
+the ill-luck to jostle and fall out. We are not what the world calls
+friends; but we are as good and true and loving friends for all that, as
+nine out of every ten of those on whom it bestows the title. You have a
+niece, and I a son--a fine lad, Haredale, but foolish. They fall in
+love with each other, and form what this same world calls an attachment;
+meaning a something fanciful and false like the rest, which, if it took
+its own free time, would break like any other bubble. But it may not
+have its own free time--will not, if they are left alone--and the
+question is, shall we two, because society calls us enemies, stand
+aloof, and let them rush into each other's arms, when, by approaching
+each other sensibly, as we do now, we can prevent it, and part them?'
+
+'I love my niece,' said Mr Haredale, after a short silence. 'It may
+sound strangely in your ears; but I love her.'
+
+'Strangely, my good fellow!' cried Mr Chester, lazily filling his glass
+again, and pulling out his toothpick. 'Not at all. I like Ned too--or,
+as you say, love him--that's the word among such near relations.
+I'm very fond of Ned. He's an amazingly good fellow, and a handsome
+fellow--foolish and weak as yet; that's all. But the thing
+is, Haredale--for I'll be very frank, as I told you I would at
+first--independently of any dislike that you and I might have to being
+related to each other, and independently of the religious differences
+between us--and damn it, that's important--I couldn't afford a match of
+this description. Ned and I couldn't do it. It's impossible.'
+
+'Curb your tongue, in God's name, if this conversation is to last,'
+retorted Mr Haredale fiercely. 'I have said I love my niece. Do you
+think that, loving her, I would have her fling her heart away on any man
+who had your blood in his veins?'
+
+'You see,' said the other, not at all disturbed, 'the advantage of being
+so frank and open. Just what I was about to add, upon my honour! I am
+amazingly attached to Ned--quite doat upon him, indeed--and even if we
+could afford to throw ourselves away, that very objection would be quite
+insuperable.--I wish you'd take some wine?'
+
+'Mark me,' said Mr Haredale, striding to the table, and laying his hand
+upon it heavily. 'If any man believes--presumes to think--that I, in
+word or deed, or in the wildest dream, ever entertained remotely the
+idea of Emma Haredale's favouring the suit of any one who was akin to
+you--in any way--I care not what--he lies. He lies, and does me grievous
+wrong, in the mere thought.'
+
+'Haredale,' returned the other, rocking himself to and fro as in assent,
+and nodding at the fire, 'it's extremely manly, and really very generous
+in you, to meet me in this unreserved and handsome way. Upon my word,
+those are exactly my sentiments, only expressed with much more force and
+power than I could use--you know my sluggish nature, and will forgive
+me, I am sure.'
+
+'While I would restrain her from all correspondence with your son, and
+sever their intercourse here, though it should cause her death,' said
+Mr Haredale, who had been pacing to and fro, 'I would do it kindly and
+tenderly if I can. I have a trust to discharge, which my nature is not
+formed to understand, and, for this reason, the bare fact of there
+being any love between them comes upon me to-night, almost for the first
+time.'
+
+'I am more delighted than I can possibly tell you,' rejoined Mr Chester
+with the utmost blandness, 'to find my own impression so confirmed. You
+see the advantage of our having met. We understand each other. We quite
+agree. We have a most complete and thorough explanation, and we know
+what course to take.--Why don't you taste your tenant's wine? It's
+really very good.'
+
+'Pray who,' said Mr Haredale, 'have aided Emma, or your son? Who are
+their go-betweens, and agents--do you know?'
+
+'All the good people hereabouts--the neighbourhood in general, I think,'
+returned the other, with his most affable smile. 'The messenger I sent
+to you to-day, foremost among them all.'
+
+'The idiot? Barnaby?'
+
+'You are surprised? I am glad of that, for I was rather so myself. Yes.
+I wrung that from his mother--a very decent sort of woman--from whom,
+indeed, I chiefly learnt how serious the matter had become, and so
+determined to ride out here to-day, and hold a parley with you on this
+neutral ground.--You're stouter than you used to be, Haredale, but you
+look extremely well.'
+
+'Our business, I presume, is nearly at an end,' said Mr Haredale, with
+an expression of impatience he was at no pains to conceal. 'Trust me, Mr
+Chester, my niece shall change from this time. I will appeal,' he added
+in a lower tone, 'to her woman's heart, her dignity, her pride, her
+duty--'
+
+'I shall do the same by Ned,' said Mr Chester, restoring some errant
+faggots to their places in the grate with the toe of his boot. 'If there
+is anything real in this world, it is those amazingly fine feelings and
+those natural obligations which must subsist between father and son. I
+shall put it to him on every ground of moral and religious feeling. I
+shall represent to him that we cannot possibly afford it--that I have
+always looked forward to his marrying well, for a genteel provision for
+myself in the autumn of life--that there are a great many clamorous dogs
+to pay, whose claims are perfectly just and right, and who must be paid
+out of his wife's fortune. In short, that the very highest and most
+honourable feelings of our nature, with every consideration of filial
+duty and affection, and all that sort of thing, imperatively demand that
+he should run away with an heiress.'
+
+'And break her heart as speedily as possible?' said Mr Haredale, drawing
+on his glove.
+
+'There Ned will act exactly as he pleases,' returned the other,
+sipping his wine; 'that's entirely his affair. I wouldn't for the
+world interfere with my son, Haredale, beyond a certain point. The
+relationship between father and son, you know, is positively quite a
+holy kind of bond.--WON'T you let me persuade you to take one glass of
+wine? Well! as you please, as you please,' he added, helping himself
+again.
+
+'Chester,' said Mr Haredale, after a short silence, during which he had
+eyed his smiling face from time to time intently, 'you have the head and
+heart of an evil spirit in all matters of deception.'
+
+'Your health!' said the other, with a nod. 'But I have interrupted
+you--'
+
+'If now,' pursued Mr Haredale, 'we should find it difficult to separate
+these young people, and break off their intercourse--if, for instance,
+you find it difficult on your side, what course do you intend to take?'
+
+'Nothing plainer, my good fellow, nothing easier,' returned the other,
+shrugging his shoulders and stretching himself more comfortably before
+the fire. 'I shall then exert those powers on which you flatter me so
+highly--though, upon my word, I don't deserve your compliments to their
+full extent--and resort to a few little trivial subterfuges for rousing
+jealousy and resentment. You see?'
+
+'In short, justifying the means by the end, we are, as a last resource
+for tearing them asunder, to resort to treachery and--and lying,' said
+Mr Haredale.
+
+'Oh dear no. Fie, fie!' returned the other, relishing a pinch of snuff
+extremely. 'Not lying. Only a little management, a little diplomacy, a
+little--intriguing, that's the word.'
+
+'I wish,' said Mr Haredale, moving to and fro, and stopping, and moving
+on again, like one who was ill at ease, 'that this could have been
+foreseen or prevented. But as it has gone so far, and it is necessary
+for us to act, it is of no use shrinking or regretting. Well! I shall
+second your endeavours to the utmost of my power. There is one topic in
+the whole wide range of human thoughts on which we both agree. We shall
+act in concert, but apart. There will be no need, I hope, for us to meet
+again.'
+
+'Are you going?' said Mr Chester, rising with a graceful indolence. 'Let
+me light you down the stairs.'
+
+'Pray keep your seat,' returned the other drily, 'I know the way.' So,
+waving his hand slightly, and putting on his hat as he turned upon his
+heel, he went clanking out as he had come, shut the door behind him, and
+tramped down the echoing stairs.
+
+'Pah! A very coarse animal, indeed!' said Mr Chester, composing himself
+in the easy-chair again. 'A rough brute. Quite a human badger!'
+
+John Willet and his friends, who had been listening intently for the
+clash of swords, or firing of pistols in the great room, and had indeed
+settled the order in which they should rush in when summoned--in which
+procession old John had carefully arranged that he should bring up the
+rear--were very much astonished to see Mr Haredale come down without a
+scratch, call for his horse, and ride away thoughtfully at a footpace.
+After some consideration, it was decided that he had left the gentleman
+above, for dead, and had adopted this stratagem to divert suspicion or
+pursuit.
+
+As this conclusion involved the necessity of their going upstairs
+forthwith, they were about to ascend in the order they had agreed
+upon, when a smart ringing at the guest's bell, as if he had pulled it
+vigorously, overthrew all their speculations, and involved them in
+great uncertainty and doubt. At length Mr Willet agreed to go upstairs
+himself, escorted by Hugh and Barnaby, as the strongest and stoutest
+fellows on the premises, who were to make their appearance under
+pretence of clearing away the glasses.
+
+Under this protection, the brave and broad-faced John boldly entered
+the room, half a foot in advance, and received an order for a boot-jack
+without trembling. But when it was brought, and he leant his sturdy
+shoulder to the guest, Mr Willet was observed to look very hard into his
+boots as he pulled them off, and, by opening his eyes much wider than
+usual, to appear to express some surprise and disappointment at not
+finding them full of blood. He took occasion, too, to examine the
+gentleman as closely as he could, expecting to discover sundry loopholes
+in his person, pierced by his adversary's sword. Finding none,
+however, and observing in course of time that his guest was as cool and
+unruffled, both in his dress and temper, as he had been all day, old
+John at last heaved a deep sigh, and began to think no duel had been
+fought that night.
+
+'And now, Willet,' said Mr Chester, 'if the room's well aired, I'll try
+the merits of that famous bed.'
+
+'The room, sir,' returned John, taking up a candle, and nudging Barnaby
+and Hugh to accompany them, in case the gentleman should unexpectedly
+drop down faint or dead from some internal wound, 'the room's as warm as
+any toast in a tankard. Barnaby, take you that other candle, and go on
+before. Hugh! Follow up, sir, with the easy-chair.'
+
+In this order--and still, in his earnest inspection, holding his candle
+very close to the guest; now making him feel extremely warm about the
+legs, now threatening to set his wig on fire, and constantly begging his
+pardon with great awkwardness and embarrassment--John led the party to
+the best bedroom, which was nearly as large as the chamber from which
+they had come, and held, drawn out near the fire for warmth, a great old
+spectral bedstead, hung with faded brocade, and ornamented, at the top
+of each carved post, with a plume of feathers that had once been white,
+but with dust and age had now grown hearse-like and funereal.
+
+'Good night, my friends,' said Mr Chester with a sweet smile, seating
+himself, when he had surveyed the room from end to end, in the
+easy-chair which his attendants wheeled before the fire. 'Good night!
+Barnaby, my good fellow, you say some prayers before you go to bed, I
+hope?'
+
+Barnaby nodded. 'He has some nonsense that he calls his prayers, sir,'
+returned old John, officiously. 'I'm afraid there an't much good in em.'
+
+'And Hugh?' said Mr Chester, turning to him.
+
+'Not I,' he answered. 'I know his'--pointing to Barnaby--'they're well
+enough. He sings 'em sometimes in the straw. I listen.'
+
+'He's quite a animal, sir,' John whispered in his ear with dignity.
+'You'll excuse him, I'm sure. If he has any soul at all, sir, it must be
+such a very small one, that it don't signify what he does or doesn't in
+that way. Good night, sir!'
+
+The guest rejoined 'God bless you!' with a fervour that was quite
+affecting; and John, beckoning his guards to go before, bowed himself
+out of the room, and left him to his rest in the Maypole's ancient bed.
+
+
+
+Chapter 13
+
+
+If Joseph Willet, the denounced and proscribed of 'prentices, had
+happened to be at home when his father's courtly guest presented himself
+before the Maypole door--that is, if it had not perversely chanced to be
+one of the half-dozen days in the whole year on which he was at liberty
+to absent himself for as many hours without question or reproach--he
+would have contrived, by hook or crook, to dive to the very bottom of Mr
+Chester's mystery, and to come at his purpose with as much certainty as
+though he had been his confidential adviser. In that fortunate case, the
+lovers would have had quick warning of the ills that threatened them,
+and the aid of various timely and wise suggestions to boot; for all
+Joe's readiness of thought and action, and all his sympathies and good
+wishes, were enlisted in favour of the young people, and were staunch in
+devotion to their cause. Whether this disposition arose out of his old
+prepossessions in favour of the young lady, whose history had surrounded
+her in his mind, almost from his cradle, with circumstances of unusual
+interest; or from his attachment towards the young gentleman, into
+whose confidence he had, through his shrewdness and alacrity, and the
+rendering of sundry important services as a spy and messenger, almost
+imperceptibly glided; whether they had their origin in either of these
+sources, or in the habit natural to youth, or in the constant badgering
+and worrying of his venerable parent, or in any hidden little love
+affair of his own which gave him something of a fellow-feeling in the
+matter, it is needless to inquire--especially as Joe was out of the way,
+and had no opportunity on that particular occasion of testifying to his
+sentiments either on one side or the other.
+
+It was, in fact, the twenty-fifth of March, which, as most people
+know to their cost, is, and has been time out of mind, one of those
+unpleasant epochs termed quarter-days. On this twenty-fifth of March,
+it was John Willet's pride annually to settle, in hard cash, his account
+with a certain vintner and distiller in the city of London; to give into
+whose hands a canvas bag containing its exact amount, and not a penny
+more or less, was the end and object of a journey for Joe, so surely as
+the year and day came round.
+
+This journey was performed upon an old grey mare, concerning whom John
+had an indistinct set of ideas hovering about him, to the effect that
+she could win a plate or cup if she tried. She never had tried, and
+probably never would now, being some fourteen or fifteen years of age,
+short in wind, long in body, and rather the worse for wear in respect of
+her mane and tail. Notwithstanding these slight defects, John perfectly
+gloried in the animal; and when she was brought round to the door by
+Hugh, actually retired into the bar, and there, in a secret grove of
+lemons, laughed with pride.
+
+'There's a bit of horseflesh, Hugh!' said John, when he had recovered
+enough self-command to appear at the door again. 'There's a comely
+creature! There's high mettle! There's bone!'
+
+There was bone enough beyond all doubt; and so Hugh seemed to think, as
+he sat sideways in the saddle, lazily doubled up with his chin nearly
+touching his knees; and heedless of the dangling stirrups and loose
+bridle-rein, sauntered up and down on the little green before the door.
+
+'Mind you take good care of her, sir,' said John, appealing from this
+insensible person to his son and heir, who now appeared, fully equipped
+and ready. 'Don't you ride hard.'
+
+'I should be puzzled to do that, I think, father,' Joe replied, casting
+a disconsolate look at the animal.
+
+'None of your impudence, sir, if you please,' retorted old John. 'What
+would you ride, sir? A wild ass or zebra would be too tame for you,
+wouldn't he, eh sir? You'd like to ride a roaring lion, wouldn't you,
+sir, eh sir? Hold your tongue, sir.' When Mr Willet, in his differences
+with his son, had exhausted all the questions that occurred to him, and
+Joe had said nothing at all in answer, he generally wound up by bidding
+him hold his tongue.
+
+'And what does the boy mean,' added Mr Willet, after he had stared at
+him for a little time, in a species of stupefaction, 'by cocking his
+hat, to such an extent! Are you going to kill the wintner, sir?'
+
+'No,' said Joe, tartly; 'I'm not. Now your mind's at ease, father.'
+
+'With a milintary air, too!' said Mr Willet, surveying him from top to
+toe; 'with a swaggering, fire-eating, biling-water drinking sort of way
+with him! And what do you mean by pulling up the crocuses and snowdrops,
+eh sir?'
+
+'It's only a little nosegay,' said Joe, reddening. 'There's no harm in
+that, I hope?'
+
+'You're a boy of business, you are, sir!' said Mr Willet, disdainfully,
+'to go supposing that wintners care for nosegays.'
+
+'I don't suppose anything of the kind,' returned Joe. 'Let them keep
+their red noses for bottles and tankards. These are going to Mr Varden's
+house.'
+
+'And do you suppose HE minds such things as crocuses?' demanded John.
+
+'I don't know, and to say the truth, I don't care,' said Joe. 'Come,
+father, give me the money, and in the name of patience let me go.'
+
+'There it is, sir,' replied John; 'and take care of it; and mind you
+don't make too much haste back, but give the mare a long rest.--Do you
+mind?'
+
+'Ay, I mind,' returned Joe. 'She'll need it, Heaven knows.'
+
+'And don't you score up too much at the Black Lion,' said John. 'Mind
+that too.'
+
+'Then why don't you let me have some money of my own?' retorted Joe,
+sorrowfully; 'why don't you, father? What do you send me into London
+for, giving me only the right to call for my dinner at the Black Lion,
+which you're to pay for next time you go, as if I was not to be trusted
+with a few shillings? Why do you use me like this? It's not right of
+you. You can't expect me to be quiet under it.'
+
+'Let him have money!' cried John, in a drowsy reverie. 'What does he
+call money--guineas? Hasn't he got money? Over and above the tolls,
+hasn't he one and sixpence?'
+
+'One and sixpence!' repeated his son contemptuously.
+
+'Yes, sir,' returned John, 'one and sixpence. When I was your age, I
+had never seen so much money, in a heap. A shilling of it is in case
+of accidents--the mare casting a shoe, or the like of that. The other
+sixpence is to spend in the diversions of London; and the diversion
+I recommend is going to the top of the Monument, and sitting there.
+There's no temptation there, sir--no drink--no young women--no bad
+characters of any sort--nothing but imagination. That's the way I
+enjoyed myself when I was your age, sir.'
+
+To this, Joe made no answer, but beckoning Hugh, leaped into the saddle
+and rode away; and a very stalwart, manly horseman he looked, deserving
+a better charger than it was his fortune to bestride. John stood staring
+after him, or rather after the grey mare (for he had no eyes for her
+rider), until man and beast had been out of sight some twenty minutes,
+when he began to think they were gone, and slowly re-entering the house,
+fell into a gentle doze.
+
+The unfortunate grey mare, who was the agony of Joe's life, floundered
+along at her own will and pleasure until the Maypole was no longer
+visible, and then, contracting her legs into what in a puppet would have
+been looked upon as a clumsy and awkward imitation of a canter, mended
+her pace all at once, and did it of her own accord. The acquaintance
+with her rider's usual mode of proceeding, which suggested this
+improvement in hers, impelled her likewise to turn up a bye-way,
+leading--not to London, but through lanes running parallel with the road
+they had come, and passing within a few hundred yards of the Maypole,
+which led finally to an inclosure surrounding a large, old, red-brick
+mansion--the same of which mention was made as the Warren in the
+first chapter of this history. Coming to a dead stop in a little copse
+thereabout, she suffered her rider to dismount with right goodwill, and
+to tie her to the trunk of a tree.
+
+'Stay there, old girl,' said Joe, 'and let us see whether there's any
+little commission for me to-day.' So saying, he left her to browze upon
+such stunted grass and weeds as happened to grow within the length of
+her tether, and passing through a wicket gate, entered the grounds on
+foot.
+
+The pathway, after a very few minutes' walking, brought him close to the
+house, towards which, and especially towards one particular window, he
+directed many covert glances. It was a dreary, silent building, with
+echoing courtyards, desolated turret-chambers, and whole suites of rooms
+shut up and mouldering to ruin.
+
+The terrace-garden, dark with the shade of overhanging trees, had an air
+of melancholy that was quite oppressive. Great iron gates, disused for
+many years, and red with rust, drooping on their hinges and overgrown
+with long rank grass, seemed as though they tried to sink into the
+ground, and hide their fallen state among the friendly weeds. The
+fantastic monsters on the walls, green with age and damp, and covered
+here and there with moss, looked grim and desolate. There was a sombre
+aspect even on that part of the mansion which was inhabited and kept
+in good repair, that struck the beholder with a sense of sadness; of
+something forlorn and failing, whence cheerfulness was banished. It
+would have been difficult to imagine a bright fire blazing in the dull
+and darkened rooms, or to picture any gaiety of heart or revelry that
+the frowning walls shut in. It seemed a place where such things had
+been, but could be no more--the very ghost of a house, haunting the old
+spot in its old outward form, and that was all.
+
+Much of this decayed and sombre look was attributable, no doubt, to the
+death of its former master, and the temper of its present occupant;
+but remembering the tale connected with the mansion, it seemed the very
+place for such a deed, and one that might have been its predestined
+theatre years upon years ago. Viewed with reference to this legend, the
+sheet of water where the steward's body had been found appeared to wear
+a black and sullen character, such as no other pool might own; the bell
+upon the roof that had told the tale of murder to the midnight wind,
+became a very phantom whose voice would raise the listener's hair on
+end; and every leafless bough that nodded to another, had its stealthy
+whispering of the crime.
+
+Joe paced up and down the path, sometimes stopping in affected
+contemplation of the building or the prospect, sometimes leaning against
+a tree with an assumed air of idleness and indifference, but always
+keeping an eye upon the window he had singled out at first. After some
+quarter of an hour's delay, a small white hand was waved to him for an
+instant from this casement, and the young man, with a respectful bow,
+departed; saying under his breath as he crossed his horse again, 'No
+errand for me to-day!'
+
+But the air of smartness, the cock of the hat to which John Willet had
+objected, and the spring nosegay, all betokened some little errand
+of his own, having a more interesting object than a vintner or even a
+locksmith. So, indeed, it turned out; for when he had settled with the
+vintner--whose place of business was down in some deep cellars hard by
+Thames Street, and who was as purple-faced an old gentleman as if he
+had all his life supported their arched roof on his head--when he had
+settled the account, and taken the receipt, and declined tasting more
+than three glasses of old sherry, to the unbounded astonishment of the
+purple-faced vintner, who, gimlet in hand, had projected an attack upon
+at least a score of dusty casks, and who stood transfixed, or morally
+gimleted as it were, to his own wall--when he had done all this, and
+disposed besides of a frugal dinner at the Black Lion in Whitechapel;
+spurning the Monument and John's advice, he turned his steps towards the
+locksmith's house, attracted by the eyes of blooming Dolly Varden.
+
+Joe was by no means a sheepish fellow, but, for all that, when he got
+to the corner of the street in which the locksmith lived, he could by no
+means make up his mind to walk straight to the house. First, he resolved
+to stroll up another street for five minutes, then up another street for
+five minutes more, and so on until he had lost full half an hour, when
+he made a bold plunge and found himself with a red face and a beating
+heart in the smoky workshop.
+
+'Joe Willet, or his ghost?' said Varden, rising from the desk at which
+he was busy with his books, and looking at him under his spectacles.
+'Which is it? Joe in the flesh, eh? That's hearty. And how are all the
+Chigwell company, Joe?'
+
+'Much as usual, sir--they and I agree as well as ever.'
+
+'Well, well!' said the locksmith. 'We must be patient, Joe, and bear
+with old folks' foibles. How's the mare, Joe? Does she do the four miles
+an hour as easily as ever? Ha, ha, ha! Does she, Joe? Eh!--What have we
+there, Joe--a nosegay!'
+
+'A very poor one, sir--I thought Miss Dolly--'
+
+'No, no,' said Gabriel, dropping his voice, and shaking his head, 'not
+Dolly. Give 'em to her mother, Joe. A great deal better give 'em to her
+mother. Would you mind giving 'em to Mrs Varden, Joe?'
+
+'Oh no, sir,' Joe replied, and endeavouring, but not with the greatest
+possible success, to hide his disappointment. 'I shall be very glad, I'm
+sure.'
+
+'That's right,' said the locksmith, patting him on the back. 'It don't
+matter who has 'em, Joe?'
+
+'Not a bit, sir.'--Dear heart, how the words stuck in his throat!
+
+'Come in,' said Gabriel. 'I have just been called to tea. She's in the
+parlour.'
+
+'She,' thought Joe. 'Which of 'em I wonder--Mrs or Miss?' The locksmith
+settled the doubt as neatly as if it had been expressed aloud, by
+leading him to the door, and saying, 'Martha, my dear, here's young Mr
+Willet.'
+
+Now, Mrs Varden, regarding the Maypole as a sort of human mantrap,
+or decoy for husbands; viewing its proprietor, and all who aided and
+abetted him, in the light of so many poachers among Christian men; and
+believing, moreover, that the publicans coupled with sinners in Holy
+Writ were veritable licensed victuallers; was far from being favourably
+disposed towards her visitor. Wherefore she was taken faint directly;
+and being duly presented with the crocuses and snowdrops, divined on
+further consideration that they were the occasion of the languor which
+had seized upon her spirits. 'I'm afraid I couldn't bear the room
+another minute,' said the good lady, 'if they remained here. WOULD you
+excuse my putting them out of window?'
+
+Joe begged she wouldn't mention it on any account, and smiled feebly as
+he saw them deposited on the sill outside. If anybody could have known
+the pains he had taken to make up that despised and misused bunch of
+flowers!--
+
+'I feel it quite a relief to get rid of them, I assure you,' said Mrs
+Varden. 'I'm better already.' And indeed she did appear to have plucked
+up her spirits.
+
+Joe expressed his gratitude to Providence for this favourable
+dispensation, and tried to look as if he didn't wonder where Dolly was.
+
+'You're sad people at Chigwell, Mr Joseph,' said Mrs V.
+
+'I hope not, ma'am,' returned Joe.
+
+'You're the cruellest and most inconsiderate people in the world,' said
+Mrs Varden, bridling. 'I wonder old Mr Willet, having been a married
+man himself, doesn't know better than to conduct himself as he does. His
+doing it for profit is no excuse. I would rather pay the money twenty
+times over, and have Varden come home like a respectable and sober
+tradesman. If there is one character,' said Mrs Varden with great
+emphasis, 'that offends and disgusts me more than another, it is a sot.'
+
+'Come, Martha, my dear,' said the locksmith cheerily, 'let us have tea,
+and don't let us talk about sots. There are none here, and Joe don't
+want to hear about them, I dare say.'
+
+At this crisis, Miggs appeared with toast.
+
+'I dare say he does not,' said Mrs Varden; 'and I dare say you do not,
+Varden. It's a very unpleasant subject, I have no doubt, though I
+won't say it's personal'--Miggs coughed--'whatever I may be forced to
+think'--Miggs sneezed expressively. 'You never will know, Varden, and
+nobody at young Mr Willet's age--you'll excuse me, sir--can be expected
+to know, what a woman suffers when she is waiting at home under such
+circumstances. If you don't believe me, as I know you don't, here's
+Miggs, who is only too often a witness of it--ask her.'
+
+'Oh! she were very bad the other night, sir, indeed she were, said
+Miggs. 'If you hadn't the sweetness of an angel in you, mim, I don't
+think you could abear it, I raly don't.'
+
+'Miggs,' said Mrs Varden, 'you're profane.'
+
+'Begging your pardon, mim,' returned Miggs, with shrill rapidity, 'such
+was not my intentions, and such I hope is not my character, though I am
+but a servant.'
+
+'Answering me, Miggs, and providing yourself,' retorted her mistress,
+looking round with dignity, 'is one and the same thing. How
+dare you speak of angels in connection with your sinful
+fellow-beings--mere'--said Mrs Varden, glancing at herself in a
+neighbouring mirror, and arranging the ribbon of her cap in a more
+becoming fashion--'mere worms and grovellers as we are!'
+
+'I did not intend, mim, if you please, to give offence,' said Miggs,
+confident in the strength of her compliment, and developing strongly in
+the throat as usual, 'and I did not expect it would be took as such. I
+hope I know my own unworthiness, and that I hate and despise myself and
+all my fellow-creatures as every practicable Christian should.'
+
+'You'll have the goodness, if you please,' said Mrs Varden, loftily, 'to
+step upstairs and see if Dolly has finished dressing, and to tell her
+that the chair that was ordered for her will be here in a minute, and
+that if she keeps it waiting, I shall send it away that instant.--I'm
+sorry to see that you don't take your tea, Varden, and that you don't
+take yours, Mr Joseph; though of course it would be foolish of me to
+expect that anything that can be had at home, and in the company of
+females, would please YOU.'
+
+This pronoun was understood in the plural sense, and included both
+gentlemen, upon both of whom it was rather hard and undeserved, for
+Gabriel had applied himself to the meal with a very promising appetite,
+until it was spoilt by Mrs Varden herself, and Joe had as great a liking
+for the female society of the locksmith's house--or for a part of it at
+all events--as man could well entertain.
+
+But he had no opportunity to say anything in his own defence, for at
+that moment Dolly herself appeared, and struck him quite dumb with her
+beauty. Never had Dolly looked so handsome as she did then, in all the
+glow and grace of youth, with all her charms increased a hundredfold by
+a most becoming dress, by a thousand little coquettish ways which nobody
+could assume with a better grace, and all the sparkling expectation of
+that accursed party. It is impossible to tell how Joe hated that party
+wherever it was, and all the other people who were going to it, whoever
+they were.
+
+And she hardly looked at him--no, hardly looked at him. And when
+the chair was seen through the open door coming blundering into the
+workshop, she actually clapped her hands and seemed glad to go. But Joe
+gave her his arm--there was some comfort in that--and handed her into
+it. To see her seat herself inside, with her laughing eyes brighter
+than diamonds, and her hand--surely she had the prettiest hand in
+the world--on the ledge of the open window, and her little finger
+provokingly and pertly tilted up, as if it wondered why Joe didn't
+squeeze or kiss it! To think how well one or two of the modest snowdrops
+would have become that delicate bodice, and how they were lying
+neglected outside the parlour window! To see how Miggs looked on with
+a face expressive of knowing how all this loveliness was got up, and
+of being in the secret of every string and pin and hook and eye, and
+of saying it ain't half as real as you think, and I could look quite as
+well myself if I took the pains! To hear that provoking precious little
+scream when the chair was hoisted on its poles, and to catch that
+transient but not-to-be-forgotten vision of the happy face within--what
+torments and aggravations, and yet what delights were these! The very
+chairmen seemed favoured rivals as they bore her down the street.
+
+There never was such an alteration in a small room in a small time as in
+that parlour when they went back to finish tea. So dark, so deserted,
+so perfectly disenchanted. It seemed such sheer nonsense to be sitting
+tamely there, when she was at a dance with more lovers than man could
+calculate fluttering about her--with the whole party doting on and
+adoring her, and wanting to marry her. Miggs was hovering about too; and
+the fact of her existence, the mere circumstance of her ever having been
+born, appeared, after Dolly, such an unaccountable practical joke. It
+was impossible to talk. It couldn't be done. He had nothing left for it
+but to stir his tea round, and round, and round, and ruminate on all the
+fascinations of the locksmith's lovely daughter.
+
+Gabriel was dull too. It was a part of the certain uncertainty of Mrs
+Varden's temper, that when they were in this condition, she should be
+gay and sprightly.
+
+'I need have a cheerful disposition, I am sure,' said the smiling
+housewife, 'to preserve any spirits at all; and how I do it I can
+scarcely tell.'
+
+'Ah, mim,' sighed Miggs, 'begging your pardon for the interruption,
+there an't a many like you.'
+
+'Take away, Miggs,' said Mrs Varden, rising, 'take away, pray. I know
+I'm a restraint here, and as I wish everybody to enjoy themselves as
+they best can, I feel I had better go.'
+
+'No, no, Martha,' cried the locksmith. 'Stop here. I'm sure we shall be
+very sorry to lose you, eh Joe!' Joe started, and said 'Certainly.'
+
+'Thank you, Varden, my dear,' returned his wife; 'but I know your wishes
+better. Tobacco and beer, or spirits, have much greater attractions than
+any I can boast of, and therefore I shall go and sit upstairs and look
+out of window, my love. Good night, Mr Joseph. I'm very glad to have
+seen you, and I only wish I could have provided something more suitable
+to your taste. Remember me very kindly if you please to old Mr Willet,
+and tell him that whenever he comes here I have a crow to pluck with
+him. Good night!'
+
+Having uttered these words with great sweetness of manner, the good
+lady dropped a curtsey remarkable for its condescension, and serenely
+withdrew.
+
+And it was for this Joe had looked forward to the twenty-fifth of March
+for weeks and weeks, and had gathered the flowers with so much care, and
+had cocked his hat, and made himself so smart! This was the end of all
+his bold determination, resolved upon for the hundredth time, to speak
+out to Dolly and tell her how he loved her! To see her for a minute--for
+but a minute--to find her going out to a party and glad to go; to be
+looked upon as a common pipe-smoker, beer-bibber, spirit-guzzler, and
+tosspot! He bade farewell to his friend the locksmith, and hastened to
+take horse at the Black Lion, thinking as he turned towards home, as
+many another Joe has thought before and since, that here was an end to
+all his hopes--that the thing was impossible and never could be--that
+she didn't care for him--that he was wretched for life--and that the
+only congenial prospect left him, was to go for a soldier or a sailor,
+and get some obliging enemy to knock his brains out as soon as possible.
+
+
+
+Chapter 14
+
+
+Joe Willet rode leisurely along in his desponding mood, picturing the
+locksmith's daughter going down long country-dances, and poussetting
+dreadfully with bold strangers--which was almost too much to bear--when
+he heard the tramp of a horse's feet behind him, and looking back, saw
+a well-mounted gentleman advancing at a smart canter. As this rider
+passed, he checked his steed, and called him of the Maypole by his name.
+Joe set spurs to the grey mare, and was at his side directly.
+
+'I thought it was you, sir,' he said, touching his hat. 'A fair evening,
+sir. Glad to see you out of doors again.'
+
+The gentleman smiled and nodded. 'What gay doings have been going on
+to-day, Joe? Is she as pretty as ever? Nay, don't blush, man.'
+
+'If I coloured at all, Mr Edward,' said Joe, 'which I didn't know I did,
+it was to think I should have been such a fool as ever to have any hope
+of her. She's as far out of my reach as--as Heaven is.'
+
+'Well, Joe, I hope that's not altogether beyond it,' said Edward,
+good-humouredly. 'Eh?'
+
+'Ah!' sighed Joe. 'It's all very fine talking, sir. Proverbs are easily
+made in cold blood. But it can't be helped. Are you bound for our house,
+sir?'
+
+'Yes. As I am not quite strong yet, I shall stay there to-night, and
+ride home coolly in the morning.'
+
+'If you're in no particular hurry,' said Joe after a short silence, 'and
+will bear with the pace of this poor jade, I shall be glad to ride on
+with you to the Warren, sir, and hold your horse when you dismount.
+It'll save you having to walk from the Maypole, there and back again. I
+can spare the time well, sir, for I am too soon.'
+
+'And so am I,' returned Edward, 'though I was unconsciously riding fast
+just now, in compliment I suppose to the pace of my thoughts, which were
+travelling post. We will keep together, Joe, willingly, and be as good
+company as may be. And cheer up, cheer up, think of the locksmith's
+daughter with a stout heart, and you shall win her yet.'
+
+Joe shook his head; but there was something so cheery in the buoyant
+hopeful manner of this speech, that his spirits rose under its
+influence, and communicated as it would seem some new impulse even to
+the grey mare, who, breaking from her sober amble into a gentle trot,
+emulated the pace of Edward Chester's horse, and appeared to flatter
+herself that he was doing his very best.
+
+It was a fine dry night, and the light of a young moon, which was then
+just rising, shed around that peace and tranquillity which gives to
+evening time its most delicious charm. The lengthened shadows of the
+trees, softened as if reflected in still water, threw their carpet on
+the path the travellers pursued, and the light wind stirred yet more
+softly than before, as though it were soothing Nature in her sleep. By
+little and little they ceased talking, and rode on side by side in a
+pleasant silence.
+
+'The Maypole lights are brilliant to-night,' said Edward, as they rode
+along the lane from which, while the intervening trees were bare of
+leaves, that hostelry was visible.
+
+'Brilliant indeed, sir,' returned Joe, rising in his stirrups to get
+a better view. 'Lights in the large room, and a fire glimmering in the
+best bedchamber? Why, what company can this be for, I wonder!'
+
+'Some benighted horseman wending towards London, and deterred from
+going on to-night by the marvellous tales of my friend the highwayman, I
+suppose,' said Edward.
+
+'He must be a horseman of good quality to have such accommodations. Your
+bed too, sir--!'
+
+'No matter, Joe. Any other room will do for me. But come--there's nine
+striking. We may push on.'
+
+They cantered forward at as brisk a pace as Joe's charger could attain,
+and presently stopped in the little copse where he had left her in the
+morning. Edward dismounted, gave his bridle to his companion, and walked
+with a light step towards the house.
+
+A female servant was waiting at a side gate in the garden-wall, and
+admitted him without delay. He hurried along the terrace-walk, and
+darted up a flight of broad steps leading into an old and gloomy hall,
+whose walls were ornamented with rusty suits of armour, antlers, weapons
+of the chase, and suchlike garniture. Here he paused, but not long; for
+as he looked round, as if expecting the attendant to have followed, and
+wondering she had not done so, a lovely girl appeared, whose dark hair
+next moment rested on his breast. Almost at the same instant a heavy
+hand was laid upon her arm, Edward felt himself thrust away, and Mr
+Haredale stood between them.
+
+He regarded the young man sternly without removing his hat; with
+one hand clasped his niece, and with the other, in which he held his
+riding-whip, motioned him towards the door. The young man drew himself
+up, and returned his gaze.
+
+'This is well done of you, sir, to corrupt my servants, and enter my
+house unbidden and in secret, like a thief!' said Mr Haredale. 'Leave
+it, sir, and return no more.'
+
+'Miss Haredale's presence,' returned the young man, 'and your
+relationship to her, give you a licence which, if you are a brave man,
+you will not abuse. You have compelled me to this course, and the fault
+is yours--not mine.'
+
+'It is neither generous, nor honourable, nor the act of a true man,
+sir,' retorted the other, 'to tamper with the affections of a weak,
+trusting girl, while you shrink, in your unworthiness, from her guardian
+and protector, and dare not meet the light of day. More than this I will
+not say to you, save that I forbid you this house, and require you to be
+gone.'
+
+'It is neither generous, nor honourable, nor the act of a true man to
+play the spy,' said Edward. 'Your words imply dishonour, and I reject
+them with the scorn they merit.'
+
+'You will find,' said Mr Haredale, calmly, 'your trusty go-between in
+waiting at the gate by which you entered. I have played no spy's part,
+sir. I chanced to see you pass the gate, and followed. You might have
+heard me knocking for admission, had you been less swift of foot,
+or lingered in the garden. Please to withdraw. Your presence here is
+offensive to me and distressful to my niece.' As he said these words,
+he passed his arm about the waist of the terrified and weeping girl, and
+drew her closer to him; and though the habitual severity of his manner
+was scarcely changed, there was yet apparent in the action an air of
+kindness and sympathy for her distress.
+
+'Mr Haredale,' said Edward, 'your arm encircles her on whom I have set
+my every hope and thought, and to purchase one minute's happiness for
+whom I would gladly lay down my life; this house is the casket that
+holds the precious jewel of my existence. Your niece has plighted her
+faith to me, and I have plighted mine to her. What have I done that
+you should hold me in this light esteem, and give me these discourteous
+words?'
+
+'You have done that, sir,' answered Mr Haredale, 'which must be undone.
+You have tied a lover's-knot here which must be cut asunder. Take good
+heed of what I say. Must. I cancel the bond between ye. I reject you,
+and all of your kith and kin--all the false, hollow, heartless stock.'
+
+'High words, sir,' said Edward, scornfully.
+
+'Words of purpose and meaning, as you will find,' replied the other.
+'Lay them to heart.'
+
+'Lay you then, these,' said Edward. 'Your cold and sullen temper, which
+chills every breast about you, which turns affection into fear, and
+changes duty into dread, has forced us on this secret course, repugnant
+to our nature and our wish, and far more foreign, sir, to us than you.
+I am not a false, a hollow, or a heartless man; the character is yours,
+who poorly venture on these injurious terms, against the truth, and
+under the shelter whereof I reminded you just now. You shall not cancel
+the bond between us. I will not abandon this pursuit. I rely upon your
+niece's truth and honour, and set your influence at nought. I leave her
+with a confidence in her pure faith, which you will never weaken, and
+with no concern but that I do not leave her in some gentler care.'
+
+With that, he pressed her cold hand to his lips, and once more
+encountering and returning Mr Haredale's steady look, withdrew.
+
+A few words to Joe as he mounted his horse sufficiently explained what
+had passed, and renewed all that young gentleman's despondency with
+tenfold aggravation. They rode back to the Maypole without exchanging a
+syllable, and arrived at the door with heavy hearts.
+
+Old John, who had peeped from behind the red curtain as they rode up
+shouting for Hugh, was out directly, and said with great importance as
+he held the young man's stirrup,
+
+'He's comfortable in bed--the best bed. A thorough gentleman; the
+smilingest, affablest gentleman I ever had to do with.'
+
+'Who, Willet?' said Edward carelessly, as he dismounted.
+
+'Your worthy father, sir,' replied John. 'Your honourable, venerable
+father.'
+
+'What does he mean?' said Edward, looking with a mixture of alarm and
+doubt, at Joe.
+
+'What DO you mean?' said Joe. 'Don't you see Mr Edward doesn't
+understand, father?'
+
+'Why, didn't you know of it, sir?' said John, opening his eyes wide.
+'How very singular! Bless you, he's been here ever since noon to-day,
+and Mr Haredale has been having a long talk with him, and hasn't been
+gone an hour.'
+
+'My father, Willet!'
+
+'Yes, sir, he told me so--a handsome, slim, upright gentleman, in
+green-and-gold. In your old room up yonder, sir. No doubt you can go in,
+sir,' said John, walking backwards into the road and looking up at the
+window. 'He hasn't put out his candles yet, I see.'
+
+Edward glanced at the window also, and hastily murmuring that he had
+changed his mind--forgotten something--and must return to London,
+mounted his horse again and rode away; leaving the Willets, father and
+son, looking at each other in mute astonishment.
+
+
+
+Chapter 15
+
+
+At noon next day, John Willet's guest sat lingering over his breakfast
+in his own home, surrounded by a variety of comforts, which left the
+Maypole's highest flight and utmost stretch of accommodation at an
+infinite distance behind, and suggested comparisons very much to the
+disadvantage and disfavour of that venerable tavern.
+
+In the broad old-fashioned window-seat--as capacious as many modern
+sofas, and cushioned to serve the purpose of a luxurious settee--in the
+broad old-fashioned window-seat of a roomy chamber, Mr Chester lounged,
+very much at his ease, over a well-furnished breakfast-table. He had
+exchanged his riding-coat for a handsome morning-gown, his boots for
+slippers; had been at great pains to atone for the having been obliged
+to make his toilet when he rose without the aid of dressing-case and
+tiring equipage; and, having gradually forgotten through these means the
+discomforts of an indifferent night and an early ride, was in a state of
+perfect complacency, indolence, and satisfaction.
+
+The situation in which he found himself, indeed, was particularly
+favourable to the growth of these feelings; for, not to mention the lazy
+influence of a late and lonely breakfast, with the additional sedative
+of a newspaper, there was an air of repose about his place of residence
+peculiar to itself, and which hangs about it, even in these times, when
+it is more bustling and busy than it was in days of yore.
+
+There are, still, worse places than the Temple, on a sultry day,
+for basking in the sun, or resting idly in the shade. There is yet a
+drowsiness in its courts, and a dreamy dulness in its trees and gardens;
+those who pace its lanes and squares may yet hear the echoes of their
+footsteps on the sounding stones, and read upon its gates, in passing
+from the tumult of the Strand or Fleet Street, 'Who enters here leaves
+noise behind.' There is still the plash of falling water in fair
+Fountain Court, and there are yet nooks and corners where dun-haunted
+students may look down from their dusty garrets, on a vagrant ray of
+sunlight patching the shade of the tall houses, and seldom troubled
+to reflect a passing stranger's form. There is yet, in the Temple,
+something of a clerkly monkish atmosphere, which public offices of law
+have not disturbed, and even legal firms have failed to scare away. In
+summer time, its pumps suggest to thirsty idlers, springs cooler, and
+more sparkling, and deeper than other wells; and as they trace the
+spillings of full pitchers on the heated ground, they snuff the
+freshness, and, sighing, cast sad looks towards the Thames, and think of
+baths and boats, and saunter on, despondent.
+
+It was in a room in Paper Buildings--a row of goodly tenements, shaded
+in front by ancient trees, and looking, at the back, upon the Temple
+Gardens--that this, our idler, lounged; now taking up again the paper
+he had laid down a hundred times; now trifling with the fragments of
+his meal; now pulling forth his golden toothpick, and glancing leisurely
+about the room, or out at window into the trim garden walks, where a few
+early loiterers were already pacing to and fro. Here a pair of lovers
+met to quarrel and make up; there a dark-eyed nursery-maid had better
+eyes for Templars than her charge; on this hand an ancient spinster,
+with her lapdog in a string, regarded both enormities with scornful
+sidelong looks; on that a weazen old gentleman, ogling the nursery-maid,
+looked with like scorn upon the spinster, and wondered she didn't know
+she was no longer young. Apart from all these, on the river's margin two
+or three couple of business-talkers walked slowly up and down in earnest
+conversation; and one young man sat thoughtfully on a bench, alone.
+
+'Ned is amazingly patient!' said Mr Chester, glancing at this last-named
+person as he set down his teacup and plied the golden toothpick,
+'immensely patient! He was sitting yonder when I began to dress, and has
+scarcely changed his posture since. A most eccentric dog!'
+
+As he spoke, the figure rose, and came towards him with a rapid pace.
+
+'Really, as if he had heard me,' said the father, resuming his newspaper
+with a yawn. 'Dear Ned!'
+
+Presently the room-door opened, and the young man entered; to whom his
+father gently waved his hand, and smiled.
+
+'Are you at leisure for a little conversation, sir?' said Edward.
+
+'Surely, Ned. I am always at leisure. You know my constitution.--Have
+you breakfasted?'
+
+'Three hours ago.'
+
+'What a very early dog!' cried his father, contemplating him from behind
+the toothpick, with a languid smile.
+
+'The truth is,' said Edward, bringing a chair forward, and seating
+himself near the table, 'that I slept but ill last night, and was glad
+to rise. The cause of my uneasiness cannot but be known to you, sir; and
+it is upon that I wish to speak.'
+
+'My dear boy,' returned his father, 'confide in me, I beg. But you know
+my constitution--don't be prosy, Ned.'
+
+'I will be plain, and brief,' said Edward.
+
+'Don't say you will, my good fellow,' returned his father, crossing his
+legs, 'or you certainly will not. You are going to tell me'--
+
+'Plainly this, then,' said the son, with an air of great concern, 'that
+I know where you were last night--from being on the spot, indeed--and
+whom you saw, and what your purpose was.'
+
+'You don't say so!' cried his father. 'I am delighted to hear it. It
+saves us the worry, and terrible wear and tear of a long explanation,
+and is a great relief for both. At the very house! Why didn't you come
+up? I should have been charmed to see you.'
+
+'I knew that what I had to say would be better said after a night's
+reflection, when both of us were cool,' returned the son.
+
+''Fore Gad, Ned,' rejoined the father, 'I was cool enough last night.
+That detestable Maypole! By some infernal contrivance of the builder,
+it holds the wind, and keeps it fresh. You remember the sharp east wind
+that blew so hard five weeks ago? I give you my honour it was rampant
+in that old house last night, though out of doors there was a dead calm.
+But you were saying'--
+
+'I was about to say, Heaven knows how seriously and earnestly, that you
+have made me wretched, sir. Will you hear me gravely for a moment?'
+
+'My dear Ned,' said his father, 'I will hear you with the patience of an
+anchorite. Oblige me with the milk.'
+
+'I saw Miss Haredale last night,' Edward resumed, when he had complied
+with this request; 'her uncle, in her presence, immediately after your
+interview, and, as of course I know, in consequence of it, forbade
+me the house, and, with circumstances of indignity which are of your
+creation I am sure, commanded me to leave it on the instant.'
+
+'For his manner of doing so, I give you my honour, Ned, I am not
+accountable,' said his father. 'That you must excuse. He is a mere boor,
+a log, a brute, with no address in life.--Positively a fly in the jug.
+The first I have seen this year.'
+
+Edward rose, and paced the room. His imperturbable parent sipped his
+tea.
+
+'Father,' said the young man, stopping at length before him, 'we must
+not trifle in this matter. We must not deceive each other, or ourselves.
+Let me pursue the manly open part I wish to take, and do not repel me by
+this unkind indifference.'
+
+'Whether I am indifferent or no,' returned the other, 'I leave you, my
+dear boy, to judge. A ride of twenty-five or thirty miles, through miry
+roads--a Maypole dinner--a tete-a-tete with Haredale, which, vanity
+apart, was quite a Valentine and Orson business--a Maypole bed--a
+Maypole landlord, and a Maypole retinue of idiots and centaurs;--whether
+the voluntary endurance of these things looks like indifference, dear
+Ned, or like the excessive anxiety, and devotion, and all that sort of
+thing, of a parent, you shall determine for yourself.'
+
+'I wish you to consider, sir,' said Edward, 'in what a cruel situation I
+am placed. Loving Miss Haredale as I do'--
+
+'My dear fellow,' interrupted his father with a compassionate smile,
+'you do nothing of the kind. You don't know anything about it. There's
+no such thing, I assure you. Now, do take my word for it. You have good
+sense, Ned,--great good sense. I wonder you should be guilty of such
+amazing absurdities. You really surprise me.'
+
+'I repeat,' said his son firmly, 'that I love her. You have interposed
+to part us, and have, to the extent I have just now told you of,
+succeeded. May I induce you, sir, in time, to think more favourably of
+our attachment, or is it your intention and your fixed design to hold us
+asunder if you can?'
+
+'My dear Ned,' returned his father, taking a pinch of snuff and pushing
+his box towards him, 'that is my purpose most undoubtedly.'
+
+'The time that has elapsed,' rejoined his son, 'since I began to know
+her worth, has flown in such a dream that until now I have hardly once
+paused to reflect upon my true position. What is it? From my childhood
+I have been accustomed to luxury and idleness, and have been bred as
+though my fortune were large, and my expectations almost without a
+limit. The idea of wealth has been familiarised to me from my cradle. I
+have been taught to look upon those means, by which men raise themselves
+to riches and distinction, as being beyond my heeding, and beneath my
+care. I have been, as the phrase is, liberally educated, and am fit
+for nothing. I find myself at last wholly dependent upon you, with no
+resource but in your favour. In this momentous question of my life we do
+not, and it would seem we never can, agree. I have shrunk instinctively
+alike from those to whom you have urged me to pay court, and from the
+motives of interest and gain which have rendered them in your eyes
+visible objects for my suit. If there never has been thus much
+plain-speaking between us before, sir, the fault has not been mine,
+indeed. If I seem to speak too plainly now, it is, believe me father, in
+the hope that there may be a franker spirit, a worthier reliance, and a
+kinder confidence between us in time to come.'
+
+'My good fellow,' said his smiling father, 'you quite affect me. Go
+on, my dear Edward, I beg. But remember your promise. There is great
+earnestness, vast candour, a manifest sincerity in all you say, but I
+fear I observe the faintest indications of a tendency to prose.'
+
+'I am very sorry, sir.'
+
+'I am very sorry, too, Ned, but you know that I cannot fix my mind for
+any long period upon one subject. If you'll come to the point at once,
+I'll imagine all that ought to go before, and conclude it said. Oblige
+me with the milk again. Listening, invariably makes me feverish.'
+
+'What I would say then, tends to this,' said Edward. 'I cannot bear
+this absolute dependence, sir, even upon you. Time has been lost and
+opportunity thrown away, but I am yet a young man, and may retrieve it.
+Will you give me the means of devoting such abilities and energies as I
+possess, to some worthy pursuit? Will you let me try to make for myself
+an honourable path in life? For any term you please to name--say for
+five years if you will--I will pledge myself to move no further in the
+matter of our difference without your full concurrence. During that
+period, I will endeavour earnestly and patiently, if ever man did, to
+open some prospect for myself, and free you from the burden you fear
+I should become if I married one whose worth and beauty are her chief
+endowments. Will you do this, sir? At the expiration of the term we
+agree upon, let us discuss this subject again. Till then, unless it is
+revived by you, let it never be renewed between us.'
+
+'My dear Ned,' returned his father, laying down the newspaper at which
+he had been glancing carelessly, and throwing himself back in the
+window-seat, 'I believe you know how very much I dislike what are called
+family affairs, which are only fit for plebeian Christmas days, and
+have no manner of business with people of our condition. But as you
+are proceeding upon a mistake, Ned--altogether upon a mistake--I will
+conquer my repugnance to entering on such matters, and give you a
+perfectly plain and candid answer, if you will do me the favour to shut
+the door.'
+
+Edward having obeyed him, he took an elegant little knife from his
+pocket, and paring his nails, continued:
+
+'You have to thank me, Ned, for being of good family; for your mother,
+charming person as she was, and almost broken-hearted, and so forth, as
+she left me, when she was prematurely compelled to become immortal--had
+nothing to boast of in that respect.'
+
+'Her father was at least an eminent lawyer, sir,' said Edward.
+
+'Quite right, Ned; perfectly so. He stood high at the bar, had a great
+name and great wealth, but having risen from nothing--I have
+always closed my eyes to the circumstance and steadily resisted its
+contemplation, but I fear his father dealt in pork, and that his
+business did once involve cow-heel and sausages--he wished to marry his
+daughter into a good family. He had his heart's desire, Ned. I was a
+younger son's younger son, and I married her. We each had our object,
+and gained it. She stepped at once into the politest and best circles,
+and I stepped into a fortune which I assure you was very necessary to my
+comfort--quite indispensable. Now, my good fellow, that fortune is among
+the things that have been. It is gone, Ned, and has been gone--how old
+are you? I always forget.'
+
+'Seven-and-twenty, sir.'
+
+'Are you indeed?' cried his father, raising his eyelids in a languishing
+surprise. 'So much! Then I should say, Ned, that as nearly as I
+remember, its skirts vanished from human knowledge, about eighteen or
+nineteen years ago. It was about that time when I came to live in these
+chambers (once your grandfather's, and bequeathed by that extremely
+respectable person to me), and commenced to live upon an inconsiderable
+annuity and my past reputation.'
+
+'You are jesting with me, sir,' said Edward.
+
+'Not in the slightest degree, I assure you,' returned his father with
+great composure. 'These family topics are so extremely dry, that I am
+sorry to say they don't admit of any such relief. It is for that reason,
+and because they have an appearance of business, that I dislike them so
+very much. Well! You know the rest. A son, Ned, unless he is old enough
+to be a companion--that is to say, unless he is some two or three and
+twenty--is not the kind of thing to have about one. He is a restraint
+upon his father, his father is a restraint upon him, and they make each
+other mutually uncomfortable. Therefore, until within the last four
+years or so--I have a poor memory for dates, and if I mistake, you will
+correct me in your own mind--you pursued your studies at a distance, and
+picked up a great variety of accomplishments. Occasionally we passed a
+week or two together here, and disconcerted each other as only such near
+relations can. At last you came home. I candidly tell you, my dear boy,
+that if you had been awkward and overgrown, I should have exported you
+to some distant part of the world.'
+
+'I wish with all my soul you had, sir,' said Edward.
+
+'No you don't, Ned,' said his father coolly; 'you are mistaken, I assure
+you. I found you a handsome, prepossessing, elegant fellow, and I threw
+you into the society I can still command. Having done that, my dear
+fellow, I consider that I have provided for you in life, and rely upon
+your doing something to provide for me in return.'
+
+'I do not understand your meaning, sir.'
+
+'My meaning, Ned, is obvious--I observe another fly in the cream-jug,
+but have the goodness not to take it out as you did the first, for
+their walk when their legs are milky, is extremely ungraceful and
+disagreeable--my meaning is, that you must do as I did; that you must
+marry well and make the most of yourself.'
+
+'A mere fortune-hunter!' cried the son, indignantly.
+
+'What in the devil's name, Ned, would you be!' returned the father. 'All
+men are fortune-hunters, are they not? The law, the church, the court,
+the camp--see how they are all crowded with fortune-hunters, jostling
+each other in the pursuit. The stock-exchange, the pulpit, the
+counting-house, the royal drawing-room, the senate,--what but
+fortune-hunters are they filled with? A fortune-hunter! Yes. You
+ARE one; and you would be nothing else, my dear Ned, if you were
+the greatest courtier, lawyer, legislator, prelate, or merchant, in
+existence. If you are squeamish and moral, Ned, console yourself with
+the reflection that at the very worst your fortune-hunting can make but
+one person miserable or unhappy. How many people do you suppose these
+other kinds of huntsmen crush in following their sport--hundreds at a
+step? Or thousands?'
+
+The young man leant his head upon his hand, and made no answer.
+
+'I am quite charmed,' said the father rising, and walking slowly to and
+fro--stopping now and then to glance at himself in the mirror, or survey
+a picture through his glass, with the air of a connoisseur, 'that we
+have had this conversation, Ned, unpromising as it was. It establishes
+a confidence between us which is quite delightful, and was certainly
+necessary, though how you can ever have mistaken our positions and
+designs, I confess I cannot understand. I conceived, until I found your
+fancy for this girl, that all these points were tacitly agreed upon
+between us.'
+
+'I knew you were embarrassed, sir,' returned the son, raising his head
+for a moment, and then falling into his former attitude, 'but I had no
+idea we were the beggared wretches you describe. How could I suppose it,
+bred as I have been; witnessing the life you have always led; and the
+appearance you have always made?'
+
+'My dear child,' said the father--'for you really talk so like a child
+that I must call you one--you were bred upon a careful principle;
+the very manner of your education, I assure you, maintained my credit
+surprisingly. As to the life I lead, I must lead it, Ned. I must have
+these little refinements about me. I have always been used to them, and
+I cannot exist without them. They must surround me, you observe, and
+therefore they are here. With regard to our circumstances, Ned, you
+may set your mind at rest upon that score. They are desperate. Your own
+appearance is by no means despicable, and our joint pocket-money alone
+devours our income. That's the truth.'
+
+'Why have I never known this before? Why have you encouraged me, sir, to
+an expenditure and mode of life to which we have no right or title?'
+
+'My good fellow,' returned his father more compassionately than ever,
+'if you made no appearance, how could you possibly succeed in the
+pursuit for which I destined you? As to our mode of life, every man
+has a right to live in the best way he can; and to make himself as
+comfortable as he can, or he is an unnatural scoundrel. Our debts, I
+grant, are very great, and therefore it the more behoves you, as a young
+man of principle and honour, to pay them off as speedily as possible.'
+
+'The villain's part,' muttered Edward, 'that I have unconsciously
+played! I to win the heart of Emma Haredale! I would, for her sake, I
+had died first!'
+
+'I am glad you see, Ned,' returned his father, 'how perfectly
+self-evident it is, that nothing can be done in that quarter. But apart
+from this, and the necessity of your speedily bestowing yourself on
+another (as you know you could to-morrow, if you chose), I wish you'd
+look upon it pleasantly. In a religious point of view alone, how
+could you ever think of uniting yourself to a Catholic, unless she was
+amazingly rich? You ought to be so very Protestant, coming of such a
+Protestant family as you do. Let us be moral, Ned, or we are nothing.
+Even if one could set that objection aside, which is impossible, we come
+to another which is quite conclusive. The very idea of marrying a girl
+whose father was killed, like meat! Good God, Ned, how disagreeable!
+Consider the impossibility of having any respect for your father-in-law
+under such unpleasant circumstances--think of his having been "viewed"
+by jurors, and "sat upon" by coroners, and of his very doubtful position
+in the family ever afterwards. It seems to me such an indelicate sort
+of thing that I really think the girl ought to have been put to death by
+the state to prevent its happening. But I tease you perhaps. You would
+rather be alone? My dear Ned, most willingly. God bless you. I shall
+be going out presently, but we shall meet to-night, or if not to-night,
+certainly to-morrow. Take care of yourself in the mean time, for both
+our sakes. You are a person of great consequence to me, Ned--of vast
+consequence indeed. God bless you!'
+
+With these words, the father, who had been arranging his cravat in
+the glass, while he uttered them in a disconnected careless manner,
+withdrew, humming a tune as he went. The son, who had appeared so lost
+in thought as not to hear or understand them, remained quite still and
+silent. After the lapse of half an hour or so, the elder Chester, gaily
+dressed, went out. The younger still sat with his head resting on his
+hands, in what appeared to be a kind of stupor.
+
+
+
+Chapter 16
+
+
+A series of pictures representing the streets of London in the night,
+even at the comparatively recent date of this tale, would present to the
+eye something so very different in character from the reality which is
+witnessed in these times, that it would be difficult for the beholder to
+recognise his most familiar walks in the altered aspect of little more
+than half a century ago.
+
+They were, one and all, from the broadest and best to the narrowest and
+least frequented, very dark. The oil and cotton lamps, though regularly
+trimmed twice or thrice in the long winter nights, burnt feebly at the
+best; and at a late hour, when they were unassisted by the lamps and
+candles in the shops, cast but a narrow track of doubtful light upon the
+footway, leaving the projecting doors and house-fronts in the deepest
+gloom. Many of the courts and lanes were left in total darkness; those
+of the meaner sort, where one glimmering light twinkled for a score of
+houses, being favoured in no slight degree. Even in these places, the
+inhabitants had often good reason for extinguishing their lamp as soon
+as it was lighted; and the watch being utterly inefficient and powerless
+to prevent them, they did so at their pleasure. Thus, in the lightest
+thoroughfares, there was at every turn some obscure and dangerous spot
+whither a thief might fly or shelter, and few would care to follow; and
+the city being belted round by fields, green lanes, waste grounds, and
+lonely roads, dividing it at that time from the suburbs that have joined
+it since, escape, even where the pursuit was hot, was rendered easy.
+
+It is no wonder that with these favouring circumstances in full and
+constant operation, street robberies, often accompanied by cruel wounds,
+and not unfrequently by loss of life, should have been of nightly
+occurrence in the very heart of London, or that quiet folks should have
+had great dread of traversing its streets after the shops were closed.
+It was not unusual for those who wended home alone at midnight, to
+keep the middle of the road, the better to guard against surprise from
+lurking footpads; few would venture to repair at a late hour to Kentish
+Town or Hampstead, or even to Kensington or Chelsea, unarmed and
+unattended; while he who had been loudest and most valiant at the
+supper-table or the tavern, and had but a mile or so to go, was glad to
+fee a link-boy to escort him home.
+
+There were many other characteristics--not quite so disagreeable--about
+the thoroughfares of London then, with which they had been long
+familiar. Some of the shops, especially those to the eastward of Temple
+Bar, still adhered to the old practice of hanging out a sign; and the
+creaking and swinging of these boards in their iron frames on windy
+nights, formed a strange and mournful concert for the ears of those
+who lay awake in bed or hurried through the streets. Long stands of
+hackney-chairs and groups of chairmen, compared with whom the coachmen
+of our day are gentle and polite, obstructed the way and filled the
+air with clamour; night-cellars, indicated by a little stream of light
+crossing the pavement, and stretching out half-way into the road, and
+by the stifled roar of voices from below, yawned for the reception and
+entertainment of the most abandoned of both sexes; under every shed and
+bulk small groups of link-boys gamed away the earnings of the day; or
+one more weary than the rest, gave way to sleep, and let the fragment of
+his torch fall hissing on the puddled ground.
+
+Then there was the watch with staff and lantern crying the hour, and
+the kind of weather; and those who woke up at his voice and turned them
+round in bed, were glad to hear it rained, or snowed, or blew, or froze,
+for very comfort's sake. The solitary passenger was startled by the
+chairmen's cry of 'By your leave there!' as two came trotting past
+him with their empty vehicle--carried backwards to show its being
+disengaged--and hurried to the nearest stand. Many a private chair,
+too, inclosing some fine lady, monstrously hooped and furbelowed, and
+preceded by running-footmen bearing flambeaux--for which extinguishers
+are yet suspended before the doors of a few houses of the better
+sort--made the way gay and light as it danced along, and darker and more
+dismal when it had passed. It was not unusual for these running gentry,
+who carried it with a very high hand, to quarrel in the servants' hall
+while waiting for their masters and mistresses; and, falling to blows
+either there or in the street without, to strew the place of skirmish
+with hair-powder, fragments of bag-wigs, and scattered nosegays. Gaming,
+the vice which ran so high among all classes (the fashion being of
+course set by the upper), was generally the cause of these disputes;
+for cards and dice were as openly used, and worked as much mischief, and
+yielded as much excitement below stairs, as above. While incidents like
+these, arising out of drums and masquerades and parties at quadrille,
+were passing at the west end of the town, heavy stagecoaches and scarce
+heavier waggons were lumbering slowly towards the city, the coachmen,
+guard, and passengers, armed to the teeth, and the coach--a day or so
+perhaps behind its time, but that was nothing--despoiled by highwaymen;
+who made no scruple to attack, alone and single-handed, a whole caravan
+of goods and men, and sometimes shot a passenger or two, and were
+sometimes shot themselves, as the case might be. On the morrow, rumours
+of this new act of daring on the road yielded matter for a few hours'
+conversation through the town, and a Public Progress of some fine
+gentleman (half-drunk) to Tyburn, dressed in the newest fashion, and
+damning the ordinary with unspeakable gallantry and grace, furnished to
+the populace, at once a pleasant excitement and a wholesome and profound
+example.
+
+Among all the dangerous characters who, in such a state of society,
+prowled and skulked in the metropolis at night, there was one man from
+whom many as uncouth and fierce as he, shrunk with an involuntary dread.
+Who he was, or whence he came, was a question often asked, but which
+none could answer. His name was unknown, he had never been seen until
+within about eight days or thereabouts, and was equally a stranger to
+the old ruffians, upon whose haunts he ventured fearlessly, as to the
+young. He could be no spy, for he never removed his slouched hat to look
+about him, entered into conversation with no man, heeded nothing that
+passed, listened to no discourse, regarded nobody that came or went.
+But so surely as the dead of night set in, so surely this man was in the
+midst of the loose concourse in the night-cellar where outcasts of every
+grade resorted; and there he sat till morning.
+
+He was not only a spectre at their licentious feasts; a something in the
+midst of their revelry and riot that chilled and haunted them; but out
+of doors he was the same. Directly it was dark, he was abroad--never in
+company with any one, but always alone; never lingering or loitering,
+but always walking swiftly; and looking (so they said who had seen him)
+over his shoulder from time to time, and as he did so quickening his
+pace. In the fields, the lanes, the roads, in all quarters of the
+town--east, west, north, and south--that man was seen gliding on like a
+shadow. He was always hurrying away. Those who encountered him, saw him
+steal past, caught sight of the backward glance, and so lost him in the
+darkness.
+
+This constant restlessness, and flitting to and fro, gave rise to
+strange stories. He was seen in such distant and remote places, at times
+so nearly tallying with each other, that some doubted whether there were
+not two of them, or more--some, whether he had not unearthly means of
+travelling from spot to spot. The footpad hiding in a ditch had marked
+him passing like a ghost along its brink; the vagrant had met him on the
+dark high-road; the beggar had seen him pause upon the bridge to look
+down at the water, and then sweep on again; they who dealt in bodies
+with the surgeons could swear he slept in churchyards, and that they
+had beheld him glide away among the tombs on their approach. And as they
+told these stories to each other, one who had looked about him would
+pull his neighbour by the sleeve, and there he would be among them.
+
+At last, one man--he was one of those whose commerce lay among the
+graves--resolved to question this strange companion. Next night, when
+he had eat his poor meal voraciously (he was accustomed to do that, they
+had observed, as though he had no other in the day), this fellow sat
+down at his elbow.
+
+'A black night, master!'
+
+'It is a black night.'
+
+'Blacker than last, though that was pitchy too. Didn't I pass you near
+the turnpike in the Oxford Road?'
+
+'It's like you may. I don't know.'
+
+'Come, come, master,' cried the fellow, urged on by the looks of his
+comrades, and slapping him on the shoulder; 'be more companionable and
+communicative. Be more the gentleman in this good company. There are
+tales among us that you have sold yourself to the devil, and I know not
+what.'
+
+'We all have, have we not?' returned the stranger, looking up. 'If we
+were fewer in number, perhaps he would give better wages.'
+
+'It goes rather hard with you, indeed,' said the fellow, as the stranger
+disclosed his haggard unwashed face, and torn clothes. 'What of that? Be
+merry, master. A stave of a roaring song now'--
+
+'Sing you, if you desire to hear one,' replied the other, shaking him
+roughly off; 'and don't touch me if you're a prudent man; I carry
+arms which go off easily--they have done so, before now--and make it
+dangerous for strangers who don't know the trick of them, to lay hands
+upon me.'
+
+'Do you threaten?' said the fellow.
+
+'Yes,' returned the other, rising and turning upon him, and looking
+fiercely round as if in apprehension of a general attack.
+
+His voice, and look, and bearing--all expressive of the wildest
+recklessness and desperation--daunted while they repelled the
+bystanders. Although in a very different sphere of action now, they were
+not without much of the effect they had wrought at the Maypole Inn.
+
+'I am what you all are, and live as you all do,' said the man sternly,
+after a short silence. 'I am in hiding here like the rest, and if we
+were surprised would perhaps do my part with the best of ye. If it's my
+humour to be left to myself, let me have it. Otherwise,'--and here
+he swore a tremendous oath--'there'll be mischief done in this place,
+though there ARE odds of a score against me.'
+
+A low murmur, having its origin perhaps in a dread of the man and the
+mystery that surrounded him, or perhaps in a sincere opinion on the part
+of some of those present, that it would be an inconvenient precedent to
+meddle too curiously with a gentleman's private affairs if he saw reason
+to conceal them, warned the fellow who had occasioned this discussion
+that he had best pursue it no further. After a short time the strange
+man lay down upon a bench to sleep, and when they thought of him again,
+they found he was gone.
+
+Next night, as soon as it was dark, he was abroad again and traversing
+the streets; he was before the locksmith's house more than once, but
+the family were out, and it was close shut. This night he crossed London
+Bridge and passed into Southwark. As he glided down a bye street, a
+woman with a little basket on her arm, turned into it at the other end.
+Directly he observed her, he sought the shelter of an archway, and
+stood aside until she had passed. Then he emerged cautiously from his
+hiding-place, and followed.
+
+She went into several shops to purchase various kinds of household
+necessaries, and round every place at which she stopped he hovered like
+her evil spirit; following her when she reappeared. It was nigh eleven
+o'clock, and the passengers in the streets were thinning fast, when she
+turned, doubtless to go home. The phantom still followed her.
+
+She turned into the same bye street in which he had seen her first,
+which, being free from shops, and narrow, was extremely dark. She
+quickened her pace here, as though distrustful of being stopped, and
+robbed of such trifling property as she carried with her. He crept along
+on the other side of the road. Had she been gifted with the speed of
+wind, it seemed as if his terrible shadow would have tracked her down.
+
+At length the widow--for she it was--reached her own door, and, panting
+for breath, paused to take the key from her basket. In a flush and glow,
+with the haste she had made, and the pleasure of being safe at home,
+she stooped to draw it out, when, raising her head, she saw him standing
+silently beside her: the apparition of a dream.
+
+His hand was on her mouth, but that was needless, for her tongue clove
+to its roof, and her power of utterance was gone. 'I have been looking
+for you many nights. Is the house empty? Answer me. Is any one inside?'
+
+She could only answer by a rattle in her throat.
+
+'Make me a sign.'
+
+She seemed to indicate that there was no one there. He took the key,
+unlocked the door, carried her in, and secured it carefully behind them.
+
+
+
+Chapter 17
+
+
+It was a chilly night, and the fire in the widow's parlour had burnt
+low. Her strange companion placed her in a chair, and stooping down
+before the half-extinguished ashes, raked them together and fanned them
+with his hat. From time to time he glanced at her over his shoulder, as
+though to assure himself of her remaining quiet and making no effort to
+depart; and that done, busied himself about the fire again.
+
+It was not without reason that he took these pains, for his dress was
+dank and drenched with wet, his jaws rattled with cold, and he shivered
+from head to foot. It had rained hard during the previous night and for
+some hours in the morning, but since noon it had been fine. Wheresoever
+he had passed the hours of darkness, his condition sufficiently
+betokened that many of them had been spent beneath the open sky.
+Besmeared with mire; his saturated clothes clinging with a damp embrace
+about his limbs; his beard unshaven, his face unwashed, his meagre
+cheeks worn into deep hollows,--a more miserable wretch could hardly be,
+than this man who now cowered down upon the widow's hearth, and watched
+the struggling flame with bloodshot eyes.
+
+She had covered her face with her hands, fearing, as it seemed, to look
+towards him. So they remained for some short time in silence. Glancing
+round again, he asked at length:
+
+'Is this your house?'
+
+'It is. Why, in the name of Heaven, do you darken it?'
+
+'Give me meat and drink,' he answered sullenly, 'or I dare do more than
+that. The very marrow in my bones is cold, with wet and hunger. I must
+have warmth and food, and I will have them here.'
+
+'You were the robber on the Chigwell road.'
+
+'I was.'
+
+'And nearly a murderer then.'
+
+'The will was not wanting. There was one came upon me and raised the
+hue-and-cry, that it would have gone hard with, but for his nimbleness.
+I made a thrust at him.'
+
+'You thrust your sword at HIM!' cried the widow, looking upwards. 'You
+hear this man! you hear and saw!'
+
+He looked at her, as, with her head thrown back, and her hands tight
+clenched together, she uttered these words in an agony of appeal. Then,
+starting to his feet as she had done, he advanced towards her.
+
+'Beware!' she cried in a suppressed voice, whose firmness stopped him
+midway. 'Do not so much as touch me with a finger, or you are lost; body
+and soul, you are lost.'
+
+'Hear me,' he replied, menacing her with his hand. 'I, that in the form
+of a man live the life of a hunted beast; that in the body am a spirit,
+a ghost upon the earth, a thing from which all creatures shrink, save
+those curst beings of another world, who will not leave me;--I am, in my
+desperation of this night, past all fear but that of the hell in which I
+exist from day to day. Give the alarm, cry out, refuse to shelter me. I
+will not hurt you. But I will not be taken alive; and so surely as you
+threaten me above your breath, I fall a dead man on this floor. The
+blood with which I sprinkle it, be on you and yours, in the name of the
+Evil Spirit that tempts men to their ruin!'
+
+As he spoke, he took a pistol from his breast, and firmly clutched it in
+his hand.
+
+'Remove this man from me, good Heaven!' cried the widow. 'In thy grace
+and mercy, give him one minute's penitence, and strike him dead!'
+
+'It has no such purpose,' he said, confronting her. 'It is deaf. Give me
+to eat and drink, lest I do that it cannot help my doing, and will not
+do for you.'
+
+'Will you leave me, if I do thus much? Will you leave me and return no
+more?'
+
+'I will promise nothing,' he rejoined, seating himself at the table,
+'nothing but this--I will execute my threat if you betray me.'
+
+She rose at length, and going to a closet or pantry in the room, brought
+out some fragments of cold meat and bread and put them on the table. He
+asked for brandy, and for water. These she produced likewise; and he ate
+and drank with the voracity of a famished hound. All the time he was so
+engaged she kept at the uttermost distance of the chamber, and sat there
+shuddering, but with her face towards him. She never turned her back
+upon him once; and although when she passed him (as she was obliged to
+do in going to and from the cupboard) she gathered the skirts of her
+garment about her, as if even its touching his by chance were horrible
+to think of, still, in the midst of all this dread and terror, she kept
+her face towards his own, and watched his every movement.
+
+His repast ended--if that can be called one, which was a mere ravenous
+satisfying of the calls of hunger--he moved his chair towards the
+fire again, and warming himself before the blaze which had now sprung
+brightly up, accosted her once more.
+
+'I am an outcast, to whom a roof above his head is often an uncommon
+luxury, and the food a beggar would reject is delicate fare. You live
+here at your ease. Do you live alone?'
+
+'I do not,' she made answer with an effort.
+
+'Who dwells here besides?'
+
+'One--it is no matter who. You had best begone, or he may find you here.
+Why do you linger?'
+
+'For warmth,' he replied, spreading out his hands before the fire. 'For
+warmth. You are rich, perhaps?'
+
+'Very,' she said faintly. 'Very rich. No doubt I am very rich.'
+
+'At least you are not penniless. You have some money. You were making
+purchases to-night.'
+
+'I have a little left. It is but a few shillings.'
+
+'Give me your purse. You had it in your hand at the door. Give it to
+me.'
+
+She stepped to the table and laid it down. He reached across, took it
+up, and told the contents into his hand. As he was counting them, she
+listened for a moment, and sprung towards him.
+
+'Take what there is, take all, take more if more were there, but go
+before it is too late. I have heard a wayward step without, I know full
+well. It will return directly. Begone.'
+
+'What do you mean?'
+
+'Do not stop to ask. I will not answer. Much as I dread to touch you, I
+would drag you to the door if I possessed the strength, rather than you
+should lose an instant. Miserable wretch! fly from this place.'
+
+'If there are spies without, I am safer here,' replied the man, standing
+aghast. 'I will remain here, and will not fly till the danger is past.'
+
+'It is too late!' cried the widow, who had listened for the step, and
+not to him. 'Hark to that foot upon the ground. Do you tremble to hear
+it! It is my son, my idiot son!'
+
+As she said this wildly, there came a heavy knocking at the door. He
+looked at her, and she at him.
+
+'Let him come in,' said the man, hoarsely. 'I fear him less than the
+dark, houseless night. He knocks again. Let him come in!'
+
+'The dread of this hour,' returned the widow, 'has been upon me all my
+life, and I will not. Evil will fall upon him, if you stand eye to eye.
+My blighted boy! Oh! all good angels who know the truth--hear a poor
+mother's prayer, and spare my boy from knowledge of this man!'
+
+'He rattles at the shutters!' cried the man. 'He calls you. That voice
+and cry! It was he who grappled with me in the road. Was it he?'
+
+She had sunk upon her knees, and so knelt down, moving her lips, but
+uttering no sound. As he gazed upon her, uncertain what to do or where
+to turn, the shutters flew open. He had barely time to catch a knife
+from the table, sheathe it in the loose sleeve of his coat, hide in the
+closet, and do all with the lightning's speed, when Barnaby tapped at
+the bare glass, and raised the sash exultingly.
+
+'Why, who can keep out Grip and me!' he cried, thrusting in his head,
+and staring round the room. 'Are you there, mother? How long you keep us
+from the fire and light.'
+
+She stammered some excuse and tendered him her hand. But Barnaby sprung
+lightly in without assistance, and putting his arms about her neck,
+kissed her a hundred times.
+
+'We have been afield, mother--leaping ditches, scrambling through
+hedges, running down steep banks, up and away, and hurrying on. The wind
+has been blowing, and the rushes and young plants bowing and bending to
+it, lest it should do them harm, the cowards--and Grip--ha ha ha!--brave
+Grip, who cares for nothing, and when the wind rolls him over in the
+dust, turns manfully to bite it--Grip, bold Grip, has quarrelled with
+every little bowing twig--thinking, he told me, that it mocked him--and
+has worried it like a bulldog. Ha ha ha!'
+
+The raven, in his little basket at his master's back, hearing this
+frequent mention of his name in a tone of exultation, expressed his
+sympathy by crowing like a cock, and afterwards running over his various
+phrases of speech with such rapidity, and in so many varieties of
+hoarseness, that they sounded like the murmurs of a crowd of people.
+
+'He takes such care of me besides!' said Barnaby. 'Such care, mother! He
+watches all the time I sleep, and when I shut my eyes and make-believe
+to slumber, he practises new learning softly; but he keeps his eye on
+me the while, and if he sees me laugh, though never so little, stops
+directly. He won't surprise me till he's perfect.'
+
+The raven crowed again in a rapturous manner which plainly said, 'Those
+are certainly some of my characteristics, and I glory in them.' In the
+meantime, Barnaby closed the window and secured it, and coming to the
+fireplace, prepared to sit down with his face to the closet. But
+his mother prevented this, by hastily taking that side herself, and
+motioning him towards the other.
+
+'How pale you are to-night!' said Barnaby, leaning on his stick. 'We
+have been cruel, Grip, and made her anxious!'
+
+Anxious in good truth, and sick at heart! The listener held the door
+of his hiding-place open with his hand, and closely watched her son.
+Grip--alive to everything his master was unconscious of--had his head
+out of the basket, and in return was watching him intently with his
+glistening eye.
+
+'He flaps his wings,' said Barnaby, turning almost quickly enough to
+catch the retreating form and closing door, 'as if there were strangers
+here, but Grip is wiser than to fancy that. Jump then!'
+
+Accepting this invitation with a dignity peculiar to himself, the bird
+hopped up on his master's shoulder, from that to his extended hand, and
+so to the ground. Barnaby unstrapping the basket and putting it down in
+a corner with the lid open, Grip's first care was to shut it down with
+all possible despatch, and then to stand upon it. Believing, no doubt,
+that he had now rendered it utterly impossible, and beyond the power of
+mortal man, to shut him up in it any more, he drew a great many corks in
+triumph, and uttered a corresponding number of hurrahs.
+
+'Mother!' said Barnaby, laying aside his hat and stick, and returning
+to the chair from which he had risen, 'I'll tell you where we have been
+to-day, and what we have been doing,--shall I?'
+
+She took his hand in hers, and holding it, nodded the word she could not
+speak.
+
+'You mustn't tell,' said Barnaby, holding up his finger, 'for it's a
+secret, mind, and only known to me, and Grip, and Hugh. We had the dog
+with us, but he's not like Grip, clever as he is, and doesn't guess it
+yet, I'll wager.--Why do you look behind me so?'
+
+'Did I?' she answered faintly. 'I didn't know I did. Come nearer me.'
+
+'You are frightened!' said Barnaby, changing colour. 'Mother--you don't
+see'--
+
+'See what?'
+
+'There's--there's none of this about, is there?' he answered in a
+whisper, drawing closer to her and clasping the mark upon his wrist.
+'I am afraid there is, somewhere. You make my hair stand on end, and my
+flesh creep. Why do you look like that? Is it in the room as I have seen
+it in my dreams, dashing the ceiling and the walls with red? Tell me. Is
+it?'
+
+He fell into a shivering fit as he put the question, and shutting out
+the light with his hands, sat shaking in every limb until it had passed
+away. After a time, he raised his head and looked about him.
+
+'Is it gone?'
+
+'There has been nothing here,' rejoined his mother, soothing him.
+'Nothing indeed, dear Barnaby. Look! You see there are but you and me.'
+
+He gazed at her vacantly, and, becoming reassured by degrees, burst into
+a wild laugh.
+
+'But let us see,' he said, thoughtfully. 'Were we talking? Was it you
+and me? Where have we been?'
+
+'Nowhere but here.'
+
+'Aye, but Hugh, and I,' said Barnaby,--'that's it. Maypole Hugh, and
+I, you know, and Grip--we have been lying in the forest, and among the
+trees by the road side, with a dark lantern after night came on, and the
+dog in a noose ready to slip him when the man came by.'
+
+'What man?'
+
+'The robber; him that the stars winked at. We have waited for him
+after dark these many nights, and we shall have him. I'd know him in a
+thousand. Mother, see here! This is the man. Look!'
+
+He twisted his handkerchief round his head, pulled his hat upon his
+brow, wrapped his coat about him, and stood up before her: so like the
+original he counterfeited, that the dark figure peering out behind him
+might have passed for his own shadow.
+
+'Ha ha ha! We shall have him,' he cried, ridding himself of the
+semblance as hastily as he had assumed it. 'You shall see him, mother,
+bound hand and foot, and brought to London at a saddle-girth; and you
+shall hear of him at Tyburn Tree if we have luck. So Hugh says. You're
+pale again, and trembling. And why DO you look behind me so?'
+
+'It is nothing,' she answered. 'I am not quite well. Go you to bed,
+dear, and leave me here.'
+
+'To bed!' he answered. 'I don't like bed. I like to lie before the fire,
+watching the prospects in the burning coals--the rivers, hills, and
+dells, in the deep, red sunset, and the wild faces. I am hungry too,
+and Grip has eaten nothing since broad noon. Let us to supper. Grip! To
+supper, lad!'
+
+The raven flapped his wings, and, croaking his satisfaction, hopped to
+the feet of his master, and there held his bill open, ready for snapping
+up such lumps of meat as he should throw him. Of these he received about
+a score in rapid succession, without the smallest discomposure.
+
+'That's all,' said Barnaby.
+
+'More!' cried Grip. 'More!'
+
+But it appearing for a certainty that no more was to be had, he
+retreated with his store; and disgorging the morsels one by one from his
+pouch, hid them in various corners--taking particular care, however, to
+avoid the closet, as being doubtful of the hidden man's propensities and
+power of resisting temptation. When he had concluded these arrangements,
+he took a turn or two across the room with an elaborate assumption of
+having nothing on his mind (but with one eye hard upon his treasure all
+the time), and then, and not till then, began to drag it out, piece by
+piece, and eat it with the utmost relish.
+
+Barnaby, for his part, having pressed his mother to eat in vain, made a
+hearty supper too. Once during the progress of his meal, he wanted more
+bread from the closet and rose to get it. She hurriedly interposed to
+prevent him, and summoning her utmost fortitude, passed into the recess,
+and brought it out herself.
+
+'Mother,' said Barnaby, looking at her steadfastly as she sat down
+beside him after doing so; 'is to-day my birthday?'
+
+'To-day!' she answered. 'Don't you recollect it was but a week or so
+ago, and that summer, autumn, and winter have to pass before it comes
+again?'
+
+'I remember that it has been so till now,' said Barnaby. 'But I think
+to-day must be my birthday too, for all that.'
+
+She asked him why? 'I'll tell you why,' he said. 'I have always seen
+you--I didn't let you know it, but I have--on the evening of that day
+grow very sad. I have seen you cry when Grip and I were most glad; and
+look frightened with no reason; and I have touched your hand, and felt
+that it was cold--as it is now. Once, mother (on a birthday that was,
+also), Grip and I thought of this after we went upstairs to bed, and
+when it was midnight, striking one o'clock, we came down to your door to
+see if you were well. You were on your knees. I forget what it was you
+said. Grip, what was it we heard her say that night?'
+
+'I'm a devil!' rejoined the raven promptly.
+
+'No, no,' said Barnaby. 'But you said something in a prayer; and when
+you rose and walked about, you looked (as you have done ever since,
+mother, towards night on my birthday) just as you do now. I have found
+that out, you see, though I am silly. So I say you're wrong; and this
+must be my birthday--my birthday, Grip!'
+
+The bird received this information with a crow of such duration as a
+cock, gifted with intelligence beyond all others of his kind, might
+usher in the longest day with. Then, as if he had well considered the
+sentiment, and regarded it as apposite to birthdays, he cried, 'Never
+say die!' a great many times, and flapped his wings for emphasis.
+
+The widow tried to make light of Barnaby's remark, and endeavoured to
+divert his attention to some new subject; too easy a task at all times,
+as she knew. His supper done, Barnaby, regardless of her entreaties,
+stretched himself on the mat before the fire; Grip perched upon his
+leg, and divided his time between dozing in the grateful warmth, and
+endeavouring (as it presently appeared) to recall a new accomplishment
+he had been studying all day.
+
+A long and profound silence ensued, broken only by some change of
+position on the part of Barnaby, whose eyes were still wide open and
+intently fixed upon the fire; or by an effort of recollection on the
+part of Grip, who would cry in a low voice from time to time, 'Polly put
+the ket--' and there stop short, forgetting the remainder, and go off in
+a doze again.
+
+After a long interval, Barnaby's breathing grew more deep and regular,
+and his eyes were closed. But even then the unquiet spirit of the raven
+interposed. 'Polly put the ket--' cried Grip, and his master was broad
+awake again.
+
+At length Barnaby slept soundly, and the bird with his bill sunk
+upon his breast, his breast itself puffed out into a comfortable
+alderman-like form, and his bright eye growing smaller and smaller,
+really seemed to be subsiding into a state of repose. Now and then he
+muttered in a sepulchral voice, 'Polly put the ket--' but very drowsily,
+and more like a drunken man than a reflecting raven.
+
+The widow, scarcely venturing to breathe, rose from her seat. The man
+glided from the closet, and extinguished the candle.
+
+'--tle on,' cried Grip, suddenly struck with an idea and very much
+excited. '--tle on. Hurrah! Polly put the ket-tle on, we'll all have
+tea; Polly put the ket-tle on, we'll all have tea. Hurrah, hurrah,
+hurrah! I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a ket-tle on, Keep up your
+spirits, Never say die, Bow, wow, wow, I'm a devil, I'm a ket-tle, I'm
+a--Polly put the ket-tle on, we'll all have tea.'
+
+They stood rooted to the ground, as though it had been a voice from the
+grave.
+
+But even this failed to awaken the sleeper. He turned over towards the
+fire, his arm fell to the ground, and his head drooped heavily upon it.
+The widow and her unwelcome visitor gazed at him and at each other for a
+moment, and then she motioned him towards the door.
+
+'Stay,' he whispered. 'You teach your son well.'
+
+'I have taught him nothing that you heard to-night. Depart instantly, or
+I will rouse him.'
+
+'You are free to do so. Shall I rouse him?'
+
+'You dare not do that.'
+
+'I dare do anything, I have told you. He knows me well, it seems. At
+least I will know him.'
+
+'Would you kill him in his sleep?' cried the widow, throwing herself
+between them.
+
+'Woman,' he returned between his teeth, as he motioned her aside, 'I
+would see him nearer, and I will. If you want one of us to kill the
+other, wake him.'
+
+With that he advanced, and bending down over the prostrate form, softly
+turned back the head and looked into the face. The light of the fire
+was upon it, and its every lineament was revealed distinctly. He
+contemplated it for a brief space, and hastily uprose.
+
+'Observe,' he whispered in the widow's ear: 'In him, of whose existence
+I was ignorant until to-night, I have you in my power. Be careful how
+you use me. Be careful how you use me. I am destitute and starving, and
+a wanderer upon the earth. I may take a sure and slow revenge.'
+
+'There is some dreadful meaning in your words. I do not fathom it.'
+
+'There is a meaning in them, and I see you fathom it to its very depth.
+You have anticipated it for years; you have told me as much. I leave you
+to digest it. Do not forget my warning.'
+
+He pointed, as he left her, to the slumbering form, and stealthily
+withdrawing, made his way into the street. She fell on her knees beside
+the sleeper, and remained like one stricken into stone, until the tears
+which fear had frozen so long, came tenderly to her relief.
+
+'Oh Thou,' she cried, 'who hast taught me such deep love for this one
+remnant of the promise of a happy life, out of whose affliction, even,
+perhaps the comfort springs that he is ever a relying, loving child to
+me--never growing old or cold at heart, but needing my care and duty in
+his manly strength as in his cradle-time--help him, in his darkened walk
+through this sad world, or he is doomed, and my poor heart is broken!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 18
+
+
+Gliding along the silent streets, and holding his course where they were
+darkest and most gloomy, the man who had left the widow's house crossed
+London Bridge, and arriving in the City, plunged into the backways,
+lanes, and courts, between Cornhill and Smithfield; with no more
+fixedness of purpose than to lose himself among their windings, and
+baffle pursuit, if any one were dogging his steps.
+
+It was the dead time of the night, and all was quiet. Now and then a
+drowsy watchman's footsteps sounded on the pavement, or the lamplighter
+on his rounds went flashing past, leaving behind a little track of smoke
+mingled with glowing morsels of his hot red link. He hid himself even
+from these partakers of his lonely walk, and, shrinking in some arch or
+doorway while they passed, issued forth again when they were gone and so
+pursued his solitary way.
+
+To be shelterless and alone in the open country, hearing the wind moan
+and watching for day through the whole long weary night; to listen to
+the falling rain, and crouch for warmth beneath the lee of some old
+barn or rick, or in the hollow of a tree; are dismal things--but not
+so dismal as the wandering up and down where shelter is, and beds and
+sleepers are by thousands; a houseless rejected creature. To pace
+the echoing stones from hour to hour, counting the dull chimes of the
+clocks; to watch the lights twinkling in chamber windows, to think what
+happy forgetfulness each house shuts in; that here are children coiled
+together in their beds, here youth, here age, here poverty, here wealth,
+all equal in their sleep, and all at rest; to have nothing in common
+with the slumbering world around, not even sleep, Heaven's gift to
+all its creatures, and be akin to nothing but despair; to feel, by the
+wretched contrast with everything on every hand, more utterly alone and
+cast away than in a trackless desert; this is a kind of suffering, on
+which the rivers of great cities close full many a time, and which the
+solitude in crowds alone awakens.
+
+The miserable man paced up and down the streets--so long, so wearisome,
+so like each other--and often cast a wistful look towards the east,
+hoping to see the first faint streaks of day. But obdurate night had
+yet possession of the sky, and his disturbed and restless walk found no
+relief.
+
+One house in a back street was bright with the cheerful glare of lights;
+there was the sound of music in it too, and the tread of dancers,
+and there were cheerful voices, and many a burst of laughter. To this
+place--to be near something that was awake and glad--he returned again
+and again; and more than one of those who left it when the merriment
+was at its height, felt it a check upon their mirthful mood to see him
+flitting to and fro like an uneasy ghost. At last the guests departed,
+one and all; and then the house was close shut up, and became as dull
+and silent as the rest.
+
+His wanderings brought him at one time to the city jail. Instead of
+hastening from it as a place of ill omen, and one he had cause to shun,
+he sat down on some steps hard by, and resting his chin upon his hand,
+gazed upon its rough and frowning walls as though even they became a
+refuge in his jaded eyes. He paced it round and round, came back to the
+same spot, and sat down again. He did this often, and once, with a hasty
+movement, crossed to where some men were watching in the prison lodge,
+and had his foot upon the steps as though determined to accost them. But
+looking round, he saw that the day began to break, and failing in his
+purpose, turned and fled.
+
+He was soon in the quarter he had lately traversed, and pacing to and
+fro again as he had done before. He was passing down a mean street, when
+from an alley close at hand some shouts of revelry arose, and there came
+straggling forth a dozen madcaps, whooping and calling to each other,
+who, parting noisily, took different ways and dispersed in smaller
+groups.
+
+Hoping that some low place of entertainment which would afford him a
+safe refuge might be near at hand, he turned into this court when they
+were all gone, and looked about for a half-opened door, or lighted
+window, or other indication of the place whence they had come. It was
+so profoundly dark, however, and so ill-favoured, that he concluded they
+had but turned up there, missing their way, and were pouring out again
+when he observed them. With this impression, and finding there was no
+outlet but that by which he had entered, he was about to turn, when from
+a grating near his feet a sudden stream of light appeared, and the sound
+of talking came. He retreated into a doorway to see who these talkers
+were, and to listen to them.
+
+The light came to the level of the pavement as he did this, and a man
+ascended, bearing in his hand a torch. This figure unlocked and held
+open the grating as for the passage of another, who presently
+appeared, in the form of a young man of small stature and uncommon
+self-importance, dressed in an obsolete and very gaudy fashion.
+
+'Good night, noble captain,' said he with the torch. 'Farewell,
+commander. Good luck, illustrious general!'
+
+In return to these compliments the other bade him hold his tongue, and
+keep his noise to himself, and laid upon him many similar injunctions,
+with great fluency of speech and sternness of manner.
+
+'Commend me, captain, to the stricken Miggs,' returned the torch-bearer
+in a lower voice. 'My captain flies at higher game than Miggses. Ha, ha,
+ha! My captain is an eagle, both as respects his eye and soaring wings.
+My captain breaketh hearts as other bachelors break eggs at breakfast.'
+
+'What a fool you are, Stagg!' said Mr Tappertit, stepping on the
+pavement of the court, and brushing from his legs the dust he had
+contracted in his passage upward.
+
+'His precious limbs!' cried Stagg, clasping one of his ankles. 'Shall a
+Miggs aspire to these proportions! No, no, my captain. We will inveigle
+ladies fair, and wed them in our secret cavern. We will unite ourselves
+with blooming beauties, captain.'
+
+'I'll tell you what, my buck,' said Mr Tappertit, releasing his leg;
+'I'll trouble you not to take liberties, and not to broach certain
+questions unless certain questions are broached to you. Speak when
+you're spoke to on particular subjects, and not otherways. Hold
+the torch up till I've got to the end of the court, and then kennel
+yourself, do you hear?'
+
+'I hear you, noble captain.'
+
+'Obey then,' said Mr Tappertit haughtily. 'Gentlemen, lead on!' With
+which word of command (addressed to an imaginary staff or retinue) he
+folded his arms, and walked with surpassing dignity down the court.
+
+His obsequious follower stood holding the torch above his head, and then
+the observer saw for the first time, from his place of concealment, that
+he was blind. Some involuntary motion on his part caught the quick
+ear of the blind man, before he was conscious of having moved an inch
+towards him, for he turned suddenly and cried, 'Who's there?'
+
+'A man,' said the other, advancing. 'A friend.'
+
+'A stranger!' rejoined the blind man. 'Strangers are not my friends.
+What do you do there?'
+
+'I saw your company come out, and waited here till they were gone. I
+want a lodging.'
+
+'A lodging at this time!' returned Stagg, pointing towards the dawn as
+though he saw it. 'Do you know the day is breaking?'
+
+'I know it,' rejoined the other, 'to my cost. I have been traversing
+this iron-hearted town all night.'
+
+'You had better traverse it again,' said the blind man, preparing to
+descend, 'till you find some lodgings suitable to your taste. I don't
+let any.'
+
+'Stay!' cried the other, holding him by the arm.
+
+'I'll beat this light about that hangdog face of yours (for hangdog it
+is, if it answers to your voice), and rouse the neighbourhood besides,
+if you detain me,' said the blind man. 'Let me go. Do you hear?'
+
+'Do YOU hear!' returned the other, chinking a few shillings together,
+and hurriedly pressing them into his hand. 'I beg nothing of you. I will
+pay for the shelter you give me. Death! Is it much to ask of such as
+you! I have come from the country, and desire to rest where there are
+none to question me. I am faint, exhausted, worn out, almost dead. Let
+me lie down, like a dog, before your fire. I ask no more than that. If
+you would be rid of me, I will depart to-morrow.'
+
+'If a gentleman has been unfortunate on the road,' muttered Stagg,
+yielding to the other, who, pressing on him, had already gained a
+footing on the steps--'and can pay for his accommodation--'
+
+'I will pay you with all I have. I am just now past the want of food,
+God knows, and wish but to purchase shelter. What companion have you
+below?'
+
+'None.'
+
+'Then fasten your grate there, and show me the way. Quick!'
+
+The blind man complied after a moment's hesitation, and they descended
+together. The dialogue had passed as hurriedly as the words could be
+spoken, and they stood in his wretched room before he had had time to
+recover from his first surprise.
+
+'May I see where that door leads to, and what is beyond?' said the man,
+glancing keenly round. 'You will not mind that?'
+
+'I will show you myself. Follow me, or go before. Take your choice.'
+
+He bade him lead the way, and, by the light of the torch which his
+conductor held up for the purpose, inspected all three cellars narrowly.
+Assured that the blind man had spoken truth, and that he lived there
+alone, the visitor returned with him to the first, in which a fire was
+burning, and flung himself with a deep groan upon the ground before it.
+
+His host pursued his usual occupation without seeming to heed him any
+further. But directly he fell asleep--and he noted his falling into a
+slumber, as readily as the keenest-sighted man could have done--he knelt
+down beside him, and passed his hand lightly but carefully over his face
+and person.
+
+His sleep was checkered with starts and moans, and sometimes with a
+muttered word or two. His hands were clenched, his brow bent, and his
+mouth firmly set. All this, the blind man accurately marked; and as if
+his curiosity were strongly awakened, and he had already some inkling
+of his mystery, he sat watching him, if the expression may be used, and
+listening, until it was broad day.
+
+
+
+Chapter 19
+
+
+Dolly Varden's pretty little head was yet bewildered by various
+recollections of the party, and her bright eyes were yet dazzled by a
+crowd of images, dancing before them like motes in the sunbeams, among
+which the effigy of one partner in particular did especially figure, the
+same being a young coachmaker (a master in his own right) who had given
+her to understand, when he handed her into the chair at parting, that
+it was his fixed resolve to neglect his business from that time, and die
+slowly for the love of her--Dolly's head, and eyes, and thoughts, and
+seven senses, were all in a state of flutter and confusion for which the
+party was accountable, although it was now three days old, when, as
+she was sitting listlessly at breakfast, reading all manner of fortunes
+(that is to say, of married and flourishing fortunes) in the grounds of
+her teacup, a step was heard in the workshop, and Mr Edward Chester
+was descried through the glass door, standing among the rusty locks and
+keys, like love among the roses--for which apt comparison the historian
+may by no means take any credit to himself, the same being the
+invention, in a sentimental mood, of the chaste and modest Miggs, who,
+beholding him from the doorsteps she was then cleaning, did, in her
+maiden meditation, give utterance to the simile.
+
+The locksmith, who happened at the moment to have his eyes thrown upward
+and his head backward, in an intense communing with Toby, did not see
+his visitor, until Mrs Varden, more watchful than the rest, had desired
+Sim Tappertit to open the glass door and give him admission--from which
+untoward circumstance the good lady argued (for she could deduce a
+precious moral from the most trifling event) that to take a draught of
+small ale in the morning was to observe a pernicious, irreligious, and
+Pagan custom, the relish whereof should be left to swine, and Satan, or
+at least to Popish persons, and should be shunned by the righteous as
+a work of sin and evil. She would no doubt have pursued her admonition
+much further, and would have founded on it a long list of precious
+precepts of inestimable value, but that the young gentleman standing by
+in a somewhat uncomfortable and discomfited manner while she read
+her spouse this lecture, occasioned her to bring it to a premature
+conclusion.
+
+'I'm sure you'll excuse me, sir,' said Mrs Varden, rising and
+curtseying. 'Varden is so very thoughtless, and needs so much
+reminding--Sim, bring a chair here.'
+
+Mr Tappertit obeyed, with a flourish implying that he did so, under
+protest.
+
+'And you can go, Sim,' said the locksmith.
+
+Mr Tappertit obeyed again, still under protest; and betaking himself to
+the workshop, began seriously to fear that he might find it necessary to
+poison his master, before his time was out.
+
+In the meantime, Edward returned suitable replies to Mrs Varden's
+courtesies, and that lady brightened up very much; so that when he
+accepted a dish of tea from the fair hands of Dolly, she was perfectly
+agreeable.
+
+'I am sure if there's anything we can do,--Varden, or I, or Dolly
+either,--to serve you, sir, at any time, you have only to say it, and it
+shall be done,' said Mrs V.
+
+'I am much obliged to you, I am sure,' returned Edward. 'You encourage
+me to say that I have come here now, to beg your good offices.'
+
+Mrs Varden was delighted beyond measure.
+
+'It occurred to me that probably your fair daughter might be going to
+the Warren, either to-day or to-morrow,' said Edward, glancing at Dolly;
+'and if so, and you will allow her to take charge of this letter, ma'am,
+you will oblige me more than I can tell you. The truth is, that while
+I am very anxious it should reach its destination, I have particular
+reasons for not trusting it to any other conveyance; so that without
+your help, I am wholly at a loss.'
+
+'She was not going that way, sir, either to-day, or to-morrow, nor
+indeed all next week,' the lady graciously rejoined, 'but we shall be
+very glad to put ourselves out of the way on your account, and if you
+wish it, you may depend upon its going to-day. You might suppose,' said
+Mrs Varden, frowning at her husband, 'from Varden's sitting there so
+glum and silent, that he objected to this arrangement; but you must not
+mind that, sir, if you please. It's his way at home. Out of doors, he
+can be cheerful and talkative enough.'
+
+Now, the fact was, that the unfortunate locksmith, blessing his stars to
+find his helpmate in such good humour, had been sitting with a beaming
+face, hearing this discourse with a joy past all expression. Wherefore
+this sudden attack quite took him by surprise.
+
+'My dear Martha--' he said.
+
+'Oh yes, I dare say,' interrupted Mrs Varden, with a smile of mingled
+scorn and pleasantry. 'Very dear! We all know that.'
+
+'No, but my good soul,' said Gabriel, 'you are quite mistaken. You are
+indeed. I was delighted to find you so kind and ready. I waited, my
+dear, anxiously, I assure you, to hear what you would say.'
+
+'You waited anxiously,' repeated Mrs V. 'Yes! Thank you, Varden. You
+waited, as you always do, that I might bear the blame, if any came of
+it. But I am used to it,' said the lady with a kind of solemn titter,
+'and that's my comfort!'
+
+'I give you my word, Martha--' said Gabriel.
+
+'Let me give you MY word, my dear,' interposed his wife with a Christian
+smile, 'that such discussions as these between married people, are much
+better left alone. Therefore, if you please, Varden, we'll drop the
+subject. I have no wish to pursue it. I could. I might say a great deal.
+But I would rather not. Pray don't say any more.'
+
+'I don't want to say any more,' rejoined the goaded locksmith.
+
+'Well then, don't,' said Mrs Varden.
+
+'Nor did I begin it, Martha,' added the locksmith, good-humouredly, 'I
+must say that.'
+
+'You did not begin it, Varden!' exclaimed his wife, opening her eyes
+very wide and looking round upon the company, as though she would say,
+You hear this man! 'You did not begin it, Varden! But you shall not say
+I was out of temper. No, you did not begin it, oh dear no, not you, my
+dear!'
+
+'Well, well,' said the locksmith. 'That's settled then.'
+
+'Oh yes,' rejoined his wife, 'quite. If you like to say Dolly began it,
+my dear, I shall not contradict you. I know my duty. I need know it,
+I am sure. I am often obliged to bear it in mind, when my inclination
+perhaps would be for the moment to forget it. Thank you, Varden.' And
+so, with a mighty show of humility and forgiveness, she folded her
+hands, and looked round again, with a smile which plainly said, 'If you
+desire to see the first and foremost among female martyrs, here she is,
+on view!'
+
+This little incident, illustrative though it was of Mrs Varden's
+extraordinary sweetness and amiability, had so strong a tendency to
+check the conversation and to disconcert all parties but that excellent
+lady, that only a few monosyllables were uttered until Edward withdrew;
+which he presently did, thanking the lady of the house a great many
+times for her condescension, and whispering in Dolly's ear that he would
+call on the morrow, in case there should happen to be an answer to the
+note--which, indeed, she knew without his telling, as Barnaby and his
+friend Grip had dropped in on the previous night to prepare her for the
+visit which was then terminating.
+
+Gabriel, who had attended Edward to the door, came back with his hands
+in his pockets; and, after fidgeting about the room in a very uneasy
+manner, and casting a great many sidelong looks at Mrs Varden (who
+with the calmest countenance in the world was five fathoms deep in
+the Protestant Manual), inquired of Dolly how she meant to go. Dolly
+supposed by the stage-coach, and looked at her lady mother, who finding
+herself silently appealed to, dived down at least another fathom into
+the Manual, and became unconscious of all earthly things.
+
+'Martha--' said the locksmith.
+
+'I hear you, Varden,' said his wife, without rising to the surface.
+
+'I am sorry, my dear, you have such an objection to the Maypole and old
+John, for otherways as it's a very fine morning, and Saturday's not
+a busy day with us, we might have all three gone to Chigwell in the
+chaise, and had quite a happy day of it.'
+
+Mrs Varden immediately closed the Manual, and bursting into tears,
+requested to be led upstairs.
+
+'What is the matter now, Martha?' inquired the locksmith.
+
+To which Martha rejoined, 'Oh! don't speak to me,' and protested in
+agony that if anybody had told her so, she wouldn't have believed it.
+
+'But, Martha,' said Gabriel, putting himself in the way as she was
+moving off with the aid of Dolly's shoulder, 'wouldn't have believed
+what? Tell me what's wrong now. Do tell me. Upon my soul I don't know.
+Do YOU know, child? Damme!' cried the locksmith, plucking at his wig in
+a kind of frenzy, 'nobody does know, I verily believe, but Miggs!'
+
+'Miggs,' said Mrs Varden faintly, and with symptoms of approaching
+incoherence, 'is attached to me, and that is sufficient to draw down
+hatred upon her in this house. She is a comfort to me, whatever she may
+be to others.'
+
+'She's no comfort to me,' cried Gabriel, made bold by despair. 'She's
+the misery of my life. She's all the plagues of Egypt in one.'
+
+'She's considered so, I have no doubt,' said Mrs Varden. 'I was prepared
+for that; it's natural; it's of a piece with the rest. When you taunt
+me as you do to my face, how can I wonder that you taunt her behind her
+back!' And here the incoherence coming on very strong, Mrs Varden wept,
+and laughed, and sobbed, and shivered, and hiccoughed, and choked; and
+said she knew it was very foolish but she couldn't help it; and that
+when she was dead and gone, perhaps they would be sorry for it--which
+really under the circumstances did not appear quite so probable as she
+seemed to think--with a great deal more to the same effect. In a word,
+she passed with great decency through all the ceremonies incidental to
+such occasions; and being supported upstairs, was deposited in a highly
+spasmodic state on her own bed, where Miss Miggs shortly afterwards
+flung herself upon the body.
+
+The philosophy of all this was, that Mrs Varden wanted to go to
+Chigwell; that she did not want to make any concession or explanation;
+that she would only go on being implored and entreated so to do; and
+that she would accept no other terms. Accordingly, after a vast amount
+of moaning and crying upstairs, and much damping of foreheads, and
+vinegaring of temples, and hartshorning of noses, and so forth;
+and after most pathetic adjurations from Miggs, assisted by warm
+brandy-and-water not over-weak, and divers other cordials, also of
+a stimulating quality, administered at first in teaspoonfuls and
+afterwards in increasing doses, and of which Miss Miggs herself partook
+as a preventive measure (for fainting is infectious); after all these
+remedies, and many more too numerous to mention, but not to take,
+had been applied; and many verbal consolations, moral, religious, and
+miscellaneous, had been super-added thereto; the locksmith humbled
+himself, and the end was gained.
+
+'If it's only for the sake of peace and quietness, father,' said Dolly,
+urging him to go upstairs.
+
+'Oh, Doll, Doll,' said her good-natured father. 'If you ever have a
+husband of your own--'
+
+Dolly glanced at the glass.
+
+'--Well, WHEN you have,' said the locksmith, 'never faint, my darling.
+More domestic unhappiness has come of easy fainting, Doll, than from all
+the greater passions put together. Remember that, my dear, if you would
+be really happy, which you never can be, if your husband isn't. And a
+word in your ear, my precious. Never have a Miggs about you!'
+
+With this advice he kissed his blooming daughter on the cheek, and
+slowly repaired to Mrs Varden's room; where that lady, lying all pale
+and languid on her couch, was refreshing herself with a sight of her
+last new bonnet, which Miggs, as a means of calming her scattered
+spirits, displayed to the best advantage at her bedside.
+
+'Here's master, mim,' said Miggs. 'Oh, what a happiness it is when man
+and wife come round again! Oh gracious, to think that him and her should
+ever have a word together!' In the energy of these sentiments, which
+were uttered as an apostrophe to the Heavens in general, Miss Miggs
+perched the bonnet on the top of her own head, and folding her hands,
+turned on her tears.
+
+'I can't help it,' cried Miggs. 'I couldn't, if I was to be drownded in
+'em. She has such a forgiving spirit! She'll forget all that has passed,
+and go along with you, sir--Oh, if it was to the world's end, she'd go
+along with you.'
+
+Mrs Varden with a faint smile gently reproved her attendant for this
+enthusiasm, and reminded her at the same time that she was far too
+unwell to venture out that day.
+
+'Oh no, you're not, mim, indeed you're not,' said Miggs; 'I repeal to
+master; master knows you're not, mim. The hair, and motion of the shay,
+will do you good, mim, and you must not give way, you must not raly. She
+must keep up, mustn't she, sir, for all our sakes? I was a telling
+her that, just now. She must remember us, even if she forgets herself.
+Master will persuade you, mim, I'm sure. There's Miss Dolly's a-going
+you know, and master, and you, and all so happy and so comfortable. Oh!'
+cried Miggs, turning on the tears again, previous to quitting the room
+in great emotion, 'I never see such a blessed one as she is for the
+forgiveness of her spirit, I never, never, never did. Not more did
+master neither; no, nor no one--never!'
+
+For five minutes or thereabouts, Mrs Varden remained mildly opposed to
+all her husband's prayers that she would oblige him by taking a day's
+pleasure, but relenting at length, she suffered herself to be persuaded,
+and granting him her free forgiveness (the merit whereof, she meekly
+said, rested with the Manual and not with her), desired that Miggs might
+come and help her dress. The handmaid attended promptly, and it is but
+justice to their joint exertions to record that, when the good lady came
+downstairs in course of time, completely decked out for the journey, she
+really looked as if nothing had happened, and appeared in the very best
+health imaginable.
+
+As to Dolly, there she was again, the very pink and pattern of good
+looks, in a smart little cherry-coloured mantle, with a hood of the same
+drawn over her head, and upon the top of that hood, a little straw hat
+trimmed with cherry-coloured ribbons, and worn the merest trifle on one
+side--just enough in short to make it the wickedest and most provoking
+head-dress that ever malicious milliner devised. And not to speak of the
+manner in which these cherry-coloured decorations brightened her eyes,
+or vied with her lips, or shed a new bloom on her face, she wore such
+a cruel little muff, and such a heart-rending pair of shoes, and was so
+surrounded and hemmed in, as it were, by aggravations of all kinds, that
+when Mr Tappettit, holding the horse's head, saw her come out of the
+house alone, such impulses came over him to decoy her into the chaise
+and drive off like mad, that he would unquestionably have done it, but
+for certain uneasy doubts besetting him as to the shortest way to
+Gretna Green; whether it was up the street or down, or up the right-hand
+turning or the left; and whether, supposing all the turnpikes to be
+carried by storm, the blacksmith in the end would marry them on credit;
+which by reason of his clerical office appeared, even to his excited
+imagination, so unlikely, that he hesitated. And while he stood
+hesitating, and looking post-chaises-and-six at Dolly, out came his
+master and his mistress, and the constant Miggs, and the opportunity
+was gone for ever. For now the chaise creaked upon its springs, and Mrs
+Varden was inside; and now it creaked again, and more than ever, and
+the locksmith was inside; and now it bounded once, as if its heart beat
+lightly, and Dolly was inside; and now it was gone and its place
+was empty, and he and that dreary Miggs were standing in the street
+together.
+
+The hearty locksmith was in as good a humour as if nothing had occurred
+for the last twelve months to put him out of his way, Dolly was all
+smiles and graces, and Mrs Varden was agreeable beyond all precedent. As
+they jogged through the streets talking of this thing and of that, who
+should be descried upon the pavement but that very coachmaker, looking
+so genteel that nobody would have believed he had ever had anything to
+do with a coach but riding in it, and bowing like any nobleman. To
+be sure Dolly was confused when she bowed again, and to be sure the
+cherry-coloured ribbons trembled a little when she met his mournful eye,
+which seemed to say, 'I have kept my word, I have begun, the business is
+going to the devil, and you're the cause of it.' There he stood, rooted
+to the ground: as Dolly said, like a statue; and as Mrs Varden said,
+like a pump; till they turned the corner: and when her father thought
+it was like his impudence, and her mother wondered what he meant by it,
+Dolly blushed again till her very hood was pale.
+
+But on they went, not the less merrily for this, and there was the
+locksmith in the incautious fulness of his heart 'pulling-up' at all
+manner of places, and evincing a most intimate acquaintance with all the
+taverns on the road, and all the landlords and all the landladies, with
+whom, indeed, the little horse was on equally friendly terms, for he
+kept on stopping of his own accord. Never were people so glad to see
+other people as these landlords and landladies were to behold Mr Varden
+and Mrs Varden and Miss Varden; and wouldn't they get out, said one; and
+they really must walk upstairs, said another; and she would take it
+ill and be quite certain they were proud if they wouldn't have a little
+taste of something, said a third; and so on, that it was really quite a
+Progress rather than a ride, and one continued scene of hospitality from
+beginning to end. It was pleasant enough to be held in such esteem, not
+to mention the refreshments; so Mrs Varden said nothing at the time,
+and was all affability and delight--but such a body of evidence as
+she collected against the unfortunate locksmith that day, to be used
+thereafter as occasion might require, never was got together for
+matrimonial purposes.
+
+In course of time--and in course of a pretty long time too, for these
+agreeable interruptions delayed them not a little,--they arrived upon
+the skirts of the Forest, and riding pleasantly on among the trees, came
+at last to the Maypole, where the locksmith's cheerful 'Yoho!' speedily
+brought to the porch old John, and after him young Joe, both of whom
+were so transfixed at sight of the ladies, that for a moment they were
+perfectly unable to give them any welcome, and could do nothing but
+stare.
+
+It was only for a moment, however, that Joe forgot himself, for speedily
+reviving he thrust his drowsy father aside--to Mr Willet's mighty and
+inexpressible indignation--and darting out, stood ready to help them to
+alight. It was necessary for Dolly to get out first. Joe had her in his
+arms;--yes, though for a space of time no longer than you could count
+one in, Joe had her in his arms. Here was a glimpse of happiness!
+
+It would be difficult to describe what a flat and commonplace affair the
+helping Mrs Varden out afterwards was, but Joe did it, and did it too
+with the best grace in the world. Then old John, who, entertaining a
+dull and foggy sort of idea that Mrs Varden wasn't fond of him, had been
+in some doubt whether she might not have come for purposes of assault
+and battery, took courage, hoped she was well, and offered to conduct
+her into the house. This tender being amicably received, they marched
+in together; Joe and Dolly followed, arm-in-arm, (happiness again!) and
+Varden brought up the rear.
+
+Old John would have it that they must sit in the bar, and nobody
+objecting, into the bar they went. All bars are snug places, but the
+Maypole's was the very snuggest, cosiest, and completest bar, that ever
+the wit of man devised. Such amazing bottles in old oaken pigeon-holes;
+such gleaming tankards dangling from pegs at about the same inclination
+as thirsty men would hold them to their lips; such sturdy little Dutch
+kegs ranged in rows on shelves; so many lemons hanging in separate nets,
+and forming the fragrant grove already mentioned in this chronicle,
+suggestive, with goodly loaves of snowy sugar stowed away hard by,
+of punch, idealised beyond all mortal knowledge; such closets, such
+presses, such drawers full of pipes, such places for putting things
+away in hollow window-seats, all crammed to the throat with eatables,
+drinkables, or savoury condiments; lastly, and to crown all, as typical
+of the immense resources of the establishment, and its defiances to all
+visitors to cut and come again, such a stupendous cheese!
+
+It is a poor heart that never rejoices--it must have been the poorest,
+weakest, and most watery heart that ever beat, which would not have
+warmed towards the Maypole bar. Mrs Varden's did directly. She could no
+more have reproached John Willet among those household gods, the kegs
+and bottles, lemons, pipes, and cheese, than she could have stabbed him
+with his own bright carving-knife. The order for dinner too--it might
+have soothed a savage. 'A bit of fish,' said John to the cook, 'and some
+lamb chops (breaded, with plenty of ketchup), and a good salad, and a
+roast spring chicken, with a dish of sausages and mashed potatoes, or
+something of that sort.' Something of that sort! The resources of
+these inns! To talk carelessly about dishes, which in themselves were
+a first-rate holiday kind of dinner, suitable to one's wedding-day, as
+something of that sort: meaning, if you can't get a spring chicken, any
+other trifle in the way of poultry will do--such as a peacock, perhaps!
+The kitchen too, with its great broad cavernous chimney; the kitchen,
+where nothing in the way of cookery seemed impossible; where you could
+believe in anything to eat, they chose to tell you of. Mrs Varden
+returned from the contemplation of these wonders to the bar again, with
+a head quite dizzy and bewildered. Her housekeeping capacity was not
+large enough to comprehend them. She was obliged to go to sleep. Waking
+was pain, in the midst of such immensity.
+
+Dolly in the meanwhile, whose gay heart and head ran upon other matters,
+passed out at the garden door, and glancing back now and then (but of
+course not wondering whether Joe saw her), tripped away by a path across
+the fields with which she was well acquainted, to discharge her mission
+at the Warren; and this deponent hath been informed and verily
+believes, that you might have seen many less pleasant objects than the
+cherry-coloured mantle and ribbons, as they went fluttering along the
+green meadows in the bright light of the day, like giddy things as they
+were.
+
+
+
+Chapter 20
+
+
+The proud consciousness of her trust, and the great importance she
+derived from it, might have advertised it to all the house if she had
+had to run the gauntlet of its inhabitants; but as Dolly had played in
+every dull room and passage many and many a time, when a child, and had
+ever since been the humble friend of Miss Haredale, whose foster-sister
+she was, she was as free of the building as the young lady herself.
+So, using no greater precaution than holding her breath and walking on
+tiptoe as she passed the library door, she went straight to Emma's room
+as a privileged visitor.
+
+It was the liveliest room in the building. The chamber was sombre like
+the rest for the matter of that, but the presence of youth and beauty
+would make a prison cheerful (saving alas! that confinement withers
+them), and lend some charms of their own to the gloomiest scene. Birds,
+flowers, books, drawing, music, and a hundred such graceful tokens of
+feminine loves and cares, filled it with more of life and human sympathy
+than the whole house besides seemed made to hold. There was heart in
+the room; and who that has a heart, ever fails to recognise the silent
+presence of another!
+
+Dolly had one undoubtedly, and it was not a tough one either, though
+there was a little mist of coquettishness about it, such as sometimes
+surrounds that sun of life in its morning, and slightly dims its lustre.
+Thus, when Emma rose to greet her, and kissing her affectionately on the
+cheek, told her, in her quiet way, that she had been very unhappy, the
+tears stood in Dolly's eyes, and she felt more sorry than she could
+tell; but next moment she happened to raise them to the glass, and
+really there was something there so exceedingly agreeable, that as she
+sighed, she smiled, and felt surprisingly consoled.
+
+'I have heard about it, miss,' said Dolly, 'and it's very sad indeed,
+but when things are at the worst they are sure to mend.'
+
+'But are you sure they are at the worst?' asked Emma with a smile.
+
+'Why, I don't see how they can very well be more unpromising than they
+are; I really don't,' said Dolly. 'And I bring something to begin with.'
+
+'Not from Edward?'
+
+Dolly nodded and smiled, and feeling in her pockets (there were pockets
+in those days) with an affectation of not being able to find what she
+wanted, which greatly enhanced her importance, at length produced
+the letter. As Emma hastily broke the seal and became absorbed in its
+contents, Dolly's eyes, by one of those strange accidents for which
+there is no accounting, wandered to the glass again. She could not help
+wondering whether the coach-maker suffered very much, and quite pitied
+the poor man.
+
+It was a long letter--a very long letter, written close on all four
+sides of the sheet of paper, and crossed afterwards; but it was not a
+consolatory letter, for as Emma read it she stopped from time to time to
+put her handkerchief to her eyes. To be sure Dolly marvelled greatly to
+see her in so much distress, for to her thinking a love affair ought
+to be one of the best jokes, and the slyest, merriest kind of thing in
+life. But she set it down in her own mind that all this came from Miss
+Haredale's being so constant, and that if she would only take on with
+some other young gentleman--just in the most innocent way possible,
+to keep her first lover up to the mark--she would find herself
+inexpressibly comforted.
+
+'I am sure that's what I should do if it was me,' thought Dolly. 'To
+make one's sweetheart miserable is well enough and quite right, but to
+be made miserable one's self is a little too much!'
+
+However it wouldn't do to say so, and therefore she sat looking on in
+silence. She needed a pretty considerable stretch of patience, for when
+the long letter had been read once all through it was read again, and
+when it had been read twice all through it was read again. During this
+tedious process, Dolly beguiled the time in the most improving manner
+that occurred to her, by curling her hair on her fingers, with the
+aid of the looking-glass before mentioned, and giving it some killing
+twists.
+
+Everything has an end. Even young ladies in love cannot read their
+letters for ever. In course of time the packet was folded up, and it
+only remained to write the answer.
+
+But as this promised to be a work of time likewise, Emma said she would
+put it off until after dinner, and that Dolly must dine with her. As
+Dolly had made up her mind to do so beforehand, she required very little
+pressing; and when they had settled this point, they went to walk in the
+garden.
+
+They strolled up and down the terrace walks, talking incessantly--at
+least, Dolly never left off once--and making that quarter of the sad and
+mournful house quite gay. Not that they talked loudly or laughed much,
+but they were both so very handsome, and it was such a breezy day, and
+their light dresses and dark curls appeared so free and joyous in
+their abandonment, and Emma was so fair, and Dolly so rosy, and Emma
+so delicately shaped, and Dolly so plump, and--in short, there are no
+flowers for any garden like such flowers, let horticulturists say what
+they may, and both house and garden seemed to know it, and to brighten
+up sensibly.
+
+After this, came the dinner and the letter writing, and some more
+talking, in the course of which Miss Haredale took occasion to
+charge upon Dolly certain flirtish and inconstant propensities, which
+accusations Dolly seemed to think very complimentary indeed, and to be
+mightily amused with. Finding her quite incorrigible in this respect,
+Emma suffered her to depart; but not before she had confided to her that
+important and never-sufficiently-to-be-taken-care-of answer, and endowed
+her moreover with a pretty little bracelet as a keepsake. Having clasped
+it on her arm, and again advised her half in jest and half in earnest to
+amend her roguish ways, for she knew she was fond of Joe at heart (which
+Dolly stoutly denied, with a great many haughty protestations that she
+hoped she could do better than that indeed! and so forth), she bade
+her farewell; and after calling her back to give her more supplementary
+messages for Edward, than anybody with tenfold the gravity of Dolly
+Varden could be reasonably expected to remember, at length dismissed
+her.
+
+Dolly bade her good bye, and tripping lightly down the stairs arrived at
+the dreaded library door, and was about to pass it again on tiptoe, when
+it opened, and behold! there stood Mr Haredale. Now, Dolly had from her
+childhood associated with this gentleman the idea of something grim and
+ghostly, and being at the moment conscience-stricken besides, the sight
+of him threw her into such a flurry that she could neither acknowledge
+his presence nor run away, so she gave a great start, and then with
+downcast eyes stood still and trembled.
+
+'Come here, girl,' said Mr Haredale, taking her by the hand. 'I want to
+speak to you.'
+
+'If you please, sir, I'm in a hurry,' faltered Dolly, 'and--you have
+frightened me by coming so suddenly upon me, sir--I would rather go,
+sir, if you'll be so good as to let me.'
+
+'Immediately,' said Mr Haredale, who had by this time led her into the
+room and closed the door. 'You shall go directly. You have just left
+Emma?'
+
+'Yes, sir, just this minute.--Father's waiting for me, sir, if you'll
+please to have the goodness--'
+
+'I know. I know,' said Mr Haredale. 'Answer me a question. What did you
+bring here to-day?'
+
+'Bring here, sir?' faltered Dolly.
+
+'You will tell me the truth, I am sure. Yes.'
+
+Dolly hesitated for a little while, and somewhat emboldened by his
+manner, said at last, 'Well then, sir. It was a letter.'
+
+'From Mr Edward Chester, of course. And you are the bearer of the
+answer?'
+
+Dolly hesitated again, and not being able to decide upon any other
+course of action, burst into tears.
+
+'You alarm yourself without cause,' said Mr Haredale. 'Why are you so
+foolish? Surely you can answer me. You know that I have but to put the
+question to Emma and learn the truth directly. Have you the answer with
+you?'
+
+Dolly had what is popularly called a spirit of her own, and being now
+fairly at bay, made the best of it.
+
+'Yes, sir,' she rejoined, trembling and frightened as she was. 'Yes,
+sir, I have. You may kill me if you please, sir, but I won't give it up.
+I'm very sorry,--but I won't. There, sir.'
+
+'I commend your firmness and your plain-speaking,' said Mr Haredale.
+'Rest assured that I have as little desire to take your letter as your
+life. You are a very discreet messenger and a good girl.'
+
+Not feeling quite certain, as she afterwards said, whether he might not
+be 'coming over her' with these compliments, Dolly kept as far from him
+as she could, cried again, and resolved to defend her pocket (for the
+letter was there) to the last extremity.
+
+'I have some design,' said Mr Haredale after a short silence, during
+which a smile, as he regarded her, had struggled through the gloom and
+melancholy that was natural to his face, 'of providing a companion for
+my niece; for her life is a very lonely one. Would you like the office?
+You are the oldest friend she has, and the best entitled to it.'
+
+'I don't know, sir,' answered Dolly, not sure but he was bantering her;
+'I can't say. I don't know what they might wish at home. I couldn't give
+an opinion, sir.'
+
+'If your friends had no objection, would you have any?' said Mr
+Haredale. 'Come. There's a plain question; and easy to answer.'
+
+'None at all that I know of sir,' replied Dolly. 'I should be very glad
+to be near Miss Emma of course, and always am.'
+
+'That's well,' said Mr Haredale. 'That is all I had to say. You are
+anxious to go. Don't let me detain you.'
+
+Dolly didn't let him, nor did she wait for him to try, for the words
+had no sooner passed his lips than she was out of the room, out of the
+house, and in the fields again.
+
+The first thing to be done, of course, when she came to herself and
+considered what a flurry she had been in, was to cry afresh; and the
+next thing, when she reflected how well she had got over it, was to
+laugh heartily. The tears once banished gave place to the smiles, and at
+last Dolly laughed so much that she was fain to lean against a tree,
+and give vent to her exultation. When she could laugh no longer, and was
+quite tired, she put her head-dress to rights, dried her eyes, looked
+back very merrily and triumphantly at the Warren chimneys, which were
+just visible, and resumed her walk.
+
+The twilight had come on, and it was quickly growing dusk, but the path
+was so familiar to her from frequent traversing that she hardly thought
+of this, and certainly felt no uneasiness at being left alone. Moreover,
+there was the bracelet to admire; and when she had given it a good
+rub, and held it out at arm's length, it sparkled and glittered so
+beautifully on her wrist, that to look at it in every point of view and
+with every possible turn of the arm, was quite an absorbing business.
+There was the letter too, and it looked so mysterious and knowing, when
+she took it out of her pocket, and it held, as she knew, so much inside,
+that to turn it over and over, and think about it, and wonder how it
+began, and how it ended, and what it said all through, was another
+matter of constant occupation. Between the bracelet and the letter,
+there was quite enough to do without thinking of anything else; and
+admiring each by turns, Dolly went on gaily.
+
+As she passed through a wicket-gate to where the path was narrow, and
+lay between two hedges garnished here and there with trees, she heard
+a rustling close at hand, which brought her to a sudden stop. She
+listened. All was very quiet, and she went on again--not absolutely
+frightened, but a little quicker than before perhaps, and possibly not
+quite so much at her ease, for a check of that kind is startling.
+
+She had no sooner moved on again, than she was conscious of the same
+sound, which was like that of a person tramping stealthily among bushes
+and brushwood. Looking towards the spot whence it appeared to come, she
+almost fancied she could make out a crouching figure. She stopped
+again. All was quiet as before. On she went once more--decidedly faster
+now--and tried to sing softly to herself. It must be the wind.
+
+But how came the wind to blow only when she walked, and cease when she
+stood still? She stopped involuntarily as she made the reflection, and
+the rustling noise stopped likewise. She was really frightened now, and
+was yet hesitating what to do, when the bushes crackled and snapped, and
+a man came plunging through them, close before her.
+
+
+
+Chapter 21
+
+
+It was for the moment an inexpressible relief to Dolly, to recognise in
+the person who forced himself into the path so abruptly, and now stood
+directly in her way, Hugh of the Maypole, whose name she uttered in a
+tone of delighted surprise that came from her heart.
+
+'Was it you?' she said, 'how glad I am to see you! and how could you
+terrify me so!'
+
+In answer to which, he said nothing at all, but stood quite still,
+looking at her.
+
+'Did you come to meet me?' asked Dolly.
+
+Hugh nodded, and muttered something to the effect that he had been
+waiting for her, and had expected her sooner.
+
+'I thought it likely they would send,' said Dolly, greatly reassured by
+this.
+
+'Nobody sent me,' was his sullen answer. 'I came of my own accord.'
+
+The rough bearing of this fellow, and his wild, uncouth appearance, had
+often filled the girl with a vague apprehension even when other people
+were by, and had occasioned her to shrink from him involuntarily. The
+having him for an unbidden companion in so solitary a place, with the
+darkness fast gathering about them, renewed and even increased the alarm
+she had felt at first.
+
+If his manner had been merely dogged and passively fierce, as usual,
+she would have had no greater dislike to his company than she always
+felt--perhaps, indeed, would have been rather glad to have had him at
+hand. But there was something of coarse bold admiration in his look,
+which terrified her very much. She glanced timidly towards him,
+uncertain whether to go forward or retreat, and he stood gazing at her
+like a handsome satyr; and so they remained for some short time without
+stirring or breaking silence. At length Dolly took courage, shot past
+him, and hurried on.
+
+'Why do you spend so much breath in avoiding me?' said Hugh,
+accommodating his pace to hers, and keeping close at her side.
+
+'I wish to get back as quickly as I can, and you walk too near me,
+answered Dolly.'
+
+'Too near!' said Hugh, stooping over her so that she could feel his
+breath upon her forehead. 'Why too near? You're always proud to ME,
+mistress.'
+
+'I am proud to no one. You mistake me,' answered Dolly. 'Fall back, if
+you please, or go on.'
+
+'Nay, mistress,' he rejoined, endeavouring to draw her arm through his,
+'I'll walk with you.'
+
+She released herself and clenching her little hand, struck him with
+right good will. At this, Maypole Hugh burst into a roar of laughter,
+and passing his arm about her waist, held her in his strong grasp as
+easily as if she had been a bird.
+
+'Ha ha ha! Well done, mistress! Strike again. You shall beat my face,
+and tear my hair, and pluck my beard up by the roots, and welcome, for
+the sake of your bright eyes. Strike again, mistress. Do. Ha ha ha! I
+like it.'
+
+'Let me go,' she cried, endeavouring with both her hands to push him
+off. 'Let me go this moment.'
+
+'You had as good be kinder to me, Sweetlips,' said Hugh. 'You had,
+indeed. Come. Tell me now. Why are you always so proud? I don't quarrel
+with you for it. I love you when you're proud. Ha ha ha! You can't hide
+your beauty from a poor fellow; that's a comfort!'
+
+She gave him no answer, but as he had not yet checked her progress,
+continued to press forward as rapidly as she could. At length, between
+the hurry she had made, her terror, and the tightness of his embrace,
+her strength failed her, and she could go no further.
+
+'Hugh,' cried the panting girl, 'good Hugh; if you will leave me I will
+give you anything--everything I have--and never tell one word of this to
+any living creature.'
+
+'You had best not,' he answered. 'Harkye, little dove, you had best not.
+All about here know me, and what I dare do if I have a mind. If ever you
+are going to tell, stop when the words are on your lips, and think of
+the mischief you'll bring, if you do, upon some innocent heads that you
+wouldn't wish to hurt a hair of. Bring trouble on me, and I'll bring
+trouble and something more on them in return. I care no more for them
+than for so many dogs; not so much--why should I? I'd sooner kill a man
+than a dog any day. I've never been sorry for a man's death in all my
+life, and I have for a dog's.'
+
+There was something so thoroughly savage in the manner of these
+expressions, and the looks and gestures by which they were accompanied,
+that her great fear of him gave her new strength, and enabled her by a
+sudden effort to extricate herself and run fleetly from him. But Hugh
+was as nimble, strong, and swift of foot, as any man in broad England,
+and it was but a fruitless expenditure of energy, for he had her in his
+encircling arms again before she had gone a hundred yards.
+
+'Softly, darling--gently--would you fly from rough Hugh, that loves you
+as well as any drawing-room gallant?'
+
+'I would,' she answered, struggling to free herself again. 'I will.
+Help!'
+
+'A fine for crying out,' said Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! A fine, pretty one, from
+your lips. I pay myself! Ha ha ha!'
+
+'Help! help! help!' As she shrieked with the utmost violence she could
+exert, a shout was heard in answer, and another, and another.
+
+'Thank Heaven!' cried the girl in an ecstasy. 'Joe, dear Joe, this way.
+Help!'
+
+Her assailant paused, and stood irresolute for a moment, but the shouts
+drawing nearer and coming quick upon them, forced him to a speedy
+decision. He released her, whispered with a menacing look, 'Tell HIM:
+and see what follows!' and leaping the hedge, was gone in an instant.
+Dolly darted off, and fairly ran into Joe Willet's open arms.
+
+'What is the matter? are you hurt? what was it? who was it? where is
+he? what was he like?' with a great many encouraging expressions and
+assurances of safety, were the first words Joe poured forth. But poor
+little Dolly was so breathless and terrified that for some time she
+was quite unable to answer him, and hung upon his shoulder, sobbing and
+crying as if her heart would break.
+
+Joe had not the smallest objection to have her hanging on his shoulder;
+no, not the least, though it crushed the cherry-coloured ribbons sadly,
+and put the smart little hat out of all shape. But he couldn't bear to
+see her cry; it went to his very heart. He tried to console her, bent
+over her, whispered to her--some say kissed her, but that's a fable. At
+any rate he said all the kind and tender things he could think of and
+Dolly let him go on and didn't interrupt him once, and it was a good ten
+minutes before she was able to raise her head and thank him.
+
+'What was it that frightened you?' said Joe.
+
+A man whose person was unknown to her had followed her, she answered; he
+began by begging, and went on to threats of robbery, which he was on the
+point of carrying into execution, and would have executed, but for Joe's
+timely aid. The hesitation and confusion with which she said this, Joe
+attributed to the fright she had sustained, and no suspicion of the
+truth occurred to him for a moment.
+
+'Stop when the words are on your lips.' A hundred times that night, and
+very often afterwards, when the disclosure was rising to her tongue,
+Dolly thought of that, and repressed it. A deeply rooted dread of the
+man; the conviction that his ferocious nature, once roused, would stop
+at nothing; and the strong assurance that if she impeached him, the
+full measure of his wrath and vengeance would be wreaked on Joe, who
+had preserved her; these were considerations she had not the courage to
+overcome, and inducements to secrecy too powerful for her to surmount.
+
+Joe, for his part, was a great deal too happy to inquire very curiously
+into the matter; and Dolly being yet too tremulous to walk without
+assistance, they went forward very slowly, and in his mind very
+pleasantly, until the Maypole lights were near at hand, twinkling their
+cheerful welcome, when Dolly stopped suddenly and with a half scream
+exclaimed,
+
+'The letter!'
+
+'What letter?' cried Joe.
+
+'That I was carrying--I had it in my hand. My bracelet too,' she said,
+clasping her wrist. 'I have lost them both.'
+
+'Do you mean just now?' said Joe.
+
+'Either I dropped them then, or they were taken from me,' answered
+Dolly, vainly searching her pocket and rustling her dress. 'They are
+gone, both gone. What an unhappy girl I am!' With these words poor
+Dolly, who to do her justice was quite as sorry for the loss of the
+letter as for her bracelet, fell a-crying again, and bemoaned her fate
+most movingly.
+
+Joe tried to comfort her with the assurance that directly he had housed
+her in the Maypole, he would return to the spot with a lantern (for it
+was now quite dark) and make strict search for the missing articles,
+which there was great probability of his finding, as it was not likely
+that anybody had passed that way since, and she was not conscious that
+they had been forcibly taken from her. Dolly thanked him very heartily
+for this offer, though with no great hope of his quest being successful;
+and so with many lamentations on her side, and many hopeful words on
+his, and much weakness on the part of Dolly and much tender supporting
+on the part of Joe, they reached the Maypole bar at last, where the
+locksmith and his wife and old John were yet keeping high festival.
+
+Mr Willet received the intelligence of Dolly's trouble with that
+surprising presence of mind and readiness of speech for which he was so
+eminently distinguished above all other men. Mrs Varden expressed her
+sympathy for her daughter's distress by scolding her roundly for being
+so late; and the honest locksmith divided himself between condoling with
+and kissing Dolly, and shaking hands heartily with Joe, whom he could
+not sufficiently praise or thank.
+
+In reference to this latter point, old John was far from agreeing with
+his friend; for besides that he by no means approved of an adventurous
+spirit in the abstract, it occurred to him that if his son and heir had
+been seriously damaged in a scuffle, the consequences would assuredly
+have been expensive and inconvenient, and might perhaps have proved
+detrimental to the Maypole business. Wherefore, and because he looked
+with no favourable eye upon young girls, but rather considered that they
+and the whole female sex were a kind of nonsensical mistake on the part
+of Nature, he took occasion to retire and shake his head in private at
+the boiler; inspired by which silent oracle, he was moved to give Joe
+various stealthy nudges with his elbow, as a parental reproof and gentle
+admonition to mind his own business and not make a fool of himself.
+
+Joe, however, took down the lantern and lighted it; and arming himself
+with a stout stick, asked whether Hugh was in the stable.
+
+'He's lying asleep before the kitchen fire, sir,' said Mr Willet. 'What
+do you want him for?'
+
+'I want him to come with me to look after this bracelet and letter,'
+answered Joe. 'Halloa there! Hugh!'
+
+Dolly turned pale as death, and felt as if she must faint forthwith.
+After a few moments, Hugh came staggering in, stretching himself and
+yawning according to custom, and presenting every appearance of having
+been roused from a sound nap.
+
+'Here, sleepy-head,' said Joe, giving him the lantern. 'Carry this, and
+bring the dog, and that small cudgel of yours. And woe betide the fellow
+if we come upon him.'
+
+'What fellow?' growled Hugh, rubbing his eyes and shaking himself.
+
+'What fellow?' returned Joe, who was in a state of great valour and
+bustle; 'a fellow you ought to know of and be more alive about. It's
+well for the like of you, lazy giant that you are, to be snoring your
+time away in chimney-corners, when honest men's daughters can't cross
+even our quiet meadows at nightfall without being set upon by footpads,
+and frightened out of their precious lives.'
+
+'They never rob me,' cried Hugh with a laugh. 'I have got nothing to
+lose. But I'd as lief knock them at head as any other men. How many are
+there?'
+
+'Only one,' said Dolly faintly, for everybody looked at her.
+
+'And what was he like, mistress?' said Hugh with a glance at young
+Willet, so slight and momentary that the scowl it conveyed was lost on
+all but her. 'About my height?'
+
+'Not--not so tall,' Dolly replied, scarce knowing what she said.
+
+'His dress,' said Hugh, looking at her keenly, 'like--like any of ours
+now? I know all the people hereabouts, and maybe could give a guess at
+the man, if I had anything to guide me.'
+
+Dolly faltered and turned paler yet; then answered that he was wrapped
+in a loose coat and had his face hidden by a handkerchief and that she
+could give no other description of him.
+
+'You wouldn't know him if you saw him then, belike?' said Hugh with a
+malicious grin.
+
+'I should not,' answered Dolly, bursting into tears again. 'I don't wish
+to see him. I can't bear to think of him. I can't talk about him any
+more. Don't go to look for these things, Mr Joe, pray don't. I entreat
+you not to go with that man.'
+
+'Not to go with me!' cried Hugh. 'I'm too rough for them all. They're
+all afraid of me. Why, bless you mistress, I've the tenderest heart
+alive. I love all the ladies, ma'am,' said Hugh, turning to the
+locksmith's wife.
+
+Mrs Varden opined that if he did, he ought to be ashamed of himself;
+such sentiments being more consistent (so she argued) with a benighted
+Mussulman or wild Islander than with a stanch Protestant. Arguing from
+this imperfect state of his morals, Mrs Varden further opined that he
+had never studied the Manual. Hugh admitting that he never had, and
+moreover that he couldn't read, Mrs Varden declared with much severity,
+that he ought to be even more ashamed of himself than before, and
+strongly recommended him to save up his pocket-money for the purchase
+of one, and further to teach himself the contents with all convenient
+diligence. She was still pursuing this train of discourse, when Hugh,
+somewhat unceremoniously and irreverently, followed his young master
+out, and left her to edify the rest of the company. This she proceeded
+to do, and finding that Mr Willet's eyes were fixed upon her with an
+appearance of deep attention, gradually addressed the whole of her
+discourse to him, whom she entertained with a moral and theological
+lecture of considerable length, in the conviction that great workings
+were taking place in his spirit. The simple truth was, however, that Mr
+Willet, although his eyes were wide open and he saw a woman before
+him whose head by long and steady looking at seemed to grow bigger
+and bigger until it filled the whole bar, was to all other intents and
+purposes fast asleep; and so sat leaning back in his chair with his
+hands in his pockets until his son's return caused him to wake up with
+a deep sigh, and a faint impression that he had been dreaming about
+pickled pork and greens--a vision of his slumbers which was no doubt
+referable to the circumstance of Mrs Varden's having frequently
+pronounced the word 'Grace' with much emphasis; which word, entering
+the portals of Mr Willet's brain as they stood ajar, and coupling itself
+with the words 'before meat,' which were there ranging about, did in
+time suggest a particular kind of meat together with that description of
+vegetable which is usually its companion.
+
+The search was wholly unsuccessful. Joe had groped along the path a
+dozen times, and among the grass, and in the dry ditch, and in the
+hedge, but all in vain. Dolly, who was quite inconsolable for her loss,
+wrote a note to Miss Haredale giving her the same account of it that she
+had given at the Maypole, which Joe undertook to deliver as soon as the
+family were stirring next day. That done, they sat down to tea in the
+bar, where there was an uncommon display of buttered toast, and--in
+order that they might not grow faint for want of sustenance, and
+might have a decent halting-place or halfway house between dinner and
+supper--a few savoury trifles in the shape of great rashers of broiled
+ham, which being well cured, done to a turn, and smoking hot, sent forth
+a tempting and delicious fragrance.
+
+Mrs Varden was seldom very Protestant at meals, unless it happened that
+they were underdone, or overdone, or indeed that anything occurred to
+put her out of humour. Her spirits rose considerably on beholding these
+goodly preparations, and from the nothingness of good works, she passed
+to the somethingness of ham and toast with great cheerfulness. Nay,
+under the influence of these wholesome stimulants, she sharply reproved
+her daughter for being low and despondent (which she considered an
+unacceptable frame of mind), and remarked, as she held her own plate for
+a fresh supply, that it would be well for Dolly, who pined over the loss
+of a toy and a sheet of paper, if she would reflect upon the voluntary
+sacrifices of the missionaries in foreign parts who lived chiefly on
+salads.
+
+The proceedings of such a day occasion various fluctuations in the human
+thermometer, and especially in instruments so sensitively and delicately
+constructed as Mrs Varden. Thus, at dinner Mrs V. stood at summer heat;
+genial, smiling, and delightful. After dinner, in the sunshine of the
+wine, she went up at least half-a-dozen degrees, and was perfectly
+enchanting. As its effect subsided, she fell rapidly, went to sleep for
+an hour or so at temperate, and woke at something below freezing. Now
+she was at summer heat again, in the shade; and when tea was over, and
+old John, producing a bottle of cordial from one of the oaken cases,
+insisted on her sipping two glasses thereof in slow succession, she
+stood steadily at ninety for one hour and a quarter. Profiting by
+experience, the locksmith took advantage of this genial weather to smoke
+his pipe in the porch, and in consequence of this prudent management, he
+was fully prepared, when the glass went down again, to start homewards
+directly.
+
+The horse was accordingly put in, and the chaise brought round to the
+door. Joe, who would on no account be dissuaded from escorting them
+until they had passed the most dreary and solitary part of the road,
+led out the grey mare at the same time; and having helped Dolly into her
+seat (more happiness!) sprung gaily into the saddle. Then, after many
+good nights, and admonitions to wrap up, and glancing of lights, and
+handing in of cloaks and shawls, the chaise rolled away, and Joe trotted
+beside it--on Dolly's side, no doubt, and pretty close to the wheel too.
+
+
+
+Chapter 22
+
+
+It was a fine bright night, and for all her lowness of spirits Dolly
+kept looking up at the stars in a manner so bewitching (and SHE knew
+it!) that Joe was clean out of his senses, and plainly showed that if
+ever a man were--not to say over head and ears, but over the Monument
+and the top of Saint Paul's in love, that man was himself. The road was
+a very good one; not at all a jolting road, or an uneven one; and yet
+Dolly held the side of the chaise with one little hand, all the way. If
+there had been an executioner behind him with an uplifted axe ready
+to chop off his head if he touched that hand, Joe couldn't have helped
+doing it. From putting his own hand upon it as if by chance, and taking
+it away again after a minute or so, he got to riding along without
+taking it off at all; as if he, the escort, were bound to do that as an
+important part of his duty, and had come out for the purpose. The most
+curious circumstance about this little incident was, that Dolly didn't
+seem to know of it. She looked so innocent and unconscious when she
+turned her eyes on Joe, that it was quite provoking.
+
+She talked though; talked about her fright, and about Joe's coming up to
+rescue her, and about her gratitude, and about her fear that she might
+not have thanked him enough, and about their always being friends from
+that time forth--and about all that sort of thing. And when Joe said,
+not friends he hoped, Dolly was quite surprised, and said not enemies
+she hoped; and when Joe said, couldn't they be something much better
+than either, Dolly all of a sudden found out a star which was brighter
+than all the other stars, and begged to call his attention to the same,
+and was ten thousand times more innocent and unconscious than ever.
+
+In this manner they travelled along, talking very little above a
+whisper, and wishing the road could be stretched out to some dozen times
+its natural length--at least that was Joe's desire--when, as they were
+getting clear of the forest and emerging on the more frequented road,
+they heard behind them the sound of a horse's feet at a round trot,
+which growing rapidly louder as it drew nearer, elicited a scream from
+Mrs Varden, and the cry 'a friend!' from the rider, who now came panting
+up, and checked his horse beside them.
+
+'This man again!' cried Dolly, shuddering.
+
+'Hugh!' said Joe. 'What errand are you upon?'
+
+'I come to ride back with you,' he answered, glancing covertly at the
+locksmith's daughter. 'HE sent me.'
+
+'My father!' said poor Joe; adding under his breath, with a very
+unfilial apostrophe, 'Will he never think me man enough to take care of
+myself!'
+
+'Aye!' returned Hugh to the first part of the inquiry. 'The roads are
+not safe just now, he says, and you'd better have a companion.'
+
+'Ride on then,' said Joe. 'I'm not going to turn yet.'
+
+Hugh complied, and they went on again. It was his whim or humour to
+ride immediately before the chaise, and from this position he constantly
+turned his head, and looked back. Dolly felt that he looked at her, but
+she averted her eyes and feared to raise them once, so great was the
+dread with which he had inspired her.
+
+This interruption, and the consequent wakefulness of Mrs Varden, who had
+been nodding in her sleep up to this point, except for a minute or
+two at a time, when she roused herself to scold the locksmith for
+audaciously taking hold of her to prevent her nodding herself out of
+the chaise, put a restraint upon the whispered conversation, and made
+it difficult of resumption. Indeed, before they had gone another mile,
+Gabriel stopped at his wife's desire, and that good lady protested she
+would not hear of Joe's going a step further on any account whatever. It
+was in vain for Joe to protest on the other hand that he was by no means
+tired, and would turn back presently, and would see them safely past
+such a point, and so forth. Mrs Varden was obdurate, and being so was
+not to be overcome by mortal agency.
+
+'Good night--if I must say it,' said Joe, sorrowfully.
+
+'Good night,' said Dolly. She would have added, 'Take care of that man,
+and pray don't trust him,' but he had turned his horse's head, and was
+standing close to them. She had therefore nothing for it but to suffer
+Joe to give her hand a gentle squeeze, and when the chaise had gone on
+for some distance, to look back and wave it, as he still lingered on
+the spot where they had parted, with the tall dark figure of Hugh beside
+him.
+
+What she thought about, going home; and whether the coach-maker held as
+favourable a place in her meditations as he had occupied in the morning,
+is unknown. They reached home at last--at last, for it was a long way,
+made none the shorter by Mrs Varden's grumbling. Miggs hearing the sound
+of wheels was at the door immediately.
+
+'Here they are, Simmun! Here they are!' cried Miggs, clapping her
+hands, and issuing forth to help her mistress to alight. 'Bring a
+chair, Simmun. Now, an't you the better for it, mim? Don't you feel more
+yourself than you would have done if you'd have stopped at home? Oh,
+gracious! how cold you are! Goodness me, sir, she's a perfect heap of
+ice.'
+
+'I can't help it, my good girl. You had better take her in to the fire,'
+said the locksmith.
+
+'Master sounds unfeeling, mim,' said Miggs, in a tone of commiseration,
+'but such is not his intentions, I'm sure. After what he has seen of you
+this day, I never will believe but that he has a deal more affection
+in his heart than to speak unkind. Come in and sit yourself down by the
+fire; there's a good dear--do.'
+
+Mrs Varden complied. The locksmith followed with his hands in his
+pockets, and Mr Tappertit trundled off with the chaise to a neighbouring
+stable.
+
+'Martha, my dear,' said the locksmith, when they reached the parlour,
+'if you'll look to Dolly yourself or let somebody else do it, perhaps it
+will be only kind and reasonable. She has been frightened, you know, and
+is not at all well to-night.'
+
+In fact, Dolly had thrown herself upon the sofa, quite regardless of
+all the little finery of which she had been so proud in the morning, and
+with her face buried in her hands was crying very much.
+
+At first sight of this phenomenon (for Dolly was by no means accustomed
+to displays of this sort, rather learning from her mother's example to
+avoid them as much as possible) Mrs Varden expressed her belief that
+never was any woman so beset as she; that her life was a continued scene
+of trial; that whenever she was disposed to be well and cheerful, so
+sure were the people around her to throw, by some means or other, a damp
+upon her spirits; and that, as she had enjoyed herself that day, and
+Heaven knew it was very seldom she did enjoy herself so she was now to
+pay the penalty. To all such propositions Miggs assented freely. Poor
+Dolly, however, grew none the better for these restoratives, but rather
+worse, indeed; and seeing that she was really ill, both Mrs Varden and
+Miggs were moved to compassion, and tended her in earnest.
+
+But even then, their very kindness shaped itself into their usual course
+of policy, and though Dolly was in a swoon, it was rendered clear to
+the meanest capacity, that Mrs Varden was the sufferer. Thus when
+Dolly began to get a little better, and passed into that stage in which
+matrons hold that remonstrance and argument may be successfully applied,
+her mother represented to her, with tears in her eyes, that if she had
+been flurried and worried that day, she must remember it was the common
+lot of humanity, and in especial of womankind, who through the whole
+of their existence must expect no less, and were bound to make up their
+minds to meek endurance and patient resignation. Mrs Varden entreated
+her to remember that one of these days she would, in all probability,
+have to do violence to her feelings so far as to be married; and that
+marriage, as she might see every day of her life (and truly she did) was
+a state requiring great fortitude and forbearance. She represented to
+her in lively colours, that if she (Mrs V.) had not, in steering her
+course through this vale of tears, been supported by a strong principle
+of duty which alone upheld and prevented her from drooping, she must
+have been in her grave many years ago; in which case she desired to know
+what would have become of that errant spirit (meaning the locksmith), of
+whose eye she was the very apple, and in whose path she was, as it were,
+a shining light and guiding star?
+
+Miss Miggs also put in her word to the same effect. She said that indeed
+and indeed Miss Dolly might take pattern by her blessed mother, who,
+she always had said, and always would say, though she were to be hanged,
+drawn, and quartered for it next minute, was the mildest, amiablest,
+forgivingest-spirited, longest-sufferingest female as ever she could
+have believed; the mere narration of whose excellencies had worked such
+a wholesome change in the mind of her own sister-in-law, that, whereas,
+before, she and her husband lived like cat and dog, and were in the
+habit of exchanging brass candlesticks, pot-lids, flat-irons, and other
+such strong resentments, they were now the happiest and affectionatest
+couple upon earth; as could be proved any day on application at Golden
+Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, second bell-handle on the right-hand
+doorpost. After glancing at herself as a comparatively worthless vessel,
+but still as one of some desert, she besought her to bear in mind that
+her aforesaid dear and only mother was of a weakly constitution and
+excitable temperament, who had constantly to sustain afflictions in
+domestic life, compared with which thieves and robbers were as nothing,
+and yet never sunk down or gave way to despair or wrath, but, in
+prize-fighting phraseology, always came up to time with a cheerful
+countenance, and went in to win as if nothing had happened. When Miggs
+finished her solo, her mistress struck in again, and the two together
+performed a duet to the same purpose; the burden being, that Mrs Varden
+was persecuted perfection, and Mr Varden, as the representative of
+mankind in that apartment, a creature of vicious and brutal habits,
+utterly insensible to the blessings he enjoyed. Of so refined a
+character, indeed, was their talent of assault under the mask of
+sympathy, that when Dolly, recovering, embraced her father tenderly,
+as in vindication of his goodness, Mrs Varden expressed her solemn hope
+that this would be a lesson to him for the remainder of his life,
+and that he would do some little justice to a woman's nature ever
+afterwards--in which aspiration Miss Miggs, by divers sniffs and
+coughs, more significant than the longest oration, expressed her entire
+concurrence.
+
+But the great joy of Miggs's heart was, that she not only picked up
+a full account of what had happened, but had the exquisite delight of
+conveying it to Mr Tappertit for his jealousy and torture. For that
+gentleman, on account of Dolly's indisposition, had been requested to
+take his supper in the workshop, and it was conveyed thither by Miss
+Miggs's own fair hands.
+
+'Oh Simmun!' said the young lady, 'such goings on to-day! Oh, gracious
+me, Simmun!'
+
+Mr Tappertit, who was not in the best of humours, and who disliked Miss
+Miggs more when she laid her hand on her heart and panted for breath
+than at any other time, as her deficiency of outline was most apparent
+under such circumstances, eyed her over in his loftiest style, and
+deigned to express no curiosity whatever.
+
+'I never heard the like, nor nobody else,' pursued Miggs. 'The idea of
+interfering with HER. What people can see in her to make it worth their
+while to do so, that's the joke--he he he!'
+
+Finding there was a lady in the case, Mr Tappertit haughtily requested
+his fair friend to be more explicit, and demanded to know what she meant
+by 'her.'
+
+'Why, that Dolly,' said Miggs, with an extremely sharp emphasis on the
+name. 'But, oh upon my word and honour, young Joseph Willet is a brave
+one; and he do deserve her, that he do.'
+
+'Woman!' said Mr Tappertit, jumping off the counter on which he was
+seated; 'beware!'
+
+'My stars, Simmun!' cried Miggs, in affected astonishment. 'You frighten
+me to death! What's the matter?'
+
+'There are strings,' said Mr Tappertit, flourishing his bread-and-cheese
+knife in the air, 'in the human heart that had better not be wibrated.
+That's what's the matter.'
+
+'Oh, very well--if you're in a huff,' cried Miggs, turning away.
+
+'Huff or no huff,' said Mr Tappertit, detaining her by the wrist. 'What
+do you mean, Jezebel? What were you going to say? Answer me!'
+
+Notwithstanding this uncivil exhortation, Miggs gladly did as she was
+required; and told him how that their young mistress, being alone in
+the meadows after dark, had been attacked by three or four tall men, who
+would have certainly borne her away and perhaps murdered her, but for
+the timely arrival of Joseph Willet, who with his own single hand put
+them all to flight, and rescued her; to the lasting admiration of his
+fellow-creatures generally, and to the eternal love and gratitude of
+Dolly Varden.
+
+'Very good,' said Mr Tappertit, fetching a long breath when the tale was
+told, and rubbing his hair up till it stood stiff and straight on end
+all over his head. 'His days are numbered.'
+
+'Oh, Simmun!'
+
+'I tell you,' said the 'prentice, 'his days are numbered. Leave me. Get
+along with you.'
+
+Miggs departed at his bidding, but less because of his bidding than
+because she desired to chuckle in secret. When she had given vent to
+her satisfaction, she returned to the parlour; where the locksmith,
+stimulated by quietness and Toby, had become talkative, and was disposed
+to take a cheerful review of the occurrences of the day. But Mrs
+Varden, whose practical religion (as is not uncommon) was usually of the
+retrospective order, cut him short by declaiming on the sinfulness of
+such junketings, and holding that it was high time to go to bed. To bed
+therefore she withdrew, with an aspect as grim and gloomy as that of the
+Maypole's own state couch; and to bed the rest of the establishment soon
+afterwards repaired.
+
+
+
+Chapter 23
+
+
+Twilight had given place to night some hours, and it was high noon
+in those quarters of the town in which 'the world' condescended to
+dwell--the world being then, as now, of very limited dimensions and
+easily lodged--when Mr Chester reclined upon a sofa in his dressing-room
+in the Temple, entertaining himself with a book.
+
+He was dressing, as it seemed, by easy stages, and having performed half
+the journey was taking a long rest. Completely attired as to his legs
+and feet in the trimmest fashion of the day, he had yet the remainder of
+his toilet to perform. The coat was stretched, like a refined scarecrow,
+on its separate horse; the waistcoat was displayed to the best
+advantage; the various ornamental articles of dress were severally set
+out in most alluring order; and yet he lay dangling his legs between the
+sofa and the ground, as intent upon his book as if there were nothing
+but bed before him.
+
+'Upon my honour,' he said, at length raising his eyes to the ceiling
+with the air of a man who was reflecting seriously on what he had
+read; 'upon my honour, the most masterly composition, the most delicate
+thoughts, the finest code of morality, and the most gentlemanly
+sentiments in the universe! Ah Ned, Ned, if you would but form your mind
+by such precepts, we should have but one common feeling on every subject
+that could possibly arise between us!'
+
+This apostrophe was addressed, like the rest of his remarks, to empty
+air: for Edward was not present, and the father was quite alone.
+
+'My Lord Chesterfield,' he said, pressing his hand tenderly upon the
+book as he laid it down, 'if I could but have profited by your genius
+soon enough to have formed my son on the model you have left to all
+wise fathers, both he and I would have been rich men. Shakespeare was
+undoubtedly very fine in his way; Milton good, though prosy; Lord Bacon
+deep, and decidedly knowing; but the writer who should be his country's
+pride, is my Lord Chesterfield.'
+
+He became thoughtful again, and the toothpick was in requisition.
+
+'I thought I was tolerably accomplished as a man of the world,' he
+continued, 'I flattered myself that I was pretty well versed in all
+those little arts and graces which distinguish men of the world from
+boors and peasants, and separate their character from those intensely
+vulgar sentiments which are called the national character. Apart from
+any natural prepossession in my own favour, I believed I was. Still, in
+every page of this enlightened writer, I find some captivating hypocrisy
+which has never occurred to me before, or some superlative piece of
+selfishness to which I was utterly a stranger. I should quite blush for
+myself before this stupendous creature, if remembering his precepts, one
+might blush at anything. An amazing man! a nobleman indeed! any King or
+Queen may make a Lord, but only the Devil himself--and the Graces--can
+make a Chesterfield.'
+
+Men who are thoroughly false and hollow, seldom try to hide those vices
+from themselves; and yet in the very act of avowing them, they lay claim
+to the virtues they feign most to despise. 'For,' say they, 'this is
+honesty, this is truth. All mankind are like us, but they have not the
+candour to avow it.' The more they affect to deny the existence of any
+sincerity in the world, the more they would be thought to possess it in
+its boldest shape; and this is an unconscious compliment to Truth on the
+part of these philosophers, which will turn the laugh against them to
+the Day of Judgment.
+
+Mr Chester, having extolled his favourite author, as above recited,
+took up the book again in the excess of his admiration and was composing
+himself for a further perusal of its sublime morality, when he was
+disturbed by a noise at the outer door; occasioned as it seemed by the
+endeavours of his servant to obstruct the entrance of some unwelcome
+visitor.
+
+'A late hour for an importunate creditor,' he said, raising his eyebrows
+with as indolent an expression of wonder as if the noise were in the
+street, and one with which he had not the smallest possible concern.
+'Much after their accustomed time. The usual pretence I suppose. No
+doubt a heavy payment to make up tomorrow. Poor fellow, he loses time,
+and time is money as the good proverb says--I never found it out though.
+Well. What now? You know I am not at home.'
+
+'A man, sir,' replied the servant, who was to the full as cool and
+negligent in his way as his master, 'has brought home the riding-whip
+you lost the other day. I told him you were out, but he said he was to
+wait while I brought it in, and wouldn't go till I did.'
+
+'He was quite right,' returned his master, 'and you're a blockhead,
+possessing no judgment or discretion whatever. Tell him to come in, and
+see that he rubs his shoes for exactly five minutes first.'
+
+The man laid the whip on a chair, and withdrew. The master, who had only
+heard his foot upon the ground and had not taken the trouble to turn
+round and look at him, shut his book, and pursued the train of ideas his
+entrance had disturbed.
+
+'If time were money,' he said, handling his snuff-box, 'I would compound
+with my creditors, and give them--let me see--how much a day? There's
+my nap after dinner--an hour--they're extremely welcome to that, and to
+make the most of it. In the morning, between my breakfast and the
+paper, I could spare them another hour; in the evening before dinner
+say another. Three hours a day. They might pay themselves in calls, with
+interest, in twelve months. I think I shall propose it to them. Ah, my
+centaur, are you there?'
+
+'Here I am,' replied Hugh, striding in, followed by a dog, as rough and
+sullen as himself; 'and trouble enough I've had to get here. What do you
+ask me to come for, and keep me out when I DO come?'
+
+'My good fellow,' returned the other, raising his head a little from the
+cushion and carelessly surveying him from top to toe, 'I am delighted to
+see you, and to have, in your being here, the very best proof that you
+are not kept out. How are you?'
+
+'I'm well enough,' said Hugh impatiently.
+
+'You look a perfect marvel of health. Sit down.'
+
+'I'd rather stand,' said Hugh.
+
+'Please yourself my good fellow,' returned Mr Chester rising, slowly
+pulling off the loose robe he wore, and sitting down before the
+dressing-glass. 'Please yourself by all means.'
+
+Having said this in the politest and blandest tone possible, he went on
+dressing, and took no further notice of his guest, who stood in the same
+spot as uncertain what to do next, eyeing him sulkily from time to time.
+
+'Are you going to speak to me, master?' he said, after a long silence.
+
+'My worthy creature,' returned Mr Chester, 'you are a little ruffled and
+out of humour. I'll wait till you're quite yourself again. I am in no
+hurry.'
+
+This behaviour had its intended effect. It humbled and abashed the man,
+and made him still more irresolute and uncertain. Hard words he could
+have returned, violence he would have repaid with interest; but this
+cool, complacent, contemptuous, self-possessed reception, caused him to
+feel his inferiority more completely than the most elaborate arguments.
+Everything contributed to this effect. His own rough speech, contrasted
+with the soft persuasive accents of the other; his rude bearing, and
+Mr Chester's polished manner; the disorder and negligence of his
+ragged dress, and the elegant attire he saw before him; with all the
+unaccustomed luxuries and comforts of the room, and the silence that
+gave him leisure to observe these things, and feel how ill at ease they
+made him; all these influences, which have too often some effect on
+tutored minds and become of almost resistless power when brought to bear
+on such a mind as his, quelled Hugh completely. He moved by little and
+little nearer to Mr Chester's chair, and glancing over his shoulder
+at the reflection of his face in the glass, as if seeking for some
+encouragement in its expression, said at length, with a rough attempt at
+conciliation,
+
+'ARE you going to speak to me, master, or am I to go away?'
+
+'Speak you,' said Mr Chester, 'speak you, good fellow. I have spoken,
+have I not? I am waiting for you.'
+
+'Why, look'ee, sir,' returned Hugh with increased embarrassment, 'am I
+the man that you privately left your whip with before you rode away from
+the Maypole, and told to bring it back whenever he might want to see you
+on a certain subject?'
+
+'No doubt the same, or you have a twin brother,' said Mr Chester,
+glancing at the reflection of his anxious face; 'which is not probable,
+I should say.'
+
+'Then I have come, sir,' said Hugh, 'and I have brought it back, and
+something else along with it. A letter, sir, it is, that I took from
+the person who had charge of it.' As he spoke, he laid upon the
+dressing-table, Dolly's lost epistle. The very letter that had cost her
+so much trouble.
+
+'Did you obtain this by force, my good fellow?' said Mr Chester, casting
+his eye upon it without the least perceptible surprise or pleasure.
+
+'Not quite,' said Hugh. 'Partly.'
+
+'Who was the messenger from whom you took it?'
+
+'A woman. One Varden's daughter.'
+
+'Oh indeed!' said Mr Chester gaily. 'What else did you take from her?'
+
+'What else?'
+
+'Yes,' said the other, in a drawling manner, for he was fixing a very
+small patch of sticking plaster on a very small pimple near the corner
+of his mouth. 'What else?'
+
+'Well a kiss,' replied Hugh, after some hesitation.
+
+'And what else?'
+
+'Nothing.'
+
+'I think,' said Mr Chester, in the same easy tone, and smiling twice or
+thrice to try if the patch adhered--'I think there was something else.
+I have heard a trifle of jewellery spoken of--a mere trifle--a thing
+of such little value, indeed, that you may have forgotten it. Do you
+remember anything of the kind--such as a bracelet now, for instance?'
+
+Hugh with a muttered oath thrust his hand into his breast, and drawing
+the bracelet forth, wrapped in a scrap of hay, was about to lay it on
+the table likewise, when his patron stopped his hand and bade him put it
+up again.
+
+'You took that for yourself my excellent friend,' he said, 'and may keep
+it. I am neither a thief nor a receiver. Don't show it to me. You had
+better hide it again, and lose no time. Don't let me see where you put
+it either,' he added, turning away his head.
+
+'You're not a receiver!' said Hugh bluntly, despite the increasing awe
+in which he held him. 'What do you call THAT, master?' striking the
+letter with his heavy hand.
+
+'I call that quite another thing,' said Mr Chester coolly. 'I shall
+prove it presently, as you will see. You are thirsty, I suppose?'
+
+Hugh drew his sleeve across his lips, and gruffly answered yes.
+
+'Step to that closet and bring me a bottle you will see there, and a
+glass.'
+
+He obeyed. His patron followed him with his eyes, and when his back was
+turned, smiled as he had never done when he stood beside the mirror.
+On his return he filled the glass, and bade him drink. That dram
+despatched, he poured him out another, and another.
+
+'How many can you bear?' he said, filling the glass again.
+
+'As many as you like to give me. Pour on. Fill high. A bumper with a
+bead in the middle! Give me enough of this,' he added, as he tossed it
+down his hairy throat, 'and I'll do murder if you ask me!'
+
+'As I don't mean to ask you, and you might possibly do it without
+being invited if you went on much further,' said Mr Chester with great
+composure, 'we will stop, if agreeable to you, my good friend, at the
+next glass. You were drinking before you came here.'
+
+'I always am when I can get it,' cried Hugh boisterously, waving the
+empty glass above his head, and throwing himself into a rude dancing
+attitude. 'I always am. Why not? Ha ha ha! What's so good to me as this?
+What ever has been? What else has kept away the cold on bitter nights,
+and driven hunger off in starving times? What else has given me the
+strength and courage of a man, when men would have left me to die, a
+puny child? I should never have had a man's heart but for this. I
+should have died in a ditch. Where's he who when I was a weak and sickly
+wretch, with trembling legs and fading sight, bade me cheer up, as this
+did? I never knew him; not I. I drink to the drink, master. Ha ha ha!'
+
+'You are an exceedingly cheerful young man,' said Mr Chester, putting
+on his cravat with great deliberation, and slightly moving his head
+from side to side to settle his chin in its proper place. 'Quite a boon
+companion.'
+
+'Do you see this hand, master,' said Hugh, 'and this arm?' baring the
+brawny limb to the elbow. 'It was once mere skin and bone, and would
+have been dust in some poor churchyard by this time, but for the drink.'
+
+'You may cover it,' said Mr Chester, 'it's sufficiently real in your
+sleeve.'
+
+'I should never have been spirited up to take a kiss from the proud
+little beauty, master, but for the drink,' cried Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! It was
+a good one. As sweet as honeysuckle, I warrant you. I thank the drink
+for it. I'll drink to the drink again, master. Fill me one more. Come.
+One more!'
+
+'You are such a promising fellow,' said his patron, putting on his
+waistcoat with great nicety, and taking no heed of this request, 'that
+I must caution you against having too many impulses from the drink, and
+getting hung before your time. What's your age?'
+
+'I don't know.'
+
+'At any rate,' said Mr Chester, 'you are young enough to escape what
+I may call a natural death for some years to come. How can you trust
+yourself in my hands on so short an acquaintance, with a halter round
+your neck? What a confiding nature yours must be!'
+
+Hugh fell back a pace or two and surveyed him with a look of mingled
+terror, indignation, and surprise. Regarding himself in the glass with
+the same complacency as before, and speaking as smoothly as if he were
+discussing some pleasant chit-chat of the town, his patron went on:
+
+'Robbery on the king's highway, my young friend, is a very dangerous and
+ticklish occupation. It is pleasant, I have no doubt, while it lasts;
+but like many other pleasures in this transitory world, it seldom lasts
+long. And really if in the ingenuousness of youth, you open your heart
+so readily on the subject, I am afraid your career will be an extremely
+short one.'
+
+'How's this?' said Hugh. 'What do you talk of master? Who was it set me
+on?'
+
+'Who?' said Mr Chester, wheeling sharply round, and looking full at him
+for the first time. 'I didn't hear you. Who was it?'
+
+Hugh faltered, and muttered something which was not audible.
+
+'Who was it? I am curious to know,' said Mr Chester, with surpassing
+affability. 'Some rustic beauty perhaps? But be cautious, my good
+friend. They are not always to be trusted. Do take my advice now, and be
+careful of yourself.' With these words he turned to the glass again, and
+went on with his toilet.
+
+Hugh would have answered him that he, the questioner himself had set him
+on, but the words stuck in his throat. The consummate art with which his
+patron had led him to this point, and managed the whole conversation,
+perfectly baffled him. He did not doubt that if he had made the retort
+which was on his lips when Mr Chester turned round and questioned him
+so keenly, he would straightway have given him into custody and had him
+dragged before a justice with the stolen property upon him; in which
+case it was as certain he would have been hung as it was that he had
+been born. The ascendency which it was the purpose of the man of the
+world to establish over this savage instrument, was gained from that
+time. Hugh's submission was complete. He dreaded him beyond description;
+and felt that accident and artifice had spun a web about him, which at a
+touch from such a master-hand as his, would bind him to the gallows.
+
+With these thoughts passing through his mind, and yet wondering at the
+very same time how he who came there rioting in the confidence of this
+man (as he thought), should be so soon and so thoroughly subdued, Hugh
+stood cowering before him, regarding him uneasily from time to time,
+while he finished dressing. When he had done so, he took up the
+letter, broke the seal, and throwing himself back in his chair, read it
+leisurely through.
+
+'Very neatly worded upon my life! Quite a woman's letter, full of what
+people call tenderness, and disinterestedness, and heart, and all that
+sort of thing!'
+
+As he spoke, he twisted it up, and glancing lazily round at Hugh as
+though he would say 'You see this?' held it in the flame of the candle.
+When it was in a full blaze, he tossed it into the grate, and there it
+smouldered away.
+
+'It was directed to my son,' he said, turning to Hugh, 'and you did
+quite right to bring it here. I opened it on my own responsibility, and
+you see what I have done with it. Take this, for your trouble.'
+
+Hugh stepped forward to receive the piece of money he held out to him.
+As he put it in his hand, he added:
+
+'If you should happen to find anything else of this sort, or to pick
+up any kind of information you may think I would like to have, bring it
+here, will you, my good fellow?'
+
+This was said with a smile which implied--or Hugh thought it did--'fail
+to do so at your peril!' He answered that he would.
+
+'And don't,' said his patron, with an air of the very kindest patronage,
+'don't be at all downcast or uneasy respecting that little rashness we
+have been speaking of. Your neck is as safe in my hands, my good fellow,
+as though a baby's fingers clasped it, I assure you.--Take another
+glass. You are quieter now.'
+
+Hugh accepted it from his hand, and looking stealthily at his smiling
+face, drank the contents in silence.
+
+'Don't you--ha, ha!--don't you drink to the drink any more?' said Mr
+Chester, in his most winning manner.
+
+'To you, sir,' was the sullen answer, with something approaching to a
+bow. 'I drink to you.'
+
+'Thank you. God bless you. By the bye, what is your name, my good soul?
+You are called Hugh, I know, of course--your other name?'
+
+'I have no other name.'
+
+'A very strange fellow! Do you mean that you never knew one, or that you
+don't choose to tell it? Which?'
+
+'I'd tell it if I could,' said Hugh, quickly. 'I can't. I have been
+always called Hugh; nothing more. I never knew, nor saw, nor thought
+about a father; and I was a boy of six--that's not very old--when they
+hung my mother up at Tyburn for a couple of thousand men to stare at.
+They might have let her live. She was poor enough.'
+
+'How very sad!' exclaimed his patron, with a condescending smile. 'I
+have no doubt she was an exceedingly fine woman.'
+
+'You see that dog of mine?' said Hugh, abruptly.
+
+'Faithful, I dare say?' rejoined his patron, looking at him through his
+glass; 'and immensely clever? Virtuous and gifted animals, whether man
+or beast, always are so very hideous.'
+
+'Such a dog as that, and one of the same breed, was the only living
+thing except me that howled that day,' said Hugh. 'Out of the two
+thousand odd--there was a larger crowd for its being a woman--the dog
+and I alone had any pity. If he'd have been a man, he'd have been
+glad to be quit of her, for she had been forced to keep him lean and
+half-starved; but being a dog, and not having a man's sense, he was
+sorry.'
+
+'It was dull of the brute, certainly,' said Mr Chester, 'and very like a
+brute.'
+
+Hugh made no rejoinder, but whistling to his dog, who sprung up at the
+sound and came jumping and sporting about him, bade his sympathising
+friend good night.
+
+'Good night,' he returned. 'Remember; you're safe with me--quite safe. So
+long as you deserve it, my good fellow, as I hope you always will, you
+have a friend in me, on whose silence you may rely. Now do be careful of
+yourself, pray do, and consider what jeopardy you might have stood in.
+Good night! bless you!'
+
+Hugh truckled before the hidden meaning of these words as much as such
+a being could, and crept out of the door so submissively and
+subserviently--with an air, in short, so different from that with which
+he had entered--that his patron on being left alone, smiled more than
+ever.
+
+'And yet,' he said, as he took a pinch of snuff, 'I do not like their
+having hanged his mother. The fellow has a fine eye, and I am sure she
+was handsome. But very probably she was coarse--red-nosed perhaps, and
+had clumsy feet. Aye, it was all for the best, no doubt.'
+
+With this comforting reflection, he put on his coat, took a farewell
+glance at the glass, and summoned his man, who promptly attended,
+followed by a chair and its two bearers.
+
+'Foh!' said Mr Chester. 'The very atmosphere that centaur has breathed,
+seems tainted with the cart and ladder. Here, Peak. Bring some scent and
+sprinkle the floor; and take away the chair he sat upon, and air it; and
+dash a little of that mixture upon me. I am stifled!'
+
+The man obeyed; and the room and its master being both purified, nothing
+remained for Mr Chester but to demand his hat, to fold it jauntily under
+his arm, to take his seat in the chair and be carried off; humming a
+fashionable tune.
+
+
+
+Chapter 24
+
+
+How the accomplished gentleman spent the evening in the midst of a
+dazzling and brilliant circle; how he enchanted all those with whom he
+mingled by the grace of his deportment, the politeness of his manner,
+the vivacity of his conversation, and the sweetness of his voice; how
+it was observed in every corner, that Chester was a man of that happy
+disposition that nothing ruffled him, that he was one on whom the
+world's cares and errors sat lightly as his dress, and in whose smiling
+face a calm and tranquil mind was constantly reflected; how honest men,
+who by instinct knew him better, bowed down before him nevertheless,
+deferred to his every word, and courted his favourable notice; how
+people, who really had good in them, went with the stream, and fawned
+and flattered, and approved, and despised themselves while they did
+so, and yet had not the courage to resist; how, in short, he was one of
+those who are received and cherished in society (as the phrase is) by
+scores who individually would shrink from and be repelled by the
+object of their lavish regard; are things of course, which will suggest
+themselves. Matter so commonplace needs but a passing glance, and there
+an end.
+
+The despisers of mankind--apart from the mere fools and mimics, of that
+creed--are of two sorts. They who believe their merit neglected and
+unappreciated, make up one class; they who receive adulation and
+flattery, knowing their own worthlessness, compose the other. Be sure
+that the coldest-hearted misanthropes are ever of this last order.
+
+Mr Chester sat up in bed next morning, sipping his coffee, and
+remembering with a kind of contemptuous satisfaction how he had shone
+last night, and how he had been caressed and courted, when his servant
+brought in a very small scrap of dirty paper, tightly sealed in two
+places, on the inside whereof was inscribed in pretty large text these
+words: 'A friend. Desiring of a conference. Immediate. Private. Burn it
+when you've read it.'
+
+'Where in the name of the Gunpowder Plot did you pick up this?' said his
+master.
+
+It was given him by a person then waiting at the door, the man replied.
+
+'With a cloak and dagger?' said Mr Chester.
+
+With nothing more threatening about him, it appeared, than a leather
+apron and a dirty face. 'Let him come in.' In he came--Mr Tappertit;
+with his hair still on end, and a great lock in his hand, which he put
+down on the floor in the middle of the chamber as if he were about to go
+through some performances in which it was a necessary agent.
+
+'Sir,' said Mr Tappertit with a low bow, 'I thank you for this
+condescension, and am glad to see you. Pardon the menial office in which
+I am engaged, sir, and extend your sympathies to one, who, humble as his
+appearance is, has inn'ard workings far above his station.'
+
+Mr Chester held the bed-curtain farther back, and looked at him with a
+vague impression that he was some maniac, who had not only broken open
+the door of his place of confinement, but had brought away the lock. Mr
+Tappertit bowed again, and displayed his legs to the best advantage.
+
+'You have heard, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, laying his hand upon his
+breast, 'of G. Varden Locksmith and bell-hanger and repairs neatly
+executed in town and country, Clerkenwell, London?'
+
+'What then?' asked Mr Chester.
+
+'I'm his 'prentice, sir.'
+
+'What THEN?'
+
+'Ahem!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Would you permit me to shut the door, sir,
+and will you further, sir, give me your honour bright, that what passes
+between us is in the strictest confidence?'
+
+Mr Chester laid himself calmly down in bed again, and turning a
+perfectly undisturbed face towards the strange apparition, which had
+by this time closed the door, begged him to speak out, and to be as
+rational as he could, without putting himself to any very great personal
+inconvenience.
+
+'In the first place, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, producing a small
+pocket-handkerchief and shaking it out of the folds, 'as I have not
+a card about me (for the envy of masters debases us below that level)
+allow me to offer the best substitute that circumstances will admit of.
+If you will take that in your own hand, sir, and cast your eye on the
+right-hand corner,' said Mr Tappertit, offering it with a graceful air,
+'you will meet with my credentials.'
+
+'Thank you,' answered Mr Chester, politely accepting it, and turning to
+some blood-red characters at one end. '"Four. Simon Tappertit. One." Is
+that the--'
+
+'Without the numbers, sir, that is my name,' replied the 'prentice.
+'They are merely intended as directions to the washerwoman, and have no
+connection with myself or family. YOUR name, sir,' said Mr Tappertit,
+looking very hard at his nightcap, 'is Chester, I suppose? You needn't
+pull it off, sir, thank you. I observe E. C. from here. We will take the
+rest for granted.'
+
+'Pray, Mr Tappertit,' said Mr Chester, 'has that complicated piece of
+ironmongery which you have done me the favour to bring with you, any
+immediate connection with the business we are to discuss?'
+
+'It has not, sir,' rejoined the 'prentice. 'It's going to be fitted on a
+ware'us-door in Thames Street.'
+
+'Perhaps, as that is the case,' said Mr Chester, 'and as it has a
+stronger flavour of oil than I usually refresh my bedroom with, you will
+oblige me so far as to put it outside the door?'
+
+'By all means, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, suiting the action to the word.
+
+'You'll excuse my mentioning it, I hope?'
+
+'Don't apologise, sir, I beg. And now, if you please, to business.'
+
+During the whole of this dialogue, Mr Chester had suffered nothing but
+his smile of unvarying serenity and politeness to appear upon his face.
+Sim Tappertit, who had far too good an opinion of himself to suspect
+that anybody could be playing upon him, thought within himself that
+this was something like the respect to which he was entitled, and drew
+a comparison from this courteous demeanour of a stranger, by no means
+favourable to the worthy locksmith.
+
+'From what passes in our house,' said Mr Tappertit, 'I am aware, sir,
+that your son keeps company with a young lady against your inclinations.
+Sir, your son has not used me well.'
+
+'Mr Tappertit,' said the other, 'you grieve me beyond description.'
+
+'Thank you, sir,' replied the 'prentice. 'I'm glad to hear you say so.
+He's very proud, sir, is your son; very haughty.'
+
+'I am afraid he IS haughty,' said Mr Chester. 'Do you know I was really
+afraid of that before; and you confirm me?'
+
+'To recount the menial offices I've had to do for your son, sir,' said
+Mr Tappertit; 'the chairs I've had to hand him, the coaches I've had to
+call for him, the numerous degrading duties, wholly unconnected with
+my indenters, that I've had to do for him, would fill a family Bible.
+Besides which, sir, he is but a young man himself and I do not consider
+"thank'ee Sim," a proper form of address on those occasions.'
+
+'Mr Tappertit, your wisdom is beyond your years. Pray go on.'
+
+'I thank you for your good opinion, sir,' said Sim, much gratified,
+'and will endeavour so to do. Now sir, on this account (and perhaps for
+another reason or two which I needn't go into) I am on your side. And
+what I tell you is this--that as long as our people go backwards and
+forwards, to and fro, up and down, to that there jolly old Maypole,
+lettering, and messaging, and fetching and carrying, you couldn't help
+your son keeping company with that young lady by deputy,--not if he was
+minded night and day by all the Horse Guards, and every man of 'em in
+the very fullest uniform.'
+
+Mr Tappertit stopped to take breath after this, and then started fresh
+again.
+
+'Now, sir, I am a coming to the point. You will inquire of me, "how is
+this to be prevented?" I'll tell you how. If an honest, civil, smiling
+gentleman like you--'
+
+'Mr Tappertit--really--'
+
+'No, no, I'm serious,' rejoined the 'prentice, 'I am, upon my soul.
+If an honest, civil, smiling gentleman like you, was to talk but ten
+minutes to our old woman--that's Mrs Varden--and flatter her up a bit,
+you'd gain her over for ever. Then there's this point got--that her
+daughter Dolly,'--here a flush came over Mr Tappertit's face--'wouldn't
+be allowed to be a go-between from that time forward; and till that
+point's got, there's nothing ever will prevent her. Mind that.'
+
+'Mr Tappertit, your knowledge of human nature--'
+
+'Wait a minute,' said Sim, folding his arms with a dreadful calmness.
+'Now I come to THE point. Sir, there is a villain at that Maypole, a
+monster in human shape, a vagabond of the deepest dye, that unless you
+get rid of and have kidnapped and carried off at the very least--nothing
+less will do--will marry your son to that young woman, as certainly and
+as surely as if he was the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. He will,
+sir, for the hatred and malice that he bears to you; let alone the
+pleasure of doing a bad action, which to him is its own reward. If you
+knew how this chap, this Joseph Willet--that's his name--comes backwards
+and forwards to our house, libelling, and denouncing, and threatening
+you, and how I shudder when I hear him, you'd hate him worse than I
+do,--worse than I do, sir,' said Mr Tappertit wildly, putting his hair
+up straighter, and making a crunching noise with his teeth; 'if sich a
+thing is possible.'
+
+'A little private vengeance in this, Mr Tappertit?'
+
+'Private vengeance, sir, or public sentiment, or both combined--destroy
+him,' said Mr Tappertit. 'Miggs says so too. Miggs and me both say so.
+We can't bear the plotting and undermining that takes place. Our souls
+recoil from it. Barnaby Rudge and Mrs Rudge are in it likewise; but the
+villain, Joseph Willet, is the ringleader. Their plottings and schemes
+are known to me and Miggs. If you want information of 'em, apply to us.
+Put Joseph Willet down, sir. Destroy him. Crush him. And be happy.'
+
+With these words, Mr Tappertit, who seemed to expect no reply, and to
+hold it as a necessary consequence of his eloquence that his hearer
+should be utterly stunned, dumbfoundered, and overwhelmed, folded his
+arms so that the palm of each hand rested on the opposite shoulder, and
+disappeared after the manner of those mysterious warners of whom he had
+read in cheap story-books.
+
+'That fellow,' said Mr Chester, relaxing his face when he was fairly
+gone, 'is good practice. I HAVE some command of my features, beyond all
+doubt. He fully confirms what I suspected, though; and blunt tools are
+sometimes found of use, where sharper instruments would fail. I fear
+I may be obliged to make great havoc among these worthy people. A
+troublesome necessity! I quite feel for them.'
+
+With that he fell into a quiet slumber:--subsided into such a gentle,
+pleasant sleep, that it was quite infantine.
+
+
+
+Chapter 25
+
+
+Leaving the favoured, and well-received, and flattered of the world;
+him of the world most worldly, who never compromised himself by an
+ungentlemanly action, and never was guilty of a manly one; to lie
+smilingly asleep--for even sleep, working but little change in his
+dissembling face, became with him a piece of cold, conventional
+hypocrisy--we follow in the steps of two slow travellers on foot, making
+towards Chigwell.
+
+Barnaby and his mother. Grip in their company, of course.
+
+The widow, to whom each painful mile seemed longer than the last, toiled
+wearily along; while Barnaby, yielding to every inconstant impulse,
+fluttered here and there, now leaving her far behind, now lingering far
+behind himself, now darting into some by-lane or path and leaving her
+to pursue her way alone, until he stealthily emerged again and came upon
+her with a wild shout of merriment, as his wayward and capricious nature
+prompted. Now he would call to her from the topmost branch of some high
+tree by the roadside; now using his tall staff as a leaping-pole, come
+flying over ditch or hedge or five-barred gate; now run with surprising
+swiftness for a mile or more on the straight road, and halting, sport
+upon a patch of grass with Grip till she came up. These were his
+delights; and when his patient mother heard his merry voice, or looked
+into his flushed and healthy face, she would not have abated them by one
+sad word or murmur, though each had been to her a source of suffering in
+the same degree as it was to him of pleasure.
+
+It is something to look upon enjoyment, so that it be free and wild and
+in the face of nature, though it is but the enjoyment of an idiot. It is
+something to know that Heaven has left the capacity of gladness in such
+a creature's breast; it is something to be assured that, however lightly
+men may crush that faculty in their fellows, the Great Creator of
+mankind imparts it even to his despised and slighted work. Who would not
+rather see a poor idiot happy in the sunlight, than a wise man pining in
+a darkened jail!
+
+Ye men of gloom and austerity, who paint the face of Infinite
+Benevolence with an eternal frown; read in the Everlasting Book, wide
+open to your view, the lesson it would teach. Its pictures are not in
+black and sombre hues, but bright and glowing tints; its music--save
+when ye drown it--is not in sighs and groans, but songs and cheerful
+sounds. Listen to the million voices in the summer air, and find one
+dismal as your own. Remember, if ye can, the sense of hope and pleasure
+which every glad return of day awakens in the breast of all your kind
+who have not changed their nature; and learn some wisdom even from the
+witless, when their hearts are lifted up they know not why, by all the
+mirth and happiness it brings.
+
+The widow's breast was full of care, was laden heavily with secret dread
+and sorrow; but her boy's gaiety of heart gladdened her, and beguiled
+the long journey. Sometimes he would bid her lean upon his arm, and
+would keep beside her steadily for a short distance; but it was more his
+nature to be rambling to and fro, and she better liked to see him free
+and happy, even than to have him near her, because she loved him better
+than herself.
+
+She had quitted the place to which they were travelling, directly after
+the event which had changed her whole existence; and for two-and-twenty
+years had never had courage to revisit it. It was her native village.
+How many recollections crowded on her mind when it appeared in sight!
+
+Two-and-twenty years. Her boy's whole life and history. The last time
+she looked back upon those roofs among the trees, she carried him in her
+arms, an infant. How often since that time had she sat beside him night
+and day, watching for the dawn of mind that never came; how had she
+feared, and doubted, and yet hoped, long after conviction forced itself
+upon her! The little stratagems she had devised to try him, the little
+tokens he had given in his childish way--not of dulness but of something
+infinitely worse, so ghastly and unchildlike in its cunning--came back
+as vividly as if but yesterday had intervened. The room in which they
+used to be; the spot in which his cradle stood; he, old and elfin-like
+in face, but ever dear to her, gazing at her with a wild and vacant
+eye, and crooning some uncouth song as she sat by and rocked him; every
+circumstance of his infancy came thronging back, and the most trivial,
+perhaps, the most distinctly.
+
+His older childhood, too; the strange imaginings he had; his terror of
+certain senseless things--familiar objects he endowed with life; the
+slow and gradual breaking out of that one horror, in which, before his
+birth, his darkened intellect began; how, in the midst of all, she had
+found some hope and comfort in his being unlike another child, and had
+gone on almost believing in the slow development of his mind until he
+grew a man, and then his childhood was complete and lasting; one after
+another, all these old thoughts sprung up within her, strong after their
+long slumber and bitterer than ever.
+
+She took his arm and they hurried through the village street. It was
+the same as it was wont to be in old times, yet different too, and wore
+another air. The change was in herself, not it; but she never thought of
+that, and wondered at its alteration, and where it lay, and what it was.
+
+The people all knew Barnaby, and the children of the place came flocking
+round him--as she remembered to have done with their fathers and mothers
+round some silly beggarman, when a child herself. None of them knew her;
+they passed each well-remembered house, and yard, and homestead; and
+striking into the fields, were soon alone again.
+
+The Warren was the end of their journey. Mr Haredale was walking in the
+garden, and seeing them as they passed the iron gate, unlocked it, and
+bade them enter that way.
+
+'At length you have mustered heart to visit the old place,' he said to
+the widow. 'I am glad you have.'
+
+'For the first time, and the last, sir,' she replied.
+
+'The first for many years, but not the last?'
+
+'The very last.'
+
+'You mean,' said Mr Haredale, regarding her with some surprise, 'that
+having made this effort, you are resolved not to persevere and are
+determined to relapse? This is unworthy of you. I have often told you,
+you should return here. You would be happier here than elsewhere, I
+know. As to Barnaby, it's quite his home.'
+
+'And Grip's,' said Barnaby, holding the basket open. The raven hopped
+gravely out, and perching on his shoulder and addressing himself to Mr
+Haredale, cried--as a hint, perhaps, that some temperate refreshment
+would be acceptable--'Polly put the ket-tle on, we'll all have tea!'
+
+'Hear me, Mary,' said Mr Haredale kindly, as he motioned her to walk
+with him towards the house. 'Your life has been an example of patience
+and fortitude, except in this one particular which has often given me
+great pain. It is enough to know that you were cruelly involved in the
+calamity which deprived me of an only brother, and Emma of her father,
+without being obliged to suppose (as I sometimes am) that you associate
+us with the author of our joint misfortunes.'
+
+'Associate you with him, sir!' she cried.
+
+'Indeed,' said Mr Haredale, 'I think you do. I almost believe that
+because your husband was bound by so many ties to our relation, and died
+in his service and defence, you have come in some sort to connect us
+with his murder.'
+
+'Alas!' she answered. 'You little know my heart, sir. You little know
+the truth!'
+
+'It is natural you should do so; it is very probable you may, without
+being conscious of it,' said Mr Haredale, speaking more to himself than
+her. 'We are a fallen house. Money, dispensed with the most lavish
+hand, would be a poor recompense for sufferings like yours; and thinly
+scattered by hands so pinched and tied as ours, it becomes a miserable
+mockery. I feel it so, God knows,' he added, hastily. 'Why should I
+wonder if she does!'
+
+'You do me wrong, dear sir, indeed,' she rejoined with great
+earnestness; 'and yet when you come to hear what I desire your leave to
+say--'
+
+'I shall find my doubts confirmed?' he said, observing that she faltered
+and became confused. 'Well!'
+
+He quickened his pace for a few steps, but fell back again to her side,
+and said:
+
+'And have you come all this way at last, solely to speak to me?'
+
+She answered, 'Yes.'
+
+'A curse,' he muttered, 'upon the wretched state of us proud beggars,
+from whom the poor and rich are equally at a distance; the one being
+forced to treat us with a show of cold respect; the other condescending
+to us in their every deed and word, and keeping more aloof, the nearer
+they approach us.--Why, if it were pain to you (as it must have been)
+to break for this slight purpose the chain of habit forged through
+two-and-twenty years, could you not let me know your wish, and beg me to
+come to you?'
+
+'There was not time, sir,' she rejoined. 'I took my resolution but
+last night, and taking it, felt that I must not lose a day--a day! an
+hour--in having speech with you.'
+
+They had by this time reached the house. Mr Haredale paused for a
+moment, and looked at her as if surprised by the energy of her manner.
+Observing, however, that she took no heed of him, but glanced up,
+shuddering, at the old walls with which such horrors were connected in
+her mind, he led her by a private stair into his library, where Emma was
+seated in a window, reading.
+
+The young lady, seeing who approached, hastily rose and laid aside her
+book, and with many kind words, and not without tears, gave her a warm
+and earnest welcome. But the widow shrunk from her embrace as though she
+feared her, and sunk down trembling on a chair.
+
+'It is the return to this place after so long an absence,' said Emma
+gently. 'Pray ring, dear uncle--or stay--Barnaby will run himself and
+ask for wine--'
+
+'Not for the world,' she cried. 'It would have another taste--I could
+not touch it. I want but a minute's rest. Nothing but that.'
+
+Miss Haredale stood beside her chair, regarding her with silent pity.
+She remained for a little time quite still; then rose and turned to Mr
+Haredale, who had sat down in his easy chair, and was contemplating her
+with fixed attention.
+
+The tale connected with the mansion borne in mind, it seemed, as has
+been already said, the chosen theatre for such a deed as it had known.
+The room in which this group were now assembled--hard by the very
+chamber where the act was done--dull, dark, and sombre; heavy with
+worm-eaten books; deadened and shut in by faded hangings, muffling every
+sound; shadowed mournfully by trees whose rustling boughs gave ever and
+anon a spectral knocking at the glass; wore, beyond all others in
+the house, a ghostly, gloomy air. Nor were the group assembled there,
+unfitting tenants of the spot. The widow, with her marked and startling
+face and downcast eyes; Mr Haredale stern and despondent ever; his niece
+beside him, like, yet most unlike, the picture of her father, which
+gazed reproachfully down upon them from the blackened wall; Barnaby,
+with his vacant look and restless eye; were all in keeping with the
+place, and actors in the legend. Nay, the very raven, who had hopped
+upon the table and with the air of some old necromancer appeared to be
+profoundly studying a great folio volume that lay open on a desk, was
+strictly in unison with the rest, and looked like the embodied spirit of
+evil biding his time of mischief.
+
+'I scarcely know,' said the widow, breaking silence, 'how to begin. You
+will think my mind disordered.'
+
+'The whole tenor of your quiet and reproachless life since you were last
+here,' returned Mr Haredale, mildly, 'shall bear witness for you. Why do
+you fear to awaken such a suspicion? You do not speak to strangers. You
+have not to claim our interest or consideration for the first time. Be
+more yourself. Take heart. Any advice or assistance that I can give you,
+you know is yours of right, and freely yours.'
+
+'What if I came, sir,' she rejoined, 'I who have but one other friend on
+earth, to reject your aid from this moment, and to say that henceforth
+I launch myself upon the world, alone and unassisted, to sink or swim as
+Heaven may decree!'
+
+'You would have, if you came to me for such a purpose,' said Mr Haredale
+calmly, 'some reason to assign for conduct so extraordinary, which--if
+one may entertain the possibility of anything so wild and strange--would
+have its weight, of course.'
+
+'That, sir,' she answered, 'is the misery of my distress. I can give
+no reason whatever. My own bare word is all that I can offer. It is
+my duty, my imperative and bounden duty. If I did not discharge it,
+I should be a base and guilty wretch. Having said that, my lips are
+sealed, and I can say no more.'
+
+As though she felt relieved at having said so much, and had nerved
+herself to the remainder of her task, she spoke from this time with a
+firmer voice and heightened courage.
+
+'Heaven is my witness, as my own heart is--and yours, dear young lady,
+will speak for me, I know--that I have lived, since that time we all
+have bitter reason to remember, in unchanging devotion, and gratitude to
+this family. Heaven is my witness that go where I may, I shall preserve
+those feelings unimpaired. And it is my witness, too, that they alone
+impel me to the course I must take, and from which nothing now shall
+turn me, as I hope for mercy.'
+
+'These are strange riddles,' said Mr Haredale.
+
+'In this world, sir,' she replied, 'they may, perhaps, never be
+explained. In another, the Truth will be discovered in its own good
+time. And may that time,' she added in a low voice, 'be far distant!'
+
+'Let me be sure,' said Mr Haredale, 'that I understand you, for I am
+doubtful of my own senses. Do you mean that you are resolved voluntarily
+to deprive yourself of those means of support you have received from us
+so long--that you are determined to resign the annuity we settled on you
+twenty years ago--to leave house, and home, and goods, and begin life
+anew--and this, for some secret reason or monstrous fancy which is
+incapable of explanation, which only now exists, and has been dormant
+all this time? In the name of God, under what delusion are you
+labouring?'
+
+'As I am deeply thankful,' she made answer, 'for the kindness of those,
+alive and dead, who have owned this house; and as I would not have its
+roof fall down and crush me, or its very walls drip blood, my name being
+spoken in their hearing; I never will again subsist upon their bounty,
+or let it help me to subsistence. You do not know,' she added, suddenly,
+'to what uses it may be applied; into what hands it may pass. I do, and
+I renounce it.'
+
+'Surely,' said Mr Haredale, 'its uses rest with you.'
+
+'They did. They rest with me no longer. It may be--it IS--devoted to
+purposes that mock the dead in their graves. It never can prosper with
+me. It will bring some other heavy judgement on the head of my dear son,
+whose innocence will suffer for his mother's guilt.'
+
+'What words are these!' cried Mr Haredale, regarding her with wonder.
+'Among what associates have you fallen? Into what guilt have you ever
+been betrayed?'
+
+'I am guilty, and yet innocent; wrong, yet right; good in intention,
+though constrained to shield and aid the bad. Ask me no more questions,
+sir; but believe that I am rather to be pitied than condemned. I must
+leave my house to-morrow, for while I stay there, it is haunted. My
+future dwelling, if I am to live in peace, must be a secret. If my poor
+boy should ever stray this way, do not tempt him to disclose it or have
+him watched when he returns; for if we are hunted, we must fly again.
+And now this load is off my mind, I beseech you--and you, dear Miss
+Haredale, too--to trust me if you can, and think of me kindly as you
+have been used to do. If I die and cannot tell my secret even then (for
+that may come to pass), it will sit the lighter on my breast in that
+hour for this day's work; and on that day, and every day until it comes,
+I will pray for and thank you both, and trouble you no more.'
+
+With that, she would have left them, but they detained her, and with
+many soothing words and kind entreaties, besought her to consider what
+she did, and above all to repose more freely upon them, and say what
+weighed so sorely on her mind. Finding her deaf to their persuasions, Mr
+Haredale suggested, as a last resource, that she should confide in Emma,
+of whom, as a young person and one of her own sex, she might stand in
+less dread than of himself. From this proposal, however, she recoiled
+with the same indescribable repugnance she had manifested when they met.
+The utmost that could be wrung from her was, a promise that she would
+receive Mr Haredale at her own house next evening, and in the mean time
+reconsider her determination and their dissuasions--though any change on
+her part, as she told them, was quite hopeless. This condition made at
+last, they reluctantly suffered her to depart, since she would neither
+eat nor drink within the house; and she, and Barnaby, and Grip,
+accordingly went out as they had come, by the private stair and
+garden-gate; seeing and being seen of no one by the way.
+
+It was remarkable in the raven that during the whole interview he
+had kept his eye on his book with exactly the air of a very sly human
+rascal, who, under the mask of pretending to read hard, was listening to
+everything. He still appeared to have the conversation very strongly in
+his mind, for although, when they were alone again, he issued orders for
+the instant preparation of innumerable kettles for purposes of tea, he
+was thoughtful, and rather seemed to do so from an abstract sense of
+duty, than with any regard to making himself agreeable, or being what is
+commonly called good company.
+
+They were to return by the coach. As there was an interval of full two
+hours before it started, and they needed rest and some refreshment,
+Barnaby begged hard for a visit to the Maypole. But his mother, who had
+no wish to be recognised by any of those who had known her long ago, and
+who feared besides that Mr Haredale might, on second thoughts, despatch
+some messenger to that place of entertainment in quest of her, proposed
+to wait in the churchyard instead. As it was easy for Barnaby to buy
+and carry thither such humble viands as they required, he cheerfully
+assented, and in the churchyard they sat down to take their frugal
+dinner.
+
+Here again, the raven was in a highly reflective state; walking up and
+down when he had dined, with an air of elderly complacency which was
+strongly suggestive of his having his hands under his coat-tails; and
+appearing to read the tombstones with a very critical taste. Sometimes,
+after a long inspection of an epitaph, he would strop his beak upon the
+grave to which it referred, and cry in his hoarse tones, 'I'm a devil,
+I'm a devil, I'm a devil!' but whether he addressed his observations to
+any supposed person below, or merely threw them off as a general remark,
+is matter of uncertainty.
+
+It was a quiet pretty spot, but a sad one for Barnaby's mother; for Mr
+Reuben Haredale lay there, and near the vault in which his ashes rested,
+was a stone to the memory of her own husband, with a brief inscription
+recording how and when he had lost his life. She sat here, thoughtful
+and apart, until their time was out, and the distant horn told that the
+coach was coming.
+
+Barnaby, who had been sleeping on the grass, sprung up quickly at the
+sound; and Grip, who appeared to understand it equally well, walked
+into his basket straightway, entreating society in general (as though
+he intended a kind of satire upon them in connection with churchyards)
+never to say die on any terms. They were soon on the coach-top and
+rolling along the road.
+
+It went round by the Maypole, and stopped at the door. Joe was from
+home, and Hugh came sluggishly out to hand up the parcel that it called
+for. There was no fear of old John coming out. They could see him from
+the coach-roof fast asleep in his cosy bar. It was a part of John's
+character. He made a point of going to sleep at the coach's time. He
+despised gadding about; he looked upon coaches as things that ought
+to be indicted; as disturbers of the peace of mankind; as restless,
+bustling, busy, horn-blowing contrivances, quite beneath the dignity of
+men, and only suited to giddy girls that did nothing but chatter and go
+a-shopping. 'We know nothing about coaches here, sir,' John would say,
+if any unlucky stranger made inquiry touching the offensive vehicles;
+'we don't book for 'em; we'd rather not; they're more trouble than
+they're worth, with their noise and rattle. If you like to wait for 'em
+you can; but we don't know anything about 'em; they may call and they
+may not--there's a carrier--he was looked upon as quite good enough for
+us, when I was a boy.'
+
+She dropped her veil as Hugh climbed up, and while he hung behind, and
+talked to Barnaby in whispers. But neither he nor any other person
+spoke to her, or noticed her, or had any curiosity about her; and so, an
+alien, she visited and left the village where she had been born, and had
+lived a merry child, a comely girl, a happy wife--where she had known
+all her enjoyment of life, and had entered on its hardest sorrows.
+
+
+
+Chapter 26
+
+
+'And you're not surprised to hear this, Varden?' said Mr Haredale.
+'Well! You and she have always been the best friends, and you should
+understand her if anybody does.'
+
+'I ask your pardon, sir,' rejoined the locksmith. 'I didn't say I
+understood her. I wouldn't have the presumption to say that of any
+woman. It's not so easily done. But I am not so much surprised, sir, as
+you expected me to be, certainly.'
+
+'May I ask why not, my good friend?'
+
+'I have seen, sir,' returned the locksmith with evident reluctance,
+'I have seen in connection with her, something that has filled me with
+distrust and uneasiness. She has made bad friends, how, or when, I don't
+know; but that her house is a refuge for one robber and cut-throat at
+least, I am certain. There, sir! Now it's out.'
+
+'Varden!'
+
+'My own eyes, sir, are my witnesses, and for her sake I would be
+willingly half-blind, if I could but have the pleasure of mistrusting
+'em. I have kept the secret till now, and it will go no further than
+yourself, I know; but I tell you that with my own eyes--broad awake--I
+saw, in the passage of her house one evening after dark, the highwayman
+who robbed and wounded Mr Edward Chester, and on the same night
+threatened me.'
+
+'And you made no effort to detain him?' said Mr Haredale quickly.
+
+'Sir,' returned the locksmith, 'she herself prevented me--held me, with
+all her strength, and hung about me until he had got clear off.' And
+having gone so far, he related circumstantially all that had passed upon
+the night in question.
+
+This dialogue was held in a low tone in the locksmith's little parlour,
+into which honest Gabriel had shown his visitor on his arrival. Mr
+Haredale had called upon him to entreat his company to the widow's, that
+he might have the assistance of his persuasion and influence; and out of
+this circumstance the conversation had arisen.
+
+'I forbore,' said Gabriel, 'from repeating one word of this to anybody,
+as it could do her no good and might do her great harm. I thought and
+hoped, to say the truth, that she would come to me, and talk to me about
+it, and tell me how it was; but though I have purposely put myself
+in her way more than once or twice, she has never touched upon the
+subject--except by a look. And indeed,' said the good-natured locksmith,
+'there was a good deal in the look, more than could have been put into a
+great many words. It said among other matters "Don't ask me anything"
+so imploringly, that I didn't ask her anything. You'll think me an old
+fool, I know, sir. If it's any relief to call me one, pray do.'
+
+'I am greatly disturbed by what you tell me,' said Mr Haredale, after a
+silence. 'What meaning do you attach to it?'
+
+The locksmith shook his head, and looked doubtfully out of window at the
+failing light.
+
+'She cannot have married again,' said Mr Haredale.
+
+'Not without our knowledge surely, sir.'
+
+'She may have done so, in the fear that it would lead, if known, to some
+objection or estrangement. Suppose she married incautiously--it is not
+improbable, for her existence has been a lonely and monotonous one for
+many years--and the man turned out a ruffian, she would be anxious to
+screen him, and yet would revolt from his crimes. This might be. It
+bears strongly on the whole drift of her discourse yesterday, and would
+quite explain her conduct. Do you suppose Barnaby is privy to these
+circumstances?'
+
+'Quite impossible to say, sir,' returned the locksmith, shaking his head
+again: 'and next to impossible to find out from him. If what you suppose
+is really the case, I tremble for the lad--a notable person, sir, to put
+to bad uses--'
+
+'It is not possible, Varden,' said Mr Haredale, in a still lower tone of
+voice than he had spoken yet, 'that we have been blinded and deceived by
+this woman from the beginning? It is not possible that this connection
+was formed in her husband's lifetime, and led to his and my brother's--'
+
+'Good God, sir,' cried Gabriel, interrupting him, 'don't entertain such
+dark thoughts for a moment. Five-and-twenty years ago, where was there a
+girl like her? A gay, handsome, laughing, bright-eyed damsel! Think what
+she was, sir. It makes my heart ache now, even now, though I'm an old
+man, with a woman for a daughter, to think what she was and what she is.
+We all change, but that's with Time; Time does his work honestly, and
+I don't mind him. A fig for Time, sir. Use him well, and he's a hearty
+fellow, and scorns to have you at a disadvantage. But care and suffering
+(and those have changed her) are devils, sir--secret, stealthy,
+undermining devils--who tread down the brightest flowers in Eden, and do
+more havoc in a month than Time does in a year. Picture to yourself for
+one minute what Mary was before they went to work with her fresh
+heart and face--do her that justice--and say whether such a thing is
+possible.'
+
+'You're a good fellow, Varden,' said Mr Haredale, 'and are quite right.
+I have brooded on that subject so long, that every breath of suspicion
+carries me back to it. You are quite right.'
+
+'It isn't, sir,' cried the locksmith with brightened eyes, and sturdy,
+honest voice; 'it isn't because I courted her before Rudge, and failed,
+that I say she was too good for him. She would have been as much too
+good for me. But she WAS too good for him; he wasn't free and frank
+enough for her. I don't reproach his memory with it, poor fellow; I only
+want to put her before you as she really was. For myself, I'll keep her
+old picture in my mind; and thinking of that, and what has altered her,
+I'll stand her friend, and try to win her back to peace. And damme,
+sir,' cried Gabriel, 'with your pardon for the word, I'd do the same if
+she had married fifty highwaymen in a twelvemonth; and think it in the
+Protestant Manual too, though Martha said it wasn't, tooth and nail,
+till doomsday!'
+
+If the dark little parlour had been filled with a dense fog, which,
+clearing away in an instant, left it all radiance and brightness, it
+could not have been more suddenly cheered than by this outbreak on the
+part of the hearty locksmith. In a voice nearly as full and round as his
+own, Mr Haredale cried 'Well said!' and bade him come away without more
+parley. The locksmith complied right willingly; and both getting into a
+hackney coach which was waiting at the door, drove off straightway.
+
+They alighted at the street corner, and dismissing their conveyance,
+walked to the house. To their first knock at the door there was no
+response. A second met with the like result. But in answer to the third,
+which was of a more vigorous kind, the parlour window-sash was gently
+raised, and a musical voice cried:
+
+'Haredale, my dear fellow, I am extremely glad to see you. How very much
+you have improved in your appearance since our last meeting! I never saw
+you looking better. HOW do you do?'
+
+Mr Haredale turned his eyes towards the casement whence the voice
+proceeded, though there was no need to do so, to recognise the speaker,
+and Mr Chester waved his hand, and smiled a courteous welcome.
+
+'The door will be opened immediately,' he said. 'There is nobody but
+a very dilapidated female to perform such offices. You will excuse her
+infirmities? If she were in a more elevated station of society, she
+would be gouty. Being but a hewer of wood and drawer of water, she
+is rheumatic. My dear Haredale, these are natural class distinctions,
+depend upon it.'
+
+Mr Haredale, whose face resumed its lowering and distrustful look the
+moment he heard the voice, inclined his head stiffly, and turned his
+back upon the speaker.
+
+'Not opened yet,' said Mr Chester. 'Dear me! I hope the aged soul has
+not caught her foot in some unlucky cobweb by the way. She is there at
+last! Come in, I beg!'
+
+Mr Haredale entered, followed by the locksmith. Turning with a look of
+great astonishment to the old woman who had opened the door, he inquired
+for Mrs Rudge--for Barnaby. They were both gone, she replied, wagging
+her ancient head, for good. There was a gentleman in the parlour, who
+perhaps could tell them more. That was all SHE knew.
+
+'Pray, sir,' said Mr Haredale, presenting himself before this new
+tenant, 'where is the person whom I came here to see?'
+
+'My dear friend,' he returned, 'I have not the least idea.'
+
+'Your trifling is ill-timed,' retorted the other in a suppressed tone
+and voice, 'and its subject ill-chosen. Reserve it for those who
+are your friends, and do not expend it on me. I lay no claim to the
+distinction, and have the self-denial to reject it.'
+
+'My dear, good sir,' said Mr Chester, 'you are heated with walking. Sit
+down, I beg. Our friend is--'
+
+'Is but a plain honest man,' returned Mr Haredale, 'and quite unworthy
+of your notice.'
+
+'Gabriel Varden by name, sir,' said the locksmith bluntly.
+
+'A worthy English yeoman!' said Mr Chester. 'A most worthy yeoman, of
+whom I have frequently heard my son Ned--darling fellow--speak, and have
+often wished to see. Varden, my good friend, I am glad to know you. You
+wonder now,' he said, turning languidly to Mr Haredale, 'to see me here.
+Now, I am sure you do.'
+
+Mr Haredale glanced at him--not fondly or admiringly--smiled, and held
+his peace.
+
+'The mystery is solved in a moment,' said Mr Chester; 'in a moment. Will
+you step aside with me one instant. You remember our little compact in
+reference to Ned, and your dear niece, Haredale? You remember the list
+of assistants in their innocent intrigue? You remember these two people
+being among them? My dear fellow, congratulate yourself, and me. I have
+bought them off.'
+
+'You have done what?' said Mr Haredale.
+
+'Bought them off,' returned his smiling friend. 'I have found it
+necessary to take some active steps towards setting this boy and girl
+attachment quite at rest, and have begun by removing these two agents.
+You are surprised? Who CAN withstand the influence of a little money!
+They wanted it, and have been bought off. We have nothing more to fear
+from them. They are gone.'
+
+'Gone!' echoed Mr Haredale. 'Where?'
+
+'My dear fellow--and you must permit me to say again, that you never
+looked so young; so positively boyish as you do to-night--the Lord knows
+where; I believe Columbus himself wouldn't find them. Between you and
+me they have their hidden reasons, but upon that point I have pledged
+myself to secrecy. She appointed to see you here to-night, I know, but
+found it inconvenient, and couldn't wait. Here is the key of the door.
+I am afraid you'll find it inconveniently large; but as the tenement is
+yours, your good-nature will excuse that, Haredale, I am certain!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 27
+
+
+Mr Haredale stood in the widow's parlour with the door-key in his hand,
+gazing by turns at Mr Chester and at Gabriel Varden, and occasionally
+glancing downward at the key as in the hope that of its own accord
+it would unlock the mystery; until Mr Chester, putting on his hat and
+gloves, and sweetly inquiring whether they were walking in the same
+direction, recalled him to himself.
+
+'No,' he said. 'Our roads diverge--widely, as you know. For the present,
+I shall remain here.'
+
+'You will be hipped, Haredale; you will be miserable, melancholy,
+utterly wretched,' returned the other. 'It's a place of the very last
+description for a man of your temper. I know it will make you very
+miserable.'
+
+'Let it,' said Mr Haredale, sitting down; 'and thrive upon the thought.
+Good night!'
+
+Feigning to be wholly unconscious of the abrupt wave of the hand which
+rendered this farewell tantamount to a dismissal, Mr Chester retorted
+with a bland and heartfelt benediction, and inquired of Gabriel in what
+direction HE was going.
+
+'Yours, sir, would be too much honour for the like of me,' replied the
+locksmith, hesitating.
+
+'I wish you to remain here a little while, Varden,' said Mr Haredale,
+without looking towards them. 'I have a word or two to say to you.'
+
+'I will not intrude upon your conference another moment,' said Mr
+Chester with inconceivable politeness. 'May it be satisfactory to you
+both! God bless you!' So saying, and bestowing upon the locksmith a most
+refulgent smile, he left them.
+
+'A deplorably constituted creature, that rugged person,' he said, as
+he walked along the street; 'he is an atrocity that carries its own
+punishment along with it--a bear that gnaws himself. And here is one
+of the inestimable advantages of having a perfect command over one's
+inclinations. I have been tempted in these two short interviews, to draw
+upon that fellow, fifty times. Five men in six would have yielded to the
+impulse. By suppressing mine, I wound him deeper and more keenly than if
+I were the best swordsman in all Europe, and he the worst. You are the
+wise man's very last resource,' he said, tapping the hilt of his weapon;
+'we can but appeal to you when all else is said and done. To come to you
+before, and thereby spare our adversaries so much, is a barbarian mode
+of warfare, quite unworthy of any man with the remotest pretensions to
+delicacy of feeling, or refinement.'
+
+He smiled so very pleasantly as he communed with himself after this
+manner, that a beggar was emboldened to follow for alms, and to dog
+his footsteps for some distance. He was gratified by the circumstance,
+feeling it complimentary to his power of feature, and as a reward
+suffered the man to follow him until he called a chair, when he
+graciously dismissed him with a fervent blessing.
+
+'Which is as easy as cursing,' he wisely added, as he took his seat,
+'and more becoming to the face.--To Clerkenwell, my good creatures, if
+you please!' The chairmen were rendered quite vivacious by having such a
+courteous burden, and to Clerkenwell they went at a fair round trot.
+
+Alighting at a certain point he had indicated to them upon the road, and
+paying them something less than they expected from a fare of such gentle
+speech, he turned into the street in which the locksmith dwelt, and
+presently stood beneath the shadow of the Golden Key. Mr Tappertit, who
+was hard at work by lamplight, in a corner of the workshop, remained
+unconscious of his presence until a hand upon his shoulder made him
+start and turn his head.
+
+'Industry,' said Mr Chester, 'is the soul of business, and the keystone
+of prosperity. Mr Tappertit, I shall expect you to invite me to dinner
+when you are Lord Mayor of London.'
+
+'Sir,' returned the 'prentice, laying down his hammer, and rubbing
+his nose on the back of a very sooty hand, 'I scorn the Lord Mayor and
+everything that belongs to him. We must have another state of society,
+sir, before you catch me being Lord Mayor. How de do, sir?'
+
+'The better, Mr Tappertit, for looking into your ingenuous face once
+more. I hope you are well.'
+
+'I am as well, sir,' said Sim, standing up to get nearer to his ear, and
+whispering hoarsely, 'as any man can be under the aggrawations to which
+I am exposed. My life's a burden to me. If it wasn't for wengeance, I'd
+play at pitch and toss with it on the losing hazard.'
+
+'Is Mrs Varden at home?' said Mr Chester.
+
+'Sir,' returned Sim, eyeing him over with a look of concentrated
+expression,--'she is. Did you wish to see her?'
+
+Mr Chester nodded.
+
+'Then come this way, sir,' said Sim, wiping his face upon his apron.
+'Follow me, sir.--Would you permit me to whisper in your ear, one half a
+second?'
+
+'By all means.'
+
+Mr Tappertit raised himself on tiptoe, applied his lips to Mr Chester's
+ear, drew back his head without saying anything, looked hard at
+him, applied them to his ear again, again drew back, and finally
+whispered--'The name is Joseph Willet. Hush! I say no more.'
+
+Having said that much, he beckoned the visitor with a mysterious aspect
+to follow him to the parlour-door, where he announced him in the voice
+of a gentleman-usher. 'Mr Chester.'
+
+'And not Mr Ed'dard, mind,' said Sim, looking into the door again, and
+adding this by way of postscript in his own person; 'it's his father.'
+
+'But do not let his father,' said Mr Chester, advancing hat in hand, as
+he observed the effect of this last explanatory announcement, 'do not
+let his father be any check or restraint on your domestic occupations,
+Miss Varden.'
+
+'Oh! Now! There! An't I always a-saying it!' exclaimed Miggs, clapping
+her hands. 'If he an't been and took Missis for her own daughter. Well,
+she DO look like it, that she do. Only think of that, mim!'
+
+'Is it possible,' said Mr Chester in his softest tones, 'that this is
+Mrs Varden! I am amazed. That is not your daughter, Mrs Varden? No, no.
+Your sister.'
+
+'My daughter, indeed, sir,' returned Mrs V., blushing with great
+juvenility.
+
+'Ah, Mrs Varden!' cried the visitor. 'Ah, ma'am--humanity is indeed a
+happy lot, when we can repeat ourselves in others, and still be young
+as they. You must allow me to salute you--the custom of the country, my
+dear madam--your daughter too.'
+
+Dolly showed some reluctance to perform this ceremony, but was sharply
+reproved by Mrs Varden, who insisted on her undergoing it that minute.
+For pride, she said with great severity, was one of the seven deadly
+sins, and humility and lowliness of heart were virtues. Wherefore she
+desired that Dolly would be kissed immediately, on pain of her just
+displeasure; at the same time giving her to understand that whatever
+she saw her mother do, she might safely do herself, without being at the
+trouble of any reasoning or reflection on the subject--which, indeed,
+was offensive and undutiful, and in direct contravention of the church
+catechism.
+
+Thus admonished, Dolly complied, though by no means willingly; for there
+was a broad, bold look of admiration in Mr Chester's face, refined and
+polished though it sought to be, which distressed her very much. As she
+stood with downcast eyes, not liking to look up and meet his, he gazed
+upon her with an approving air, and then turned to her mother.
+
+'My friend Gabriel (whose acquaintance I only made this very evening)
+should be a happy man, Mrs Varden.'
+
+'Ah!' sighed Mrs V., shaking her head.
+
+'Ah!' echoed Miggs.
+
+'Is that the case?' said Mr Chester, compassionately. 'Dear me!'
+
+'Master has no intentions, sir,' murmured Miggs as she sidled up to him,
+'but to be as grateful as his natur will let him, for everythink he owns
+which it is in his powers to appreciate. But we never, sir'--said Miggs,
+looking sideways at Mrs Varden, and interlarding her discourse with a
+sigh--'we never know the full value of SOME wines and fig-trees till we
+lose 'em. So much the worse, sir, for them as has the slighting of 'em
+on their consciences when they're gone to be in full blow elsewhere.'
+And Miss Miggs cast up her eyes to signify where that might be.
+
+As Mrs Varden distinctly heard, and was intended to hear, all that Miggs
+said, and as these words appeared to convey in metaphorical terms a
+presage or foreboding that she would at some early period droop beneath
+her trials and take an easy flight towards the stars, she immediately
+began to languish, and taking a volume of the Manual from a neighbouring
+table, leant her arm upon it as though she were Hope and that her
+Anchor. Mr Chester perceiving this, and seeing how the volume was
+lettered on the back, took it gently from her hand, and turned the
+fluttering leaves.
+
+'My favourite book, dear madam. How often, how very often in his early
+life--before he can remember'--(this clause was strictly true) 'have I
+deduced little easy moral lessons from its pages, for my dear son Ned!
+You know Ned?'
+
+Mrs Varden had that honour, and a fine affable young gentleman he was.
+
+'You're a mother, Mrs Varden,' said Mr Chester, taking a pinch of snuff,
+'and you know what I, as a father, feel, when he is praised. He gives me
+some uneasiness--much uneasiness--he's of a roving nature, ma'am--from
+flower to flower--from sweet to sweet--but his is the butterfly time of
+life, and we must not be hard upon such trifling.'
+
+He glanced at Dolly. She was attending evidently to what he said. Just
+what he desired!
+
+'The only thing I object to in this little trait of Ned's, is,' said Mr
+Chester, '--and the mention of his name reminds me, by the way, that I
+am about to beg the favour of a minute's talk with you alone--the only
+thing I object to in it, is, that it DOES partake of insincerity. Now,
+however I may attempt to disguise the fact from myself in my affection
+for Ned, still I always revert to this--that if we are not sincere, we
+are nothing. Nothing upon earth. Let us be sincere, my dear madam--'
+
+'--and Protestant,' murmured Mrs Varden.
+
+'--and Protestant above all things. Let us be sincere and Protestant,
+strictly moral, strictly just (though always with a leaning towards
+mercy), strictly honest, and strictly true, and we gain--it is a slight
+point, certainly, but still it is something tangible; we throw up a
+groundwork and foundation, so to speak, of goodness, on which we may
+afterwards erect some worthy superstructure.'
+
+Now, to be sure, Mrs Varden thought, here is a perfect character. Here
+is a meek, righteous, thoroughgoing Christian, who, having mastered all
+these qualities, so difficult of attainment; who, having dropped a pinch
+of salt on the tails of all the cardinal virtues, and caught them every
+one; makes light of their possession, and pants for more morality. For
+the good woman never doubted (as many good men and women never do), that
+this slighting kind of profession, this setting so little store by great
+matters, this seeming to say, 'I am not proud, I am what you hear, but I
+consider myself no better than other people; let us change the subject,
+pray'--was perfectly genuine and true. He so contrived it, and said
+it in that way that it appeared to have been forced from him, and its
+effect was marvellous.
+
+Aware of the impression he had made--few men were quicker than he at
+such discoveries--Mr Chester followed up the blow by propounding certain
+virtuous maxims, somewhat vague and general in their nature, doubtless,
+and occasionally partaking of the character of truisms, worn a little
+out at elbow, but delivered in so charming a voice and with such
+uncommon serenity and peace of mind, that they answered as well as the
+best. Nor is this to be wondered at; for as hollow vessels produce a far
+more musical sound in falling than those which are substantial, so it
+will oftentimes be found that sentiments which have nothing in them make
+the loudest ringing in the world, and are the most relished.
+
+Mr Chester, with the volume gently extended in one hand, and with
+the other planted lightly on his breast, talked to them in the most
+delicious manner possible; and quite enchanted all his hearers,
+notwithstanding their conflicting interests and thoughts. Even Dolly,
+who, between his keen regards and her eyeing over by Mr Tappertit, was
+put quite out of countenance, could not help owning within herself that
+he was the sweetest-spoken gentleman she had ever seen. Even Miss Miggs,
+who was divided between admiration of Mr Chester and a mortal jealousy
+of her young mistress, had sufficient leisure to be propitiated. Even
+Mr Tappertit, though occupied as we have seen in gazing at his heart's
+delight, could not wholly divert his thoughts from the voice of the
+other charmer. Mrs Varden, to her own private thinking, had never been
+so improved in all her life; and when Mr Chester, rising and craving
+permission to speak with her apart, took her by the hand and led her at
+arm's length upstairs to the best sitting-room, she almost deemed him
+something more than human.
+
+'Dear madam,' he said, pressing her hand delicately to his lips; 'be
+seated.'
+
+Mrs Varden called up quite a courtly air, and became seated.
+
+'You guess my object?' said Mr Chester, drawing a chair towards her.
+'You divine my purpose? I am an affectionate parent, my dear Mrs
+Varden.'
+
+'That I am sure you are, sir,' said Mrs V.
+
+'Thank you,' returned Mr Chester, tapping his snuff-box lid. 'Heavy
+moral responsibilities rest with parents, Mrs Varden.'
+
+Mrs Varden slightly raised her hands, shook her head, and looked at the
+ground as though she saw straight through the globe, out at the other
+end, and into the immensity of space beyond.
+
+'I may confide in you,' said Mr Chester, 'without reserve. I love
+my son, ma'am, dearly; and loving him as I do, I would save him from
+working certain misery. You know of his attachment to Miss Haredale.
+You have abetted him in it, and very kind of you it was to do so. I am
+deeply obliged to you--most deeply obliged to you--for your interest in
+his behalf; but my dear ma'am, it is a mistaken one, I do assure you.'
+
+Mrs Varden stammered that she was sorry--
+
+'Sorry, my dear ma'am,' he interposed. 'Never be sorry for what is so
+very amiable, so very good in intention, so perfectly like yourself. But
+there are grave and weighty reasons, pressing family considerations, and
+apart even from these, points of religious difference, which interpose
+themselves, and render their union impossible; utterly im-possible.
+I should have mentioned these circumstances to your husband; but he
+has--you will excuse my saying this so freely--he has NOT your quickness
+of apprehension or depth of moral sense. What an extremely airy house
+this is, and how beautifully kept! For one like myself--a widower so
+long--these tokens of female care and superintendence have inexpressible
+charms.'
+
+Mrs Varden began to think (she scarcely knew why) that the young Mr
+Chester must be in the wrong and the old Mr Chester must be in the
+right.
+
+'My son Ned,' resumed her tempter with his most winning air, 'has had, I
+am told, your lovely daughter's aid, and your open-hearted husband's.'
+
+'--Much more than mine, sir,' said Mrs Varden; 'a great deal more. I
+have often had my doubts. It's a--'
+
+'A bad example,' suggested Mr Chester. 'It is. No doubt it is. Your
+daughter is at that age when to set before her an encouragement for
+young persons to rebel against their parents on this most important
+point, is particularly injudicious. You are quite right. I ought to have
+thought of that myself, but it escaped me, I confess--so far superior
+are your sex to ours, dear madam, in point of penetration and sagacity.'
+
+Mrs Varden looked as wise as if she had really said something to deserve
+this compliment--firmly believed she had, in short--and her faith in her
+own shrewdness increased considerably.
+
+'My dear ma'am,' said Mr Chester, 'you embolden me to be plain with
+you. My son and I are at variance on this point. The young lady and her
+natural guardian differ upon it, also. And the closing point is, that my
+son is bound by his duty to me, by his honour, by every solemn tie and
+obligation, to marry some one else.'
+
+'Engaged to marry another lady!' quoth Mrs Varden, holding up her hands.
+
+'My dear madam, brought up, educated, and trained, expressly for that
+purpose. Expressly for that purpose.--Miss Haredale, I am told, is a
+very charming creature.'
+
+'I am her foster-mother, and should know--the best young lady in the
+world,' said Mrs Varden.
+
+'I have not the smallest doubt of it. I am sure she is. And you, who
+have stood in that tender relation towards her, are bound to consult her
+happiness. Now, can I--as I have said to Haredale, who quite agrees--can
+I possibly stand by, and suffer her to throw herself away (although she
+IS of a Catholic family), upon a young fellow who, as yet, has no heart
+at all? It is no imputation upon him to say he has not, because young
+men who have plunged deeply into the frivolities and conventionalities
+of society, very seldom have. Their hearts never grow, my dear ma'am,
+till after thirty. I don't believe, no, I do NOT believe, that I had any
+heart myself when I was Ned's age.'
+
+'Oh sir,' said Mrs Varden, 'I think you must have had. It's impossible
+that you, who have so much now, can ever have been without any.'
+
+'I hope,' he answered, shrugging his shoulders meekly, 'I have a little;
+I hope, a very little--Heaven knows! But to return to Ned; I have no
+doubt you thought, and therefore interfered benevolently in his behalf,
+that I objected to Miss Haredale. How very natural! My dear madam, I
+object to him--to him--emphatically to Ned himself.'
+
+Mrs Varden was perfectly aghast at the disclosure.
+
+'He has, if he honourably fulfils this solemn obligation of which I have
+told you--and he must be honourable, dear Mrs Varden, or he is no son
+of mine--a fortune within his reach. He is of most expensive, ruinously
+expensive habits; and if, in a moment of caprice and wilfulness, he
+were to marry this young lady, and so deprive himself of the means
+of gratifying the tastes to which he has been so long accustomed, he
+would--my dear madam, he would break the gentle creature's heart. Mrs
+Varden, my good lady, my dear soul, I put it to you--is such a sacrifice
+to be endured? Is the female heart a thing to be trifled with in this
+way? Ask your own, my dear madam. Ask your own, I beseech you.'
+
+'Truly,' thought Mrs Varden, 'this gentleman is a saint. But,' she added
+aloud, and not unnaturally, 'if you take Miss Emma's lover away, sir,
+what becomes of the poor thing's heart then?'
+
+'The very point,' said Mr Chester, not at all abashed, 'to which I
+wished to lead you. A marriage with my son, whom I should be compelled
+to disown, would be followed by years of misery; they would be
+separated, my dear madam, in a twelvemonth. To break off this
+attachment, which is more fancied than real, as you and I know very
+well, will cost the dear girl but a few tears, and she is happy again.
+Take the case of your own daughter, the young lady downstairs, who is
+your breathing image'--Mrs Varden coughed and simpered--'there is a
+young man (I am sorry to say, a dissolute fellow, of very
+indifferent character) of whom I have heard Ned speak--Bullet was
+it--Pullet--Mullet--'
+
+'There is a young man of the name of Joseph Willet, sir,' said Mrs
+Varden, folding her hands loftily.
+
+'That's he,' cried Mr Chester. 'Suppose this Joseph Willet now, were to
+aspire to the affections of your charming daughter, and were to engage
+them.'
+
+'It would be like his impudence,' interposed Mrs Varden, bridling, 'to
+dare to think of such a thing!'
+
+'My dear madam, that's the whole case. I know it would be like his
+impudence. It is like Ned's impudence to do as he has done; but you
+would not on that account, or because of a few tears from your beautiful
+daughter, refrain from checking their inclinations in their birth. I
+meant to have reasoned thus with your husband when I saw him at Mrs
+Rudge's this evening--'
+
+'My husband,' said Mrs Varden, interposing with emotion, 'would be a
+great deal better at home than going to Mrs Rudge's so often. I don't
+know what he does there. I don't see what occasion he has to busy
+himself in her affairs at all, sir.'
+
+'If I don't appear to express my concurrence in those last sentiments of
+yours,' returned Mr Chester, 'quite so strongly as you might desire,
+it is because his being there, my dear madam, and not proving
+conversational, led me hither, and procured me the happiness of
+this interview with one, in whom the whole management, conduct, and
+prosperity of her family are centred, I perceive.'
+
+With that he took Mrs Varden's hand again, and having pressed it to his
+lips with the highflown gallantry of the day--a little burlesqued
+to render it the more striking in the good lady's unaccustomed
+eyes--proceeded in the same strain of mingled sophistry, cajolery,
+and flattery, to entreat that her utmost influence might be exerted to
+restrain her husband and daughter from any further promotion of Edward's
+suit to Miss Haredale, and from aiding or abetting either party in any
+way. Mrs Varden was but a woman, and had her share of vanity, obstinacy,
+and love of power. She entered into a secret treaty of alliance,
+offensive and defensive, with her insinuating visitor; and really did
+believe, as many others would have done who saw and heard him, that in
+so doing she furthered the ends of truth, justice, and morality, in a
+very uncommon degree.
+
+Overjoyed by the success of his negotiation, and mightily amused within
+himself, Mr Chester conducted her downstairs in the same state as
+before; and having repeated the previous ceremony of salutation, which
+also as before comprehended Dolly, took his leave; first completing the
+conquest of Miss Miggs's heart, by inquiring if 'this young lady' would
+light him to the door.
+
+'Oh, mim,' said Miggs, returning with the candle. 'Oh gracious me, mim,
+there's a gentleman! Was there ever such an angel to talk as he is--and
+such a sweet-looking man! So upright and noble, that he seems to despise
+the very ground he walks on; and yet so mild and condescending, that
+he seems to say "but I will take notice on it too." And to think of
+his taking you for Miss Dolly, and Miss Dolly for your sister--Oh, my
+goodness me, if I was master wouldn't I be jealous of him!'
+
+Mrs Varden reproved her handmaid for this vain-speaking; but very gently
+and mildly--quite smilingly indeed--remarking that she was a foolish,
+giddy, light-headed girl, whose spirits carried her beyond all bounds,
+and who didn't mean half she said, or she would be quite angry with her.
+
+'For my part,' said Dolly, in a thoughtful manner, 'I half believe Mr
+Chester is something like Miggs in that respect. For all his politeness
+and pleasant speaking, I am pretty sure he was making game of us, more
+than once.'
+
+'If you venture to say such a thing again, and to speak ill of people
+behind their backs in my presence, miss,' said Mrs Varden, 'I shall
+insist upon your taking a candle and going to bed directly. How dare
+you, Dolly? I'm astonished at you. The rudeness of your whole behaviour
+this evening has been disgraceful. Did anybody ever hear,' cried the
+enraged matron, bursting into tears, 'of a daughter telling her own
+mother she has been made game of!'
+
+What a very uncertain temper Mrs Varden's was!
+
+
+
+Chapter 28
+
+
+Repairing to a noted coffee-house in Covent Garden when he left the
+locksmith's, Mr Chester sat long over a late dinner, entertaining
+himself exceedingly with the whimsical recollection of his recent
+proceedings, and congratulating himself very much on his great
+cleverness. Influenced by these thoughts, his face wore an expression
+so benign and tranquil, that the waiter in immediate attendance upon him
+felt he could almost have died in his defence, and settled in his own
+mind (until the receipt of the bill, and a very small fee for very great
+trouble disabused it of the idea) that such an apostolic customer was
+worth half-a-dozen of the ordinary run of visitors, at least.
+
+A visit to the gaming-table--not as a heated, anxious venturer, but
+one whom it was quite a treat to see staking his two or three pieces in
+deference to the follies of society, and smiling with equal benevolence
+on winners and losers--made it late before he reached home. It was his
+custom to bid his servant go to bed at his own time unless he had orders
+to the contrary, and to leave a candle on the common stair. There was a
+lamp on the landing by which he could always light it when he came home
+late, and having a key of the door about him he could enter and go to
+bed at his pleasure.
+
+He opened the glass of the dull lamp, whose wick, burnt up and swollen
+like a drunkard's nose, came flying off in little carbuncles at the
+candle's touch, and scattering hot sparks about, rendered it matter
+of some difficulty to kindle the lazy taper; when a noise, as of a man
+snoring deeply some steps higher up, caused him to pause and listen.
+It was the heavy breathing of a sleeper, close at hand. Some fellow
+had lain down on the open staircase, and was slumbering soundly.
+Having lighted the candle at length and opened his own door, he softly
+ascended, holding the taper high above his head, and peering cautiously
+about; curious to see what kind of man had chosen so comfortless a
+shelter for his lodging.
+
+With his head upon the landing and his great limbs flung over
+half-a-dozen stairs, as carelessly as though he were a dead man
+whom drunken bearers had thrown down by chance, there lay Hugh, face
+uppermost, his long hair drooping like some wild weed upon his wooden
+pillow, and his huge chest heaving with the sounds which so unwontedly
+disturbed the place and hour.
+
+He who came upon him so unexpectedly was about to break his rest by
+thrusting him with his foot, when, glancing at his upturned face, he
+arrested himself in the very action, and stooping down and shading the
+candle with his hand, examined his features closely. Close as his first
+inspection was, it did not suffice, for he passed the light, still
+carefully shaded as before, across and across his face, and yet observed
+him with a searching eye.
+
+While he was thus engaged, the sleeper, without any starting or turning
+round, awoke. There was a kind of fascination in meeting his steady gaze
+so suddenly, which took from the other the presence of mind to withdraw
+his eyes, and forced him, as it were, to meet his look. So they remained
+staring at each other, until Mr Chester at last broke silence, and asked
+him in a low voice, why he lay sleeping there.
+
+'I thought,' said Hugh, struggling into a sitting posture and gazing at
+him intently, still, 'that you were a part of my dream. It was a curious
+one. I hope it may never come true, master.'
+
+'What makes you shiver?'
+
+'The--the cold, I suppose,' he growled, as he shook himself and rose. 'I
+hardly know where I am yet.'
+
+'Do you know me?' said Mr Chester.
+
+'Ay, I know you,' he answered. 'I was dreaming of you--we're not where I
+thought we were. That's a comfort.'
+
+He looked round him as he spoke, and in particular looked above his
+head, as though he half expected to be standing under some object
+which had had existence in his dream. Then he rubbed his eyes and shook
+himself again, and followed his conductor into his own rooms.
+
+Mr Chester lighted the candles which stood upon his dressing-table, and
+wheeling an easy-chair towards the fire, which was yet burning, stirred
+up a cheerful blaze, sat down before it, and bade his uncouth visitor
+'Come here,' and draw his boots off.
+
+'You have been drinking again, my fine fellow,' he said, as Hugh went
+down on one knee, and did as he was told.
+
+'As I'm alive, master, I've walked the twelve long miles, and waited
+here I don't know how long, and had no drink between my lips since
+dinner-time at noon.'
+
+'And can you do nothing better, my pleasant friend, than fall asleep,
+and shake the very building with your snores?' said Mr Chester. 'Can't
+you dream in your straw at home, dull dog as you are, that you need come
+here to do it?--Reach me those slippers, and tread softly.'
+
+Hugh obeyed in silence.
+
+'And harkee, my dear young gentleman,' said Mr Chester, as he put them
+on, 'the next time you dream, don't let it be of me, but of some dog or
+horse with whom you are better acquainted. Fill the glass once--you'll
+find it and the bottle in the same place--and empty it to keep yourself
+awake.'
+
+Hugh obeyed again even more zealously--and having done so, presented
+himself before his patron.
+
+'Now,' said Mr Chester, 'what do you want with me?'
+
+'There was news to-day,' returned Hugh. 'Your son was at our house--came
+down on horseback. He tried to see the young woman, but couldn't get
+sight of her. He left some letter or some message which our Joe had
+charge of, but he and the old one quarrelled about it when your son had
+gone, and the old one wouldn't let it be delivered. He says (that's the
+old one does) that none of his people shall interfere and get him into
+trouble. He's a landlord, he says, and lives on everybody's custom.'
+
+'He's a jewel,' smiled Mr Chester, 'and the better for being a dull
+one.--Well?'
+
+'Varden's daughter--that's the girl I kissed--'
+
+'--and stole the bracelet from upon the king's highway,' said Mr
+Chester, composedly. 'Yes; what of her?'
+
+'She wrote a note at our house to the young woman, saying she lost the
+letter I brought to you, and you burnt. Our Joe was to carry it, but
+the old one kept him at home all next day, on purpose that he shouldn't.
+Next morning he gave it to me to take; and here it is.'
+
+'You didn't deliver it then, my good friend?' said Mr Chester, twirling
+Dolly's note between his finger and thumb, and feigning to be surprised.
+
+'I supposed you'd want to have it,' retorted Hugh. 'Burn one, burn all,
+I thought.'
+
+'My devil-may-care acquaintance,' said Mr Chester--'really if you do not
+draw some nicer distinctions, your career will be cut short with most
+surprising suddenness. Don't you know that the letter you brought to
+me, was directed to my son who resides in this very place? And can you
+descry no difference between his letters and those addressed to other
+people?'
+
+'If you don't want it,' said Hugh, disconcerted by this reproof, for he
+had expected high praise, 'give it me back, and I'll deliver it. I don't
+know how to please you, master.'
+
+'I shall deliver it,' returned his patron, putting it away after a
+moment's consideration, 'myself. Does the young lady walk out, on fine
+mornings?'
+
+'Mostly--about noon is her usual time.'
+
+'Alone?'
+
+'Yes, alone.'
+
+'Where?'
+
+'In the grounds before the house.--Them that the footpath crosses.'
+
+'If the weather should be fine, I may throw myself in her way to-morrow,
+perhaps,' said Mr Chester, as coolly as if she were one of his ordinary
+acquaintance. 'Mr Hugh, if I should ride up to the Maypole door, you
+will do me the favour only to have seen me once. You must suppress your
+gratitude, and endeavour to forget my forbearance in the matter of the
+bracelet. It is natural it should break out, and it does you honour; but
+when other folks are by, you must, for your own sake and safety, be as
+like your usual self as though you owed me no obligation whatever, and
+had never stood within these walls. You comprehend me?'
+
+Hugh understood him perfectly. After a pause he muttered that he hoped
+his patron would involve him in no trouble about this last letter;
+for he had kept it back solely with the view of pleasing him. He was
+continuing in this strain, when Mr Chester with a most beneficent and
+patronising air cut him short by saying:
+
+'My good fellow, you have my promise, my word, my sealed bond (for a
+verbal pledge with me is quite as good), that I will always protect you
+so long as you deserve it. Now, do set your mind at rest. Keep it at
+ease, I beg of you. When a man puts himself in my power so thoroughly as
+you have done, I really feel as though he had a kind of claim upon me. I
+am more disposed to mercy and forbearance under such circumstances
+than I can tell you, Hugh. Do look upon me as your protector, and rest
+assured, I entreat you, that on the subject of that indiscretion, you
+may preserve, as long as you and I are friends, the lightest heart that
+ever beat within a human breast. Fill that glass once more to cheer you
+on your road homewards--I am really quite ashamed to think how far you
+have to go--and then God bless you for the night.'
+
+'They think,' said Hugh, when he had tossed the liquor down, 'that I am
+sleeping soundly in the stable. Ha ha ha! The stable door is shut, but
+the steed's gone, master.'
+
+'You are a most convivial fellow,' returned his friend, 'and I love your
+humour of all things. Good night! Take the greatest possible care of
+yourself, for my sake!'
+
+It was remarkable that during the whole interview, each had endeavoured
+to catch stolen glances of the other's face, and had never looked full
+at it. They interchanged one brief and hasty glance as Hugh went out,
+averted their eyes directly, and so separated. Hugh closed the double
+doors behind him, carefully and without noise; and Mr Chester remained
+in his easy-chair, with his gaze intently fixed upon the fire.
+
+'Well!' he said, after meditating for a long time--and said with a deep
+sigh and an uneasy shifting of his attitude, as though he dismissed some
+other subject from his thoughts, and returned to that which had held
+possession of them all the day--'the plot thickens; I have thrown the
+shell; it will explode, I think, in eight-and-forty hours, and should
+scatter these good folks amazingly. We shall see!'
+
+He went to bed and fell asleep, but had not slept long when he started
+up and thought that Hugh was at the outer door, calling in a strange
+voice, very different from his own, to be admitted. The delusion was so
+strong upon him, and was so full of that vague terror of the night
+in which such visions have their being, that he rose, and taking his
+sheathed sword in his hand, opened the door, and looked out upon the
+staircase, and towards the spot where Hugh had lain asleep; and even
+spoke to him by name. But all was dark and quiet, and creeping back
+to bed again, he fell, after an hour's uneasy watching, into a second
+sleep, and woke no more till morning.
+
+
+
+Chapter 29
+
+
+The thoughts of worldly men are for ever regulated by a moral law of
+gravitation, which, like the physical one, holds them down to earth. The
+bright glory of day, and the silent wonders of a starlit night, appeal
+to their minds in vain. There are no signs in the sun, or in the moon,
+or in the stars, for their reading. They are like some wise men, who,
+learning to know each planet by its Latin name, have quite forgotten
+such small heavenly constellations as Charity, Forbearance, Universal
+Love, and Mercy, although they shine by night and day so brightly that
+the blind may see them; and who, looking upward at the spangled sky,
+see nothing there but the reflection of their own great wisdom and
+book-learning.
+
+It is curious to imagine these people of the world, busy in thought,
+turning their eyes towards the countless spheres that shine above us,
+and making them reflect the only images their minds contain. The man who
+lives but in the breath of princes, has nothing in his sight but stars for
+courtiers' breasts. The envious man beholds his neighbours' honours
+even in the sky; to the money-hoarder, and the mass of worldly folk, the
+whole great universe above glitters with sterling coin--fresh from the
+mint--stamped with the sovereign's head--coming always between them and
+heaven, turn where they may. So do the shadows of our own desires stand
+between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.
+
+Everything was fresh and gay, as though the world were but that morning
+made, when Mr Chester rode at a tranquil pace along the Forest road.
+Though early in the season, it was warm and genial weather; the trees
+were budding into leaf, the hedges and the grass were green, the air was
+musical with songs of birds, and high above them all the lark poured
+out her richest melody. In shady spots, the morning dew sparkled on
+each young leaf and blade of grass; and where the sun was shining, some
+diamond drops yet glistened brightly, as in unwillingness to leave so
+fair a world, and have such brief existence. Even the light wind, whose
+rustling was as gentle to the ear as softly-falling water, had its hope
+and promise; and, leaving a pleasant fragrance in its track as it went
+fluttering by, whispered of its intercourse with Summer, and of his
+happy coming.
+
+The solitary rider went glancing on among the trees, from sunlight
+into shade and back again, at the same even pace--looking about him,
+certainly, from time to time, but with no greater thought of the day
+or the scene through which he moved, than that he was fortunate (being
+choicely dressed) to have such favourable weather. He smiled very
+complacently at such times, but rather as if he were satisfied with
+himself than with anything else: and so went riding on, upon his
+chestnut cob, as pleasant to look upon as his own horse, and probably
+far less sensitive to the many cheerful influences by which he was
+surrounded.
+
+In the course of time, the Maypole's massive chimneys rose upon his
+view: but he quickened not his pace one jot, and with the same cool
+gravity rode up to the tavern porch. John Willet, who was toasting
+his red face before a great fire in the bar, and who, with surpassing
+foresight and quickness of apprehension, had been thinking, as he looked
+at the blue sky, that if that state of things lasted much longer, it
+might ultimately become necessary to leave off fires and throw the
+windows open, issued forth to hold his stirrup; calling lustily for
+Hugh.
+
+'Oh, you're here, are you, sir?' said John, rather surprised by the
+quickness with which he appeared. 'Take this here valuable animal into
+the stable, and have more than particular care of him if you want to
+keep your place. A mortal lazy fellow, sir; he needs a deal of looking
+after.'
+
+'But you have a son,' returned Mr Chester, giving his bridle to Hugh as
+he dismounted, and acknowledging his salute by a careless motion of his
+hand towards his hat. 'Why don't you make HIM useful?'
+
+'Why, the truth is, sir,' replied John with great importance, 'that my
+son--what, you're a-listening are you, villain?'
+
+'Who's listening?' returned Hugh angrily. 'A treat, indeed, to hear YOU
+speak! Would you have me take him in till he's cool?'
+
+'Walk him up and down further off then, sir,' cried old John, 'and when
+you see me and a noble gentleman entertaining ourselves with talk, keep
+your distance. If you don't know your distance, sir,' added Mr Willet,
+after an enormously long pause, during which he fixed his great dull
+eyes on Hugh, and waited with exemplary patience for any little property
+in the way of ideas that might come to him, 'we'll find a way to teach
+you, pretty soon.'
+
+Hugh shrugged his shoulders scornfully, and in his reckless swaggering
+way, crossed to the other side of the little green, and there, with
+the bridle slung loosely over his shoulder, led the horse to and fro,
+glancing at his master every now and then from under his bushy eyebrows,
+with as sinister an aspect as one would desire to see.
+
+Mr Chester, who, without appearing to do so, had eyed him attentively
+during this brief dispute, stepped into the porch, and turning abruptly
+to Mr Willet, said,
+
+'You keep strange servants, John.'
+
+'Strange enough to look at, sir, certainly,' answered the host; 'but out
+of doors; for horses, dogs, and the likes of that; there an't a better
+man in England than is that Maypole Hugh yonder. He an't fit for
+indoors,' added Mr Willet, with the confidential air of a man who felt
+his own superior nature. 'I do that; but if that chap had only a little
+imagination, sir--'
+
+'He's an active fellow now, I dare swear,' said Mr Chester, in a musing
+tone, which seemed to suggest that he would have said the same had there
+been nobody to hear him.
+
+'Active, sir!' retorted John, with quite an expression in his face;
+'that chap! Hallo there! You, sir! Bring that horse here, and go and
+hang my wig on the weathercock, to show this gentleman whether you're
+one of the lively sort or not.'
+
+Hugh made no answer, but throwing the bridle to his master, and
+snatching his wig from his head, in a manner so unceremonious and hasty
+that the action discomposed Mr Willet not a little, though performed at
+his own special desire, climbed nimbly to the very summit of the maypole
+before the house, and hanging the wig upon the weathercock, sent it
+twirling round like a roasting jack. Having achieved this performance,
+he cast it on the ground, and sliding down the pole with inconceivable
+rapidity, alighted on his feet almost as soon as it had touched the
+earth.
+
+'There, sir,' said John, relapsing into his usual stolid state, 'you
+won't see that at many houses, besides the Maypole, where there's good
+accommodation for man and beast--nor that neither, though that with him
+is nothing.'
+
+This last remark bore reference to his vaulting on horseback, as upon Mr
+Chester's first visit, and quickly disappearing by the stable gate.
+
+'That with him is nothing,' repeated Mr Willet, brushing his wig with
+his wrist, and inwardly resolving to distribute a small charge for dust
+and damage to that article of dress, through the various items of his
+guest's bill; 'he'll get out of a'most any winder in the house. There
+never was such a chap for flinging himself about and never hurting his
+bones. It's my opinion, sir, that it's pretty nearly allowing to his
+not having any imagination; and that if imagination could be (which it
+can't) knocked into him, he'd never be able to do it any more. But we
+was a-talking, sir, about my son.'
+
+'True, Willet, true,' said his visitor, turning again towards the
+landlord with his accustomed serenity of face. 'My good friend, what
+about him?'
+
+It has been reported that Mr Willet, previously to making answer,
+winked. But as he was never known to be guilty of such lightness of
+conduct either before or afterwards, this may be looked upon as
+a malicious invention of his enemies--founded, perhaps, upon the
+undisputed circumstance of his taking his guest by the third breast
+button of his coat, counting downwards from the chin, and pouring his
+reply into his ear:
+
+'Sir,' whispered John, with dignity, 'I know my duty. We want no
+love-making here, sir, unbeknown to parents. I respect a certain young
+gentleman, taking him in the light of a young gentleman; I respect a
+certain young lady, taking her in the light of a young lady; but of the
+two as a couple, I have no knowledge, sir, none whatever. My son, sir,
+is upon his patrole.'
+
+'I thought I saw him looking through the corner window but this moment,'
+said Mr Chester, who naturally thought that being on patrole, implied
+walking about somewhere.
+
+'No doubt you did, sir,' returned John. 'He is upon his patrole of
+honour, sir, not to leave the premises. Me and some friends of mine that
+use the Maypole of an evening, sir, considered what was best to be done
+with him, to prevent his doing anything unpleasant in opposing your
+desires; and we've put him on his patrole. And what's more, sir, he
+won't be off his patrole for a pretty long time to come, I can tell you
+that.'
+
+When he had communicated this bright idea, which had its origin in the
+perusal by the village cronies of a newspaper, containing, among other
+matters, an account of how some officer pending the sentence of some
+court-martial had been enlarged on parole, Mr Willet drew back from his
+guest's ear, and without any visible alteration of feature, chuckled
+thrice audibly. This nearest approach to a laugh in which he ever
+indulged (and that but seldom and only on extreme occasions), never even
+curled his lip or effected the smallest change in--no, not so much as a
+slight wagging of--his great, fat, double chin, which at these times, as
+at all others, remained a perfect desert in the broad map of his face;
+one changeless, dull, tremendous blank.
+
+Lest it should be matter of surprise to any, that Mr Willet adopted this
+bold course in opposition to one whom he had often entertained, and who
+had always paid his way at the Maypole gallantly, it may be remarked
+that it was his very penetration and sagacity in this respect, which
+occasioned him to indulge in those unusual demonstrations of jocularity,
+just now recorded. For Mr Willet, after carefully balancing father and
+son in his mental scales, had arrived at the distinct conclusion that
+the old gentleman was a better sort of a customer than the young one.
+Throwing his landlord into the same scale, which was already turned by
+this consideration, and heaping upon him, again, his strong desires
+to run counter to the unfortunate Joe, and his opposition as a general
+principle to all matters of love and matrimony, it went down to the very
+ground straightway, and sent the light cause of the younger gentleman
+flying upwards to the ceiling. Mr Chester was not the kind of man to be
+by any means dim-sighted to Mr Willet's motives, but he thanked him as
+graciously as if he had been one of the most disinterested martyrs that
+ever shone on earth; and leaving him, with many complimentary reliances
+on his great taste and judgment, to prepare whatever dinner he might
+deem most fitting the occasion, bent his steps towards the Warren.
+
+Dressed with more than his usual elegance; assuming a gracefulness of
+manner, which, though it was the result of long study, sat easily upon
+him and became him well; composing his features into their most serene
+and prepossessing expression; and setting in short that guard upon
+himself, at every point, which denoted that he attached no slight
+importance to the impression he was about to make; he entered the bounds
+of Miss Haredale's usual walk. He had not gone far, or looked about him
+long, when he descried coming towards him, a female figure. A glimpse
+of the form and dress as she crossed a little wooden bridge which lay
+between them, satisfied him that he had found her whom he desired to
+see. He threw himself in her way, and a very few paces brought them
+close together.
+
+He raised his hat from his head, and yielding the path, suffered her to
+pass him. Then, as if the idea had but that moment occurred to him, he
+turned hastily back and said in an agitated voice:
+
+'I beg pardon--do I address Miss Haredale?'
+
+She stopped in some confusion at being so unexpectedly accosted by a
+stranger; and answered 'Yes.'
+
+'Something told me,' he said, LOOKING a compliment to her beauty, 'that
+it could be no other. Miss Haredale, I bear a name which is not unknown
+to you--which it is a pride, and yet a pain to me to know, sounds
+pleasantly in your ears. I am a man advanced in life, as you see. I am
+the father of him whom you honour and distinguish above all other
+men. May I for weighty reasons which fill me with distress, beg but a
+minute's conversation with you here?'
+
+Who that was inexperienced in deceit, and had a frank and youthful
+heart, could doubt the speaker's truth--could doubt it too, when the
+voice that spoke, was like the faint echo of one she knew so well, and
+so much loved to hear? She inclined her head, and stopping, cast her
+eyes upon the ground.
+
+'A little more apart--among these trees. It is an old man's hand, Miss
+Haredale; an honest one, believe me.'
+
+She put hers in it as he said these words, and suffered him to lead her
+to a neighbouring seat.
+
+'You alarm me, sir,' she said in a low voice. 'You are not the bearer of
+any ill news, I hope?'
+
+'Of none that you anticipate,' he answered, sitting down beside her.
+'Edward is well--quite well. It is of him I wish to speak, certainly;
+but I have no misfortune to communicate.'
+
+She bowed her head again, and made as though she would have begged him
+to proceed; but said nothing.
+
+'I am sensible that I speak to you at a disadvantage, dear Miss
+Haredale. Believe me that I am not so forgetful of the feelings of my
+younger days as not to know that you are little disposed to view me
+with favour. You have heard me described as cold-hearted, calculating,
+selfish--'
+
+'I have never, sir,'--she interposed with an altered manner and a firmer
+voice; 'I have never heard you spoken of in harsh or disrespectful
+terms. You do a great wrong to Edward's nature if you believe him
+capable of any mean or base proceeding.'
+
+'Pardon me, my sweet young lady, but your uncle--'
+
+'Nor is it my uncle's nature either,' she replied, with a heightened
+colour in her cheek. 'It is not his nature to stab in the dark, nor is
+it mine to love such deeds.'
+
+She rose as she spoke, and would have left him; but he detained her with
+a gentle hand, and besought her in such persuasive accents to hear him
+but another minute, that she was easily prevailed upon to comply, and so
+sat down again.
+
+'And it is,' said Mr Chester, looking upward, and apostrophising the
+air; 'it is this frank, ingenuous, noble nature, Ned, that you can wound
+so lightly. Shame--shame upon you, boy!'
+
+She turned towards him quickly, and with a scornful look and flashing
+eyes. There were tears in Mr Chester's eyes, but he dashed them
+hurriedly away, as though unwilling that his weakness should be known,
+and regarded her with mingled admiration and compassion.
+
+'I never until now,' he said, 'believed, that the frivolous actions of a
+young man could move me like these of my own son. I never knew till now,
+the worth of a woman's heart, which boys so lightly win, and lightly
+fling away. Trust me, dear young lady, that I never until now did
+know your worth; and though an abhorrence of deceit and falsehood has
+impelled me to seek you out, and would have done so had you been the
+poorest and least gifted of your sex, I should have lacked the fortitude
+to sustain this interview could I have pictured you to my imagination as
+you really are.'
+
+Oh! If Mrs Varden could have seen the virtuous gentleman as he said
+these words, with indignation sparkling from his eyes--if she could have
+heard his broken, quavering voice--if she could have beheld him as he
+stood bareheaded in the sunlight, and with unwonted energy poured forth
+his eloquence!
+
+With a haughty face, but pale and trembling too, Emma regarded him in
+silence. She neither spoke nor moved, but gazed upon him as though she
+would look into his heart.
+
+'I throw off,' said Mr Chester, 'the restraint which natural affection
+would impose on some men, and reject all bonds but those of truth and
+duty. Miss Haredale, you are deceived; you are deceived by your unworthy
+lover, and my unworthy son.'
+
+Still she looked at him steadily, and still said not one word.
+
+'I have ever opposed his professions of love for you; you will do me
+the justice, dear Miss Haredale, to remember that. Your uncle and myself
+were enemies in early life, and if I had sought retaliation, I might
+have found it here. But as we grow older, we grow wiser--bitter, I would
+fain hope--and from the first, I have opposed him in this attempt. I
+foresaw the end, and would have spared you, if I could.'
+
+'Speak plainly, sir,' she faltered. 'You deceive me, or are deceived
+yourself. I do not believe you--I cannot--I should not.'
+
+'First,' said Mr Chester, soothingly, 'for there may be in your mind
+some latent angry feeling to which I would not appeal, pray take this
+letter. It reached my hands by chance, and by mistake, and should have
+accounted to you (as I am told) for my son's not answering some other
+note of yours. God forbid, Miss Haredale,' said the good gentleman, with
+great emotion, 'that there should be in your gentle breast one causeless
+ground of quarrel with him. You should know, and you will see, that he
+was in no fault here.'
+
+There appeared something so very candid, so scrupulously honourable,
+so very truthful and just in this course something which rendered the
+upright person who resorted to it, so worthy of belief--that Emma's
+heart, for the first time, sunk within her. She turned away and burst
+into tears.
+
+'I would,' said Mr Chester, leaning over her, and speaking in mild and
+quite venerable accents; 'I would, dear girl, it were my task to banish,
+not increase, those tokens of your grief. My son, my erring son,--I will
+not call him deliberately criminal in this, for men so young, who have
+been inconstant twice or thrice before, act without reflection, almost
+without a knowledge of the wrong they do,--will break his plighted faith
+to you; has broken it even now. Shall I stop here, and having given you
+this warning, leave it to be fulfilled; or shall I go on?'
+
+'You will go on, sir,' she answered, 'and speak more plainly yet, in
+justice both to him and me.'
+
+'My dear girl,' said Mr Chester, bending over her more affectionately
+still; 'whom I would call my daughter, but the Fates forbid, Edward
+seeks to break with you upon a false and most unwarrantable pretence. I
+have it on his own showing; in his own hand. Forgive me, if I have had
+a watch upon his conduct; I am his father; I had a regard for your peace
+and his honour, and no better resource was left me. There lies on his
+desk at this present moment, ready for transmission to you, a letter,
+in which he tells you that our poverty--our poverty; his and mine, Miss
+Haredale--forbids him to pursue his claim upon your hand; in which he
+offers, voluntarily proposes, to free you from your pledge; and talks
+magnanimously (men do so, very commonly, in such cases) of being in
+time more worthy of your regard--and so forth. A letter, to be plain, in
+which he not only jilts you--pardon the word; I would summon to your
+aid your pride and dignity--not only jilts you, I fear, in favour of the
+object whose slighting treatment first inspired his brief passion for
+yourself and gave it birth in wounded vanity, but affects to make a
+merit and a virtue of the act.'
+
+She glanced proudly at him once more, as by an involuntary impulse, and
+with a swelling breast rejoined, 'If what you say be true, he takes much
+needless trouble, sir, to compass his design. He's very tender of my
+peace of mind. I quite thank him.'
+
+'The truth of what I tell you, dear young lady,' he replied, 'you will
+test by the receipt or non-receipt of the letter of which I speak.
+Haredale, my dear fellow, I am delighted to see you, although we meet
+under singular circumstances, and upon a melancholy occasion. I hope you
+are very well.'
+
+At these words the young lady raised her eyes, which were filled with
+tears; and seeing that her uncle indeed stood before them, and being
+quite unequal to the trial of hearing or of speaking one word more,
+hurriedly withdrew, and left them. They stood looking at each other, and
+at her retreating figure, and for a long time neither of them spoke.
+
+'What does this mean? Explain it,' said Mr Haredale at length. 'Why are
+you here, and why with her?'
+
+'My dear friend,' rejoined the other, resuming his accustomed manner
+with infinite readiness, and throwing himself upon the bench with a
+weary air, 'you told me not very long ago, at that delightful old
+tavern of which you are the esteemed proprietor (and a most charming
+establishment it is for persons of rural pursuits and in robust health,
+who are not liable to take cold), that I had the head and heart of an
+evil spirit in all matters of deception. I thought at the time; I
+really did think; you flattered me. But now I begin to wonder at your
+discernment, and vanity apart, do honestly believe you spoke the truth.
+Did you ever counterfeit extreme ingenuousness and honest indignation?
+My dear fellow, you have no conception, if you never did, how faint the
+effort makes one.'
+
+Mr Haredale surveyed him with a look of cold contempt. 'You may evade an
+explanation, I know,' he said, folding his arms. 'But I must have it. I
+can wait.'
+
+'Not at all. Not at all, my good fellow. You shall not wait a moment,'
+returned his friend, as he lazily crossed his legs. 'The simplest thing
+in the world. It lies in a nutshell. Ned has written her a letter--a
+boyish, honest, sentimental composition, which remains as yet in
+his desk, because he hasn't had the heart to send it. I have taken a
+liberty, for which my parental affection and anxiety are a sufficient
+excuse, and possessed myself of the contents. I have described them
+to your niece (a most enchanting person, Haredale; quite an angelic
+creature), with a little colouring and description adapted to our
+purpose. It's done. You may be quite easy. It's all over. Deprived of
+their adherents and mediators; her pride and jealousy roused to the
+utmost; with nobody to undeceive her, and you to confirm me; you will
+find that their intercourse will close with her answer. If she receives
+Ned's letter by to-morrow noon, you may date their parting from
+to-morrow night. No thanks, I beg; you owe me none. I have acted for
+myself; and if I have forwarded our compact with all the ardour even you
+could have desired, I have done so selfishly, indeed.'
+
+'I curse the compact, as you call it, with my whole heart and soul,'
+returned the other. 'It was made in an evil hour. I have bound myself
+to a lie; I have leagued myself with you; and though I did so with a
+righteous motive, and though it cost me such an effort as haply few men
+know, I hate and despise myself for the deed.'
+
+'You are very warm,' said Mr Chester with a languid smile.
+
+'I AM warm. I am maddened by your coldness. 'Death, Chester, if your
+blood ran warmer in your veins, and there were no restraints upon me,
+such as those that hold and drag me back--well; it is done; you tell me
+so, and on such a point I may believe you. When I am most remorseful
+for this treachery, I will think of you and your marriage, and try to
+justify myself in such remembrances, for having torn asunder Emma and
+your son, at any cost. Our bond is cancelled now, and we may part.'
+
+Mr Chester kissed his hand gracefully; and with the same tranquil face
+he had preserved throughout--even when he had seen his companion
+so tortured and transported by his passion that his whole frame was
+shaken--lay in his lounging posture on the seat and watched him as he
+walked away.
+
+'My scapegoat and my drudge at school,' he said, raising his head
+to look after him; 'my friend of later days, who could not keep his
+mistress when he had won her, and threw me in her way to carry off the
+prize; I triumph in the present and the past. Bark on, ill-favoured,
+ill-conditioned cur; fortune has ever been with me--I like to hear you.'
+
+The spot where they had met, was in an avenue of trees. Mr Haredale not
+passing out on either hand, had walked straight on. He chanced to turn
+his head when at some considerable distance, and seeing that his late
+companion had by that time risen and was looking after him, stood still
+as though he half expected him to follow and waited for his coming up.
+
+'It MAY come to that one day, but not yet,' said Mr Chester, waving his
+hand, as though they were the best of friends, and turning away. 'Not
+yet, Haredale. Life is pleasant enough to me; dull and full of heaviness
+to you. No. To cross swords with such a man--to indulge his humour
+unless upon extremity--would be weak indeed.'
+
+For all that, he drew his sword as he walked along, and in an
+absent humour ran his eye from hilt to point full twenty times. But
+thoughtfulness begets wrinkles; remembering this, he soon put it up,
+smoothed his contracted brow, hummed a gay tune with greater gaiety of
+manner, and was his unruffled self again.
+
+
+
+Chapter 30
+
+
+A homely proverb recognises the existence of a troublesome class of
+persons who, having an inch conceded them, will take an ell. Not to
+quote the illustrious examples of those heroic scourges of mankind,
+whose amiable path in life has been from birth to death through blood,
+and fire, and ruin, and who would seem to have existed for no better
+purpose than to teach mankind that as the absence of pain is pleasure,
+so the earth, purged of their presence, may be deemed a blessed
+place--not to quote such mighty instances, it will be sufficient to
+refer to old John Willet.
+
+Old John having long encroached a good standard inch, full measure, on
+the liberty of Joe, and having snipped off a Flemish ell in the matter
+of the parole, grew so despotic and so great, that his thirst for
+conquest knew no bounds. The more young Joe submitted, the more absolute
+old John became. The ell soon faded into nothing. Yards, furlongs, miles
+arose; and on went old John in the pleasantest manner possible, trimming
+off an exuberance in this place, shearing away some liberty of speech
+or action in that, and conducting himself in his small way with as much
+high mightiness and majesty, as the most glorious tyrant that ever had
+his statue reared in the public ways, of ancient or of modern times.
+
+As great men are urged on to the abuse of power (when they need urging,
+which is not often), by their flatterers and dependents, so old John was
+impelled to these exercises of authority by the applause and admiration
+of his Maypole cronies, who, in the intervals of their nightly pipes and
+pots, would shake their heads and say that Mr Willet was a father of the
+good old English sort; that there were no new-fangled notions or modern
+ways in him; that he put them in mind of what their fathers were when
+they were boys; that there was no mistake about him; that it would be
+well for the country if there were more like him, and more was the pity
+that there were not; with many other original remarks of that nature.
+Then they would condescendingly give Joe to understand that it was
+all for his good, and he would be thankful for it one day; and in
+particular, Mr Cobb would acquaint him, that when he was his age, his
+father thought no more of giving him a parental kick, or a box on the
+ears, or a cuff on the head, or some little admonition of that sort,
+than he did of any other ordinary duty of life; and he would further
+remark, with looks of great significance, that but for this judicious
+bringing up, he might have never been the man he was at that present
+speaking; which was probable enough, as he was, beyond all question,
+the dullest dog of the party. In short, between old John and old
+John's friends, there never was an unfortunate young fellow so bullied,
+badgered, worried, fretted, and brow-beaten; so constantly beset, or
+made so tired of his life, as poor Joe Willet.
+
+This had come to be the recognised and established state of things; but
+as John was very anxious to flourish his supremacy before the eyes of Mr
+Chester, he did that day exceed himself, and did so goad and chafe his
+son and heir, that but for Joe's having made a solemn vow to keep
+his hands in his pockets when they were not otherwise engaged, it is
+impossible to say what he might have done with them. But the longest day
+has an end, and at length Mr Chester came downstairs to mount his horse,
+which was ready at the door.
+
+As old John was not in the way at the moment, Joe, who was sitting in
+the bar ruminating on his dismal fate and the manifold perfections of
+Dolly Varden, ran out to hold the guest's stirrup and assist him to
+mount. Mr Chester was scarcely in the saddle, and Joe was in the very
+act of making him a graceful bow, when old John came diving out of the
+porch, and collared him.
+
+'None of that, sir,' said John, 'none of that, sir. No breaking of
+patroles. How dare you come out of the door, sir, without leave? You're
+trying to get away, sir, are you, and to make a traitor of yourself
+again? What do you mean, sir?'
+
+'Let me go, father,' said Joe, imploringly, as he marked the smile upon
+their visitor's face, and observed the pleasure his disgrace afforded
+him. 'This is too bad. Who wants to get away?'
+
+'Who wants to get away!' cried John, shaking him. 'Why you do, sir,
+you do. You're the boy, sir,' added John, collaring with one hand, and
+aiding the effect of a farewell bow to the visitor with the other,
+'that wants to sneak into houses, and stir up differences between noble
+gentlemen and their sons, are you, eh? Hold your tongue, sir.'
+
+Joe made no effort to reply. It was the crowning circumstance of his
+degradation. He extricated himself from his father's grasp, darted an
+angry look at the departing guest, and returned into the house.
+
+'But for her,' thought Joe, as he threw his arms upon a table in the
+common room, and laid his head upon them, 'but for Dolly, who I couldn't
+bear should think me the rascal they would make me out to be if I ran
+away, this house and I should part to-night.'
+
+It being evening by this time, Solomon Daisy, Tom Cobb, and Long Parkes,
+were all in the common room too, and had from the window been witnesses
+of what had just occurred. Mr Willet joining them soon afterwards,
+received the compliments of the company with great composure, and
+lighting his pipe, sat down among them.
+
+'We'll see, gentlemen,' said John, after a long pause, 'who's the master
+of this house, and who isn't. We'll see whether boys are to govern men,
+or men are to govern boys.'
+
+'And quite right too,' assented Solomon Daisy with some approving nods;
+'quite right, Johnny. Very good, Johnny. Well said, Mr Willet. Brayvo,
+sir.'
+
+John slowly brought his eyes to bear upon him, looked at him for a long
+time, and finally made answer, to the unspeakable consternation of his
+hearers, 'When I want encouragement from you, sir, I'll ask you for
+it. You let me alone, sir. I can get on without you, I hope. Don't you
+tackle me, sir, if you please.'
+
+'Don't take it ill, Johnny; I didn't mean any harm,' pleaded the little
+man.
+
+'Very good, sir,' said John, more than usually obstinate after his late
+success. 'Never mind, sir. I can stand pretty firm of myself, sir, I
+believe, without being shored up by you.' And having given utterance to
+this retort, Mr Willet fixed his eyes upon the boiler, and fell into a
+kind of tobacco-trance.
+
+The spirits of the company being somewhat damped by this embarrassing
+line of conduct on the part of their host, nothing more was said for a
+long time; but at length Mr Cobb took upon himself to remark, as he rose
+to knock the ashes out of his pipe, that he hoped Joe would thenceforth
+learn to obey his father in all things; that he had found, that day, he
+was not one of the sort of men who were to be trifled with; and that
+he would recommend him, poetically speaking, to mind his eye for the
+future.
+
+'I'd recommend you, in return,' said Joe, looking up with a flushed
+face, 'not to talk to me.'
+
+'Hold your tongue, sir,' cried Mr Willet, suddenly rousing himself, and
+turning round.
+
+'I won't, father,' cried Joe, smiting the table with his fist, so that
+the jugs and glasses rung again; 'these things are hard enough to bear
+from you; from anybody else I never will endure them any more. Therefore
+I say, Mr Cobb, don't talk to me.'
+
+'Why, who are you,' said Mr Cobb, sneeringly, 'that you're not to be
+talked to, eh, Joe?'
+
+To which Joe returned no answer, but with a very ominous shake of the
+head, resumed his old position, which he would have peacefully preserved
+until the house shut up at night, but that Mr Cobb, stimulated by the
+wonder of the company at the young man's presumption, retorted with
+sundry taunts, which proved too much for flesh and blood to bear.
+Crowding into one moment the vexation and the wrath of years, Joe
+started up, overturned the table, fell upon his long enemy, pummelled
+him with all his might and main, and finished by driving him with
+surprising swiftness against a heap of spittoons in one corner; plunging
+into which, head foremost, with a tremendous crash, he lay at full
+length among the ruins, stunned and motionless. Then, without waiting to
+receive the compliments of the bystanders on the victory he had won, he
+retreated to his own bedchamber, and considering himself in a state
+of siege, piled all the portable furniture against the door by way of
+barricade.
+
+'I have done it now,' said Joe, as he sat down upon his bedstead and
+wiped his heated face. 'I knew it would come at last. The Maypole and
+I must part company. I'm a roving vagabond--she hates me for
+evermore--it's all over!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 31
+
+
+Pondering on his unhappy lot, Joe sat and listened for a long time,
+expecting every moment to hear their creaking footsteps on the stairs,
+or to be greeted by his worthy father with a summons to capitulate
+unconditionally, and deliver himself up straightway. But neither voice
+nor footstep came; and though some distant echoes, as of closing doors
+and people hurrying in and out of rooms, resounding from time to time
+through the great passages, and penetrating to his remote seclusion,
+gave note of unusual commotion downstairs, no nearer sound disturbed his
+place of retreat, which seemed the quieter for these far-off noises, and
+was as dull and full of gloom as any hermit's cell.
+
+It came on darker and darker. The old-fashioned furniture of the
+chamber, which was a kind of hospital for all the invalided movables in
+the house, grew indistinct and shadowy in its many shapes; chairs and
+tables, which by day were as honest cripples as need be, assumed a
+doubtful and mysterious character; and one old leprous screen of faded
+India leather and gold binding, which had kept out many a cold breath of
+air in days of yore and shut in many a jolly face, frowned on him with
+a spectral aspect, and stood at full height in its allotted corner, like
+some gaunt ghost who waited to be questioned. A portrait opposite the
+window--a queer, old grey-eyed general, in an oval frame--seemed to
+wink and doze as the light decayed, and at length, when the last faint
+glimmering speck of day went out, to shut its eyes in good earnest, and
+fall sound asleep. There was such a hush and mystery about everything,
+that Joe could not help following its example; and so went off into
+a slumber likewise, and dreamed of Dolly, till the clock of Chigwell
+church struck two.
+
+Still nobody came. The distant noises in the house had ceased, and
+out of doors all was quiet; save for the occasional barking of some
+deep-mouthed dog, and the shaking of the branches by the night wind.
+He gazed mournfully out of window at each well-known object as it lay
+sleeping in the dim light of the moon; and creeping back to his former
+seat, thought about the late uproar, until, with long thinking of, it
+seemed to have occurred a month ago. Thus, between dozing, and thinking,
+and walking to the window and looking out, the night wore away; the grim
+old screen, and the kindred chairs and tables, began slowly to reveal
+themselves in their accustomed forms; the grey-eyed general seemed to
+wink and yawn and rouse himself; and at last he was broad awake again,
+and very uncomfortable and cold and haggard he looked, in the dull grey
+light of morning.
+
+The sun had begun to peep above the forest trees, and already flung
+across the curling mist bright bars of gold, when Joe dropped from his
+window on the ground below, a little bundle and his trusty stick, and
+prepared to descend himself.
+
+It was not a very difficult task; for there were so many projections and
+gable ends in the way, that they formed a series of clumsy steps, with
+no greater obstacle than a jump of some few feet at last. Joe, with his
+stick and bundle on his shoulder, quickly stood on the firm earth, and
+looked up at the old Maypole, it might be for the last time.
+
+He didn't apostrophise it, for he was no great scholar. He didn't curse
+it, for he had little ill-will to give to anything on earth. He felt
+more affectionate and kind to it than ever he had done in all his life
+before, so said with all his heart, 'God bless you!' as a parting wish,
+and turned away.
+
+He walked along at a brisk pace, big with great thoughts of going for
+a soldier and dying in some foreign country where it was very hot and
+sandy, and leaving God knows what unheard-of wealth in prize-money to
+Dolly, who would be very much affected when she came to know of it;
+and full of such youthful visions, which were sometimes sanguine and
+sometimes melancholy, but always had her for their main point and
+centre, pushed on vigorously until the noise of London sounded in his
+ears, and the Black Lion hove in sight.
+
+It was only eight o'clock then, and very much astonished the Black Lion
+was, to see him come walking in with dust upon his feet at that early
+hour, with no grey mare to bear him company. But as he ordered breakfast
+to be got ready with all speed, and on its being set before him gave
+indisputable tokens of a hearty appetite, the Lion received him, as
+usual, with a hospitable welcome; and treated him with those marks
+of distinction, which, as a regular customer, and one within the
+freemasonry of the trade, he had a right to claim.
+
+This Lion or landlord,--for he was called both man and beast, by reason
+of his having instructed the artist who painted his sign, to convey
+into the features of the lordly brute whose effigy it bore, as near a
+counterpart of his own face as his skill could compass and devise,--was
+a gentleman almost as quick of apprehension, and of almost as subtle a
+wit, as the mighty John himself. But the difference between them lay in
+this: that whereas Mr Willet's extreme sagacity and acuteness were
+the efforts of unassisted nature, the Lion stood indebted, in no small
+amount, to beer; of which he swigged such copious draughts, that most of
+his faculties were utterly drowned and washed away, except the one
+great faculty of sleep, which he retained in surprising perfection.
+The creaking Lion over the house-door was, therefore, to say the
+truth, rather a drowsy, tame, and feeble lion; and as these social
+representatives of a savage class are usually of a conventional
+character (being depicted, for the most part, in impossible attitudes
+and of unearthly colours), he was frequently supposed by the more
+ignorant and uninformed among the neighbours, to be the veritable
+portrait of the host as he appeared on the occasion of some great
+funeral ceremony or public mourning.
+
+'What noisy fellow is that in the next room?' said Joe, when he had
+disposed of his breakfast, and had washed and brushed himself.
+
+'A recruiting serjeant,' replied the Lion.
+
+Joe started involuntarily. Here was the very thing he had been dreaming
+of, all the way along.
+
+'And I wish,' said the Lion, 'he was anywhere else but here. The party
+make noise enough, but don't call for much. There's great cry there, Mr
+Willet, but very little wool. Your father wouldn't like 'em, I know.'
+
+Perhaps not much under any circumstances. Perhaps if he could have known
+what was passing at that moment in Joe's mind, he would have liked them
+still less.
+
+'Is he recruiting for a--for a fine regiment?' said Joe, glancing at a
+little round mirror that hung in the bar.
+
+'I believe he is,' replied the host. 'It's much the same thing, whatever
+regiment he's recruiting for. I'm told there an't a deal of difference
+between a fine man and another one, when they're shot through and
+through.'
+
+'They're not all shot,' said Joe.
+
+'No,' the Lion answered, 'not all. Those that are--supposing it's done
+easy--are the best off in my opinion.'
+
+'Ah!' retorted Joe, 'but you don't care for glory.'
+
+'For what?' said the Lion.
+
+'Glory.'
+
+'No,' returned the Lion, with supreme indifference. 'I don't. You're
+right in that, Mr Willet. When Glory comes here, and calls for anything
+to drink and changes a guinea to pay for it, I'll give it him for
+nothing. It's my belief, sir, that the Glory's arms wouldn't do a very
+strong business.'
+
+These remarks were not at all comforting. Joe walked out, stopped at
+the door of the next room, and listened. The serjeant was describing
+a military life. It was all drinking, he said, except that there were
+frequent intervals of eating and love-making. A battle was the finest
+thing in the world--when your side won it--and Englishmen always did
+that. 'Supposing you should be killed, sir?' said a timid voice in one
+corner. 'Well, sir, supposing you should be,' said the serjeant, 'what
+then? Your country loves you, sir; his Majesty King George the Third
+loves you; your memory is honoured, revered, respected; everybody's fond
+of you, and grateful to you; your name's wrote down at full length in a
+book in the War Office. Damme, gentlemen, we must all die some time, or
+another, eh?'
+
+The voice coughed, and said no more.
+
+Joe walked into the room. A group of half-a-dozen fellows had gathered
+together in the taproom, and were listening with greedy ears. One of
+them, a carter in a smockfrock, seemed wavering and disposed to enlist.
+The rest, who were by no means disposed, strongly urged him to do so
+(according to the custom of mankind), backed the serjeant's arguments,
+and grinned among themselves. 'I say nothing, boys,' said the serjeant,
+who sat a little apart, drinking his liquor. 'For lads of spirit'--here
+he cast an eye on Joe--'this is the time. I don't want to inveigle you.
+The king's not come to that, I hope. Brisk young blood is what we
+want; not milk and water. We won't take five men out of six. We want
+top-sawyers, we do. I'm not a-going to tell tales out of school, but,
+damme, if every gentleman's son that carries arms in our corps, through
+being under a cloud and having little differences with his relations,
+was counted up'--here his eye fell on Joe again, and so good-naturedly,
+that Joe beckoned him out. He came directly.
+
+'You're a gentleman, by G--!' was his first remark, as he slapped him
+on the back. 'You're a gentleman in disguise. So am I. Let's swear a
+friendship.'
+
+Joe didn't exactly do that, but he shook hands with him, and thanked him
+for his good opinion.
+
+'You want to serve,' said his new friend. 'You shall. You were made for
+it. You're one of us by nature. What'll you take to drink?'
+
+'Nothing just now,' replied Joe, smiling faintly. 'I haven't quite made
+up my mind.'
+
+'A mettlesome fellow like you, and not made up his mind!' cried the
+serjeant. 'Here--let me give the bell a pull, and you'll make up your
+mind in half a minute, I know.'
+
+'You're right so far'--answered Joe, 'for if you pull the bell here,
+where I'm known, there'll be an end of my soldiering inclinations in no
+time. Look in my face. You see me, do you?'
+
+'I do,' replied the serjeant with an oath, 'and a finer young fellow or
+one better qualified to serve his king and country, I never set my--' he
+used an adjective in this place--'eyes on.'
+
+'Thank you,' said Joe, 'I didn't ask you for want of a compliment, but
+thank you all the same. Do I look like a sneaking fellow or a liar?'
+
+The serjeant rejoined with many choice asseverations that he didn't; and
+that if his (the serjeant's) own father were to say he did, he would
+run the old gentleman through the body cheerfully, and consider it a
+meritorious action.
+
+Joe expressed his obligations, and continued, 'You can trust me then,
+and credit what I say. I believe I shall enlist in your regiment
+to-night. The reason I don't do so now is, because I don't want until
+to-night, to do what I can't recall. Where shall I find you, this
+evening?'
+
+His friend replied with some unwillingness, and after much ineffectual
+entreaty having for its object the immediate settlement of the business,
+that his quarters would be at the Crooked Billet in Tower Street; where
+he would be found waking until midnight, and sleeping until breakfast
+time to-morrow.
+
+'And if I do come--which it's a million to one, I shall--when will you
+take me out of London?' demanded Joe.
+
+'To-morrow morning, at half after eight o'clock,' replied the serjeant.
+'You'll go abroad--a country where it's all sunshine and plunder--the
+finest climate in the world.'
+
+'To go abroad,' said Joe, shaking hands with him, 'is the very thing I
+want. You may expect me.'
+
+'You're the kind of lad for us,' cried the serjeant, holding Joe's hand
+in his, in the excess of his admiration. 'You're the boy to push your
+fortune. I don't say it because I bear you any envy, or would take away
+from the credit of the rise you'll make, but if I had been bred and
+taught like you, I'd have been a colonel by this time.'
+
+'Tush, man!' said Joe, 'I'm not so young as that. Needs must when the
+devil drives; and the devil that drives me is an empty pocket and an
+unhappy home. For the present, good-bye.'
+
+'For king and country!' cried the serjeant, flourishing his cap.
+
+'For bread and meat!' cried Joe, snapping his fingers. And so they
+parted.
+
+He had very little money in his pocket; so little indeed, that after
+paying for his breakfast (which he was too honest and perhaps too proud
+to score up to his father's charge) he had but a penny left. He had
+courage, notwithstanding, to resist all the affectionate importunities
+of the serjeant, who waylaid him at the door with many protestations of
+eternal friendship, and did in particular request that he would do him
+the favour to accept of only one shilling as a temporary accommodation.
+Rejecting his offers both of cash and credit, Joe walked away with
+stick and bundle as before, bent upon getting through the day as he best
+could, and going down to the locksmith's in the dusk of the evening;
+for it should go hard, he had resolved, but he would have a parting word
+with charming Dolly Varden.
+
+He went out by Islington and so on to Highgate, and sat on many stones
+and gates, but there were no voices in the bells to bid him turn. Since
+the time of noble Whittington, fair flower of merchants, bells have come
+to have less sympathy with humankind. They only ring for money and on
+state occasions. Wanderers have increased in number; ships leave the
+Thames for distant regions, carrying from stem to stern no other cargo;
+the bells are silent; they ring out no entreaties or regrets; they are
+used to it and have grown worldly.
+
+Joe bought a roll, and reduced his purse to the condition (with a
+difference) of that celebrated purse of Fortunatus, which, whatever were
+its favoured owner's necessities, had one unvarying amount in it. In
+these real times, when all the Fairies are dead and buried, there are
+still a great many purses which possess that quality. The sum-total they
+contain is expressed in arithmetic by a circle, and whether it be added
+to or multiplied by its own amount, the result of the problem is more
+easily stated than any known in figures.
+
+Evening drew on at last. With the desolate and solitary feeling of one
+who had no home or shelter, and was alone utterly in the world for the
+first time, he bent his steps towards the locksmith's house. He had
+delayed till now, knowing that Mrs Varden sometimes went out alone,
+or with Miggs for her sole attendant, to lectures in the evening; and
+devoutly hoping that this might be one of her nights of moral culture.
+
+He had walked up and down before the house, on the opposite side of the
+way, two or three times, when as he returned to it again, he caught a
+glimpse of a fluttering skirt at the door. It was Dolly's--to whom else
+could it belong? no dress but hers had such a flow as that. He plucked
+up his spirits, and followed it into the workshop of the Golden Key.
+
+His darkening the door caused her to look round. Oh that face! 'If it
+hadn't been for that,' thought Joe, 'I should never have walked into
+poor Tom Cobb. She's twenty times handsomer than ever. She might marry a
+Lord!'
+
+He didn't say this. He only thought it--perhaps looked it also. Dolly
+was glad to see him, and was SO sorry her father and mother were away
+from home. Joe begged she wouldn't mention it on any account.
+
+Dolly hesitated to lead the way into the parlour, for there it was
+nearly dark; at the same time she hesitated to stand talking in the
+workshop, which was yet light and open to the street. They had got by
+some means, too, before the little forge; and Joe having her hand in his
+(which he had no right to have, for Dolly only gave it him to shake), it
+was so like standing before some homely altar being married, that it was
+the most embarrassing state of things in the world.
+
+'I have come,' said Joe, 'to say good-bye--to say good-bye for I don't
+know how many years; perhaps for ever. I am going abroad.'
+
+Now this was exactly what he should not have said. Here he was, talking
+like a gentleman at large who was free to come and go and roam about the
+world at pleasure, when that gallant coachmaker had vowed but the night
+before that Miss Varden held him bound in adamantine chains; and had
+positively stated in so many words that she was killing him by inches,
+and that in a fortnight more or thereabouts he expected to make a decent
+end and leave the business to his mother.
+
+Dolly released her hand and said 'Indeed!' She remarked in the same
+breath that it was a fine night, and in short, betrayed no more emotion
+than the forge itself.
+
+'I couldn't go,' said Joe, 'without coming to see you. I hadn't the
+heart to.'
+
+Dolly was more sorry than she could tell, that he should have taken so
+much trouble. It was such a long way, and he must have such a deal to
+do. And how WAS Mr Willet--that dear old gentleman--
+
+'Is this all you say!' cried Joe.
+
+All! Good gracious, what did the man expect! She was obliged to take her
+apron in her hand and run her eyes along the hem from corner to corner,
+to keep herself from laughing in his face;--not because his gaze
+confused her--not at all.
+
+Joe had small experience in love affairs, and had no notion how
+different young ladies are at different times; he had expected to
+take Dolly up again at the very point where he had left her after that
+delicious evening ride, and was no more prepared for such an alteration
+than to see the sun and moon change places. He had buoyed himself up all
+day with an indistinct idea that she would certainly say 'Don't go,' or
+'Don't leave us,' or 'Why do you go?' or 'Why do you leave us?' or would
+give him some little encouragement of that sort; he had even entertained
+the possibility of her bursting into tears, of her throwing herself into
+his arms, of her falling down in a fainting fit without previous word
+or sign; but any approach to such a line of conduct as this, had been so
+far from his thoughts that he could only look at her in silent wonder.
+
+Dolly in the meanwhile, turned to the corners of her apron, and measured
+the sides, and smoothed out the wrinkles, and was as silent as he. At
+last after a long pause, Joe said good-bye. 'Good-bye'--said Dolly--with
+as pleasant a smile as if he were going into the next street, and were
+coming back to supper; 'good-bye.'
+
+'Come,' said Joe, putting out both hands, 'Dolly, dear Dolly, don't let
+us part like this. I love you dearly, with all my heart and soul; with
+as much truth and earnestness as ever man loved woman in this world, I
+do believe. I am a poor fellow, as you know--poorer now than ever, for
+I have fled from home, not being able to bear it any longer, and must
+fight my own way without help. You are beautiful, admired, are loved by
+everybody, are well off and happy; and may you ever be so! Heaven forbid
+I should ever make you otherwise; but give me a word of comfort. Say
+something kind to me. I have no right to expect it of you, I know, but
+I ask it because I love you, and shall treasure the slightest word from
+you all through my life. Dolly, dearest, have you nothing to say to me?'
+
+No. Nothing. Dolly was a coquette by nature, and a spoilt child. She had
+no notion of being carried by storm in this way. The coachmaker would
+have been dissolved in tears, and would have knelt down, and called
+himself names, and clasped his hands, and beat his breast, and tugged
+wildly at his cravat, and done all kinds of poetry. Joe had no business
+to be going abroad. He had no right to be able to do it. If he was in
+adamantine chains, he couldn't.
+
+'I have said good-bye,' said Dolly, 'twice. Take your arm away directly,
+Mr Joseph, or I'll call Miggs.'
+
+'I'll not reproach you,' answered Joe, 'it's my fault, no doubt. I have
+thought sometimes that you didn't quite despise me, but I was a fool to
+think so. Every one must, who has seen the life I have led--you most of
+all. God bless you!'
+
+He was gone, actually gone. Dolly waited a little while, thinking he
+would return, peeped out at the door, looked up the street and down as
+well as the increasing darkness would allow, came in again, waited a
+little longer, went upstairs humming a tune, bolted herself in, laid
+her head down on her bed, and cried as if her heart would break. And yet
+such natures are made up of so many contradictions, that if Joe Willet
+had come back that night, next day, next week, next month, the odds are
+a hundred to one she would have treated him in the very same manner, and
+have wept for it afterwards with the very same distress.
+
+She had no sooner left the workshop than there cautiously peered out
+from behind the chimney of the forge, a face which had already emerged
+from the same concealment twice or thrice, unseen, and which, after
+satisfying itself that it was now alone, was followed by a leg, a
+shoulder, and so on by degrees, until the form of Mr Tappertit stood
+confessed, with a brown-paper cap stuck negligently on one side of its
+head, and its arms very much a-kimbo.
+
+'Have my ears deceived me,' said the 'prentice, 'or do I dream! am I to
+thank thee, Fortun', or to cus thee--which?'
+
+He gravely descended from his elevation, took down his piece of
+looking-glass, planted it against the wall upon the usual bench, twisted
+his head round, and looked closely at his legs.
+
+'If they're a dream,' said Sim, 'let sculptures have such wisions, and
+chisel 'em out when they wake. This is reality. Sleep has no such limbs
+as them. Tremble, Willet, and despair. She's mine! She's mine!'
+
+With these triumphant expressions, he seized a hammer and dealt a heavy
+blow at a vice, which in his mind's eye represented the sconce or head
+of Joseph Willet. That done, he burst into a peal of laughter which
+startled Miss Miggs even in her distant kitchen, and dipping his head
+into a bowl of water, had recourse to a jack-towel inside the closet
+door, which served the double purpose of smothering his feelings and
+drying his face.
+
+Joe, disconsolate and down-hearted, but full of courage too, on leaving
+the locksmith's house made the best of his way to the Crooked Billet,
+and there inquired for his friend the serjeant, who, expecting no man
+less, received him with open arms. In the course of five minutes after
+his arrival at that house of entertainment, he was enrolled among the
+gallant defenders of his native land; and within half an hour, was
+regaled with a steaming supper of boiled tripe and onions, prepared,
+as his friend assured him more than once, at the express command of his
+most Sacred Majesty the King. To this meal, which tasted very savoury
+after his long fasting, he did ample justice; and when he had followed
+it up, or down, with a variety of loyal and patriotic toasts, he was
+conducted to a straw mattress in a loft over the stable, and locked in
+there for the night.
+
+The next morning, he found that the obliging care of his martial friend
+had decorated his hat with sundry particoloured streamers, which made
+a very lively appearance; and in company with that officer, and three
+other military gentlemen newly enrolled, who were under a cloud so dense
+that it only left three shoes, a boot, and a coat and a half visible
+among them, repaired to the riverside. Here they were joined by a
+corporal and four more heroes, of whom two were drunk and daring, and
+two sober and penitent, but each of whom, like Joe, had his dusty stick
+and bundle. The party embarked in a passage-boat bound for Gravesend,
+whence they were to proceed on foot to Chatham; the wind was in their
+favour, and they soon left London behind them, a mere dark mist--a giant
+phantom in the air.
+
+
+
+Chapter 32
+
+
+Misfortunes, saith the adage, never come singly. There is little doubt
+that troubles are exceedingly gregarious in their nature, and flying
+in flocks, are apt to perch capriciously; crowding on the heads of some
+poor wights until there is not an inch of room left on their unlucky
+crowns, and taking no more notice of others who offer as good
+resting-places for the soles of their feet, than if they had no
+existence. It may have happened that a flight of troubles brooding over
+London, and looking out for Joseph Willet, whom they couldn't find,
+darted down haphazard on the first young man that caught their fancy,
+and settled on him instead. However this may be, certain it is that on
+the very day of Joe's departure they swarmed about the ears of Edward
+Chester, and did so buzz and flap their wings, and persecute him, that
+he was most profoundly wretched.
+
+It was evening, and just eight o'clock, when he and his father, having
+wine and dessert set before them, were left to themselves for the first
+time that day. They had dined together, but a third person had been
+present during the meal, and until they met at table they had not seen
+each other since the previous night.
+
+Edward was reserved and silent. Mr Chester was more than usually gay;
+but not caring, as it seemed, to open a conversation with one whose
+humour was so different, he vented the lightness of his spirit in smiles
+and sparkling looks, and made no effort to awaken his attention. So they
+remained for some time: the father lying on a sofa with his accustomed
+air of graceful negligence; the son seated opposite to him with downcast
+eyes, busied, it was plain, with painful and uneasy thoughts.
+
+'My dear Edward,' said Mr Chester at length, with a most engaging laugh,
+'do not extend your drowsy influence to the decanter. Suffer THAT to
+circulate, let your spirits be never so stagnant.'
+
+Edward begged his pardon, passed it, and relapsed into his former state.
+
+'You do wrong not to fill your glass,' said Mr Chester, holding up his
+own before the light. 'Wine in moderation--not in excess, for that makes
+men ugly--has a thousand pleasant influences. It brightens the eye,
+improves the voice, imparts a new vivacity to one's thoughts and
+conversation: you should try it, Ned.'
+
+'Ah father!' cried his son, 'if--'
+
+'My good fellow,' interposed the parent hastily, as he set down his
+glass, and raised his eyebrows with a startled and horrified expression,
+'for Heaven's sake don't call me by that obsolete and ancient name. Have
+some regard for delicacy. Am I grey, or wrinkled, do I go on crutches,
+have I lost my teeth, that you adopt such a mode of address? Good God,
+how very coarse!'
+
+'I was about to speak to you from my heart, sir,' returned Edward, 'in
+the confidence which should subsist between us; and you check me in the
+outset.'
+
+'Now DO, Ned, DO not,' said Mr Chester, raising his delicate hand
+imploringly, 'talk in that monstrous manner. About to speak from
+your heart. Don't you know that the heart is an ingenious part of
+our formation--the centre of the blood-vessels and all that sort of
+thing--which has no more to do with what you say or think, than your
+knees have? How can you be so very vulgar and absurd? These anatomical
+allusions should be left to gentlemen of the medical profession. They
+are really not agreeable in society. You quite surprise me, Ned.'
+
+'Well! there are no such things to wound, or heal, or have regard for. I
+know your creed, sir, and will say no more,' returned his son.
+
+'There again,' said Mr Chester, sipping his wine, 'you are wrong. I
+distinctly say there are such things. We know there are. The hearts of
+animals--of bullocks, sheep, and so forth--are cooked and devoured, as
+I am told, by the lower classes, with a vast deal of relish. Men are
+sometimes stabbed to the heart, shot to the heart; but as to speaking
+from the heart, or to the heart, or being warm-hearted, or cold-hearted,
+or broken-hearted, or being all heart, or having no heart--pah! these
+things are nonsense, Ned.'
+
+'No doubt, sir,' returned his son, seeing that he paused for him to
+speak. 'No doubt.'
+
+'There's Haredale's niece, your late flame,' said Mr Chester, as a
+careless illustration of his meaning. 'No doubt in your mind she was all
+heart once. Now she has none at all. Yet she is the same person, Ned,
+exactly.'
+
+'She is a changed person, sir,' cried Edward, reddening; 'and changed by
+vile means, I believe.'
+
+'You have had a cool dismissal, have you?' said his father. 'Poor Ned!
+I told you last night what would happen.--May I ask you for the
+nutcrackers?'
+
+'She has been tampered with, and most treacherously deceived,' cried
+Edward, rising from his seat. 'I never will believe that the knowledge
+of my real position, given her by myself, has worked this change. I know
+she is beset and tortured. But though our contract is at an end, and
+broken past all redemption; though I charge upon her want of firmness
+and want of truth, both to herself and me; I do not now, and never will
+believe, that any sordid motive, or her own unbiassed will, has led her
+to this course--never!'
+
+'You make me blush,' returned his father gaily, 'for the folly of your
+nature, in which--but we never know ourselves--I devoutly hope there is
+no reflection of my own. With regard to the young lady herself, she has
+done what is very natural and proper, my dear fellow; what you yourself
+proposed, as I learn from Haredale; and what I predicted--with no great
+exercise of sagacity--she would do. She supposed you to be rich, or
+at least quite rich enough; and found you poor. Marriage is a civil
+contract; people marry to better their worldly condition and improve
+appearances; it is an affair of house and furniture, of liveries,
+servants, equipage, and so forth. The lady being poor and you poor
+also, there is an end of the matter. You cannot enter upon these
+considerations, and have no manner of business with the ceremony. I
+drink her health in this glass, and respect and honour her for her
+extreme good sense. It is a lesson to you. Fill yours, Ned.'
+
+'It is a lesson,' returned his son, 'by which I hope I may never profit,
+and if years and experience impress it on--'
+
+'Don't say on the heart,' interposed his father.
+
+'On men whom the world and its hypocrisy have spoiled,' said Edward
+warmly, 'Heaven keep me from its knowledge.'
+
+'Come, sir,' returned his father, raising himself a little on the sofa,
+and looking straight towards him; 'we have had enough of this. Remember,
+if you please, your interest, your duty, your moral obligations, your
+filial affections, and all that sort of thing, which it is so very
+delightful and charming to reflect upon; or you will repent it.'
+
+'I shall never repent the preservation of my self-respect, sir,' said
+Edward. 'Forgive me if I say that I will not sacrifice it at your
+bidding, and that I will not pursue the track which you would have me
+take, and to which the secret share you have had in this late separation
+tends.'
+
+His father rose a little higher still, and looking at him as though
+curious to know if he were quite resolved and earnest, dropped gently
+down again, and said in the calmest voice--eating his nuts meanwhile,
+
+'Edward, my father had a son, who being a fool like you, and, like you,
+entertaining low and disobedient sentiments, he disinherited and cursed
+one morning after breakfast. The circumstance occurs to me with a
+singular clearness of recollection this evening. I remember eating
+muffins at the time, with marmalade. He led a miserable life (the son,
+I mean) and died early; it was a happy release on all accounts; he
+degraded the family very much. It is a sad circumstance, Edward, when a
+father finds it necessary to resort to such strong measures.
+
+'It is,' replied Edward, 'and it is sad when a son, proffering him his
+love and duty in their best and truest sense, finds himself repelled
+at every turn, and forced to disobey. Dear father,' he added, more
+earnestly though in a gentler tone, 'I have reflected many times on what
+occurred between us when we first discussed this subject. Let there be
+a confidence between us; not in terms, but truth. Hear what I have to
+say.'
+
+'As I anticipate what it is, and cannot fail to do so, Edward,' returned
+his father coldly, 'I decline. I couldn't possibly. I am sure it would
+put me out of temper, which is a state of mind I can't endure. If
+you intend to mar my plans for your establishment in life, and the
+preservation of that gentility and becoming pride, which our family
+have so long sustained--if, in short, you are resolved to take your own
+course, you must take it, and my curse with it. I am very sorry, but
+there's really no alternative.'
+
+'The curse may pass your lips,' said Edward, 'but it will be but empty
+breath. I do not believe that any man on earth has greater power to call
+one down upon his fellow--least of all, upon his own child--than he has
+to make one drop of rain or flake of snow fall from the clouds above us
+at his impious bidding. Beware, sir, what you do.'
+
+'You are so very irreligious, so exceedingly undutiful, so horribly
+profane,' rejoined his father, turning his face lazily towards him, and
+cracking another nut, 'that I positively must interrupt you here. It is
+quite impossible we can continue to go on, upon such terms as these. If
+you will do me the favour to ring the bell, the servant will show you
+to the door. Return to this roof no more, I beg you. Go, sir, since
+you have no moral sense remaining; and go to the Devil, at my express
+desire. Good day.'
+
+Edward left the room without another word or look, and turned his back
+upon the house for ever.
+
+The father's face was slightly flushed and heated, but his manner was
+quite unchanged, as he rang the bell again, and addressed the servant on
+his entrance.
+
+'Peak--if that gentleman who has just gone out--'
+
+'I beg your pardon, sir, Mr Edward?'
+
+'Were there more than one, dolt, that you ask the question?--If that
+gentleman should send here for his wardrobe, let him have it, do you
+hear? If he should call himself at any time, I'm not at home. You'll
+tell him so, and shut the door.'
+
+
+So, it soon got whispered about, that Mr Chester was very unfortunate
+in his son, who had occasioned him great grief and sorrow. And the
+good people who heard this and told it again, marvelled the more at his
+equanimity and even temper, and said what an amiable nature that man
+must have, who, having undergone so much, could be so placid and so
+calm. And when Edward's name was spoken, Society shook its head, and
+laid its finger on its lip, and sighed, and looked very grave; and those
+who had sons about his age, waxed wrathful and indignant, and hoped, for
+Virtue's sake, that he was dead. And the world went on turning round, as
+usual, for five years, concerning which this Narrative is silent.
+
+
+
+Chapter 33
+
+
+One wintry evening, early in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
+hundred and eighty, a keen north wind arose as it grew dark, and night
+came on with black and dismal looks. A bitter storm of sleet, sharp,
+dense, and icy-cold, swept the wet streets, and rattled on the trembling
+windows. Signboards, shaken past endurance in their creaking frames,
+fell crashing on the pavement; old tottering chimneys reeled and
+staggered in the blast; and many a steeple rocked again that night, as
+though the earth were troubled.
+
+It was not a time for those who could by any means get light and warmth,
+to brave the fury of the weather. In coffee-houses of the better sort,
+guests crowded round the fire, forgot to be political, and told each
+other with a secret gladness that the blast grew fiercer every minute.
+Each humble tavern by the water-side, had its group of uncouth figures
+round the hearth, who talked of vessels foundering at sea, and all hands
+lost; related many a dismal tale of shipwreck and drowned men, and
+hoped that some they knew were safe, and shook their heads in doubt.
+In private dwellings, children clustered near the blaze; listening with
+timid pleasure to tales of ghosts and goblins, and tall figures clad
+in white standing by bed-sides, and people who had gone to sleep in old
+churches and being overlooked had found themselves alone there at the
+dead hour of the night: until they shuddered at the thought of the dark
+rooms upstairs, yet loved to hear the wind moan too, and hoped it would
+continue bravely. From time to time these happy indoor people stopped to
+listen, or one held up his finger and cried 'Hark!' and then, above the
+rumbling in the chimney, and the fast pattering on the glass, was heard
+a wailing, rushing sound, which shook the walls as though a giant's hand
+were on them; then a hoarse roar as if the sea had risen; then such a
+whirl and tumult that the air seemed mad; and then, with a lengthened
+howl, the waves of wind swept on, and left a moment's interval of rest.
+
+Cheerily, though there were none abroad to see it, shone the Maypole
+light that evening. Blessings on the red--deep, ruby, glowing red--old
+curtain of the window; blending into one rich stream of brightness, fire
+and candle, meat, drink, and company, and gleaming like a jovial
+eye upon the bleak waste out of doors! Within, what carpet like its
+crunching sand, what music merry as its crackling logs, what perfume
+like its kitchen's dainty breath, what weather genial as its hearty
+warmth! Blessings on the old house, how sturdily it stood! How did the
+vexed wind chafe and roar about its stalwart roof; how did it pant
+and strive with its wide chimneys, which still poured forth from their
+hospitable throats, great clouds of smoke, and puffed defiance in its
+face; how, above all, did it drive and rattle at the casement, emulous
+to extinguish that cheerful glow, which would not be put down and seemed
+the brighter for the conflict!
+
+The profusion too, the rich and lavish bounty, of that goodly tavern! It
+was not enough that one fire roared and sparkled on its spacious hearth;
+in the tiles which paved and compassed it, five hundred flickering fires
+burnt brightly also. It was not enough that one red curtain shut the
+wild night out, and shed its cheerful influence on the room. In every
+saucepan lid, and candlestick, and vessel of copper, brass, or tin
+that hung upon the walls, were countless ruddy hangings, flashing and
+gleaming with every motion of the blaze, and offering, let the eye
+wander where it might, interminable vistas of the same rich colour. The
+old oak wainscoting, the beams, the chairs, the seats, reflected it in
+a deep, dull glimmer. There were fires and red curtains in the very eyes
+of the drinkers, in their buttons, in their liquor, in the pipes they
+smoked.
+
+Mr Willet sat in what had been his accustomed place five years before,
+with his eyes on the eternal boiler; and had sat there since the clock
+struck eight, giving no other signs of life than breathing with a loud
+and constant snore (though he was wide awake), and from time to time
+putting his glass to his lips, or knocking the ashes out of his pipe,
+and filling it anew. It was now half-past ten. Mr Cobb and long Phil
+Parkes were his companions, as of old, and for two mortal hours and a
+half, none of the company had pronounced one word.
+
+Whether people, by dint of sitting together in the same place and the
+same relative positions, and doing exactly the same things for a great
+many years, acquire a sixth sense, or some unknown power of influencing
+each other which serves them in its stead, is a question for philosophy
+to settle. But certain it is that old John Willet, Mr Parkes, and Mr
+Cobb, were one and all firmly of opinion that they were very jolly
+companions--rather choice spirits than otherwise; that they looked at
+each other every now and then as if there were a perpetual interchange
+of ideas going on among them; that no man considered himself or his
+neighbour by any means silent; and that each of them nodded occasionally
+when he caught the eye of another, as if he would say, 'You have
+expressed yourself extremely well, sir, in relation to that sentiment,
+and I quite agree with you.'
+
+The room was so very warm, the tobacco so very good, and the fire so
+very soothing, that Mr Willet by degrees began to doze; but as he had
+perfectly acquired, by dint of long habit, the art of smoking in his
+sleep, and as his breathing was pretty much the same, awake or asleep,
+saving that in the latter case he sometimes experienced a slight
+difficulty in respiration (such as a carpenter meets with when he is
+planing and comes to a knot), neither of his companions was aware of the
+circumstance, until he met with one of these impediments and was obliged
+to try again.
+
+'Johnny's dropped off,' said Mr Parkes in a whisper.
+
+'Fast as a top,' said Mr Cobb.
+
+Neither of them said any more until Mr Willet came to another knot--one
+of surpassing obduracy--which bade fair to throw him into convulsions,
+but which he got over at last without waking, by an effort quite
+superhuman.
+
+'He sleeps uncommon hard,' said Mr Cobb.
+
+Mr Parkes, who was possibly a hard-sleeper himself, replied with some
+disdain, 'Not a bit on it;' and directed his eyes towards a handbill
+pasted over the chimney-piece, which was decorated at the top with a
+woodcut representing a youth of tender years running away very fast,
+with a bundle over his shoulder at the end of a stick, and--to carry
+out the idea--a finger-post and a milestone beside him. Mr Cobb likewise
+turned his eyes in the same direction, and surveyed the placard as if
+that were the first time he had ever beheld it. Now, this was a document
+which Mr Willet had himself indited on the disappearance of his son
+Joseph, acquainting the nobility and gentry and the public in general
+with the circumstances of his having left his home; describing his dress
+and appearance; and offering a reward of five pounds to any person or
+persons who would pack him up and return him safely to the Maypole at
+Chigwell, or lodge him in any of his Majesty's jails until such time as
+his father should come and claim him. In this advertisement Mr Willet
+had obstinately persisted, despite the advice and entreaties of his
+friends, in describing his son as a 'young boy;' and furthermore as
+being from eighteen inches to a couple of feet shorter than he really
+was; two circumstances which perhaps accounted, in some degree, for its
+never having been productive of any other effect than the transmission
+to Chigwell at various times and at a vast expense, of some
+five-and-forty runaways varying from six years old to twelve.
+
+Mr Cobb and Mr Parkes looked mysteriously at this composition, at each
+other, and at old John. From the time he had pasted it up with his own
+hands, Mr Willet had never by word or sign alluded to the subject, or
+encouraged any one else to do so. Nobody had the least notion what his
+thoughts or opinions were, connected with it; whether he remembered it
+or forgot it; whether he had any idea that such an event had ever taken
+place. Therefore, even while he slept, no one ventured to refer to it in
+his presence; and for such sufficient reasons, these his chosen friends
+were silent now.
+
+Mr Willet had got by this time into such a complication of knots,
+that it was perfectly clear he must wake or die. He chose the former
+alternative, and opened his eyes.
+
+'If he don't come in five minutes,' said John, 'I shall have supper
+without him.'
+
+The antecedent of this pronoun had been mentioned for the last time
+at eight o'clock. Messrs Parkes and Cobb being used to this style of
+conversation, replied without difficulty that to be sure Solomon was
+very late, and they wondered what had happened to detain him.
+
+'He an't blown away, I suppose,' said Parkes. 'It's enough to carry a
+man of his figure off his legs, and easy too. Do you hear it? It blows
+great guns, indeed. There'll be many a crash in the Forest to-night, I
+reckon, and many a broken branch upon the ground to-morrow.'
+
+'It won't break anything in the Maypole, I take it, sir,' returned old
+John. 'Let it try. I give it leave--what's that?'
+
+'The wind,' cried Parkes. 'It's howling like a Christian, and has been
+all night long.'
+
+'Did you ever, sir,' asked John, after a minute's contemplation, 'hear
+the wind say "Maypole"?'
+
+'Why, what man ever did?' said Parkes.
+
+'Nor "ahoy," perhaps?' added John.
+
+'No. Nor that neither.'
+
+'Very good, sir,' said Mr Willet, perfectly unmoved; 'then if that
+was the wind just now, and you'll wait a little time without speaking,
+you'll hear it say both words very plain.'
+
+Mr Willet was right. After listening for a few moments, they could
+clearly hear, above the roar and tumult out of doors, this shout
+repeated; and that with a shrillness and energy, which denoted that it
+came from some person in great distress or terror. They looked at each
+other, turned pale, and held their breath. No man stirred.
+
+It was in this emergency that Mr Willet displayed something of that
+strength of mind and plenitude of mental resource, which rendered him
+the admiration of all his friends and neighbours. After looking at
+Messrs Parkes and Cobb for some time in silence, he clapped his two
+hands to his cheeks, and sent forth a roar which made the glasses dance
+and rafters ring--a long-sustained, discordant bellow, that rolled
+onward with the wind, and startling every echo, made the night a hundred
+times more boisterous--a deep, loud, dismal bray, that sounded like a
+human gong. Then, with every vein in his head and face swollen with the
+great exertion, and his countenance suffused with a lively purple, he
+drew a little nearer to the fire, and turning his back upon it, said
+with dignity:
+
+'If that's any comfort to anybody, they're welcome to it. If it an't,
+I'm sorry for 'em. If either of you two gentlemen likes to go out and
+see what's the matter, you can. I'm not curious, myself.'
+
+While he spoke the cry drew nearer and nearer, footsteps passed the
+window, the latch of the door was raised, it opened, was violently shut
+again, and Solomon Daisy, with a lighted lantern in his hand, and the
+rain streaming from his disordered dress, dashed into the room.
+
+A more complete picture of terror than the little man presented, it
+would be difficult to imagine. The perspiration stood in beads upon his
+face, his knees knocked together, his every limb trembled, the power
+of articulation was quite gone; and there he stood, panting for breath,
+gazing on them with such livid ashy looks, that they were infected with
+his fear, though ignorant of its occasion, and, reflecting his dismayed
+and horror-stricken visage, stared back again without venturing to
+question him; until old John Willet, in a fit of temporary insanity,
+made a dive at his cravat, and, seizing him by that portion of his
+dress, shook him to and fro until his very teeth appeared to rattle in
+his head.
+
+'Tell us what's the matter, sir,' said John, 'or I'll kill you. Tell us
+what's the matter, sir, or in another second I'll have your head under
+the biler. How dare you look like that? Is anybody a-following of you?
+What do you mean? Say something, or I'll be the death of you, I will.'
+
+Mr Willet, in his frenzy, was so near keeping his word to the very
+letter (Solomon Daisy's eyes already beginning to roll in an alarming
+manner, and certain guttural sounds, as of a choking man, to issue from
+his throat), that the two bystanders, recovering in some degree,
+plucked him off his victim by main force, and placed the little clerk
+of Chigwell in a chair. Directing a fearful gaze all round the room, he
+implored them in a faint voice to give him some drink; and above all to
+lock the house-door and close and bar the shutters of the room, without
+a moment's loss of time. The latter request did not tend to reassure
+his hearers, or to fill them with the most comfortable sensations; they
+complied with it, however, with the greatest expedition; and having
+handed him a bumper of brandy-and-water, nearly boiling hot, waited to
+hear what he might have to tell them.
+
+'Oh, Johnny,' said Solomon, shaking him by the hand. 'Oh, Parkes. Oh,
+Tommy Cobb. Why did I leave this house to-night! On the nineteenth of
+March--of all nights in the year, on the nineteenth of March!'
+
+They all drew closer to the fire. Parkes, who was nearest to the door,
+started and looked over his shoulder. Mr Willet, with great indignation,
+inquired what the devil he meant by that--and then said, 'God forgive
+me,' and glanced over his own shoulder, and came a little nearer.
+
+'When I left here to-night,' said Solomon Daisy, 'I little thought what
+day of the month it was. I have never gone alone into the church after
+dark on this day, for seven-and-twenty years. I have heard it said
+that as we keep our birthdays when we are alive, so the ghosts of
+dead people, who are not easy in their graves, keep the day they died
+upon.--How the wind roars!'
+
+Nobody spoke. All eyes were fastened on Solomon.
+
+'I might have known,' he said, 'what night it was, by the foul weather.
+There's no such night in the whole year round as this is, always. I
+never sleep quietly in my bed on the nineteenth of March.'
+
+'Go on,' said Tom Cobb, in a low voice. 'Nor I neither.'
+
+Solomon Daisy raised his glass to his lips; put it down upon the floor
+with such a trembling hand that the spoon tinkled in it like a little
+bell; and continued thus:
+
+'Have I ever said that we are always brought back to this subject in
+some strange way, when the nineteenth of this month comes round? Do
+you suppose it was by accident, I forgot to wind up the church-clock? I
+never forgot it at any other time, though it's such a clumsy thing that
+it has to be wound up every day. Why should it escape my memory on this
+day of all others?
+
+'I made as much haste down there as I could when I went from here, but
+I had to go home first for the keys; and the wind and rain being dead
+against me all the way, it was pretty well as much as I could do at
+times to keep my legs. I got there at last, opened the church-door, and
+went in. I had not met a soul all the way, and you may judge whether it
+was dull or not. Neither of you would bear me company. If you could have
+known what was to come, you'd have been in the right.
+
+'The wind was so strong, that it was as much as I could do to shut the
+church-door by putting my whole weight against it; and even as it was,
+it burst wide open twice, with such strength that any of you would have
+sworn, if you had been leaning against it, as I was, that somebody was
+pushing on the other side. However, I got the key turned, went into the
+belfry, and wound up the clock--which was very near run down, and would
+have stood stock-still in half an hour.
+
+'As I took up my lantern again to leave the church, it came upon me all
+at once that this was the nineteenth of March. It came upon me with a
+kind of shock, as if a hand had struck the thought upon my forehead;
+at the very same moment, I heard a voice outside the tower--rising from
+among the graves.'
+
+Here old John precipitately interrupted the speaker, and begged that if
+Mr Parkes (who was seated opposite to him and was staring directly over
+his head) saw anything, he would have the goodness to mention it. Mr
+Parkes apologised, and remarked that he was only listening; to which Mr
+Willet angrily retorted, that his listening with that kind of expression
+in his face was not agreeable, and that if he couldn't look like other
+people, he had better put his pocket-handkerchief over his head.
+Mr Parkes with great submission pledged himself to do so, if again
+required, and John Willet turning to Solomon desired him to proceed.
+After waiting until a violent gust of wind and rain, which seemed to
+shake even that sturdy house to its foundation, had passed away, the
+little man complied:
+
+'Never tell me that it was my fancy, or that it was any other sound
+which I mistook for that I tell you of. I heard the wind whistle through
+the arches of the church. I heard the steeple strain and creak. I heard
+the rain as it came driving against the walls. I felt the bells shake. I
+saw the ropes sway to and fro. And I heard that voice.'
+
+'What did it say?' asked Tom Cobb.
+
+'I don't know what; I don't know that it spoke. It gave a kind of cry,
+as any one of us might do, if something dreadful followed us in a dream,
+and came upon us unawares; and then it died off: seeming to pass quite
+round the church.'
+
+'I don't see much in that,' said John, drawing a long breath, and
+looking round him like a man who felt relieved.
+
+'Perhaps not,' returned his friend, 'but that's not all.'
+
+'What more do you mean to say, sir, is to come?' asked John, pausing in
+the act of wiping his face upon his apron. 'What are you a-going to tell
+us of next?'
+
+'What I saw.'
+
+'Saw!' echoed all three, bending forward.
+
+'When I opened the church-door to come out,' said the little man, with
+an expression of face which bore ample testimony to the sincerity of
+his conviction, 'when I opened the church-door to come out, which I did
+suddenly, for I wanted to get it shut again before another gust of wind
+came up, there crossed me--so close, that by stretching out my finger
+I could have touched it--something in the likeness of a man. It was
+bare-headed to the storm. It turned its face without stopping, and fixed
+its eyes on mine. It was a ghost--a spirit.'
+
+'Whose?' they all three cried together.
+
+In the excess of his emotion (for he fell back trembling in his chair,
+and waved his hand as if entreating them to question him no further),
+his answer was lost on all but old John Willet, who happened to be
+seated close beside him.
+
+'Who!' cried Parkes and Tom Cobb, looking eagerly by turns at Solomon
+Daisy and at Mr Willet. 'Who was it?'
+
+'Gentlemen,' said Mr Willet after a long pause, 'you needn't ask. The
+likeness of a murdered man. This is the nineteenth of March.'
+
+A profound silence ensued.
+
+'If you'll take my advice,' said John, 'we had better, one and all, keep
+this a secret. Such tales would not be liked at the Warren. Let us keep
+it to ourselves for the present time at all events, or we may get into
+trouble, and Solomon may lose his place. Whether it was really as he
+says, or whether it wasn't, is no matter. Right or wrong, nobody would
+believe him. As to the probabilities, I don't myself think,' said Mr
+Willet, eyeing the corners of the room in a manner which showed that,
+like some other philosophers, he was not quite easy in his theory,
+'that a ghost as had been a man of sense in his lifetime, would be out
+a-walking in such weather--I only know that I wouldn't, if I was one.'
+
+But this heretical doctrine was strongly opposed by the other three,
+who quoted a great many precedents to show that bad weather was the very
+time for such appearances; and Mr Parkes (who had had a ghost in his
+family, by the mother's side) argued the matter with so much ingenuity
+and force of illustration, that John was only saved from having to
+retract his opinion by the opportune appearance of supper, to which they
+applied themselves with a dreadful relish. Even Solomon Daisy himself,
+by dint of the elevating influences of fire, lights, brandy, and good
+company, so far recovered as to handle his knife and fork in a highly
+creditable manner, and to display a capacity both of eating and
+drinking, such as banished all fear of his having sustained any lasting
+injury from his fright.
+
+Supper done, they crowded round the fire again, and, as is common on
+such occasions, propounded all manner of leading questions calculated
+to surround the story with new horrors and surprises. But Solomon Daisy,
+notwithstanding these temptations, adhered so steadily to his original
+account, and repeated it so often, with such slight variations, and with
+such solemn asseverations of its truth and reality, that his hearers
+were (with good reason) more astonished than at first. As he took John
+Willet's view of the matter in regard to the propriety of not bruiting
+the tale abroad, unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which
+case it would be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman,
+it was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed up and kept quiet.
+And as most men like to have a secret to tell which may exalt their own
+importance, they arrived at this conclusion with perfect unanimity.
+
+As it was by this time growing late, and was long past their usual hour
+of separating, the cronies parted for the night. Solomon Daisy, with a
+fresh candle in his lantern, repaired homewards under the escort of long
+Phil Parkes and Mr Cobb, who were rather more nervous than himself. Mr
+Willet, after seeing them to the door, returned to collect his thoughts
+with the assistance of the boiler, and to listen to the storm of wind
+and rain, which had not yet abated one jot of its fury.
+
+
+
+Chapter 34
+
+
+Before old John had looked at the boiler quite twenty minutes, he got
+his ideas into a focus, and brought them to bear upon Solomon Daisy's
+story. The more he thought of it, the more impressed he became with
+a sense of his own wisdom, and a desire that Mr Haredale should be
+impressed with it likewise. At length, to the end that he might sustain
+a principal and important character in the affair; and might have the
+start of Solomon and his two friends, through whose means he knew the
+adventure, with a variety of exaggerations, would be known to at least
+a score of people, and most likely to Mr Haredale himself, by
+breakfast-time to-morrow; he determined to repair to the Warren before
+going to bed.
+
+'He's my landlord,' thought John, as he took a candle in his hand, and
+setting it down in a corner out of the wind's way, opened a casement in
+the rear of the house, looking towards the stables. 'We haven't met of
+late years so often as we used to do--changes are taking place in the
+family--it's desirable that I should stand as well with them, in point
+of dignity, as possible--the whispering about of this here tale will
+anger him--it's good to have confidences with a gentleman of his natur',
+and set one's-self right besides. Halloa there! Hugh--Hugh. Hal-loa!'
+
+When he had repeated this shout a dozen times, and startled every pigeon
+from its slumbers, a door in one of the ruinous old buildings opened,
+and a rough voice demanded what was amiss now, that a man couldn't even
+have his sleep in quiet.
+
+'What! Haven't you sleep enough, growler, that you're not to be knocked
+up for once?' said John.
+
+'No,' replied the voice, as the speaker yawned and shook himself. 'Not
+half enough.'
+
+'I don't know how you CAN sleep, with the wind a bellowsing and roaring
+about you, making the tiles fly like a pack of cards,' said John; 'but
+no matter for that. Wrap yourself up in something or another, and come
+here, for you must go as far as the Warren with me. And look sharp about
+it.'
+
+Hugh, with much low growling and muttering, went back into his lair;
+and presently reappeared, carrying a lantern and a cudgel, and enveloped
+from head to foot in an old, frowzy, slouching horse-cloth. Mr Willet
+received this figure at the back-door, and ushered him into the bar,
+while he wrapped himself in sundry greatcoats and capes, and so tied and
+knotted his face in shawls and handkerchiefs, that how he breathed was a
+mystery.
+
+'You don't take a man out of doors at near midnight in such weather,
+without putting some heart into him, do you, master?' said Hugh.
+
+'Yes I do, sir,' returned Mr Willet. 'I put the heart (as you call it)
+into him when he has brought me safe home again, and his standing steady
+on his legs an't of so much consequence. So hold that light up, if you
+please, and go on a step or two before, to show the way.'
+
+Hugh obeyed with a very indifferent grace, and a longing glance at the
+bottles. Old John, laying strict injunctions on his cook to keep the
+doors locked in his absence, and to open to nobody but himself on pain
+of dismissal, followed him into the blustering darkness out of doors.
+
+The way was wet and dismal, and the night so black, that if Mr Willet
+had been his own pilot, he would have walked into a deep horsepond
+within a few hundred yards of his own house, and would certainly have
+terminated his career in that ignoble sphere of action. But Hugh, who
+had a sight as keen as any hawk's, and, apart from that endowment, could
+have found his way blindfold to any place within a dozen miles, dragged
+old John along, quite deaf to his remonstrances, and took his own course
+without the slightest reference to, or notice of, his master. So they
+made head against the wind as they best could; Hugh crushing the wet
+grass beneath his heavy tread, and stalking on after his ordinary savage
+fashion; John Willet following at arm's length, picking his steps, and
+looking about him, now for bogs and ditches, and now for such stray
+ghosts as might be wandering abroad, with looks of as much dismay and
+uneasiness as his immovable face was capable of expressing.
+
+At length they stood upon the broad gravel-walk before the Warren-house.
+The building was profoundly dark, and none were moving near it save
+themselves. From one solitary turret-chamber, however, there shone a
+ray of light; and towards this speck of comfort in the cold, cheerless,
+silent scene, Mr Willet bade his pilot lead him.
+
+'The old room,' said John, looking timidly upward; 'Mr Reuben's own
+apartment, God be with us! I wonder his brother likes to sit there, so
+late at night--on this night too.'
+
+'Why, where else should he sit?' asked Hugh, holding the lantern to his
+breast, to keep the candle from the wind, while he trimmed it with his
+fingers. 'It's snug enough, an't it?'
+
+'Snug!' said John indignantly. 'You have a comfortable idea of snugness,
+you have, sir. Do you know what was done in that room, you ruffian?'
+
+'Why, what is it the worse for that!' cried Hugh, looking into John's
+fat face. 'Does it keep out the rain, and snow, and wind, the less for
+that? Is it less warm or dry, because a man was killed there? Ha, ha,
+ha! Never believe it, master. One man's no such matter as that comes
+to.'
+
+Mr Willet fixed his dull eyes on his follower, and began--by a species
+of inspiration--to think it just barely possible that he was something
+of a dangerous character, and that it might be advisable to get rid
+of him one of these days. He was too prudent to say anything, with the
+journey home before him; and therefore turned to the iron gate before
+which this brief dialogue had passed, and pulled the handle of the bell
+that hung beside it. The turret in which the light appeared being at
+one corner of the building, and only divided from the path by one of
+the garden-walks, upon which this gate opened, Mr Haredale threw up the
+window directly, and demanded who was there.
+
+'Begging pardon, sir,' said John, 'I knew you sat up late, and made bold
+to come round, having a word to say to you.'
+
+'Willet--is it not?'
+
+'Of the Maypole--at your service, sir.'
+
+Mr Haredale closed the window, and withdrew. He presently appeared at
+a door in the bottom of the turret, and coming across the garden-walk,
+unlocked the gate and let them in.
+
+'You are a late visitor, Willet. What is the matter?'
+
+'Nothing to speak of, sir,' said John; 'an idle tale, I thought you
+ought to know of; nothing more.'
+
+'Let your man go forward with the lantern, and give me your hand. The
+stairs are crooked and narrow. Gently with your light, friend. You swing
+it like a censer.'
+
+Hugh, who had already reached the turret, held it more steadily, and
+ascended first, turning round from time to time to shed his light
+downward on the steps. Mr Haredale following next, eyed his lowering
+face with no great favour; and Hugh, looking down on him, returned his
+glances with interest, as they climbed the winding stairs.
+
+It terminated in a little ante-room adjoining that from which they had
+seen the light. Mr Haredale entered first, and led the way through it
+into the latter chamber, where he seated himself at a writing-table from
+which he had risen when they had rung the bell.
+
+'Come in,' he said, beckoning to old John, who remained bowing at the
+door. 'Not you, friend,' he added hastily to Hugh, who entered also.
+'Willet, why do you bring that fellow here?'
+
+'Why, sir,' returned John, elevating his eyebrows, and lowering his
+voice to the tone in which the question had been asked him, 'he's a good
+guard, you see.'
+
+'Don't be too sure of that,' said Mr Haredale, looking towards him as he
+spoke. 'I doubt it. He has an evil eye.'
+
+'There's no imagination in his eye,' returned Mr Willet, glancing over
+his shoulder at the organ in question, 'certainly.'
+
+'There is no good there, be assured,' said Mr Haredale. 'Wait in that
+little room, friend, and close the door between us.'
+
+Hugh shrugged his shoulders, and with a disdainful look, which showed,
+either that he had overheard, or that he guessed the purport of their
+whispering, did as he was told. When he was shut out, Mr Haredale turned
+to John, and bade him go on with what he had to say, but not to speak
+too loud, for there were quick ears yonder.
+
+Thus cautioned, Mr Willet, in an oily whisper, recited all that he
+had heard and said that night; laying particular stress upon his own
+sagacity, upon his great regard for the family, and upon his solicitude
+for their peace of mind and happiness. The story moved his auditor much
+more than he had expected. Mr Haredale often changed his attitude, rose
+and paced the room, returned again, desired him to repeat, as nearly as
+he could, the very words that Solomon had used, and gave so many other
+signs of being disturbed and ill at ease, that even Mr Willet was
+surprised.
+
+'You did quite right,' he said, at the end of a long conversation, 'to
+bid them keep this story secret. It is a foolish fancy on the part of
+this weak-brained man, bred in his fears and superstition. But Miss
+Haredale, though she would know it to be so, would be disturbed by it
+if it reached her ears; it is too nearly connected with a subject very
+painful to us all, to be heard with indifference. You were most prudent,
+and have laid me under a great obligation. I thank you very much.'
+
+This was equal to John's most sanguine expectations; but he would have
+preferred Mr Haredale's looking at him when he spoke, as if he really
+did thank him, to his walking up and down, speaking by fits and starts,
+often stopping with his eyes fixed on the ground, moving hurriedly on
+again, like one distracted, and seeming almost unconscious of what he
+said or did.
+
+This, however, was his manner; and it was so embarrassing to John that
+he sat quite passive for a long time, not knowing what to do. At length
+he rose. Mr Haredale stared at him for a moment as though he had quite
+forgotten his being present, then shook hands with him, and opened the
+door. Hugh, who was, or feigned to be, fast asleep on the ante-chamber
+floor, sprang up on their entrance, and throwing his cloak about him,
+grasped his stick and lantern, and prepared to descend the stairs.
+
+'Stay,' said Mr Haredale. 'Will this man drink?'
+
+'Drink! He'd drink the Thames up, if it was strong enough, sir,' replied
+John Willet. 'He'll have something when he gets home. He's better
+without it, now, sir.'
+
+'Nay. Half the distance is done,' said Hugh. 'What a hard master you
+are! I shall go home the better for one glassful, halfway. Come!'
+
+As John made no reply, Mr Haredale brought out a glass of liquor, and
+gave it to Hugh, who, as he took it in his hand, threw part of it upon
+the floor.
+
+'What do you mean by splashing your drink about a gentleman's house,
+sir?' said John.
+
+'I'm drinking a toast,' Hugh rejoined, holding the glass above his head,
+and fixing his eyes on Mr Haredale's face; 'a toast to this house and
+its master.' With that he muttered something to himself, and drank the
+rest, and setting down the glass, preceded them without another word.
+
+John was a good deal scandalised by this observance, but seeing that
+Mr Haredale took little heed of what Hugh said or did, and that his
+thoughts were otherwise employed, he offered no apology, and went in
+silence down the stairs, across the walk, and through the garden-gate.
+They stopped upon the outer side for Hugh to hold the light while Mr
+Haredale locked it on the inner; and then John saw with wonder (as he
+often afterwards related), that he was very pale, and that his face
+had changed so much and grown so haggard since their entrance, that he
+almost seemed another man.
+
+They were in the open road again, and John Willet was walking on behind
+his escort, as he had come, thinking very steadily of what he had just
+now seen, when Hugh drew him suddenly aside, and almost at the same
+instant three horsemen swept past--the nearest brushed his shoulder even
+then--who, checking their steeds as suddenly as they could, stood still,
+and waited for their coming up.
+
+
+
+Chapter 35
+
+
+When John Willet saw that the horsemen wheeled smartly round, and drew
+up three abreast in the narrow road, waiting for him and his man to join
+them, it occurred to him with unusual precipitation that they must be
+highwaymen; and had Hugh been armed with a blunderbuss, in place of his
+stout cudgel, he would certainly have ordered him to fire it off at a
+venture, and would, while the word of command was obeyed, have consulted
+his own personal safety in immediate flight. Under the circumstances of
+disadvantage, however, in which he and his guard were placed, he deemed
+it prudent to adopt a different style of generalship, and therefore
+whispered his attendant to address them in the most peaceable and
+courteous terms. By way of acting up to the spirit and letter of this
+instruction, Hugh stepped forward, and flourishing his staff before the
+very eyes of the rider nearest to him, demanded roughly what he and his
+fellows meant by so nearly galloping over them, and why they scoured the
+king's highway at that late hour of night.
+
+The man whom he addressed was beginning an angry reply in the same
+strain, when he was checked by the horseman in the centre, who,
+interposing with an air of authority, inquired in a somewhat loud but
+not harsh or unpleasant voice:
+
+'Pray, is this the London road?'
+
+'If you follow it right, it is,' replied Hugh roughly.
+
+'Nay, brother,' said the same person, 'you're but a churlish Englishman,
+if Englishman you be--which I should much doubt but for your tongue.
+Your companion, I am sure, will answer me more civilly. How say you,
+friend?'
+
+'I say it IS the London road, sir,' answered John. 'And I wish,' he
+added in a subdued voice, as he turned to Hugh, 'that you was in any
+other road, you vagabond. Are you tired of your life, sir, that you go
+a-trying to provoke three great neck-or-nothing chaps, that could keep
+on running over us, back'ards and for'ards, till we was dead, and then
+take our bodies up behind 'em, and drown us ten miles off?'
+
+'How far is it to London?' inquired the same speaker.
+
+'Why, from here, sir,' answered John, persuasively, 'it's thirteen very
+easy mile.'
+
+The adjective was thrown in, as an inducement to the travellers to
+ride away with all speed; but instead of having the desired effect, it
+elicited from the same person, the remark, 'Thirteen miles! That's a
+long distance!' which was followed by a short pause of indecision.
+
+'Pray,' said the gentleman, 'are there any inns hereabouts?' At the word
+'inns,' John plucked up his spirit in a surprising manner; his fears
+rolled off like smoke; all the landlord stirred within him.
+
+'There are no inns,' rejoined Mr Willet, with a strong emphasis on the
+plural number; 'but there's a Inn--one Inn--the Maypole Inn. That's a
+Inn indeed. You won't see the like of that Inn often.'
+
+'You keep it, perhaps?' said the horseman, smiling.
+
+'I do, sir,' replied John, greatly wondering how he had found this out.
+
+'And how far is the Maypole from here?'
+
+'About a mile'--John was going to add that it was the easiest mile in
+all the world, when the third rider, who had hitherto kept a little in
+the rear, suddenly interposed:
+
+'And have you one excellent bed, landlord? Hem! A bed that you can
+recommend--a bed that you are sure is well aired--a bed that has been
+slept in by some perfectly respectable and unexceptionable person?'
+
+'We don't take in no tagrag and bobtail at our house, sir,' answered
+John. 'And as to the bed itself--'
+
+'Say, as to three beds,' interposed the gentleman who had spoken before;
+'for we shall want three if we stay, though my friend only speaks of
+one.'
+
+'No, no, my lord; you are too good, you are too kind; but your life is
+of far too much importance to the nation in these portentous times, to
+be placed upon a level with one so useless and so poor as mine. A great
+cause, my lord, a mighty cause, depends on you. You are its leader and
+its champion, its advanced guard and its van. It is the cause of our
+altars and our homes, our country and our faith. Let ME sleep on a
+chair--the carpet--anywhere. No one will repine if I take cold or fever.
+Let John Grueby pass the night beneath the open sky--no one will
+repine for HIM. But forty thousand men of this our island in the wave
+(exclusive of women and children) rivet their eyes and thoughts on Lord
+George Gordon; and every day, from the rising up of the sun to the going
+down of the same, pray for his health and vigour. My lord,' said the
+speaker, rising in his stirrups, 'it is a glorious cause, and must not
+be forgotten. My lord, it is a mighty cause, and must not be endangered.
+My lord, it is a holy cause, and must not be deserted.'
+
+'It IS a holy cause,' exclaimed his lordship, lifting up his hat with
+great solemnity. 'Amen.'
+
+'John Grueby,' said the long-winded gentleman, in a tone of mild
+reproof, 'his lordship said Amen.'
+
+'I heard my lord, sir,' said the man, sitting like a statue on his
+horse.
+
+'And do not YOU say Amen, likewise?'
+
+To which John Grueby made no reply at all, but sat looking straight
+before him.
+
+'You surprise me, Grueby,' said the gentleman. 'At a crisis like the
+present, when Queen Elizabeth, that maiden monarch, weeps within
+her tomb, and Bloody Mary, with a brow of gloom and shadow, stalks
+triumphant--'
+
+'Oh, sir,' cied the man, gruffly, 'where's the use of talking of Bloody
+Mary, under such circumstances as the present, when my lord's wet
+through, and tired with hard riding? Let's either go on to London, sir,
+or put up at once; or that unfort'nate Bloody Mary will have more to
+answer for--and she's done a deal more harm in her grave than she ever
+did in her lifetime, I believe.'
+
+By this time Mr Willet, who had never heard so many words spoken
+together at one time, or delivered with such volubility and emphasis as
+by the long-winded gentleman; and whose brain, being wholly unable to
+sustain or compass them, had quite given itself up for lost; recovered
+so far as to observe that there was ample accommodation at the Maypole
+for all the party: good beds; neat wines; excellent entertainment
+for man and beast; private rooms for large and small parties; dinners
+dressed upon the shortest notice; choice stabling, and a lock-up
+coach-house; and, in short, to run over such recommendatory scraps of
+language as were painted up on various portions of the building, and
+which in the course of some forty years he had learnt to repeat with
+tolerable correctness. He was considering whether it was at all possible
+to insert any novel sentences to the same purpose, when the gentleman
+who had spoken first, turning to him of the long wind, exclaimed, 'What
+say you, Gashford? Shall we tarry at this house he speaks of, or press
+forward? You shall decide.'
+
+'I would submit, my lord, then,' returned the person he appealed to,
+in a silky tone, 'that your health and spirits--so important, under
+Providence, to our great cause, our pure and truthful cause'--here his
+lordship pulled off his hat again, though it was raining hard--'require
+refreshment and repose.'
+
+'Go on before, landlord, and show the way,' said Lord George Gordon; 'we
+will follow at a footpace.'
+
+'If you'll give me leave, my lord,' said John Grueby, in a low voice,
+'I'll change my proper place, and ride before you. The looks of the
+landlord's friend are not over honest, and it may be as well to be
+cautious with him.'
+
+'John Grueby is quite right,' interposed Mr Gashford, falling back
+hastily. 'My lord, a life so precious as yours must not be put in peril.
+Go forward, John, by all means. If you have any reason to suspect the
+fellow, blow his brains out.'
+
+John made no answer, but looking straight before him, as his custom
+seemed to be when the secretary spoke, bade Hugh push on, and followed
+close behind him. Then came his lordship, with Mr Willet at his bridle
+rein; and, last of all, his lordship's secretary--for that, it seemed,
+was Gashford's office.
+
+Hugh strode briskly on, often looking back at the servant, whose horse
+was close upon his heels, and glancing with a leer at his holster
+case of pistols, by which he seemed to set great store. He was a
+square-built, strong-made, bull-necked fellow, of the true English
+breed; and as Hugh measured him with his eye, he measured Hugh,
+regarding him meanwhile with a look of bluff disdain. He was much older
+than the Maypole man, being to all appearance five-and-forty; but was
+one of those self-possessed, hard-headed, imperturbable fellows, who, if
+they are ever beaten at fisticuffs, or other kind of warfare, never know
+it, and go on coolly till they win.
+
+'If I led you wrong now,' said Hugh, tauntingly, 'you'd--ha ha
+ha!--you'd shoot me through the head, I suppose.'
+
+John Grueby took no more notice of this remark than if he had been deaf
+and Hugh dumb; but kept riding on quite comfortably, with his eyes fixed
+on the horizon.
+
+'Did you ever try a fall with a man when you were young, master?' said
+Hugh. 'Can you make any play at single-stick?'
+
+John Grueby looked at him sideways with the same contented air, but
+deigned not a word in answer.
+
+'--Like this?' said Hugh, giving his cudgel one of those skilful
+flourishes, in which the rustic of that time delighted. 'Whoop!'
+
+'--Or that,' returned John Grueby, beating down his guard with his whip,
+and striking him on the head with its butt end. 'Yes, I played a little
+once. You wear your hair too long; I should have cracked your crown if
+it had been a little shorter.'
+
+It was a pretty smart, loud-sounding rap, as it was, and evidently
+astonished Hugh; who, for the moment, seemed disposed to drag his new
+acquaintance from his saddle. But his face betokening neither malice,
+triumph, rage, nor any lingering idea that he had given him offence;
+his eyes gazing steadily in the old direction, and his manner being as
+careless and composed as if he had merely brushed away a fly; Hugh was
+so puzzled, and so disposed to look upon him as a customer of almost
+supernatural toughness, that he merely laughed, and cried 'Well done!'
+then, sheering off a little, led the way in silence.
+
+Before the lapse of many minutes the party halted at the Maypole door.
+Lord George and his secretary quickly dismounting, gave their horses to
+their servant, who, under the guidance of Hugh, repaired to the stables.
+Right glad to escape from the inclemency of the night, they followed
+Mr Willet into the common room, and stood warming themselves and drying
+their clothes before the cheerful fire, while he busied himself with
+such orders and preparations as his guest's high quality required.
+
+As he bustled in and out of the room, intent on these arrangements, he
+had an opportunity of observing the two travellers, of whom, as yet, he
+knew nothing but the voice. The lord, the great personage who did the
+Maypole so much honour, was about the middle height, of a slender make,
+and sallow complexion, with an aquiline nose, and long hair of a reddish
+brown, combed perfectly straight and smooth about his ears, and slightly
+powdered, but without the faintest vestige of a curl. He was attired,
+under his greatcoat, in a full suit of black, quite free from any
+ornament, and of the most precise and sober cut. The gravity of his
+dress, together with a certain lankness of cheek and stiffness of
+deportment, added nearly ten years to his age, but his figure was that
+of one not yet past thirty. As he stood musing in the red glow of
+the fire, it was striking to observe his very bright large eye, which
+betrayed a restlessness of thought and purpose, singularly at variance
+with the studied composure and sobriety of his mien, and with his
+quaint and sad apparel. It had nothing harsh or cruel in its expression;
+neither had his face, which was thin and mild, and wore an air of
+melancholy; but it was suggestive of an indefinable uneasiness; which
+infected those who looked upon him, and filled them with a kind of pity
+for the man: though why it did so, they would have had some trouble to
+explain.
+
+Gashford, the secretary, was taller, angularly made, high-shouldered,
+bony, and ungraceful. His dress, in imitation of his superior, was
+demure and staid in the extreme; his manner, formal and constrained.
+This gentleman had an overhanging brow, great hands and feet and ears,
+and a pair of eyes that seemed to have made an unnatural retreat into
+his head, and to have dug themselves a cave to hide in. His manner was
+smooth and humble, but very sly and slinking. He wore the aspect of a
+man who was always lying in wait for something that WOULDN'T come to
+pass; but he looked patient--very patient--and fawned like a spaniel
+dog. Even now, while he warmed and rubbed his hands before the blaze,
+he had the air of one who only presumed to enjoy it in his degree as a
+commoner; and though he knew his lord was not regarding him, he looked
+into his face from time to time, and with a meek and deferential manner,
+smiled as if for practice.
+
+Such were the guests whom old John Willet, with a fixed and leaden
+eye, surveyed a hundred times, and to whom he now advanced with a state
+candlestick in each hand, beseeching them to follow him into a worthier
+chamber. 'For my lord,' said John--it is odd enough, but certain people
+seem to have as great a pleasure in pronouncing titles as their owners
+have in wearing them--'this room, my lord, isn't at all the sort of
+place for your lordship, and I have to beg your lordship's pardon for
+keeping you here, my lord, one minute.'
+
+With this address, John ushered them upstairs into the state apartment,
+which, like many other things of state, was cold and comfortless. Their
+own footsteps, reverberating through the spacious room, struck upon
+their hearing with a hollow sound; and its damp and chilly atmosphere
+was rendered doubly cheerless by contrast with the homely warmth they
+had deserted.
+
+It was of no use, however, to propose a return to the place they had
+quitted, for the preparations went on so briskly that there was no time
+to stop them. John, with the tall candlesticks in his hands, bowed them
+up to the fireplace; Hugh, striding in with a lighted brand and pile
+of firewood, cast it down upon the hearth, and set it in a blaze; John
+Grueby (who had a great blue cockade in his hat, which he appeared
+to despise mightily) brought in the portmanteau he had carried on his
+horse, and placed it on the floor; and presently all three were busily
+engaged in drawing out the screen, laying the cloth, inspecting the
+beds, lighting fires in the bedrooms, expediting the supper, and making
+everything as cosy and as snug as might be, on so short a notice. In
+less than an hour's time, supper had been served, and ate, and cleared
+away; and Lord George and his secretary, with slippered feet, and legs
+stretched out before the fire, sat over some hot mulled wine together.
+
+'So ends, my lord,' said Gashford, filling his glass with great
+complacency, 'the blessed work of a most blessed day.'
+
+'And of a blessed yesterday,' said his lordship, raising his head.
+
+'Ah!'--and here the secretary clasped his hands--'a blessed yesterday
+indeed! The Protestants of Suffolk are godly men and true. Though others
+of our countrymen have lost their way in darkness, even as we, my lord,
+did lose our road to-night, theirs is the light and glory.'
+
+'Did I move them, Gashford?' said Lord George.
+
+'Move them, my lord! Move them! They cried to be led on against the
+Papists, they vowed a dreadful vengeance on their heads, they roared
+like men possessed--'
+
+'But not by devils,' said his lord.
+
+'By devils! my lord! By angels.'
+
+'Yes--oh surely--by angels, no doubt,' said Lord George, thrusting his
+hands into his pockets, taking them out again to bite his nails, and
+looking uncomfortably at the fire. 'Of course by angels--eh Gashford?'
+
+'You do not doubt it, my lord?' said the secretary.
+
+'No--No,' returned his lord. 'No. Why should I? I suppose it would be
+decidedly irreligious to doubt it--wouldn't it, Gashford? Though there
+certainly were,' he added, without waiting for an answer, 'some plaguy
+ill-looking characters among them.'
+
+'When you warmed,' said the secretary, looking sharply at the other's
+downcast eyes, which brightened slowly as he spoke; 'when you warmed
+into that noble outbreak; when you told them that you were never of
+the lukewarm or the timid tribe, and bade them take heed that they were
+prepared to follow one who would lead them on, though to the very death;
+when you spoke of a hundred and twenty thousand men across the Scottish
+border who would take their own redress at any time, if it were not
+conceded; when you cried "Perish the Pope and all his base adherents;
+the penal laws against them shall never be repealed while Englishmen
+have hearts and hands"--and waved your own and touched your sword; and
+when they cried "No Popery!" and you cried "No; not even if we wade in
+blood," and they threw up their hats and cried "Hurrah! not even if we
+wade in blood; No Popery! Lord George! Down with the Papists--Vengeance
+on their heads:" when this was said and done, and a word from you, my
+lord, could raise or still the tumult--ah! then I felt what greatness
+was indeed, and thought, When was there ever power like this of Lord
+George Gordon's!'
+
+'It's a great power. You're right. It is a great power!' he cried with
+sparkling eyes. 'But--dear Gashford--did I really say all that?'
+
+'And how much more!' cried the secretary, looking upwards. 'Ah! how much
+more!'
+
+'And I told them what you say, about the one hundred and forty thousand
+men in Scotland, did I!' he asked with evident delight. 'That was bold.'
+
+'Our cause is boldness. Truth is always bold.'
+
+'Certainly. So is religion. She's bold, Gashford?'
+
+'The true religion is, my lord.'
+
+'And that's ours,' he rejoined, moving uneasily in his seat, and biting
+his nails as though he would pare them to the quick. 'There can be no
+doubt of ours being the true one. You feel as certain of that as I do,
+Gashford, don't you?'
+
+'Does my lord ask ME,' whined Gashford, drawing his chair nearer with
+an injured air, and laying his broad flat hand upon the table; 'ME,'
+he repeated, bending the dark hollows of his eyes upon him with an
+unwholesome smile, 'who, stricken by the magic of his eloquence in
+Scotland but a year ago, abjured the errors of the Romish church, and
+clung to him as one whose timely hand had plucked me from a pit?'
+
+'True. No--No. I--I didn't mean it,' replied the other, shaking him by
+the hand, rising from his seat, and pacing restlessly about the room.
+'It's a proud thing to lead the people, Gashford,' he added as he made a
+sudden halt.
+
+'By force of reason too,' returned the pliant secretary.
+
+'Ay, to be sure. They may cough and jeer, and groan in Parliament, and
+call me fool and madman, but which of them can raise this human sea and
+make it swell and roar at pleasure? Not one.'
+
+'Not one,' repeated Gashford.
+
+'Which of them can say for his honesty, what I can say for mine; which
+of them has refused a minister's bribe of one thousand pounds a year, to
+resign his seat in favour of another? Not one.'
+
+'Not one,' repeated Gashford again--taking the lion's share of the
+mulled wine between whiles.
+
+'And as we are honest, true, and in a sacred cause, Gashford,' said Lord
+George with a heightened colour and in a louder voice, as he laid his
+fevered hand upon his shoulder, 'and are the only men who regard the
+mass of people out of doors, or are regarded by them, we will uphold
+them to the last; and will raise a cry against these un-English Papists
+which shall re-echo through the country, and roll with a noise like
+thunder. I will be worthy of the motto on my coat of arms, "Called and
+chosen and faithful."'
+
+'Called,' said the secretary, 'by Heaven.'
+
+'I am.'
+
+'Chosen by the people.'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Faithful to both.'
+
+'To the block!'
+
+It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the excited manner
+in which he gave these answers to the secretary's promptings; of the
+rapidity of his utterance, or the violence of his tone and gesture; in
+which, struggling through his Puritan's demeanour, was something wild
+and ungovernable which broke through all restraint. For some minutes he
+walked rapidly up and down the room, then stopping suddenly, exclaimed,
+
+'Gashford--YOU moved them yesterday too. Oh yes! You did.'
+
+'I shone with a reflected light, my lord,' replied the humble secretary,
+laying his hand upon his heart. 'I did my best.'
+
+'You did well,' said his master, 'and are a great and worthy instrument.
+If you will ring for John Grueby to carry the portmanteau into my room,
+and will wait here while I undress, we will dispose of business as
+usual, if you're not too tired.'
+
+'Too tired, my lord!--But this is his consideration! Christian from head
+to foot.' With which soliloquy, the secretary tilted the jug, and looked
+very hard into the mulled wine, to see how much remained.
+
+John Willet and John Grueby appeared together. The one bearing the great
+candlesticks, and the other the portmanteau, showed the deluded lord
+into his chamber; and left the secretary alone, to yawn and shake
+himself, and finally to fall asleep before the fire.
+
+'Now, Mr Gashford sir,' said John Grueby in his ear, after what appeared
+to him a moment of unconsciousness; 'my lord's abed.'
+
+'Oh. Very good, John,' was his mild reply. 'Thank you, John. Nobody need
+sit up. I know my room.'
+
+'I hope you're not a-going to trouble your head to-night, or my lord's
+head neither, with anything more about Bloody Mary,' said John. 'I wish
+the blessed old creetur had never been born.'
+
+'I said you might go to bed, John,' returned the secretary. 'You didn't
+hear me, I think.'
+
+'Between Bloody Marys, and blue cockades, and glorious Queen Besses,
+and no Poperys, and Protestant associations, and making of speeches,'
+pursued John Grueby, looking, as usual, a long way off, and taking no
+notice of this hint, 'my lord's half off his head. When we go out o'
+doors, such a set of ragamuffins comes a-shouting after us, "Gordon
+forever!" that I'm ashamed of myself and don't know where to look. When
+we're indoors, they come a-roaring and screaming about the house like so
+many devils; and my lord instead of ordering them to be drove away, goes
+out into the balcony and demeans himself by making speeches to 'em, and
+calls 'em "Men of England," and "Fellow-countrymen," as if he was fond
+of 'em and thanked 'em for coming. I can't make it out, but they're all
+mixed up somehow or another with that unfort'nate Bloody Mary, and call
+her name out till they're hoarse. They're all Protestants too--every man
+and boy among 'em: and Protestants are very fond of spoons, I find, and
+silver-plate in general, whenever area-gates is left open accidentally.
+I wish that was the worst of it, and that no more harm might be to come;
+but if you don't stop these ugly customers in time, Mr Gashford (and I
+know you; you're the man that blows the fire), you'll find 'em grow a
+little bit too strong for you. One of these evenings, when the weather
+gets warmer and Protestants are thirsty, they'll be pulling London
+down,--and I never heard that Bloody Mary went as far as THAT.'
+
+Gashford had vanished long ago, and these remarks had been bestowed on
+empty air. Not at all discomposed by the discovery, John Grueby fixed
+his hat on, wrongside foremost that he might be unconscious of the
+shadow of the obnoxious cockade, and withdrew to bed; shaking his head
+in a very gloomy and prophetic manner until he reached his chamber.
+
+
+
+Chapter 36
+
+
+Gashford, with a smiling face, but still with looks of profound
+deference and humility, betook himself towards his master's room,
+smoothing his hair down as he went, and humming a psalm tune. As he
+approached Lord George's door, he cleared his throat and hummed more
+vigorously.
+
+There was a remarkable contrast between this man's occupation at the
+moment, and the expression of his countenance, which was singularly
+repulsive and malicious. His beetling brow almost obscured his eyes;
+his lip was curled contemptuously; his very shoulders seemed to sneer in
+stealthy whisperings with his great flapped ears.
+
+'Hush!' he muttered softly, as he peeped in at the chamber-door. 'He
+seems to be asleep. Pray Heaven he is! Too much watching, too much care,
+too much thought--ah! Lord preserve him for a martyr! He is a saint, if
+ever saint drew breath on this bad earth.'
+
+Placing his light upon a table, he walked on tiptoe to the fire, and
+sitting in a chair before it with his back towards the bed, went on
+communing with himself like one who thought aloud:
+
+'The saviour of his country and his country's religion, the friend of
+his poor countrymen, the enemy of the proud and harsh; beloved of the
+rejected and oppressed, adored by forty thousand bold and loyal English
+hearts--what happy slumbers his should be!' And here he sighed, and
+warmed his hands, and shook his head as men do when their hearts are
+full, and heaved another sigh, and warmed his hands again.
+
+'Why, Gashford?' said Lord George, who was lying broad awake, upon his
+side, and had been staring at him from his entrance.
+
+'My--my lord,' said Gashford, starting and looking round as though in
+great surprise. 'I have disturbed you!'
+
+'I have not been sleeping.'
+
+'Not sleeping!' he repeated, with assumed confusion. 'What can I say
+for having in your presence given utterance to thoughts--but they were
+sincere--they were sincere!' exclaimed the secretary, drawing his sleeve
+in a hasty way across his eyes; 'and why should I regret your having
+heard them?'
+
+'Gashford,' said the poor lord, stretching out his hand with manifest
+emotion. 'Do not regret it. You love me well, I know--too well. I don't
+deserve such homage.'
+
+Gashford made no reply, but grasped the hand and pressed it to his lips.
+Then rising, and taking from the trunk a little desk, he placed it on
+a table near the fire, unlocked it with a key he carried in his pocket,
+sat down before it, took out a pen, and, before dipping it in the
+inkstand, sucked it--to compose the fashion of his mouth perhaps, on
+which a smile was hovering yet.
+
+'How do our numbers stand since last enrolling-night?' inquired Lord
+George. 'Are we really forty thousand strong, or do we still speak in
+round numbers when we take the Association at that amount?'
+
+'Our total now exceeds that number by a score and three,' Gashford
+replied, casting his eyes upon his papers.
+
+'The funds?'
+
+'Not VERY improving; but there is some manna in the wilderness, my lord.
+Hem! On Friday night the widows' mites dropped in. "Forty scavengers,
+three and fourpence. An aged pew-opener of St Martin's parish, sixpence.
+A bell-ringer of the established church, sixpence. A Protestant infant,
+newly born, one halfpenny. The United Link Boys, three shillings--one
+bad. The anti-popish prisoners in Newgate, five and fourpence. A friend
+in Bedlam, half-a-crown. Dennis the hangman, one shilling."'
+
+'That Dennis,' said his lordship, 'is an earnest man. I marked him in
+the crowd in Welbeck Street, last Friday.'
+
+'A good man,' rejoined the secretary, 'a staunch, sincere, and truly
+zealous man.'
+
+'He should be encouraged,' said Lord George. 'Make a note of Dennis.
+I'll talk with him.'
+
+Gashford obeyed, and went on reading from his list:
+
+'"The Friends of Reason, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Liberty,
+half-a-guinea. The Friends of Peace, half-a-guinea. The Friends of
+Charity, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Mercy, half-a-guinea. The
+Associated Rememberers of Bloody Mary, half-a-guinea. The United
+Bulldogs, half-a-guinea."'
+
+'The United Bulldogs,' said Lord George, biting his nails most horribly,
+'are a new society, are they not?'
+
+'Formerly the 'Prentice Knights, my lord. The indentures of the old
+members expiring by degrees, they changed their name, it seems, though
+they still have 'prentices among them, as well as workmen.'
+
+'What is their president's name?' inquired Lord George.
+
+'President,' said Gashford, reading, 'Mr Simon Tappertit.'
+
+'I remember him. The little man, who sometimes brings an elderly sister
+to our meetings, and sometimes another female too, who is conscientious,
+I have no doubt, but not well-favoured?'
+
+'The very same, my lord.'
+
+'Tappertit is an earnest man,' said Lord George, thoughtfully. 'Eh,
+Gashford?'
+
+'One of the foremost among them all, my lord. He snuffs the battle from
+afar, like the war-horse. He throws his hat up in the street as if he
+were inspired, and makes most stirring speeches from the shoulders of
+his friends.'
+
+'Make a note of Tappertit,' said Lord George Gordon. 'We may advance him
+to a place of trust.'
+
+'That,' rejoined the secretary, doing as he was told, 'is all--except
+Mrs Varden's box (fourteenth time of opening), seven shillings and
+sixpence in silver and copper, and half-a-guinea in gold; and Miggs
+(being the saving of a quarter's wages), one-and-threepence.'
+
+'Miggs,' said Lord George. 'Is that a man?'
+
+'The name is entered on the list as a woman,' replied the secretary. 'I
+think she is the tall spare female of whom you spoke just now, my
+lord, as not being well-favoured, who sometimes comes to hear the
+speeches--along with Tappertit and Mrs Varden.'
+
+'Mrs Varden is the elderly lady then, is she?'
+
+The secretary nodded, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with the feather
+of his pen.
+
+'She is a zealous sister,' said Lord George. 'Her collection goes on
+prosperously, and is pursued with fervour. Has her husband joined?'
+
+'A malignant,' returned the secretary, folding up his papers. 'Unworthy
+such a wife. He remains in outer darkness and steadily refuses.'
+
+'The consequences be upon his own head!--Gashford!'
+
+'My lord!'
+
+'You don't think,' he turned restlessly in his bed as he spoke, 'these
+people will desert me, when the hour arrives? I have spoken boldly for
+them, ventured much, suppressed nothing. They'll not fall off, will
+they?'
+
+'No fear of that, my lord,' said Gashford, with a meaning look, which
+was rather the involuntary expression of his own thoughts than intended
+as any confirmation of his words, for the other's face was turned away.
+'Be sure there is no fear of that.'
+
+'Nor,' he said with a more restless motion than before, 'of their--but
+they CAN sustain no harm from leaguing for this purpose. Right is on
+our side, though Might may be against us. You feel as sure of that as
+I--honestly, you do?'
+
+The secretary was beginning with 'You do not doubt,' when the other
+interrupted him, and impatiently rejoined:
+
+'Doubt. No. Who says I doubt? If I doubted, should I cast away
+relatives, friends, everything, for this unhappy country's sake; this
+unhappy country,' he cried, springing up in bed, after repeating the
+phrase 'unhappy country's sake' to himself, at least a dozen times,
+'forsaken of God and man, delivered over to a dangerous confederacy of
+Popish powers; the prey of corruption, idolatry, and despotism! Who says
+I doubt? Am I called, and chosen, and faithful? Tell me. Am I, or am I
+not?'
+
+'To God, the country, and yourself,' cried Gashford.
+
+'I am. I will be. I say again, I will be: to the block. Who says as
+much! Do you? Does any man alive?'
+
+The secretary drooped his head with an expression of perfect
+acquiescence in anything that had been said or might be; and Lord George
+gradually sinking down upon his pillow, fell asleep.
+
+Although there was something very ludicrous in his vehement manner,
+taken in conjunction with his meagre aspect and ungraceful presence, it
+would scarcely have provoked a smile in any man of kindly feeling; or
+even if it had, he would have felt sorry and almost angry with himself
+next moment, for yielding to the impulse. This lord was sincere in his
+violence and in his wavering. A nature prone to false enthusiasm, and
+the vanity of being a leader, were the worst qualities apparent in his
+composition. All the rest was weakness--sheer weakness; and it is
+the unhappy lot of thoroughly weak men, that their very sympathies,
+affections, confidences--all the qualities which in better constituted
+minds are virtues--dwindle into foibles, or turn into downright vices.
+
+Gashford, with many a sly look towards the bed, sat chuckling at his
+master's folly, until his deep and heavy breathing warned him that he
+might retire. Locking his desk, and replacing it within the trunk (but
+not before he had taken from a secret lining two printed handbills), he
+cautiously withdrew; looking back, as he went, at the pale face of
+the slumbering man, above whose head the dusty plumes that crowned the
+Maypole couch, waved drearily and sadly as though it were a bier.
+
+Stopping on the staircase to listen that all was quiet, and to take off
+his shoes lest his footsteps should alarm any light sleeper who might
+be near at hand, he descended to the ground floor, and thrust one of his
+bills beneath the great door of the house. That done, he crept softly
+back to his own chamber, and from the window let another fall--carefully
+wrapt round a stone to save it from the wind--into the yard below.
+
+They were addressed on the back 'To every Protestant into whose hands
+this shall come,' and bore within what follows:
+
+'Men and Brethren. Whoever shall find this letter, will take it as a
+warning to join, without delay, the friends of Lord George Gordon. There
+are great events at hand; and the times are dangerous and troubled. Read
+this carefully, keep it clean, and drop it somewhere else. For King and
+Country. Union.'
+
+'More seed, more seed,' said Gashford as he closed the window. 'When
+will the harvest come!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 37
+
+
+To surround anything, however monstrous or ridiculous, with an air of
+mystery, is to invest it with a secret charm, and power of attraction
+which to the crowd is irresistible. False priests, false prophets, false
+doctors, false patriots, false prodigies of every kind, veiling their
+proceedings in mystery, have always addressed themselves at an immense
+advantage to the popular credulity, and have been, perhaps, more
+indebted to that resource in gaining and keeping for a time the upper
+hand of Truth and Common Sense, than to any half-dozen items in the
+whole catalogue of imposture. Curiosity is, and has been from the
+creation of the world, a master-passion. To awaken it, to gratify it
+by slight degrees, and yet leave something always in suspense, is to
+establish the surest hold that can be had, in wrong, on the unthinking
+portion of mankind.
+
+If a man had stood on London Bridge, calling till he was hoarse, upon
+the passers-by, to join with Lord George Gordon, although for an object
+which no man understood, and which in that very incident had a charm of
+its own,--the probability is, that he might have influenced a score of
+people in a month. If all zealous Protestants had been publicly urged
+to join an association for the avowed purpose of singing a hymn or two
+occasionally, and hearing some indifferent speeches made, and ultimately
+of petitioning Parliament not to pass an act for abolishing the
+penal laws against Roman Catholic priests, the penalty of perpetual
+imprisonment denounced against those who educated children in that
+persuasion, and the disqualification of all members of the Romish church
+to inherit real property in the United Kingdom by right of purchase or
+descent,--matters so far removed from the business and bosoms of the
+mass, might perhaps have called together a hundred people. But when
+vague rumours got abroad, that in this Protestant association a secret
+power was mustering against the government for undefined and mighty
+purposes; when the air was filled with whispers of a confederacy
+among the Popish powers to degrade and enslave England, establish an
+inquisition in London, and turn the pens of Smithfield market into
+stakes and cauldrons; when terrors and alarms which no man understood
+were perpetually broached, both in and out of Parliament, by one
+enthusiast who did not understand himself, and bygone bugbears which had
+lain quietly in their graves for centuries, were raised again to haunt
+the ignorant and credulous; when all this was done, as it were, in the
+dark, and secret invitations to join the Great Protestant Association in
+defence of religion, life, and liberty, were dropped in the public ways,
+thrust under the house-doors, tossed in at windows, and pressed into
+the hands of those who trod the streets by night; when they glared
+from every wall, and shone on every post and pillar, so that stocks and
+stones appeared infected with the common fear, urging all men to join
+together blindfold in resistance of they knew not what, they knew not
+why;--then the mania spread indeed, and the body, still increasing every
+day, grew forty thousand strong.
+
+So said, at least, in this month of March, 1780, Lord George Gordon, the
+Association's president. Whether it was the fact or otherwise, few men
+knew or cared to ascertain. It had never made any public demonstration;
+had scarcely ever been heard of, save through him; had never been seen;
+and was supposed by many to be the mere creature of his disordered
+brain. He was accustomed to talk largely about numbers of
+men--stimulated, as it was inferred, by certain successful disturbances,
+arising out of the same subject, which had occurred in Scotland in the
+previous year; was looked upon as a cracked-brained member of the lower
+house, who attacked all parties and sided with none, and was very little
+regarded. It was known that there was discontent abroad--there always
+is; he had been accustomed to address the people by placard, speech,
+and pamphlet, upon other questions; nothing had come, in England, of his
+past exertions, and nothing was apprehended from his present. Just as
+he has come upon the reader, he had come, from time to time, upon the
+public, and been forgotten in a day; as suddenly as he appears in these
+pages, after a blank of five long years, did he and his proceedings
+begin to force themselves, about this period, upon the notice of
+thousands of people, who had mingled in active life during the whole
+interval, and who, without being deaf or blind to passing events, had
+scarcely ever thought of him before.
+
+'My lord,' said Gashford in his ear, as he drew the curtains of his bed
+betimes; 'my lord!'
+
+'Yes--who's that? What is it?'
+
+'The clock has struck nine,' returned the secretary, with meekly folded
+hands. 'You have slept well? I hope you have slept well? If my prayers
+are heard, you are refreshed indeed.'
+
+'To say the truth, I have slept so soundly,' said Lord George, rubbing
+his eyes and looking round the room, 'that I don't remember quite--what
+place is this?'
+
+'My lord!' cried Gashford, with a smile.
+
+'Oh!' returned his superior. 'Yes. You're not a Jew then?'
+
+'A Jew!' exclaimed the pious secretary, recoiling.
+
+'I dreamed that we were Jews, Gashford. You and I--both of us--Jews with
+long beards.'
+
+'Heaven forbid, my lord! We might as well be Papists.'
+
+'I suppose we might,' returned the other, very quickly. 'Eh? You really
+think so, Gashford?'
+
+'Surely I do,' the secretary cried, with looks of great surprise.
+
+'Humph!' he muttered. 'Yes, that seems reasonable.'
+
+'I hope my lord--' the secretary began.
+
+'Hope!' he echoed, interrupting him. 'Why do you say, you hope? There's
+no harm in thinking of such things.'
+
+'Not in dreams,' returned the Secretary.
+
+'In dreams! No, nor waking either.'
+
+--'"Called, and chosen, and faithful,"' said Gashford, taking up
+Lord George's watch which lay upon a chair, and seeming to read the
+inscription on the seal, abstractedly.
+
+It was the slightest action possible, not obtruded on his notice, and
+apparently the result of a moment's absence of mind, not worth remark.
+But as the words were uttered, Lord George, who had been going on
+impetuously, stopped short, reddened, and was silent. Apparently quite
+unconscious of this change in his demeanour, the wily Secretary stepped
+a little apart, under pretence of pulling up the window-blind, and
+returning when the other had had time to recover, said:
+
+'The holy cause goes bravely on, my lord. I was not idle, even last
+night. I dropped two of the handbills before I went to bed, and both are
+gone this morning. Nobody in the house has mentioned the circumstance
+of finding them, though I have been downstairs full half-an-hour. One or
+two recruits will be their first fruit, I predict; and who shall say how
+many more, with Heaven's blessing on your inspired exertions!'
+
+'It was a famous device in the beginning,' replied Lord George; 'an
+excellent device, and did good service in Scotland. It was quite worthy
+of you. You remind me not to be a sluggard, Gashford, when the vineyard
+is menaced with destruction, and may be trodden down by Papist feet. Let
+the horses be saddled in half-an-hour. We must be up and doing!'
+
+He said this with a heightened colour, and in a tone of such enthusiasm,
+that the secretary deemed all further prompting needless, and withdrew.
+
+--'Dreamed he was a Jew,' he said thoughtfully, as he closed the bedroom
+door. 'He may come to that before he dies. It's like enough. Well! After
+a time, and provided I lost nothing by it, I don't see why that religion
+shouldn't suit me as well as any other. There are rich men among the
+Jews; shaving is very troublesome;--yes, it would suit me well enough.
+For the present, though, we must be Christian to the core. Our prophetic
+motto will suit all creeds in their turn, that's a comfort.' Reflecting
+on this source of consolation, he reached the sitting-room, and rang the
+bell for breakfast.
+
+Lord George was quickly dressed (for his plain toilet was easily made),
+and as he was no less frugal in his repasts than in his Puritan attire,
+his share of the meal was soon dispatched. The secretary, however, more
+devoted to the good things of this world, or more intent on sustaining
+his strength and spirits for the sake of the Protestant cause, ate
+and drank to the last minute, and required indeed some three or four
+reminders from John Grueby, before he could resolve to tear himself away
+from Mr Willet's plentiful providing.
+
+At length he came downstairs, wiping his greasy mouth, and having paid
+John Willet's bill, climbed into his saddle. Lord George, who had been
+walking up and down before the house talking to himself with earnest
+gestures, mounted his horse; and returning old John Willet's stately
+bow, as well as the parting salutation of a dozen idlers whom the rumour
+of a live lord being about to leave the Maypole had gathered round the
+porch, they rode away, with stout John Grueby in the rear.
+
+If Lord George Gordon had appeared in the eyes of Mr Willet, overnight,
+a nobleman of somewhat quaint and odd exterior, the impression was
+confirmed this morning, and increased a hundredfold. Sitting bolt
+upright upon his bony steed, with his long, straight hair, dangling
+about his face and fluttering in the wind; his limbs all angular and
+rigid, his elbows stuck out on either side ungracefully, and his whole
+frame jogged and shaken at every motion of his horse's feet; a more
+grotesque or more ungainly figure can hardly be conceived. In lieu of
+whip, he carried in his hand a great gold-headed cane, as large as any
+footman carries in these days, and his various modes of holding this
+unwieldy weapon--now upright before his face like the sabre of a
+horse-soldier, now over his shoulder like a musket, now between
+his finger and thumb, but always in some uncouth and awkward
+fashion--contributed in no small degree to the absurdity of his
+appearance. Stiff, lank, and solemn, dressed in an unusual manner,
+and ostentatiously exhibiting--whether by design or accident--all his
+peculiarities of carriage, gesture, and conduct, all the qualities,
+natural and artificial, in which he differed from other men; he might
+have moved the sternest looker-on to laughter, and fully provoked the
+smiles and whispered jests which greeted his departure from the Maypole
+inn.
+
+Quite unconscious, however, of the effect he produced, he trotted on
+beside his secretary, talking to himself nearly all the way, until they
+came within a mile or two of London, when now and then some passenger
+went by who knew him by sight, and pointed him out to some one else, and
+perhaps stood looking after him, or cried in jest or earnest as it might
+be, 'Hurrah Geordie! No Popery!' At which he would gravely pull off his
+hat, and bow. When they reached the town and rode along the streets,
+these notices became more frequent; some laughed, some hissed, some
+turned their heads and smiled, some wondered who he was, some ran along
+the pavement by his side and cheered. When this happened in a crush of
+carts and chairs and coaches, he would make a dead stop, and pulling
+off his hat, cry, 'Gentlemen, No Popery!' to which the gentlemen would
+respond with lusty voices, and with three times three; and then, on he
+would go again with a score or so of the raggedest, following at his
+horse's heels, and shouting till their throats were parched.
+
+The old ladies too--there were a great many old ladies in the streets,
+and these all knew him. Some of them--not those of the highest rank,
+but such as sold fruit from baskets and carried burdens--clapped their
+shrivelled hands, and raised a weazen, piping, shrill 'Hurrah, my
+lord.' Others waved their hands or handkerchiefs, or shook their fans
+or parasols, or threw up windows and called in haste to those within,
+to come and see. All these marks of popular esteem, he received with
+profound gravity and respect; bowing very low, and so frequently that
+his hat was more off his head than on; and looking up at the houses as
+he passed along, with the air of one who was making a public entry, and
+yet was not puffed up or proud.
+
+So they rode (to the deep and unspeakable disgust of John Grueby) the
+whole length of Whitechapel, Leadenhall Street, and Cheapside, and into
+St Paul's Churchyard. Arriving close to the cathedral, he halted; spoke
+to Gashford; and looking upward at its lofty dome, shook his head, as
+though he said, 'The Church in Danger!' Then to be sure, the bystanders
+stretched their throats indeed; and he went on again with mighty
+acclamations from the mob, and lower bows than ever.
+
+So along the Strand, up Swallow Street, into the Oxford Road, and thence
+to his house in Welbeck Street, near Cavendish Square, whither he was
+attended by a few dozen idlers; of whom he took leave on the steps with
+this brief parting, 'Gentlemen, No Popery. Good day. God bless you.'
+This being rather a shorter address than they expected, was received
+with some displeasure, and cries of 'A speech! a speech!' which might
+have been complied with, but that John Grueby, making a mad charge upon
+them with all three horses, on his way to the stables, caused them to
+disperse into the adjoining fields, where they presently fell to
+pitch and toss, chuck-farthing, odd or even, dog-fighting, and other
+Protestant recreations.
+
+In the afternoon Lord George came forth again, dressed in a black velvet
+coat, and trousers and waistcoat of the Gordon plaid, all of the same
+Quaker cut; and in this costume, which made him look a dozen times more
+strange and singular than before, went down on foot to Westminster.
+Gashford, meanwhile, bestirred himself in business matters; with which
+he was still engaged when, shortly after dusk, John Grueby entered and
+announced a visitor.
+
+'Let him come in,' said Gashford.
+
+'Here! come in!' growled John to somebody without; 'You're a Protestant,
+an't you?'
+
+'I should think so,' replied a deep, gruff voice.
+
+'You've the looks of it,' said John Grueby. 'I'd have known you for one,
+anywhere.' With which remark he gave the visitor admission, retired, and
+shut the door.
+
+The man who now confronted Gashford, was a squat, thickset personage,
+with a low, retreating forehead, a coarse shock head of hair, and eyes
+so small and near together, that his broken nose alone seemed to
+prevent their meeting and fusing into one of the usual size. A dingy
+handkerchief twisted like a cord about his neck, left its great veins
+exposed to view, and they were swollen and starting, as though with
+gulping down strong passions, malice, and ill-will. His dress was of
+threadbare velveteen--a faded, rusty, whitened black, like the ashes
+of a pipe or a coal fire after a day's extinction; discoloured with the
+soils of many a stale debauch, and reeking yet with pot-house odours. In
+lieu of buckles at his knees, he wore unequal loops of packthread; and
+in his grimy hands he held a knotted stick, the knob of which was carved
+into a rough likeness of his own vile face. Such was the visitor who
+doffed his three-cornered hat in Gashford's presence, and waited,
+leering, for his notice.
+
+'Ah! Dennis!' cried the secretary. 'Sit down.'
+
+'I see my lord down yonder--' cried the man, with a jerk of his thumb
+towards the quarter that he spoke of, 'and he says to me, says my lord,
+"If you've nothing to do, Dennis, go up to my house and talk with Muster
+Gashford." Of course I'd nothing to do, you know. These an't my working
+hours. Ha ha! I was a-taking the air when I see my lord, that's what
+I was doing. I takes the air by night, as the howls does, Muster
+Gashford.'
+
+And sometimes in the day-time, eh?' said the secretary--'when you go out
+in state, you know.'
+
+'Ha ha!' roared the fellow, smiting his leg; 'for a gentleman as 'ull
+say a pleasant thing in a pleasant way, give me Muster Gashford agin'
+all London and Westminster! My lord an't a bad 'un at that, but he's a
+fool to you. Ah to be sure,--when I go out in state.'
+
+'And have your carriage,' said the secretary; 'and your chaplain, eh?
+and all the rest of it?'
+
+'You'll be the death of me,' cried Dennis, with another roar, 'you will.
+But what's in the wind now, Muster Gashford,' he asked hoarsely, 'Eh?
+Are we to be under orders to pull down one of them Popish chapels--or
+what?'
+
+'Hush!' said the secretary, suffering the faintest smile to play upon
+his face. 'Hush! God bless me, Dennis! We associate, you know, for
+strictly peaceable and lawful purposes.'
+
+'I know, bless you,' returned the man, thrusting his tongue into his
+cheek; 'I entered a' purpose, didn't I!'
+
+'No doubt,' said Gashford, smiling as before. And when he said so,
+Dennis roared again, and smote his leg still harder, and falling into
+fits of laughter, wiped his eyes with the corner of his neckerchief, and
+cried, 'Muster Gashford agin' all England hollow!'
+
+'Lord George and I were talking of you last night,' said Gashford, after
+a pause. 'He says you are a very earnest fellow.'
+
+'So I am,' returned the hangman.
+
+'And that you truly hate the Papists.'
+
+'So I do,' and he confirmed it with a good round oath. 'Lookye here,
+Muster Gashford,' said the fellow, laying his hat and stick upon the
+floor, and slowly beating the palm of one hand with the fingers of the
+other; 'Ob-serve. I'm a constitutional officer that works for my living,
+and does my work creditable. Do I, or do I not?'
+
+'Unquestionably.'
+
+'Very good. Stop a minute. My work, is sound, Protestant,
+constitutional, English work. Is it, or is it not?'
+
+'No man alive can doubt it.'
+
+'Nor dead neither. Parliament says this here--says Parliament, "If any
+man, woman, or child, does anything which goes again a certain number
+of our acts"--how many hanging laws may there be at this present time,
+Muster Gashford? Fifty?'
+
+'I don't exactly know how many,' replied Gashford, leaning back in his
+chair and yawning; 'a great number though.'
+
+'Well, say fifty. Parliament says, "If any man, woman, or child, does
+anything again any one of them fifty acts, that man, woman, or child,
+shall be worked off by Dennis." George the Third steps in when they
+number very strong at the end of a sessions, and says, "These are too
+many for Dennis. I'll have half for myself and Dennis shall have half
+for himself;" and sometimes he throws me in one over that I don't
+expect, as he did three year ago, when I got Mary Jones, a young woman
+of nineteen who come up to Tyburn with a infant at her breast, and was
+worked off for taking a piece of cloth off the counter of a shop in
+Ludgate Hill, and putting it down again when the shopman see her;
+and who had never done any harm before, and only tried to do that, in
+consequence of her husband having been pressed three weeks previous, and
+she being left to beg, with two young children--as was proved upon the
+trial. Ha ha!--Well! That being the law and the practice of England, is
+the glory of England, an't it, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'Certainly,' said the secretary.
+
+'And in times to come,' pursued the hangman, 'if our grandsons should
+think of their grandfathers' times, and find these things altered,
+they'll say, "Those were days indeed, and we've been going down hill
+ever since." Won't they, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'I have no doubt they will,' said the secretary.
+
+'Well then, look here,' said the hangman. 'If these Papists gets into
+power, and begins to boil and roast instead of hang, what becomes of my
+work! If they touch my work that's a part of so many laws, what becomes
+of the laws in general, what becomes of the religion, what becomes of
+the country!--Did you ever go to church, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'Ever!' repeated the secretary with some indignation; 'of course.'
+
+'Well,' said the ruffian, 'I've been once--twice, counting the time I
+was christened--and when I heard the Parliament prayed for, and thought
+how many new hanging laws they made every sessions, I considered that I
+was prayed for. Now mind, Muster Gashford,' said the fellow, taking
+up his stick and shaking it with a ferocious air, 'I mustn't have
+my Protestant work touched, nor this here Protestant state of things
+altered in no degree, if I can help it; I mustn't have no Papists
+interfering with me, unless they come to be worked off in course of law;
+I mustn't have no biling, no roasting, no frying--nothing but hanging.
+My lord may well call me an earnest fellow. In support of the great
+Protestant principle of having plenty of that, I'll,' and here he beat
+his club upon the ground, 'burn, fight, kill--do anything you bid me, so
+that it's bold and devilish--though the end of it was, that I got hung
+myself.--There, Muster Gashford!'
+
+He appropriately followed up this frequent prostitution of a noble word
+to the vilest purposes, by pouring out in a kind of ecstasy at least
+a score of most tremendous oaths; then wiped his heated face upon his
+neckerchief, and cried, 'No Popery! I'm a religious man, by G--!'
+
+Gashford had leant back in his chair, regarding him with eyes so sunken,
+and so shadowed by his heavy brows, that for aught the hangman saw of
+them, he might have been stone blind. He remained smiling in silence for
+a short time longer, and then said, slowly and distinctly:
+
+'You are indeed an earnest fellow, Dennis--a most valuable fellow--the
+staunchest man I know of in our ranks. But you must calm yourself;
+you must be peaceful, lawful, mild as any lamb. I am sure you will be
+though.'
+
+'Ay, ay, we shall see, Muster Gashford, we shall see. You won't have to
+complain of me,' returned the other, shaking his head.
+
+'I am sure I shall not,' said the secretary in the same mild tone, and
+with the same emphasis. 'We shall have, we think, about next month, or
+May, when this Papist relief bill comes before the house, to convene our
+whole body for the first time. My lord has thoughts of our walking
+in procession through the streets--just as an innocent display of
+strength--and accompanying our petition down to the door of the House of
+Commons.'
+
+'The sooner the better,' said Dennis, with another oath.
+
+'We shall have to draw up in divisions, our numbers being so large; and,
+I believe I may venture to say,' resumed Gashford, affecting not to
+hear the interruption, 'though I have no direct instructions to that
+effect--that Lord George has thought of you as an excellent leader for
+one of these parties. I have no doubt you would be an admirable one.'
+
+'Try me,' said the fellow, with an ugly wink.
+
+'You would be cool, I know,' pursued the secretary, still smiling, and
+still managing his eyes so that he could watch him closely, and really
+not be seen in turn, 'obedient to orders, and perfectly temperate. You
+would lead your party into no danger, I am certain.'
+
+'I'd lead them, Muster Gashford,'--the hangman was beginning in a
+reckless way, when Gashford started forward, laid his finger on his
+lips, and feigned to write, just as the door was opened by John Grueby.
+
+'Oh!' said John, looking in; 'here's another Protestant.'
+
+'Some other room, John,' cried Gashford in his blandest voice. 'I am
+engaged just now.'
+
+But John had brought this new visitor to the door, and he walked
+in unbidden, as the words were uttered; giving to view the form and
+features, rough attire, and reckless air, of Hugh.
+
+
+
+Chapter 38
+
+
+The secretary put his hand before his eyes to shade them from the glare
+of the lamp, and for some moments looked at Hugh with a frowning brow,
+as if he remembered to have seen him lately, but could not call to mind
+where, or on what occasion. His uncertainty was very brief, for before
+Hugh had spoken a word, he said, as his countenance cleared up:
+
+'Ay, ay, I recollect. It's quite right, John, you needn't wait. Don't
+go, Dennis.'
+
+'Your servant, master,' said Hugh, as Grueby disappeared.
+
+'Yours, friend,' returned the secretary in his smoothest manner. 'What
+brings YOU here? We left nothing behind us, I hope?'
+
+Hugh gave a short laugh, and thrusting his hand into his breast,
+produced one of the handbills, soiled and dirty from lying out of doors
+all night, which he laid upon the secretary's desk after flattening it
+upon his knee, and smoothing out the wrinkles with his heavy palm.
+
+'Nothing but that, master. It fell into good hands, you see.'
+
+'What is this!' said Gashford, turning it over with an air of perfectly
+natural surprise. 'Where did you get it from, my good fellow; what does
+it mean? I don't understand this at all.'
+
+A little disconcerted by this reception, Hugh looked from the secretary
+to Dennis, who had risen and was standing at the table too, observing
+the stranger by stealth, and seeming to derive the utmost satisfaction
+from his manners and appearance. Considering himself silently appealed
+to by this action, Mr Dennis shook his head thrice, as if to say of
+Gashford, 'No. He don't know anything at all about it. I know he don't.
+I'll take my oath he don't;' and hiding his profile from Hugh with one
+long end of his frowzy neckerchief, nodded and chuckled behind this
+screen in extreme approval of the secretary's proceedings.
+
+'It tells the man that finds it, to come here, don't it?' asked Hugh.
+'I'm no scholar, myself, but I showed it to a friend, and he said it
+did.'
+
+'It certainly does,' said Gashford, opening his eyes to their utmost
+width; 'really this is the most remarkable circumstance I have ever
+known. How did you come by this piece of paper, my good friend?'
+
+'Muster Gashford,' wheezed the hangman under his breath, 'agin' all
+Newgate!'
+
+Whether Hugh heard him, or saw by his manner that he was being played
+upon, or perceived the secretary's drift of himself, he came in his
+blunt way to the point at once.
+
+'Here!' he said, stretching out his hand and taking it back; 'never mind
+the bill, or what it says, or what it don't say. You don't know anything
+about it, master,--no more do I,--no more does he,' glancing at Dennis.
+'None of us know what it means, or where it comes from: there's an end
+of that. Now I want to make one against the Catholics, I'm a No-Popery
+man, and ready to be sworn in. That's what I've come here for.'
+
+'Put him down on the roll, Muster Gashford,' said Dennis approvingly.
+'That's the way to go to work--right to the end at once, and no
+palaver.'
+
+'What's the use of shooting wide of the mark, eh, old boy!' cried Hugh.
+
+'My sentiments all over!' rejoined the hangman. 'This is the sort of
+chap for my division, Muster Gashford. Down with him, sir. Put him on
+the roll. I'd stand godfather to him, if he was to be christened in a
+bonfire, made of the ruins of the Bank of England.'
+
+With these and other expressions of confidence of the like flattering
+kind, Mr Dennis gave him a hearty slap on the back, which Hugh was not
+slow to return.
+
+'No Popery, brother!' cried the hangman.
+
+'No Property, brother!' responded Hugh.
+
+'Popery, Popery,' said the secretary with his usual mildness.
+
+'It's all the same!' cried Dennis. 'It's all right. Down with him,
+Muster Gashford. Down with everybody, down with everything! Hurrah for
+the Protestant religion! That's the time of day, Muster Gashford!'
+
+The secretary regarded them both with a very favourable expression of
+countenance, while they gave loose to these and other demonstrations of
+their patriotic purpose; and was about to make some remark aloud, when
+Dennis, stepping up to him, and shading his mouth with his hand, said,
+in a hoarse whisper, as he nudged him with his elbow:
+
+'Don't split upon a constitutional officer's profession, Muster
+Gashford. There are popular prejudices, you know, and he mightn't like
+it. Wait till he comes to be more intimate with me. He's a fine-built
+chap, an't he?'
+
+'A powerful fellow indeed!'
+
+'Did you ever, Muster Gashford,' whispered Dennis, with a horrible
+kind of admiration, such as that with which a cannibal might regard his
+intimate friend, when hungry,--'did you ever--and here he drew still
+closer to his ear, and fenced his mouth with both his open bands--'see
+such a throat as his? Do but cast your eye upon it. There's a neck for
+stretching, Muster Gashford!'
+
+The secretary assented to this proposition with the best grace he could
+assume--it is difficult to feign a true professional relish: which is
+eccentric sometimes--and after asking the candidate a few unimportant
+questions, proceeded to enrol him a member of the Great Protestant
+Association of England. If anything could have exceeded Mr Dennis's joy
+on the happy conclusion of this ceremony, it would have been the rapture
+with which he received the announcement that the new member could
+neither read nor write: those two arts being (as Mr Dennis swore) the
+greatest possible curse a civilised community could know, and militating
+more against the professional emoluments and usefulness of the great
+constitutional office he had the honour to hold, than any adverse
+circumstances that could present themselves to his imagination.
+
+The enrolment being completed, and Hugh having been informed by
+Gashford, in his peculiar manner, of the peaceful and strictly lawful
+objects contemplated by the body to which he now belonged--during which
+recital Mr Dennis nudged him very much with his elbow, and made divers
+remarkable faces--the secretary gave them both to understand that he
+desired to be alone. Therefore they took their leaves without delay, and
+came out of the house together.
+
+'Are you walking, brother?' said Dennis.
+
+'Ay!' returned Hugh. 'Where you will.'
+
+'That's social,' said his new friend. 'Which way shall we take? Shall we
+go and have a look at doors that we shall make a pretty good clattering
+at, before long--eh, brother?'
+
+Hugh answering in the affirmative, they went slowly down to Westminster,
+where both houses of Parliament were then sitting. Mingling in the crowd
+of carriages, horses, servants, chairmen, link-boys, porters, and idlers
+of all kinds, they lounged about; while Hugh's new friend pointed out to
+him significantly the weak parts of the building, how easy it was to get
+into the lobby, and so to the very door of the House of Commons; and how
+plainly, when they marched down there in grand array, their roars and
+shouts would be heard by the members inside; with a great deal more to
+the same purpose, all of which Hugh received with manifest delight.
+
+He told him, too, who some of the Lords and Commons were, by name,
+as they came in and out; whether they were friendly to the Papists or
+otherwise; and bade him take notice of their liveries and equipages,
+that he might be sure of them, in case of need. Sometimes he drew
+him close to the windows of a passing carriage, that he might see its
+master's face by the light of the lamps; and, both in respect of people
+and localities, he showed so much acquaintance with everything around,
+that it was plain he had often studied there before; as indeed, when
+they grew a little more confidential, he confessed he had.
+
+Perhaps the most striking part of all this was, the number of
+people--never in groups of more than two or three together--who seemed
+to be skulking about the crowd for the same purpose. To the greater part
+of these, a slight nod or a look from Hugh's companion was sufficient
+greeting; but, now and then, some man would come and stand beside him
+in the throng, and, without turning his head or appearing to communicate
+with him, would say a word or two in a low voice, which he would answer
+in the same cautious manner. Then they would part, like strangers. Some
+of these men often reappeared again unexpectedly in the crowd close to
+Hugh, and, as they passed by, pressed his hand, or looked him sternly in
+the face; but they never spoke to him, nor he to them; no, not a word.
+
+It was remarkable, too, that whenever they happened to stand where there
+was any press of people, and Hugh chanced to be looking downward, he
+was sure to see an arm stretched out--under his own perhaps, or perhaps
+across him--which thrust some paper into the hand or pocket of a
+bystander, and was so suddenly withdrawn that it was impossible to tell
+from whom it came; nor could he see in any face, on glancing quickly
+round, the least confusion or surprise. They often trod upon a paper
+like the one he carried in his breast, but his companion whispered him
+not to touch it or to take it up,--not even to look towards it,--so
+there they let them lie, and passed on.
+
+When they had paraded the street and all the avenues of the building in
+this manner for near two hours, they turned away, and his friend asked
+him what he thought of what he had seen, and whether he was prepared
+for a good hot piece of work if it should come to that. 'The hotter the
+better,' said Hugh, 'I'm prepared for anything.'--'So am I,' said his
+friend, 'and so are many of us; and they shook hands upon it with a
+great oath, and with many terrible imprecations on the Papists.
+
+As they were thirsty by this time, Dennis proposed that they should
+repair together to The Boot, where there was good company and strong
+liquor. Hugh yielding a ready assent, they bent their steps that way
+with no loss of time.
+
+This Boot was a lone house of public entertainment, situated in the
+fields at the back of the Foundling Hospital; a very solitary spot at
+that period, and quite deserted after dark. The tavern stood at some
+distance from any high road, and was approachable only by a dark and
+narrow lane; so that Hugh was much surprised to find several people
+drinking there, and great merriment going on. He was still more
+surprised to find among them almost every face that had caught his
+attention in the crowd; but his companion having whispered him outside
+the door, that it was not considered good manners at The Boot to appear
+at all curious about the company, he kept his own counsel, and made no
+show of recognition.
+
+Before putting his lips to the liquor which was brought for them, Dennis
+drank in a loud voice the health of Lord George Gordon, President of the
+Great Protestant Association; which toast Hugh pledged likewise, with
+corresponding enthusiasm. A fiddler who was present, and who appeared
+to act as the appointed minstrel of the company, forthwith struck up a
+Scotch reel; and that in tones so invigorating, that Hugh and his friend
+(who had both been drinking before) rose from their seats as by previous
+concert, and, to the great admiration of the assembled guests, performed
+an extemporaneous No-Popery Dance.
+
+
+
+Chapter 39
+
+
+The applause which the performance of Hugh and his new friend elicited
+from the company at The Boot, had not yet subsided, and the two dancers
+were still panting from their exertions, which had been of a rather
+extreme and violent character, when the party was reinforced by the
+arrival of some more guests, who, being a detachment of United Bulldogs,
+were received with very flattering marks of distinction and respect.
+
+The leader of this small party--for, including himself, they were but
+three in number--was our old acquaintance, Mr Tappertit, who seemed,
+physically speaking, to have grown smaller with years (particularly as
+to his legs, which were stupendously little), but who, in a moral point
+of view, in personal dignity and self-esteem, had swelled into a giant.
+Nor was it by any means difficult for the most unobservant person to
+detect this state of feeling in the quondam 'prentice, for it not only
+proclaimed itself impressively and beyond mistake in his majestic
+walk and kindling eye, but found a striking means of revelation in his
+turned-up nose, which scouted all things of earth with deep disdain, and
+sought communion with its kindred skies.
+
+Mr Tappertit, as chief or captain of the Bulldogs, was attended by his
+two lieutenants; one, the tall comrade of his younger life; the other, a
+'Prentice Knight in days of yore--Mark Gilbert, bound in the olden time
+to Thomas Curzon of the Golden Fleece. These gentlemen, like himself,
+were now emancipated from their 'prentice thraldom, and served as
+journeymen; but they were, in humble emulation of his great example,
+bold and daring spirits, and aspired to a distinguished state in great
+political events. Hence their connection with the Protestant Association
+of England, sanctioned by the name of Lord George Gordon; and hence
+their present visit to The Boot.
+
+'Gentlemen!' said Mr Tappertit, taking off his hat as a great general
+might in addressing his troops. 'Well met. My lord does me and you the
+honour to send his compliments per self.'
+
+'You've seen my lord too, have you?' said Dennis. 'I see him this
+afternoon.'
+
+'My duty called me to the Lobby when our shop shut up; and I saw him
+there, sir,' Mr Tappertit replied, as he and his lieutenants took their
+seats. 'How do YOU do?'
+
+'Lively, master, lively,' said the fellow. 'Here's a new brother,
+regularly put down in black and white by Muster Gashford; a credit to
+the cause; one of the stick-at-nothing sort; one arter my own heart.
+D'ye see him? Has he got the looks of a man that'll do, do you think?'
+he cried, as he slapped Hugh on the back.
+
+'Looks or no looks,' said Hugh, with a drunken flourish of his arm, 'I'm
+the man you want. I hate the Papists, every one of 'em. They hate me and
+I hate them. They do me all the harm they can, and I'll do them all the
+harm I can. Hurrah!'
+
+'Was there ever,' said Dennis, looking round the room, when the echo
+of his boisterous voice bad died away; 'was there ever such a game boy!
+Why, I mean to say, brothers, that if Muster Gashford had gone a hundred
+mile and got together fifty men of the common run, they wouldn't have
+been worth this one.'
+
+The greater part of the company implicitly subscribed to this
+opinion, and testified their faith in Hugh by nods and looks of great
+significance. Mr Tappertit sat and contemplated him for a long time in
+silence, as if he suspended his judgment; then drew a little nearer to
+him, and eyed him over more carefully; then went close up to him, and
+took him apart into a dark corner.
+
+'I say,' he began, with a thoughtful brow, 'haven't I seen you before?'
+
+'It's like you may,' said Hugh, in his careless way. 'I don't know;
+shouldn't wonder.'
+
+'No, but it's very easily settled,' returned Sim. 'Look at me. Did you
+ever see ME before? You wouldn't be likely to forget it, you know, if
+you ever did. Look at me. Don't be afraid; I won't do you any harm. Take
+a good look--steady now.'
+
+The encouraging way in which Mr Tappertit made this request, and
+coupled it with an assurance that he needn't be frightened, amused Hugh
+mightily--so much indeed, that he saw nothing at all of the small man
+before him, through closing his eyes in a fit of hearty laughter, which
+shook his great broad sides until they ached again.
+
+'Come!' said Mr Tappertit, growing a little impatient under this
+disrespectful treatment. 'Do you know me, feller?'
+
+'Not I,' cried Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! Not I! But I should like to.'
+
+'And yet I'd have wagered a seven-shilling piece,' said Mr Tappertit,
+folding his arms, and confronting him with his legs wide apart and
+firmly planted on the ground, 'that you once were hostler at the
+Maypole.'
+
+Hugh opened his eyes on hearing this, and looked at him in great
+surprise.
+
+'--And so you were, too,' said Mr Tappertit, pushing him away with a
+condescending playfulness. 'When did MY eyes ever deceive--unless it was
+a young woman! Don't you know me now?'
+
+'Why it an't--' Hugh faltered.
+
+'An't it?' said Mr Tappertit. 'Are you sure of that? You remember G.
+Varden, don't you?'
+
+Certainly Hugh did, and he remembered D. Varden too; but that he didn't
+tell him.
+
+'You remember coming down there, before I was out of my time, to ask
+after a vagabond that had bolted off, and left his disconsolate father a
+prey to the bitterest emotions, and all the rest of it--don't you?' said
+Mr Tappertit.
+
+'Of course I do!' cried Hugh. 'And I saw you there.'
+
+'Saw me there!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Yes, I should think you did see
+me there. The place would be troubled to go on without me. Don't you
+remember my thinking you liked the vagabond, and on that account going
+to quarrel with you; and then finding you detested him worse than
+poison, going to drink with you? Don't you remember that?'
+
+'To be sure!' cried Hugh.
+
+'Well! and are you in the same mind now?' said Mr Tappertit.
+
+'Yes!' roared Hugh.
+
+'You speak like a man,' said Mr Tappertit, 'and I'll shake hands with
+you.' With these conciliatory expressions he suited the action to the
+word; and Hugh meeting his advances readily, they performed the ceremony
+with a show of great heartiness.
+
+'I find,' said Mr Tappertit, looking round on the assembled guests,
+'that brother What's-his-name and I are old acquaintance.--You never
+heard anything more of that rascal, I suppose, eh?'
+
+'Not a syllable,' replied Hugh. 'I never want to. I don't believe I ever
+shall. He's dead long ago, I hope.'
+
+'It's to be hoped, for the sake of mankind in general and the happiness
+of society, that he is,' said Mr Tappertit, rubbing his palm upon his
+legs, and looking at it between whiles. 'Is your other hand at all
+cleaner? Much the same. Well, I'll owe you another shake. We'll suppose
+it done, if you've no objection.'
+
+Hugh laughed again, and with such thorough abandonment to his mad
+humour, that his limbs seemed dislocated, and his whole frame in danger
+of tumbling to pieces; but Mr Tappertit, so far from receiving this
+extreme merriment with any irritation, was pleased to regard it with the
+utmost favour, and even to join in it, so far as one of his gravity and
+station could, with any regard to that decency and decorum which men in
+high places are expected to maintain.
+
+Mr Tappertit did not stop here, as many public characters might have
+done, but calling up his brace of lieutenants, introduced Hugh to them
+with high commendation; declaring him to be a man who, at such times as
+those in which they lived, could not be too much cherished. Further, he
+did him the honour to remark, that he would be an acquisition of which
+even the United Bulldogs might be proud; and finding, upon sounding him,
+that he was quite ready and willing to enter the society (for he was
+not at all particular, and would have leagued himself that night with
+anything, or anybody, for any purpose whatsoever), caused the necessary
+preliminaries to be gone into upon the spot. This tribute to his great
+merit delighted no man more than Mr Dennis, as he himself proclaimed
+with several rare and surprising oaths; and indeed it gave unmingled
+satisfaction to the whole assembly.
+
+'Make anything you like of me!' cried Hugh, flourishing the can he had
+emptied more than once. 'Put me on any duty you please. I'm your man.
+I'll do it. Here's my captain--here's my leader. Ha ha ha! Let him
+give me the word of command, and I'll fight the whole Parliament House
+single-handed, or set a lighted torch to the King's Throne itself!' With
+that, he smote Mr Tappertit on the back, with such violence that his
+little body seemed to shrink into a mere nothing; and roared again until
+the very foundlings near at hand were startled in their beds.
+
+In fact, a sense of something whimsical in their companionship seemed to
+have taken entire possession of his rude brain. The bare fact of being
+patronised by a great man whom he could have crushed with one hand,
+appeared in his eyes so eccentric and humorous, that a kind of ferocious
+merriment gained the mastery over him, and quite subdued his brutal
+nature. He roared and roared again; toasted Mr Tappertit a hundred
+times; declared himself a Bulldog to the core; and vowed to be faithful
+to him to the last drop of blood in his veins.
+
+All these compliments Mr Tappertit received as matters of
+course--flattering enough in their way, but entirely attributable to his
+vast superiority. His dignified self-possession only delighted Hugh the
+more; and in a word, this giant and dwarf struck up a friendship which
+bade fair to be of long continuance, as the one held it to be his right
+to command, and the other considered it an exquisite pleasantry to
+obey. Nor was Hugh by any means a passive follower, who scrupled to act
+without precise and definite orders; for when Mr Tappertit mounted on an
+empty cask which stood by way of rostrum in the room, and volunteered a
+speech upon the alarming crisis then at hand, he placed himself beside
+the orator, and though he grinned from ear to ear at every word he said,
+threw out such expressive hints to scoffers in the management of his
+cudgel, that those who were at first the most disposed to interrupt,
+became remarkably attentive, and were the loudest in their approbation.
+
+It was not all noise and jest, however, at The Boot, nor were the whole
+party listeners to the speech. There were some men at the other end of
+the room (which was a long, low-roofed chamber) in earnest conversation
+all the time; and when any of this group went out, fresh people were
+sure to come in soon afterwards and sit down in their places, as though
+the others had relieved them on some watch or duty; which it was pretty
+clear they did, for these changes took place by the clock, at intervals
+of half an hour. These persons whispered very much among themselves,
+and kept aloof, and often looked round, as jealous of their speech being
+overheard; some two or three among them entered in books what seemed
+to be reports from the others; when they were not thus employed one of
+them would turn to the newspapers which were strewn upon the table,
+and from the St James's Chronicle, the Herald, Chronicle, or Public
+Advertiser, would read to the rest in a low voice some passage having
+reference to the topic in which they were all so deeply interested. But
+the great attraction was a pamphlet called The Thunderer, which espoused
+their own opinions, and was supposed at that time to emanate directly
+from the Association. This was always in request; and whether read
+aloud, to an eager knot of listeners, or by some solitary man, was
+certain to be followed by stormy talking and excited looks.
+
+In the midst of all his merriment, and admiration of his captain, Hugh
+was made sensible by these and other tokens, of the presence of an air
+of mystery, akin to that which had so much impressed him out of doors.
+It was impossible to discard a sense that something serious was going
+on, and that under the noisy revel of the public-house, there lurked
+unseen and dangerous matter. Little affected by this, however, he was
+perfectly satisfied with his quarters and would have remained there till
+morning, but that his conductor rose soon after midnight, to go home; Mr
+Tappertit following his example, left him no excuse to stay. So they all
+three left the house together: roaring a No-Popery song until the fields
+resounded with the dismal noise.
+
+'Cheer up, captain!' cried Hugh, when they had roared themselves out of
+breath. 'Another stave!'
+
+Mr Tappertit, nothing loath, began again; and so the three went
+staggering on, arm-in-arm, shouting like madmen, and defying the watch
+with great valour. Indeed this did not require any unusual bravery or
+boldness, as the watchmen of that time, being selected for the office
+on account of excessive age and extraordinary infirmity, had a custom
+of shutting themselves up tight in their boxes on the first symptoms
+of disturbance, and remaining there until they disappeared. In these
+proceedings, Mr Dennis, who had a gruff voice and lungs of considerable
+power, distinguished himself very much, and acquired great credit with
+his two companions.
+
+'What a queer fellow you are!' said Mr Tappertit. 'You're so precious
+sly and close. Why don't you ever tell what trade you're of?'
+
+'Answer the captain instantly,' cried Hugh, beating his hat down on his
+head; 'why don't you ever tell what trade you're of?'
+
+'I'm of as gen-teel a calling, brother, as any man in England--as light
+a business as any gentleman could desire.'
+
+'Was you 'prenticed to it?' asked Mr Tappertit.
+
+'No. Natural genius,' said Mr Dennis. 'No 'prenticing. It come
+by natur'. Muster Gashford knows my calling. Look at that hand of
+mine--many and many a job that hand has done, with a neatness and
+dexterity, never known afore. When I look at that hand,' said Mr
+Dennis, shaking it in the air, 'and remember the helegant bits of work
+it has turned off, I feel quite molloncholy to think it should ever grow
+old and feeble. But sich is life!'
+
+He heaved a deep sigh as he indulged in these reflections, and putting
+his fingers with an absent air on Hugh's throat, and particularly under
+his left ear, as if he were studying the anatomical development of that
+part of his frame, shook his head in a despondent manner and actually
+shed tears.
+
+'You're a kind of artist, I suppose--eh!' said Mr Tappertit.
+
+'Yes,' rejoined Dennis; 'yes--I may call myself a artist--a fancy
+workman--art improves natur'--that's my motto.'
+
+'And what do you call this?' said Mr Tappertit taking his stick out of
+his hand.
+
+'That's my portrait atop,' Dennis replied; 'd'ye think it's like?'
+
+'Why--it's a little too handsome,' said Mr Tappertit. 'Who did it? You?'
+
+'I!' repeated Dennis, gazing fondly on his image. 'I wish I had the
+talent. That was carved by a friend of mine, as is now no more. The very
+day afore he died, he cut that with his pocket-knife from memory! "I'll
+die game," says my friend, "and my last moments shall be dewoted to
+making Dennis's picter." That's it.'
+
+'That was a queer fancy, wasn't it?' said Mr Tappertit.
+
+'It WAS a queer fancy,' rejoined the other, breathing on his fictitious
+nose, and polishing it with the cuff of his coat, 'but he was a queer
+subject altogether--a kind of gipsy--one of the finest, stand-up men,
+you ever see. Ah! He told me some things that would startle you a bit,
+did that friend of mine, on the morning when he died.'
+
+'You were with him at the time, were you?' said Mr Tappertit.
+
+'Yes,' he answered with a curious look, 'I was there. Oh! yes certainly,
+I was there. He wouldn't have gone off half as comfortable without me. I
+had been with three or four of his family under the same circumstances.
+They were all fine fellows.'
+
+'They must have been fond of you,' remarked Mr Tappertit, looking at him
+sideways.
+
+'I don't know that they was exactly fond of me,' said Dennis, with a
+little hesitation, 'but they all had me near 'em when they departed. I
+come in for their wardrobes too. This very handkecher that you see round
+my neck, belonged to him that I've been speaking of--him as did that
+likeness.'
+
+Mr Tappertit glanced at the article referred to, and appeared to think
+that the deceased's ideas of dress were of a peculiar and by no means an
+expensive kind. He made no remark upon the point, however, and suffered
+his mysterious companion to proceed without interruption.
+
+'These smalls,' said Dennis, rubbing his legs; 'these very smalls--they
+belonged to a friend of mine that's left off sich incumbrances for ever:
+this coat too--I've often walked behind this coat, in the street, and
+wondered whether it would ever come to me: this pair of shoes have
+danced a hornpipe for another man, afore my eyes, full half-a-dozen
+times at least: and as to my hat,' he said, taking it off, and whirling
+it round upon his fist--'Lord! I've seen this hat go up Holborn on the
+box of a hackney-coach--ah, many and many a day!'
+
+'You don't mean to say their old wearers are ALL dead, I hope?' said Mr
+Tappertit, falling a little distance from him as he spoke.
+
+'Every one of 'em,' replied Dennis. 'Every man Jack!'
+
+There was something so very ghastly in this circumstance, and it
+appeared to account, in such a very strange and dismal manner, for his
+faded dress--which, in this new aspect, seemed discoloured by the earth
+from graves--that Mr Tappertit abruptly found he was going another way,
+and, stopping short, bade him good night with the utmost heartiness. As
+they happened to be near the Old Bailey, and Mr Dennis knew there were
+turnkeys in the lodge with whom he could pass the night, and discuss
+professional subjects of common interest among them before a rousing
+fire, and over a social glass, he separated from his companions without
+any great regret, and warmly shaking hands with Hugh, and making an
+early appointment for their meeting at The Boot, left them to pursue
+their road.
+
+'That's a strange sort of man,' said Mr Tappertit, watching the
+hackney-coachman's hat as it went bobbing down the street. 'I don't know
+what to make of him. Why can't he have his smalls made to order, or wear
+live clothes at any rate?'
+
+'He's a lucky man, captain,' cried Hugh. 'I should like to have such
+friends as his.'
+
+'I hope he don't get 'em to make their wills, and then knock 'em on the
+head,' said Mr Tappertit, musing. 'But come. The United B.'s expect me.
+On!--What's the matter?'
+
+'I quite forgot,' said Hugh, who had started at the striking of a
+neighbouring clock. 'I have somebody to see to-night--I must turn back
+directly. The drinking and singing put it out of my head. It's well I
+remembered it!'
+
+Mr Tappertit looked at him as though he were about to give utterance to
+some very majestic sentiments in reference to this act of desertion, but
+as it was clear, from Hugh's hasty manner, that the engagement was one
+of a pressing nature, he graciously forbore, and gave him his permission
+to depart immediately, which Hugh acknowledged with a roar of laughter.
+
+'Good night, captain!' he cried. 'I am yours to the death, remember!'
+
+'Farewell!' said Mr Tappertit, waving his hand. 'Be bold and vigilant!'
+
+'No Popery, captain!' roared Hugh.
+
+'England in blood first!' cried his desperate leader. Whereat Hugh
+cheered and laughed, and ran off like a greyhound.
+
+'That man will prove a credit to my corps,' said Simon, turning
+thoughtfully upon his heel. 'And let me see. In an altered state of
+society--which must ensue if we break out and are victorious--when the
+locksmith's child is mine, Miggs must be got rid of somehow, or she'll
+poison the tea-kettle one evening when I'm out. He might marry Miggs, if
+he was drunk enough. It shall be done. I'll make a note of it.'
+
+
+
+Chapter 40
+
+
+Little thinking of the plan for his happy settlement in life which had
+suggested itself to the teeming brain of his provident commander, Hugh
+made no pause until Saint Dunstan's giants struck the hour above him,
+when he worked the handle of a pump which stood hard by, with great
+vigour, and thrusting his head under the spout, let the water gush upon
+him until a little stream ran down from every uncombed hair, and he was
+wet to the waist. Considerably refreshed by this ablution, both in mind
+and body, and almost sobered for the time, he dried himself as he best
+could; then crossed the road, and plied the knocker of the Middle Temple
+gate.
+
+The night-porter looked through a small grating in the portal with a
+surly eye, and cried 'Halloa!' which greeting Hugh returned in kind, and
+bade him open quickly.
+
+'We don't sell beer here,' cried the man; 'what else do you want?'
+
+'To come in,' Hugh replied, with a kick at the door.
+
+'Where to go?'
+
+'Paper Buildings.'
+
+'Whose chambers?'
+
+'Sir John Chester's.' Each of which answers, he emphasised with another
+kick.
+
+After a little growling on the other side, the gate was opened, and he
+passed in: undergoing a close inspection from the porter as he did so.
+
+'YOU wanting Sir John, at this time of night!' said the man.
+
+'Ay!' said Hugh. 'I! What of that?'
+
+'Why, I must go with you and see that you do, for I don't believe it.'
+
+'Come along then.'
+
+Eyeing him with suspicious looks, the man, with key and lantern, walked
+on at his side, and attended him to Sir John Chester's door, at which
+Hugh gave one knock, that echoed through the dark staircase like a
+ghostly summons, and made the dull light tremble in the drowsy lamp.
+
+'Do you think he wants me now?' said Hugh.
+
+Before the man had time to answer, a footstep was heard within, a light
+appeared, and Sir John, in his dressing-gown and slippers, opened the
+door.
+
+'I ask your pardon, Sir John,' said the porter, pulling off his hat.
+'Here's a young man says he wants to speak to you. It's late for
+strangers. I thought it best to see that all was right.'
+
+'Aha!' cried Sir John, raising his eyebrows. 'It's you, messenger, is
+it? Go in. Quite right, friend. I commend your prudence highly. Thank
+you. God bless you. Good night.'
+
+To be commended, thanked, God-blessed, and bade good night by one who
+carried 'Sir' before his name, and wrote himself M.P. to boot, was
+something for a porter. He withdrew with much humility and reverence.
+Sir John followed his late visitor into the dressing-room, and sitting
+in his easy-chair before the fire, and moving it so that he could see
+him as he stood, hat in hand, beside the door, looked at him from head
+to foot.
+
+The old face, calm and pleasant as ever; the complexion, quite juvenile
+in its bloom and clearness; the same smile; the wonted precision and
+elegance of dress; the white, well-ordered teeth; the delicate hands;
+the composed and quiet manner; everything as it used to be: no mark of
+age or passion, envy, hate, or discontent: all unruffled and serene, and
+quite delightful to behold.
+
+He wrote himself M.P.--but how? Why, thus. It was a proud family--more
+proud, indeed, than wealthy. He had stood in danger of arrest; of
+bailiffs, and a jail--a vulgar jail, to which the common people with
+small incomes went. Gentlemen of ancient houses have no privilege of
+exemption from such cruel laws--unless they are of one great house, and
+then they have. A proud man of his stock and kindred had the means of
+sending him there. He offered--not indeed to pay his debts, but to let
+him sit for a close borough until his own son came of age, which, if he
+lived, would come to pass in twenty years. It was quite as good as an
+Insolvent Act, and infinitely more genteel. So Sir John Chester was a
+member of Parliament.
+
+But how Sir John? Nothing so simple, or so easy. One touch with a sword
+of state, and the transformation was effected. John Chester, Esquire,
+M.P., attended court--went up with an address--headed a deputation.
+Such elegance of manner, so many graces of deportment, such powers of
+conversation, could never pass unnoticed. Mr was too common for
+such merit. A man so gentlemanly should have been--but Fortune is
+capricious--born a Duke: just as some dukes should have been born
+labourers. He caught the fancy of the king, knelt down a grub, and rose
+a butterfly. John Chester, Esquire, was knighted and became Sir John.
+
+'I thought when you left me this evening, my esteemed acquaintance,'
+said Sir John after a pretty long silence, 'that you intended to return
+with all despatch?'
+
+'So I did, master.'
+
+'And so you have?' he retorted, glancing at his watch. 'Is that what you
+would say?'
+
+Instead of replying, Hugh changed the leg on which he leant, shuffled
+his cap from one hand to the other, looked at the ground, the wall, the
+ceiling, and finally at Sir John himself; before whose pleasant face he
+lowered his eyes again, and fixed them on the floor.
+
+'And how have you been employing yourself in the meanwhile?' quoth Sir
+John, lazily crossing his legs. 'Where have you been? what harm have you
+been doing?'
+
+'No harm at all, master,' growled Hugh, with humility. 'I have only done
+as you ordered.'
+
+'As I WHAT?' returned Sir John.
+
+'Well then,' said Hugh uneasily, 'as you advised, or said I ought, or
+said I might, or said that you would do, if you was me. Don't be so hard
+upon me, master.'
+
+Something like an expression of triumph in the perfect control he had
+established over this rough instrument appeared in the knight's face for
+an instant; but it vanished directly, as he said--paring his nails while
+speaking:
+
+'When you say I ordered you, my good fellow, you imply that I directed
+you to do something for me--something I wanted done--something for my
+own ends and purposes--you see? Now I am sure I needn't enlarge upon the
+extreme absurdity of such an idea, however unintentional; so please--'
+and here he turned his eyes upon him--'to be more guarded. Will you?'
+
+'I meant to give you no offence,' said Hugh. 'I don't know what to say.
+You catch me up so very short.'
+
+'You will be caught up much shorter, my good friend--infinitely
+shorter--one of these days, depend upon it,' replied his patron calmly.
+'By-the-bye, instead of wondering why you have been so long, my wonder
+should be why you came at all. Why did you?'
+
+'You know, master,' said Hugh, 'that I couldn't read the bill I found,
+and that supposing it to be something particular from the way it was
+wrapped up, I brought it here.'
+
+'And could you ask no one else to read it, Bruin?' said Sir John.
+
+'No one that I could trust with secrets, master. Since Barnaby Rudge
+was lost sight of for good and all--and that's five years ago--I haven't
+talked with any one but you.'
+
+'You have done me honour, I am sure.'
+
+'I have come to and fro, master, all through that time, when there was
+anything to tell, because I knew that you'd be angry with me if I stayed
+away,' said Hugh, blurting the words out, after an embarrassed silence;
+'and because I wished to please you if I could, and not to have you go
+against me. There. That's the true reason why I came to-night. You know
+that, master, I am sure.'
+
+'You are a specious fellow,' returned Sir John, fixing his eyes upon
+him, 'and carry two faces under your hood, as well as the best. Didn't
+you give me in this room, this evening, any other reason; no dislike
+of anybody who has slighted you lately, on all occasions, abused you,
+treated you with rudeness; acted towards you, more as if you were a
+mongrel dog than a man like himself?'
+
+'To be sure I did!' cried Hugh, his passion rising, as the other meant
+it should; 'and I say it all over now, again. I'd do anything to have
+some revenge on him--anything. And when you told me that he and all
+the Catholics would suffer from those who joined together under that
+handbill, I said I'd make one of 'em, if their master was the devil
+himself. I AM one of 'em. See whether I am as good as my word and turn
+out to be among the foremost, or no. I mayn't have much head, master,
+but I've head enough to remember those that use me ill. You shall see,
+and so shall he, and so shall hundreds more, how my spirit backs me
+when the time comes. My bark is nothing to my bite. Some that I know had
+better have a wild lion among 'em than me, when I am fairly loose--they
+had!'
+
+The knight looked at him with a smile of far deeper meaning than
+ordinary; and pointing to the old cupboard, followed him with his eyes
+while he filled and drank a glass of liquor; and smiled when his back
+was turned, with deeper meaning yet.
+
+'You are in a blustering mood, my friend,' he said, when Hugh confronted
+him again.
+
+'Not I, master!' cried Hugh. 'I don't say half I mean. I can't. I
+haven't got the gift. There are talkers enough among us; I'll be one of
+the doers.'
+
+'Oh! you have joined those fellows then?' said Sir John, with an air of
+most profound indifference.
+
+'Yes. I went up to the house you told me of; and got put down upon the
+muster. There was another man there, named Dennis--'
+
+'Dennis, eh!' cried Sir John, laughing. 'Ay, ay! a pleasant fellow, I
+believe?'
+
+'A roaring dog, master--one after my own heart--hot upon the matter
+too--red hot.'
+
+'So I have heard,' replied Sir John, carelessly. 'You don't happen to
+know his trade, do you?'
+
+'He wouldn't say,' cried Hugh. 'He keeps it secret.'
+
+'Ha ha!' laughed Sir John. 'A strange fancy--a weakness with some
+persons--you'll know it one day, I dare swear.'
+
+'We're intimate already,' said Hugh.
+
+'Quite natural! And have been drinking together, eh?' pursued Sir John.
+'Did you say what place you went to in company, when you left Lord
+George's?'
+
+Hugh had not said or thought of saying, but he told him; and this
+inquiry being followed by a long train of questions, he related all that
+had passed both in and out of doors, the kind of people he had seen,
+their numbers, state of feeling, mode of conversation, apparent
+expectations and intentions. His questioning was so artfully contrived,
+that he seemed even in his own eyes to volunteer all this information
+rather than to have it wrested from him; and he was brought to this
+state of feeling so naturally, that when Mr Chester yawned at length and
+declared himself quite wearied out, he made a rough kind of excuse for
+having talked so much.
+
+'There--get you gone,' said Sir John, holding the door open in his hand.
+'You have made a pretty evening's work. I told you not to do this. You
+may get into trouble. You'll have an opportunity of revenging yourself
+on your proud friend Haredale, though, and for that, you'd hazard
+anything, I suppose?'
+
+'I would,' retorted Hugh, stopping in his passage out and looking
+back; 'but what do I risk! What do I stand a chance of losing, master?
+Friends, home? A fig for 'em all; I have none; they are nothing to me.
+Give me a good scuffle; let me pay off old scores in a bold riot where
+there are men to stand by me; and then use me as you like--it don't
+matter much to me what the end is!'
+
+'What have you done with that paper?' said Sir John.
+
+'I have it here, master.'
+
+'Drop it again as you go along; it's as well not to keep such things
+about you.'
+
+Hugh nodded, and touching his cap with an air of as much respect as he
+could summon up, departed.
+
+Sir John, fastening the doors behind him, went back to his
+dressing-room, and sat down once again before the fire, at which he
+gazed for a long time, in earnest meditation.
+
+'This happens fortunately,' he said, breaking into a smile, 'and
+promises well. Let me see. My relative and I, who are the most
+Protestant fellows in the world, give our worst wishes to the Roman
+Catholic cause; and to Saville, who introduces their bill, I have a
+personal objection besides; but as each of us has himself for the first
+article in his creed, we cannot commit ourselves by joining with a very
+extravagant madman, such as this Gordon most undoubtedly is. Now really,
+to foment his disturbances in secret, through the medium of such a very
+apt instrument as my savage friend here, may further our real ends;
+and to express at all becoming seasons, in moderate and polite terms,
+a disapprobation of his proceedings, though we agree with him in
+principle, will certainly be to gain a character for honesty and
+uprightness of purpose, which cannot fail to do us infinite service, and
+to raise us into some importance. Good! So much for public grounds. As
+to private considerations, I confess that if these vagabonds WOULD make
+some riotous demonstration (which does not appear impossible), and WOULD
+inflict some little chastisement on Haredale as a not inactive man among
+his sect, it would be extremely agreeable to my feelings, and would
+amuse me beyond measure. Good again! Perhaps better!'
+
+When he came to this point, he took a pinch of snuff; then beginning
+slowly to undress, he resumed his meditations, by saying with a smile:
+
+'I fear, I DO fear exceedingly, that my friend is following fast in the
+footsteps of his mother. His intimacy with Mr Dennis is very ominous.
+But I have no doubt he must have come to that end any way. If I lend
+him a helping hand, the only difference is, that he may, upon the whole,
+possibly drink a few gallons, or puncheons, or hogsheads, less in this
+life than he otherwise would. It's no business of mine. It's a matter of
+very small importance!'
+
+So he took another pinch of snuff, and went to bed.
+
+
+
+Chapter 41
+
+
+From the workshop of the Golden Key, there issued forth a tinkling
+sound, so merry and good-humoured, that it suggested the idea of some
+one working blithely, and made quite pleasant music. No man who hammered
+on at a dull monotonous duty, could have brought such cheerful notes
+from steel and iron; none but a chirping, healthy, honest-hearted
+fellow, who made the best of everything, and felt kindly towards
+everybody, could have done it for an instant. He might have been a
+coppersmith, and still been musical. If he had sat in a jolting waggon,
+full of rods of iron, it seemed as if he would have brought some harmony
+out of it.
+
+Tink, tink, tink--clear as a silver bell, and audible at every pause of
+the streets' harsher noises, as though it said, 'I don't care; nothing
+puts me out; I am resolved to be happy.' Women scolded, children
+squalled, heavy carts went rumbling by, horrible cries proceeded from
+the lungs of hawkers; still it struck in again, no higher, no lower,
+no louder, no softer; not thrusting itself on people's notice a bit the
+more for having been outdone by louder sounds--tink, tink, tink, tink,
+tink.
+
+It was a perfect embodiment of the still small voice, free from
+all cold, hoarseness, huskiness, or unhealthiness of any kind;
+foot-passengers slackened their pace, and were disposed to linger near
+it; neighbours who had got up splenetic that morning, felt good-humour
+stealing on them as they heard it, and by degrees became quite
+sprightly; mothers danced their babies to its ringing; still the same
+magical tink, tink, tink, came gaily from the workshop of the Golden
+Key.
+
+Who but the locksmith could have made such music! A gleam of sun shining
+through the unsashed window, and chequering the dark workshop with a
+broad patch of light, fell full upon him, as though attracted by his
+sunny heart. There he stood working at his anvil, his face all radiant
+with exercise and gladness, his sleeves turned up, his wig pushed off
+his shining forehead--the easiest, freest, happiest man in all the
+world. Beside him sat a sleek cat, purring and winking in the light, and
+falling every now and then into an idle doze, as from excess of comfort.
+Toby looked on from a tall bench hard by; one beaming smile, from his
+broad nut-brown face down to the slack-baked buckles in his shoes. The
+very locks that hung around had something jovial in their rust, and
+seemed like gouty gentlemen of hearty natures, disposed to joke on their
+infirmities. There was nothing surly or severe in the whole scene.
+It seemed impossible that any one of the innumerable keys could fit a
+churlish strong-box or a prison-door. Cellars of beer and wine, rooms
+where there were fires, books, gossip, and cheering laughter--these
+were their proper sphere of action. Places of distrust and cruelty, and
+restraint, they would have left quadruple-locked for ever.
+
+Tink, tink, tink. The locksmith paused at last, and wiped his brow. The
+silence roused the cat, who, jumping softly down, crept to the door,
+and watched with tiger eyes a bird-cage in an opposite window. Gabriel
+lifted Toby to his mouth, and took a hearty draught.
+
+Then, as he stood upright, with his head flung back, and his portly
+chest thrown out, you would have seen that Gabriel's lower man was
+clothed in military gear. Glancing at the wall beyond, there might
+have been espied, hanging on their several pegs, a cap and feather,
+broadsword, sash, and coat of scarlet; which any man learned in such
+matters would have known from their make and pattern to be the uniform
+of a serjeant in the Royal East London Volunteers.
+
+As the locksmith put his mug down, empty, on the bench whence it had
+smiled on him before, he glanced at these articles with a laughing eye,
+and looking at them with his head a little on one side, as though he
+would get them all into a focus, said, leaning on his hammer:
+
+'Time was, now, I remember, when I was like to run mad with the desire
+to wear a coat of that colour. If any one (except my father) had called
+me a fool for my pains, how I should have fired and fumed! But what a
+fool I must have been, sure-ly!'
+
+'Ah!' sighed Mrs Varden, who had entered unobserved. 'A fool indeed. A
+man at your time of life, Varden, should know better now.'
+
+'Why, what a ridiculous woman you are, Martha,' said the locksmith,
+turning round with a smile.
+
+'Certainly,' replied Mrs V. with great demureness. 'Of course I am. I
+know that, Varden. Thank you.'
+
+'I mean--' began the locksmith.
+
+'Yes,' said his wife, 'I know what you mean. You speak quite plain
+enough to be understood, Varden. It's very kind of you to adapt yourself
+to my capacity, I am sure.'
+
+'Tut, tut, Martha,' rejoined the locksmith; 'don't take offence at
+nothing. I mean, how strange it is of you to run down volunteering, when
+it's done to defend you and all the other women, and our own fireside
+and everybody else's, in case of need.'
+
+'It's unchristian,' cried Mrs Varden, shaking her head.
+
+'Unchristian!' said the locksmith. 'Why, what the devil--'
+
+Mrs Varden looked at the ceiling, as in expectation that the consequence
+of this profanity would be the immediate descent of the four-post
+bedstead on the second floor, together with the best sitting-room on the
+first; but no visible judgment occurring, she heaved a deep sigh, and
+begged her husband, in a tone of resignation, to go on, and by all means
+to blaspheme as much as possible, because he knew she liked it.
+
+The locksmith did for a moment seem disposed to gratify her, but he gave
+a great gulp, and mildly rejoined:
+
+'I was going to say, what on earth do you call it unchristian for?
+Which would be most unchristian, Martha--to sit quietly down and let our
+houses be sacked by a foreign army, or to turn out like men and drive
+'em off? Shouldn't I be a nice sort of a Christian, if I crept into
+a corner of my own chimney and looked on while a parcel of whiskered
+savages bore off Dolly--or you?'
+
+When he said 'or you,' Mrs Varden, despite herself, relaxed into a
+smile. There was something complimentary in the idea. 'In such a state
+of things as that, indeed--' she simpered.
+
+'As that!' repeated the locksmith. 'Well, that would be the state of
+things directly. Even Miggs would go. Some black tambourine-player,
+with a great turban on, would be bearing HER off, and, unless the
+tambourine-player was proof against kicking and scratching, it's
+my belief he'd have the worst of it. Ha ha ha! I'd forgive the
+tambourine-player. I wouldn't have him interfered with on any account,
+poor fellow.' And here the locksmith laughed again so heartily, that
+tears came into his eyes--much to Mrs Varden's indignation, who thought
+the capture of so sound a Protestant and estimable a private character
+as Miggs by a pagan negro, a circumstance too shocking and awful for
+contemplation.
+
+The picture Gabriel had drawn, indeed, threatened serious consequences,
+and would indubitably have led to them, but luckily at that moment a
+light footstep crossed the threshold, and Dolly, running in, threw her
+arms round her old father's neck and hugged him tight.
+
+'Here she is at last!' cried Gabriel. 'And how well you look, Doll, and
+how late you are, my darling!'
+
+How well she looked? Well? Why, if he had exhausted every laudatory
+adjective in the dictionary, it wouldn't have been praise enough. When
+and where was there ever such a plump, roguish, comely, bright-eyed,
+enticing, bewitching, captivating, maddening little puss in all this
+world, as Dolly! What was the Dolly of five years ago, to the Dolly of
+that day! How many coachmakers, saddlers, cabinet-makers, and professors
+of other useful arts, had deserted their fathers, mothers, sisters,
+brothers, and, most of all, their cousins, for the love of her! How many
+unknown gentlemen--supposed to be of mighty fortunes, if not titles--had
+waited round the corner after dark, and tempted Miggs the incorruptible,
+with golden guineas, to deliver offers of marriage folded up in
+love-letters! How many disconsolate fathers and substantial tradesmen
+had waited on the locksmith for the same purpose, with dismal tales of
+how their sons had lost their appetites, and taken to shut themselves up
+in dark bedrooms, and wandering in desolate suburbs with pale faces,
+and all because of Dolly Varden's loveliness and cruelty! How many
+young men, in all previous times of unprecedented steadiness, had turned
+suddenly wild and wicked for the same reason, and, in an ecstasy of
+unrequited love, taken to wrench off door-knockers, and invert the boxes
+of rheumatic watchmen! How had she recruited the king's service, both
+by sea and land, through rendering desperate his loving subjects between
+the ages of eighteen and twenty-five! How many young ladies had publicly
+professed, with tears in their eyes, that for their tastes she was much
+too short, too tall, too bold, too cold, too stout, too thin, too fair,
+too dark--too everything but handsome! How many old ladies, taking
+counsel together, had thanked Heaven their daughters were not like her,
+and had hoped she might come to no harm, and had thought she would come
+to no good, and had wondered what people saw in her, and had arrived at
+the conclusion that she was 'going off' in her looks, or had never
+come on in them, and that she was a thorough imposition and a popular
+mistake!
+
+And yet here was this same Dolly Varden, so whimsical and hard to please
+that she was Dolly Varden still, all smiles and dimples and pleasant
+looks, and caring no more for the fifty or sixty young fellows who at
+that very moment were breaking their hearts to marry her, than if so
+many oysters had been crossed in love and opened afterwards.
+
+Dolly hugged her father as has been already stated, and having hugged
+her mother also, accompanied both into the little parlour where the
+cloth was already laid for dinner, and where Miss Miggs--a trifle more
+rigid and bony than of yore--received her with a sort of hysterical
+gasp, intended for a smile. Into the hands of that young virgin, she
+delivered her bonnet and walking dress (all of a dreadful, artful,
+and designing kind), and then said with a laugh, which rivalled the
+locksmith's music, 'How glad I always am to be at home again!'
+
+'And how glad we always are, Doll,' said her father, putting back the
+dark hair from her sparkling eyes, 'to have you at home. Give me a
+kiss.'
+
+If there had been anybody of the male kind there to see her do it--but
+there was not--it was a mercy.
+
+'I don't like your being at the Warren,' said the locksmith, 'I can't
+bear to have you out of my sight. And what is the news over yonder,
+Doll?'
+
+'What news there is, I think you know already,' replied his daughter. 'I
+am sure you do though.'
+
+'Ay?' cried the locksmith. 'What's that?'
+
+'Come, come,' said Dolly, 'you know very well. I want you to tell me why
+Mr Haredale--oh, how gruff he is again, to be sure!--has been away from
+home for some days past, and why he is travelling about (we know he IS
+travelling, because of his letters) without telling his own niece why or
+wherefore.'
+
+'Miss Emma doesn't want to know, I'll swear,' returned the locksmith.
+
+'I don't know that,' said Dolly; 'but I do, at any rate. Do tell me. Why
+is he so secret, and what is this ghost story, which nobody is to tell
+Miss Emma, and which seems to be mixed up with his going away? Now I see
+you know by your colouring so.'
+
+'What the story means, or is, or has to do with it, I know no more than
+you, my dear,' returned the locksmith, 'except that it's some foolish
+fear of little Solomon's--which has, indeed, no meaning in it, I
+suppose. As to Mr Haredale's journey, he goes, as I believe--'
+
+'Yes,' said Dolly.
+
+'As I believe,' resumed the locksmith, pinching her cheek, 'on business,
+Doll. What it may be, is quite another matter. Read Blue Beard, and
+don't be too curious, pet; it's no business of yours or mine, depend
+upon that; and here's dinner, which is much more to the purpose.'
+
+Dolly might have remonstrated against this summary dismissal of the
+subject, notwithstanding the appearance of dinner, but at the mention
+of Blue Beard Mrs Varden interposed, protesting she could not find it
+in her conscience to sit tamely by, and hear her child recommended to
+peruse the adventures of a Turk and Mussulman--far less of a fabulous
+Turk, which she considered that potentate to be. She held that, in such
+stirring and tremendous times as those in which they lived, it would
+be much more to the purpose if Dolly became a regular subscriber to the
+Thunderer, where she would have an opportunity of reading Lord George
+Gordon's speeches word for word, which would be a greater comfort and
+solace to her, than a hundred and fifty Blue Beards ever could impart.
+She appealed in support of this proposition to Miss Miggs, then in
+waiting, who said that indeed the peace of mind she had derived from the
+perusal of that paper generally, but especially of one article of the
+very last week as ever was, entitled 'Great Britain drenched in gore,'
+exceeded all belief; the same composition, she added, had also wrought
+such a comforting effect on the mind of a married sister of hers, then
+resident at Golden Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, second bell-handle
+on the right-hand door-post, that, being in a delicate state of health,
+and in fact expecting an addition to her family, she had been seized
+with fits directly after its perusal, and had raved of the Inquisition
+ever since; to the great improvement of her husband and friends. Miss
+Miggs went on to say that she would recommend all those whose hearts
+were hardened to hear Lord George themselves, whom she commended first,
+in respect of his steady Protestantism, then of his oratory, then of
+his eyes, then of his nose, then of his legs, and lastly of his figure
+generally, which she looked upon as fit for any statue, prince, or
+angel, to which sentiment Mrs Varden fully subscribed.
+
+Mrs Varden having cut in, looked at a box upon the mantelshelf, painted
+in imitation of a very red-brick dwelling-house, with a yellow roof;
+having at top a real chimney, down which voluntary subscribers dropped
+their silver, gold, or pence, into the parlour; and on the door the
+counterfeit presentment of a brass plate, whereon was legibly inscribed
+'Protestant Association:'--and looking at it, said, that it was to her
+a source of poignant misery to think that Varden never had, of all his
+substance, dropped anything into that temple, save once in secret--as
+she afterwards discovered--two fragments of tobacco-pipe, which she
+hoped would not be put down to his last account. That Dolly, she was
+grieved to say, was no less backward in her contributions, better
+loving, as it seemed, to purchase ribbons and such gauds, than to
+encourage the great cause, then in such heavy tribulation; and that she
+did entreat her (her father she much feared could not be moved) not to
+despise, but imitate, the bright example of Miss Miggs, who flung her
+wages, as it were, into the very countenance of the Pope, and bruised
+his features with her quarter's money.
+
+'Oh, mim,' said Miggs, 'don't relude to that. I had no intentions, mim,
+that nobody should know. Such sacrifices as I can make, are quite a
+widder's mite. It's all I have,' cried Miggs with a great burst of
+tears--for with her they never came on by degrees--'but it's made up to
+me in other ways; it's well made up.'
+
+This was quite true, though not perhaps in the sense that Miggs
+intended. As she never failed to keep her self-denial full in Mrs
+Varden's view, it drew forth so many gifts of caps and gowns and other
+articles of dress, that upon the whole the red-brick house was perhaps
+the best investment for her small capital she could possibly have hit
+upon; returning her interest, at the rate of seven or eight per cent in
+money, and fifty at least in personal repute and credit.
+
+'You needn't cry, Miggs,' said Mrs Varden, herself in tears; 'you
+needn't be ashamed of it, though your poor mistress IS on the same
+side.'
+
+Miggs howled at this remark, in a peculiarly dismal way, and said she
+knowed that master hated her. That it was a dreadful thing to live in
+families and have dislikes, and not give satisfactions. That to make
+divisions was a thing she could not abear to think of, neither could her
+feelings let her do it. That if it was master's wishes as she and him
+should part, it was best they should part, and she hoped he might be
+the happier for it, and always wished him well, and that he might find
+somebody as would meet his dispositions. It would be a hard trial, she
+said, to part from such a missis, but she could meet any suffering when
+her conscience told her she was in the rights, and therefore she was
+willing even to go that lengths. She did not think, she added, that she
+could long survive the separations, but, as she was hated and looked
+upon unpleasant, perhaps her dying as soon as possible would be the best
+endings for all parties. With this affecting conclusion, Miss Miggs shed
+more tears, and sobbed abundantly.
+
+'Can you bear this, Varden?' said his wife in a solemn voice, laying
+down her knife and fork.
+
+'Why, not very well, my dear,' rejoined the locksmith, 'but I try to
+keep my temper.'
+
+'Don't let there be words on my account, mim,' sobbed Miggs. 'It's much
+the best that we should part. I wouldn't stay--oh, gracious me!--and
+make dissensions, not for a annual gold mine, and found in tea and
+sugar.'
+
+Lest the reader should be at any loss to discover the cause of Miss
+Miggs's deep emotion, it may be whispered apart that, happening to
+be listening, as her custom sometimes was, when Gabriel and his wife
+conversed together, she had heard the locksmith's joke relative to the
+foreign black who played the tambourine, and bursting with the spiteful
+feelings which the taunt awoke in her fair breast, exploded in the
+manner we have witnessed. Matters having now arrived at a crisis, the
+locksmith, as usual, and for the sake of peace and quietness, gave in.
+
+'What are you crying for, girl?' he said. 'What's the matter with you?
+What are you talking about hatred for? I don't hate you; I don't hate
+anybody. Dry your eyes and make yourself agreeable, in Heaven's name,
+and let us all be happy while we can.'
+
+The allied powers deeming it good generalship to consider this a
+sufficient apology on the part of the enemy, and confession of having
+been in the wrong, did dry their eyes and take it in good part. Miss
+Miggs observed that she bore no malice, no not to her greatest foe, whom
+she rather loved the more indeed, the greater persecution she sustained.
+Mrs Varden approved of this meek and forgiving spirit in high terms,
+and incidentally declared as a closing article of agreement, that Dolly
+should accompany her to the Clerkenwell branch of the association, that
+very night. This was an extraordinary instance of her great prudence and
+policy; having had this end in view from the first, and entertaining
+a secret misgiving that the locksmith (who was bold when Dolly was in
+question) would object, she had backed Miss Miggs up to this point, in
+order that she might have him at a disadvantage. The manoeuvre succeeded
+so well that Gabriel only made a wry face, and with the warning he had
+just had, fresh in his mind, did not dare to say one word.
+
+The difference ended, therefore, in Miggs being presented with a gown
+by Mrs Varden and half-a-crown by Dolly, as if she had eminently
+distinguished herself in the paths of morality and goodness. Mrs V.,
+according to custom, expressed her hope that Varden would take a lesson
+from what had passed and learn more generous conduct for the time to
+come; and the dinner being now cold and nobody's appetite very much
+improved by what had passed, they went on with it, as Mrs Varden said,
+'like Christians.'
+
+As there was to be a grand parade of the Royal East London Volunteers
+that afternoon, the locksmith did no more work; but sat down comfortably
+with his pipe in his mouth, and his arm round his pretty daughter's
+waist, looking lovingly on Mrs V., from time to time, and exhibiting
+from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, one smiling surface
+of good humour. And to be sure, when it was time to dress him in his
+regimentals, and Dolly, hanging about him in all kinds of graceful
+winning ways, helped to button and buckle and brush him up and get him
+into one of the tightest coats that ever was made by mortal tailor, he
+was the proudest father in all England.
+
+'What a handy jade it is!' said the locksmith to Mrs Varden, who stood
+by with folded hands--rather proud of her husband too--while Miggs held
+his cap and sword at arm's length, as if mistrusting that the latter
+might run some one through the body of its own accord; 'but never marry
+a soldier, Doll, my dear.'
+
+Dolly didn't ask why not, or say a word, indeed, but stooped her head
+down very low to tie his sash.
+
+'I never wear this dress,' said honest Gabriel, 'but I think of poor Joe
+Willet. I loved Joe; he was always a favourite of mine. Poor Joe!--Dear
+heart, my girl, don't tie me in so tight.'
+
+Dolly laughed--not like herself at all--the strangest little laugh that
+could be--and held her head down lower still.
+
+'Poor Joe!' resumed the locksmith, muttering to himself; 'I always wish
+he had come to me. I might have made it up between them, if he had. Ah!
+old John made a great mistake in his way of acting by that lad--a great
+mistake.--Have you nearly tied that sash, my dear?'
+
+What an ill-made sash it was! There it was, loose again and trailing
+on the ground. Dolly was obliged to kneel down, and recommence at the
+beginning.
+
+'Never mind young Willet, Varden,' said his wife frowning; 'you might
+find some one more deserving to talk about, I think.'
+
+Miss Miggs gave a great sniff to the same effect.
+
+'Nay, Martha,' cried the locksmith, 'don't let us bear too hard upon
+him. If the lad is dead indeed, we'll deal kindly by his memory.'
+
+'A runaway and a vagabond!' said Mrs Varden.
+
+Miss Miggs expressed her concurrence as before.
+
+'A runaway, my dear, but not a vagabond,' returned the locksmith in
+a gentle tone. 'He behaved himself well, did Joe--always--and was a
+handsome, manly fellow. Don't call him a vagabond, Martha.'
+
+Mrs Varden coughed--and so did Miggs.
+
+'He tried hard to gain your good opinion, Martha, I can tell you,' said
+the locksmith smiling, and stroking his chin. 'Ah! that he did. It seems
+but yesterday that he followed me out to the Maypole door one night, and
+begged me not to say how like a boy they used him--say here, at home, he
+meant, though at the time, I recollect, I didn't understand. "And how's
+Miss Dolly, sir?" says Joe,' pursued the locksmith, musing sorrowfully,
+'Ah! Poor Joe!'
+
+'Well, I declare,' cried Miggs. 'Oh! Goodness gracious me!'
+
+'What's the matter now?' said Gabriel, turning sharply to her, 'Why, if
+here an't Miss Dolly,' said the handmaid, stooping down to look into her
+face, 'a-giving way to floods of tears. Oh mim! oh sir. Raly it's give
+me such a turn,' cried the susceptible damsel, pressing her hand upon
+her side to quell the palpitation of her heart, 'that you might knock me
+down with a feather.'
+
+The locksmith, after glancing at Miss Miggs as if he could have wished
+to have a feather brought straightway, looked on with a broad stare
+while Dolly hurried away, followed by that sympathising young woman:
+then turning to his wife, stammered out, 'Is Dolly ill? Have I done
+anything? Is it my fault?'
+
+'Your fault!' cried Mrs V. reproachfully. 'There--you had better make
+haste out.'
+
+'What have I done?' said poor Gabriel. 'It was agreed that Mr Edward's
+name was never to be mentioned, and I have not spoken of him, have I?'
+
+Mrs Varden merely replied that she had no patience with him, and bounced
+off after the other two. The unfortunate locksmith wound his sash about
+him, girded on his sword, put on his cap, and walked out.
+
+'I am not much of a dab at my exercise,' he said under his breath, 'but
+I shall get into fewer scrapes at that work than at this. Every man came
+into the world for something; my department seems to be to make every
+woman cry without meaning it. It's rather hard!'
+
+But he forgot it before he reached the end of the street, and went on
+with a shining face, nodding to the neighbours, and showering about his
+friendly greetings like mild spring rain.
+
+
+
+Chapter 42
+
+
+The Royal East London Volunteers made a brilliant sight that day: formed
+into lines, squares, circles, triangles, and what not, to the beating
+of drums, and the streaming of flags; and performed a vast number of
+complex evolutions, in all of which Serjeant Varden bore a conspicuous
+share. Having displayed their military prowess to the utmost in these
+warlike shows, they marched in glittering order to the Chelsea Bun
+House, and regaled in the adjacent taverns until dark. Then at sound
+of drum they fell in again, and returned amidst the shouting of His
+Majesty's lieges to the place from whence they came.
+
+The homeward march being somewhat tardy,--owing to the un-soldierlike
+behaviour of certain corporals, who, being gentlemen of sedentary
+pursuits in private life and excitable out of doors, broke several
+windows with their bayonets, and rendered it imperative on the
+commanding officer to deliver them over to a strong guard, with whom
+they fought at intervals as they came along,--it was nine o'clock when
+the locksmith reached home. A hackney-coach was waiting near his door;
+and as he passed it, Mr Haredale looked from the window and called him
+by his name.
+
+'The sight of you is good for sore eyes, sir,' said the locksmith,
+stepping up to him. 'I wish you had walked in though, rather than waited
+here.'
+
+'There is nobody at home, I find,' Mr Haredale answered; 'besides, I
+desired to be as private as I could.'
+
+'Humph!' muttered the locksmith, looking round at his house. 'Gone with
+Simon Tappertit to that precious Branch, no doubt.'
+
+Mr Haredale invited him to come into the coach, and, if he were not
+tired or anxious to go home, to ride with him a little way that they
+might have some talk together. Gabriel cheerfully complied, and the
+coachman mounting his box drove off.
+
+'Varden,' said Mr Haredale, after a minute's pause, 'you will be amazed
+to hear what errand I am on; it will seem a very strange one.'
+
+'I have no doubt it's a reasonable one, sir, and has a meaning in it,'
+replied the locksmith; 'or it would not be yours at all. Have you just
+come back to town, sir?'
+
+'But half an hour ago.'
+
+'Bringing no news of Barnaby, or his mother?' said the locksmith
+dubiously. 'Ah! you needn't shake your head, sir. It was a wild-goose
+chase. I feared that, from the first. You exhausted all reasonable means
+of discovery when they went away. To begin again after so long a time
+has passed is hopeless, sir--quite hopeless.'
+
+'Why, where are they?' he returned impatiently. 'Where can they be?
+Above ground?'
+
+'God knows,' rejoined the locksmith, 'many that I knew above it five
+years ago, have their beds under the grass now. And the world is a
+wide place. It's a hopeless attempt, sir, believe me. We must leave the
+discovery of this mystery, like all others, to time, and accident, and
+Heaven's pleasure.'
+
+'Varden, my good fellow,' said Mr Haredale, 'I have a deeper meaning in
+my present anxiety to find them out, than you can fathom. It is not a
+mere whim; it is not the casual revival of my old wishes and desires;
+but an earnest, solemn purpose. My thoughts and dreams all tend to it,
+and fix it in my mind. I have no rest by day or night; I have no peace
+or quiet; I am haunted.'
+
+His voice was so altered from its usual tones, and his manner bespoke
+so much emotion, that Gabriel, in his wonder, could only sit and look
+towards him in the darkness, and fancy the expression of his face.
+
+'Do not ask me,' continued Mr Haredale, 'to explain myself. If I were to
+do so, you would think me the victim of some hideous fancy. It is enough
+that this is so, and that I cannot--no, I can not--lie quietly in my
+bed, without doing what will seem to you incomprehensible.'
+
+'Since when, sir,' said the locksmith after a pause, 'has this uneasy
+feeling been upon you?'
+
+Mr Haredale hesitated for some moments, and then replied: 'Since the
+night of the storm. In short, since the last nineteenth of March.'
+
+As though he feared that Varden might express surprise, or reason with
+him, he hastily went on:
+
+'You will think, I know, I labour under some delusion. Perhaps I do. But
+it is not a morbid one; it is a wholesome action of the mind, reasoning
+on actual occurrences. You know the furniture remains in Mrs Rudge's
+house, and that it has been shut up, by my orders, since she went away,
+save once a-week or so, when an old neighbour visits it to scare away
+the rats. I am on my way there now.'
+
+'For what purpose?' asked the locksmith.
+
+'To pass the night there,' he replied; 'and not to-night alone, but many
+nights. This is a secret which I trust to you in case of any unexpected
+emergency. You will not come, unless in case of strong necessity, to me;
+from dusk to broad day I shall be there. Emma, your daughter, and the
+rest, suppose me out of London, as I have been until within this hour.
+Do not undeceive them. This is the errand I am bound upon. I know I may
+confide it to you, and I rely upon your questioning me no more at this
+time.'
+
+With that, as if to change the theme, he led the astounded locksmith
+back to the night of the Maypole highwayman, to the robbery of Edward
+Chester, to the reappearance of the man at Mrs Rudge's house, and to all
+the strange circumstances which afterwards occurred. He even asked him
+carelessly about the man's height, his face, his figure, whether he was
+like any one he had ever seen--like Hugh, for instance, or any man he
+had known at any time--and put many questions of that sort, which the
+locksmith, considering them as mere devices to engage his attention and
+prevent his expressing the astonishment he felt, answered pretty much at
+random.
+
+At length, they arrived at the corner of the street in which the house
+stood, where Mr Haredale, alighting, dismissed the coach. 'If you desire
+to see me safely lodged,' he said, turning to the locksmith with a
+gloomy smile, 'you can.'
+
+Gabriel, to whom all former marvels had been nothing in comparison
+with this, followed him along the narrow pavement in silence. When they
+reached the door, Mr Haredale softly opened it with a key he had about
+him, and closing it when Varden entered, they were left in thorough
+darkness.
+
+They groped their way into the ground-floor room. Here Mr Haredale
+struck a light, and kindled a pocket taper he had brought with him for
+the purpose. It was then, when the flame was full upon him, that the
+locksmith saw for the first time how haggard, pale, and changed he
+looked; how worn and thin he was; how perfectly his whole appearance
+coincided with all that he had said so strangely as they rode along.
+It was not an unnatural impulse in Gabriel, after what he had heard, to
+note curiously the expression of his eyes. It was perfectly collected
+and rational;--so much so, indeed, that he felt ashamed of his momentary
+suspicion, and drooped his own when Mr Haredale looked towards him, as
+if he feared they would betray his thoughts.
+
+'Will you walk through the house?' said Mr Haredale, with a glance
+towards the window, the crazy shutters of which were closed and
+fastened. 'Speak low.'
+
+There was a kind of awe about the place, which would have rendered it
+difficult to speak in any other manner. Gabriel whispered 'Yes,' and
+followed him upstairs.
+
+Everything was just as they had seen it last. There was a sense of
+closeness from the exclusion of fresh air, and a gloom and heaviness
+around, as though long imprisonment had made the very silence sad. The
+homely hangings of the beds and windows had begun to droop; the dust lay
+thick upon their dwindling folds; and damps had made their way through
+ceiling, wall, and floor. The boards creaked beneath their tread, as if
+resenting the unaccustomed intrusion; nimble spiders, paralysed by the
+taper's glare, checked the motion of their hundred legs upon the wall,
+or dropped like lifeless things upon the ground; the death-watch ticked;
+and the scampering feet of rats and mice rattled behind the wainscot.
+
+As they looked about them on the decaying furniture, it was strange to
+find how vividly it presented those to whom it had belonged, and
+with whom it was once familiar. Grip seemed to perch again upon his
+high-backed chair; Barnaby to crouch in his old favourite corner by the
+fire; the mother to resume her usual seat, and watch him as of old. Even
+when they could separate these objects from the phantoms of the mind
+which they invoked, the latter only glided out of sight, but lingered
+near them still; for then they seemed to lurk in closets and behind the
+doors, ready to start out and suddenly accost them in well-remembered
+tones.
+
+They went downstairs, and again into the room they had just now left.
+Mr Haredale unbuckled his sword and laid it on the table, with a pair of
+pocket pistols; then told the locksmith he would light him to the door.
+
+'But this is a dull place, sir,' said Gabriel lingering; 'may no one
+share your watch?'
+
+He shook his head, and so plainly evinced his wish to be alone, that
+Gabriel could say no more. In another moment the locksmith was standing
+in the street, whence he could see that the light once more travelled
+upstairs, and soon returning to the room below, shone brightly through
+the chinks of the shutters.
+
+If ever man were sorely puzzled and perplexed, the locksmith was, that
+night. Even when snugly seated by his own fireside, with Mrs Varden
+opposite in a nightcap and night-jacket, and Dolly beside him (in a
+most distracting dishabille) curling her hair, and smiling as if she had
+never cried in all her life and never could--even then, with Toby at
+his elbow and his pipe in his mouth, and Miggs (but that perhaps was not
+much) falling asleep in the background, he could not quite discard his
+wonder and uneasiness. So in his dreams--still there was Mr Haredale,
+haggard and careworn, listening in the solitary house to every sound
+that stirred, with the taper shining through the chinks until the day
+should turn it pale and end his lonely watching.
+
+
+
+Chapter 43
+
+
+Next morning brought no satisfaction to the locksmith's thoughts,
+nor next day, nor the next, nor many others. Often after nightfall he
+entered the street, and turned his eyes towards the well-known house;
+and as surely as he did so, there was the solitary light, still gleaming
+through the crevices of the window-shutter, while all within was
+motionless, noiseless, cheerless, as a grave. Unwilling to hazard Mr
+Haredale's favour by disobeying his strict injunction, he never ventured
+to knock at the door or to make his presence known in any way. But
+whenever strong interest and curiosity attracted him to the spot--which
+was not seldom--the light was always there.
+
+If he could have known what passed within, the knowledge would have
+yielded him no clue to this mysterious vigil. At twilight, Mr Haredale
+shut himself up, and at daybreak he came forth. He never missed a night,
+always came and went alone, and never varied his proceedings in the
+least degree.
+
+The manner of his watch was this. At dusk, he entered the house in the
+same way as when the locksmith bore him company, kindled a light, went
+through the rooms, and narrowly examined them. That done, he returned to
+the chamber on the ground-floor, and laying his sword and pistols on the
+table, sat by it until morning.
+
+He usually had a book with him, and often tried to read, but never fixed
+his eyes or thoughts upon it for five minutes together. The slightest
+noise without doors, caught his ear; a step upon the pavement seemed to
+make his heart leap.
+
+He was not without some refreshment during the long lonely hours;
+generally carrying in his pocket a sandwich of bread and meat, and a
+small flask of wine. The latter diluted with large quantities of water,
+he drank in a heated, feverish way, as though his throat were dried; but
+he scarcely ever broke his fast, by so much as a crumb of bread.
+
+If this voluntary sacrifice of sleep and comfort had its origin, as the
+locksmith on consideration was disposed to think, in any superstitious
+expectation of the fulfilment of a dream or vision connected with the
+event on which he had brooded for so many years, and if he waited for
+some ghostly visitor who walked abroad when men lay sleeping in their
+beds, he showed no trace of fear or wavering. His stern features
+expressed inflexible resolution; his brows were puckered, and his lips
+compressed, with deep and settled purpose; and when he started at a
+noise and listened, it was not with the start of fear but hope, and
+catching up his sword as though the hour had come at last, he would
+clutch it in his tight-clenched hand, and listen with sparkling eyes and
+eager looks, until it died away.
+
+These disappointments were numerous, for they ensued on almost every
+sound, but his constancy was not shaken. Still, every night he was at
+his post, the same stern, sleepless, sentinel; and still night passed,
+and morning dawned, and he must watch again.
+
+This went on for weeks; he had taken a lodging at Vauxhall in which
+to pass the day and rest himself; and from this place, when the tide
+served, he usually came to London Bridge from Westminster by water, in
+order that he might avoid the busy streets.
+
+One evening, shortly before twilight, he came his accustomed road upon
+the river's bank, intending to pass through Westminster Hall into Palace
+Yard, and there take boat to London Bridge as usual. There was a pretty
+large concourse of people assembled round the Houses of Parliament,
+looking at the members as they entered and departed, and giving vent to
+rather noisy demonstrations of approval or dislike, according to their
+known opinions. As he made his way among the throng, he heard once or
+twice the No-Popery cry, which was then becoming pretty familiar to the
+ears of most men; but holding it in very slight regard, and observing
+that the idlers were of the lowest grade, he neither thought nor cared
+about it, but made his way along, with perfect indifference.
+
+There were many little knots and groups of persons in Westminster Hall:
+some few looking upward at its noble ceiling, and at the rays of evening
+light, tinted by the setting sun, which streamed in aslant through
+its small windows, and growing dimmer by degrees, were quenched in the
+gathering gloom below; some, noisy passengers, mechanics going home from
+work, and otherwise, who hurried quickly through, waking the echoes with
+their voices, and soon darkening the small door in the distance, as
+they passed into the street beyond; some, in busy conference together on
+political or private matters, pacing slowly up and down with eyes that
+sought the ground, and seeming, by their attitudes, to listen earnestly
+from head to foot. Here, a dozen squabbling urchins made a very Babel in
+the air; there, a solitary man, half clerk, half mendicant, paced up and
+down with hungry dejection in his look and gait; at his elbow passed
+an errand-lad, swinging his basket round and round, and with his shrill
+whistle riving the very timbers of the roof; while a more observant
+schoolboy, half-way through, pocketed his ball, and eyed the distant
+beadle as he came looming on. It was that time of evening when, if you
+shut your eyes and open them again, the darkness of an hour appears
+to have gathered in a second. The smooth-worn pavement, dusty with
+footsteps, still called upon the lofty walls to reiterate the shuffle
+and the tread of feet unceasingly, save when the closing of some heavy
+door resounded through the building like a clap of thunder, and drowned
+all other noises in its rolling sound.
+
+Mr Haredale, glancing only at such of these groups as he passed nearest
+to, and then in a manner betokening that his thoughts were elsewhere,
+had nearly traversed the Hall, when two persons before him caught his
+attention. One of these, a gentleman in elegant attire, carried in his
+hand a cane, which he twirled in a jaunty manner as he loitered on; the
+other, an obsequious, crouching, fawning figure, listened to what
+he said--at times throwing in a humble word himself--and, with his
+shoulders shrugged up to his ears, rubbed his hands submissively, or
+answered at intervals by an inclination of the head, half-way between a
+nod of acquiescence, and a bow of most profound respect.
+
+In the abstract there was nothing very remarkable in this pair, for
+servility waiting on a handsome suit of clothes and a cane--not to speak
+of gold and silver sticks, or wands of office--is common enough. But
+there was that about the well-dressed man, yes, and about the other
+likewise, which struck Mr Haredale with no pleasant feeling. He
+hesitated, stopped, and would have stepped aside and turned out of his
+path, but at the moment, the other two faced about quickly, and stumbled
+upon him before he could avoid them.
+
+The gentleman with the cane lifted his hat and had begun to tender an
+apology, which Mr Haredale had begun as hastily to acknowledge and walk
+away, when he stopped short and cried, 'Haredale! Gad bless me, this is
+strange indeed!'
+
+'It is,' he returned impatiently; 'yes--a--'
+
+'My dear friend,' cried the other, detaining him, 'why such great speed?
+One minute, Haredale, for the sake of old acquaintance.'
+
+'I am in haste,' he said. 'Neither of us has sought this meeting. Let it
+be a brief one. Good night!'
+
+'Fie, fie!' replied Sir John (for it was he), 'how very churlish! We
+were speaking of you. Your name was on my lips--perhaps you heard me
+mention it? No? I am sorry for that. I am really sorry.--You know our
+friend here, Haredale? This is really a most remarkable meeting!'
+
+The friend, plainly very ill at ease, had made bold to press Sir John's
+arm, and to give him other significant hints that he was desirous of
+avoiding this introduction. As it did not suit Sir John's purpose,
+however, that it should be evaded, he appeared quite unconscious of
+these silent remonstrances, and inclined his hand towards him, as he
+spoke, to call attention to him more particularly.
+
+The friend, therefore, had nothing for it, but to muster up the
+pleasantest smile he could, and to make a conciliatory bow, as Mr
+Haredale turned his eyes upon him. Seeing that he was recognised, he put
+out his hand in an awkward and embarrassed manner, which was not mended
+by its contemptuous rejection.
+
+'Mr Gashford!' said Haredale, coldly. 'It is as I have heard then. You
+have left the darkness for the light, sir, and hate those whose opinions
+you formerly held, with all the bitterness of a renegade. You are an
+honour, sir, to any cause. I wish the one you espouse at present, much
+joy of the acquisition it has made.'
+
+The secretary rubbed his hands and bowed, as though he would disarm
+his adversary by humbling himself before him. Sir John Chester again
+exclaimed, with an air of great gaiety, 'Now, really, this is a
+most remarkable meeting!' and took a pinch of snuff with his usual
+self-possession.
+
+'Mr Haredale,' said Gashford, stealthily raising his eyes, and
+letting them drop again when they met the other's steady gaze, 'is too
+conscientious, too honourable, too manly, I am sure, to attach unworthy
+motives to an honest change of opinions, even though it implies a doubt
+of those he holds himself. Mr Haredale is too just, too generous, too
+clear-sighted in his moral vision, to--'
+
+'Yes, sir?' he rejoined with a sarcastic smile, finding the secretary
+stopped. 'You were saying'--
+
+Gashford meekly shrugged his shoulders, and looking on the ground again,
+was silent.
+
+'No, but let us really,' interposed Sir John at this juncture, 'let us
+really, for a moment, contemplate the very remarkable character of this
+meeting. Haredale, my dear friend, pardon me if I think you are not
+sufficiently impressed with its singularity. Here we stand, by no
+previous appointment or arrangement, three old schoolfellows, in
+Westminster Hall; three old boarders in a remarkably dull and shady
+seminary at Saint Omer's, where you, being Catholics and of necessity
+educated out of England, were brought up; and where I, being a promising
+young Protestant at that time, was sent to learn the French tongue from
+a native of Paris!'
+
+'Add to the singularity, Sir John,' said Mr Haredale, 'that some of you
+Protestants of promise are at this moment leagued in yonder building, to
+prevent our having the surpassing and unheard-of privilege of teaching
+our children to read and write--here--in this land, where thousands of
+us enter your service every year, and to preserve the freedom of which,
+we die in bloody battles abroad, in heaps: and that others of you, to
+the number of some thousands as I learn, are led on to look on all men
+of my creed as wolves and beasts of prey, by this man Gashford. Add
+to it besides the bare fact that this man lives in society, walks the
+streets in broad day--I was about to say, holds up his head, but that he
+does not--and it will be strange, and very strange, I grant you.'
+
+'Oh! you are hard upon our friend,' replied Sir John, with an engaging
+smile. 'You are really very hard upon our friend!'
+
+'Let him go on, Sir John,' said Gashford, fumbling with his gloves. 'Let
+him go on. I can make allowances, Sir John. I am honoured with your
+good opinion, and I can dispense with Mr Haredale's. Mr Haredale is a
+sufferer from the penal laws, and I can't expect his favour.'
+
+'You have so much of my favour, sir,' retorted Mr Haredale, with a
+bitter glance at the third party in their conversation, 'that I am
+glad to see you in such good company. You are the essence of your great
+Association, in yourselves.'
+
+'Now, there you mistake,' said Sir John, in his most benignant way.
+'There--which is a most remarkable circumstance for a man of your
+punctuality and exactness, Haredale--you fall into error. I don't belong
+to the body; I have an immense respect for its members, but I don't
+belong to it; although I am, it is certainly true, the conscientious
+opponent of your being relieved. I feel it my duty to be so; it is a
+most unfortunate necessity; and cost me a bitter struggle.--Will you try
+this box? If you don't object to a trifling infusion of a very chaste
+scent, you'll find its flavour exquisite.'
+
+'I ask your pardon, Sir John,' said Mr Haredale, declining the proffer
+with a motion of his hand, 'for having ranked you among the humble
+instruments who are obvious and in all men's sight. I should have done
+more justice to your genius. Men of your capacity plot in secrecy and
+safety, and leave exposed posts to the duller wits.'
+
+'Don't apologise, for the world,' replied Sir John sweetly; 'old friends
+like you and I, may be allowed some freedoms, or the deuce is in it.'
+
+Gashford, who had been very restless all this time, but had not once
+looked up, now turned to Sir John, and ventured to mutter something to
+the effect that he must go, or my lord would perhaps be waiting.
+
+'Don't distress yourself, good sir,' said Mr Haredale, 'I'll take my
+leave, and put you at your ease--' which he was about to do without
+ceremony, when he was stayed by a buzz and murmur at the upper end of
+the hall, and, looking in that direction, saw Lord George Gordon coming
+in, with a crowd of people round him.
+
+There was a lurking look of triumph, though very differently expressed,
+in the faces of his two companions, which made it a natural impulse
+on Mr Haredale's part not to give way before this leader, but to stand
+there while he passed. He drew himself up and, clasping his hands behind
+him, looked on with a proud and scornful aspect, while Lord George
+slowly advanced (for the press was great about him) towards the spot
+where they were standing.
+
+He had left the House of Commons but that moment, and had come straight
+down into the Hall, bringing with him, as his custom was, intelligence
+of what had been said that night in reference to the Papists, and what
+petitions had been presented in their favour, and who had supported
+them, and when the bill was to be brought in, and when it would be
+advisable to present their own Great Protestant petition. All this he
+told the persons about him in a loud voice, and with great abundance
+of ungainly gesture. Those who were nearest him made comments to each
+other, and vented threats and murmurings; those who were outside the
+crowd cried, 'Silence,' and 'Stand back,' or closed in upon the rest,
+endeavouring to make a forcible exchange of places: and so they came
+driving on in a very disorderly and irregular way, as it is the manner
+of a crowd to do.
+
+When they were very near to where the secretary, Sir John, and Mr
+Haredale stood, Lord George turned round and, making a few remarks of
+a sufficiently violent and incoherent kind, concluded with the usual
+sentiment, and called for three cheers to back it. While these were in
+the act of being given with great energy, he extricated himself from
+the press, and stepped up to Gashford's side. Both he and Sir John being
+well known to the populace, they fell back a little, and left the four
+standing together.
+
+'Mr Haredale, Lord George,' said Sir John Chester, seeing that the
+nobleman regarded him with an inquisitive look. 'A Catholic gentleman
+unfortunately--most unhappily a Catholic--but an esteemed acquaintance
+of mine, and once of Mr Gashford's. My dear Haredale, this is Lord
+George Gordon.'
+
+'I should have known that, had I been ignorant of his lordship's
+person,' said Mr Haredale. 'I hope there is but one gentleman in England
+who, addressing an ignorant and excited throng, would speak of a large
+body of his fellow-subjects in such injurious language as I heard this
+moment. For shame, my lord, for shame!'
+
+'I cannot talk to you, sir,' replied Lord George in a loud voice, and
+waving his hand in a disturbed and agitated manner; 'we have nothing in
+common.'
+
+'We have much in common--many things--all that the Almighty gave us,'
+said Mr Haredale; 'and common charity, not to say common sense and
+common decency, should teach you to refrain from these proceedings. If
+every one of those men had arms in their hands at this moment, as they
+have them in their heads, I would not leave this place without telling
+you that you disgrace your station.'
+
+'I don't hear you, sir,' he replied in the same manner as before; 'I
+can't hear you. It is indifferent to me what you say. Don't retort,
+Gashford,' for the secretary had made a show of wishing to do so; 'I can
+hold no communion with the worshippers of idols.'
+
+As he said this, he glanced at Sir John, who lifted his hands and
+eyebrows, as if deploring the intemperate conduct of Mr Haredale, and
+smiled in admiration of the crowd and of their leader.
+
+'HE retort!' cried Haredale. 'Look you here, my lord. Do you know this
+man?'
+
+Lord George replied by laying his hand upon the shoulder of his cringing
+secretary, and viewing him with a smile of confidence.
+
+'This man,' said Mr Haredale, eyeing him from top to toe, 'who in his
+boyhood was a thief, and has been from that time to this, a servile,
+false, and truckling knave: this man, who has crawled and crept through
+life, wounding the hands he licked, and biting those he fawned upon:
+this sycophant, who never knew what honour, truth, or courage meant; who
+robbed his benefactor's daughter of her virtue, and married her to break
+her heart, and did it, with stripes and cruelty: this creature, who has
+whined at kitchen windows for the broken food, and begged for halfpence
+at our chapel doors: this apostle of the faith, whose tender conscience
+cannot bear the altars where his vicious life was publicly denounced--Do
+you know this man?'
+
+'Oh, really--you are very, very hard upon our friend!' exclaimed Sir
+John.
+
+'Let Mr Haredale go on,' said Gashford, upon whose unwholesome face the
+perspiration had broken out during this speech, in blotches of wet; 'I
+don't mind him, Sir John; it's quite as indifferent to me what he says,
+as it is to my lord. If he reviles my lord, as you have heard, Sir John,
+how can I hope to escape?'
+
+'Is it not enough, my lord,' Mr Haredale continued, 'that I, as good a
+gentleman as you, must hold my property, such as it is, by a trick at
+which the state connives because of these hard laws; and that we may not
+teach our youth in schools the common principles of right and wrong; but
+must we be denounced and ridden by such men as this! Here is a man to
+head your No-Popery cry! For shame. For shame!'
+
+The infatuated nobleman had glanced more than once at Sir John Chester,
+as if to inquire whether there was any truth in these statements
+concerning Gashford, and Sir John had as often plainly answered by a
+shrug or look, 'Oh dear me! no.' He now said, in the same loud key, and
+in the same strange manner as before:
+
+'I have nothing to say, sir, in reply, and no desire to hear anything
+more. I beg you won't obtrude your conversation, or these personal
+attacks, upon me. I shall not be deterred from doing my duty to my
+country and my countrymen, by any such attempts, whether they proceed
+from emissaries of the Pope or not, I assure you. Come, Gashford!'
+
+They had walked on a few paces while speaking, and were now at the
+Hall-door, through which they passed together. Mr Haredale, without any
+leave-taking, turned away to the river stairs, which were close at hand,
+and hailed the only boatman who remained there.
+
+But the throng of people--the foremost of whom had heard every word
+that Lord George Gordon said, and among all of whom the rumour had been
+rapidly dispersed that the stranger was a Papist who was bearding him
+for his advocacy of the popular cause--came pouring out pell-mell, and,
+forcing the nobleman, his secretary, and Sir John Chester on before
+them, so that they appeared to be at their head, crowded to the top of
+the stairs where Mr Haredale waited until the boat was ready, and there
+stood still, leaving him on a little clear space by himself.
+
+They were not silent, however, though inactive. At first some indistinct
+mutterings arose among them, which were followed by a hiss or two, and
+these swelled by degrees into a perfect storm. Then one voice said,
+'Down with the Papists!' and there was a pretty general cheer, but
+nothing more. After a lull of a few moments, one man cried out, 'Stone
+him;' another, 'Duck him;' another, in a stentorian voice, 'No Popery!'
+This favourite cry the rest re-echoed, and the mob, which might have
+been two hundred strong, joined in a general shout.
+
+Mr Haredale had stood calmly on the brink of the steps, until they made
+this demonstration, when he looked round contemptuously, and walked at
+a slow pace down the stairs. He was pretty near the boat, when Gashford,
+as if without intention, turned about, and directly afterwards a great
+stone was thrown by some hand, in the crowd, which struck him on the
+head, and made him stagger like a drunken man.
+
+The blood sprung freely from the wound, and trickled down his coat. He
+turned directly, and rushing up the steps with a boldness and passion
+which made them all fall back, demanded:
+
+'Who did that? Show me the man who hit me.'
+
+Not a soul moved; except some in the rear who slunk off, and, escaping
+to the other side of the way, looked on like indifferent spectators.
+
+'Who did that?' he repeated. 'Show me the man who did it. Dog, was it
+you? It was your deed, if not your hand--I know you.'
+
+He threw himself on Gashford as he said the words, and hurled him to the
+ground. There was a sudden motion in the crowd, and some laid hands upon
+him, but his sword was out, and they fell off again.
+
+'My lord--Sir John,'--he cried, 'draw, one of you--you are responsible
+for this outrage, and I look to you. Draw, if you are gentlemen.' With
+that he struck Sir John upon the breast with the flat of his weapon,
+and with a burning face and flashing eyes stood upon his guard; alone,
+before them all.
+
+For an instant, for the briefest space of time the mind can readily
+conceive, there was a change in Sir John's smooth face, such as no man
+ever saw there. The next moment, he stepped forward, and laid one hand
+on Mr Haredale's arm, while with the other he endeavoured to appease the
+crowd.
+
+'My dear friend, my good Haredale, you are blinded with passion--it's
+very natural, extremely natural--but you don't know friends from foes.'
+
+'I know them all, sir, I can distinguish well--' he retorted, almost mad
+with rage. 'Sir John, Lord George--do you hear me? Are you cowards?'
+
+'Never mind, sir,' said a man, forcing his way between and pushing him
+towards the stairs with friendly violence, 'never mind asking that. For
+God's sake, get away. What CAN you do against this number? And there are
+as many more in the next street, who'll be round directly,'--indeed they
+began to pour in as he said the words--'you'd be giddy from that cut, in
+the first heat of a scuffle. Now do retire, sir, or take my word for it
+you'll be worse used than you would be if every man in the crowd was a
+woman, and that woman Bloody Mary. Come, sir, make haste--as quick as
+you can.'
+
+Mr Haredale, who began to turn faint and sick, felt how sensible
+this advice was, and descended the steps with his unknown friend's
+assistance. John Grueby (for John it was) helped him into the boat, and
+giving her a shove off, which sent her thirty feet into the tide, bade
+the waterman pull away like a Briton; and walked up again as composedly
+as if he had just landed.
+
+There was at first a slight disposition on the part of the mob to resent
+this interference; but John looking particularly strong and cool, and
+wearing besides Lord George's livery, they thought better of it, and
+contented themselves with sending a shower of small missiles after the
+boat, which plashed harmlessly in the water; for she had by this time
+cleared the bridge, and was darting swiftly down the centre of the
+stream.
+
+From this amusement, they proceeded to giving Protestant knocks at the
+doors of private houses, breaking a few lamps, and assaulting some stray
+constables. But, it being whispered that a detachment of Life Guards had
+been sent for, they took to their heels with great expedition, and left
+the street quite clear.
+
+
+
+Chapter 44
+
+
+When the concourse separated, and, dividing into chance clusters, drew
+off in various directions, there still remained upon the scene of the
+late disturbance, one man. This man was Gashford, who, bruised by his
+late fall, and hurt in a much greater degree by the indignity he had
+undergone, and the exposure of which he had been the victim, limped up
+and down, breathing curses and threats of vengeance.
+
+It was not the secretary's nature to waste his wrath in words. While he
+vented the froth of his malevolence in those effusions, he kept a steady
+eye on two men, who, having disappeared with the rest when the alarm was
+spread, had since returned, and were now visible in the moonlight, at no
+great distance, as they walked to and fro, and talked together.
+
+He made no move towards them, but waited patiently on the dark side of
+the street, until they were tired of strolling backwards and forwards
+and walked away in company. Then he followed, but at some distance:
+keeping them in view, without appearing to have that object, or being
+seen by them.
+
+They went up Parliament Street, past Saint Martin's church, and away by
+Saint Giles's to Tottenham Court Road, at the back of which, upon
+the western side, was then a place called the Green Lanes. This was a
+retired spot, not of the choicest kind, leading into the fields. Great
+heaps of ashes; stagnant pools, overgrown with rank grass and duckweed;
+broken turnstiles; and the upright posts of palings long since carried
+off for firewood, which menaced all heedless walkers with their jagged
+and rusty nails; were the leading features of the landscape: while here
+and there a donkey, or a ragged horse, tethered to a stake, and cropping
+off a wretched meal from the coarse stunted turf, were quite in keeping
+with the scene, and would have suggested (if the houses had not done so,
+sufficiently, of themselves) how very poor the people were who lived in
+the crazy huts adjacent, and how foolhardy it might prove for one who
+carried money, or wore decent clothes, to walk that way alone, unless by
+daylight.
+
+Poverty has its whims and shows of taste, as wealth has. Some of these
+cabins were turreted, some had false windows painted on their rotten
+walls; one had a mimic clock, upon a crazy tower of four feet high,
+which screened the chimney; each in its little patch of ground had a
+rude seat or arbour. The population dealt in bones, in rags, in broken
+glass, in old wheels, in birds, and dogs. These, in their several ways
+of stowage, filled the gardens; and shedding a perfume, not of the most
+delicious nature, in the air, filled it besides with yelps, and screams,
+and howling.
+
+Into this retreat, the secretary followed the two men whom he had held
+in sight; and here he saw them safely lodged, in one of the meanest
+houses, which was but a room, and that of small dimensions. He waited
+without, until the sound of their voices, joined in a discordant song,
+assured him they were making merry; and then approaching the door, by
+means of a tottering plank which crossed the ditch in front, knocked at
+it with his hand.
+
+'Muster Gashford!' said the man who opened it, taking his pipe from
+his mouth, in evident surprise. 'Why, who'd have thought of this here
+honour! Walk in, Muster Gashford--walk in, sir.'
+
+Gashford required no second invitation, and entered with a gracious air.
+There was a fire in the rusty grate (for though the spring was pretty
+far advanced, the nights were cold), and on a stool beside it Hugh sat
+smoking. Dennis placed a chair, his only one, for the secretary, in
+front of the hearth; and took his seat again upon the stool he had left
+when he rose to give the visitor admission.
+
+'What's in the wind now, Muster Gashford?' he said, as he resumed his
+pipe, and looked at him askew. 'Any orders from head-quarters? Are we
+going to begin? What is it, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'Oh, nothing, nothing,' rejoined the secretary, with a friendly nod to
+Hugh. 'We have broken the ice, though. We had a little spurt to-day--eh,
+Dennis?'
+
+'A very little one,' growled the hangman. 'Not half enough for me.'
+
+'Nor me neither!' cried Hugh. 'Give us something to do with life in
+it--with life in it, master. Ha, ha!'
+
+'Why, you wouldn't,' said the secretary, with his worst expression of
+face, and in his mildest tones, 'have anything to do, with--with death
+in it?'
+
+'I don't know that,' replied Hugh. 'I'm open to orders. I don't care;
+not I.'
+
+'Nor I!' vociferated Dennis.
+
+'Brave fellows!' said the secretary, in as pastor-like a voice as if he
+were commending them for some uncommon act of valour and generosity. 'By
+the bye'--and here he stopped and warmed his hands: then suddenly looked
+up--'who threw that stone to-day?'
+
+Mr Dennis coughed and shook his head, as who should say, 'A mystery
+indeed!' Hugh sat and smoked in silence.
+
+'It was well done!' said the secretary, warming his hands again. 'I
+should like to know that man.'
+
+'Would you?' said Dennis, after looking at his face to assure himself
+that he was serious. 'Would you like to know that man, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'I should indeed,' replied the secretary.
+
+'Why then, Lord love you,' said the hangman, in his hoarest chuckle,
+as he pointed with his pipe to Hugh, 'there he sits. That's the man. My
+stars and halters, Muster Gashford,' he added in a whisper, as he
+drew his stool close to him and jogged him with his elbow, 'what a
+interesting blade he is! He wants as much holding in as a thorough-bred
+bulldog. If it hadn't been for me to-day, he'd have had that 'ere Roman
+down, and made a riot of it, in another minute.'
+
+'And why not?' cried Hugh in a surly voice, as he overheard this last
+remark. 'Where's the good of putting things off? Strike while the iron's
+hot; that's what I say.'
+
+'Ah!' retorted Dennis, shaking his head, with a kind of pity for his
+friend's ingenuous youth; 'but suppose the iron an't hot, brother! You
+must get people's blood up afore you strike, and have 'em in the humour.
+There wasn't quite enough to provoke 'em to-day, I tell you. If you'd
+had your way, you'd have spoilt the fun to come, and ruined us.'
+
+'Dennis is quite right,' said Gashford, smoothly. 'He is perfectly
+correct. Dennis has great knowledge of the world.'
+
+'I ought to have, Muster Gashford, seeing what a many people I've helped
+out of it, eh?' grinned the hangman, whispering the words behind his
+hand.
+
+The secretary laughed at this jest as much as Dennis could desire, and
+when he had done, said, turning to Hugh:
+
+'Dennis's policy was mine, as you may have observed. You saw, for
+instance, how I fell when I was set upon. I made no resistance. I did
+nothing to provoke an outbreak. Oh dear no!'
+
+'No, by the Lord Harry!' cried Dennis with a noisy laugh, 'you went down
+very quiet, Muster Gashford--and very flat besides. I thinks to myself
+at the time "it's all up with Muster Gashford!" I never see a man lay
+flatter nor more still--with the life in him--than you did to-day. He's
+a rough 'un to play with, is that 'ere Papist, and that's the fact.'
+
+The secretary's face, as Dennis roared with laughter, and turned his
+wrinkled eyes on Hugh who did the like, might have furnished a study for
+the devil's picture. He sat quite silent until they were serious again,
+and then said, looking round:
+
+'We are very pleasant here; so very pleasant, Dennis, that but for my
+lord's particular desire that I should sup with him, and the time being
+very near at hand, I should be inclined to stay, until it would be
+hardly safe to go homeward. I come upon a little business--yes, I do--as
+you supposed. It's very flattering to you; being this. If we ever
+should be obliged--and we can't tell, you know--this is a very uncertain
+world'--
+
+'I believe you, Muster Gashford,' interposed the hangman with a grave
+nod. 'The uncertainties as I've seen in reference to this here state of
+existence, the unexpected contingencies as have come about!--Oh my eye!'
+Feeling the subject much too vast for expression, he puffed at his pipe
+again, and looked the rest.
+
+'I say,' resumed the secretary, in a slow, impressive way; 'we can't
+tell what may come to pass; and if we should be obliged, against our
+wills, to have recourse to violence, my lord (who has suffered terribly
+to-day, as far as words can go) consigns to you two--bearing in mind my
+recommendation of you both, as good staunch men, beyond all doubt and
+suspicion--the pleasant task of punishing this Haredale. You may do as
+you please with him, or his, provided that you show no mercy, and no
+quarter, and leave no two beams of his house standing where the builder
+placed them. You may sack it, burn it, do with it as you like, but
+it must come down; it must be razed to the ground; and he, and all
+belonging to him, left as shelterless as new-born infants whom their
+mothers have exposed. Do you understand me?' said Gashford, pausing, and
+pressing his hands together gently.
+
+'Understand you, master!' cried Hugh. 'You speak plain now. Why, this is
+hearty!'
+
+'I knew you would like it,' said Gashford, shaking him by the hand; 'I
+thought you would. Good night! Don't rise, Dennis: I would rather find
+my way alone. I may have to make other visits here, and it's pleasant
+to come and go without disturbing you. I can find my way perfectly well.
+Good night!'
+
+He was gone, and had shut the door behind him. They looked at each
+other, and nodded approvingly: Dennis stirred up the fire.
+
+'This looks a little more like business!' he said.
+
+'Ay, indeed!' cried Hugh; 'this suits me!'
+
+'I've heerd it said of Muster Gashford,' said the hangman, 'that he'd
+a surprising memory and wonderful firmness--that he never forgot, and
+never forgave.--Let's drink his health!'
+
+Hugh readily complied--pouring no liquor on the floor when he drank this
+toast--and they pledged the secretary as a man after their own hearts,
+in a bumper.
+
+
+
+Chapter 45
+
+
+While the worst passions of the worst men were thus working in the dark,
+and the mantle of religion, assumed to cover the ugliest deformities,
+threatened to become the shroud of all that was good and peaceful in
+society, a circumstance occurred which once more altered the position of
+two persons from whom this history has long been separated, and to whom
+it must now return.
+
+In a small English country town, the inhabitants of which supported
+themselves by the labour of their hands in plaiting and preparing straw
+for those who made bonnets and other articles of dress and ornament from
+that material,--concealed under an assumed name, and living in a quiet
+poverty which knew no change, no pleasures, and few cares but that
+of struggling on from day to day in one great toil for bread,--dwelt
+Barnaby and his mother. Their poor cottage had known no stranger's foot
+since they sought the shelter of its roof five years before; nor had
+they in all that time held any commerce or communication with the old
+world from which they had fled. To labour in peace, and devote her
+labour and her life to her poor son, was all the widow sought. If
+happiness can be said at any time to be the lot of one on whom a secret
+sorrow preys, she was happy now. Tranquillity, resignation, and her
+strong love of him who needed it so much, formed the small circle of her
+quiet joys; and while that remained unbroken, she was contented.
+
+For Barnaby himself, the time which had flown by, had passed him like
+the wind. The daily suns of years had shed no brighter gleam of reason
+on his mind; no dawn had broken on his long, dark night. He would sit
+sometimes--often for days together on a low seat by the fire or by the
+cottage door, busy at work (for he had learnt the art his mother plied),
+and listening, God help him, to the tales she would repeat, as a lure
+to keep him in her sight. He had no recollection of these little
+narratives; the tale of yesterday was new to him upon the morrow; but
+he liked them at the moment; and when the humour held him, would remain
+patiently within doors, hearing her stories like a little child, and
+working cheerfully from sunrise until it was too dark to see.
+
+At other times,--and then their scanty earnings were barely sufficient
+to furnish them with food, though of the coarsest sort,--he would wander
+abroad from dawn of day until the twilight deepened into night. Few
+in that place, even of the children, could be idle, and he had no
+companions of his own kind. Indeed there were not many who could have
+kept up with him in his rambles, had there been a legion. But there were
+a score of vagabond dogs belonging to the neighbours, who served his
+purpose quite as well. With two or three of these, or sometimes with a
+full half-dozen barking at his heels, he would sally forth on some
+long expedition that consumed the day; and though, on their return at
+nightfall, the dogs would come home limping and sore-footed, and almost
+spent with their fatigue, Barnaby was up and off again at sunrise with
+some new attendants of the same class, with whom he would return in like
+manner. On all these travels, Grip, in his little basket at his master's
+back, was a constant member of the party, and when they set off in fine
+weather and in high spirits, no dog barked louder than the raven.
+
+Their pleasures on these excursions were simple enough. A crust of bread
+and scrap of meat, with water from the brook or spring, sufficed for
+their repast. Barnaby's enjoyments were, to walk, and run, and leap,
+till he was tired; then to lie down in the long grass, or by the growing
+corn, or in the shade of some tall tree, looking upward at the light
+clouds as they floated over the blue surface of the sky, and
+listening to the lark as she poured out her brilliant song. There were
+wild-flowers to pluck--the bright red poppy, the gentle harebell, the
+cowslip, and the rose. There were birds to watch; fish; ants; worms;
+hares or rabbits, as they darted across the distant pathway in the wood
+and so were gone: millions of living things to have an interest in, and
+lie in wait for, and clap hands and shout in memory of, when they had
+disappeared. In default of these, or when they wearied, there was the
+merry sunlight to hunt out, as it crept in aslant through leaves and
+boughs of trees, and hid far down--deep, deep, in hollow places--like
+a silver pool, where nodding branches seemed to bathe and sport; sweet
+scents of summer air breathing over fields of beans or clover; the
+perfume of wet leaves or moss; the life of waving trees, and shadows
+always changing. When these or any of them tired, or in excess of
+pleasing tempted him to shut his eyes, there was slumber in the midst
+of all these soft delights, with the gentle wind murmuring like music in
+his ears, and everything around melting into one delicious dream.
+
+Their hut--for it was little more--stood on the outskirts of the town,
+at a short distance from the high road, but in a secluded place, where
+few chance passengers strayed at any season of the year. It had a plot
+of garden-ground attached, which Barnaby, in fits and starts of working,
+trimmed, and kept in order. Within doors and without, his mother
+laboured for their common good; and hail, rain, snow, or sunshine, found
+no difference in her.
+
+Though so far removed from the scenes of her past life, and with so
+little thought or hope of ever visiting them again, she seemed to have
+a strange desire to know what happened in the busy world. Any old
+newspaper, or scrap of intelligence from London, she caught at with
+avidity. The excitement it produced was not of a pleasurable kind, for
+her manner at such times expressed the keenest anxiety and dread; but it
+never faded in the least degree. Then, and in stormy winter nights, when
+the wind blew loud and strong, the old expression came into her face,
+and she would be seized with a fit of trembling, like one who had an
+ague. But Barnaby noted little of this; and putting a great constraint
+upon herself, she usually recovered her accustomed manner before the
+change had caught his observation.
+
+Grip was by no means an idle or unprofitable member of the humble
+household. Partly by dint of Barnaby's tuition, and partly by pursuing a
+species of self-instruction common to his tribe, and exerting his powers
+of observation to the utmost, he had acquired a degree of sagacity
+which rendered him famous for miles round. His conversational powers and
+surprising performances were the universal theme: and as many
+persons came to see the wonderful raven, and none left his exertions
+unrewarded--when he condescended to exhibit, which was not always,
+for genius is capricious--his earnings formed an important item in the
+common stock. Indeed, the bird himself appeared to know his value well;
+for though he was perfectly free and unrestrained in the presence of
+Barnaby and his mother, he maintained in public an amazing gravity,
+and never stooped to any other gratuitous performances than biting
+the ankles of vagabond boys (an exercise in which he much delighted),
+killing a fowl or two occasionally, and swallowing the dinners of
+various neighbouring dogs, of whom the boldest held him in great awe and
+dread.
+
+Time had glided on in this way, and nothing had happened to disturb or
+change their mode of life, when, one summer's night in June, they were
+in their little garden, resting from the labours of the day. The widow's
+work was yet upon her knee, and strewn upon the ground about her; and
+Barnaby stood leaning on his spade, gazing at the brightness in the
+west, and singing softly to himself.
+
+'A brave evening, mother! If we had, chinking in our pockets, but a few
+specks of that gold which is piled up yonder in the sky, we should be
+rich for life.'
+
+'We are better as we are,' returned the widow with a quiet smile. 'Let
+us be contented, and we do not want and need not care to have it, though
+it lay shining at our feet.'
+
+'Ay!' said Barnaby, resting with crossed arms on his spade, and looking
+wistfully at the sunset, 'that's well enough, mother; but gold's a good
+thing to have. I wish that I knew where to find it. Grip and I could do
+much with gold, be sure of that.'
+
+'What would you do?' she asked.
+
+'What! A world of things. We'd dress finely--you and I, I mean; not
+Grip--keep horses, dogs, wear bright colours and feathers, do no more
+work, live delicately and at our ease. Oh, we'd find uses for it,
+mother, and uses that would do us good. I would I knew where gold was
+buried. How hard I'd work to dig it up!'
+
+'You do not know,' said his mother, rising from her seat and laying her
+hand upon his shoulder, 'what men have done to win it, and how they have
+found, too late, that it glitters brightest at a distance, and turns
+quite dim and dull when handled.'
+
+'Ay, ay; so you say; so you think,' he answered, still looking eagerly
+in the same direction. 'For all that, mother, I should like to try.'
+
+'Do you not see,' she said, 'how red it is? Nothing bears so many stains
+of blood, as gold. Avoid it. None have such cause to hate its name as
+we have. Do not so much as think of it, dear love. It has brought such
+misery and suffering on your head and mine as few have known, and God
+grant few may have to undergo. I would rather we were dead and laid down
+in our graves, than you should ever come to love it.'
+
+For a moment Barnaby withdrew his eyes and looked at her with wonder.
+Then, glancing from the redness in the sky to the mark upon his wrist
+as if he would compare the two, he seemed about to question her with
+earnestness, when a new object caught his wandering attention, and made
+him quite forgetful of his purpose.
+
+This was a man with dusty feet and garments, who stood, bare-headed,
+behind the hedge that divided their patch of garden from the pathway,
+and leant meekly forward as if he sought to mingle with their
+conversation, and waited for his time to speak. His face was turned
+towards the brightness, too, but the light that fell upon it showed that
+he was blind, and saw it not.
+
+'A blessing on those voices!' said the wayfarer. 'I feel the beauty of
+the night more keenly, when I hear them. They are like eyes to me. Will
+they speak again, and cheer the heart of a poor traveller?'
+
+'Have you no guide?' asked the widow, after a moment's pause.
+
+'None but that,' he answered, pointing with his staff towards the sun;
+'and sometimes a milder one at night, but she is idle now.'
+
+'Have you travelled far?'
+
+'A weary way and long,' rejoined the traveller as he shook his head. 'A
+weary, weary, way. I struck my stick just now upon the bucket of your
+well--be pleased to let me have a draught of water, lady.'
+
+'Why do you call me lady?' she returned. 'I am as poor as you.'
+
+'Your speech is soft and gentle, and I judge by that,' replied the man.
+'The coarsest stuffs and finest silks, are--apart from the sense of
+touch--alike to me. I cannot judge you by your dress.'
+
+'Come round this way,' said Barnaby, who had passed out at the
+garden-gate and now stood close beside him. 'Put your hand in mine.
+You're blind and always in the dark, eh? Are you frightened in the dark?
+Do you see great crowds of faces, now? Do they grin and chatter?'
+
+'Alas!' returned the other, 'I see nothing. Waking or sleeping,
+nothing.'
+
+Barnaby looked curiously at his eyes, and touching them with his
+fingers, as an inquisitive child might, led him towards the house.
+
+'You have come a long distance,' said the widow, meeting him at the
+door. 'How have you found your way so far?'
+
+'Use and necessity are good teachers, as I have heard--the best of any,'
+said the blind man, sitting down upon the chair to which Barnaby had
+led him, and putting his hat and stick upon the red-tiled floor. 'May
+neither you nor your son ever learn under them. They are rough masters.'
+
+'You have wandered from the road, too,' said the widow, in a tone of
+pity.
+
+'Maybe, maybe,' returned the blind man with a sigh, and yet with
+something of a smile upon his face, 'that's likely. Handposts and
+milestones are dumb, indeed, to me. Thank you the more for this rest,
+and this refreshing drink!'
+
+As he spoke, he raised the mug of water to his mouth. It was clear, and
+cold, and sparkling, but not to his taste nevertheless, or his thirst
+was not very great, for he only wetted his lips and put it down again.
+
+He wore, hanging with a long strap round his neck, a kind of scrip or
+wallet, in which to carry food. The widow set some bread and cheese
+before him, but he thanked her, and said that through the kindness of
+the charitable he had broken his fast once since morning, and was not
+hungry. When he had made her this reply, he opened his wallet, and took
+out a few pence, which was all it appeared to contain.
+
+'Might I make bold to ask,' he said, turning towards where Barnaby stood
+looking on, 'that one who has the gift of sight, would lay this out for
+me in bread to keep me on my way? Heaven's blessing on the young feet
+that will bestir themselves in aid of one so helpless as a sightless
+man!'
+
+Barnaby looked at his mother, who nodded assent; in another moment he
+was gone upon his charitable errand. The blind man sat listening with an
+attentive face, until long after the sound of his retreating footsteps
+was inaudible to the widow, and then said, suddenly, and in a very
+altered tone:
+
+'There are various degrees and kinds of blindness, widow. There is the
+connubial blindness, ma'am, which perhaps you may have observed in
+the course of your own experience, and which is a kind of wilful and
+self-bandaging blindness. There is the blindness of party, ma'am, and
+public men, which is the blindness of a mad bull in the midst of a
+regiment of soldiers clothed in red. There is the blind confidence of
+youth, which is the blindness of young kittens, whose eyes have not yet
+opened on the world; and there is that physical blindness, ma'am, of
+which I am, contrairy to my own desire, a most illustrious example.
+Added to these, ma'am, is that blindness of the intellect, of which we
+have a specimen in your interesting son, and which, having sometimes
+glimmerings and dawnings of the light, is scarcely to be trusted as a
+total darkness. Therefore, ma'am, I have taken the liberty to get him
+out of the way for a short time, while you and I confer together, and
+this precaution arising out of the delicacy of my sentiments towards
+yourself, you will excuse me, ma'am, I know.'
+
+Having delivered himself of this speech with many flourishes of manner,
+he drew from beneath his coat a flat stone bottle, and holding the cork
+between his teeth, qualified his mug of water with a plentiful infusion
+of the liquor it contained. He politely drained the bumper to her
+health, and the ladies, and setting it down empty, smacked his lips with
+infinite relish.
+
+'I am a citizen of the world, ma'am,' said the blind man, corking his
+bottle, 'and if I seem to conduct myself with freedom, it is therefore.
+You wonder who I am, ma'am, and what has brought me here. Such
+experience of human nature as I have, leads me to that conclusion,
+without the aid of eyes by which to read the movements of your soul
+as depicted in your feminine features. I will satisfy your curiosity
+immediately, ma'am; immediately.' With that he slapped his bottle on its
+broad back, and having put it under his garment as before, crossed his
+legs and folded his hands, and settled himself in his chair, previous to
+proceeding any further.
+
+The change in his manner was so unexpected, the craft and wickedness
+of his deportment were so much aggravated by his condition--for we are
+accustomed to see in those who have lost a human sense, something in its
+place almost divine--and this alteration bred so many fears in her whom
+he addressed, that she could not pronounce one word. After waiting, as
+it seemed, for some remark or answer, and waiting in vain, the visitor
+resumed:
+
+'Madam, my name is Stagg. A friend of mine who has desired the honour of
+meeting with you any time these five years past, has commissioned me to
+call upon you. I should be glad to whisper that gentleman's name in your
+ear.--Zounds, ma'am, are you deaf? Do you hear me say that I should be
+glad to whisper my friend's name in your ear?'
+
+'You need not repeat it,' said the widow, with a stifled groan; 'I see
+too well from whom you come.'
+
+'But as a man of honour, ma'am,' said the blind man, striking himself on
+the breast, 'whose credentials must not be disputed, I take leave to say
+that I WILL mention that gentleman's name. Ay, ay,' he added, seeming
+to catch with his quick ear the very motion of her hand, 'but not aloud.
+With your leave, ma'am, I desire the favour of a whisper.'
+
+She moved towards him, and stooped down. He muttered a word in her
+ear; and, wringing her hands, she paced up and down the room like one
+distracted. The blind man, with perfect composure, produced his bottle
+again, mixed another glassful; put it up as before; and, drinking from
+time to time, followed her with his face in silence.
+
+'You are slow in conversation, widow,' he said after a time, pausing in
+his draught. 'We shall have to talk before your son.'
+
+'What would you have me do?' she answered. 'What do you want?'
+
+'We are poor, widow, we are poor,' he retorted, stretching out his right
+hand, and rubbing his thumb upon its palm.
+
+'Poor!' she cried. 'And what am I?'
+
+'Comparisons are odious,' said the blind man. 'I don't know, I don't
+care. I say that we are poor. My friend's circumstances are indifferent,
+and so are mine. We must have our rights, widow, or we must be bought
+off. But you know that, as well as I, so where is the use of talking?'
+
+She still walked wildly to and fro. At length, stopping abruptly before
+him, she said:
+
+'Is he near here?'
+
+'He is. Close at hand.'
+
+'Then I am lost!'
+
+'Not lost, widow,' said the blind man, calmly; 'only found. Shall I call
+him?'
+
+'Not for the world,' she answered, with a shudder.
+
+'Very good,' he replied, crossing his legs again, for he had made as
+though he would rise and walk to the door. 'As you please, widow. His
+presence is not necessary that I know of. But both he and I must live;
+to live, we must eat and drink; to eat and drink, we must have money:--I
+say no more.'
+
+'Do you know how pinched and destitute I am?' she retorted. 'I do not
+think you do, or can. If you had eyes, and could look around you on this
+poor place, you would have pity on me. Oh! let your heart be softened by
+your own affliction, friend, and have some sympathy with mine.'
+
+The blind man snapped his fingers as he answered:
+
+'--Beside the question, ma'am, beside the question. I have the softest
+heart in the world, but I can't live upon it. Many a gentleman lives
+well upon a soft head, who would find a heart of the same quality a very
+great drawback. Listen to me. This is a matter of business, with which
+sympathies and sentiments have nothing to do. As a mutual friend, I wish
+to arrange it in a satisfactory manner, if possible; and thus the
+case stands.--If you are very poor now, it's your own choice. You have
+friends who, in case of need, are always ready to help you. My friend is
+in a more destitute and desolate situation than most men, and, you and
+he being linked together in a common cause, he naturally looks to you to
+assist him. He has boarded and lodged with me a long time (for as I
+said just now, I am very soft-hearted), and I quite approve of his
+entertaining this opinion. You have always had a roof over your head; he
+has always been an outcast. You have your son to comfort and assist you;
+he has nobody at all. The advantages must not be all one side. You are
+in the same boat, and we must divide the ballast a little more equally.'
+
+She was about to speak, but he checked her, and went on.
+
+'The only way of doing this, is by making up a little purse now and then
+for my friend; and that's what I advise. He bears you no malice that I
+know of, ma'am: so little, that although you have treated him harshly
+more than once, and driven him, I may say, out of doors, he has that
+regard for you that I believe even if you disappointed him now, he would
+consent to take charge of your son, and to make a man of him.'
+
+He laid a great stress on these latter words, and paused as if to find
+out what effect they had produced. She only answered by her tears.
+
+'He is a likely lad,' said the blind man, thoughtfully, 'for many
+purposes, and not ill-disposed to try his fortune in a little change
+and bustle, if I may judge from what I heard of his talk with you
+to-night.--Come. In a word, my friend has pressing necessity for twenty
+pounds. You, who can give up an annuity, can get that sum for him. It's
+a pity you should be troubled. You seem very comfortable here, and
+it's worth that much to remain so. Twenty pounds, widow, is a
+moderate demand. You know where to apply for it; a post will bring it
+you.--Twenty pounds!'
+
+She was about to answer him again, but again he stopped her.
+
+'Don't say anything hastily; you might be sorry for it. Think of it a
+little while. Twenty pounds--of other people's money--how easy! Turn it
+over in your mind. I'm in no hurry. Night's coming on, and if I don't
+sleep here, I shall not go far. Twenty pounds! Consider of it, ma'am,
+for twenty minutes; give each pound a minute; that's a fair allowance.
+I'll enjoy the air the while, which is very mild and pleasant in these
+parts.'
+
+With these words he groped his way to the door, carrying his chair with
+him. Then seating himself, under a spreading honeysuckle, and stretching
+his legs across the threshold so that no person could pass in or out
+without his knowledge, he took from his pocket a pipe, flint, steel and
+tinder-box, and began to smoke. It was a lovely evening, of that gentle
+kind, and at that time of year, when the twilight is most beautiful.
+Pausing now and then to let his smoke curl slowly off, and to sniff the
+grateful fragrance of the flowers, he sat there at his ease--as though
+the cottage were his proper dwelling, and he had held undisputed
+possession of it all his life--waiting for the widow's answer and for
+Barnaby's return.
+
+
+
+Chapter 46
+
+
+When Barnaby returned with the bread, the sight of the pious old pilgrim
+smoking his pipe and making himself so thoroughly at home, appeared
+to surprise even him; the more so, as that worthy person, instead of
+putting up the loaf in his wallet as a scarce and precious article,
+tossed it carelessly on the table, and producing his bottle, bade him
+sit down and drink.
+
+'For I carry some comfort, you see,' he said. 'Taste that. Is it good?'
+
+The water stood in Barnaby's eyes as he coughed from the strength of the
+draught, and answered in the affirmative.
+
+'Drink some more,' said the blind man; 'don't be afraid of it. You don't
+taste anything like that, often, eh?'
+
+'Often!' cried Barnaby. 'Never!'
+
+'Too poor?' returned the blind man with a sigh. 'Ay. That's bad. Your
+mother, poor soul, would be happier if she was richer, Barnaby.'
+
+'Why, so I tell her--the very thing I told her just before you came
+to-night, when all that gold was in the sky,' said Barnaby, drawing his
+chair nearer to him, and looking eagerly in his face. 'Tell me. Is there
+any way of being rich, that I could find out?'
+
+'Any way! A hundred ways.'
+
+'Ay, ay?' he returned. 'Do you say so? What are they?--Nay, mother, it's
+for your sake I ask; not mine;--for yours, indeed. What are they?'
+
+The blind man turned his face, on which there was a smile of triumph, to
+where the widow stood in great distress; and answered,
+
+'Why, they are not to be found out by stay-at-homes, my good friend.'
+
+'By stay-at-homes!' cried Barnaby, plucking at his sleeve. 'But I am not
+one. Now, there you mistake. I am often out before the sun, and travel
+home when he has gone to rest. I am away in the woods before the day
+has reached the shady places, and am often there when the bright moon
+is peeping through the boughs, and looking down upon the other moon that
+lives in the water. As I walk along, I try to find, among the grass and
+moss, some of that small money for which she works so hard and used to
+shed so many tears. As I lie asleep in the shade, I dream of it--dream
+of digging it up in heaps; and spying it out, hidden under bushes; and
+seeing it sparkle, as the dew-drops do, among the leaves. But I never
+find it. Tell me where it is. I'd go there, if the journey were a whole
+year long, because I know she would be happier when I came home and
+brought some with me. Speak again. I'll listen to you if you talk all
+night.'
+
+The blind man passed his hand lightly over the poor fellow's face, and
+finding that his elbows were planted on the table, that his chin rested
+on his two hands, that he leaned eagerly forward, and that his whole
+manner expressed the utmost interest and anxiety, paused for a minute as
+though he desired the widow to observe this fully, and then made answer:
+
+'It's in the world, bold Barnaby, the merry world; not in solitary
+places like those you pass your time in, but in crowds, and where
+there's noise and rattle.'
+
+'Good! good!' cried Barnaby, rubbing his hands. 'Yes! I love that. Grip
+loves it too. It suits us both. That's brave!'
+
+'--The kind of places,' said the blind man, 'that a young fellow likes,
+and in which a good son may do more for his mother, and himself to boot,
+in a month, than he could here in all his life--that is, if he had a
+friend, you know, and some one to advise with.'
+
+'You hear this, mother?' cried Barnaby, turning to her with delight.
+'Never tell me we shouldn't heed it, if it lay shining at out feet. Why
+do we heed it so much now? Why do you toil from morning until night?'
+
+'Surely,' said the blind man, 'surely. Have you no answer, widow? Is
+your mind,' he slowly added, 'not made up yet?'
+
+'Let me speak with you,' she answered, 'apart.'
+
+'Lay your hand upon my sleeve,' said Stagg, arising from the table; 'and
+lead me where you will. Courage, bold Barnaby. We'll talk more of this:
+I've a fancy for you. Wait there till I come back. Now, widow.'
+
+She led him out at the door, and into the little garden, where they
+stopped.
+
+'You are a fit agent,' she said, in a half breathless manner, 'and well
+represent the man who sent you here.'
+
+'I'll tell him that you said so,' Stagg retorted. 'He has a regard for
+you, and will respect me the more (if possible) for your praise. We must
+have our rights, widow.'
+
+'Rights! Do you know,' she said, 'that a word from me--'
+
+'Why do you stop?' returned the blind man calmly, after a long pause.
+'Do I know that a word from you would place my friend in the last
+position of the dance of life? Yes, I do. What of that? It will never be
+spoken, widow.'
+
+'You are sure of that?'
+
+'Quite--so sure, that I don't come here to discuss the question. I say
+we must have our rights, or we must be bought off. Keep to that point,
+or let me return to my young friend, for I have an interest in the lad,
+and desire to put him in the way of making his fortune. Bah! you needn't
+speak,' he added hastily; 'I know what you would say: you have hinted
+at it once already. Have I no feeling for you, because I am blind? No, I
+have not. Why do you expect me, being in darkness, to be better than
+men who have their sight--why should you? Is the hand of Heaven more
+manifest in my having no eyes, than in your having two? It's the cant
+of you folks to be horrified if a blind man robs, or lies, or steals;
+oh yes, it's far worse in him, who can barely live on the few halfpence
+that are thrown to him in streets, than in you, who can see, and work,
+and are not dependent on the mercies of the world. A curse on you! You
+who have five senses may be wicked at your pleasure; we who have four,
+and want the most important, are to live and be moral on our affliction.
+The true charity and justice of rich to poor, all the world over!'
+
+He paused a moment when he had said these words, and caught the sound of
+money, jingling in her hand.
+
+'Well?' he cried, quickly resuming his former manner. 'That should lead
+to something. The point, widow?'
+
+'First answer me one question,' she replied. 'You say he is close at
+hand. Has he left London?'
+
+'Being close at hand, widow, it would seem he has,' returned the blind
+man.
+
+'I mean, for good? You know that.'
+
+'Yes, for good. The truth is, widow, that his making a longer stay there
+might have had disagreeable consequences. He has come away for that
+reason.'
+
+'Listen,' said the widow, telling some money out, upon a bench beside
+them. 'Count.'
+
+'Six,' said the blind man, listening attentively. 'Any more?'
+
+'They are the savings,' she answered, 'of five years. Six guineas.'
+
+He put out his hand for one of the coins; felt it carefully, put it
+between his teeth, rung it on the bench; and nodded to her to proceed.
+
+'These have been scraped together and laid by, lest sickness or death
+should separate my son and me. They have been purchased at the price of
+much hunger, hard labour, and want of rest. If you CAN take them--do--on
+condition that you leave this place upon the instant, and enter no more
+into that room, where he sits now, expecting your return.'
+
+'Six guineas,' said the blind man, shaking his head, 'though of the
+fullest weight that were ever coined, fall very far short of twenty
+pounds, widow.'
+
+'For such a sum, as you know, I must write to a distant part of the
+country. To do that, and receive an answer, I must have time.'
+
+'Two days?' said Stagg.
+
+'More.'
+
+'Four days?'
+
+'A week. Return on this day week, at the same hour, but not to the
+house. Wait at the corner of the lane.'
+
+'Of course,' said the blind man, with a crafty look, 'I shall find you
+there?'
+
+'Where else can I take refuge? Is it not enough that you have made
+a beggar of me, and that I have sacrificed my whole store, so hardly
+earned, to preserve this home?'
+
+'Humph!' said the blind man, after some consideration. 'Set me with my
+face towards the point you speak of, and in the middle of the road. Is
+this the spot?'
+
+'It is.'
+
+'On this day week at sunset. And think of him within doors.--For the
+present, good night.'
+
+She made him no answer, nor did he stop for any. He went slowly away,
+turning his head from time to time, and stopping to listen, as if he
+were curious to know whether he was watched by any one. The shadows of
+night were closing fast around, and he was soon lost in the gloom. It
+was not, however, until she had traversed the lane from end to end,
+and made sure that he was gone, that she re-entered the cottage, and
+hurriedly barred the door and window.
+
+'Mother!' said Barnaby. 'What is the matter? Where is the blind man?'
+
+'He is gone.'
+
+'Gone!' he cried, starting up. 'I must have more talk with him. Which
+way did he take?'
+
+'I don't know,' she answered, folding her arms about him. 'You must not
+go out to-night. There are ghosts and dreams abroad.'
+
+'Ay?' said Barnaby, in a frightened whisper.
+
+'It is not safe to stir. We must leave this place to-morrow.'
+
+'This place! This cottage--and the little garden, mother!'
+
+'Yes! To-morrow morning at sunrise. We must travel to London; lose
+ourselves in that wide place--there would be some trace of us in any
+other town--then travel on again, and find some new abode.'
+
+Little persuasion was required to reconcile Barnaby to anything that
+promised change. In another minute, he was wild with delight; in
+another, full of grief at the prospect of parting with his friends the
+dogs; in another, wild again; then he was fearful of what she had said
+to prevent his wandering abroad that night, and full of terrors and
+strange questions. His light-heartedness in the end surmounted all his
+other feelings, and lying down in his clothes to the end that he might
+be ready on the morrow, he soon fell fast asleep before the poor turf
+fire.
+
+His mother did not close her eyes, but sat beside him, watching. Every
+breath of wind sounded in her ears like that dreaded footstep at the
+door, or like that hand upon the latch, and made the calm summer night,
+a night of horror. At length the welcome day appeared. When she had made
+the little preparations which were needful for their journey, and had
+prayed upon her knees with many tears, she roused Barnaby, who jumped up
+gaily at her summons.
+
+His clothes were few enough, and to carry Grip was a labour of love. As
+the sun shed his earliest beams upon the earth, they closed the door of
+their deserted home, and turned away. The sky was blue and bright.
+The air was fresh and filled with a thousand perfumes. Barnaby looked
+upward, and laughed with all his heart.
+
+But it was a day he usually devoted to a long ramble, and one of the
+dogs--the ugliest of them all--came bounding up, and jumping round him
+in the fulness of his joy. He had to bid him go back in a surly tone,
+and his heart smote him while he did so. The dog retreated; turned
+with a half-incredulous, half-imploring look; came a little back; and
+stopped.
+
+It was the last appeal of an old companion and a faithful friend--cast
+off. Barnaby could bear no more, and as he shook his head and waved his
+playmate home, he burst into tears.
+
+'Oh mother, mother, how mournful he will be when he scratches at the
+door, and finds it always shut!'
+
+There was such a sense of home in the thought, that though her own eyes
+overflowed she would not have obliterated the recollection of it, either
+from her own mind or from his, for the wealth of the whole wide world.
+
+
+
+Chapter 47
+
+
+In the exhaustless catalogue of Heaven's mercies to mankind, the power
+we have of finding some germs of comfort in the hardest trials must ever
+occupy the foremost place; not only because it supports and upholds
+us when we most require to be sustained, but because in this source of
+consolation there is something, we have reason to believe, of the divine
+spirit; something of that goodness which detects amidst our own evil
+doings, a redeeming quality; something which, even in our fallen nature,
+we possess in common with the angels; which had its being in the old
+time when they trod the earth, and lingers on it yet, in pity.
+
+How often, on their journey, did the widow remember with a grateful
+heart, that out of his deprivation Barnaby's cheerfulness and affection
+sprung! How often did she call to mind that but for that, he might have
+been sullen, morose, unkind, far removed from her--vicious, perhaps, and
+cruel! How often had she cause for comfort, in his strength, and hope,
+and in his simple nature! Those feeble powers of mind which rendered him
+so soon forgetful of the past, save in brief gleams and flashes,--even
+they were a comfort now. The world to him was full of happiness; in
+every tree, and plant, and flower, in every bird, and beast, and tiny
+insect whom a breath of summer wind laid low upon the ground, he had
+delight. His delight was hers; and where many a wise son would have
+made her sorrowful, this poor light-hearted idiot filled her breast with
+thankfulness and love.
+
+Their stock of money was low, but from the hoard she had told into the
+blind man's hand, the widow had withheld one guinea. This, with the few
+pence she possessed besides, was to two persons of their frugal habits,
+a goodly sum in bank. Moreover they had Grip in company; and when they
+must otherwise have changed the guinea, it was but to make him exhibit
+outside an alehouse door, or in a village street, or in the grounds or
+gardens of a mansion of the better sort, and scores who would have given
+nothing in charity, were ready to bargain for more amusement from the
+talking bird.
+
+One day--for they moved slowly, and although they had many rides in
+carts and waggons, were on the road a week--Barnaby, with Grip upon his
+shoulder and his mother following, begged permission at a trim lodge to
+go up to the great house, at the other end of the avenue, and show his
+raven. The man within was inclined to give them admittance, and was
+indeed about to do so, when a stout gentleman with a long whip in his
+hand, and a flushed face which seemed to indicate that he had had his
+morning's draught, rode up to the gate, and called in a loud voice and
+with more oaths than the occasion seemed to warrant to have it opened
+directly.
+
+'Who hast thou got here?' said the gentleman angrily, as the man threw
+the gate wide open, and pulled off his hat, 'who are these? Eh? art a
+beggar, woman?'
+
+The widow answered with a curtsey, that they were poor travellers.
+
+'Vagrants,' said the gentleman, 'vagrants and vagabonds. Thee wish to be
+made acquainted with the cage, dost thee--the cage, the stocks, and the
+whipping-post? Where dost come from?'
+
+She told him in a timid manner,--for he was very loud, hoarse, and
+red-faced,--and besought him not to be angry, for they meant no harm,
+and would go upon their way that moment.
+
+'Don't be too sure of that,' replied the gentleman, 'we don't allow
+vagrants to roam about this place. I know what thou want'st--stray
+linen drying on hedges, and stray poultry, eh? What hast got in that
+basket, lazy hound?'
+
+'Grip, Grip, Grip--Grip the clever, Grip the wicked, Grip the
+knowing--Grip, Grip, Grip,' cried the raven, whom Barnaby had shut up
+on the approach of this stern personage. 'I'm a devil I'm a devil I'm a
+devil, Never say die Hurrah Bow wow wow, Polly put the kettle on we'll
+all have tea.'
+
+'Take the vermin out, scoundrel,' said the gentleman, 'and let me see
+him.'
+
+Barnaby, thus condescendingly addressed, produced his bird, but not
+without much fear and trembling, and set him down upon the ground; which
+he had no sooner done than Grip drew fifty corks at least, and then
+began to dance; at the same time eyeing the gentleman with surprising
+insolence of manner, and screwing his head so much on one side that he
+appeared desirous of screwing it off upon the spot.
+
+The cork-drawing seemed to make a greater impression on the gentleman's
+mind, than the raven's power of speech, and was indeed particularly
+adapted to his habits and capacity. He desired to have that done again,
+but despite his being very peremptory, and notwithstanding that Barnaby
+coaxed to the utmost, Grip turned a deaf ear to the request, and
+preserved a dead silence.
+
+'Bring him along,' said the gentleman, pointing to the house. But Grip,
+who had watched the action, anticipated his master, by hopping on before
+them;--constantly flapping his wings, and screaming 'cook!' meanwhile,
+as a hint perhaps that there was company coming, and a small collation
+would be acceptable.
+
+Barnaby and his mother walked on, on either side of the gentleman on
+horseback, who surveyed each of them from time to time in a proud and
+coarse manner, and occasionally thundered out some question, the tone
+of which alarmed Barnaby so much that he could find no answer, and, as
+a matter of course, could make him no reply. On one of these occasions,
+when the gentleman appeared disposed to exercise his horsewhip, the
+widow ventured to inform him in a low voice and with tears in her eyes,
+that her son was of weak mind.
+
+'An idiot, eh?' said the gentleman, looking at Barnaby as he spoke. 'And
+how long hast thou been an idiot?'
+
+'She knows,' was Barnaby's timid answer, pointing to his
+mother--'I--always, I believe.'
+
+'From his birth,' said the widow.
+
+'I don't believe it,' cried the gentleman, 'not a bit of it. It's an
+excuse not to work. There's nothing like flogging to cure that disorder.
+I'd make a difference in him in ten minutes, I'll be bound.'
+
+'Heaven has made none in more than twice ten years, sir,' said the widow
+mildly.
+
+'Then why don't you shut him up? we pay enough for county institutions,
+damn 'em. But thou'd rather drag him about to excite charity--of course.
+Ay, I know thee.'
+
+Now, this gentleman had various endearing appellations among his
+intimate friends. By some he was called 'a country gentleman of the true
+school,' by some 'a fine old country gentleman,' by some 'a sporting
+gentleman,' by some 'a thorough-bred Englishman,' by some 'a genuine
+John Bull;' but they all agreed in one respect, and that was, that it
+was a pity there were not more like him, and that because there were
+not, the country was going to rack and ruin every day. He was in the
+commission of the peace, and could write his name almost legibly; but
+his greatest qualifications were, that he was more severe with poachers,
+was a better shot, a harder rider, had better horses, kept better dogs,
+could eat more solid food, drink more strong wine, go to bed every night
+more drunk and get up every morning more sober, than any man in the
+county. In knowledge of horseflesh he was almost equal to a farrier, in
+stable learning he surpassed his own head groom, and in gluttony not
+a pig on his estate was a match for him. He had no seat in Parliament
+himself, but he was extremely patriotic, and usually drove his voters
+up to the poll with his own hands. He was warmly attached to church
+and state, and never appointed to the living in his gift any but a
+three-bottle man and a first-rate fox-hunter. He mistrusted the honesty
+of all poor people who could read and write, and had a secret jealousy
+of his own wife (a young lady whom he had married for what his friends
+called 'the good old English reason,' that her father's property
+adjoined his own) for possessing those accomplishments in a greater
+degree than himself. In short, Barnaby being an idiot, and Grip a
+creature of mere brute instinct, it would be very hard to say what this
+gentleman was.
+
+He rode up to the door of a handsome house approached by a great flight
+of steps, where a man was waiting to take his horse, and led the way
+into a large hall, which, spacious as it was, was tainted with the
+fumes of last night's stale debauch. Greatcoats, riding-whips, bridles,
+top-boots, spurs, and such gear, were strewn about on all sides, and
+formed, with some huge stags' antlers, and a few portraits of dogs and
+horses, its principal embellishments.
+
+Throwing himself into a great chair (in which, by the bye, he often
+snored away the night, when he had been, according to his admirers, a
+finer country gentleman than usual) he bade the man to tell his mistress
+to come down: and presently there appeared, a little flurried, as it
+seemed, by the unwonted summons, a lady much younger than himself, who
+had the appearance of being in delicate health, and not too happy.
+
+'Here! Thou'st no delight in following the hounds as an Englishwoman
+should have,' said the gentleman. 'See to this here. That'll please thee
+perhaps.'
+
+The lady smiled, sat down at a little distance from him, and glanced at
+Barnaby with a look of pity.
+
+'He's an idiot, the woman says,' observed the gentleman, shaking his
+head; 'I don't believe it.'
+
+'Are you his mother?' asked the lady.
+
+She answered yes.
+
+'What's the use of asking HER?' said the gentleman, thrusting his hands
+into his breeches pockets. 'She'll tell thee so, of course. Most likely
+he's hired, at so much a day. There. Get on. Make him do something.'
+
+Grip having by this time recovered his urbanity, condescended, at
+Barnaby's solicitation, to repeat his various phrases of speech, and to
+go through the whole of his performances with the utmost success. The
+corks, and the never say die, afforded the gentleman so much delight
+that he demanded the repetition of this part of the entertainment, until
+Grip got into his basket, and positively refused to say another word,
+good or bad. The lady too, was much amused with him; and the closing
+point of his obstinacy so delighted her husband that he burst into a
+roar of laughter, and demanded his price.
+
+Barnaby looked as though he didn't understand his meaning. Probably he
+did not.
+
+'His price,' said the gentleman, rattling the money in his pockets,
+'what dost want for him? How much?'
+
+'He's not to be sold,' replied Barnaby, shutting up the basket in a
+great hurry, and throwing the strap over his shoulder. 'Mother, come
+away.'
+
+'Thou seest how much of an idiot he is, book-learner,' said the
+gentleman, looking scornfully at his wife. 'He can make a bargain. What
+dost want for him, old woman?'
+
+'He is my son's constant companion,' said the widow. 'He is not to be
+sold, sir, indeed.'
+
+'Not to be sold!' cried the gentleman, growing ten times redder,
+hoarser, and louder than before. 'Not to be sold!'
+
+'Indeed no,' she answered. 'We have never thought of parting with him,
+sir, I do assure you.'
+
+He was evidently about to make a very passionate retort, when a few
+murmured words from his wife happening to catch his ear, he turned
+sharply round, and said, 'Eh? What?'
+
+'We can hardly expect them to sell the bird, against their own desire,'
+she faltered. 'If they prefer to keep him--'
+
+'Prefer to keep him!' he echoed. 'These people, who go tramping about
+the country a-pilfering and vagabondising on all hands, prefer to keep
+a bird, when a landed proprietor and a justice asks his price! That old
+woman's been to school. I know she has. Don't tell me no,' he roared to
+the widow, 'I say, yes.'
+
+Barnaby's mother pleaded guilty to the accusation, and hoped there was
+no harm in it.
+
+'No harm!' said the gentleman. 'No. No harm. No harm, ye old rebel, not
+a bit of harm. If my clerk was here, I'd set ye in the stocks, I would,
+or lay ye in jail for prowling up and down, on the look-out for petty
+larcenies, ye limb of a gipsy. Here, Simon, put these pilferers out,
+shove 'em into the road, out with 'em! Ye don't want to sell the bird,
+ye that come here to beg, don't ye? If they an't out in double-quick,
+set the dogs upon 'em!'
+
+They waited for no further dismissal, but fled precipitately, leaving
+the gentleman to storm away by himself (for the poor lady had already
+retreated), and making a great many vain attempts to silence Grip, who,
+excited by the noise, drew corks enough for a city feast as they hurried
+down the avenue, and appeared to congratulate himself beyond measure on
+having been the cause of the disturbance. When they had nearly reached
+the lodge, another servant, emerging from the shrubbery, feigned to
+be very active in ordering them off, but this man put a crown into the
+widow's hand, and whispering that his lady sent it, thrust them gently
+from the gate.
+
+This incident only suggested to the widow's mind, when they halted at
+an alehouse some miles further on, and heard the justice's character
+as given by his friends, that perhaps something more than capacity of
+stomach and tastes for the kennel and the stable, were required to form
+either a perfect country gentleman, a thoroughbred Englishman, or
+a genuine John Bull; and that possibly the terms were sometimes
+misappropriated, not to say disgraced. She little thought then, that a
+circumstance so slight would ever influence their future fortunes; but
+time and experience enlightened her in this respect.
+
+'Mother,' said Barnaby, as they were sitting next day in a waggon which
+was to take them within ten miles of the capital, 'we're going to London
+first, you said. Shall we see that blind man there?'
+
+She was about to answer 'Heaven forbid!' but checked herself, and told
+him No, she thought not; why did he ask?
+
+'He's a wise man,' said Barnaby, with a thoughtful countenance. 'I wish
+that we may meet with him again. What was it that he said of crowds?
+That gold was to be found where people crowded, and not among the
+trees and in such quiet places? He spoke as if he loved it; London is a
+crowded place; I think we shall meet him there.'
+
+'But why do you desire to see him, love?' she asked.
+
+'Because,' said Barnaby, looking wistfully at her, 'he talked to me
+about gold, which is a rare thing, and say what you will, a thing
+you would like to have, I know. And because he came and went away so
+strangely--just as white-headed old men come sometimes to my bed's foot
+in the night, and say what I can't remember when the bright day returns.
+He told me he'd come back. I wonder why he broke his word!'
+
+'But you never thought of being rich or gay, before, dear Barnaby. You
+have always been contented.'
+
+He laughed and bade her say that again, then cried, 'Ay ay--oh yes,' and
+laughed once more. Then something passed that caught his fancy, and
+the topic wandered from his mind, and was succeeded by another just as
+fleeting.
+
+But it was plain from what he had said, and from his returning to the
+point more than once that day, and on the next, that the blind man's
+visit, and indeed his words, had taken strong possession of his mind.
+Whether the idea of wealth had occurred to him for the first time
+on looking at the golden clouds that evening--and images were often
+presented to his thoughts by outward objects quite as remote and
+distant; or whether their poor and humble way of life had suggested it,
+by contrast, long ago; or whether the accident (as he would deem it) of
+the blind man's pursuing the current of his own remarks, had done so at
+the moment; or he had been impressed by the mere circumstance of the
+man being blind, and, therefore, unlike any one with whom he had talked
+before; it was impossible to tell. She tried every means to discover,
+but in vain; and the probability is that Barnaby himself was equally in
+the dark.
+
+It filled her with uneasiness to find him harping on this string, but
+all that she could do, was to lead him quickly to some other subject,
+and to dismiss it from his brain. To caution him against their visitor,
+to show any fear or suspicion in reference to him, would only be, she
+feared, to increase that interest with which Barnaby regarded him, and
+to strengthen his desire to meet him once again. She hoped, by plunging
+into the crowd, to rid herself of her terrible pursuer, and then, by
+journeying to a distance and observing increased caution, if that were
+possible, to live again unknown, in secrecy and peace.
+
+They reached, in course of time, their halting-place within ten miles of
+London, and lay there for the night, after bargaining to be carried on
+for a trifle next day, in a light van which was returning empty, and was
+to start at five o'clock in the morning. The driver was punctual, the
+road good--save for the dust, the weather being very hot and dry--and at
+seven in the forenoon of Friday the second of June, one thousand seven
+hundred and eighty, they alighted at the foot of Westminster Bridge,
+bade their conductor farewell, and stood alone, together, on the
+scorching pavement. For the freshness which night sheds upon such
+busy thoroughfares had already departed, and the sun was shining with
+uncommon lustre.
+
+
+
+Chapter 48
+
+
+Uncertain where to go next, and bewildered by the crowd of people who
+were already astir, they sat down in one of the recesses on the bridge,
+to rest. They soon became aware that the stream of life was all pouring
+one way, and that a vast throng of persons were crossing the river
+from the Middlesex to the Surrey shore, in unusual haste and evident
+excitement. They were, for the most part, in knots of two or three, or
+sometimes half-a-dozen; they spoke little together--many of them were
+quite silent; and hurried on as if they had one absorbing object in
+view, which was common to them all.
+
+They were surprised to see that nearly every man in this great
+concourse, which still came pouring past, without slackening in the
+least, wore in his hat a blue cockade; and that the chance passengers
+who were not so decorated, appeared timidly anxious to escape
+observation or attack, and gave them the wall as if they would
+conciliate them. This, however, was natural enough, considering their
+inferiority in point of numbers; for the proportion of those who wore
+blue cockades, to those who were dressed as usual, was at least forty or
+fifty to one. There was no quarrelling, however: the blue cockades went
+swarming on, passing each other when they could, and making all the
+speed that was possible in such a multitude; and exchanged nothing more
+than looks, and very often not even those, with such of the passers-by
+as were not of their number.
+
+At first, the current of people had been confined to the two pathways,
+and but a few more eager stragglers kept the road. But after half an
+hour or so, the passage was completely blocked up by the great press,
+which, being now closely wedged together, and impeded by the carts and
+coaches it encountered, moved but slowly, and was sometimes at a stand
+for five or ten minutes together.
+
+After the lapse of nearly two hours, the numbers began to diminish
+visibly, and gradually dwindling away, by little and little, left the
+bridge quite clear, save that, now and then, some hot and dusty man,
+with the cockade in his hat, and his coat thrown over his shoulder, went
+panting by, fearful of being too late, or stopped to ask which way
+his friends had taken, and being directed, hastened on again like one
+refreshed. In this comparative solitude, which seemed quite strange
+and novel after the late crowd, the widow had for the first time an
+opportunity of inquiring of an old man who came and sat beside them,
+what was the meaning of that great assemblage.
+
+'Why, where have you come from,' he returned, 'that you haven't heard of
+Lord George Gordon's great association? This is the day that he presents
+the petition against the Catholics, God bless him!'
+
+'What have all these men to do with that?' she said.
+
+'What have they to do with it!' the old man replied. 'Why, how you talk!
+Don't you know his lordship has declared he won't present it to the
+house at all, unless it is attended to the door by forty thousand good
+and true men at least? There's a crowd for you!'
+
+'A crowd indeed!' said Barnaby. 'Do you hear that, mother!'
+
+'And they're mustering yonder, as I am told,' resumed the old man, 'nigh
+upon a hundred thousand strong. Ah! Let Lord George alone. He knows
+his power. There'll be a good many faces inside them three windows over
+there,' and he pointed to where the House of Commons overlooked the
+river, 'that'll turn pale when good Lord George gets up this afternoon,
+and with reason too! Ay, ay. Let his lordship alone. Let him alone.
+HE knows!' And so, with much mumbling and chuckling and shaking of his
+forefinger, he rose, with the assistance of his stick, and tottered off.
+
+'Mother!' said Barnaby, 'that's a brave crowd he talks of. Come!'
+
+'Not to join it!' cried his mother.
+
+'Yes, yes,' he answered, plucking at her sleeve. 'Why not? Come!'
+
+'You don't know,' she urged, 'what mischief they may do, where they may
+lead you, what their meaning is. Dear Barnaby, for my sake--'
+
+'For your sake!' he cried, patting her hand. 'Well! It IS for your sake,
+mother. You remember what the blind man said, about the gold. Here's a
+brave crowd! Come! Or wait till I come back--yes, yes, wait here.'
+
+She tried with all the earnestness her fears engendered, to turn him
+from his purpose, but in vain. He was stooping down to buckle on his
+shoe, when a hackney-coach passed them rather quickly, and a voice
+inside called to the driver to stop.
+
+'Young man,' said a voice within.
+
+'Who's that?' cried Barnaby, looking up.
+
+'Do you wear this ornament?' returned the stranger, holding out a blue
+cockade.
+
+'In Heaven's name, no. Pray do not give it him!' exclaimed the widow.
+
+'Speak for yourself, woman,' said the man within the coach, coldly.
+'Leave the young man to his choice; he's old enough to make it, and
+to snap your apron-strings. He knows, without your telling, whether he
+wears the sign of a loyal Englishman or not.'
+
+Barnaby, trembling with impatience, cried, 'Yes! yes, yes, I do,' as
+he had cried a dozen times already. The man threw him a cockade, and
+crying, 'Make haste to St George's Fields,' ordered the coachman to
+drive on fast; and left them.
+
+With hands that trembled with his eagerness to fix the bauble in his
+hat, Barnaby was adjusting it as he best could, and hurriedly replying
+to the tears and entreaties of his mother, when two gentlemen passed on
+the opposite side of the way. Observing them, and seeing how Barnaby was
+occupied, they stopped, whispered together for an instant, turned back,
+and came over to them.
+
+'Why are you sitting here?' said one of them, who was dressed in a plain
+suit of black, wore long lank hair, and carried a great cane. 'Why have
+you not gone with the rest?'
+
+'I am going, sir,' replied Barnaby, finishing his task, and putting his
+hat on with an air of pride. 'I shall be there directly.'
+
+'Say "my lord," young man, when his lordship does you the honour of
+speaking to you,' said the second gentleman mildly. 'If you don't know
+Lord George Gordon when you see him, it's high time you should.'
+
+'Nay, Gashford,' said Lord George, as Barnaby pulled off his hat again
+and made him a low bow, 'it's no great matter on a day like this, which
+every Englishman will remember with delight and pride. Put on your hat,
+friend, and follow us, for you lag behind and are late. It's past ten
+now. Didn't you know that the hour for assembling was ten o'clock?'
+
+Barnaby shook his head and looked vacantly from one to the other.
+
+'You might have known it, friend,' said Gashford, 'it was perfectly
+understood. How came you to be so ill informed?'
+
+'He cannot tell you, sir,' the widow interposed. 'It's of no use to ask
+him. We are but this morning come from a long distance in the country,
+and know nothing of these matters.'
+
+'The cause has taken a deep root, and has spread its branches far and
+wide,' said Lord George to his secretary. 'This is a pleasant hearing. I
+thank Heaven for it!'
+
+'Amen!' cried Gashford with a solemn face.
+
+'You do not understand me, my lord,' said the widow. 'Pardon me, but you
+cruelly mistake my meaning. We know nothing of these matters. We have no
+desire or right to join in what you are about to do. This is my son, my
+poor afflicted son, dearer to me than my own life. In mercy's name, my
+lord, go your way alone, and do not tempt him into danger!'
+
+'My good woman,' said Gashford, 'how can you!--Dear me!--What do you
+mean by tempting, and by danger? Do you think his lordship is a roaring
+lion, going about and seeking whom he may devour? God bless me!'
+
+'No, no, my lord, forgive me,' implored the widow, laying both her hands
+upon his breast, and scarcely knowing what she did, or said, in the
+earnestness of her supplication, 'but there are reasons why you should
+hear my earnest, mother's prayer, and leave my son with me. Oh do! He is
+not in his right senses, he is not, indeed!'
+
+'It is a bad sign of the wickedness of these times,' said Lord George,
+evading her touch, and colouring deeply, 'that those who cling to the
+truth and support the right cause, are set down as mad. Have you the
+heart to say this of your own son, unnatural mother!'
+
+'I am astonished at you!' said Gashford, with a kind of meek severity.
+'This is a very sad picture of female depravity.'
+
+'He has surely no appearance,' said Lord George, glancing at Barnaby,
+and whispering in his secretary's ear, 'of being deranged? And even
+if he had, we must not construe any trifling peculiarity into madness.
+Which of us'--and here he turned red again--'would be safe, if that were
+made the law!'
+
+'Not one,' replied the secretary; 'in that case, the greater the zeal,
+the truth, and talent; the more direct the call from above; the clearer
+would be the madness. With regard to this young man, my lord,' he added,
+with a lip that slightly curled as he looked at Barnaby, who stood
+twirling his hat, and stealthily beckoning them to come away, 'he is as
+sensible and self-possessed as any one I ever saw.'
+
+'And you desire to make one of this great body?' said Lord George,
+addressing him; 'and intended to make one, did you?'
+
+'Yes--yes,' said Barnaby, with sparkling eyes. 'To be sure I did! I told
+her so myself.'
+
+'I see,' replied Lord George, with a reproachful glance at the unhappy
+mother. 'I thought so. Follow me and this gentleman, and you shall have
+your wish.'
+
+Barnaby kissed his mother tenderly on the cheek, and bidding her be
+of good cheer, for their fortunes were both made now, did as he was
+desired. She, poor woman, followed too--with how much fear and grief it
+would be hard to tell.
+
+They passed quickly through the Bridge Road, where the shops were all
+shut up (for the passage of the great crowd and the expectation of
+their return had alarmed the tradesmen for their goods and windows),
+and where, in the upper stories, all the inhabitants were congregated,
+looking down into the street below, with faces variously expressive
+of alarm, of interest, expectancy, and indignation. Some of these
+applauded, and some hissed; but regardless of these interruptions--for
+the noise of a vast congregation of people at a little distance, sounded
+in his ears like the roaring of the sea--Lord George Gordon quickened
+his pace, and presently arrived before St George's Fields.
+
+They were really fields at that time, and of considerable extent. Here
+an immense multitude was collected, bearing flags of various kinds
+and sizes, but all of the same colour--blue, like the cockades--some
+sections marching to and fro in military array, and others drawn up in
+circles, squares, and lines. A large portion, both of the bodies
+which paraded the ground, and of those which remained stationary, were
+occupied in singing hymns or psalms. With whomsoever this originated, it
+was well done; for the sound of so many thousand voices in the air must
+have stirred the heart of any man within him, and could not fail to have
+a wonderful effect upon enthusiasts, however mistaken.
+
+Scouts had been posted in advance of the great body, to give notice of
+their leader's coming. These falling back, the word was quickly passed
+through the whole host, and for a short interval there ensued a profound
+and deathlike silence, during which the mass was so still and
+quiet, that the fluttering of a banner caught the eye, and became a
+circumstance of note. Then they burst into a tremendous shout, into
+another, and another; and the air seemed rent and shaken, as if by the
+discharge of cannon.
+
+'Gashford!' cried Lord George, pressing his secretary's arm tight within
+his own, and speaking with as much emotion in his voice, as in his
+altered face, 'I am called indeed, now. I feel and know it. I am the
+leader of a host. If they summoned me at this moment with one voice to
+lead them on to death, I'd do it--Yes, and fall first myself!'
+
+'It is a proud sight,' said the secretary. 'It is a noble day for
+England, and for the great cause throughout the world. Such homage, my
+lord, as I, an humble but devoted man, can render--'
+
+'What are you doing?' cried his master, catching him by both hands;
+for he had made a show of kneeling at his feet. 'Do not unfit me, dear
+Gashford, for the solemn duty of this glorious day--' the tears stood in
+the eyes of the poor gentleman as he said the words.--'Let us go
+among them; we have to find a place in some division for this new
+recruit--give me your hand.'
+
+Gashford slid his cold insidious palm into his master's grasp, and so,
+hand in hand, and followed still by Barnaby and by his mother too, they
+mingled with the concourse.
+
+They had by this time taken to their singing again, and as their leader
+passed between their ranks, they raised their voices to their utmost.
+Many of those who were banded together to support the religion of their
+country, even unto death, had never heard a hymn or psalm in all their
+lives. But these fellows having for the most part strong lungs, and
+being naturally fond of singing, chanted any ribaldry or nonsense that
+occurred to them, feeling pretty certain that it would not be detected
+in the general chorus, and not caring much if it were. Many of these
+voluntaries were sung under the very nose of Lord George Gordon, who,
+quite unconscious of their burden, passed on with his usual stiff and
+solemn deportment, very much edified and delighted by the pious conduct
+of his followers.
+
+So they went on and on, up this line, down that, round the exterior of
+this circle, and on every side of that hollow square; and still there
+were lines, and squares, and circles out of number to review. The day
+being now intensely hot, and the sun striking down his fiercest rays
+upon the field, those who carried heavy banners began to grow faint
+and weary; most of the number assembled were fain to pull off their
+neckcloths, and throw their coats and waistcoats open; and some, towards
+the centre, quite overpowered by the excessive heat, which was of course
+rendered more unendurable by the multitude around them, lay down upon
+the grass, and offered all they had about them for a drink of water.
+Still, no man left the ground, not even of those who were so distressed;
+still Lord George, streaming from every pore, went on with Gashford; and
+still Barnaby and his mother followed close behind them.
+
+They had arrived at the top of a long line of some eight hundred men in
+single file, and Lord George had turned his head to look back, when a
+loud cry of recognition--in that peculiar and half-stifled tone which a
+voice has, when it is raised in the open air and in the midst of a
+great concourse of persons--was heard, and a man stepped with a shout
+of laughter from the rank, and smote Barnaby on the shoulders with his
+heavy hand.
+
+'How now!' he cried. 'Barnaby Rudge! Why, where have you been hiding for
+these hundred years?'
+
+Barnaby had been thinking within himself that the smell of the trodden
+grass brought back his old days at cricket, when he was a young boy
+and played on Chigwell Green. Confused by this sudden and boisterous
+address, he stared in a bewildered manner at the man, and could scarcely
+say 'What! Hugh!'
+
+'Hugh!' echoed the other; 'ay, Hugh--Maypole Hugh! You remember my dog?
+He's alive now, and will know you, I warrant. What, you wear the colour,
+do you? Well done! Ha ha ha!'
+
+'You know this young man, I see,' said Lord George.
+
+'Know him, my lord! as well as I know my own right hand. My captain
+knows him. We all know him.'
+
+'Will you take him into your division?'
+
+'It hasn't in it a better, nor a nimbler, nor a more active man, than
+Barnaby Rudge,' said Hugh. 'Show me the man who says it has! Fall in,
+Barnaby. He shall march, my lord, between me and Dennis; and he shall
+carry,' he added, taking a flag from the hand of a tired man who
+tendered it, 'the gayest silken streamer in this valiant army.'
+
+'In the name of God, no!' shrieked the widow, darting forward.
+'Barnaby--my lord--see--he'll come back--Barnaby--Barnaby!'
+
+'Women in the field!' cried Hugh, stepping between them, and holding her
+off. 'Holloa! My captain there!'
+
+'What's the matter here?' cried Simon Tappertit, bustling up in a great
+heat. 'Do you call this order?'
+
+'Nothing like it, captain,' answered Hugh, still holding her back with
+his outstretched hand. 'It's against all orders. Ladies are carrying
+off our gallant soldiers from their duty. The word of command, captain!
+They're filing off the ground. Quick!'
+
+'Close!' cried Simon, with the whole power of his lungs. 'Form! March!'
+
+She was thrown to the ground; the whole field was in motion; Barnaby was
+whirled away into the heart of a dense mass of men, and she saw him no
+more.
+
+
+
+Chapter 49
+
+
+The mob had been divided from its first assemblage into four divisions;
+the London, the Westminster, the Southwark, and the Scotch. Each of
+these divisions being subdivided into various bodies, and these bodies
+being drawn up in various forms and figures, the general arrangement
+was, except to the few chiefs and leaders, as unintelligible as the
+plan of a great battle to the meanest soldier in the field. It was not
+without its method, however; for, in a very short space of time after
+being put in motion, the crowd had resolved itself into three great
+parties, and were prepared, as had been arranged, to cross the river
+by different bridges, and make for the House of Commons in separate
+detachments.
+
+At the head of that division which had Westminster Bridge for its
+approach to the scene of action, Lord George Gordon took his post; with
+Gashford at his right hand, and sundry ruffians, of most unpromising
+appearance, forming a kind of staff about him. The conduct of a second
+party, whose route lay by Blackfriars, was entrusted to a committee of
+management, including perhaps a dozen men: while the third, which was to
+go by London Bridge, and through the main streets, in order that their
+numbers and their serious intentions might be the better known and
+appreciated by the citizens, were led by Simon Tappertit (assisted by
+a few subalterns, selected from the Brotherhood of United Bulldogs),
+Dennis the hangman, Hugh, and some others.
+
+The word of command being given, each of these great bodies took the
+road assigned to it, and departed on its way, in perfect order and
+profound silence. That which went through the City greatly exceeded the
+others in number, and was of such prodigious extent that when the
+rear began to move, the front was nearly four miles in advance,
+notwithstanding that the men marched three abreast and followed very
+close upon each other.
+
+At the head of this party, in the place where Hugh, in the madness
+of his humour, had stationed him, and walking between that dangerous
+companion and the hangman, went Barnaby; as many a man among the
+thousands who looked on that day afterwards remembered well. Forgetful
+of all other things in the ecstasy of the moment, his face flushed and
+his eyes sparkling with delight, heedless of the weight of the great
+banner he carried, and mindful only of its flashing in the sun and
+rustling in the summer breeze, on he went, proud, happy, elated past
+all telling:--the only light-hearted, undesigning creature, in the whole
+assembly.
+
+'What do you think of this?' asked Hugh, as they passed through the
+crowded streets, and looked up at the windows which were thronged with
+spectators. 'They have all turned out to see our flags and streamers?
+Eh, Barnaby? Why, Barnaby's the greatest man of all the pack! His flag's
+the largest of the lot, the brightest too. There's nothing in the show,
+like Barnaby. All eyes are turned on him. Ha ha ha!'
+
+'Don't make that din, brother,' growled the hangman, glancing with
+no very approving eyes at Barnaby as he spoke: 'I hope he don't think
+there's nothing to be done, but carrying that there piece of blue rag,
+like a boy at a breaking up. You're ready for action I hope, eh? You, I
+mean,' he added, nudging Barnaby roughly with his elbow. 'What are you
+staring at? Why don't you speak?'
+
+Barnaby had been gazing at his flag, and looked vacantly from his
+questioner to Hugh.
+
+'He don't understand your way,' said the latter. 'Here, I'll explain it
+to him. Barnaby old boy, attend to me.'
+
+'I'll attend,' said Barnaby, looking anxiously round; 'but I wish I
+could see her somewhere.'
+
+'See who?' demanded Dennis in a gruff tone. 'You an't in love I hope,
+brother? That an't the sort of thing for us, you know. We mustn't have
+no love here.'
+
+'She would be proud indeed to see me now, eh Hugh?' said Barnaby.
+'Wouldn't it make her glad to see me at the head of this large show?
+She'd cry for joy, I know she would. Where CAN she be? She never sees me
+at my best, and what do I care to be gay and fine if SHE'S not by?'
+
+'Why, what palaver's this?' asked Mr Dennis with supreme disdain. 'We
+an't got no sentimental members among us, I hope.'
+
+'Don't be uneasy, brother,' cried Hugh, 'he's only talking of his
+mother.'
+
+'Of his what?' said Mr Dennis with a strong oath.
+
+'His mother.'
+
+'And have I combined myself with this here section, and turned out on
+this here memorable day, to hear men talk about their mothers!' growled
+Mr Dennis with extreme disgust. 'The notion of a man's sweetheart's bad
+enough, but a man's mother!'--and here his disgust was so extreme that
+he spat upon the ground, and could say no more.
+
+'Barnaby's right,' cried Hugh with a grin, 'and I say it. Lookee, bold
+lad. If she's not here to see, it's because I've provided for her, and
+sent half-a-dozen gentlemen, every one of 'em with a blue flag (but not
+half as fine as yours), to take her, in state, to a grand house all
+hung round with gold and silver banners, and everything else you please,
+where she'll wait till you come, and want for nothing.'
+
+'Ay!' said Barnaby, his face beaming with delight: 'have you indeed?
+That's a good hearing. That's fine! Kind Hugh!'
+
+'But nothing to what will come, bless you,' retorted Hugh, with a
+wink at Dennis, who regarded his new companion in arms with great
+astonishment.
+
+'No, indeed?' cried Barnaby.
+
+'Nothing at all,' said Hugh. 'Money, cocked hats and feathers, red coats
+and gold lace; all the fine things there are, ever were, or will be;
+will belong to us if we are true to that noble gentleman--the best man
+in the world--carry our flags for a few days, and keep 'em safe. That's
+all we've got to do.'
+
+'Is that all?' cried Barnaby with glistening eyes, as he clutched his
+pole the tighter; 'I warrant you I keep this one safe, then. You have
+put it in good hands. You know me, Hugh. Nobody shall wrest this flag
+away.'
+
+'Well said!' cried Hugh. 'Ha ha! Nobly said! That's the old stout
+Barnaby, that I have climbed and leaped with, many and many a day--I
+knew I was not mistaken in Barnaby.--Don't you see, man,' he added in
+a whisper, as he slipped to the other side of Dennis, 'that the lad's a
+natural, and can be got to do anything, if you take him the right way?
+Letting alone the fun he is, he's worth a dozen men, in earnest, as
+you'd find if you tried a fall with him. Leave him to me. You shall soon
+see whether he's of use or not.'
+
+Mr Dennis received these explanatory remarks with many nods and winks,
+and softened his behaviour towards Barnaby from that moment. Hugh,
+laying his finger on his nose, stepped back into his former place, and
+they proceeded in silence.
+
+It was between two and three o'clock in the afternoon when the three
+great parties met at Westminster, and, uniting into one huge mass,
+raised a tremendous shout. This was not only done in token of their
+presence, but as a signal to those on whom the task devolved, that it
+was time to take possession of the lobbies of both Houses, and of
+the various avenues of approach, and of the gallery stairs. To the
+last-named place, Hugh and Dennis, still with their pupil between them,
+rushed straightway; Barnaby having given his flag into the hands of one
+of their own party, who kept them at the outer door. Their followers
+pressing on behind, they were borne as on a great wave to the very doors
+of the gallery, whence it was impossible to retreat, even if they had
+been so inclined, by reason of the throng which choked up the passages.
+It is a familiar expression in describing a great crowd, that a person
+might have walked upon the people's heads. In this case it was actually
+done; for a boy who had by some means got among the concourse, and was
+in imminent danger of suffocation, climbed to the shoulders of a man
+beside him and walked upon the people's hats and heads into the open
+street; traversing in his passage the whole length of two staircases and
+a long gallery. Nor was the swarm without less dense; for a basket
+which had been tossed into the crowd, was jerked from head to head,
+and shoulder to shoulder, and went spinning and whirling on above them,
+until it was lost to view, without ever once falling in among them or
+coming near the ground.
+
+Through this vast throng, sprinkled doubtless here and there with honest
+zealots, but composed for the most part of the very scum and refuse
+of London, whose growth was fostered by bad criminal laws, bad prison
+regulations, and the worst conceivable police, such of the members of
+both Houses of Parliament as had not taken the precaution to be already
+at their posts, were compelled to fight and force their way. Their
+carriages were stopped and broken; the wheels wrenched off; the glasses
+shivered to atoms; the panels beaten in; drivers, footmen, and masters,
+pulled from their seats and rolled in the mud. Lords, commoners, and
+reverend bishops, with little distinction of person or party, were
+kicked and pinched and hustled; passed from hand to hand through various
+stages of ill-usage; and sent to their fellow-senators at last with
+their clothes hanging in ribands about them, their bagwigs torn off,
+themselves speechless and breathless, and their persons covered with the
+powder which had been cuffed and beaten out of their hair. One lord was
+so long in the hands of the populace, that the Peers as a body resolved
+to sally forth and rescue him, and were in the act of doing so, when he
+happily appeared among them covered with dirt and bruises, and hardly to
+be recognised by those who knew him best. The noise and uproar were on
+the increase every moment. The air was filled with execrations, hoots,
+and howlings. The mob raged and roared, like a mad monster as it was,
+unceasingly, and each new outrage served to swell its fury.
+
+Within doors, matters were even yet more threatening. Lord
+George--preceded by a man who carried the immense petition on a porter's
+knot through the lobby to the door of the House of Commons, where it
+was received by two officers of the house who rolled it up to the table
+ready for presentation--had taken his seat at an early hour, before the
+Speaker went to prayers. His followers pouring in at the same time, the
+lobby and all the avenues were immediately filled, as we have seen. Thus
+the members were not only attacked in their passage through the streets,
+but were set upon within the very walls of Parliament; while the tumult,
+both within and without, was so great, that those who attempted to speak
+could scarcely hear their own voices: far less, consult upon the course
+it would be wise to take in such extremity, or animate each other to
+dignified and firm resistance. So sure as any member, just arrived, with
+dress disordered and dishevelled hair, came struggling through the crowd
+in the lobby, it yelled and screamed in triumph; and when the door
+of the House, partially and cautiously opened by those within for his
+admission, gave them a momentary glimpse of the interior, they grew
+more wild and savage, like beasts at the sight of prey, and made a rush
+against the portal which strained its locks and bolts in their staples,
+and shook the very beams.
+
+The strangers' gallery, which was immediately above the door of the
+House, had been ordered to be closed on the first rumour of disturbance,
+and was empty; save that now and then Lord George took his seat there,
+for the convenience of coming to the head of the stairs which led to
+it, and repeating to the people what had passed within. It was on
+these stairs that Barnaby, Hugh, and Dennis were posted. There were two
+flights, short, steep, and narrow, running parallel to each other,
+and leading to two little doors communicating with a low passage which
+opened on the gallery. Between them was a kind of well, or unglazed
+skylight, for the admission of light and air into the lobby, which might
+be some eighteen or twenty feet below.
+
+Upon one of these little staircases--not that at the head of which Lord
+George appeared from time to time, but the other--Gashford stood with
+his elbow on the bannister, and his cheek resting on his hand, with his
+usual crafty aspect. Whenever he varied this attitude in the slightest
+degree--so much as by the gentlest motion of his arm--the uproar was
+certain to increase, not merely there, but in the lobby below; from
+which place no doubt, some man who acted as fugleman to the rest, was
+constantly looking up and watching him.
+
+'Order!' cried Hugh, in a voice which made itself heard even above the
+roar and tumult, as Lord George appeared at the top of the staircase.
+'News! News from my lord!'
+
+The noise continued, notwithstanding his appearance, until Gashford
+looked round. There was silence immediately--even among the people in
+the passages without, and on the other staircases, who could neither
+see nor hear, but to whom, notwithstanding, the signal was conveyed with
+marvellous rapidity.
+
+'Gentlemen,' said Lord George, who was very pale and agitated, 'we must
+be firm. They talk of delays, but we must have no delays. They talk of
+taking your petition into consideration next Tuesday, but we must have
+it considered now. Present appearances look bad for our success, but we
+must succeed and will!'
+
+'We must succeed and will!' echoed the crowd. And so among their shouts
+and cheers and other cries, he bowed to them and retired, and presently
+came back again. There was another gesture from Gashford, and a dead
+silence directly.
+
+'I am afraid,' he said, this time, 'that we have little reason,
+gentlemen, to hope for any redress from the proceedings of Parliament.
+But we must redress our own grievances, we must meet again, we must put
+our trust in Providence, and it will bless our endeavours.'
+
+This speech being a little more temperate than the last, was not so
+favourably received. When the noise and exasperation were at their
+height, he came back once more, and told them that the alarm had gone
+forth for many miles round; that when the King heard of their assembling
+together in that great body, he had no doubt, His Majesty would send
+down private orders to have their wishes complied with; and--with the
+manner of his speech as childish, irresolute, and uncertain as his
+matter--was proceeding in this strain, when two gentlemen suddenly
+appeared at the door where he stood, and pressing past him and coming a
+step or two lower down upon the stairs, confronted the people.
+
+The boldness of this action quite took them by surprise. They were
+not the less disconcerted, when one of the gentlemen, turning to Lord
+George, spoke thus--in a loud voice that they might hear him well, but
+quite coolly and collectedly:
+
+'You may tell these people, if you please, my lord, that I am General
+Conway of whom they have heard; and that I oppose this petition, and all
+their proceedings, and yours. I am a soldier, you may tell them, and I
+will protect the freedom of this place with my sword. You see, my lord,
+that the members of this House are all in arms to-day; you know that the
+entrance to it is a narrow one; you cannot be ignorant that there are
+men within these walls who are determined to defend that pass to the
+last, and before whom many lives must fall if your adherents persevere.
+Have a care what you do.'
+
+'And my Lord George,' said the other gentleman, addressing him in like
+manner, 'I desire them to hear this, from me--Colonel Gordon--your
+near relation. If a man among this crowd, whose uproar strikes us deaf,
+crosses the threshold of the House of Commons, I swear to run my sword
+that moment--not into his, but into your body!'
+
+With that, they stepped back again, keeping their faces towards the
+crowd; took each an arm of the misguided nobleman; drew him into the
+passage, and shut the door; which they directly locked and fastened on
+the inside.
+
+This was so quickly done, and the demeanour of both gentlemen--who
+were not young men either--was so gallant and resolute, that the crowd
+faltered and stared at each other with irresolute and timid looks. Many
+tried to turn towards the door; some of the faintest-hearted cried they
+had best go back, and called to those behind to give way; and the panic
+and confusion were increasing rapidly, when Gashford whispered Hugh.
+
+'What now!' Hugh roared aloud, turning towards them. 'Why go back? Where
+can you do better than here, boys! One good rush against these doors and
+one below at the same time, will do the business. Rush on, then! As to
+the door below, let those stand back who are afraid. Let those who are
+not afraid, try who shall be the first to pass it. Here goes! Look out
+down there!'
+
+Without the delay of an instant, he threw himself headlong over the
+bannisters into the lobby below. He had hardly touched the ground when
+Barnaby was at his side. The chaplain's assistant, and some members who
+were imploring the people to retire, immediately withdrew; and then,
+with a great shout, both crowds threw themselves against the doors
+pell-mell, and besieged the House in earnest.
+
+At that moment, when a second onset must have brought them into
+collision with those who stood on the defensive within, in which case
+great loss of life and bloodshed would inevitably have ensued,--the
+hindmost portion of the crowd gave way, and the rumour spread from mouth
+to mouth that a messenger had been despatched by water for the military,
+who were forming in the street. Fearful of sustaining a charge in the
+narrow passages in which they were so closely wedged together, the
+throng poured out as impetuously as they had flocked in. As the whole
+stream turned at once, Barnaby and Hugh went with it: and so, fighting
+and struggling and trampling on fallen men and being trampled on in turn
+themselves, they and the whole mass floated by degrees into the open
+street, where a large detachment of the Guards, both horse and foot,
+came hurrying up; clearing the ground before them so rapidly that the
+people seemed to melt away as they advanced.
+
+The word of command to halt being given, the soldiers formed across the
+street; the rioters, breathless and exhausted with their late exertions,
+formed likewise, though in a very irregular and disorderly manner. The
+commanding officer rode hastily into the open space between the two
+bodies, accompanied by a magistrate and an officer of the House of
+Commons, for whose accommodation a couple of troopers had hastily
+dismounted. The Riot Act was read, but not a man stirred.
+
+In the first rank of the insurgents, Barnaby and Hugh stood side by
+side. Somebody had thrust into Barnaby's hands when he came out into the
+street, his precious flag; which, being now rolled up and tied round
+the pole, looked like a giant quarter-staff as he grasped it firmly and
+stood upon his guard. If ever man believed with his whole heart and soul
+that he was engaged in a just cause, and that he was bound to stand by
+his leader to the last, poor Barnaby believed it of himself and Lord
+George Gordon.
+
+After an ineffectual attempt to make himself heard, the magistrate gave
+the word and the Horse Guards came riding in among the crowd. But, even
+then, he galloped here and there, exhorting the people to disperse; and,
+although heavy stones were thrown at the men, and some were desperately
+cut and bruised, they had no orders but to make prisoners of such of the
+rioters as were the most active, and to drive the people back with the
+flat of their sabres. As the horses came in among them, the throng gave
+way at many points, and the Guards, following up their advantage, were
+rapidly clearing the ground, when two or three of the foremost, who were
+in a manner cut off from the rest by the people closing round them, made
+straight towards Barnaby and Hugh, who had no doubt been pointed out as
+the two men who dropped into the lobby: laying about them now with some
+effect, and inflicting on the more turbulent of their opponents, a few
+slight flesh wounds, under the influence of which a man dropped,
+here and there, into the arms of his fellows, amid much groaning and
+confusion.
+
+At the sight of gashed and bloody faces, seen for a moment in the crowd,
+then hidden by the press around them, Barnaby turned pale and sick. But
+he stood his ground, and grasping his pole more firmly yet, kept his
+eye fixed upon the nearest soldier--nodding his head meanwhile, as Hugh,
+with a scowling visage, whispered in his ear.
+
+The soldier came spurring on, making his horse rear as the people
+pressed about him, cutting at the hands of those who would have grasped
+his rein and forced his charger back, and waving to his comrades to
+follow--and still Barnaby, without retreating an inch, waited for his
+coming. Some called to him to fly, and some were in the very act of
+closing round him, to prevent his being taken, when the pole swept into
+the air above the people's heads, and the man's saddle was empty in an
+instant.
+
+Then, he and Hugh turned and fled, the crowd opening to let them pass,
+and closing up again so quickly that there was no clue to the course
+they had taken. Panting for breath, hot, dusty, and exhausted with
+fatigue, they reached the riverside in safety, and getting into a boat
+with all despatch were soon out of any immediate danger.
+
+As they glided down the river, they plainly heard the people cheering;
+and supposing they might have forced the soldiers to retreat, lay upon
+their oars for a few minutes, uncertain whether to return or not. But
+the crowd passing along Westminster Bridge, soon assured them that the
+populace were dispersing; and Hugh rightly guessed from this, that
+they had cheered the magistrate for offering to dismiss the military on
+condition of their immediate departure to their several homes, and that
+he and Barnaby were better where they were. He advised, therefore, that
+they should proceed to Blackfriars, and, going ashore at the bridge,
+make the best of their way to The Boot; where there was not only good
+entertainment and safe lodging, but where they would certainly be joined
+by many of their late companions. Barnaby assenting, they decided on
+this course of action, and pulled for Blackfriars accordingly.
+
+They landed at a critical time, and fortunately for themselves at the
+right moment. For, coming into Fleet Street, they found it in an unusual
+stir; and inquiring the cause, were told that a body of Horse Guards had
+just galloped past, and that they were escorting some rioters whom they
+had made prisoners, to Newgate for safety. Not at all ill-pleased to
+have so narrowly escaped the cavalcade, they lost no more time in asking
+questions, but hurried to The Boot with as much speed as Hugh considered
+it prudent to make, without appearing singular or attracting an
+inconvenient share of public notice.
+
+
+Chapter 50
+
+
+They were among the first to reach the tavern, but they had not been
+there many minutes, when several groups of men who had formed part of
+the crowd, came straggling in. Among them were Simon Tappertit and Mr
+Dennis; both of whom, but especially the latter, greeted Barnaby with
+the utmost warmth, and paid him many compliments on the prowess he had
+shown.
+
+'Which,' said Dennis, with an oath, as he rested his bludgeon in a
+corner with his hat upon it, and took his seat at the same table with
+them, 'it does me good to think of. There was a opportunity! But it
+led to nothing. For my part, I don't know what would. There's no spirit
+among the people in these here times. Bring something to eat and drink
+here. I'm disgusted with humanity.'
+
+'On what account?' asked Mr Tappertit, who had been quenching his fiery
+face in a half-gallon can. 'Don't you consider this a good beginning,
+mister?'
+
+'Give me security that it an't a ending,' rejoined the hangman. 'When
+that soldier went down, we might have made London ours; but no;--we
+stand, and gape, and look on--the justice (I wish he had had a bullet in
+each eye, as he would have had, if we'd gone to work my way) says,
+"My lads, if you'll give me your word to disperse, I'll order off the
+military," our people sets up a hurrah, throws up the game with the
+winning cards in their hands, and skulks away like a pack of tame curs
+as they are. Ah,' said the hangman, in a tone of deep disgust, 'it makes
+me blush for my feller creeturs. I wish I had been born a ox, I do!'
+
+'You'd have been quite as agreeable a character if you had been, I
+think,' returned Simon Tappertit, going out in a lofty manner.
+
+'Don't be too sure of that,' rejoined the hangman, calling after him;
+'if I was a horned animal at the present moment, with the smallest
+grain of sense, I'd toss every man in this company, excepting them two,'
+meaning Hugh and Barnaby, 'for his manner of conducting himself this
+day.'
+
+With which mournful review of their proceedings, Mr Dennis sought
+consolation in cold boiled beef and beer; but without at all relaxing
+the grim and dissatisfied expression of his face, the gloom of which was
+rather deepened than dissipated by their grateful influence.
+
+The company who were thus libelled might have retaliated by strong
+words, if not by blows, but they were dispirited and worn out. The
+greater part of them had fasted since morning; all had suffered
+extremely from the excessive heat; and between the day's shouting,
+exertion, and excitement, many had quite lost their voices, and so much
+of their strength that they could hardly stand. Then they were uncertain
+what to do next, fearful of the consequences of what they had done
+already, and sensible that after all they had carried no point, but had
+indeed left matters worse than they had found them. Of those who had
+come to The Boot, many dropped off within an hour; such of them as were
+really honest and sincere, never, after the morning's experience, to
+return, or to hold any communication with their late companions. Others
+remained but to refresh themselves, and then went home desponding;
+others who had theretofore been regular in their attendance, avoided the
+place altogether. The half-dozen prisoners whom the Guards had taken,
+were magnified by report into half-a-hundred at least; and their
+friends, being faint and sober, so slackened in their energy, and so
+drooped beneath these dispiriting influences, that by eight o'clock in
+the evening, Dennis, Hugh, and Barnaby, were left alone. Even they were
+fast asleep upon the benches, when Gashford's entrance roused them.
+
+'Oh! you ARE here then?' said the Secretary. 'Dear me!'
+
+'Why, where should we be, Muster Gashford!' Dennis rejoined as he rose
+into a sitting posture.
+
+'Oh nowhere, nowhere,' he returned with excessive mildness. 'The streets
+are filled with blue cockades. I rather thought you might have been
+among them. I am glad you are not.'
+
+'You have orders for us, master, then?' said Hugh.
+
+'Oh dear, no. Not I. No orders, my good fellow. What orders should I
+have? You are not in my service.'
+
+'Muster Gashford,' remonstrated Dennis, 'we belong to the cause, don't
+we?'
+
+'The cause!' repeated the secretary, looking at him in a sort of
+abstraction. 'There is no cause. The cause is lost.'
+
+'Lost!'
+
+'Oh yes. You have heard, I suppose? The petition is rejected by a
+hundred and ninety-two, to six. It's quite final. We might have spared
+ourselves some trouble. That, and my lord's vexation, are the only
+circumstances I regret. I am quite satisfied in all other respects.'
+
+As he said this, he took a penknife from his pocket, and putting his
+hat upon his knee, began to busy himself in ripping off the blue cockade
+which he had worn all day; at the same time humming a psalm tune which
+had been very popular in the morning, and dwelling on it with a gentle
+regret.
+
+His two adherents looked at each other, and at him, as if they were at a
+loss how to pursue the subject. At length Hugh, after some elbowing and
+winking between himself and Mr Dennis, ventured to stay his hand, and to
+ask him why he meddled with that riband in his hat.
+
+'Because,' said the secretary, looking up with something between a snarl
+and a smile; 'because to sit still and wear it, or to fall asleep and
+wear it, is a mockery. That's all, friend.'
+
+'What would you have us do, master!' cried Hugh.
+
+'Nothing,' returned Gashford, shrugging his shoulders, 'nothing. When my
+lord was reproached and threatened for standing by you, I, as a prudent
+man, would have had you do nothing. When the soldiers were trampling you
+under their horses' feet, I would have had you do nothing. When one of
+them was struck down by a daring hand, and I saw confusion and dismay in
+all their faces, I would have had you do nothing--just what you did,
+in short. This is the young man who had so little prudence and so much
+boldness. Ah! I am sorry for him.'
+
+'Sorry, master!' cried Hugh.
+
+'Sorry, Muster Gashford!' echoed Dennis.
+
+'In case there should be a proclamation out to-morrow, offering five
+hundred pounds, or some such trifle, for his apprehension; and in case
+it should include another man who dropped into the lobby from the stairs
+above,' said Gashford, coldly; 'still, do nothing.'
+
+'Fire and fury, master!' cried Hugh, starting up. 'What have we done,
+that you should talk to us like this!'
+
+'Nothing,' returned Gashford with a sneer. 'If you are cast into prison;
+if the young man--' here he looked hard at Barnaby's attentive face--'is
+dragged from us and from his friends; perhaps from people whom he loves,
+and whom his death would kill; is thrown into jail, brought out and
+hanged before their eyes; still, do nothing. You'll find it your best
+policy, I have no doubt.'
+
+'Come on!' cried Hugh, striding towards the door. 'Dennis--Barnaby--come
+on!'
+
+'Where? To do what?' said Gashford, slipping past him, and standing with
+his back against it.
+
+'Anywhere! Anything!' cried Hugh. 'Stand aside, master, or the window
+will serve our turn as well. Let us out!'
+
+'Ha ha ha! You are of such--of such an impetuous nature,' said Gashford,
+changing his manner for one of the utmost good fellowship and the
+pleasantest raillery; 'you are such an excitable creature--but you'll
+drink with me before you go?'
+
+'Oh, yes--certainly,' growled Dennis, drawing his sleeve across his
+thirsty lips. 'No malice, brother. Drink with Muster Gashford!'
+
+Hugh wiped his heated brow, and relaxed into a smile. The artful
+secretary laughed outright.
+
+'Some liquor here! Be quick, or he'll not stop, even for that. He is a
+man of such desperate ardour!' said the smooth secretary, whom Mr Dennis
+corroborated with sundry nods and muttered oaths--'Once roused, he is a
+fellow of such fierce determination!'
+
+Hugh poised his sturdy arm aloft, and clapping Barnaby on the back,
+bade him fear nothing. They shook hands together--poor Barnaby evidently
+possessed with the idea that he was among the most virtuous and
+disinterested heroes in the world--and Gashford laughed again.
+
+'I hear,' he said smoothly, as he stood among them with a great measure
+of liquor in his hand, and filled their glasses as quickly and as
+often as they chose, 'I hear--but I cannot say whether it be true or
+false--that the men who are loitering in the streets to-night are half
+disposed to pull down a Romish chapel or two, and that they only want
+leaders. I even heard mention of those in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn
+Fields, and in Warwick Street, Golden Square; but common report, you
+know--You are not going?'
+
+--'To do nothing, master, eh?' cried Hugh. 'No jails and halter for
+Barnaby and me. They must be frightened out of that. Leaders are wanted,
+are they? Now boys!'
+
+'A most impetuous fellow!' cried the secretary. 'Ha ha! A courageous,
+boisterous, most vehement fellow! A man who--'
+
+There was no need to finish the sentence, for they had rushed out of the
+house, and were far beyond hearing. He stopped in the middle of a laugh,
+listened, drew on his gloves, and, clasping his hands behind him, paced
+the deserted room for a long time, then bent his steps towards the busy
+town, and walked into the streets.
+
+They were filled with people, for the rumour of that day's proceedings
+had made a great noise. Those persons who did not care to leave home,
+were at their doors or windows, and one topic of discourse prevailed
+on every side. Some reported that the riots were effectually put down;
+others that they had broken out again: some said that Lord George Gordon
+had been sent under a strong guard to the Tower; others that an attempt
+had been made upon the King's life, that the soldiers had been again
+called out, and that the noise of musketry in a distant part of the town
+had been plainly heard within an hour. As it grew darker, these stories
+became more direful and mysterious; and often, when some frightened
+passenger ran past with tidings that the rioters were not far off,
+and were coming up, the doors were shut and barred, lower windows
+made secure, and as much consternation engendered, as if the city were
+invaded by a foreign army.
+
+Gashford walked stealthily about, listening to all he heard, and
+diffusing or confirming, whenever he had an opportunity, such false
+intelligence as suited his own purpose; and, busily occupied in this
+way, turned into Holborn for the twentieth time, when a great many women
+and children came flying along the street--often panting and looking
+back--and the confused murmur of numerous voices struck upon his ear.
+Assured by these tokens, and by the red light which began to flash
+upon the houses on either side, that some of his friends were indeed
+approaching, he begged a moment's shelter at a door which opened as he
+passed, and running with some other persons to an upper window, looked
+out upon the crowd.
+
+They had torches among them, and the chief faces were distinctly
+visible. That they had been engaged in the destruction of some building
+was sufficiently apparent, and that it was a Catholic place of worship
+was evident from the spoils they bore as trophies, which were easily
+recognisable for the vestments of priests, and rich fragments of altar
+furniture. Covered with soot, and dirt, and dust, and lime; their
+garments torn to rags; their hair hanging wildly about them; their hands
+and faces jagged and bleeding with the wounds of rusty nails; Barnaby,
+Hugh, and Dennis hurried on before them all, like hideous madmen. After
+them, the dense throng came fighting on: some singing; some shouting in
+triumph; some quarrelling among themselves; some menacing the spectators
+as they passed; some with great wooden fragments, on which they spent
+their rage as if they had been alive, rending them limb from limb,
+and hurling the scattered morsels high into the air; some in a drunken
+state, unconscious of the hurts they had received from falling bricks,
+and stones, and beams; one borne upon a shutter, in the very midst,
+covered with a dingy cloth, a senseless, ghastly heap. Thus--a vision
+of coarse faces, with here and there a blot of flaring, smoky light; a
+dream of demon heads and savage eyes, and sticks and iron bars uplifted
+in the air, and whirled about; a bewildering horror, in which so much
+was seen, and yet so little, which seemed so long, and yet so short, in
+which there were so many phantoms, not to be forgotten all through life,
+and yet so many things that could not be observed in one distracting
+glimpse--it flitted onward, and was gone.
+
+As it passed away upon its work of wrath and ruin, a piercing scream was
+heard. A knot of persons ran towards the spot; Gashford, who just then
+emerged into the street, among them. He was on the outskirts of the
+little concourse, and could not see or hear what passed within; but one
+who had a better place, informed him that a widow woman had descried her
+son among the rioters.
+
+'Is that all?' said the secretary, turning his face homewards. 'Well! I
+think this looks a little more like business!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 51
+
+
+Promising as these outrages were to Gashford's view, and much like
+business as they looked, they extended that night no farther. The
+soldiers were again called out, again they took half-a-dozen prisoners,
+and again the crowd dispersed after a short and bloodless scuffle. Hot
+and drunken though they were, they had not yet broken all bounds and
+set all law and government at defiance. Something of their habitual
+deference to the authority erected by society for its own preservation
+yet remained among them, and had its majesty been vindicated in time,
+the secretary would have had to digest a bitter disappointment.
+
+By midnight, the streets were clear and quiet, and, save that there
+stood in two parts of the town a heap of nodding walls and pile of
+rubbish, where there had been at sunset a rich and handsome building,
+everything wore its usual aspect. Even the Catholic gentry and
+tradesmen, of whom there were many resident in different parts of the
+City and its suburbs, had no fear for their lives or property, and
+but little indignation for the wrong they had already sustained in
+the plunder and destruction of their temples of worship. An honest
+confidence in the government under whose protection they had lived for
+many years, and a well-founded reliance on the good feeling and right
+thinking of the great mass of the community, with whom, notwithstanding
+their religious differences, they were every day in habits of
+confidential, affectionate, and friendly intercourse, reassured them,
+even under the excesses that had been committed; and convinced them that
+they who were Protestants in anything but the name, were no more to
+be considered as abettors of these disgraceful occurrences, than they
+themselves were chargeable with the uses of the block, the rack, the
+gibbet, and the stake in cruel Mary's reign.
+
+The clock was on the stroke of one, when Gabriel Varden, with his
+lady and Miss Miggs, sat waiting in the little parlour. This fact; the
+toppling wicks of the dull, wasted candles; the silence that prevailed;
+and, above all, the nightcaps of both maid and matron, were sufficient
+evidence that they had been prepared for bed some time ago, and had some
+reason for sitting up so far beyond their usual hour.
+
+If any other corroborative testimony had been required, it would have
+been abundantly furnished in the actions of Miss Miggs, who, having
+arrived at that restless state and sensitive condition of the nervous
+system which are the result of long watching, did, by a constant rubbing
+and tweaking of her nose, a perpetual change of position (arising from
+the sudden growth of imaginary knots and knobs in her chair), a frequent
+friction of her eyebrows, the incessant recurrence of a small cough, a
+small groan, a gasp, a sigh, a sniff, a spasmodic start, and by other
+demonstrations of that nature, so file down and rasp, as it were, the
+patience of the locksmith, that after looking at her in silence for some
+time, he at last broke out into this apostrophe:--
+
+'Miggs, my good girl, go to bed--do go to bed. You're really worse
+than the dripping of a hundred water-butts outside the window, or the
+scratching of as many mice behind the wainscot. I can't bear it. Do go
+to bed, Miggs. To oblige me--do.'
+
+'You haven't got nothing to untie, sir,' returned Miss Miggs, 'and
+therefore your requests does not surprise me. But missis has--and
+while you sit up, mim'--she added, turning to the locksmith's wife,
+'I couldn't, no, not if twenty times the quantity of cold water was
+aperiently running down my back at this moment, go to bed with a quiet
+spirit.'
+
+Having spoken these words, Miss Miggs made divers efforts to rub her
+shoulders in an impossible place, and shivered from head to foot;
+thereby giving the beholders to understand that the imaginary cascade
+was still in full flow, but that a sense of duty upheld her under that
+and all other sufferings, and nerved her to endurance.
+
+Mrs Varden being too sleepy to speak, and Miss Miggs having, as the
+phrase is, said her say, the locksmith had nothing for it but to sigh
+and be as quiet as he could.
+
+But to be quiet with such a basilisk before him was impossible. If he
+looked another way, it was worse to feel that she was rubbing her
+cheek, or twitching her ear, or winking her eye, or making all kinds of
+extraordinary shapes with her nose, than to see her do it. If she was
+for a moment free from any of these complaints, it was only because of
+her foot being asleep, or of her arm having got the fidgets, or of her
+leg being doubled up with the cramp, or of some other horrible disorder
+which racked her whole frame. If she did enjoy a moment's ease, then
+with her eyes shut and her mouth wide open, she would be seen to sit
+very stiff and upright in her chair; then to nod a little way forward,
+and stop with a jerk; then to nod a little farther forward, and stop
+with another jerk; then to recover herself; then to come forward
+again--lower--lower--lower--by very slow degrees, until, just as it
+seemed impossible that she could preserve her balance for another
+instant, and the locksmith was about to call out in an agony, to save
+her from dashing down upon her forehead and fracturing her skull, then
+all of a sudden and without the smallest notice, she would come upright
+and rigid again with her eyes open, and in her countenance an expression
+of defiance, sleepy but yet most obstinate, which plainly said, 'I've
+never once closed 'em since I looked at you last, and I'll take my oath
+of it!'
+
+At length, after the clock had struck two, there was a sound at the
+street door, as if somebody had fallen against the knocker by accident.
+Miss Miggs immediately jumping up and clapping her hands, cried with a
+drowsy mingling of the sacred and profane, 'Ally Looyer, mim! there's
+Simmuns's knock!'
+
+'Who's there?' said Gabriel.
+
+'Me!' cried the well-known voice of Mr Tappertit. Gabriel opened the
+door, and gave him admission.
+
+He did not cut a very insinuating figure, for a man of his stature
+suffers in a crowd; and having been active in yesterday morning's work,
+his dress was literally crushed from head to foot: his hat being beaten
+out of all shape, and his shoes trodden down at heel like slippers. His
+coat fluttered in strips about him, the buckles were torn away both from
+his knees and feet, half his neckerchief was gone, and the bosom of
+his shirt was rent to tatters. Yet notwithstanding all these personal
+disadvantages; despite his being very weak from heat and fatigue; and
+so begrimed with mud and dust that he might have been in a case, for
+anything of the real texture (either of his skin or apparel) that the
+eye could discern; he stalked haughtily into the parlour, and throwing
+himself into a chair, and endeavouring to thrust his hands into the
+pockets of his small-clothes, which were turned inside out and displayed
+upon his legs, like tassels, surveyed the household with a gloomy
+dignity.
+
+'Simon,' said the locksmith gravely, 'how comes it that you return home
+at this time of night, and in this condition? Give me an assurance that
+you have not been among the rioters, and I am satisfied.'
+
+'Sir,' replied Mr Tappertit, with a contemptuous look, 'I wonder at YOUR
+assurance in making such demands.'
+
+'You have been drinking,' said the locksmith.
+
+'As a general principle, and in the most offensive sense of the words,
+sir,' returned his journeyman with great self-possession,
+'I consider you a liar. In that last observation you have
+unintentionally--unintentionally, sir,--struck upon the truth.'
+
+'Martha,' said the locksmith, turning to his wife, and shaking his head
+sorrowfully, while a smile at the absurd figure beside him still played
+upon his open face, 'I trust it may turn out that this poor lad is not
+the victim of the knaves and fools we have so often had words about, and
+who have done so much harm to-day. If he has been at Warwick Street or
+Duke Street to-night--'
+
+'He has been at neither, sir,' cried Mr Tappertit in a loud voice, which
+he suddenly dropped into a whisper as he repeated, with eyes fixed upon
+the locksmith, 'he has been at neither.'
+
+'I am glad of it, with all my heart,' said the locksmith in a serious
+tone; 'for if he had been, and it could be proved against him, Martha,
+your Great Association would have been to him the cart that draws men
+to the gallows and leaves them hanging in the air. It would, as sure as
+we're alive!'
+
+Mrs Varden was too much scared by Simon's altered manner and appearance,
+and by the accounts of the rioters which had reached her ears that
+night, to offer any retort, or to have recourse to her usual matrimonial
+policy. Miss Miggs wrung her hands, and wept.
+
+'He was not at Duke Street, or at Warwick Street, G. Varden,' said
+Simon, sternly; 'but he WAS at Westminster. Perhaps, sir, he kicked a
+county member, perhaps, sir, he tapped a lord--you may stare, sir, I
+repeat it--blood flowed from noses, and perhaps he tapped a lord. Who
+knows? This,' he added, putting his hand into his waistcoat-pocket,
+and taking out a large tooth, at the sight of which both Miggs and Mrs
+Varden screamed, 'this was a bishop's. Beware, G. Varden!'
+
+'Now, I would rather,' said the locksmith hastily, 'have paid five
+hundred pounds, than had this come to pass. You idiot, do you know what
+peril you stand in?'
+
+'I know it, sir,' replied his journeyman, 'and it is my glory. I was
+there, everybody saw me there. I was conspicuous, and prominent. I will
+abide the consequences.'
+
+The locksmith, really disturbed and agitated, paced to and fro in
+silence--glancing at his former 'prentice every now and then--and at
+length stopping before him, said:
+
+'Get to bed, and sleep for a couple of hours that you may wake penitent,
+and with some of your senses about you. Be sorry for what you have
+done, and we will try to save you. If I call him by five o'clock,' said
+Varden, turning hurriedly to his wife, and he washes himself clean
+and changes his dress, he may get to the Tower Stairs, and away by the
+Gravesend tide-boat, before any search is made for him. From there he
+can easily get on to Canterbury, where your cousin will give him
+work till this storm has blown over. I am not sure that I do right in
+screening him from the punishment he deserves, but he has lived in this
+house, man and boy, for a dozen years, and I should be sorry if for this
+one day's work he made a miserable end. Lock the front-door, Miggs, and
+show no light towards the street when you go upstairs. Quick, Simon! Get
+to bed!'
+
+'And do you suppose, sir,' retorted Mr Tappertit, with a thickness
+and slowness of speech which contrasted forcibly with the rapidity and
+earnestness of his kind-hearted master--'and do you suppose, sir, that I
+am base and mean enough to accept your servile proposition?--Miscreant!'
+
+'Whatever you please, Sim, but get to bed. Every minute is of
+consequence. The light here, Miggs!'
+
+'Yes yes, oh do! Go to bed directly,' cried the two women together.
+
+Mr Tappertit stood upon his feet, and pushing his chair away to show
+that he needed no assistance, answered, swaying himself to and fro, and
+managing his head as if it had no connection whatever with his body:
+
+'You spoke of Miggs, sir--Miggs may be smothered!'
+
+'Oh Simmun!' ejaculated that young lady in a faint voice. 'Oh mim! Oh
+sir! Oh goodness gracious, what a turn he has give me!'
+
+'This family may ALL be smothered, sir,' returned Mr Tappertit, after
+glancing at her with a smile of ineffable disdain, 'excepting Mrs V.
+I have come here, sir, for her sake, this night. Mrs Varden, take this
+piece of paper. It's a protection, ma'am. You may need it.'
+
+With these words he held out at arm's length, a dirty, crumpled scrap of
+writing. The locksmith took it from him, opened it, and read as follows:
+
+
+'All good friends to our cause, I hope will be particular, and do no
+injury to the property of any true Protestant. I am well assured that
+the proprietor of this house is a staunch and worthy friend to the
+cause.
+
+GEORGE GORDON.'
+
+
+'What's this!' said the locksmith, with an altered face.
+
+'Something that'll do you good service, young feller,' replied his
+journeyman, 'as you'll find. Keep that safe, and where you can lay your
+hand upon it in an instant. And chalk "No Popery" on your door to-morrow
+night, and for a week to come--that's all.'
+
+'This is a genuine document,' said the locksmith, 'I know, for I have
+seen the hand before. What threat does it imply? What devil is abroad?'
+
+'A fiery devil,' retorted Sim; 'a flaming, furious devil. Don't you put
+yourself in its way, or you're done for, my buck. Be warned in time, G.
+Varden. Farewell!'
+
+But here the two women threw themselves in his way--especially Miss
+Miggs, who fell upon him with such fervour that she pinned him against
+the wall--and conjured him in moving words not to go forth till he was
+sober; to listen to reason; to think of it; to take some rest, and then
+determine.
+
+'I tell you,' said Mr Tappertit, 'that my mind is made up. My bleeding
+country calls me and I go! Miggs, if you don't get out of the way, I'll
+pinch you.'
+
+Miss Miggs, still clinging to the rebel, screamed once vociferously--but
+whether in the distraction of her mind, or because of his having
+executed his threat, is uncertain.
+
+'Release me,' said Simon, struggling to free himself from her chaste,
+but spider-like embrace. 'Let me go! I have made arrangements for you in
+an altered state of society, and mean to provide for you comfortably in
+life--there! Will that satisfy you?'
+
+'Oh Simmun!' cried Miss Miggs. 'Oh my blessed Simmun! Oh mim! what are
+my feelings at this conflicting moment!'
+
+Of a rather turbulent description, it would seem; for her nightcap
+had been knocked off in the scuffle, and she was on her knees upon
+the floor, making a strange revelation of blue and yellow curl-papers,
+straggling locks of hair, tags of staylaces, and strings of it's
+impossible to say what; panting for breath, clasping her hands, turning
+her eyes upwards, shedding abundance of tears, and exhibiting various
+other symptoms of the acutest mental suffering.
+
+'I leave,' said Simon, turning to his master, with an utter disregard of
+Miggs's maidenly affliction, 'a box of things upstairs. Do what you
+like with 'em. I don't want 'em. I'm never coming back here, any more.
+Provide yourself, sir, with a journeyman; I'm my country's journeyman;
+henceforward that's MY line of business.'
+
+'Be what you like in two hours' time, but now go up to bed,' returned
+the locksmith, planting himself in the doorway. 'Do you hear me? Go to
+bed!'
+
+'I hear you, and defy you, Varden,' rejoined Simon Tappertit. 'This
+night, sir, I have been in the country, planning an expedition which
+shall fill your bell-hanging soul with wonder and dismay. The plot
+demands my utmost energy. Let me pass!'
+
+'I'll knock you down if you come near the door,' replied the locksmith.
+'You had better go to bed!'
+
+Simon made no answer, but gathering himself up as straight as he could,
+plunged head foremost at his old master, and the two went driving out
+into the workshop together, plying their hands and feet so briskly that
+they looked like half-a-dozen, while Miggs and Mrs Varden screamed for
+twelve.
+
+It would have been easy for Varden to knock his old 'prentice down,
+and bind him hand and foot; but as he was loth to hurt him in his then
+defenceless state, he contented himself with parrying his blows when he
+could, taking them in perfect good part when he could not, and keeping
+between him and the door, until a favourable opportunity should present
+itself for forcing him to retreat up-stairs, and shutting him up in his
+own room. But, in the goodness of his heart, he calculated too much upon
+his adversary's weakness, and forgot that drunken men who have lost
+the power of walking steadily, can often run. Watching his time, Simon
+Tappertit made a cunning show of falling back, staggered unexpectedly
+forward, brushed past him, opened the door (he knew the trick of that
+lock well), and darted down the street like a mad dog. The locksmith
+paused for a moment in the excess of his astonishment, and then gave
+chase.
+
+It was an excellent season for a run, for at that silent hour the
+streets were deserted, the air was cool, and the flying figure before
+him distinctly visible at a great distance, as it sped away, with a long
+gaunt shadow following at its heels. But the short-winded locksmith had
+no chance against a man of Sim's youth and spare figure, though the day
+had been when he could have run him down in no time. The space between
+them rapidly increased, and as the rays of the rising sun streamed upon
+Simon in the act of turning a distant corner, Gabriel Varden was fain
+to give up, and sit down on a doorstep to fetch his breath. Simon
+meanwhile, without once stopping, fled at the same degree of swiftness
+to The Boot, where, as he well knew, some of his company were lying,
+and at which respectable hostelry--for he had already acquired the
+distinction of being in great peril of the law--a friendly watch had
+been expecting him all night, and was even now on the look-out for his
+coming.
+
+'Go thy ways, Sim, go thy ways,' said the locksmith, as soon as he could
+speak. 'I have done my best for thee, poor lad, and would have saved
+thee, but the rope is round thy neck, I fear.'
+
+So saying, and shaking his head in a very sorrowful and disconsolate
+manner, he turned back, and soon re-entered his own house, where Mrs
+Varden and the faithful Miggs had been anxiously expecting his return.
+
+Now Mrs Varden (and by consequence Miss Miggs likewise) was impressed
+with a secret misgiving that she had done wrong; that she had, to the
+utmost of her small means, aided and abetted the growth of disturbances,
+the end of which it was impossible to foresee; that she had led remotely
+to the scene which had just passed; and that the locksmith's time for
+triumph and reproach had now arrived indeed. And so strongly did Mrs
+Varden feel this, and so crestfallen was she in consequence, that while
+her husband was pursuing their lost journeyman, she secreted under her
+chair the little red-brick dwelling-house with the yellow roof, lest it
+should furnish new occasion for reference to the painful theme; and now
+hid the same still more, with the skirts of her dress.
+
+But it happened that the locksmith had been thinking of this very
+article on his way home, and that, coming into the room and not seeing
+it, he at once demanded where it was.
+
+Mrs Varden had no resource but to produce it, which she did with many
+tears, and broken protestations that if she could have known--
+
+'Yes, yes,' said Varden, 'of course--I know that. I don't mean to
+reproach you, my dear. But recollect from this time that all good things
+perverted to evil purposes, are worse than those which are naturally
+bad. A thoroughly wicked woman, is wicked indeed. When religion goes
+wrong, she is very wrong, for the same reason. Let us say no more about
+it, my dear.'
+
+So he dropped the red-brick dwelling-house on the floor, and setting his
+heel upon it, crushed it into pieces. The halfpence, and sixpences,
+and other voluntary contributions, rolled about in all directions, but
+nobody offered to touch them, or to take them up.
+
+'That,' said the locksmith, 'is easily disposed of, and I would to
+Heaven that everything growing out of the same society could be settled
+as easily.'
+
+'It happens very fortunately, Varden,' said his wife, with her
+handkerchief to her eyes, 'that in case any more disturbances should
+happen--which I hope not; I sincerely hope not--'
+
+'I hope so too, my dear.'
+
+'--That in case any should occur, we have the piece of paper which that
+poor misguided young man brought.'
+
+'Ay, to be sure,' said the locksmith, turning quickly round. 'Where is
+that piece of paper?'
+
+Mrs Varden stood aghast as he took it from her outstretched band, tore
+it into fragments, and threw them under the grate.
+
+'Not use it?' she said.
+
+'Use it!' cried the locksmith. No! Let them come and pull the roof about
+our ears; let them burn us out of house and home; I'd neither have the
+protection of their leader, nor chalk their howl upon my door, though,
+for not doing it, they shot me on my own threshold. Use it! Let them
+come and do their worst. The first man who crosses my doorstep on such
+an errand as theirs, had better be a hundred miles away. Let him look to
+it. The others may have their will. I wouldn't beg or buy them off, if,
+instead of every pound of iron in the place, there was a hundred weight
+of gold. Get you to bed, Martha. I shall take down the shutters and go
+to work.'
+
+'So early!' said his wife.
+
+'Ay,' replied the locksmith cheerily, 'so early. Come when they may,
+they shall not find us skulking and hiding, as if we feared to take our
+portion of the light of day, and left it all to them. So pleasant dreams
+to you, my dear, and cheerful sleep!'
+
+With that he gave his wife a hearty kiss, and bade her delay no longer,
+or it would be time to rise before she lay down to rest. Mrs Varden
+quite amiably and meekly walked upstairs, followed by Miggs, who,
+although a good deal subdued, could not refrain from sundry stimulative
+coughs and sniffs by the way, or from holding up her hands in
+astonishment at the daring conduct of master.
+
+
+
+Chapter 52
+
+
+A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence, particularly
+in a large city. Where it comes from or whither it goes, few men
+can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equal suddenness, it is as
+difficult to follow to its various sources as the sea itself; nor does
+the parallel stop here, for the ocean is not more fickle and uncertain,
+more terrible when roused, more unreasonable, or more cruel.
+
+The people who were boisterous at Westminster upon the Friday morning,
+and were eagerly bent upon the work of devastation in Duke Street and
+Warwick Street at night, were, in the mass, the same. Allowing for the
+chance accessions of which any crowd is morally sure in a town where
+there must always be a large number of idle and profligate persons,
+one and the same mob was at both places. Yet they spread themselves
+in various directions when they dispersed in the afternoon, made no
+appointment for reassembling, had no definite purpose or design, and
+indeed, for anything they knew, were scattered beyond the hope of future
+union.
+
+At The Boot, which, as has been shown, was in a manner the head-quarters
+of the rioters, there were not, upon this Friday night, a dozen people.
+Some slept in the stable and outhouses, some in the common room, some
+two or three in beds. The rest were in their usual homes or haunts.
+Perhaps not a score in all lay in the adjacent fields and lanes, and
+under haystacks, or near the warmth of brick-kilns, who had not their
+accustomed place of rest beneath the open sky. As to the public ways
+within the town, they had their ordinary nightly occupants, and no
+others; the usual amount of vice and wretchedness, but no more.
+
+The experience of one evening, however, had taught the reckless leaders
+of disturbance, that they had but to show themselves in the streets, to
+be immediately surrounded by materials which they could only have kept
+together when their aid was not required, at great risk, expense, and
+trouble. Once possessed of this secret, they were as confident as if
+twenty thousand men, devoted to their will, had been encamped about
+them, and assumed a confidence which could not have been surpassed,
+though that had really been the case. All day, Saturday, they remained
+quiet. On Sunday, they rather studied how to keep their men within call,
+and in full hope, than to follow out, by any fierce measure, their first
+day's proceedings.
+
+'I hope,' said Dennis, as, with a loud yawn, he raised his body from
+a heap of straw on which he had been sleeping, and supporting his head
+upon his hand, appealed to Hugh on Sunday morning, 'that Muster Gashford
+allows some rest? Perhaps he'd have us at work again already, eh?'
+
+'It's not his way to let matters drop, you may be sure of that,' growled
+Hugh in answer. 'I'm in no humour to stir yet, though. I'm as stiff as
+a dead body, and as full of ugly scratches as if I had been fighting all
+day yesterday with wild cats.'
+
+'You've so much enthusiasm, that's it,' said Dennis, looking with great
+admiration at the uncombed head, matted beard, and torn hands and face
+of the wild figure before him; 'you're such a devil of a fellow. You
+hurt yourself a hundred times more than you need, because you will be
+foremost in everything, and will do more than the rest.'
+
+'For the matter of that,' returned Hugh, shaking back his ragged hair
+and glancing towards the door of the stable in which they lay; 'there's
+one yonder as good as me. What did I tell you about him? Did I say he
+was worth a dozen, when you doubted him?'
+
+Mr Dennis rolled lazily over upon his breast, and resting his chin upon
+his hand in imitation of the attitude in which Hugh lay, said, as he too
+looked towards the door:
+
+'Ay, ay, you knew him, brother, you knew him. But who'd suppose to look
+at that chap now, that he could be the man he is! Isn't it a thousand
+cruel pities, brother, that instead of taking his nat'ral rest and
+qualifying himself for further exertions in this here honourable cause,
+he should be playing at soldiers like a boy? And his cleanliness too!'
+said Mr Dennis, who certainly had no reason to entertain a fellow
+feeling with anybody who was particular on that score; 'what weaknesses
+he's guilty of; with respect to his cleanliness! At five o'clock this
+morning, there he was at the pump, though any one would think he had
+gone through enough, the day before yesterday, to be pretty fast asleep
+at that time. But no--when I woke for a minute or two, there he was at
+the pump, and if you'd seen him sticking them peacock's feathers into
+his hat when he'd done washing--ah! I'm sorry he's such a imperfect
+character, but the best on us is incomplete in some pint of view or
+another.'
+
+The subject of this dialogue and of these concluding remarks, which were
+uttered in a tone of philosophical meditation, was, as the reader will
+have divined, no other than Barnaby, who, with his flag in hand, stood
+sentry in the little patch of sunlight at the distant door, or walked
+to and fro outside, singing softly to himself; and keeping time to the
+music of some clear church bells. Whether he stood still, leaning with
+both hands on the flagstaff, or, bearing it upon his shoulder, paced
+slowly up and down, the careful arrangement of his poor dress, and his
+erect and lofty bearing, showed how high a sense he had of the great
+importance of his trust, and how happy and how proud it made him. To
+Hugh and his companion, who lay in a dark corner of the gloomy shed,
+he, and the sunlight, and the peaceful Sabbath sound to which he made
+response, seemed like a bright picture framed by the door, and set
+off by the stable's blackness. The whole formed such a contrast to
+themselves, as they lay wallowing, like some obscene animals, in their
+squalor and wickedness on the two heaps of straw, that for a few moments
+they looked on without speaking, and felt almost ashamed.
+
+'Ah!'said Hugh at length, carrying it off with a laugh: 'He's a rare
+fellow is Barnaby, and can do more, with less rest, or meat, or drink,
+than any of us. As to his soldiering, I put him on duty there.'
+
+'Then there was a object in it, and a proper good one too, I'll be
+sworn,' retorted Dennis with a broad grin, and an oath of the same
+quality. 'What was it, brother?'
+
+'Why, you see,' said Hugh, crawling a little nearer to him, 'that our
+noble captain yonder, came in yesterday morning rather the worse for
+liquor, and was--like you and me--ditto last night.'
+
+Dennis looked to where Simon Tappertit lay coiled upon a truss of hay,
+snoring profoundly, and nodded.
+
+'And our noble captain,' continued Hugh with another laugh, 'our noble
+captain and I, have planned for to-morrow a roaring expedition, with
+good profit in it.'
+
+'Again the Papists?' asked Dennis, rubbing his hands.
+
+'Ay, against the Papists--against one of 'em at least, that some of us,
+and I for one, owe a good heavy grudge to.'
+
+'Not Muster Gashford's friend that he spoke to us about in my house,
+eh?' said Dennis, brimfull of pleasant expectation.
+
+'The same man,' said Hugh.
+
+'That's your sort,' cried Mr Dennis, gaily shaking hands with him,
+'that's the kind of game. Let's have revenges and injuries, and all
+that, and we shall get on twice as fast. Now you talk, indeed!'
+
+'Ha ha ha! The captain,' added Hugh, 'has thoughts of carrying off a
+woman in the bustle, and--ha ha ha!--and so have I!'
+
+Mr Dennis received this part of the scheme with a wry face, observing
+that as a general principle he objected to women altogether, as being
+unsafe and slippery persons on whom there was no calculating with any
+certainty, and who were never in the same mind for four-and-twenty hours
+at a stretch. He might have expatiated on this suggestive theme at
+much greater length, but that it occurred to him to ask what connection
+existed between the proposed expedition and Barnaby's being posted at
+the stable-door as sentry; to which Hugh cautiously replied in these
+words:
+
+'Why, the people we mean to visit, were friends of his, once upon a
+time, and I know that much of him to feel pretty sure that if he thought
+we were going to do them any harm, he'd be no friend to our side, but
+would lend a ready hand to the other. So I've persuaded him (for I know
+him of old) that Lord George has picked him out to guard this place
+to-morrow while we're away, and that it's a great honour--and so he's on
+duty now, and as proud of it as if he was a general. Ha ha! What do you
+say to me for a careful man as well as a devil of a one?'
+
+Mr Dennis exhausted himself in compliments, and then added,
+
+'But about the expedition itself--'
+
+'About that,' said Hugh, 'you shall hear all particulars from me and
+the great captain conjointly and both together--for see, he's waking up.
+Rouse yourself, lion-heart. Ha ha! Put a good face upon it, and drink
+again. Another hair of the dog that bit you, captain! Call for
+drink! There's enough of gold and silver cups and candlesticks buried
+underneath my bed,' he added, rolling back the straw, and pointing to
+where the ground was newly turned, 'to pay for it, if it was a score of
+casks full. Drink, captain!'
+
+Mr Tappertit received these jovial promptings with a very bad grace,
+being much the worse, both in mind and body, for his two nights of
+debauch, and but indifferently able to stand upon his legs. With Hugh's
+assistance, however, he contrived to stagger to the pump; and having
+refreshed himself with an abundant draught of cold water, and a copious
+shower of the same refreshing liquid on his head and face, he ordered
+some rum and milk to be served; and upon that innocent beverage and some
+biscuits and cheese made a pretty hearty meal. That done, he disposed
+himself in an easy attitude on the ground beside his two companions (who
+were carousing after their own tastes), and proceeded to enlighten Mr
+Dennis in reference to to-morrow's project.
+
+That their conversation was an interesting one, was rendered manifest by
+its length, and by the close attention of all three. That it was not
+of an oppressively grave character, but was enlivened by various
+pleasantries arising out of the subject, was clear from their loud and
+frequent roars of laughter, which startled Barnaby on his post, and made
+him wonder at their levity. But he was not summoned to join them, until
+they had eaten, and drunk, and slept, and talked together for some
+hours; not, indeed, until the twilight; when they informed him that they
+were about to make a slight demonstration in the streets--just to keep
+the people's hands in, as it was Sunday night, and the public might
+otherwise be disappointed--and that he was free to accompany them if he
+would.
+
+Without the slightest preparation, saving that they carried clubs and
+wore the blue cockade, they sallied out into the streets; and, with no
+more settled design than that of doing as much mischief as they could,
+paraded them at random. Their numbers rapidly increasing, they soon
+divided into parties; and agreeing to meet by-and-by, in the fields
+near Welbeck Street, scoured the town in various directions. The largest
+body, and that which augmented with the greatest rapidity, was the
+one to which Hugh and Barnaby belonged. This took its way towards
+Moorfields, where there was a rich chapel, and in which neighbourhood
+several Catholic families were known to reside.
+
+Beginning with the private houses so occupied, they broke open the doors
+and windows; and while they destroyed the furniture and left but the
+bare walls, made a sharp search for tools and engines of destruction,
+such as hammers, pokers, axes, saws, and such like instruments. Many of
+the rioters made belts of cord, of handkerchiefs, or any material they
+found at hand, and wore these weapons as openly as pioneers upon a
+field-day. There was not the least disguise or concealment--indeed, on
+this night, very little excitement or hurry. From the chapels, they
+tore down and took away the very altars, benches, pulpits, pews, and
+flooring; from the dwelling-houses, the very wainscoting and stairs.
+This Sunday evening's recreation they pursued like mere workmen who had
+a certain task to do, and did it. Fifty resolute men might have turned
+them at any moment; a single company of soldiers could have scattered
+them like dust; but no man interposed, no authority restrained them,
+and, except by the terrified persons who fled from their approach, they
+were as little heeded as if they were pursuing their lawful occupations
+with the utmost sobriety and good conduct.
+
+In the same manner, they marched to the place of rendezvous agreed upon,
+made great fires in the fields, and reserving the most valuable of their
+spoils, burnt the rest. Priestly garments, images of saints, rich stuffs
+and ornaments, altar-furniture and household goods, were cast into the
+flames, and shed a glare on the whole country round; but they danced
+and howled, and roared about these fires till they were tired, and were
+never for an instant checked.
+
+As the main body filed off from this scene of action, and passed down
+Welbeck Street, they came upon Gashford, who had been a witness of their
+proceedings, and was walking stealthily along the pavement. Keeping up
+with him, and yet not seeming to speak, Hugh muttered in his ear:
+
+'Is this better, master?'
+
+'No,' said Gashford. 'It is not.'
+
+'What would you have?' said Hugh. 'Fevers are never at their height at
+once. They must get on by degrees.'
+
+'I would have you,' said Gashford, pinching his arm with such
+malevolence that his nails seemed to meet in the skin; 'I would have you
+put some meaning into your work. Fools! Can you make no better bonfires
+than of rags and scraps? Can you burn nothing whole?'
+
+'A little patience, master,' said Hugh. 'Wait but a few hours, and you
+shall see. Look for a redness in the sky, to-morrow night.'
+
+With that, he fell back into his place beside Barnaby; and when the
+secretary looked after him, both were lost in the crowd.
+
+
+
+Chapter 53
+
+
+The next day was ushered in by merry peals of bells, and by the firing
+of the Tower guns; flags were hoisted on many of the church-steeples;
+the usual demonstrations were made in honour of the anniversary of the
+King's birthday; and every man went about his pleasure or business as
+if the city were in perfect order, and there were no half-smouldering
+embers in its secret places, which, on the approach of night, would
+kindle up again and scatter ruin and dismay abroad. The leaders of the
+riot, rendered still more daring by the success of last night and by
+the booty they had acquired, kept steadily together, and only thought of
+implicating the mass of their followers so deeply that no hope of pardon
+or reward might tempt them to betray their more notorious confederates
+into the hands of justice.
+
+Indeed, the sense of having gone too far to be forgiven, held the timid
+together no less than the bold. Many who would readily have pointed out
+the foremost rioters and given evidence against them, felt that escape
+by that means was hopeless, when their every act had been observed by
+scores of people who had taken no part in the disturbances; who had
+suffered in their persons, peace, or property, by the outrages of the
+mob; who would be most willing witnesses; and whom the government would,
+no doubt, prefer to any King's evidence that might be offered. Many of
+this class had deserted their usual occupations on the Saturday morning;
+some had been seen by their employers active in the tumult; others
+knew they must be suspected, and that they would be discharged if they
+returned; others had been desperate from the beginning, and comforted
+themselves with the homely proverb, that, being hanged at all, they
+might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. They all hoped and
+believed, in a greater or less degree, that the government they seemed
+to have paralysed, would, in its terror, come to terms with them in the
+end, and suffer them to make their own conditions. The least sanguine
+among them reasoned with himself that, at the worst, they were too many
+to be all punished, and that he had as good a chance of escape as any
+other man. The great mass never reasoned or thought at all, but were
+stimulated by their own headlong passions, by poverty, by ignorance, by
+the love of mischief, and the hope of plunder.
+
+One other circumstance is worthy of remark; and that is, that from the
+moment of their first outbreak at Westminster, every symptom of order
+or preconcerted arrangement among them vanished. When they divided
+into parties and ran to different quarters of the town, it was on the
+spontaneous suggestion of the moment. Each party swelled as it went
+along, like rivers as they roll towards the sea; new leaders sprang
+up as they were wanted, disappeared when the necessity was over, and
+reappeared at the next crisis. Each tumult took shape and form from the
+circumstances of the moment; sober workmen, going home from their day's
+labour, were seen to cast down their baskets of tools and become rioters
+in an instant; mere boys on errands did the like. In a word, a moral
+plague ran through the city. The noise, and hurry, and excitement, had
+for hundreds and hundreds an attraction they had no firmness to resist.
+The contagion spread like a dread fever: an infectious madness, as yet
+not near its height, seized on new victims every hour, and society began
+to tremble at their ravings.
+
+It was between two and three o'clock in the afternoon when Gashford
+looked into the lair described in the last chapter, and seeing only
+Barnaby and Dennis there, inquired for Hugh.
+
+He was out, Barnaby told him; had gone out more than an hour ago; and
+had not yet returned.
+
+'Dennis!' said the smiling secretary, in his smoothest voice, as he sat
+down cross-legged on a barrel, 'Dennis!'
+
+The hangman struggled into a sitting posture directly, and with his eyes
+wide open, looked towards him.
+
+'How do you do, Dennis?' said Gashford, nodding. 'I hope you have
+suffered no inconvenience from your late exertions, Dennis?'
+
+'I always will say of you, Muster Gashford,' returned the hangman,
+staring at him, 'that that 'ere quiet way of yours might almost wake a
+dead man. It is,' he added, with a muttered oath--still staring at him
+in a thoughtful manner--'so awful sly!'
+
+'So distinct, eh Dennis?'
+
+'Distinct!' he answered, scratching his head, and keeping his eyes upon
+the secretary's face; 'I seem to hear it, Muster Gashford, in my wery
+bones.'
+
+'I am very glad your sense of hearing is so sharp, and that I succeed
+in making myself so intelligible,' said Gashford, in his unvarying, even
+tone. 'Where is your friend?'
+
+Mr Dennis looked round as in expectation of beholding him asleep upon
+his bed of straw; then remembering he had seen him go out, replied:
+
+'I can't say where he is, Muster Gashford, I expected him back afore
+now. I hope it isn't time that we was busy, Muster Gashford?'
+
+'Nay,' said the secretary, 'who should know that as well as you? How
+can I tell you, Dennis? You are perfect master of your own actions, you
+know, and accountable to nobody--except sometimes to the law, eh?'
+
+Dennis, who was very much baffled by the cool matter-of-course manner of
+this reply, recovered his self-possession on his professional pursuits
+being referred to, and pointing towards Barnaby, shook his head and
+frowned.
+
+'Hush!' cried Barnaby.
+
+'Ah! Do hush about that, Muster Gashford,' said the hangman in a low
+voice, 'pop'lar prejudices--you always forget--well, Barnaby, my lad,
+what's the matter?'
+
+'I hear him coming,' he answered: 'Hark! Do you mark that? That's his
+foot! Bless you, I know his step, and his dog's too. Tramp, tramp,
+pit-pat, on they come together, and, ha ha ha!--and here they are!' he
+cried, joyfully welcoming Hugh with both hands, and then patting him
+fondly on the back, as if instead of being the rough companion he was,
+he had been one of the most prepossessing of men. 'Here he is, and safe
+too! I am glad to see him back again, old Hugh!'
+
+'I'm a Turk if he don't give me a warmer welcome always than any man
+of sense,' said Hugh, shaking hands with him with a kind of ferocious
+friendship, strange enough to see. 'How are you, boy?'
+
+'Hearty!' cried Barnaby, waving his hat. 'Ha ha ha! And merry too,
+Hugh! And ready to do anything for the good cause, and the right, and
+to help the kind, mild, pale-faced gentleman--the lord they used so
+ill--eh, Hugh?'
+
+'Ay!' returned his friend, dropping his hand, and looking at Gashford
+for an instant with a changed expression before he spoke to him. 'Good
+day, master!'
+
+'And good day to you,' replied the secretary, nursing his leg.
+
+'And many good days--whole years of them, I hope. You are heated.'
+
+'So would you have been, master,' said Hugh, wiping his face, 'if you'd
+been running here as fast as I have.'
+
+'You know the news, then? Yes, I supposed you would have heard it.'
+
+'News! what news?'
+
+'You don't?' cried Gashford, raising his eyebrows with an exclamation
+of surprise. 'Dear me! Come; then I AM the first to make you acquainted
+with your distinguished position, after all. Do you see the King's Arms
+a-top?' he smilingly asked, as he took a large paper from his pocket,
+unfolded it, and held it out for Hugh's inspection.
+
+'Well!' said Hugh. 'What's that to me?'
+
+'Much. A great deal,' replied the secretary. 'Read it.'
+
+'I told you, the first time I saw you, that I couldn't read,' said Hugh,
+impatiently. 'What in the Devil's name's inside of it?'
+
+'It is a proclamation from the King in Council,' said Gashford, 'dated
+to-day, and offering a reward of five hundred pounds--five hundred
+pounds is a great deal of money, and a large temptation to some
+people--to any one who will discover the person or persons most active
+in demolishing those chapels on Saturday night.'
+
+'Is that all?' cried Hugh, with an indifferent air. 'I knew of that.'
+
+'Truly I might have known you did,' said Gashford, smiling, and folding
+up the document again. 'Your friend, I might have guessed--indeed I did
+guess--was sure to tell you.'
+
+'My friend!' stammered Hugh, with an unsuccessful effort to appear
+surprised. 'What friend?'
+
+'Tut tut--do you suppose I don't know where you have been?' retorted
+Gashford, rubbing his hands, and beating the back of one on the palm of
+the other, and looking at him with a cunning eye. 'How dull you think
+me! Shall I say his name?'
+
+'No,' said Hugh, with a hasty glance towards Dennis.
+
+'You have also heard from him, no doubt,' resumed the secretary, after a
+moment's pause, 'that the rioters who have been taken (poor fellows) are
+committed for trial, and that some very active witnesses have had the
+temerity to appear against them. Among others--' and here he clenched
+his teeth, as if he would suppress by force some violent words that rose
+upon his tongue; and spoke very slowly. 'Among others, a gentleman
+who saw the work going on in Warwick Street; a Catholic gentleman; one
+Haredale.'
+
+Hugh would have prevented his uttering the word, but it was out already.
+Hearing the name, Barnaby turned swiftly round.
+
+'Duty, duty, bold Barnaby!' cried Hugh, assuming his wildest and most
+rapid manner, and thrusting into his hand his staff and flag which leant
+against the wall. 'Mount guard without loss of time, for we are off upon
+our expedition. Up, Dennis, and get ready! Take care that no one turns
+the straw upon my bed, brave Barnaby; we know what's underneath it--eh?
+Now, master, quick! What you have to say, say speedily, for the little
+captain and a cluster of 'em are in the fields, and only waiting for us.
+Sharp's the word, and strike's the action. Quick!'
+
+Barnaby was not proof against this bustle and despatch. The look of
+mingled astonishment and anger which had appeared in his face when he
+turned towards them, faded from it as the words passed from his memory,
+like breath from a polished mirror; and grasping the weapon which Hugh
+forced upon him, he proudly took his station at the door, beyond their
+hearing.
+
+'You might have spoiled our plans, master,' said Hugh. 'YOU, too, of all
+men!'
+
+'Who would have supposed that HE would be so quick?' urged Gashford.
+
+'He's as quick sometimes--I don't mean with his hands, for that you
+know, but with his head--as you or any man,' said Hugh. 'Dennis, it's
+time we were going; they're waiting for us; I came to tell you. Reach
+me my stick and belt. Here! Lend a hand, master. Fling this over my
+shoulder, and buckle it behind, will you?'
+
+'Brisk as ever!' said the secretary, adjusting it for him as he desired.
+
+'A man need be brisk to-day; there's brisk work a-foot.'
+
+'There is, is there?' said Gashford. He said it with such a provoking
+assumption of ignorance, that Hugh, looking over his shoulder and
+angrily down upon him, replied:
+
+'Is there! You know there is! Who knows better than you, master, that
+the first great step to be taken is to make examples of these witnesses,
+and frighten all men from appearing against us or any of our body, any
+more?'
+
+'There's one we know of,' returned Gashford, with an expressive smile,
+'who is at least as well informed upon that subject as you or I.'
+
+'If we mean the same gentleman, as I suppose we do,' Hugh rejoined
+softly, 'I tell you this--he's as good and quick information about
+everything as--' here he paused and looked round, as if to make sure
+that the person in question was not within hearing, 'as Old Nick
+himself. Have you done that, master? How slow you are!'
+
+'It's quite fast now,' said Gashford, rising. 'I say--you didn't find
+that your friend disapproved of to-day's little expedition? Ha ha ha!
+It is fortunate it jumps so well with the witness policy; for, once
+planned, it must have been carried out. And now you are going, eh?'
+
+'Now we are going, master!' Hugh replied. 'Any parting words?'
+
+'Oh dear, no,' said Gashford sweetly. 'None!'
+
+'You're sure?' cried Hugh, nudging the grinning Dennis.
+
+'Quite sure, eh, Muster Gashford?' chuckled the hangman.
+
+Gashford paused a moment, struggling with his caution and his malice;
+then putting himself between the two men, and laying a hand upon the arm
+of each, said, in a cramped whisper:
+
+'Do not, my good friends--I am sure you will not--forget our talk one
+night--in your house, Dennis--about this person. No mercy, no quarter,
+no two beams of his house to be left standing where the builder placed
+them! Fire, the saying goes, is a good servant, but a bad master. Make
+it _his_ master; he deserves no better. But I am sure you will be firm, I
+am sure you will be very resolute, I am sure you will remember that he
+thirsts for your lives, and those of all your brave companions. If
+you ever acted like staunch fellows, you will do so to-day. Won't you,
+Dennis--won't you, Hugh?'
+
+The two looked at him, and at each other; then bursting into a roar of
+laughter, brandished their staves above their heads, shook hands, and
+hurried out.
+
+When they had been gone a little time, Gashford followed. They were yet
+in sight, and hastening to that part of the adjacent fields in
+which their fellows had already mustered; Hugh was looking back, and
+flourishing his hat to Barnaby, who, delighted with his trust, replied
+in the same way, and then resumed his pacing up and down before the
+stable-door, where his feet had worn a path already. And when Gashford
+himself was far distant, and looked back for the last time, he was still
+walking to and fro, with the same measured tread; the most devoted and
+the blithest champion that ever maintained a post, and felt his heart
+lifted up with a brave sense of duty, and determination to defend it to
+the last.
+
+Smiling at the simplicity of the poor idiot, Gashford betook himself to
+Welbeck Street by a different path from that which he knew the rioters
+would take, and sitting down behind a curtain in one of the upper
+windows of Lord George Gordon's house, waited impatiently for their
+coming. They were so long, that although he knew it had been settled
+they should come that way, he had a misgiving they must have changed
+their plans and taken some other route. But at length the roar of voices
+was heard in the neighbouring fields, and soon afterwards they came
+thronging past, in a great body.
+
+However, they were not all, nor nearly all, in one body, but were, as he
+soon found, divided into four parties, each of which stopped before the
+house to give three cheers, and then went on; the leaders crying out in
+what direction they were going, and calling on the spectators to join
+them. The first detachment, carrying, by way of banners, some relics
+of the havoc they had made in Moorfields, proclaimed that they were on
+their way to Chelsea, whence they would return in the same order, to
+make of the spoil they bore, a great bonfire, near at hand. The second
+gave out that they were bound for Wapping, to destroy a chapel; the
+third, that their place of destination was East Smithfield, and their
+object the same. All this was done in broad, bright, summer day. Gay
+carriages and chairs stopped to let them pass, or turned back to avoid
+them; people on foot stood aside in doorways, or perhaps knocked and
+begged permission to stand at a window, or in the hall, until the
+rioters had passed: but nobody interfered with them; and when they had
+gone by, everything went on as usual.
+
+There still remained the fourth body, and for that the secretary looked
+with a most intense eagerness. At last it came up. It was numerous, and
+composed of picked men; for as he gazed down among them, he recognised
+many upturned faces which he knew well--those of Simon Tappertit, Hugh,
+and Dennis in the front, of course. They halted and cheered, as the
+others had done; but when they moved again, they did not, like them,
+proclaim what design they had. Hugh merely raised his hat upon the
+bludgeon he carried, and glancing at a spectator on the opposite side of
+the way, was gone.
+
+Gashford followed the direction of his glance instinctively, and
+saw, standing on the pavement, and wearing the blue cockade, Sir John
+Chester. He held his hat an inch or two above his head, to propitiate
+the mob; and, resting gracefully on his cane, smiling pleasantly, and
+displaying his dress and person to the very best advantage, looked on
+in the most tranquil state imaginable. For all that, and quick and
+dexterous as he was, Gashford had seen him recognise Hugh with the air
+of a patron. He had no longer any eyes for the crowd, but fixed his keen
+regards upon Sir John.
+
+He stood in the same place and posture until the last man in the
+concourse had turned the corner of the street; then very deliberately
+took the blue cockade out of his hat; put it carefully in his pocket,
+ready for the next emergency; refreshed himself with a pinch of snuff;
+put up his box; and was walking slowly off, when a passing carriage
+stopped, and a lady's hand let down the glass. Sir John's hat was off
+again immediately. After a minute's conversation at the carriage-window,
+in which it was apparent that he was vastly entertaining on the subject
+of the mob, he stepped lightly in, and was driven away.
+
+The secretary smiled, but he had other thoughts to dwell upon, and
+soon dismissed the topic. Dinner was brought him, but he sent it down
+untasted; and, in restless pacings up and down the room, and constant
+glances at the clock, and many futile efforts to sit down and read, or
+go to sleep, or look out of the window, consumed four weary hours. When
+the dial told him thus much time had crept away, he stole upstairs to
+the top of the house, and coming out upon the roof sat down, with his
+face towards the east.
+
+Heedless of the fresh air that blew upon his heated brow, of the
+pleasant meadows from which he turned, of the piles of roofs and
+chimneys upon which he looked, of the smoke and rising mist he vainly
+sought to pierce, of the shrill cries of children at their evening
+sports, the distant hum and turmoil of the town, the cheerful country
+breath that rustled past to meet it, and to droop, and die; he watched,
+and watched, till it was dark save for the specks of light that twinkled
+in the streets below and far away--and, as the darkness deepened,
+strained his gaze and grew more eager yet.
+
+'Nothing but gloom in that direction, still!' he muttered restlessly.
+'Dog! where is the redness in the sky, you promised me!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 54
+
+
+Rumours of the prevailing disturbances had, by this time, begun to be
+pretty generally circulated through the towns and villages round London,
+and the tidings were everywhere received with that appetite for the
+marvellous and love of the terrible which have probably been among the
+natural characteristics of mankind since the creation of the world.
+These accounts, however, appeared, to many persons at that day--as
+they would to us at the present, but that we know them to be matter of
+history--so monstrous and improbable, that a great number of those who
+were resident at a distance, and who were credulous enough on other
+points, were really unable to bring their minds to believe that such
+things could be; and rejected the intelligence they received on all
+hands, as wholly fabulous and absurd.
+
+Mr Willet--not so much, perhaps, on account of his having argued and
+settled the matter with himself, as by reason of his constitutional
+obstinacy--was one of those who positively refused to entertain the
+current topic for a moment. On this very evening, and perhaps at the
+very time when Gashford kept his solitary watch, old John was so red in
+the face with perpetually shaking his head in contradiction of his three
+ancient cronies and pot companions, that he was quite a phenomenon to
+behold, and lighted up the Maypole Porch wherein they sat together, like
+a monstrous carbuncle in a fairy tale.
+
+'Do you think, sir,' said Mr Willet, looking hard at Solomon Daisy--for
+it was his custom in cases of personal altercation to fasten upon the
+smallest man in the party--'do you think, sir, that I'm a born fool?'
+
+'No, no, Johnny,' returned Solomon, looking round upon the little circle
+of which he formed a part: 'We all know better than that. You're no
+fool, Johnny. No, no!'
+
+Mr Cobb and Mr Parkes shook their heads in unison, muttering, 'No, no,
+Johnny, not you!' But as such compliments had usually the effect of
+making Mr Willet rather more dogged than before, he surveyed them with a
+look of deep disdain, and returned for answer:
+
+'Then what do you mean by coming here, and telling me that this evening
+you're a-going to walk up to London together--you three--you--and have
+the evidence of your own senses? An't,' said Mr Willet, putting his pipe
+in his mouth with an air of solemn disgust, 'an't the evidence of MY
+senses enough for you?'
+
+'But we haven't got it, Johnny,' pleaded Parkes, humbly.
+
+'You haven't got it, sir?' repeated Mr Willet, eyeing him from top to
+toe. 'You haven't got it, sir? You HAVE got it, sir. Don't I tell you
+that His blessed Majesty King George the Third would no more stand a
+rioting and rollicking in his streets, than he'd stand being crowed over
+by his own Parliament?'
+
+'Yes, Johnny, but that's your sense--not your senses,' said the
+adventurous Mr Parkes.
+
+'How do you know?' retorted John with great dignity. 'You're a
+contradicting pretty free, you are, sir. How do YOU know which it is?
+I'm not aware I ever told you, sir.'
+
+Mr Parkes, finding himself in the position of having got into
+metaphysics without exactly seeing his way out of them, stammered forth
+an apology and retreated from the argument. There then ensued a silence
+of some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, at the expiration of which
+period Mr Willet was observed to rumble and shake with laughter, and
+presently remarked, in reference to his late adversary, 'that he hoped
+he had tackled him enough.' Thereupon Messrs Cobb and Daisy laughed,
+and nodded, and Parkes was looked upon as thoroughly and effectually put
+down.
+
+'Do you suppose if all this was true, that Mr Haredale would be
+constantly away from home, as he is?' said John, after another silence.
+'Do you think he wouldn't be afraid to leave his house with them two
+young women in it, and only a couple of men, or so?'
+
+'Ay, but then you know,' returned Solomon Daisy, 'his house is a goodish
+way out of London, and they do say that the rioters won't go more than
+two miles, or three at the farthest, off the stones. Besides, you
+know, some of the Catholic gentlefolks have actually sent trinkets and
+suchlike down here for safety--at least, so the story goes.'
+
+'The story goes!' said Mr Willet testily. 'Yes, sir. The story goes that
+you saw a ghost last March. But nobody believes it.'
+
+'Well!' said Solomon, rising, to divert the attention of his two
+friends, who tittered at this retort: 'believed or disbelieved, it's
+true; and true or not, if we mean to go to London, we must be going at
+once. So shake hands, Johnny, and good night.'
+
+'I shall shake hands,' returned the landlord, putting his into his
+pockets, 'with no man as goes to London on such nonsensical errands.'
+
+The three cronies were therefore reduced to the necessity of shaking his
+elbows; having performed that ceremony, and brought from the house their
+hats, and sticks, and greatcoats, they bade him good night and departed;
+promising to bring him on the morrow full and true accounts of the real
+state of the city, and if it were quiet, to give him the full merit of
+his victory.
+
+John Willet looked after them, as they plodded along the road in the
+rich glow of a summer evening; and knocking the ashes out of his pipe,
+laughed inwardly at their folly, until his sides were sore. When he had
+quite exhausted himself--which took some time, for he laughed as slowly
+as he thought and spoke--he sat himself comfortably with his back to the
+house, put his legs upon the bench, then his apron over his face, and
+fell sound asleep.
+
+How long he slept, matters not; but it was for no brief space, for
+when he awoke, the rich light had faded, the sombre hues of night were
+falling fast upon the landscape, and a few bright stars were already
+twinkling overhead. The birds were all at roost, the daisies on the
+green had closed their fairy hoods, the honeysuckle twining round the
+porch exhaled its perfume in a twofold degree, as though it lost its
+coyness at that silent time and loved to shed its fragrance on the
+night; the ivy scarcely stirred its deep green leaves. How tranquil, and
+how beautiful it was!
+
+Was there no sound in the air, besides the gentle rustling of the
+trees and the grasshopper's merry chirp? Hark! Something very faint and
+distant, not unlike the murmuring in a sea-shell. Now it grew louder,
+fainter now, and now it altogether died away. Presently, it came again,
+subsided, came once more, grew louder, fainter--swelled into a roar. It
+was on the road, and varied with its windings. All at once it burst into
+a distinct sound--the voices, and the tramping feet of many men.
+
+It is questionable whether old John Willet, even then, would have
+thought of the rioters but for the cries of his cook and housemaid,
+who ran screaming upstairs and locked themselves into one of the old
+garrets,--shrieking dismally when they had done so, by way of rendering
+their place of refuge perfectly secret and secure. These two females did
+afterwards depone that Mr Willet in his consternation uttered but one
+word, and called that up the stairs in a stentorian voice, six distinct
+times. But as this word was a monosyllable, which, however inoffensive
+when applied to the quadruped it denotes, is highly reprehensible when
+used in connection with females of unimpeachable character, many persons
+were inclined to believe that the young women laboured under some
+hallucination caused by excessive fear; and that their ears deceived
+them.
+
+Be this as it may, John Willet, in whom the very uttermost extent of
+dull-headed perplexity supplied the place of courage, stationed himself
+in the porch, and waited for their coming up. Once, it dimly occurred
+to him that there was a kind of door to the house, which had a lock and
+bolts; and at the same time some shadowy ideas of shutters to the lower
+windows, flitted through his brain. But he stood stock still, looking
+down the road in the direction in which the noise was rapidly advancing,
+and did not so much as take his hands out of his pockets.
+
+He had not to wait long. A dark mass, looming through a cloud of dust,
+soon became visible; the mob quickened their pace; shouting and whooping
+like savages, they came rushing on pell mell; and in a few seconds he
+was bandied from hand to hand, in the heart of a crowd of men.
+
+'Halloa!' cried a voice he knew, as the man who spoke came cleaving
+through the throng. 'Where is he? Give him to me. Don't hurt him. How
+now, old Jack! Ha ha ha!'
+
+Mr Willet looked at him, and saw it was Hugh; but he said nothing, and
+thought nothing.
+
+'These lads are thirsty and must drink!' cried Hugh, thrusting him back
+towards the house. 'Bustle, Jack, bustle. Show us the best--the very
+best--the over-proof that you keep for your own drinking, Jack!'
+
+John faintly articulated the words, 'Who's to pay?'
+
+'He says "Who's to pay?"' cried Hugh, with a roar of laughter which was
+loudly echoed by the crowd. Then turning to John, he added, 'Pay! Why,
+nobody.'
+
+John stared round at the mass of faces--some grinning, some fierce, some
+lighted up by torches, some indistinct, some dusky and shadowy: some
+looking at him, some at his house, some at each other--and while he was,
+as he thought, in the very act of doing so, found himself, without any
+consciousness of having moved, in the bar; sitting down in an arm-chair,
+and watching the destruction of his property, as if it were some queer
+play or entertainment, of an astonishing and stupefying nature, but
+having no reference to himself--that he could make out--at all.
+
+Yes. Here was the bar--the bar that the boldest never entered without
+special invitation--the sanctuary, the mystery, the hallowed ground:
+here it was, crammed with men, clubs, sticks, torches, pistols; filled
+with a deafening noise, oaths, shouts, screams, hootings; changed all at
+once into a bear-garden, a madhouse, an infernal temple: men darting
+in and out, by door and window, smashing the glass, turning the taps,
+drinking liquor out of China punchbowls, sitting astride of casks,
+smoking private and personal pipes, cutting down the sacred grove of
+lemons, hacking and hewing at the celebrated cheese, breaking open
+inviolable drawers, putting things in their pockets which didn't belong
+to them, dividing his own money before his own eyes, wantonly wasting,
+breaking, pulling down and tearing up: nothing quiet, nothing private:
+men everywhere--above, below, overhead, in the bedrooms, in the kitchen,
+in the yard, in the stables--clambering in at windows when there were
+doors wide open; dropping out of windows when the stairs were handy;
+leaping over the bannisters into chasms of passages: new faces and
+figures presenting themselves every instant--some yelling, some singing,
+some fighting, some breaking glass and crockery, some laying the dust
+with the liquor they couldn't drink, some ringing the bells till they
+pulled them down, others beating them with pokers till they beat them
+into fragments: more men still--more, more, more--swarming on like
+insects: noise, smoke, light, darkness, frolic, anger, laughter, groans,
+plunder, fear, and ruin!
+
+Nearly all the time while John looked on at this bewildering scene, Hugh
+kept near him; and though he was the loudest, wildest, most destructive
+villain there, he saved his old master's bones a score of times. Nay,
+even when Mr Tappertit, excited by liquor, came up, and in assertion of
+his prerogative politely kicked John Willet on the shins, Hugh bade him
+return the compliment; and if old John had had sufficient presence of
+mind to understand this whispered direction, and to profit by it, he
+might no doubt, under Hugh's protection, have done so with impunity.
+
+At length the band began to reassemble outside the house, and to call
+to those within, to join them, for they were losing time. These murmurs
+increasing, and attaining a high pitch, Hugh, and some of those who yet
+lingered in the bar, and who plainly were the leaders of the troop, took
+counsel together, apart, as to what was to be done with John, to keep
+him quiet until their Chigwell work was over. Some proposed to set the
+house on fire and leave him in it; others, that he should be reduced
+to a state of temporary insensibility, by knocking on the head; others,
+that he should be sworn to sit where he was until to-morrow at the same
+hour; others again, that he should be gagged and taken off with them,
+under a sufficient guard. All these propositions being overruled, it was
+concluded, at last, to bind him in his chair, and the word was passed
+for Dennis.
+
+'Look'ee here, Jack!' said Hugh, striding up to him: 'We are going to
+tie you, hand and foot, but otherwise you won't be hurt. D'ye hear?'
+
+John Willet looked at another man, as if he didn't know which was the
+speaker, and muttered something about an ordinary every Sunday at two
+o'clock.
+
+'You won't be hurt I tell you, Jack--do you hear me?' roared Hugh,
+impressing the assurance upon him by means of a heavy blow on the back.
+'He's so dead scared, he's woolgathering, I think. Give him a drop of
+something to drink here. Hand over, one of you.'
+
+A glass of liquor being passed forward, Hugh poured the contents down
+old John's throat. Mr Willet feebly smacked his lips, thrust his hand
+into his pocket, and inquired what was to pay; adding, as he looked
+vacantly round, that he believed there was a trifle of broken glass--
+
+'He's out of his senses for the time, it's my belief,' said Hugh, after
+shaking him, without any visible effect upon his system, until his keys
+rattled in his pocket. 'Where's that Dennis?'
+
+The word was again passed, and presently Mr Dennis, with a long cord
+bound about his middle, something after the manner of a friar, came
+hurrying in, attended by a body-guard of half-a-dozen of his men.
+
+'Come! Be alive here!' cried Hugh, stamping his foot upon the ground.
+'Make haste!'
+
+Dennis, with a wink and a nod, unwound the cord from about his person,
+and raising his eyes to the ceiling, looked all over it, and round the
+walls and cornice, with a curious eye; then shook his head.
+
+'Move, man, can't you!' cried Hugh, with another impatient stamp of his
+foot. 'Are we to wait here, till the cry has gone for ten miles round,
+and our work's interrupted?'
+
+'It's all very fine talking, brother,' answered Dennis, stepping towards
+him; 'but unless--' and here he whispered in his ear--'unless we do it
+over the door, it can't be done at all in this here room.'
+
+'What can't?' Hugh demanded.
+
+'What can't!' retorted Dennis. 'Why, the old man can't.'
+
+'Why, you weren't going to hang him!' cried Hugh.
+
+'No, brother?' returned the hangman with a stare. 'What else?'
+
+Hugh made no answer, but snatching the rope from his companion's hand,
+proceeded to bind old John himself; but his very first move was so
+bungling and unskilful, that Mr Dennis entreated, almost with tears
+in his eyes, that he might be permitted to perform the duty. Hugh
+consenting, he achieved it in a twinkling.
+
+'There,' he said, looking mournfully at John Willet, who displayed no
+more emotion in his bonds than he had shown out of them. 'That's what I
+call pretty and workmanlike. He's quite a picter now. But, brother, just
+a word with you--now that he's ready trussed, as one may say, wouldn't
+it be better for all parties if we was to work him off? It would read
+uncommon well in the newspapers, it would indeed. The public would think
+a great deal more on us!'
+
+Hugh, inferring what his companion meant, rather from his gestures than
+his technical mode of expressing himself (to which, as he was ignorant
+of his calling, he wanted the clue), rejected this proposition for the
+second time, and gave the word 'Forward!' which was echoed by a hundred
+voices from without.
+
+'To the Warren!' shouted Dennis as he ran out, followed by the rest. 'A
+witness's house, my lads!'
+
+A loud yell followed, and the whole throng hurried off, mad for pillage
+and destruction. Hugh lingered behind for a few moments to stimulate
+himself with more drink, and to set all the taps running, a few of which
+had accidentally been spared; then, glancing round the despoiled and
+plundered room, through whose shattered window the rioters had thrust
+the Maypole itself,--for even that had been sawn down,--lighted a torch,
+clapped the mute and motionless John Willet on the back, and waving his
+light above his head, and uttering a fierce shout, hastened after his
+companions.
+
+
+
+Chapter 55
+
+
+John Willet, left alone in his dismantled bar, continued to sit staring
+about him; awake as to his eyes, certainly, but with all his powers of
+reason and reflection in a sound and dreamless sleep. He looked round
+upon the room which had been for years, and was within an hour ago, the
+pride of his heart; and not a muscle of his face was moved. The night,
+without, looked black and cold through the dreary gaps in the casement;
+the precious liquids, now nearly leaked away, dripped with a hollow
+sound upon the floor; the Maypole peered ruefully in through the broken
+window, like the bowsprit of a wrecked ship; the ground might have
+been the bottom of the sea, it was so strewn with precious fragments.
+Currents of air rushed in, as the old doors jarred and creaked upon
+their hinges; the candles flickered and guttered down, and made long
+winding-sheets; the cheery deep-red curtains flapped and fluttered idly
+in the wind; even the stout Dutch kegs, overthrown and lying empty in
+dark corners, seemed the mere husks of good fellows whose jollity had
+departed, and who could kindle with a friendly glow no more. John saw
+this desolation, and yet saw it not. He was perfectly contented to sit
+there, staring at it, and felt no more indignation or discomfort in his
+bonds than if they had been robes of honour. So far as he was personally
+concerned, old Time lay snoring, and the world stood still.
+
+Save for the dripping from the barrels, the rustling of such light
+fragments of destruction as the wind affected, and the dull creaking of
+the open doors, all was profoundly quiet: indeed, these sounds, like
+the ticking of the death-watch in the night, only made the silence they
+invaded deeper and more apparent. But quiet or noisy, it was all one
+to John. If a train of heavy artillery could have come up and commenced
+ball practice outside the window, it would have been all the same to
+him. He was a long way beyond surprise. A ghost couldn't have overtaken
+him.
+
+By and by he heard a footstep--a hurried, and yet cautious
+footstep--coming on towards the house. It stopped, advanced again,
+then seemed to go quite round it. Having done that, it came beneath the
+window, and a head looked in.
+
+It was strongly relieved against the darkness outside by the glare of
+the guttering candles. A pale, worn, withered face; the eyes--but that
+was owing to its gaunt condition--unnaturally large and bright; the
+hair, a grizzled black. It gave a searching glance all round the room,
+and a deep voice said:
+
+'Are you alone in this house?'
+
+John made no sign, though the question was repeated twice, and he heard
+it distinctly. After a moment's pause, the man got in at the window.
+John was not at all surprised at this, either. There had been so much
+getting in and out of window in the course of the last hour or so, that
+he had quite forgotten the door, and seemed to have lived among such
+exercises from infancy.
+
+The man wore a large, dark, faded cloak, and a slouched hat; he walked
+up close to John, and looked at him. John returned the compliment with
+interest.
+
+'How long have you been sitting thus?' said the man.
+
+John considered, but nothing came of it.
+
+'Which way have the party gone?'
+
+Some wandering speculations relative to the fashion of the stranger's
+boots, got into Mr Willet's mind by some accident or other, but they got
+out again in a hurry, and left him in his former state.
+
+'You would do well to speak,' said the man; 'you may keep a whole skin,
+though you have nothing else left that can be hurt. Which way have the
+party gone?'
+
+'That!' said John, finding his voice all at once, and nodding with
+perfect good faith--he couldn't point; he was so tightly bound--in
+exactly the opposite direction to the right one.
+
+'You lie!' said the man angrily, and with a threatening gesture. 'I came
+that way. You would betray me.'
+
+It was so evident that John's imperturbability was not assumed, but was
+the result of the late proceedings under his roof, that the man stayed
+his hand in the very act of striking him, and turned away.
+
+John looked after him without so much as a twitch in a single nerve
+of his face. He seized a glass, and holding it under one of the little
+casks until a few drops were collected, drank them greedily off; then
+throwing it down upon the floor impatiently, he took the vessel in his
+hands and drained it into his throat. Some scraps of bread and meat were
+scattered about, and on these he fell next; eating them with voracity,
+and pausing every now and then to listen for some fancied noise outside.
+When he had refreshed himself in this manner with violent haste, and
+raised another barrel to his lips, he pulled his hat upon his brow as
+though he were about to leave the house, and turned to John.
+
+'Where are your servants?'
+
+Mr Willet indistinctly remembered to have heard the rioters calling to
+them to throw the key of the room in which they were, out of window, for
+their keeping. He therefore replied, 'Locked up.'
+
+'Well for them if they remain quiet, and well for you if you do the
+like,' said the man. 'Now show me the way the party went.'
+
+This time Mr Willet indicated it correctly. The man was hurrying to the
+door, when suddenly there came towards them on the wind, the loud
+and rapid tolling of an alarm-bell, and then a bright and vivid glare
+streamed up, which illumined, not only the whole chamber, but all the
+country.
+
+It was not the sudden change from darkness to this dreadful light, it
+was not the sound of distant shrieks and shouts of triumph, it was not
+this dread invasion of the serenity and peace of night, that drove the
+man back as though a thunderbolt had struck him. It was the Bell. If the
+ghastliest shape the human mind has ever pictured in its wildest dreams
+had risen up before him, he could not have staggered backward from its
+touch, as he did from the first sound of that loud iron voice. With eyes
+that started from his head, his limbs convulsed, his face most horrible
+to see, he raised one arm high up into the air, and holding something
+visionary back and down, with his other hand, drove at it as though
+he held a knife and stabbed it to the heart. He clutched his hair,
+and stopped his ears, and travelled madly round and round; then gave a
+frightful cry, and with it rushed away: still, still, the Bell tolled on
+and seemed to follow him--louder and louder, hotter and hotter yet.
+The glare grew brighter, the roar of voices deeper; the crash of heavy
+bodies falling, shook the air; bright streams of sparks rose up into the
+sky; but louder than them all--rising faster far, to Heaven--a million
+times more fierce and furious--pouring forth dreadful secrets after its
+long silence--speaking the language of the dead--the Bell--the Bell!
+
+What hunt of spectres could surpass that dread pursuit and flight! Had
+there been a legion of them on his track, he could have better borne it.
+They would have had a beginning and an end, but here all space was full.
+The one pursuing voice was everywhere: it sounded in the earth, the air;
+shook the long grass, and howled among the trembling trees. The
+echoes caught it up, the owls hooted as it flew upon the breeze, the
+nightingale was silent and hid herself among the thickest boughs:
+it seemed to goad and urge the angry fire, and lash it into madness;
+everything was steeped in one prevailing red; the glow was everywhere;
+nature was drenched in blood: still the remorseless crying of that awful
+voice--the Bell, the Bell!
+
+It ceased; but not in his ears. The knell was at his heart. No work of
+man had ever voice like that which sounded there, and warned him that it
+cried unceasingly to Heaven. Who could hear that bell, and not know what
+it said! There was murder in its every note--cruel, relentless, savage
+murder--the murder of a confiding man, by one who held his every trust.
+Its ringing summoned phantoms from their graves. What face was that,
+in which a friendly smile changed to a look of half incredulous horror,
+which stiffened for a moment into one of pain, then changed again into
+an imploring glance at Heaven, and so fell idly down with upturned
+eyes, like the dead stags' he had often peeped at when a little child:
+shrinking and shuddering--there was a dreadful thing to think of
+now!--and clinging to an apron as he looked! He sank upon the ground,
+and grovelling down as if he would dig himself a place to hide in,
+covered his face and ears: but no, no, no,--a hundred walls and roofs of
+brass would not shut out that bell, for in it spoke the wrathful voice
+of God, and from that voice, the whole wide universe could not afford a
+refuge!
+
+While he rushed up and down, not knowing where to turn, and while he
+lay crouching there, the work went briskly on indeed. When they left the
+Maypole, the rioters formed into a solid body, and advanced at a quick
+pace towards the Warren. Rumour of their approach having gone before,
+they found the garden-doors fast closed, the windows made secure, and
+the house profoundly dark: not a light being visible in any portion of
+the building. After some fruitless ringing at the bells, and beating
+at the iron gates, they drew off a few paces to reconnoitre, and confer
+upon the course it would be best to take.
+
+Very little conference was needed, when all were bent upon one desperate
+purpose, infuriated with liquor, and flushed with successful riot.
+The word being given to surround the house, some climbed the gates, or
+dropped into the shallow trench and scaled the garden wall, while others
+pulled down the solid iron fence, and while they made a breach to
+enter by, made deadly weapons of the bars. The house being completely
+encircled, a small number of men were despatched to break open a
+tool-shed in the garden; and during their absence on this errand, the
+remainder contented themselves with knocking violently at the doors, and
+calling to those within, to come down and open them on peril of their
+lives.
+
+No answer being returned to this repeated summons, and the detachment
+who had been sent away, coming back with an accession of pickaxes,
+spades, and hoes, they,--together with those who had such arms already,
+or carried (as many did) axes, poles, and crowbars,--struggled into the
+foremost rank, ready to beset the doors and windows. They had not at
+this time more than a dozen lighted torches among them; but when these
+preparations were completed, flaming links were distributed and passed
+from hand to hand with such rapidity, that, in a minute's time, at
+least two-thirds of the whole roaring mass bore, each man in his hand,
+a blazing brand. Whirling these about their heads they raised a loud
+shout, and fell to work upon the doors and windows.
+
+Amidst the clattering of heavy blows, the rattling of broken glass, the
+cries and execrations of the mob, and all the din and turmoil of the
+scene, Hugh and his friends kept together at the turret-door where Mr
+Haredale had last admitted him and old John Willet; and spent their
+united force on that. It was a strong old oaken door, guarded by good
+bolts and a heavy bar, but it soon went crashing in upon the narrow
+stairs behind, and made, as it were, a platform to facilitate their
+tearing up into the rooms above. Almost at the same moment, a dozen
+other points were forced, and at every one the crowd poured in like
+water.
+
+A few armed servant-men were posted in the hall, and when the rioters
+forced an entrance there, they fired some half-a-dozen shots. But these
+taking no effect, and the concourse coming on like an army of devils,
+they only thought of consulting their own safety, and retreated, echoing
+their assailants' cries, and hoping in the confusion to be taken
+for rioters themselves; in which stratagem they succeeded, with the
+exception of one old man who was never heard of again, and was said
+to have had his brains beaten out with an iron bar (one of his fellows
+reported that he had seen the old man fall), and to have been afterwards
+burnt in the flames.
+
+The besiegers being now in complete possession of the house, spread
+themselves over it from garret to cellar, and plied their demon labours
+fiercely. While some small parties kindled bonfires underneath the
+windows, others broke up the furniture and cast the fragments down
+to feed the flames below; where the apertures in the wall (windows no
+longer) were large enough, they threw out tables, chests of drawers,
+beds, mirrors, pictures, and flung them whole into the fire; while
+every fresh addition to the blazing masses was received with shouts,
+and howls, and yells, which added new and dismal terrors to the
+conflagration. Those who had axes and had spent their fury on the
+movables, chopped and tore down the doors and window frames, broke up
+the flooring, hewed away the rafters, and buried men who lingered in the
+upper rooms, in heaps of ruins. Some searched the drawers, the chests,
+the boxes, writing-desks, and closets, for jewels, plate, and money;
+while others, less mindful of gain and more mad for destruction, cast
+their whole contents into the courtyard without examination, and called
+to those below, to heap them on the blaze. Men who had been into the
+cellars, and had staved the casks, rushed to and fro stark mad, setting
+fire to all they saw--often to the dresses of their own friends--and
+kindling the building in so many parts that some had no time for
+escape, and were seen, with drooping hands and blackened faces, hanging
+senseless on the window-sills to which they had crawled, until they were
+sucked and drawn into the burning gulf. The more the fire crackled and
+raged, the wilder and more cruel the men grew; as though moving in that
+element they became fiends, and changed their earthly nature for the
+qualities that give delight in hell.
+
+The burning pile, revealing rooms and passages red hot, through gaps
+made in the crumbling walls; the tributary fires that licked the outer
+bricks and stones, with their long forked tongues, and ran up to meet
+the glowing mass within; the shining of the flames upon the villains who
+looked on and fed them; the roaring of the angry blaze, so bright and
+high that it seemed in its rapacity to have swallowed up the very smoke;
+the living flakes the wind bore rapidly away and hurried on with, like
+a storm of fiery snow; the noiseless breaking of great beams of wood,
+which fell like feathers on the heap of ashes, and crumbled in the very
+act to sparks and powder; the lurid tinge that overspread the sky,
+and the darkness, very deep by contrast, which prevailed around; the
+exposure to the coarse, common gaze, of every little nook which usages
+of home had made a sacred place, and the destruction by rude hands of
+every little household favourite which old associations made a dear
+and precious thing: all this taking place--not among pitying looks and
+friendly murmurs of compassion, but brutal shouts and exultations,
+which seemed to make the very rats who stood by the old house too long,
+creatures with some claim upon the pity and regard of those its roof had
+sheltered:--combined to form a scene never to be forgotten by those who
+saw it and were not actors in the work, so long as life endured.
+
+And who were they? The alarm-bell rang--and it was pulled by no faint or
+hesitating hands--for a long time; but not a soul was seen. Some of the
+insurgents said that when it ceased, they heard the shrieks of women,
+and saw some garments fluttering in the air, as a party of men bore away
+no unresisting burdens. No one could say that this was true or false, in
+such an uproar; but where was Hugh? Who among them had seen him, since
+the forcing of the doors? The cry spread through the body. Where was
+Hugh!
+
+'Here!' he hoarsely cried, appearing from the darkness; out of breath,
+and blackened with the smoke. 'We have done all we can; the fire is
+burning itself out; and even the corners where it hasn't spread, are
+nothing but heaps of ruins. Disperse, my lads, while the coast's
+clear; get back by different ways; and meet as usual!' With that, he
+disappeared again,--contrary to his wont, for he was always first to
+advance, and last to go away,--leaving them to follow homewards as they
+would.
+
+It was not an easy task to draw off such a throng. If Bedlam gates had
+been flung wide open, there would not have issued forth such maniacs as
+the frenzy of that night had made. There were men there, who danced and
+trampled on the beds of flowers as though they trod down human enemies,
+and wrenched them from the stalks, like savages who twisted human necks.
+There were men who cast their lighted torches in the air, and suffered
+them to fall upon their heads and faces, blistering the skin with deep
+unseemly burns. There were men who rushed up to the fire, and paddled
+in it with their hands as if in water; and others who were restrained by
+force from plunging in, to gratify their deadly longing. On the skull of
+one drunken lad--not twenty, by his looks--who lay upon the ground with
+a bottle to his mouth, the lead from the roof came streaming down in a
+shower of liquid fire, white hot; melting his head like wax. When the
+scattered parties were collected, men--living yet, but singed as with
+hot irons--were plucked out of the cellars, and carried off upon the
+shoulders of others, who strove to wake them as they went along, with
+ribald jokes, and left them, dead, in the passages of hospitals. But of
+all the howling throng not one learnt mercy from, or sickened at, these
+sights; nor was the fierce, besotted, senseless rage of one man glutted.
+
+Slowly, and in small clusters, with hoarse hurrahs and repetitions
+of their usual cry, the assembly dropped away. The last few red-eyed
+stragglers reeled after those who had gone before; the distant noise of
+men calling to each other, and whistling for others whom they missed,
+grew fainter and fainter; at length even these sounds died away, and
+silence reigned alone.
+
+Silence indeed! The glare of the flames had sunk into a fitful, flashing
+light; and the gentle stars, invisible till now, looked down upon the
+blackening heap. A dull smoke hung upon the ruin, as though to hide it
+from those eyes of Heaven; and the wind forbore to move it. Bare walls,
+roof open to the sky--chambers, where the beloved dead had, many and
+many a fair day, risen to new life and energy; where so many dear ones
+had been sad and merry; which were connected with so many thoughts and
+hopes, regrets and changes--all gone. Nothing left but a dull and dreary
+blank--a smouldering heap of dust and ashes--the silence and solitude of
+utter desolation.
+
+
+
+Chapter 56
+
+
+The Maypole cronies, little dreaming of the change so soon to come upon
+their favourite haunt, struck through the Forest path upon their way to
+London; and avoiding the main road, which was hot and dusty, kept to the
+by-paths and the fields. As they drew nearer to their destination, they
+began to make inquiries of the people whom they passed, concerning the
+riots, and the truth or falsehood of the stories they had heard. The
+answers went far beyond any intelligence that had spread to quiet
+Chigwell. One man told them that that afternoon the Guards, conveying to
+Newgate some rioters who had been re-examined, had been set upon by the
+mob and compelled to retreat; another, that the houses of two witnesses
+near Clare Market were about to be pulled down when he came away;
+another, that Sir George Saville's house in Leicester Fields was to be
+burned that night, and that it would go hard with Sir George if he fell
+into the people's hands, as it was he who had brought in the Catholic
+bill. All accounts agreed that the mob were out, in stronger numbers
+and more numerous parties than had yet appeared; that the streets were
+unsafe; that no man's house or life was worth an hour's purchase; that
+the public consternation was increasing every moment; and that many
+families had already fled the city. One fellow who wore the popular
+colour, damned them for not having cockades in their hats, and bade them
+set a good watch to-morrow night upon their prison doors, for the locks
+would have a straining; another asked if they were fire-proof, that
+they walked abroad without the distinguishing mark of all good and true
+men;--and a third who rode on horseback, and was quite alone, ordered
+them to throw each man a shilling, in his hat, towards the support of
+the rioters. Although they were afraid to refuse compliance with this
+demand, and were much alarmed by these reports, they agreed, having come
+so far, to go forward, and see the real state of things with their own
+eyes. So they pushed on quicker, as men do who are excited by portentous
+news; and ruminating on what they had heard, spoke little to each other.
+
+It was now night, and as they came nearer to the city they had dismal
+confirmation of this intelligence in three great fires, all close
+together, which burnt fiercely and were gloomily reflected in the sky.
+Arriving in the immediate suburbs, they found that almost every house
+had chalked upon its door in large characters 'No Popery,' that the
+shops were shut, and that alarm and anxiety were depicted in every face
+they passed.
+
+Noting these things with a degree of apprehension which neither of the
+three cared to impart, in its full extent, to his companions, they
+came to a turnpike-gate, which was shut. They were passing through the
+turnstile on the path, when a horseman rode up from London at a hard
+gallop, and called to the toll-keeper in a voice of great agitation, to
+open quickly in the name of God.
+
+The adjuration was so earnest and vehement, that the man, with a lantern
+in his hand, came running out--toll-keeper though he was--and was about
+to throw the gate open, when happening to look behind him, he exclaimed,
+'Good Heaven, what's that! Another fire!'
+
+At this, the three turned their heads, and saw in the distance--straight
+in the direction whence they had come--a broad sheet of flame, casting
+a threatening light upon the clouds, which glimmered as though the
+conflagration were behind them, and showed like a wrathful sunset.
+
+'My mind misgives me,' said the horseman, 'or I know from what far
+building those flames come. Don't stand aghast, my good fellow. Open the
+gate!'
+
+'Sir,' cried the man, laying his hand upon his horse's bridle as he let
+him through: 'I know you now, sir; be advised by me; do not go on. I saw
+them pass, and know what kind of men they are. You will be murdered.'
+
+'So be it!' said the horseman, looking intently towards the fire, and
+not at him who spoke.
+
+'But sir--sir,' cried the man, grasping at his rein more tightly yet,
+'if you do go on, wear the blue riband. Here, sir,' he added, taking one
+from his own hat, 'it's necessity, not choice, that makes me wear it;
+it's love of life and home, sir. Wear it for this one night, sir; only
+for this one night.'
+
+'Do!' cried the three friends, pressing round his horse. 'Mr
+Haredale--worthy sir--good gentleman--pray be persuaded.'
+
+'Who's that?' cried Mr Haredale, stooping down to look. 'Did I hear
+Daisy's voice?'
+
+'You did, sir,' cried the little man. 'Do be persuaded, sir. This
+gentleman says very true. Your life may hang upon it.'
+
+'Are you,' said Mr Haredale abruptly, 'afraid to come with me?'
+
+'I, sir?--N-n-no.'
+
+'Put that riband in your hat. If we meet the rioters, swear that I took
+you prisoner for wearing it. I will tell them so with my own lips; for
+as I hope for mercy when I die, I will take no quarter from them, nor
+shall they have quarter from me, if we come hand to hand to-night.
+Up here--behind me--quick! Clasp me tight round the body, and fear
+nothing.'
+
+In an instant they were riding away, at full gallop, in a dense cloud of
+dust, and speeding on, like hunters in a dream.
+
+It was well the good horse knew the road he traversed, for never
+once--no, never once in all the journey--did Mr Haredale cast his eyes
+upon the ground, or turn them, for an instant, from the light towards
+which they sped so madly. Once he said in a low voice, 'It is my house,'
+but that was the only time he spoke. When they came to dark and doubtful
+places, he never forgot to put his hand upon the little man to hold him
+more securely in his seat, but he kept his head erect and his eyes fixed
+on the fire, then, and always.
+
+The road was dangerous enough, for they went the nearest
+way--headlong--far from the highway--by lonely lanes and paths, where
+waggon-wheels had worn deep ruts; where hedge and ditch hemmed in
+the narrow strip of ground; and tall trees, arching overhead, made it
+profoundly dark. But on, on, on, with neither stop nor stumble, till
+they reached the Maypole door, and could plainly see that the fire began
+to fade, as if for want of fuel.
+
+'Down--for one moment--for but one moment,' said Mr Haredale, helping
+Daisy to the ground, and following himself. 'Willet--Willet--where are
+my niece and servants--Willet!'
+
+Crying to him distractedly, he rushed into the bar.--The landlord bound
+and fastened to his chair; the place dismantled, stripped, and pulled
+about his ears;--nobody could have taken shelter here.
+
+He was a strong man, accustomed to restrain himself, and suppress his
+strong emotions; but this preparation for what was to follow--though he
+had seen that fire burning, and knew that his house must be razed to the
+ground--was more than he could bear. He covered his face with his hands
+for a moment, and turned away his head.
+
+'Johnny, Johnny,' said Solomon--and the simple-hearted fellow cried
+outright, and wrung his hands--'Oh dear old Johnny, here's a change!
+That the Maypole bar should come to this, and we should live to see
+it! The old Warren too, Johnny--Mr Haredale--oh, Johnny, what a piteous
+sight this is!'
+
+Pointing to Mr Haredale as he said these words, little Solomon Daisy put
+his elbows on the back of Mr Willet's chair, and fairly blubbered on his
+shoulder.
+
+While Solomon was speaking, old John sat, mute as a stock-fish, staring
+at him with an unearthly glare, and displaying, by every possible
+symptom, entire and complete unconsciousness. But when Solomon was
+silent again, John followed with his great round eyes the direction
+of his looks, and did appear to have some dawning distant notion that
+somebody had come to see him.
+
+'You know us, don't you, Johnny?' said the little clerk, rapping himself
+on the breast. 'Daisy, you know--Chigwell Church--bell-ringer--little
+desk on Sundays--eh, Johnny?'
+
+Mr Willet reflected for a few moments, and then muttered, as it were
+mechanically: 'Let us sing to the praise and glory of--'
+
+'Yes, to be sure,' cried the little man, hastily; 'that's it--that's me,
+Johnny. You're all right now, an't you? Say you're all right, Johnny.'
+
+'All right?' pondered Mr Willet, as if that were a matter entirely
+between himself and his conscience. 'All right? Ah!'
+
+'They haven't been misusing you with sticks, or pokers, or any other
+blunt instruments--have they, Johnny?' asked Solomon, with a very
+anxious glance at Mr Willet's head. 'They didn't beat you, did they?'
+
+John knitted his brow; looked downwards, as if he were mentally engaged
+in some arithmetical calculation; then upwards, as if the total would
+not come at his call; then at Solomon Daisy, from his eyebrow to his
+shoe-buckle; then very slowly round the bar. And then a great, round,
+leaden-looking, and not at all transparent tear, came rolling out of
+each eye, and he said, as he shook his head:
+
+'If they'd only had the goodness to murder me, I'd have thanked 'em
+kindly.'
+
+'No, no, no, don't say that, Johnny,' whimpered his little friend. 'It's
+very, very bad, but not quite so bad as that. No, no!'
+
+'Look'ee here, sir!' cried John, turning his rueful eyes on Mr Haredale,
+who had dropped on one knee, and was hastily beginning to untie
+his bonds. 'Look'ee here, sir! The very Maypole--the old dumb
+Maypole--stares in at the winder, as if it said, "John Willet, John
+Willet, let's go and pitch ourselves in the nighest pool of water as is
+deep enough to hold us; for our day is over!"'
+
+'Don't, Johnny, don't,' cried his friend: no less affected with this
+mournful effort of Mr Willet's imagination, than by the sepulchral tone
+in which he had spoken of the Maypole. 'Please don't, Johnny!'
+
+'Your loss is great, and your misfortune a heavy one,' said Mr Haredale,
+looking restlessly towards the door: 'and this is not a time to comfort
+you. If it were, I am in no condition to do so. Before I leave you, tell
+me one thing, and try to tell me plainly, I implore you. Have you seen,
+or heard of Emma?'
+
+'No!' said Mr Willet.
+
+'Nor any one but these bloodhounds?'
+
+'No!'
+
+'They rode away, I trust in Heaven, before these dreadful scenes began,'
+said Mr Haredale, who, between his agitation, his eagerness to mount
+his horse again, and the dexterity with which the cords were tied, had
+scarcely yet undone one knot. 'A knife, Daisy!'
+
+'You didn't,' said John, looking about, as though he had lost his
+pocket-handkerchief, or some such slight article--'either of you
+gentlemen--see a--a coffin anywheres, did you?'
+
+'Willet!' cried Mr Haredale. Solomon dropped the knife, and instantly
+becoming limp from head to foot, exclaimed 'Good gracious!'
+
+'--Because,' said John, not at all regarding them, 'a dead man called a
+little time ago, on his way yonder. I could have told you what name was
+on the plate, if he had brought his coffin with him, and left it behind.
+If he didn't, it don't signify.'
+
+His landlord, who had listened to these words with breathless attention,
+started that moment to his feet; and, without a word, drew Solomon
+Daisy to the door, mounted his horse, took him up behind again, and flew
+rather than galloped towards the pile of ruins, which that day's sun
+had shone upon, a stately house. Mr Willet stared after them, listened,
+looked down upon himself to make quite sure that he was still unbound,
+and, without any manifestation of impatience, disappointment, or
+surprise, gently relapsed into the condition from which he had so
+imperfectly recovered.
+
+Mr Haredale tied his horse to the trunk of a tree, and grasping his
+companion's arm, stole softly along the footpath, and into what had
+been the garden of his house. He stopped for an instant to look upon its
+smoking walls, and at the stars that shone through roof and floor upon
+the heap of crumbling ashes. Solomon glanced timidly in his face, but
+his lips were tightly pressed together, a resolute and stern expression
+sat upon his brow, and not a tear, a look, or gesture indicating grief,
+escaped him.
+
+He drew his sword; felt for a moment in his breast, as though he carried
+other arms about him; then grasping Solomon by the wrist again, went
+with a cautious step all round the house. He looked into every doorway
+and gap in the wall; retraced his steps at every rustling of the air
+among the leaves; and searched in every shadowed nook with outstretched
+hands. Thus they made the circuit of the building: but they returned
+to the spot from which they had set out, without encountering any human
+being, or finding the least trace of any concealed straggler.
+
+After a short pause, Mr Haredale shouted twice or thrice. Then cried
+aloud, 'Is there any one in hiding here, who knows my voice! There is
+nothing to fear now. If any of my people are near, I entreat them
+to answer!' He called them all by name; his voice was echoed in many
+mournful tones; then all was silent as before.
+
+They were standing near the foot of the turret, where the alarm-bell
+hung. The fire had raged there, and the floors had been sawn, and hewn,
+and beaten down, besides. It was open to the night; but a part of the
+staircase still remained, winding upward from a great mound of dust and
+cinders. Fragments of the jagged and broken steps offered an insecure
+and giddy footing here and there, and then were lost again, behind
+protruding angles of the wall, or in the deep shadows cast upon it by
+other portions of the ruin; for by this time the moon had risen, and
+shone brightly.
+
+As they stood here, listening to the echoes as they died away, and
+hoping in vain to hear a voice they knew, some of the ashes in this
+turret slipped and rolled down. Startled by the least noise in that
+melancholy place, Solomon looked up in his companion's face, and saw
+that he had turned towards the spot, and that he watched and listened
+keenly.
+
+He covered the little man's mouth with his hand, and looked again.
+Instantly, with kindling eyes, he bade him on his life keep still, and
+neither speak nor move. Then holding his breath, and stooping down,
+he stole into the turret, with his drawn sword in his hand, and
+disappeared.
+
+Terrified to be left there by himself, under such desolate
+circumstances, and after all he had seen and heard that night, Solomon
+would have followed, but there had been something in Mr Haredale's
+manner and his look, the recollection of which held him spellbound. He
+stood rooted to the spot; and scarcely venturing to breathe, looked up
+with mingled fear and wonder.
+
+Again the ashes slipped and rolled--very, very softly--again--and then
+again, as though they crumbled underneath the tread of a stealthy foot.
+And now a figure was dimly visible; climbing very softly; and often
+stopping to look down; now it pursued its difficult way; and now it was
+hidden from the view again.
+
+It emerged once more, into the shadowy and uncertain light--higher now,
+but not much, for the way was steep and toilsome, and its progress very
+slow. What phantom of the brain did he pursue; and why did he look down
+so constantly? He knew he was alone. Surely his mind was not affected by
+that night's loss and agony. He was not about to throw himself headlong
+from the summit of the tottering wall. Solomon turned sick, and clasped
+his hands. His limbs trembled beneath him, and a cold sweat broke out
+upon his pallid face.
+
+If he complied with Mr Haredale's last injunction now, it was because he
+had not the power to speak or move. He strained his gaze, and fixed it
+on a patch of moonlight, into which, if he continued to ascend, he must
+soon emerge. When he appeared there, he would try to call to him.
+
+Again the ashes slipped and crumbled; some stones rolled down, and fell
+with a dull, heavy sound upon the ground below. He kept his eyes upon
+the piece of moonlight. The figure was coming on, for its shadow was
+already thrown upon the wall. Now it appeared--and now looked round at
+him--and now--
+
+The horror-stricken clerk uttered a scream that pierced the air, and
+cried, 'The ghost! The ghost!'
+
+Long before the echo of his cry had died away, another form rushed out
+into the light, flung itself upon the foremost one, knelt down upon its
+breast, and clutched its throat with both hands.
+
+'Villain!' cried Mr Haredale, in a terrible voice--for it was he. 'Dead
+and buried, as all men supposed through your infernal arts, but reserved
+by Heaven for this--at last--at last I have you. You, whose hands are
+red with my brother's blood, and that of his faithful servant, shed
+to conceal your own atrocious guilt--You, Rudge, double murderer and
+monster, I arrest you in the name of God, who has delivered you into my
+hands. No. Though you had the strength of twenty men,' he added, as the
+murderer writhed and struggled, 'you could not escape me or loosen my
+grasp to-night!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 57
+
+
+Barnaby, armed as we have seen, continued to pace up and down before
+the stable-door; glad to be alone again, and heartily rejoicing in the
+unaccustomed silence and tranquillity. After the whirl of noise and riot
+in which the last two days had been passed, the pleasures of solitude
+and peace were enhanced a thousandfold. He felt quite happy; and as he
+leaned upon his staff and mused, a bright smile overspread his face, and
+none but cheerful visions floated into his brain.
+
+Had he no thoughts of her, whose sole delight he was, and whom he had
+unconsciously plunged in such bitter sorrow and such deep affliction?
+Oh, yes. She was at the heart of all his cheerful hopes and proud
+reflections. It was she whom all this honour and distinction were to
+gladden; the joy and profit were for her. What delight it gave her
+to hear of the bravery of her poor boy! Ah! He would have known that,
+without Hugh's telling him. And what a precious thing it was to know she
+lived so happily, and heard with so much pride (he pictured to himself
+her look when they told her) that he was in such high esteem: bold among
+the boldest, and trusted before them all! And when these frays were
+over, and the good lord had conquered his enemies, and they were all at
+peace again, and he and she were rich, what happiness they would have
+in talking of these troubled times when he was a great soldier: and when
+they sat alone together in the tranquil twilight, and she had no longer
+reason to be anxious for the morrow, what pleasure would he have in the
+reflection that this was his doing--his--poor foolish Barnaby's; and
+in patting her on the cheek, and saying with a merry laugh, 'Am I silly
+now, mother--am I silly now?'
+
+With a lighter heart and step, and eyes the brighter for the happy tear
+that dimmed them for a moment, Barnaby resumed his walk; and singing
+gaily to himself, kept guard upon his quiet post.
+
+His comrade Grip, the partner of his watch, though fond of basking in
+the sunshine, preferred to-day to walk about the stable; having a great
+deal to do in the way of scattering the straw, hiding under it such
+small articles as had been casually left about, and haunting Hugh's
+bed, to which he seemed to have taken a particular attachment. Sometimes
+Barnaby looked in and called him, and then he came hopping out; but
+he merely did this as a concession to his master's weakness, and soon
+returned again to his own grave pursuits: peering into the straw with
+his bill, and rapidly covering up the place, as if, Midas-like, he were
+whispering secrets to the earth and burying them; constantly busying
+himself upon the sly; and affecting, whenever Barnaby came past, to
+look up in the clouds and have nothing whatever on his mind: in short,
+conducting himself, in many respects, in a more than usually thoughtful,
+deep, and mysterious manner.
+
+As the day crept on, Barnaby, who had no directions forbidding him to
+eat and drink upon his post, but had been, on the contrary, supplied
+with a bottle of beer and a basket of provisions, determined to break
+his fast, which he had not done since morning. To this end, he sat down
+on the ground before the door, and putting his staff across his knees in
+case of alarm or surprise, summoned Grip to dinner.
+
+This call, the bird obeyed with great alacrity; crying, as he sidled
+up to his master, 'I'm a devil, I'm a Polly, I'm a kettle, I'm a
+Protestant, No Popery!' Having learnt this latter sentiment from the
+gentry among whom he had lived of late, he delivered it with uncommon
+emphasis.
+
+'Well said, Grip!' cried his master, as he fed him with the daintiest
+bits. 'Well said, old boy!'
+
+'Never say die, bow wow wow, keep up your spirits, Grip Grip Grip,
+Holloa! We'll all have tea, I'm a Protestant kettle, No Popery!' cried
+the raven.
+
+'Gordon for ever, Grip!' cried Barnaby.
+
+The raven, placing his head upon the ground, looked at his master
+sideways, as though he would have said, 'Say that again!' Perfectly
+understanding his desire, Barnaby repeated the phrase a great many
+times. The bird listened with profound attention; sometimes repeating
+the popular cry in a low voice, as if to compare the two, and try if it
+would at all help him to this new accomplishment; sometimes flapping
+his wings, or barking; and sometimes in a kind of desperation drawing a
+multitude of corks, with extraordinary viciousness.
+
+Barnaby was so intent upon his favourite, that he was not at first
+aware of the approach of two persons on horseback, who were riding at a
+foot-pace, and coming straight towards his post. When he perceived them,
+however, which he did when they were within some fifty yards of him, he
+jumped hastily up, and ordering Grip within doors, stood with both hands
+on his staff, waiting until he should know whether they were friends or
+foes.
+
+He had hardly done so, when he observed that those who advanced were a
+gentleman and his servant; almost at the same moment he recognised Lord
+George Gordon, before whom he stood uncovered, with his eyes turned
+towards the ground.
+
+'Good day!' said Lord George, not reining in his horse until he was
+close beside him. 'Well!'
+
+'All quiet, sir, all safe!' cried Barnaby. 'The rest are away--they went
+by that path--that one. A grand party!'
+
+'Ay?' said Lord George, looking thoughtfully at him. 'And you?'
+
+'Oh! They left me here to watch--to mount guard--to keep everything
+secure till they come back. I'll do it, sir, for your sake. You're a
+good gentleman; a kind gentleman--ay, you are. There are many against
+you, but we'll be a match for them, never fear!'
+
+'What's that?' said Lord George--pointing to the raven who was peeping
+out of the stable-door--but still looking thoughtfully, and in some
+perplexity, it seemed, at Barnaby.
+
+'Why, don't you know!' retorted Barnaby, with a wondering laugh. 'Not
+know what HE is! A bird, to be sure. My bird--my friend--Grip.'
+
+'A devil, a kettle, a Grip, a Polly, a Protestant, no Popery!' cried the
+raven.
+
+'Though, indeed,' added Barnaby, laying his hand upon the neck of Lord
+George's horse, and speaking softly: 'you had good reason to ask me what
+he is, for sometimes it puzzles me--and I am used to him--to think
+he's only a bird. He's my brother, Grip is--always with me--always
+talking--always merry--eh, Grip?'
+
+The raven answered by an affectionate croak, and hopping on his master's
+arm, which he held downward for that purpose, submitted with an air of
+perfect indifference to be fondled, and turned his restless, curious
+eye, now upon Lord George, and now upon his man.
+
+Lord George, biting his nails in a discomfited manner, regarded Barnaby
+for some time in silence; then beckoning to his servant, said:
+
+'Come hither, John.'
+
+John Grueby touched his hat, and came.
+
+'Have you ever seen this young man before?' his master asked in a low
+voice.
+
+'Twice, my lord,' said John. 'I saw him in the crowd last night and
+Saturday.'
+
+'Did--did it seem to you that his manner was at all wild or strange?'
+Lord George demanded, faltering.
+
+'Mad,' said John, with emphatic brevity.
+
+'And why do you think him mad, sir?' said his master, speaking in a
+peevish tone. 'Don't use that word too freely. Why do you think him
+mad?'
+
+'My lord,' John Grueby answered, 'look at his dress, look at his eyes,
+look at his restless way, hear him cry "No Popery!" Mad, my lord.'
+
+'So because one man dresses unlike another,' returned his angry master,
+glancing at himself; 'and happens to differ from other men in his
+carriage and manner, and to advocate a great cause which the corrupt and
+irreligious desert, he is to be accounted mad, is he?'
+
+'Stark, staring, raving, roaring mad, my lord,' returned the unmoved
+John.
+
+'Do you say this to my face?' cried his master, turning sharply upon
+him.
+
+'To any man, my lord, who asks me,' answered John.
+
+'Mr Gashford, I find, was right,' said Lord George; 'I thought him
+prejudiced, though I ought to have known a man like him better than to
+have supposed it possible!'
+
+'I shall never have Mr Gashford's good word, my lord,' replied John,
+touching his hat respectfully, 'and I don't covet it.'
+
+'You are an ill-conditioned, most ungrateful fellow,' said Lord George:
+'a spy, for anything I know. Mr Gashford is perfectly correct, as I
+might have felt convinced he was. I have done wrong to retain you in
+my service. It is a tacit insult to him as my choice and confidential
+friend to do so, remembering the cause you sided with, on the day he was
+maligned at Westminster. You will leave me to-night--nay, as soon as we
+reach home. The sooner the better.'
+
+'If it comes to that, I say so too, my lord. Let Mr Gashford have his
+will. As to my being a spy, my lord, you know me better than to believe
+it, I am sure. I don't know much about causes. My cause is the cause of
+one man against two hundred; and I hope it always will be.'
+
+'You have said quite enough,' returned Lord George, motioning him to go
+back. 'I desire to hear no more.'
+
+'If you'll let me have another word, my lord,' returned John Grueby,
+'I'd give this silly fellow a caution not to stay here by himself. The
+proclamation is in a good many hands already, and it's well known that
+he was concerned in the business it relates to. He had better get to a
+place of safety if he can, poor creature.'
+
+'You hear what this man says?' cried Lord George, addressing Barnaby,
+who had looked on and wondered while this dialogue passed. 'He thinks
+you may be afraid to remain upon your post, and are kept here perhaps
+against your will. What do you say?'
+
+'I think, young man,' said John, in explanation, 'that the soldiers may
+turn out and take you; and that if they do, you will certainly be hung
+by the neck till you're dead--dead--dead. And I think you had better go
+from here, as fast as you can. That's what I think.'
+
+'He's a coward, Grip, a coward!' cried Barnaby, putting the raven on the
+ground, and shouldering his staff. 'Let them come! Gordon for ever! Let
+them come!'
+
+'Ay!' said Lord George, 'let them! Let us see who will venture to attack
+a power like ours; the solemn league of a whole people. THIS a madman!
+You have said well, very well. I am proud to be the leader of such men
+as you.'
+
+Barnaby's heart swelled within his bosom as he heard these words. He took
+Lord George's hand and carried it to his lips; patted his horse's crest,
+as if the affection and admiration he had conceived for the man extended
+to the animal he rode; then unfurling his flag, and proudly waving it,
+resumed his pacing up and down.
+
+Lord George, with a kindling eye and glowing cheek, took off his hat,
+and flourishing it above his head, bade him exultingly Farewell!--then
+cantered off at a brisk pace; after glancing angrily round to see that
+his servant followed. Honest John set spurs to his horse and rode after
+his master, but not before he had again warned Barnaby to retreat,
+with many significant gestures, which indeed he continued to make, and
+Barnaby to resist, until the windings of the road concealed them from
+each other's view.
+
+Left to himself again with a still higher sense of the importance of
+his post, and stimulated to enthusiasm by the special notice and
+encouragement of his leader, Barnaby walked to and fro in a delicious
+trance rather than as a waking man. The sunshine which prevailed around
+was in his mind. He had but one desire ungratified. If she could only
+see him now!
+
+The day wore on; its heat was gently giving place to the cool of
+evening; a light wind sprung up, fanning his long hair, and making
+the banner rustle pleasantly above his head. There was a freedom and
+freshness in the sound and in the time, which chimed exactly with his
+mood. He was happier than ever.
+
+He was leaning on his staff looking towards the declining sun, and
+reflecting with a smile that he stood sentinel at that moment over
+buried gold, when two or three figures appeared in the distance, making
+towards the house at a rapid pace, and motioning with their hands as
+though they urged its inmates to retreat from some approaching danger.
+As they drew nearer, they became more earnest in their gestures; and
+they were no sooner within hearing, than the foremost among them cried
+that the soldiers were coming up.
+
+At these words, Barnaby furled his flag, and tied it round the pole. His
+heart beat high while he did so, but he had no more fear or thought of
+retreating than the pole itself. The friendly stragglers hurried past
+him, after giving him notice of his danger, and quickly passed into the
+house, where the utmost confusion immediately prevailed. As those within
+hastily closed the windows and the doors, they urged him by looks and
+signs to fly without loss of time, and called to him many times to do
+so; but he only shook his head indignantly in answer, and stood the
+firmer on his post. Finding that he was not to be persuaded, they took
+care of themselves; and leaving the place with only one old woman in it,
+speedily withdrew.
+
+As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better
+foundation than in the fears of those who brought it, but The Boot had
+not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the
+fields, a body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their
+arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their orderly and regular mode of
+advancing--for they came on as one man--were soldiers. In a very little
+time, Barnaby knew that they were a strong detachment of the Foot
+Guards, having along with them two gentlemen in private clothes, and a
+small party of Horse; the latter brought up the rear, and were not in
+number more than six or eight.
+
+They advanced steadily; neither quickening their pace as they came
+nearer, nor raising any cry, nor showing the least emotion or anxiety.
+Though this was a matter of course in the case of regular troops,
+even to Barnaby, there was something particularly impressive and
+disconcerting in it to one accustomed to the noise and tumult of an
+undisciplined mob. For all that, he stood his ground not a whit the less
+resolutely, and looked on undismayed.
+
+Presently, they marched into the yard, and halted. The
+commanding-officer despatched a messenger to the horsemen, one of whom
+came riding back. Some words passed between them, and they glanced at
+Barnaby; who well remembered the man he had unhorsed at Westminster, and
+saw him now before his eyes. The man being speedily dismissed, saluted,
+and rode back to his comrades, who were drawn up apart at a short
+distance.
+
+The officer then gave the word to prime and load. The heavy ringing of
+the musket-stocks upon the ground, and the sharp and rapid rattling of
+the ramrods in their barrels, were a kind of relief to Barnaby, deadly
+though he knew the purport of such sounds to be. When this was done,
+other commands were given, and the soldiers instantaneously formed in
+single file all round the house and stables; completely encircling them
+in every part, at a distance, perhaps, of some half-dozen yards; at
+least that seemed in Barnaby's eyes to be about the space left between
+himself and those who confronted him. The horsemen remained drawn up by
+themselves as before.
+
+The two gentlemen in private clothes who had kept aloof, now rode
+forward, one on either side the officer. The proclamation having been
+produced and read by one of them, the officer called on Barnaby to
+surrender.
+
+He made no answer, but stepping within the door, before which he had
+kept guard, held his pole crosswise to protect it. In the midst of a
+profound silence, he was again called upon to yield.
+
+Still he offered no reply. Indeed he had enough to do, to run his eye
+backward and forward along the half-dozen men who immediately fronted
+him, and settle hurriedly within himself at which of them he would
+strike first, when they pressed on him. He caught the eye of one in the
+centre, and resolved to hew that fellow down, though he died for it.
+
+Again there was a dead silence, and again the same voice called upon him
+to deliver himself up.
+
+Next moment he was back in the stable, dealing blows about him like a
+madman. Two of the men lay stretched at his feet: the one he had marked,
+dropped first--he had a thought for that, even in the hot blood and
+hurry of the struggle. Another blow--another! Down, mastered, wounded in
+the breast by a heavy blow from the butt-end of a gun (he saw the weapon
+in the act of falling)--breathless--and a prisoner.
+
+An exclamation of surprise from the officer recalled him, in some
+degree, to himself. He looked round. Grip, after working in secret all
+the afternoon, and with redoubled vigour while everybody's attention was
+distracted, had plucked away the straw from Hugh's bed, and turned up
+the loose ground with his iron bill. The hole had been recklessly filled
+to the brim, and was merely sprinkled with earth. Golden cups, spoons,
+candlesticks, coined guineas--all the riches were revealed.
+
+They brought spades and a sack; dug up everything that was hidden there;
+and carried away more than two men could lift. They handcuffed him
+and bound his arms, searched him, and took away all he had. Nobody
+questioned or reproached him, or seemed to have much curiosity about
+him. The two men he had stunned, were carried off by their companions in
+the same business-like way in which everything else was done. Finally,
+he was left under a guard of four soldiers with fixed bayonets, while
+the officer directed in person the search of the house and the other
+buildings connected with it.
+
+This was soon completed. The soldiers formed again in the yard; he was
+marched out, with his guard about him; and ordered to fall in, where a
+space was left. The others closed up all round, and so they moved away,
+with the prisoner in the centre.
+
+When they came into the streets, he felt he was a sight; and looking up
+as they passed quickly along, could see people running to the windows a
+little too late, and throwing up the sashes to look after him. Sometimes
+he met a staring face beyond the heads about him, or under the arms of
+his conductors, or peering down upon him from a waggon-top or coach-box;
+but this was all he saw, being surrounded by so many men. The very
+noises of the streets seemed muffled and subdued; and the air came stale
+and hot upon him, like the sickly breath of an oven.
+
+Tramp, tramp. Tramp, tramp. Heads erect, shoulders square, every man
+stepping in exact time--all so orderly and regular--nobody looking at
+him--nobody seeming conscious of his presence,--he could hardly believe
+he was a Prisoner. But at the word, though only thought, not spoken, he
+felt the handcuffs galling his wrists, the cord pressing his arms to
+his sides: the loaded guns levelled at his head; and those cold, bright,
+sharp, shining points turned towards him: the mere looking down at
+which, now that he was bound and helpless, made the warm current of his
+life run cold.
+
+
+
+Chapter 58
+
+
+They were not long in reaching the barracks, for the officer who
+commanded the party was desirous to avoid rousing the people by the
+display of military force in the streets, and was humanely anxious
+to give as little opportunity as possible for any attempt at rescue;
+knowing that it must lead to bloodshed and loss of life, and that if the
+civil authorities by whom he was accompanied, empowered him to order his
+men to fire, many innocent persons would probably fall, whom curiosity
+or idleness had attracted to the spot. He therefore led the party
+briskly on, avoiding with a merciful prudence the more public and
+crowded thoroughfares, and pursuing those which he deemed least likely
+to be infested by disorderly persons. This wise proceeding not only
+enabled them to gain their quarters without any interruption, but
+completely baffled a body of rioters who had assembled in one of the
+main streets, through which it was considered certain they would pass,
+and who remained gathered together for the purpose of releasing the
+prisoner from their hands, long after they had deposited him in a place
+of security, closed the barrack-gates, and set a double guard at every
+entrance for its better protection.
+
+Arrived at this place, poor Barnaby was marched into a stone-floored
+room, where there was a very powerful smell of tobacco, a strong
+thorough draught of air, and a great wooden bedstead, large enough for a
+score of men. Several soldiers in undress were lounging about, or eating
+from tin cans; military accoutrements dangled on rows of pegs along the
+whitewashed wall; and some half-dozen men lay fast asleep upon their
+backs, snoring in concert. After remaining here just long enough to
+note these things, he was marched out again, and conveyed across the
+parade-ground to another portion of the building.
+
+Perhaps a man never sees so much at a glance as when he is in a
+situation of extremity. The chances are a hundred to one, that if
+Barnaby had lounged in at the gate to look about him, he would have
+lounged out again with a very imperfect idea of the place, and would
+have remembered very little about it. But as he was taken handcuffed
+across the gravelled area, nothing escaped his notice. The dry, arid
+look of the dusty square, and of the bare brick building; the clothes
+hanging at some of the windows; and the men in their shirt-sleeves and
+braces, lolling with half their bodies out of the others; the green
+sun-blinds at the officers' quarters, and the little scanty trees in
+front; the drummer-boys practising in a distant courtyard; the men at
+drill on the parade; the two soldiers carrying a basket between them,
+who winked to each other as he went by, and slily pointed to their
+throats; the spruce serjeant who hurried past with a cane in his hand,
+and under his arm a clasped book with a vellum cover; the fellows in the
+ground-floor rooms, furbishing and brushing up their different articles
+of dress, who stopped to look at him, and whose voices as they
+spoke together echoed loudly through the empty galleries and
+passages;--everything, down to the stand of muskets before the
+guard-house, and the drum with a pipe-clayed belt attached, in one
+corner, impressed itself upon his observation, as though he had noticed
+them in the same place a hundred times, or had been a whole day among
+them, in place of one brief hurried minute.
+
+He was taken into a small paved back yard, and there they opened a great
+door, plated with iron, and pierced some five feet above the ground with
+a few holes to let in air and light. Into this dungeon he was walked
+straightway; and having locked him up there, and placed a sentry over
+him, they left him to his meditations.
+
+The cell, or black hole, for it had those words painted on the door, was
+very dark, and having recently accommodated a drunken deserter, by no
+means clean. Barnaby felt his way to some straw at the farther end, and
+looking towards the door, tried to accustom himself to the gloom, which,
+coming from the bright sunshine out of doors, was not an easy task.
+
+There was a kind of portico or colonnade outside, and this obstructed
+even the little light that at the best could have found its way through
+the small apertures in the door. The footsteps of the sentinel echoed
+monotonously as he paced its stone pavement to and fro (reminding
+Barnaby of the watch he had so lately kept himself); and as he passed
+and repassed the door, he made the cell for an instant so black by the
+interposition of his body, that his going away again seemed like the
+appearance of a new ray of light, and was quite a circumstance to look
+for.
+
+When the prisoner had sat sometime upon the ground, gazing at the
+chinks, and listening to the advancing and receding footsteps of his
+guard, the man stood still upon his post. Barnaby, quite unable to
+think, or to speculate on what would be done with him, had been lulled
+into a kind of doze by his regular pace; but his stopping roused him;
+and then he became aware that two men were in conversation under the
+colonnade, and very near the door of his cell.
+
+How long they had been talking there, he could not tell, for he had
+fallen into an unconsciousness of his real position, and when the
+footsteps ceased, was answering aloud some question which seemed to have
+been put to him by Hugh in the stable, though of the fancied purport,
+either of question or reply, notwithstanding that he awoke with the
+latter on his lips, he had no recollection whatever. The first words
+that reached his ears, were these:
+
+'Why is he brought here then, if he has to be taken away again so soon?'
+
+'Why where would you have him go! Damme, he's not as safe anywhere as
+among the king's troops, is he? What WOULD you do with him? Would you
+hand him over to a pack of cowardly civilians, that shake in their
+shoes till they wear the soles out, with trembling at the threats of the
+ragamuffins he belongs to?'
+
+'That's true enough.'
+
+'True enough!--I'll tell you what. I wish, Tom Green, that I was a
+commissioned instead of a non-commissioned officer, and that I had the
+command of two companies--only two companies--of my own regiment.
+Call me out to stop these riots--give me the needful authority, and
+half-a-dozen rounds of ball cartridge--'
+
+'Ay!' said the other voice. 'That's all very well, but they won't give
+the needful authority. If the magistrate won't give the word, what's the
+officer to do?'
+
+Not very well knowing, as it seemed, how to overcome this difficulty,
+the other man contented himself with damning the magistrates.
+
+'With all my heart,' said his friend.
+
+'Where's the use of a magistrate?' returned the other voice. 'What's
+a magistrate in this case, but an impertinent, unnecessary,
+unconstitutional sort of interference? Here's a proclamation. Here's a
+man referred to in that proclamation. Here's proof against him, and a
+witness on the spot. Damme! Take him out and shoot him, sir. Who wants a
+magistrate?'
+
+'When does he go before Sir John Fielding?' asked the man who had spoken
+first.
+
+'To-night at eight o'clock,' returned the other. 'Mark what follows. The
+magistrate commits him to Newgate. Our people take him to Newgate. The
+rioters pelt our people. Our people retire before the rioters. Stones
+are thrown, insults are offered, not a shot's fired. Why? Because of the
+magistrates. Damn the magistrates!'
+
+When he had in some degree relieved his mind by cursing the magistrates
+in various other forms of speech, the man was silent, save for a low
+growling, still having reference to those authorities, which from time
+to time escaped him.
+
+Barnaby, who had wit enough to know that this conversation concerned,
+and very nearly concerned, himself, remained perfectly quiet until they
+ceased to speak, when he groped his way to the door, and peeping through
+the air-holes, tried to make out what kind of men they were, to whom he
+had been listening.
+
+The one who condemned the civil power in such strong terms, was a
+serjeant--engaged just then, as the streaming ribands in his cap
+announced, on the recruiting service. He stood leaning sideways against
+a pillar nearly opposite the door, and as he growled to himself, drew
+figures on the pavement with his cane. The other man had his back
+towards the dungeon, and Barnaby could only see his form. To judge from
+that, he was a gallant, manly, handsome fellow, but he had lost his left
+arm. It had been taken off between the elbow and the shoulder, and his
+empty coat-sleeve hung across his breast.
+
+It was probably this circumstance which gave him an interest beyond any
+that his companion could boast of, and attracted Barnaby's attention.
+There was something soldierly in his bearing, and he wore a jaunty cap
+and jacket. Perhaps he had been in the service at one time or other.
+If he had, it could not have been very long ago, for he was but a young
+fellow now.
+
+'Well, well,' he said thoughtfully; 'let the fault be where it may, it
+makes a man sorrowful to come back to old England, and see her in this
+condition.'
+
+'I suppose the pigs will join 'em next,' said the serjeant, with
+an imprecation on the rioters, 'now that the birds have set 'em the
+example.'
+
+'The birds!' repeated Tom Green.
+
+'Ah--birds,' said the serjeant testily; 'that's English, an't it?'
+
+'I don't know what you mean.'
+
+'Go to the guard-house, and see. You'll find a bird there, that's got
+their cry as pat as any of 'em, and bawls "No Popery," like a man--or
+like a devil, as he says he is. I shouldn't wonder. The devil's loose
+in London somewhere. Damme if I wouldn't twist his neck round, on the
+chance, if I had MY way.'
+
+The young man had taken two or three steps away, as if to go and see
+this creature, when he was arrested by the voice of Barnaby.
+
+'It's mine,' he called out, half laughing and half weeping--'my pet,
+my friend Grip. Ha ha ha! Don't hurt him, he has done no harm. I taught
+him; it's my fault. Let me have him, if you please. He's the only friend
+I have left now. He'll not dance, or talk, or whistle for you, I
+know; but he will for me, because he knows me and loves me--though you
+wouldn't think it--very well. You wouldn't hurt a bird, I'm sure. You're
+a brave soldier, sir, and wouldn't harm a woman or a child--no, no, nor
+a poor bird, I'm certain.'
+
+This latter adjuration was addressed to the serjeant, whom Barnaby
+judged from his red coat to be high in office, and able to seal Grip's
+destiny by a word. But that gentleman, in reply, surlily damned him for
+a thief and rebel as he was, and with many disinterested imprecations on
+his own eyes, liver, blood, and body, assured him that if it rested with
+him to decide, he would put a final stopper on the bird, and his master
+too.
+
+'You talk boldly to a caged man,' said Barnaby, in anger. 'If I was on
+the other side of the door and there were none to part us, you'd change
+your note--ay, you may toss your head--you would! Kill the bird--do.
+Kill anything you can, and so revenge yourself on those who with their
+bare hands untied could do as much to you!'
+
+Having vented his defiance, he flung himself into the furthest corner
+of his prison, and muttering, 'Good bye, Grip--good bye, dear old Grip!'
+shed tears for the first time since he had been taken captive; and hid
+his face in the straw.
+
+He had had some fancy at first, that the one-armed man would help him,
+or would give him a kind word in answer. He hardly knew why, but he
+hoped and thought so. The young fellow had stopped when he called out,
+and checking himself in the very act of turning round, stood listening
+to every word he said. Perhaps he built his feeble trust on this;
+perhaps on his being young, and having a frank and honest manner.
+However that might be, he built on sand. The other went away directly
+he had finished speaking, and neither answered him, nor returned. No
+matter. They were all against him here: he might have known as much.
+Good bye, old Grip, good bye!
+
+After some time, they came and unlocked the door, and called to him to
+come out. He rose directly, and complied, for he would not have THEM
+think he was subdued or frightened. He walked out like a man, and looked
+from face to face.
+
+None of them returned his gaze or seemed to notice it. They marched
+him back to the parade by the way they had brought him, and there they
+halted, among a body of soldiers, at least twice as numerous as that
+which had taken him prisoner in the afternoon. The officer he had seen
+before, bade him in a few brief words take notice that if he attempted
+to escape, no matter how favourable a chance he might suppose he had,
+certain of the men had orders to fire upon him, that moment. They then
+closed round him as before, and marched him off again.
+
+In the same unbroken order they arrived at Bow Street, followed and
+beset on all sides by a crowd which was continually increasing. Here
+he was placed before a blind gentleman, and asked if he wished to say
+anything. Not he. What had he got to tell them? After a very little
+talking, which he was careless of and quite indifferent to, they told
+him he was to go to Newgate, and took him away.
+
+He went out into the street, so surrounded and hemmed in on every side
+by soldiers, that he could see nothing; but he knew there was a great
+crowd of people, by the murmur; and that they were not friendly to the
+soldiers, was soon rendered evident by their yells and hisses. How often
+and how eagerly he listened for the voice of Hugh! There was not a voice
+he knew among them all. Was Hugh a prisoner too? Was there no hope!
+
+As they came nearer and nearer to the prison, the hootings of the people
+grew more violent; stones were thrown; and every now and then, a rush
+was made against the soldiers, which they staggered under. One of them,
+close before him, smarting under a blow upon the temple, levelled his
+musket, but the officer struck it upwards with his sword, and ordered
+him on peril of his life to desist. This was the last thing he saw
+with any distinctness, for directly afterwards he was tossed about,
+and beaten to and fro, as though in a tempestuous sea. But go where
+he would, there were the same guards about him. Twice or thrice he was
+thrown down, and so were they; but even then, he could not elude their
+vigilance for a moment. They were up again, and had closed about him,
+before he, with his wrists so tightly bound, could scramble to his feet.
+Fenced in, thus, he felt himself hoisted to the top of a low flight of
+steps, and then for a moment he caught a glimpse of the fighting in
+the crowd, and of a few red coats sprinkled together, here and there,
+struggling to rejoin their fellows. Next moment, everything was dark and
+gloomy, and he was standing in the prison lobby; the centre of a group
+of men.
+
+A smith was speedily in attendance, who riveted upon him a set of heavy
+irons. Stumbling on as well as he could, beneath the unusual burden of
+these fetters, he was conducted to a strong stone cell, where, fastening
+the door with locks, and bolts, and chains, they left him, well secured;
+having first, unseen by him, thrust in Grip, who, with his head drooping
+and his deep black plumes rough and rumpled, appeared to comprehend and
+to partake, his master's fallen fortunes.
+
+
+
+Chapter 59
+
+
+It is necessary at this juncture to return to Hugh, who, having, as we
+have seen, called to the rioters to disperse from about the Warren, and
+meet again as usual, glided back into the darkness from which he had
+emerged, and reappeared no more that night.
+
+He paused in the copse which sheltered him from the observation of his
+mad companions, and waited to ascertain whether they drew off at his
+bidding, or still lingered and called to him to join them. Some few, he
+saw, were indisposed to go away without him, and made towards the spot
+where he stood concealed as though they were about to follow in his
+footsteps, and urge him to come back; but these men, being in their turn
+called to by their friends, and in truth not greatly caring to venture
+into the dark parts of the grounds, where they might be easily surprised
+and taken, if any of the neighbours or retainers of the family were
+watching them from among the trees, soon abandoned the idea, and hastily
+assembling such men as they found of their mind at the moment, straggled
+off.
+
+When he was satisfied that the great mass of the insurgents were
+imitating this example, and that the ground was rapidly clearing, he
+plunged into the thickest portion of the little wood; and, crashing the
+branches as he went, made straight towards a distant light: guided by
+that, and by the sullen glow of the fire behind him.
+
+As he drew nearer and nearer to the twinkling beacon towards which he
+bent his course, the red glare of a few torches began to reveal itself,
+and the voices of men speaking together in a subdued tone broke the
+silence which, save for a distant shouting now and then, already
+prevailed. At length he cleared the wood, and, springing across a ditch,
+stood in a dark lane, where a small body of ill-looking vagabonds, whom
+he had left there some twenty minutes before, waited his coming with
+impatience.
+
+They were gathered round an old post-chaise or chariot, driven by one of
+themselves, who sat postilion-wise upon the near horse. The blinds were
+drawn up, and Mr Tappertit and Dennis kept guard at the two windows. The
+former assumed the command of the party, for he challenged Hugh as he
+advanced towards them; and when he did so, those who were resting on the
+ground about the carriage rose to their feet and clustered round him.
+
+'Well!' said Simon, in a low voice; 'is all right?'
+
+'Right enough,' replied Hugh, in the same tone. 'They're dispersing
+now--had begun before I came away.'
+
+'And is the coast clear?'
+
+'Clear enough before our men, I take it,' said Hugh. 'There are not many
+who, knowing of their work over yonder, will want to meddle with 'em
+to-night.--Who's got some drink here?'
+
+Everybody had some plunder from the cellar; half-a-dozen flasks and
+bottles were offered directly. He selected the largest, and putting it
+to his mouth, sent the wine gurgling down his throat. Having emptied
+it, he threw it down, and stretched out his hand for another, which he
+emptied likewise, at a draught. Another was given him, and this he half
+emptied too. Reserving what remained to finish with, he asked:
+
+'Have you got anything to eat, any of you? I'm as ravenous as a hungry
+wolf. Which of you was in the larder--come?'
+
+'I was, brother,' said Dennis, pulling off his hat, and fumbling in
+the crown. 'There's a matter of cold venison pasty somewhere or another
+here, if that'll do.'
+
+'Do!' cried Hugh, seating himself on the pathway. 'Bring it out! Quick!
+Show a light here, and gather round! Let me sup in state, my lads! Ha ha
+ha!'
+
+Entering into his boisterous humour, for they all had drunk deeply, and
+were as wild as he, they crowded about him, while two of their number
+who had torches, held them up, one on either side of him, that his
+banquet might not be despatched in the dark. Mr Dennis, having by this
+time succeeded in extricating from his hat a great mass of pasty, which
+had been wedged in so tightly that it was not easily got out, put it
+before him; and Hugh, having borrowed a notched and jagged knife from
+one of the company, fell to work upon it vigorously.
+
+'I should recommend you to swallow a little fire every day, about an
+hour afore dinner, brother,' said Dennis, after a pause. 'It seems to
+agree with you, and to stimulate your appetite.'
+
+Hugh looked at him, and at the blackened faces by which he was
+surrounded, and, stopping for a moment to flourish his knife above his
+head, answered with a roar of laughter.
+
+'Keep order, there, will you?' said Simon Tappertit.
+
+'Why, isn't a man allowed to regale himself, noble captain,' retorted
+his lieutenant, parting the men who stood between them, with his knife,
+that he might see him,--'to regale himself a little bit after such work
+as mine? What a hard captain! What a strict captain! What a tyrannical
+captain! Ha ha ha!'
+
+'I wish one of you fellers would hold a bottle to his mouth to keep him
+quiet,' said Simon, 'unless you want the military to be down upon us.'
+
+'And what if they are down upon us!' retorted Hugh. 'Who cares? Who's
+afraid? Let 'em come, I say, let 'em come. The more, the merrier. Give
+me bold Barnaby at my side, and we two will settle the military, without
+troubling any of you. Barnaby's the man for the military. Barnaby's
+health!'
+
+But as the majority of those present were by no means anxious for a
+second engagement that night, being already weary and exhausted, they
+sided with Mr Tappertit, and pressed him to make haste with his supper,
+for they had already delayed too long. Knowing, even in the height of
+his frenzy, that they incurred great danger by lingering so near the
+scene of the late outrages, Hugh made an end of his meal without more
+remonstrance, and rising, stepped up to Mr Tappertit, and smote him on
+the back.
+
+'Now then,' he cried, 'I'm ready. There are brave birds inside this
+cage, eh? Delicate birds,--tender, loving, little doves. I caged 'em--I
+caged 'em--one more peep!'
+
+He thrust the little man aside as he spoke, and mounting on the steps,
+which were half let down, pulled down the blind by force, and stared
+into the chaise like an ogre into his larder.
+
+'Ha ha ha! and did you scratch, and pinch, and struggle, pretty
+mistress?' he cried, as he grasped a little hand that sought in vain to
+free itself from his grip: 'you, so bright-eyed, and cherry-lipped, and
+daintily made? But I love you better for it, mistress. Ay, I do. You
+should stab me and welcome, so that it pleased you, and you had to
+cure me afterwards. I love to see you proud and scornful. It makes you
+handsomer than ever; and who so handsome as you at any time, my pretty
+one!'
+
+'Come!' said Mr Tappertit, who had waited during this speech with
+considerable impatience. 'There's enough of that. Come down.'
+
+The little hand seconded this admonition by thrusting Hugh's great head
+away with all its force, and drawing up the blind, amidst his noisy
+laughter, and vows that he must have another look, for the last glimpse
+of that sweet face had provoked him past all bearing. However, as the
+suppressed impatience of the party now broke out into open murmurs,
+he abandoned this design, and taking his seat upon the bar, contented
+himself with tapping at the front windows of the carriage, and trying to
+steal a glance inside; Mr Tappertit, mounting the steps and hanging on
+by the door, issued his directions to the driver with a commanding
+voice and attitude; the rest got up behind, or ran by the side of the
+carriage, as they could; some, in imitation of Hugh, endeavoured to
+see the face he had praised so highly, and were reminded of their
+impertinence by hints from the cudgel of Mr Tappertit. Thus they pursued
+their journey by circuitous and winding roads; preserving, except when
+they halted to take breath, or to quarrel about the best way of reaching
+London, pretty good order and tolerable silence.
+
+In the mean time, Dolly--beautiful, bewitching, captivating little
+Dolly--her hair dishevelled, her dress torn, her dark eyelashes wet with
+tears, her bosom heaving--her face, now pale with fear, now crimsoned
+with indignation--her whole self a hundred times more beautiful in
+this heightened aspect than ever she had been before--vainly strove to
+comfort Emma Haredale, and to impart to her the consolation of which she
+stood in so much need herself. The soldiers were sure to come; they must
+be rescued; it would be impossible to convey them through the streets
+of London when they set the threats of their guards at defiance, and
+shrieked to the passengers for help. If they did this when they
+came into the more frequented ways, she was certain--she was quite
+certain--they must be released. So poor Dolly said, and so poor Dolly
+tried to think; but the invariable conclusion of all such arguments was,
+that Dolly burst into tears; cried, as she wrung her hands, what would
+they do or think, or who would comfort them, at home, at the Golden Key;
+and sobbed most piteously.
+
+Miss Haredale, whose feelings were usually of a quieter kind than
+Dolly's, and not so much upon the surface, was dreadfully alarmed, and
+indeed had only just recovered from a swoon. She was very pale, and the
+hand which Dolly held was quite cold; but she bade her, nevertheless,
+remember that, under Providence, much must depend upon their own
+discretion; that if they remained quiet and lulled the vigilance of the
+ruffians into whose hands they had fallen, the chances of their being
+able to procure assistance when they reached the town, were very much
+increased; that unless society were quite unhinged, a hot pursuit must
+be immediately commenced; and that her uncle, she might be sure, would
+never rest until he had found them out and rescued them. But as she said
+these latter words, the idea that he had fallen in a general massacre of
+the Catholics that night--no very wild or improbable supposition after
+what they had seen and undergone--struck her dumb; and, lost in the
+horrors they had witnessed, and those they might be yet reserved for,
+she sat incapable of thought, or speech, or outward show of grief: as
+rigid, and almost as white and cold, as marble.
+
+Oh, how many, many times, in that long ride, did Dolly think of her old
+lover,--poor, fond, slighted Joe! How many, many times, did she recall
+that night when she ran into his arms from the very man now projecting
+his hateful gaze into the darkness where she sat, and leering through
+the glass in monstrous admiration! And when she thought of Joe, and what
+a brave fellow he was, and how he would have rode boldly up, and
+dashed in among these villains now, yes, though they were double the
+number--and here she clenched her little hand, and pressed her foot upon
+the ground--the pride she felt for a moment in having won his heart,
+faded in a burst of tears, and she sobbed more bitterly than ever.
+
+As the night wore on, and they proceeded by ways which were quite
+unknown to them--for they could recognise none of the objects of which
+they sometimes caught a hurried glimpse--their fears increased; nor were
+they without good foundation; it was not difficult for two beautiful
+young women to find, in their being borne they knew not whither by a
+band of daring villains who eyed them as some among these fellows did,
+reasons for the worst alarm. When they at last entered London, by a
+suburb with which they were wholly unacquainted, it was past midnight,
+and the streets were dark and empty. Nor was this the worst, for the
+carriage stopping in a lonely spot, Hugh suddenly opened the door,
+jumped in, and took his seat between them.
+
+It was in vain they cried for help. He put his arm about the neck of
+each, and swore to stifle them with kisses if they were not as silent as
+the grave.
+
+'I come here to keep you quiet,' he said, 'and that's the means I shall
+take. So don't be quiet, pretty mistresses--make a noise--do--and I
+shall like it all the better.'
+
+They were proceeding at a rapid pace, and apparently with fewer
+attendants than before, though it was so dark (the torches being
+extinguished) that this was mere conjecture. They shrunk from his touch,
+each into the farthest corner of the carriage; but shrink as Dolly
+would, his arm encircled her waist, and held her fast. She neither cried
+nor spoke, for terror and disgust deprived her of the power; but she
+plucked at his hand as though she would die in the effort to disengage
+herself; and crouching on the ground, with her head averted and held
+down, repelled him with a strength she wondered at as much as he. The
+carriage stopped again.
+
+'Lift this one out,' said Hugh to the man who opened the door, as
+he took Miss Haredale's hand, and felt how heavily it fell. 'She's
+fainted.'
+
+'So much the better,' growled Dennis--it was that amiable gentleman.
+'She's quiet. I always like 'em to faint, unless they're very tender and
+composed.'
+
+'Can you take her by yourself?' asked Hugh.
+
+'I don't know till I try. I ought to be able to; I've lifted up a good
+many in my time,' said the hangman. 'Up then! She's no small weight,
+brother; none of these here fine gals are. Up again! Now we have her.'
+
+Having by this time hoisted the young lady into his arms, he staggered
+off with his burden.
+
+'Look ye, pretty bird,' said Hugh, drawing Dolly towards him. 'Remember
+what I told you--a kiss for every cry. Scream, if you love me, darling.
+Scream once, mistress. Pretty mistress, only once, if you love me.'
+
+Thrusting his face away with all her force, and holding down her head,
+Dolly submitted to be carried out of the chaise, and borne after Miss
+Haredale into a miserable cottage, where Hugh, after hugging her to his
+breast, set her gently down upon the floor.
+
+Poor Dolly! Do what she would, she only looked the better for it, and
+tempted them the more. When her eyes flashed angrily, and her ripe lips
+slightly parted, to give her rapid breathing vent, who could resist it?
+When she wept and sobbed as though her heart would break, and bemoaned
+her miseries in the sweetest voice that ever fell upon a listener's ear,
+who could be insensible to the little winning pettishness which now
+and then displayed itself, even in the sincerity and earnestness of her
+grief? When, forgetful for a moment of herself, as she was now, she fell
+on her knees beside her friend, and bent over her, and laid her cheek
+to hers, and put her arms about her, what mortal eyes could have avoided
+wandering to the delicate bodice, the streaming hair, the neglected
+dress, the perfect abandonment and unconsciousness of the blooming
+little beauty? Who could look on and see her lavish caresses and
+endearments, and not desire to be in Emma Haredale's place; to be either
+her or Dolly; either the hugging or the hugged? Not Hugh. Not Dennis.
+
+'I tell you what it is, young women,' said Mr Dennis, 'I an't much of a
+lady's man myself, nor am I a party in the present business further than
+lending a willing hand to my friends: but if I see much more of this
+here sort of thing, I shall become a principal instead of a accessory. I
+tell you candid.'
+
+'Why have you brought us here?' said Emma. 'Are we to be murdered?'
+
+'Murdered!' cried Dennis, sitting down upon a stool, and regarding her
+with great favour. 'Why, my dear, who'd murder sich chickabiddies as
+you? If you was to ask me, now, whether you was brought here to be
+married, there might be something in it.'
+
+And here he exchanged a grin with Hugh, who removed his eyes from Dolly
+for the purpose.
+
+'No, no,' said Dennis, 'there'll be no murdering, my pets. Nothing of
+that sort. Quite the contrairy.'
+
+'You are an older man than your companion, sir,' said Emma, trembling.
+'Have you no pity for us? Do you not consider that we are women?'
+
+'I do indeed, my dear,' retorted Dennis. 'It would be very hard not to,
+with two such specimens afore my eyes. Ha ha! Oh yes, I consider that.
+We all consider that, miss.'
+
+He shook his head waggishly, leered at Hugh again, and laughed very
+much, as if he had said a noble thing, and rather thought he was coming
+out.
+
+'There'll be no murdering, my dear. Not a bit on it. I tell you what
+though, brother,' said Dennis, cocking his hat for the convenience
+of scratching his head, and looking gravely at Hugh, 'it's worthy of
+notice, as a proof of the amazing equalness and dignity of our law, that
+it don't make no distinction between men and women. I've heerd the judge
+say, sometimes, to a highwayman or housebreaker as had tied the ladies
+neck and heels--you'll excuse me making mention of it, my darlings--and
+put 'em in a cellar, that he showed no consideration to women. Now, I
+say that there judge didn't know his business, brother; and that if
+I had been that there highwayman or housebreaker, I should have made
+answer: "What are you a talking of, my lord? I showed the women as much
+consideration as the law does, and what more would you have me do?" If
+you was to count up in the newspapers the number of females as have
+been worked off in this here city alone, in the last ten year,' said Mr
+Dennis thoughtfully, 'you'd be surprised at the total--quite amazed, you
+would. There's a dignified and equal thing; a beautiful thing! But we've
+no security for its lasting. Now that they've begun to favour these here
+Papists, I shouldn't wonder if they went and altered even THAT, one of
+these days. Upon my soul, I shouldn't.'
+
+The subject, perhaps from being of too exclusive and professional a
+nature, failed to interest Hugh as much as his friend had anticipated.
+But he had no time to pursue it, for at this crisis Mr Tappertit entered
+precipitately; at sight of whom Dolly uttered a scream of joy, and
+fairly threw herself into his arms.
+
+'I knew it, I was sure of it!' cried Dolly. 'My dear father's at the
+door. Thank God, thank God! Bless you, Sim. Heaven bless you for this!'
+
+Simon Tappertit, who had at first implicitly believed that the
+locksmith's daughter, unable any longer to suppress her secret passion
+for himself, was about to give it full vent in its intensity, and to
+declare that she was his for ever, looked extremely foolish when she
+said these words;--the more so, as they were received by Hugh and Dennis
+with a loud laugh, which made her draw back, and regard him with a fixed
+and earnest look.
+
+'Miss Haredale,' said Sim, after a very awkward silence, 'I hope
+you're as comfortable as circumstances will permit of. Dolly Varden,
+my darling--my own, my lovely one--I hope YOU'RE pretty comfortable
+likewise.'
+
+Poor little Dolly! She saw how it was; hid her face in her hands; and
+sobbed more bitterly than ever.
+
+'You meet in me, Miss V.,' said Simon, laying his hand upon his breast,
+'not a 'prentice, not a workman, not a slave, not the wictim of your
+father's tyrannical behaviour, but the leader of a great people, the
+captain of a noble band, in which these gentlemen are, as I may say,
+corporals and serjeants. You behold in me, not a private individual, but
+a public character; not a mender of locks, but a healer of the wounds of
+his unhappy country. Dolly V., sweet Dolly V., for how many years have
+I looked forward to this present meeting! For how many years has it been
+my intention to exalt and ennoble you! I redeem it. Behold in me, your
+husband. Yes, beautiful Dolly--charmer--enslaver--S. Tappertit is all
+your own!'
+
+As he said these words he advanced towards her. Dolly retreated till she
+could go no farther, and then sank down upon the floor. Thinking it very
+possible that this might be maiden modesty, Simon essayed to raise her;
+on which Dolly, goaded to desperation, wound her hands in his hair, and
+crying out amidst her tears that he was a dreadful little wretch, and
+always had been, shook, and pulled, and beat him, until he was fain to
+call for help, most lustily. Hugh had never admired her half so much as
+at that moment.
+
+'She's in an excited state to-night,' said Simon, as he smoothed his
+rumpled feathers, 'and don't know when she's well off. Let her be by
+herself till to-morrow, and that'll bring her down a little. Carry her
+into the next house!'
+
+Hugh had her in his arms directly. It might be that Mr Tappertit's heart
+was really softened by her distress, or it might be that he felt it in
+some degree indecorous that his intended bride should be struggling in
+the grasp of another man. He commanded him, on second thoughts, to put
+her down again, and looked moodily on as she flew to Miss Haredale's
+side, and clinging to her dress, hid her flushed face in its folds.
+
+'They shall remain here together till to-morrow,' said Simon, who had
+now quite recovered his dignity--'till to-morrow. Come away!'
+
+'Ay!' cried Hugh. 'Come away, captain. Ha ha ha!'
+
+'What are you laughing at?' demanded Simon sternly.
+
+'Nothing, captain, nothing,' Hugh rejoined; and as he spoke, and clapped
+his hand upon the shoulder of the little man, he laughed again, for some
+unknown reason, with tenfold violence.
+
+Mr Tappertit surveyed him from head to foot with lofty scorn (this only
+made him laugh the more), and turning to the prisoners, said:
+
+'You'll take notice, ladies, that this place is well watched on every
+side, and that the least noise is certain to be attended with unpleasant
+consequences. You'll hear--both of you--more of our intentions
+to-morrow. In the mean time, don't show yourselves at the window, or
+appeal to any of the people you may see pass it; for if you do, it'll
+be known directly that you come from a Catholic house, and all the
+exertions our men can make, may not be able to save your lives.'
+
+With this last caution, which was true enough, he turned to the door,
+followed by Hugh and Dennis. They paused for a moment, going out, to
+look at them clasped in each other's arms, and then left the cottage;
+fastening the door, and setting a good watch upon it, and indeed all
+round the house.
+
+'I say,' growled Dennis, as they walked away in company, 'that's a
+dainty pair. Muster Gashford's one is as handsome as the other, eh?'
+
+'Hush!' said Hugh, hastily. 'Don't you mention names. It's a bad habit.'
+
+'I wouldn't like to be HIM, then (as you don't like names), when he
+breaks it out to her; that's all,' said Dennis. 'She's one of them fine,
+black-eyed, proud gals, as I wouldn't trust at such times with a knife
+too near 'em. I've seen some of that sort, afore now. I recollect one
+that was worked off, many year ago--and there was a gentleman in that
+case too--that says to me, with her lip a trembling, but her hand as
+steady as ever I see one: "Dennis, I'm near my end, but if I had a
+dagger in these fingers, and he was within my reach, I'd strike him dead
+afore me;"--ah, she did--and she'd have done it too!'
+
+Strike who dead?' demanded Hugh.
+
+'How should I know, brother?' answered Dennis. 'SHE never said; not
+she.'
+
+Hugh looked, for a moment, as though he would have made some further
+inquiry into this incoherent recollection; but Simon Tappertit, who had
+been meditating deeply, gave his thoughts a new direction.
+
+'Hugh!' said Sim. 'You have done well to-day. You shall be rewarded.
+So have you, Dennis.--There's no young woman YOU want to carry off, is
+there?'
+
+'N--no,' returned that gentleman, stroking his grizzly beard, which was
+some two inches long. 'None in partickler, I think.'
+
+'Very good,' said Sim; 'then we'll find some other way of making it up
+to you. As to you, old boy'--he turned to Hugh--'you shall have Miggs
+(her that I promised you, you know) within three days. Mind. I pass my
+word for it.'
+
+Hugh thanked him heartily; and as he did so, his laughing fit returned
+with such violence that he was obliged to hold his side with one hand,
+and to lean with the other on the shoulder of his small captain, without
+whose support he would certainly have rolled upon the ground.
+
+
+
+Chapter 60
+
+
+The three worthies turned their faces towards The Boot, with the
+intention of passing the night in that place of rendezvous, and of
+seeking the repose they so much needed in the shelter of their old
+den; for now that the mischief and destruction they had purposed were
+achieved, and their prisoners were safely bestowed for the night, they
+began to be conscious of exhaustion, and to feel the wasting effects of
+the madness which had led to such deplorable results.
+
+Notwithstanding the lassitude and fatigue which oppressed him now, in
+common with his two companions, and indeed with all who had taken an
+active share in that night's work, Hugh's boisterous merriment broke out
+afresh whenever he looked at Simon Tappertit, and vented itself--much to
+that gentleman's indignation--in such shouts of laughter as bade fair to
+bring the watch upon them, and involve them in a skirmish, to which in
+their present worn-out condition they might prove by no means equal.
+Even Mr Dennis, who was not at all particular on the score of gravity
+or dignity, and who had a great relish for his young friend's eccentric
+humours, took occasion to remonstrate with him on this imprudent
+behaviour, which he held to be a species of suicide, tantamount to a
+man's working himself off without being overtaken by the law, than which
+he could imagine nothing more ridiculous or impertinent.
+
+Not abating one jot of his noisy mirth for these remonstrances, Hugh
+reeled along between them, having an arm of each, until they hove in
+sight of The Boot, and were within a field or two of that convenient
+tavern. He happened by great good luck to have roared and shouted
+himself into silence by this time. They were proceeding onward without
+noise, when a scout who had been creeping about the ditches all night,
+to warn any stragglers from encroaching further on what was now such
+dangerous ground, peeped cautiously from his hiding-place, and called to
+them to stop.
+
+'Stop! and why?' said Hugh.
+
+Because (the scout replied) the house was filled with constables and
+soldiers; having been surprised that afternoon. The inmates had fled
+or been taken into custody, he could not say which. He had prevented a
+great many people from approaching nearer, and he believed they had
+gone to the markets and such places to pass the night. He had seen the
+distant fires, but they were all out now. He had heard the people who
+passed and repassed, speaking of them too, and could report that the
+prevailing opinion was one of apprehension and dismay. He had not heard
+a word of Barnaby--didn't even know his name--but it had been said in
+his hearing that some man had been taken and carried off to Newgate.
+Whether this was true or false, he could not affirm.
+
+The three took counsel together, on hearing this, and debated what it
+might be best to do. Hugh, deeming it possible that Barnaby was in the
+hands of the soldiers, and at that moment under detention at The Boot,
+was for advancing stealthily, and firing the house; but his companions,
+who objected to such rash measures unless they had a crowd at their
+backs, represented that if Barnaby were taken he had assuredly been
+removed to a stronger prison; they would never have dreamed of keeping
+him all night in a place so weak and open to attack. Yielding to this
+reasoning, and to their persuasions, Hugh consented to turn back and
+to repair to Fleet Market; for which place, it seemed, a few of their
+boldest associates had shaped their course, on receiving the same
+intelligence.
+
+Feeling their strength recruited and their spirits roused, now that
+there was a new necessity for action, they hurried away, quite forgetful
+of the fatigue under which they had been sinking but a few minutes
+before; and soon arrived at their new place of destination.
+
+Fleet Market, at that time, was a long irregular row of wooden sheds
+and penthouses, occupying the centre of what is now called Farringdon
+Street. They were jumbled together in a most unsightly fashion, in the
+middle of the road; to the great obstruction of the thoroughfare and the
+annoyance of passengers, who were fain to make their way, as they best
+could, among carts, baskets, barrows, trucks, casks, bulks, and benches,
+and to jostle with porters, hucksters, waggoners, and a motley crowd
+of buyers, sellers, pick-pockets, vagrants, and idlers. The air was
+perfumed with the stench of rotten leaves and faded fruit; the refuse of
+the butchers' stalls, and offal and garbage of a hundred kinds. It
+was indispensable to most public conveniences in those days, that they
+should be public nuisances likewise; and Fleet Market maintained the
+principle to admiration.
+
+To this place, perhaps because its sheds and baskets were a tolerable
+substitute for beds, or perhaps because it afforded the means of a hasty
+barricade in case of need, many of the rioters had straggled, not only
+that night, but for two or three nights before. It was now broad day,
+but the morning being cold, a group of them were gathered round a fire
+in a public-house, drinking hot purl, and smoking pipes, and planning
+new schemes for to-morrow.
+
+Hugh and his two friends being known to most of these men, were received
+with signal marks of approbation, and inducted into the most honourable
+seats. The room-door was closed and fastened to keep intruders at a
+distance, and then they proceeded to exchange news.
+
+'The soldiers have taken possession of The Boot, I hear,' said Hugh.
+'Who knows anything about it?'
+
+Several cried that they did; but the majority of the company having
+been engaged in the assault upon the Warren, and all present having been
+concerned in one or other of the night's expeditions, it proved that
+they knew no more than Hugh himself; having been merely warned by each
+other, or by the scout, and knowing nothing of their own knowledge.
+
+'We left a man on guard there to-day,' said Hugh, looking round him,
+'who is not here. You know who it is--Barnaby, who brought the soldier
+down, at Westminster. Has any man seen or heard of him?'
+
+They shook their heads, and murmured an answer in the negative, as each
+man looked round and appealed to his fellow; when a noise was heard
+without, and a man was heard to say that he wanted Hugh--that he must
+see Hugh.
+
+'He is but one man,' cried Hugh to those who kept the door; 'let him
+come in.'
+
+'Ay, ay!' muttered the others. 'Let him come in. Let him come in.'
+
+The door was accordingly unlocked and opened. A one-armed man, with
+his head and face tied up with a bloody cloth, as though he had been
+severely beaten, his clothes torn, and his remaining hand grasping a
+thick stick, rushed in among them, and panting for breath, demanded
+which was Hugh.
+
+'Here he is,' replied the person he inquired for. 'I am Hugh. What do
+you want with me?'
+
+'I have a message for you,' said the man. 'You know one Barnaby.'
+
+'What of him? Did he send the message?'
+
+'Yes. He's taken. He's in one of the strong cells in Newgate. He
+defended himself as well as he could, but was overpowered by numbers.
+That's his message.'
+
+'When did you see him?' asked Hugh, hastily.
+
+'On his way to prison, where he was taken by a party of soldiers. They
+took a by-road, and not the one we expected. I was one of the few who
+tried to rescue him, and he called to me, and told me to tell Hugh where
+he was. We made a good struggle, though it failed. Look here!'
+
+He pointed to his dress and to his bandaged head, and still panting for
+breath, glanced round the room; then faced towards Hugh again.
+
+'I know you by sight,' he said, 'for I was in the crowd on Friday, and
+on Saturday, and yesterday, but I didn't know your name. You're a bold
+fellow, I know. So is he. He fought like a lion tonight, but it was of
+no use. I did my best, considering that I want this limb.'
+
+Again he glanced inquisitively round the room or seemed to do so, for
+his face was nearly hidden by the bandage--and again facing sharply
+towards Hugh, grasped his stick as if he half expected to be set upon,
+and stood on the defensive.
+
+If he had any such apprehension, however, he was speedily reassured by
+the demeanour of all present. None thought of the bearer of the tidings.
+He was lost in the news he brought. Oaths, threats, and execrations,
+were vented on all sides. Some cried that if they bore this tamely,
+another day would see them all in jail; some, that they should have
+rescued the other prisoners, and this would not have happened. One man
+cried in a loud voice, 'Who'll follow me to Newgate!' and there was a
+loud shout and general rush towards the door.
+
+But Hugh and Dennis stood with their backs against it, and kept them
+back, until the clamour had so far subsided that their voices could be
+heard, when they called to them together that to go now, in broad day,
+would be madness; and that if they waited until night and arranged a
+plan of attack, they might release, not only their own companions, but
+all the prisoners, and burn down the jail.
+
+'Not that jail alone,' cried Hugh, 'but every jail in London. They shall
+have no place to put their prisoners in. We'll burn them all down; make
+bonfires of them every one! Here!' he cried, catching at the hangman's
+hand. 'Let all who're men here, join with us. Shake hands upon it.
+Barnaby out of jail, and not a jail left standing! Who joins?'
+
+Every man there. And they swore a great oath to release their friends
+from Newgate next night; to force the doors and burn the jail; or perish
+in the fire themselves.
+
+
+
+Chapter 61
+
+
+On that same night--events so crowd upon each other in convulsed and
+distracted times, that more than the stirring incidents of a whole life
+often become compressed into the compass of four-and-twenty hours--on
+that same night, Mr Haredale, having strongly bound his prisoner,
+with the assistance of the sexton, and forced him to mount his horse,
+conducted him to Chigwell; bent upon procuring a conveyance to London
+from that place, and carrying him at once before a justice. The
+disturbed state of the town would be, he knew, a sufficient reason for
+demanding the murderer's committal to prison before daybreak, as no man
+could answer for the security of any of the watch-houses or ordinary
+places of detention; and to convey a prisoner through the streets when
+the mob were again abroad, would not only be a task of great danger and
+hazard, but would be to challenge an attempt at rescue. Directing the
+sexton to lead the horse, he walked close by the murderer's side, and in
+this order they reached the village about the middle of the night.
+
+The people were all awake and up, for they were fearful of being burnt
+in their beds, and sought to comfort and assure each other by watching
+in company. A few of the stoutest-hearted were armed and gathered in a
+body on the green. To these, who knew him well, Mr Haredale addressed
+himself, briefly narrating what had happened, and beseeching them to aid
+in conveying the criminal to London before the dawn of day.
+
+But not a man among them dared to help him by so much as the motion of
+a finger. The rioters, in their passage through the village, had
+menaced with their fiercest vengeance, any person who should aid in
+extinguishing the fire, or render the least assistance to him, or any
+Catholic whomsoever. Their threats extended to their lives and all they
+possessed. They were assembled for their own protection, and could not
+endanger themselves by lending any aid to him. This they told him, not
+without hesitation and regret, as they kept aloof in the moonlight and
+glanced fearfully at the ghostly rider, who, with his head drooping on
+his breast and his hat slouched down upon his brow, neither moved nor
+spoke.
+
+Finding it impossible to persuade them, and indeed hardly knowing how
+to do so after what they had seen of the fury of the crowd, Mr Haredale
+besought them that at least they would leave him free to act for
+himself, and would suffer him to take the only chaise and pair of
+horses that the place afforded. This was not acceded to without some
+difficulty, but in the end they told him to do what he would, and go
+away from them in heaven's name.
+
+Leaving the sexton at the horse's bridle, he drew out the chaise
+with his own hands, and would have harnessed the horses, but that the
+post-boy of the village--a soft-hearted, good-for-nothing, vagabond kind
+of fellow--was moved by his earnestness and passion, and, throwing down
+a pitchfork with which he was armed, swore that the rioters might cut
+him into mincemeat if they liked, but he would not stand by and see
+an honest gentleman who had done no wrong, reduced to such extremity,
+without doing what he could to help him. Mr Haredale shook him warmly
+by the hand, and thanked him from his heart. In five minutes' time the
+chaise was ready, and this good scapegrace in his saddle. The murderer
+was put inside, the blinds were drawn up, the sexton took his seat upon
+the bar, Mr Haredale mounted his horse and rode close beside the door;
+and so they started in the dead of night, and in profound silence, for
+London.
+
+The consternation was so extreme that even the horses which had escaped
+the flames at the Warren, could find no friends to shelter them. They
+passed them on the road, browsing on the stunted grass; and the driver
+told them, that the poor beasts had wandered to the village first, but
+had been driven away, lest they should bring the vengeance of the crowd
+on any of the inhabitants.
+
+Nor was this feeling confined to such small places, where the people
+were timid, ignorant, and unprotected. When they came near London they
+met, in the grey light of morning, more than one poor Catholic family
+who, terrified by the threats and warnings of their neighbours, were
+quitting the city on foot, and who told them they could hire no cart or
+horse for the removal of their goods, and had been compelled to leave
+them behind, at the mercy of the crowd. Near Mile End they passed a
+house, the master of which, a Catholic gentleman of small means, having
+hired a waggon to remove his furniture by midnight, had had it all
+brought down into the street, to wait the vehicle's arrival, and save
+time in the packing. But the man with whom he made the bargain, alarmed
+by the fires that night, and by the sight of the rioters passing his
+door, had refused to keep it: and the poor gentleman, with his wife and
+servant and their little children, were sitting trembling among their
+goods in the open street, dreading the arrival of day and not knowing
+where to turn or what to do.
+
+It was the same, they heard, with the public conveyances. The panic
+was so great that the mails and stage-coaches were afraid to carry
+passengers who professed the obnoxious religion. If the drivers knew
+them, or they admitted that they held that creed, they would not take
+them, no, though they offered large sums; and yesterday, people had
+been afraid to recognise Catholic acquaintance in the streets, lest
+they should be marked by spies, and burnt out, as it was called, in
+consequence. One mild old man--a priest, whose chapel was destroyed;
+a very feeble, patient, inoffensive creature--who was trudging away,
+alone, designing to walk some distance from town, and then try his
+fortune with the coaches, told Mr Haredale that he feared he might not
+find a magistrate who would have the hardihood to commit a prisoner to
+jail, on his complaint. But notwithstanding these discouraging accounts
+they went on, and reached the Mansion House soon after sunrise.
+
+Mr Haredale threw himself from his horse, but he had no need to knock
+at the door, for it was already open, and there stood upon the step
+a portly old man, with a very red, or rather purple face, who with an
+anxious expression of countenance, was remonstrating with some unseen
+personage upstairs, while the porter essayed to close the door by
+degrees and get rid of him. With the intense impatience and excitement
+natural to one in his condition, Mr Haredale thrust himself forward and
+was about to speak, when the fat old gentleman interposed:
+
+'My good sir,' said he, 'pray let me get an answer. This is the sixth
+time I have been here. I was here five times yesterday. My house is
+threatened with destruction. It is to be burned down to-night, and was
+to have been last night, but they had other business on their hands.
+Pray let me get an answer.'
+
+'My good sir,' returned Mr Haredale, shaking his head, 'my house is
+burned to the ground. But heaven forbid that yours should be. Get your
+answer. Be brief, in mercy to me.'
+
+'Now, you hear this, my lord?'--said the old gentleman, calling up
+the stairs, to where the skirt of a dressing-gown fluttered on the
+landing-place. 'Here is a gentleman here, whose house was actually burnt
+down last night.'
+
+'Dear me, dear me,' replied a testy voice, 'I am very sorry for it, but
+what am I to do? I can't build it up again. The chief magistrate of the
+city can't go and be a rebuilding of people's houses, my good sir. Stuff
+and nonsense!'
+
+'But the chief magistrate of the city can prevent people's houses from
+having any need to be rebuilt, if the chief magistrate's a man, and
+not a dummy--can't he, my lord?' cried the old gentleman in a choleric
+manner.
+
+'You are disrespectable, sir,' said the Lord Mayor--'leastways,
+disrespectful I mean.'
+
+'Disrespectful, my lord!' returned the old gentleman. 'I was respectful
+five times yesterday. I can't be respectful for ever. Men can't stand
+on being respectful when their houses are going to be burnt over their
+heads, with them in 'em. What am I to do, my lord? AM I to have any
+protection!'
+
+'I told you yesterday, sir,' said the Lord Mayor, 'that you might have
+an alderman in your house, if you could get one to come.'
+
+'What the devil's the good of an alderman?' returned the choleric old
+gentleman.
+
+'--To awe the crowd, sir,' said the Lord Mayor.
+
+'Oh Lord ha' mercy!' whimpered the old gentleman, as he wiped his
+forehead in a state of ludicrous distress, 'to think of sending an
+alderman to awe a crowd! Why, my lord, if they were even so many babies,
+fed on mother's milk, what do you think they'd care for an alderman!
+Will YOU come?'
+
+'I!' said the Lord Mayor, most emphatically: 'Certainly not.'
+
+'Then what,' returned the old gentleman, 'what am I to do? Am I a
+citizen of England? Am I to have the benefit of the laws? Am I to have
+any return for the King's taxes?'
+
+'I don't know, I am sure,' said the Lord Mayor; 'what a pity it is
+you're a Catholic! Why couldn't you be a Protestant, and then you
+wouldn't have got yourself into such a mess? I'm sure I don't know
+what's to be done.--There are great people at the bottom of these
+riots.--Oh dear me, what a thing it is to be a public character!--You
+must look in again in the course of the day.--Would a javelin-man
+do?--Or there's Philips the constable,--HE'S disengaged,--he's not very
+old for a man at his time of life, except in his legs, and if you put
+him up at a window he'd look quite young by candle-light, and might
+frighten 'em very much.--Oh dear!--well!--we'll see about it.'
+
+'Stop!' cried Mr Haredale, pressing the door open as the porter strove
+to shut it, and speaking rapidly, 'My Lord Mayor, I beg you not to go
+away. I have a man here, who committed a murder eight-and-twenty years
+ago. Half-a-dozen words from me, on oath, will justify you in committing
+him to prison for re-examination. I only seek, just now, to have him
+consigned to a place of safety. The least delay may involve his being
+rescued by the rioters.'
+
+'Oh dear me!' cried the Lord Mayor. 'God bless my soul--and body--oh
+Lor!--well I!--there are great people at the bottom of these riots, you
+know.--You really mustn't.'
+
+'My lord,' said Mr Haredale, 'the murdered gentleman was my brother; I
+succeeded to his inheritance; there were not wanting slanderous tongues
+at that time, to whisper that the guilt of this most foul and cruel deed
+was mine--mine, who loved him, as he knows, in Heaven, dearly. The time
+has come, after all these years of gloom and misery, for avenging him,
+and bringing to light a crime so artful and so devilish that it has no
+parallel. Every second's delay on your part loosens this man's bloody
+hands again, and leads to his escape. My lord, I charge you hear me, and
+despatch this matter on the instant.'
+
+'Oh dear me!' cried the chief magistrate; 'these an't business
+hours, you know--I wonder at you--how ungentlemanly it is of you--you
+mustn't--you really mustn't.--And I suppose you are a Catholic too?'
+
+'I am,' said Mr Haredale.
+
+'God bless my soul, I believe people turn Catholics a'purpose to vex
+and worrit me,' cried the Lord Mayor. 'I wish you wouldn't come here;
+they'll be setting the Mansion House afire next, and we shall have you
+to thank for it. You must lock your prisoner up, sir--give him to a
+watchman--and--call again at a proper time. Then we'll see about it!'
+
+Before Mr Haredale could answer, the sharp closing of a door and drawing
+of its bolts, gave notice that the Lord Mayor had retreated to his
+bedroom, and that further remonstrance would be unavailing. The two
+clients retreated likewise, and the porter shut them out into the
+street.
+
+'That's the way he puts me off,' said the old gentleman, 'I can get no
+redress and no help. What are you going to do, sir?'
+
+'To try elsewhere,' answered Mr Haredale, who was by this time on
+horseback.
+
+'I feel for you, I assure you--and well I may, for we are in a common
+cause,' said the old gentleman. 'I may not have a house to offer you
+to-night; let me tender it while I can. On second thoughts though,' he
+added, putting up a pocket-book he had produced while speaking, 'I'll
+not give you a card, for if it was found upon you, it might get you
+into trouble. Langdale--that's my name--vintner and distiller--Holborn
+Hill--you're heartily welcome, if you'll come.'
+
+Mr Haredale bowed, and rode off, close beside the chaise as before;
+determining to repair to the house of Sir John Fielding, who had the
+reputation of being a bold and active magistrate, and fully resolved, in
+case the rioters should come upon them, to do execution on the murderer
+with his own hands, rather than suffer him to be released.
+
+They arrived at the magistrate's dwelling, however, without molestation
+(for the mob, as we have seen, were then intent on deeper schemes), and
+knocked at the door. As it had been pretty generally rumoured that Sir
+John was proscribed by the rioters, a body of thief-takers had been
+keeping watch in the house all night. To one of them Mr Haredale stated
+his business, which appearing to the man of sufficient moment to warrant
+his arousing the justice, procured him an immediate audience.
+
+No time was lost in committing the murderer to Newgate; then a new
+building, recently completed at a vast expense, and considered to be of
+enormous strength. The warrant being made out, three of the thief-takers
+bound him afresh (he had been struggling, it seemed, in the chaise, and
+had loosened his manacles); gagged him lest they should meet with any
+of the mob, and he should call to them for help; and seated themselves,
+along with him, in the carriage. These men being all well armed, made
+a formidable escort; but they drew up the blinds again, as though the
+carriage were empty, and directed Mr Haredale to ride forward, that he
+might not attract attention by seeming to belong to it.
+
+The wisdom of this proceeding was sufficiently obvious, for as they
+hurried through the city they passed among several groups of men, who,
+if they had not supposed the chaise to be quite empty, would certainly
+have stopped it. But those within keeping quite close, and the driver
+tarrying to be asked no questions, they reached the prison without
+interruption, and, once there, had him out, and safe within its gloomy
+walls, in a twinkling.
+
+With eager eyes and strained attention, Mr Haredale saw him chained, and
+locked and barred up in his cell. Nay, when he had left the jail, and
+stood in the free street, without, he felt the iron plates upon the
+doors, with his hands, and drew them over the stone wall, to assure
+himself that it was real; and to exult in its being so strong, and
+rough, and cold. It was not until he turned his back upon the jail, and
+glanced along the empty streets, so lifeless and quiet in the bright
+morning, that he felt the weight upon his heart; that he knew he was
+tortured by anxiety for those he had left at home; and that home itself
+was but another bead in the long rosary of his regrets.
+
+
+
+Chapter 62
+
+
+The prisoner, left to himself, sat down upon his bedstead: and resting
+his elbows on his knees, and his chin upon his hands, remained in
+that attitude for hours. It would be hard to say, of what nature his
+reflections were. They had no distinctness, and, saving for some
+flashes now and then, no reference to his condition or the train of
+circumstances by which it had been brought about. The cracks in the
+pavement of his cell, the chinks in the wall where stone was joined
+to stone, the bars in the window, the iron ring upon the floor,--such
+things as these, subsiding strangely into one another, and awakening an
+indescribable kind of interest and amusement, engrossed his whole mind;
+and although at the bottom of his every thought there was an uneasy
+sense of guilt, and dread of death, he felt no more than that vague
+consciousness of it, which a sleeper has of pain. It pursues him through
+his dreams, gnaws at the heart of all his fancied pleasures, robs the
+banquet of its taste, music of its sweetness, makes happiness itself
+unhappy, and yet is no bodily sensation, but a phantom without shape,
+or form, or visible presence; pervading everything, but having no
+existence; recognisable everywhere, but nowhere seen, or touched, or met
+with face to face, until the sleep is past, and waking agony returns.
+
+After a long time the door of his cell opened. He looked up; saw the
+blind man enter; and relapsed into his former position.
+
+Guided by his breathing, the visitor advanced to where he sat; and
+stopping beside him, and stretching out his hand to assure himself that
+he was right, remained, for a good space, silent.
+
+'This is bad, Rudge. This is bad,' he said at length.
+
+The prisoner shuffled with his feet upon the ground in turning his body
+from him, but made no other answer.
+
+'How were you taken?' he asked. 'And where? You never told me more than
+half your secret. No matter; I know it now. How was it, and where, eh?'
+he asked again, coming still nearer to him.
+
+'At Chigwell,' said the other.
+
+'At Chigwell! How came you there?'
+
+'Because I went there to avoid the man I stumbled on,' he answered.
+'Because I was chased and driven there, by him and Fate. Because I was
+urged to go there, by something stronger than my own will. When I found
+him watching in the house she used to live in, night after night, I knew
+I never could escape him--never! and when I heard the Bell--'
+
+He shivered; muttered that it was very cold; paced quickly up and down
+the narrow cell; and sitting down again, fell into his old posture.
+
+'You were saying,' said the blind man, after another pause, 'that when
+you heard the Bell--'
+
+'Let it be, will you?' he retorted in a hurried voice. 'It hangs there
+yet.'
+
+The blind man turned a wistful and inquisitive face towards him, but he
+continued to speak, without noticing him.
+
+'I went to Chigwell, in search of the mob. I have been so hunted and
+beset by this man, that I knew my only hope of safety lay in joining
+them. They had gone on before; I followed them when it left off.'
+
+'When what left off?'
+
+'The Bell. They had quitted the place. I hoped that some of them might
+be still lingering among the ruins, and was searching for them when
+I heard--' he drew a long breath, and wiped his forehead with his
+sleeve--'his voice.'
+
+'Saying what?'
+
+'No matter what. I don't know. I was then at the foot of the turret,
+where I did the--'
+
+'Ay,' said the blind man, nodding his head with perfect composure, 'I
+understand.'
+
+'I climbed the stair, or so much of it as was left; meaning to hide till
+he had gone. But he heard me; and followed almost as soon as I set foot
+upon the ashes.'
+
+'You might have hidden in the wall, and thrown him down, or stabbed
+him,' said the blind man.
+
+'Might I? Between that man and me, was one who led him on--I saw it,
+though he did not--and raised above his head a bloody hand. It was in
+the room above that HE and I stood glaring at each other on the night of
+the murder, and before he fell he raised his hand like that, and fixed
+his eyes on me. I knew the chase would end there.'
+
+'You have a strong fancy,' said the blind man, with a smile.
+
+'Strengthen yours with blood, and see what it will come to.'
+
+He groaned, and rocked himself, and looking up for the first time, said,
+in a low, hollow voice:
+
+'Eight-and-twenty years! Eight-and-twenty years! He has never changed
+in all that time, never grown older, nor altered in the least degree.
+He has been before me in the dark night, and the broad sunny day; in the
+twilight, the moonlight, the sunlight, the light of fire, and lamp,
+and candle; and in the deepest gloom. Always the same! In company, in
+solitude, on land, on shipboard; sometimes leaving me alone for months,
+and sometimes always with me. I have seen him, at sea, come gliding in
+the dead of night along the bright reflection of the moon in the calm
+water; and I have seen him, on quays and market-places, with his hand
+uplifted, towering, the centre of a busy crowd, unconscious of the
+terrible form that had its silent stand among them. Fancy! Are you real?
+Am I? Are these iron fetters, riveted on me by the smith's hammer, or
+are they fancies I can shatter at a blow?'
+
+The blind man listened in silence.
+
+'Fancy! Do I fancy that I killed him? Do I fancy that as I left the
+chamber where he lay, I saw the face of a man peeping from a dark door,
+who plainly showed me by his fearful looks that he suspected what I
+had done? Do I remember that I spoke fairly to him--that I drew
+nearer--nearer yet--with the hot knife in my sleeve? Do I fancy how HE
+died? Did he stagger back into the angle of the wall into which I had
+hemmed him, and, bleeding inwardly, stand, not fall, a corpse before
+me? Did I see him, for an instant, as I see you now, erect and on his
+feet--but dead!'
+
+The blind man, who knew that he had risen, motioned him to sit down
+again upon his bedstead; but he took no notice of the gesture.
+
+'It was then I thought, for the first time, of fastening the murder upon
+him. It was then I dressed him in my clothes, and dragged him down
+the back-stairs to the piece of water. Do I remember listening to the
+bubbles that came rising up when I had rolled him in? Do I remember
+wiping the water from my face, and because the body splashed it there,
+in its descent, feeling as if it MUST be blood?
+
+'Did I go home when I had done? And oh, my God! how long it took to do!
+Did I stand before my wife, and tell her? Did I see her fall upon the
+ground; and, when I stooped to raise her, did she thrust me back with a
+force that cast me off as if I had been a child, staining the hand with
+which she clasped my wrist? Is THAT fancy?
+
+'Did she go down upon her knees, and call on Heaven to witness that she
+and her unborn child renounced me from that hour; and did she, in words
+so solemn that they turned me cold--me, fresh from the horrors my own
+hands had made--warn me to fly while there was time; for though she
+would be silent, being my wretched wife, she would not shelter me? Did I
+go forth that night, abjured of God and man, and anchored deep in hell,
+to wander at my cable's length about the earth, and surely be drawn down
+at last?'
+
+'Why did you return? said the blind man.
+
+'Why is blood red? I could no more help it, than I could live without
+breath. I struggled against the impulse, but I was drawn back, through
+every difficult and adverse circumstance, as by a mighty engine. Nothing
+could stop me. The day and hour were none of my choice. Sleeping and
+waking, I had been among the old haunts for years--had visited my own
+grave. Why did I come back? Because this jail was gaping for me, and he
+stood beckoning at the door.'
+
+'You were not known?' said the blind man.
+
+'I was a man who had been twenty-two years dead. No. I was not known.'
+
+'You should have kept your secret better.'
+
+'MY secret? MINE? It was a secret, any breath of air could whisper at
+its will. The stars had it in their twinkling, the water in its flowing,
+the leaves in their rustling, the seasons in their return. It lurked
+in strangers' faces, and their voices. Everything had lips on which it
+always trembled.--MY secret!'
+
+'It was revealed by your own act at any rate,' said the blind man.
+
+'The act was not mine. I did it, but it was not mine. I was forced
+at times to wander round, and round, and round that spot. If you had
+chained me up when the fit was on me, I should have broken away, and
+gone there. As truly as the loadstone draws iron towards it, so he,
+lying at the bottom of his grave, could draw me near him when he would.
+Was that fancy? Did I like to go there, or did I strive and wrestle with
+the power that forced me?'
+
+The blind man shrugged his shoulders, and smiled incredulously. The
+prisoner again resumed his old attitude, and for a long time both were
+mute.
+
+'I suppose then,' said his visitor, at length breaking silence, 'that
+you are penitent and resigned; that you desire to make peace with
+everybody (in particular, with your wife who has brought you to this);
+and that you ask no greater favour than to be carried to Tyburn as soon
+as possible? That being the case, I had better take my leave. I am not
+good enough to be company for you.'
+
+'Have I not told you,' said the other fiercely, 'that I have striven
+and wrestled with the power that brought me here? Has my whole life, for
+eight-and-twenty years, been one perpetual struggle and resistance, and
+do you think I want to lie down and die? Do all men shrink from death--I
+most of all!'
+
+'That's better said. That's better spoken, Rudge--but I'll not call you
+that again--than anything you have said yet,' returned the blind man,
+speaking more familiarly, and laying his hands upon his arm. 'Lookye,--I
+never killed a man myself, for I have never been placed in a position
+that made it worth my while. Farther, I am not an advocate for killing
+men, and I don't think I should recommend it or like it--for it's very
+hazardous--under any circumstances. But as you had the misfortune to get
+into this trouble before I made your acquaintance, and as you have been
+my companion, and have been of use to me for a long time now, I overlook
+that part of the matter, and am only anxious that you shouldn't die
+unnecessarily. Now, I do not consider that, at present, it is at all
+necessary.'
+
+'What else is left me?' returned the prisoner. 'To eat my way through
+these walls with my teeth?'
+
+'Something easier than that,' returned his friend. 'Promise me that you
+will talk no more of these fancies of yours--idle, foolish things, quite
+beneath a man--and I'll tell you what I mean.'
+
+'Tell me,' said the other.
+
+'Your worthy lady with the tender conscience; your scrupulous, virtuous,
+punctilious, but not blindly affectionate wife--'
+
+'What of her?'
+
+'Is now in London.'
+
+'A curse upon her, be she where she may!'
+
+'That's natural enough. If she had taken her annuity as usual, you would
+not have been here, and we should have been better off. But that's apart
+from the business. She's in London. Scared, as I suppose, and have no
+doubt, by my representation when I waited upon her, that you were close
+at hand (which I, of course, urged only as an inducement to compliance,
+knowing that she was not pining to see you), she left that place, and
+travelled up to London.'
+
+'How do you know?'
+
+'From my friend the noble captain--the illustrious general--the bladder,
+Mr Tappertit. I learnt from him the last time I saw him, which was
+yesterday, that your son who is called Barnaby--not after his father, I
+suppose--'
+
+'Death! does that matter now!'
+
+'--You are impatient,' said the blind man, calmly; 'it's a good sign,
+and looks like life--that your son Barnaby had been lured away from her
+by one of his companions who knew him of old, at Chigwell; and that he
+is now among the rioters.'
+
+'And what is that to me? If father and son be hanged together, what
+comfort shall I find in that?'
+
+'Stay--stay, my friend,' returned the blind man, with a cunning look,
+'you travel fast to journeys' ends. Suppose I track my lady out, and say
+thus much: "You want your son, ma'am--good. I, knowing those who tempt
+him to remain among them, can restore him to you, ma'am--good. You must
+pay a price, ma'am, for his restoration--good again. The price is small,
+and easy to be paid--dear ma'am, that's best of all."'
+
+'What mockery is this?'
+
+'Very likely, she may reply in those words. "No mockery at all," I
+answer: "Madam, a person said to be your husband (identity is difficult
+of proof after the lapse of many years) is in prison, his life in
+peril--the charge against him, murder. Now, ma'am, your husband has been
+dead a long, long time. The gentleman never can be confounded with him,
+if you will have the goodness to say a few words, on oath, as to when he
+died, and how; and that this person (who I am told resembles him in some
+degree) is no more he than I am. Such testimony will set the question
+quite at rest. Pledge yourself to me to give it, ma' am, and I will
+undertake to keep your son (a fine lad) out of harm's way until you have
+done this trifling service, when he shall be delivered up to you, safe
+and sound. On the other hand, if you decline to do so, I fear he will be
+betrayed, and handed over to the law, which will assuredly sentence him
+to suffer death. It is, in fact, a choice between his life and death. If
+you refuse, he swings. If you comply, the timber is not grown, nor the
+hemp sown, that shall do him any harm."'
+
+'There is a gleam of hope in this!' cried the prisoner.
+
+'A gleam!' returned his friend, 'a noon-blaze; a full and glorious
+daylight. Hush! I hear the tread of distant feet. Rely on me.'
+
+'When shall I hear more?'
+
+'As soon as I do. I should hope, to-morrow. They are coming to say that
+our time for talk is over. I hear the jingling of the keys. Not another
+word of this just now, or they may overhear us.'
+
+As he said these words, the lock was turned, and one of the prison
+turnkeys appearing at the door, announced that it was time for visitors
+to leave the jail.
+
+'So soon!' said Stagg, meekly. 'But it can't be helped. Cheer up,
+friend. This mistake will soon be set at rest, and then you are a man
+again! If this charitable gentleman will lead a blind man (who has
+nothing in return but prayers) to the prison-porch, and set him with his
+face towards the west, he will do a worthy deed. Thank you, good sir. I
+thank you very kindly.'
+
+So saying, and pausing for an instant at the door to turn his grinning
+face towards his friend, he departed.
+
+When the officer had seen him to the porch, he returned, and again
+unlocking and unbarring the door of the cell, set it wide open,
+informing its inmate that he was at liberty to walk in the adjacent
+yard, if he thought proper, for an hour.
+
+The prisoner answered with a sullen nod; and being left alone again, sat
+brooding over what he had heard, and pondering upon the hopes the recent
+conversation had awakened; gazing abstractedly, the while he did so,
+on the light without, and watching the shadows thrown by one wall on
+another, and on the stone-paved ground.
+
+It was a dull, square yard, made cold and gloomy by high walls, and
+seeming to chill the very sunlight. The stone, so bare, and rough,
+and obdurate, filled even him with longing thoughts of meadow-land and
+trees; and with a burning wish to be at liberty. As he looked, he rose,
+and leaning against the door-post, gazed up at the bright blue sky,
+smiling even on that dreary home of crime. He seemed, for a moment, to
+remember lying on his back in some sweet-scented place, and gazing at it
+through moving branches, long ago.
+
+His attention was suddenly attracted by a clanking sound--he knew what
+it was, for he had startled himself by making the same noise in walking
+to the door. Presently a voice began to sing, and he saw the shadow of
+a figure on the pavement. It stopped--was silent all at once, as
+though the person for a moment had forgotten where he was, but
+soon remembered--and so, with the same clanking noise, the shadow
+disappeared.
+
+He walked out into the court and paced it to and fro; startling the
+echoes, as he went, with the harsh jangling of his fetters. There was a
+door near his, which, like his, stood ajar.
+
+He had not taken half-a-dozen turns up and down the yard, when, standing
+still to observe this door, he heard the clanking sound again. A face
+looked out of the grated window--he saw it very dimly, for the cell was
+dark and the bars were heavy--and directly afterwards, a man appeared,
+and came towards him.
+
+For the sense of loneliness he had, he might have been in jail a year.
+Made eager by the hope of companionship, he quickened his pace, and
+hastened to meet the man half way--
+
+What was this! His son!
+
+They stood face to face, staring at each other. He shrinking and cowed,
+despite himself; Barnaby struggling with his imperfect memory, and
+wondering where he had seen that face before. He was not uncertain long,
+for suddenly he laid hands upon him, and striving to bear him to the
+ground, cried:
+
+'Ah! I know! You are the robber!'
+
+He said nothing in reply at first, but held down his head, and struggled
+with him silently. Finding the younger man too strong for him, he raised
+his face, looked close into his eyes, and said,
+
+'I am your father.'
+
+God knows what magic the name had for his ears; but Barnaby released his
+hold, fell back, and looked at him aghast. Suddenly he sprung towards
+him, put his arms about his neck, and pressed his head against his
+cheek.
+
+Yes, yes, he was; he was sure he was. But where had he been so long, and
+why had he left his mother by herself, or worse than by herself, with
+her poor foolish boy? And had she really been as happy as they said?
+And where was she? Was she near there? She was not happy now, and he in
+jail? Ah, no.
+
+Not a word was said in answer; but Grip croaked loudly, and hopped
+about them, round and round, as if enclosing them in a magic circle, and
+invoking all the powers of mischief.
+
+
+
+Chapter 63
+
+
+During the whole of this day, every regiment in or near the metropolis
+was on duty in one or other part of the town; and the regulars and
+militia, in obedience to the orders which were sent to every barrack and
+station within twenty-four hours' journey, began to pour in by all the
+roads. But the disturbance had attained to such a formidable height, and
+the rioters had grown, with impunity, to be so audacious, that the sight
+of this great force, continually augmented by new arrivals, instead of
+operating as a check, stimulated them to outrages of greater hardihood
+than any they had yet committed; and helped to kindle a flame in
+London, the like of which had never been beheld, even in its ancient and
+rebellious times.
+
+All yesterday, and on this day likewise, the commander-in-chief
+endeavoured to arouse the magistrates to a sense of their duty, and in
+particular the Lord Mayor, who was the faintest-hearted and most timid
+of them all. With this object, large bodies of the soldiery were several
+times despatched to the Mansion House to await his orders: but as he
+could, by no threats or persuasions, be induced to give any, and as the
+men remained in the open street, fruitlessly for any good purpose, and
+thrivingly for a very bad one; these laudable attempts did harm rather
+than good. For the crowd, becoming speedily acquainted with the Lord
+Mayor's temper, did not fail to take advantage of it by boasting that
+even the civil authorities were opposed to the Papists, and could not
+find it in their hearts to molest those who were guilty of no other
+offence. These vaunts they took care to make within the hearing of the
+soldiers; and they, being naturally loth to quarrel with the people,
+received their advances kindly enough: answering, when they were asked
+if they desired to fire upon their countrymen, 'No, they would be damned
+if they did;' and showing much honest simplicity and good nature.
+The feeling that the military were No-Popery men, and were ripe for
+disobeying orders and joining the mob, soon became very prevalent in
+consequence. Rumours of their disaffection, and of their leaning towards
+the popular cause, spread from mouth to mouth with astonishing rapidity;
+and whenever they were drawn up idly in the streets or squares, there
+was sure to be a crowd about them, cheering and shaking hands, and
+treating them with a great show of confidence and affection.
+
+By this time, the crowd was everywhere; all concealment and disguise
+were laid aside, and they pervaded the whole town. If any man among them
+wanted money, he had but to knock at the door of a dwelling-house, or
+walk into a shop, and demand it in the rioters name; and his demand
+was instantly complied with. The peaceable citizens being afraid to lay
+hands upon them, singly and alone, it may be easily supposed that
+when gathered together in bodies, they were perfectly secure from
+interruption. They assembled in the streets, traversed them at their
+will and pleasure, and publicly concerted their plans. Business was
+quite suspended; the greater part of the shops were closed; most of the
+houses displayed a blue flag in token of their adherence to the popular
+side; and even the Jews in Houndsditch, Whitechapel, and those quarters,
+wrote upon their doors or window-shutters, 'This House is a True
+Protestant.' The crowd was the law, and never was the law held in
+greater dread, or more implicitly obeyed.
+
+It was about six o'clock in the evening, when a vast mob poured
+into Lincoln's Inn Fields by every avenue, and divided--evidently in
+pursuance of a previous design--into several parties. It must not be
+understood that this arrangement was known to the whole crowd, but that
+it was the work of a few leaders; who, mingling with the men as they
+came upon the ground, and calling to them to fall into this or that
+parry, effected it as rapidly as if it had been determined on by a
+council of the whole number, and every man had known his place.
+
+It was perfectly notorious to the assemblage that the largest body,
+which comprehended about two-thirds of the whole, was designed for
+the attack on Newgate. It comprehended all the rioters who had been
+conspicuous in any of their former proceedings; all those whom they
+recommended as daring hands and fit for the work; all those whose
+companions had been taken in the riots; and a great number of people
+who were relatives or friends of felons in the jail. This last class
+included, not only the most desperate and utterly abandoned villains in
+London, but some who were comparatively innocent. There was more than
+one woman there, disguised in man's attire, and bent upon the rescue
+of a child or brother. There were the two sons of a man who lay under
+sentence of death, and who was to be executed along with three
+others, on the next day but one. There was a great party of boys whose
+fellow-pickpockets were in the prison; and at the skirts of all, a score
+of miserable women, outcasts from the world, seeking to release some
+other fallen creature as miserable as themselves, or moved by a general
+sympathy perhaps--God knows--with all who were without hope, and
+wretched.
+
+Old swords, and pistols without ball or powder; sledge-hammers, knives,
+axes, saws, and weapons pillaged from the butchers' shops; a forest of
+iron bars and wooden clubs; long ladders for scaling the walls, each
+carried on the shoulders of a dozen men; lighted torches; tow smeared
+with pitch, and tar, and brimstone; staves roughly plucked from fence
+and paling; and even crutches taken from crippled beggars in the
+streets; composed their arms. When all was ready, Hugh and Dennis, with
+Simon Tappertit between them, led the way. Roaring and chafing like an
+angry sea, the crowd pressed after them.
+
+Instead of going straight down Holborn to the jail, as all expected,
+their leaders took the way to Clerkenwell, and pouring down a quiet
+street, halted before a locksmith's house--the Golden Key.
+
+'Beat at the door,' cried Hugh to the men about him. 'We want one of his
+craft to-night. Beat it in, if no one answers.'
+
+The shop was shut. Both door and shutters were of a strong and sturdy
+kind, and they knocked without effect. But the impatient crowd raising
+a cry of 'Set fire to the house!' and torches being passed to the front,
+an upper window was thrown open, and the stout old locksmith stood
+before them.
+
+'What now, you villains!' he demanded. 'Where is my daughter?'
+
+'Ask no questions of us, old man,' retorted Hugh, waving his comrades
+to be silent, 'but come down, and bring the tools of your trade. We want
+you.'
+
+'Want me!' cried the locksmith, glancing at the regimental dress he
+wore: 'Ay, and if some that I could name possessed the hearts of mice,
+ye should have had me long ago. Mark me, my lad--and you about him do
+the same. There are a score among ye whom I see now and know, who are
+dead men from this hour. Begone! and rob an undertaker's while you can!
+You'll want some coffins before long.'
+
+'Will you come down?' cried Hugh.
+
+'Will you give me my daughter, ruffian?' cried the locksmith.
+
+'I know nothing of her,' Hugh rejoined. 'Burn the door!'
+
+'Stop!' cried the locksmith, in a voice that made them
+falter--presenting, as he spoke, a gun. 'Let an old man do that. You can
+spare him better.'
+
+The young fellow who held the light, and who was stooping down before
+the door, rose hastily at these words, and fell back. The locksmith ran
+his eye along the upturned faces, and kept the weapon levelled at the
+threshold of his house. It had no other rest than his shoulder, but was
+as steady as the house itself.
+
+'Let the man who does it, take heed to his prayers,' he said firmly; 'I
+warn him.'
+
+Snatching a torch from one who stood near him, Hugh was stepping forward
+with an oath, when he was arrested by a shrill and piercing shriek, and,
+looking upward, saw a fluttering garment on the house-top.
+
+There was another shriek, and another, and then a shrill voice cried,
+'Is Simmun below!' At the same moment a lean neck was stretched over
+the parapet, and Miss Miggs, indistinctly seen in the gathering gloom
+of evening, screeched in a frenzied manner, 'Oh! dear gentlemen, let me
+hear Simmuns's answer from his own lips. Speak to me, Simmun. Speak to
+me!'
+
+Mr Tappertit, who was not at all flattered by this compliment, looked
+up, and bidding her hold her peace, ordered her to come down and open
+the door, for they wanted her master, and would take no denial.
+
+'Oh good gentlemen!' cried Miss Miggs. 'Oh my own precious, precious
+Simmun--'
+
+'Hold your nonsense, will you!' retorted Mr Tappertit; 'and come down
+and open the door.--G. Varden, drop that gun, or it will be worse for
+you.'
+
+'Don't mind his gun,' screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I poured a
+mug of table-beer right down the barrel.'
+
+The crowd gave a loud shout, which was followed by a roar of laughter.
+
+'It wouldn't go off, not if you was to load it up to the muzzle,'
+screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I'm locked up in the front attic,
+through the little door on the right hand when you think you've got to
+the very top of the stairs--and up the flight of corner steps, being
+careful not to knock your heads against the rafters, and not to tread on
+one side in case you should fall into the two-pair bedroom through the
+lath and plasture, which do not bear, but the contrairy. Simmun and
+gentlemen, I've been locked up here for safety, but my endeavours has
+always been, and always will be, to be on the right side--the blessed
+side and to prenounce the Pope of Babylon, and all her inward and
+her outward workings, which is Pagin. My sentiments is of little
+consequences, I know,' cried Miggs, with additional shrillness, 'for my
+positions is but a servant, and as sich, of humilities, still I gives
+expressions to my feelings, and places my reliances on them which
+entertains my own opinions!'
+
+Without taking much notice of these outpourings of Miss Miggs after she
+had made her first announcement in relation to the gun, the crowd
+raised a ladder against the window where the locksmith stood, and
+notwithstanding that he closed, and fastened, and defended it manfully,
+soon forced an entrance by shivering the glass and breaking in the
+frames. After dealing a few stout blows about him, he found himself
+defenceless, in the midst of a furious crowd, which overflowed the room
+and softened off in a confused heap of faces at the door and window.
+
+They were very wrathful with him (for he had wounded two men), and
+even called out to those in front, to bring him forth and hang him on
+a lamp-post. But Gabriel was quite undaunted, and looked from Hugh and
+Dennis, who held him by either arm, to Simon Tappertit, who confronted
+him.
+
+'You have robbed me of my daughter,' said the locksmith, 'who is far
+dearer to me than my life; and you may take my life, if you will. I
+bless God that I have been enabled to keep my wife free of this scene;
+and that He has made me a man who will not ask mercy at such hands as
+yours.'
+
+'And a wery game old gentleman you are,' said Mr Dennis, approvingly;
+'and you express yourself like a man. What's the odds, brother, whether
+it's a lamp-post to-night, or a feather-bed ten year to come, eh?'
+
+The locksmith glanced at him disdainfully, but returned no other answer.
+
+'For my part,' said the hangman, who particularly favoured the lamp-post
+suggestion, 'I honour your principles. They're mine exactly. In such
+sentiments as them,' and here he emphasised his discourse with an oath,
+'I'm ready to meet you or any man halfway.--Have you got a bit of cord
+anywheres handy? Don't put yourself out of the way, if you haven't. A
+handkecher will do.'
+
+'Don't be a fool, master,' whispered Hugh, seizing Varden roughly by
+the shoulder; 'but do as you're bid. You'll soon hear what you're wanted
+for. Do it!'
+
+'I'll do nothing at your request, or that of any scoundrel here,'
+returned the locksmith. 'If you want any service from me, you may spare
+yourselves the pains of telling me what it is. I tell you, beforehand,
+I'll do nothing for you.'
+
+Mr Dennis was so affected by this constancy on the part of the staunch
+old man, that he protested--almost with tears in his eyes--that to baulk
+his inclinations would be an act of cruelty and hard dealing to which
+he, for one, never could reconcile his conscience. The gentleman, he
+said, had avowed in so many words that he was ready for working off;
+such being the case, he considered it their duty, as a civilised and
+enlightened crowd, to work him off. It was not often, he observed, that
+they had it in their power to accommodate themselves to the wishes of
+those from whom they had the misfortune to differ. Having now found an
+individual who expressed a desire which they could reasonably indulge
+(and for himself he was free to confess that in his opinion that desire
+did honour to his feelings), he hoped they would decide to accede to
+his proposition before going any further. It was an experiment which,
+skilfully and dexterously performed, would be over in five minutes, with
+great comfort and satisfaction to all parties; and though it did not
+become him (Mr Dennis) to speak well of himself he trusted he might
+be allowed to say that he had practical knowledge of the subject, and,
+being naturally of an obliging and friendly disposition, would work the
+gentleman off with a deal of pleasure.
+
+These remarks, which were addressed in the midst of a frightful din and
+turmoil to those immediately about him, were received with great favour;
+not so much, perhaps, because of the hangman's eloquence, as on account
+of the locksmith's obstinacy. Gabriel was in imminent peril, and he knew
+it; but he preserved a steady silence; and would have done so, if they
+had been debating whether they should roast him at a slow fire.
+
+As the hangman spoke, there was some stir and confusion on the ladder;
+and directly he was silent--so immediately upon his holding his peace,
+that the crowd below had no time to learn what he had been saying, or to
+shout in response--some one at the window cried:
+
+'He has a grey head. He is an old man: Don't hurt him!'
+
+The locksmith turned, with a start, towards the place from which the
+words had come, and looked hurriedly at the people who were hanging on
+the ladder and clinging to each other.
+
+'Pay no respect to my grey hair, young man,' he said, answering the
+voice and not any one he saw. 'I don't ask it. My heart is green enough
+to scorn and despise every man among you, band of robbers that you are!'
+
+This incautious speech by no means tended to appease the ferocity of the
+crowd. They cried again to have him brought out; and it would have gone
+hard with the honest locksmith, but that Hugh reminded them, in answer,
+that they wanted his services, and must have them.
+
+'So, tell him what we want,' he said to Simon Tappertit, 'and quickly.
+And open your ears, master, if you would ever use them after to-night.'
+
+Gabriel folded his arms, which were now at liberty, and eyed his old
+'prentice in silence.
+
+'Lookye, Varden,' said Sim, 'we're bound for Newgate.'
+
+'I know you are,' returned the locksmith. 'You never said a truer word
+than that.'
+
+'To burn it down, I mean,' said Simon, 'and force the gates, and set the
+prisoners at liberty. You helped to make the lock of the great door.'
+
+'I did,' said the locksmith. 'You owe me no thanks for that--as you'll
+find before long.'
+
+'Maybe,' returned his journeyman, 'but you must show us how to force
+it.'
+
+'Must I!'
+
+'Yes; for you know, and I don't. You must come along with us, and pick
+it with your own hands.'
+
+'When I do,' said the locksmith quietly, 'my hands shall drop off at the
+wrists, and you shall wear them, Simon Tappertit, on your shoulders for
+epaulettes.'
+
+'We'll see that,' cried Hugh, interposing, as the indignation of the
+crowd again burst forth. 'You fill a basket with the tools he'll want,
+while I bring him downstairs. Open the doors below, some of you. And
+light the great captain, others! Is there no business afoot, my lads,
+that you can do nothing but stand and grumble?'
+
+They looked at one another, and quickly dispersing, swarmed over the
+house, plundering and breaking, according to their custom, and carrying
+off such articles of value as happened to please their fancy. They had
+no great length of time for these proceedings, for the basket of tools
+was soon prepared and slung over a man's shoulders. The preparations
+being now completed, and everything ready for the attack, those who
+were pillaging and destroying in the other rooms were called down to the
+workshop. They were about to issue forth, when the man who had been last
+upstairs, stepped forward, and asked if the young woman in the garret
+(who was making a terrible noise, he said, and kept on screaming without
+the least cessation) was to be released?
+
+For his own part, Simon Tappertit would certainly have replied in the
+negative, but the mass of his companions, mindful of the good service
+she had done in the matter of the gun, being of a different opinion, he
+had nothing for it but to answer, Yes. The man, accordingly, went back
+again to the rescue, and presently returned with Miss Miggs, limp and
+doubled up, and very damp from much weeping.
+
+As the young lady had given no tokens of consciousness on their way
+downstairs, the bearer reported her either dead or dying; and being at
+some loss what to do with her, was looking round for a convenient bench
+or heap of ashes on which to place her senseless form, when she suddenly
+came upon her feet by some mysterious means, thrust back her hair,
+stared wildly at Mr Tappertit, cried, 'My Simmuns's life is not a
+wictim!' and dropped into his arms with such promptitude that he
+staggered and reeled some paces back, beneath his lovely burden.
+
+'Oh bother!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Here. Catch hold of her, somebody. Lock
+her up again; she never ought to have been let out.'
+
+'My Simmun!' cried Miss Miggs, in tears, and faintly. 'My for ever, ever
+blessed Simmun!'
+
+'Hold up, will you,' said Mr Tappertit, in a very unresponsive tone,
+'I'll let you fall if you don't. What are you sliding your feet off the
+ground for?'
+
+'My angel Simmuns!' murmured Miggs--'he promised--'
+
+'Promised! Well, and I'll keep my promise,' answered Simon, testily. 'I
+mean to provide for you, don't I? Stand up!'
+
+'Where am I to go? What is to become of me after my actions of this
+night!' cried Miggs. 'What resting-places now remains but in the silent
+tombses!'
+
+'I wish you was in the silent tombses, I do,' cried Mr Tappertit, 'and
+boxed up tight, in a good strong one. Here,' he cried to one of the
+bystanders, in whose ear he whispered for a moment: 'Take her off, will
+you. You understand where?'
+
+The fellow nodded; and taking her in his arms, notwithstanding her
+broken protestations, and her struggles (which latter species of
+opposition, involving scratches, was much more difficult of resistance),
+carried her away. They who were in the house poured out into the street;
+the locksmith was taken to the head of the crowd, and required to walk
+between his two conductors; the whole body was put in rapid motion;
+and without any shouts or noise they bore down straight on Newgate, and
+halted in a dense mass before the prison-gate.
+
+
+
+Chapter 64
+
+
+Breaking the silence they had hitherto preserved, they raised a great
+cry as soon as they were ranged before the jail, and demanded to speak
+to the governor. This visit was not wholly unexpected, for his house,
+which fronted the street, was strongly barricaded, the wicket-gate of
+the prison was closed up, and at no loophole or grating was any person
+to be seen. Before they had repeated their summons many times, a man
+appeared upon the roof of the governor's house, and asked what it was
+they wanted.
+
+Some said one thing, some another, and some only groaned and hissed. It
+being now nearly dark, and the house high, many persons in the throng
+were not aware that any one had come to answer them, and continued their
+clamour until the intelligence was gradually diffused through the whole
+concourse. Ten minutes or more elapsed before any one voice could be
+heard with tolerable distinctness; during which interval the figure
+remained perched alone, against the summer-evening sky, looking down
+into the troubled street.
+
+'Are you,' said Hugh at length, 'Mr Akerman, the head jailer here?'
+
+'Of course he is, brother,' whispered Dennis. But Hugh, without minding
+him, took his answer from the man himself.
+
+'Yes,' he said. 'I am.'
+
+'You have got some friends of ours in your custody, master.'
+
+'I have a good many people in my custody.' He glanced downward, as
+he spoke, into the jail: and the feeling that he could see into the
+different yards, and that he overlooked everything which was hidden from
+their view by the rugged walls, so lashed and goaded the mob, that they
+howled like wolves.
+
+'Deliver up our friends,' said Hugh, 'and you may keep the rest.'
+
+'It's my duty to keep them all. I shall do my duty.'
+
+'If you don't throw the doors open, we shall break 'em down,' said Hugh;
+'for we will have the rioters out.'
+
+'All I can do, good people,' Akerman replied, 'is to exhort you to
+disperse; and to remind you that the consequences of any disturbance in
+this place, will be very severe, and bitterly repented by most of you,
+when it is too late.'
+
+He made as though he would retire when he said these words, but he was
+checked by the voice of the locksmith.
+
+'Mr Akerman,' cried Gabriel, 'Mr Akerman.'
+
+'I will hear no more from any of you,' replied the governor, turning
+towards the speaker, and waving his hand.
+
+'But I am not one of them,' said Gabriel. 'I am an honest man, Mr
+Akerman; a respectable tradesman--Gabriel Varden, the locksmith. You
+know me?'
+
+'You among the crowd!' cried the governor in an altered voice.
+
+'Brought here by force--brought here to pick the lock of the great door
+for them,' rejoined the locksmith. 'Bear witness for me, Mr Akerman,
+that I refuse to do it; and that I will not do it, come what may of my
+refusal. If any violence is done to me, please to remember this.'
+
+'Is there no way of helping you?' said the governor.
+
+'None, Mr Akerman. You'll do your duty, and I'll do mine. Once again,
+you robbers and cut-throats,' said the locksmith, turning round upon
+them, 'I refuse. Ah! Howl till you're hoarse. I refuse.'
+
+'Stay--stay!' said the jailer, hastily. 'Mr Varden, I know you for
+a worthy man, and one who would do no unlawful act except upon
+compulsion--'
+
+'Upon compulsion, sir,' interposed the locksmith, who felt that the tone
+in which this was said, conveyed the speaker's impression that he had
+ample excuse for yielding to the furious multitude who beset and hemmed
+him in, on every side, and among whom he stood, an old man, quite alone;
+'upon compulsion, sir, I'll do nothing.'
+
+'Where is that man,' said the keeper, anxiously, 'who spoke to me just
+now?'
+
+'Here!' Hugh replied.
+
+'Do you know what the guilt of murder is, and that by keeping that
+honest tradesman at your side you endanger his life!'
+
+'We know it very well,' he answered, 'for what else did we bring him
+here? Let's have our friends, master, and you shall have your friend. Is
+that fair, lads?'
+
+The mob replied to him with a loud Hurrah!
+
+'You see how it is, sir?' cried Varden. 'Keep 'em out, in King George's
+name. Remember what I have said. Good night!'
+
+There was no more parley. A shower of stones and other missiles
+compelled the keeper of the jail to retire; and the mob, pressing on,
+and swarming round the walls, forced Gabriel Varden close up to the
+door.
+
+In vain the basket of tools was laid upon the ground before him, and
+he was urged in turn by promises, by blows, by offers of reward, and
+threats of instant death, to do the office for which they had brought
+him there. 'No,' cried the sturdy locksmith, 'I will not!'
+
+He had never loved his life so well as then, but nothing could move him.
+The savage faces that glared upon him, look where he would; the cries of
+those who thirsted, like wild animals, for his blood; the sight of men
+pressing forward, and trampling down their fellows, as they strove to
+reach him, and struck at him above the heads of other men, with axes and
+with iron bars; all failed to daunt him. He looked from man to man, and
+face to face, and still, with quickened breath and lessening colour,
+cried firmly, 'I will not!'
+
+Dennis dealt him a blow upon the face which felled him to the ground. He
+sprung up again like a man in the prime of life, and with blood upon his
+forehead, caught him by the throat.
+
+'You cowardly dog!' he said: 'Give me my daughter. Give me my daughter.'
+
+They struggled together. Some cried 'Kill him,' and some (but they were
+not near enough) strove to trample him to death. Tug as he would at the
+old man's wrists, the hangman could not force him to unclench his hands.
+
+'Is this all the return you make me, you ungrateful monster?' he
+articulated with great difficulty, and with many oaths.
+
+'Give me my daughter!' cried the locksmith, who was now as fierce as
+those who gathered round him: 'Give me my daughter!'
+
+He was down again, and up, and down once more, and buffeting with a
+score of them, who bandied him from hand to hand, when one tall fellow,
+fresh from a slaughter-house, whose dress and great thigh-boots smoked
+hot with grease and blood, raised a pole-axe, and swearing a horrible
+oath, aimed it at the old man's uncovered head. At that instant, and in
+the very act, he fell himself, as if struck by lightning, and over his
+body a one-armed man came darting to the locksmith's side. Another man
+was with him, and both caught the locksmith roughly in their grasp.
+
+'Leave him to us!' they cried to Hugh--struggling, as they spoke, to
+force a passage backward through the crowd. 'Leave him to us. Why do you
+waste your whole strength on such as he, when a couple of men can finish
+him in as many minutes! You lose time. Remember the prisoners! remember
+Barnaby!'
+
+The cry ran through the mob. Hammers began to rattle on the walls; and
+every man strove to reach the prison, and be among the foremost rank.
+Fighting their way through the press and struggle, as desperately as if
+they were in the midst of enemies rather than their own friends, the two
+men retreated with the locksmith between them, and dragged him through
+the very heart of the concourse.
+
+And now the strokes began to fall like hail upon the gate, and on the
+strong building; for those who could not reach the door, spent their
+fierce rage on anything--even on the great blocks of stone, which
+shivered their weapons into fragments, and made their hands and arms to
+tingle as if the walls were active in their stout resistance, and dealt
+them back their blows. The clash of iron ringing upon iron, mingled
+with the deafening tumult and sounded high above it, as the great
+sledge-hammers rattled on the nailed and plated door: the sparks flew
+off in showers; men worked in gangs, and at short intervals relieved
+each other, that all their strength might be devoted to the work; but
+there stood the portal still, as grim and dark and strong as ever, and,
+saving for the dints upon its battered surface, quite unchanged.
+
+While some brought all their energies to bear upon this toilsome task;
+and some, rearing ladders against the prison, tried to clamber to the
+summit of the walls they were too short to scale; and some again engaged
+a body of police a hundred strong, and beat them back and trod them
+under foot by force of numbers; others besieged the house on which the
+jailer had appeared, and driving in the door, brought out his furniture,
+and piled it up against the prison-gate, to make a bonfire which should
+burn it down. As soon as this device was understood, all those who had
+laboured hitherto, cast down their tools and helped to swell the heap;
+which reached half-way across the street, and was so high, that those
+who threw more fuel on the top, got up by ladders. When all the keeper's
+goods were flung upon this costly pile, to the last fragment, they
+smeared it with the pitch, and tar, and rosin they had brought, and
+sprinkled it with turpentine. To all the woodwork round the prison-doors
+they did the like, leaving not a joist or beam untouched. This infernal
+christening performed, they fired the pile with lighted matches and with
+blazing tow, and then stood by, awaiting the result.
+
+The furniture being very dry, and rendered more combustible by wax
+and oil, besides the arts they had used, took fire at once. The flames
+roared high and fiercely, blackening the prison-wall, and twining up
+its loftly front like burning serpents. At first they crowded round the
+blaze, and vented their exultation only in their looks: but when it grew
+hotter and fiercer--when it crackled, leaped, and roared, like a great
+furnace--when it shone upon the opposite houses, and lighted up not only
+the pale and wondering faces at the windows, but the inmost corners of
+each habitation--when through the deep red heat and glow, the fire was
+seen sporting and toying with the door, now clinging to its obdurate
+surface, now gliding off with fierce inconstancy and soaring high into
+the sky, anon returning to fold it in its burning grasp and lure it to
+its ruin--when it shone and gleamed so brightly that the church clock of
+St Sepulchre's so often pointing to the hour of death, was legible as in
+broad day, and the vane upon its steeple-top glittered in the unwonted
+light like something richly jewelled--when blackened stone and sombre
+brick grew ruddy in the deep reflection, and windows shone like
+burnished gold, dotting the longest distance in the fiery vista
+with their specks of brightness--when wall and tower, and roof and
+chimney-stack, seemed drunk, and in the flickering glare appeared to
+reel and stagger--when scores of objects, never seen before, burst out
+upon the view, and things the most familiar put on some new aspect--then
+the mob began to join the whirl, and with loud yells, and shouts, and
+clamour, such as happily is seldom heard, bestirred themselves to feed
+the fire, and keep it at its height.
+
+Although the heat was so intense that the paint on the houses over
+against the prison, parched and crackled up, and swelling into boils,
+as it were from excess of torture, broke and crumbled away; although the
+glass fell from the window-sashes, and the lead and iron on the roofs
+blistered the incautious hand that touched them, and the sparrows in the
+eaves took wing, and rendered giddy by the smoke, fell fluttering down
+upon the blazing pile; still the fire was tended unceasingly by busy
+hands, and round it, men were going always. They never slackened in
+their zeal, or kept aloof, but pressed upon the flames so hard, that
+those in front had much ado to save themselves from being thrust in; if
+one man swooned or dropped, a dozen struggled for his place, and that
+although they knew the pain, and thirst, and pressure to be unendurable.
+Those who fell down in fainting-fits, and were not crushed or burnt,
+were carried to an inn-yard close at hand, and dashed with water from a
+pump; of which buckets full were passed from man to man among the crowd;
+but such was the strong desire of all to drink, and such the fighting to
+be first, that, for the most part, the whole contents were spilled upon
+the ground, without the lips of one man being moistened.
+
+Meanwhile, and in the midst of all the roar and outcry, those who were
+nearest to the pile, heaped up again the burning fragments that came
+toppling down, and raked the fire about the door, which, although a
+sheet of flame, was still a door fast locked and barred, and kept
+them out. Great pieces of blazing wood were passed, besides, above the
+people's heads to such as stood about the ladders, and some of these,
+climbing up to the topmost stave, and holding on with one hand by the
+prison wall, exerted all their skill and force to cast these fire-brands
+on the roof, or down into the yards within. In many instances their
+efforts were successful; which occasioned a new and appalling addition
+to the horrors of the scene: for the prisoners within, seeing from
+between their bars that the fire caught in many places and thrived
+fiercely, and being all locked up in strong cells for the night, began
+to know that they were in danger of being burnt alive. This terrible
+fear, spreading from cell to cell and from yard to yard, vented itself
+in such dismal cries and wailings, and in such dreadful shrieks for
+help, that the whole jail resounded with the noise; which was loudly
+heard even above the shouting of the mob and roaring of the flames, and
+was so full of agony and despair, that it made the boldest tremble.
+
+It was remarkable that these cries began in that quarter of the jail
+which fronted Newgate Street, where, it was well known, the men who were
+to suffer death on Thursday were confined. And not only were these four
+who had so short a time to live, the first to whom the dread of being
+burnt occurred, but they were, throughout, the most importunate of all:
+for they could be plainly heard, notwithstanding the great thickness of
+the walls, crying that the wind set that way, and that the flames would
+shortly reach them; and calling to the officers of the jail to come
+and quench the fire from a cistern which was in their yard, and full
+of water. Judging from what the crowd outside the walls could hear from
+time to time, these four doomed wretches never ceased to call for
+help; and that with as much distraction, and in as great a frenzy of
+attachment to existence, as though each had an honoured, happy life
+before him, instead of eight-and-forty hours of miserable imprisonment,
+and then a violent and shameful death.
+
+But the anguish and suffering of the two sons of one of these men, when
+they heard, or fancied that they heard, their father's voice, is past
+description. After wringing their hands and rushing to and fro as if
+they were stark mad, one mounted on the shoulders of his brother, and
+tried to clamber up the face of the high wall, guarded at the top with
+spikes and points of iron. And when he fell among the crowd, he was not
+deterred by his bruises, but mounted up again, and fell again, and, when
+he found the feat impossible, began to beat the stones and tear them
+with his hands, as if he could that way make a breach in the strong
+building, and force a passage in. At last, they cleft their way among
+the mob about the door, though many men, a dozen times their match, had
+tried in vain to do so, and were seen, in--yes, in--the fire, striving
+to prize it down, with crowbars.
+
+Nor were they alone affected by the outcry from within the prison. The
+women who were looking on, shrieked loudly, beat their hands together,
+stopped their ears; and many fainted: the men who were not near the
+walls and active in the siege, rather than do nothing, tore up the
+pavement of the street, and did so with a haste and fury they could
+not have surpassed if that had been the jail, and they were near their
+object. Not one living creature in the throng was for an instant still.
+The whole great mass were mad.
+
+A shout! Another! Another yet, though few knew why, or what it meant.
+But those around the gate had seen it slowly yield, and drop from its
+topmost hinge. It hung on that side by but one, but it was upright
+still, because of the bar, and its having sunk, of its own weight, into
+the heap of ashes at its foot. There was now a gap at the top of the
+doorway, through which could be descried a gloomy passage, cavernous and
+dark. Pile up the fire!
+
+It burnt fiercely. The door was red-hot, and the gap wider. They vainly
+tried to shield their faces with their hands, and standing as if in
+readiness for a spring, watched the place. Dark figures, some crawling
+on their hands and knees, some carried in the arms of others, were seen
+to pass along the roof. It was plain the jail could hold out no longer.
+The keeper, and his officers, and their wives and children, were
+escaping. Pile up the fire!
+
+The door sank down again: it settled deeper in the
+cinders--tottered--yielded--was down!
+
+As they shouted again, they fell back, for a moment, and left a clear
+space about the fire that lay between them and the jail entry. Hugh
+leapt upon the blazing heap, and scattering a train of sparks into the
+air, and making the dark lobby glitter with those that hung upon his
+dress, dashed into the jail.
+
+The hangman followed. And then so many rushed upon their track, that the
+fire got trodden down and thinly strewn about the street; but there was
+no need of it now, for, inside and out, the prison was in flames.
+
+
+
+Chapter 65
+
+
+During the whole course of the terrible scene which was now at its
+height, one man in the jail suffered a degree of fear and mental torment
+which had no parallel in the endurance, even of those who lay under
+sentence of death.
+
+When the rioters first assembled before the building, the murderer
+was roused from sleep--if such slumbers as his may have that blessed
+name--by the roar of voices, and the struggling of a great crowd. He
+started up as these sounds met his ear, and, sitting on his bedstead,
+listened.
+
+After a short interval of silence the noise burst out again. Still
+listening attentively, he made out, in course of time, that the jail was
+besieged by a furious multitude. His guilty conscience instantly arrayed
+these men against himself, and brought the fear upon him that he would
+be singled out, and torn to pieces.
+
+Once impressed with the terror of this conceit, everything tended to
+confirm and strengthen it. His double crime, the circumstances under
+which it had been committed, the length of time that had elapsed, and
+its discovery in spite of all, made him, as it were, the visible object
+of the Almighty's wrath. In all the crime and vice and moral gloom of
+the great pest-house of the capital, he stood alone, marked and singled
+out by his great guilt, a Lucifer among the devils. The other prisoners
+were a host, hiding and sheltering each other--a crowd like that without
+the walls. He was one man against the whole united concourse; a single,
+solitary, lonely man, from whom the very captives in the jail fell off
+and shrunk appalled.
+
+It might be that the intelligence of his capture having been bruited
+abroad, they had come there purposely to drag him out and kill him in
+the street; or it might be that they were the rioters, and, in pursuance
+of an old design, had come to sack the prison. But in either case he had
+no belief or hope that they would spare him. Every shout they raised,
+and every sound they made, was a blow upon his heart. As the attack went
+on, he grew more wild and frantic in his terror: tried to pull away the
+bars that guarded the chimney and prevented him from climbing up: called
+loudly on the turnkeys to cluster round the cell and save him from the
+fury of the rabble; or put him in some dungeon underground, no matter
+of what depth, how dark it was, or loathsome, or beset with rats and
+creeping things, so that it hid him and was hard to find.
+
+But no one came, or answered him. Fearful, even while he cried to them,
+of attracting attention, he was silent. By and bye, he saw, as he looked
+from his grated window, a strange glimmering on the stone walls and
+pavement of the yard. It was feeble at first, and came and went, as
+though some officers with torches were passing to and fro upon the roof
+of the prison. Soon it reddened, and lighted brands came whirling down,
+spattering the ground with fire, and burning sullenly in corners. One
+rolled beneath a wooden bench, and set it in a blaze; another caught a
+water-spout, and so went climbing up the wall, leaving a long straight
+track of fire behind it. After a time, a slow thick shower of burning
+fragments, from some upper portion of the prison which was blazing nigh,
+began to fall before his door. Remembering that it opened outwards, he
+knew that every spark which fell upon the heap, and in the act lost
+its bright life, and died an ugly speck of dust and rubbish, helped
+to entomb him in a living grave. Still, though the jail resounded with
+shrieks and cries for help,--though the fire bounded up as if each
+separate flame had had a tiger's life, and roared as though, in every
+one, there were a hungry voice--though the heat began to grow intense,
+and the air suffocating, and the clamour without increased, and the
+danger of his situation even from one merciless element was every moment
+more extreme,--still he was afraid to raise his voice again, lest
+the crowd should break in, and should, of their own ears or from the
+information given them by the other prisoners, get the clue to his place
+of confinement. Thus fearful alike, of those within the prison and
+of those without; of noise and silence; light and darkness; of being
+released, and being left there to die; he was so tortured and tormented,
+that nothing man has ever done to man in the horrible caprice of power
+and cruelty, exceeds his self-inflicted punishment.
+
+Now, now, the door was down. Now they came rushing through the jail,
+calling to each other in the vaulted passages; clashing the iron gates
+dividing yard from yard; beating at the doors of cells and wards;
+wrenching off bolts and locks and bars; tearing down the door-posts to
+get men out; endeavouring to drag them by main force through gaps and
+windows where a child could scarcely pass; whooping and yelling without
+a moment's rest; and running through the heat and flames as if they were
+cased in metal. By their legs, their arms, the hair upon their heads,
+they dragged the prisoners out. Some threw themselves upon the captives
+as they got towards the door, and tried to file away their irons; some
+danced about them with a frenzied joy, and rent their clothes, and were
+ready, as it seemed, to tear them limb from limb. Now a party of a dozen
+men came darting through the yard into which the murderer cast fearful
+glances from his darkened window; dragging a prisoner along the ground
+whose dress they had nearly torn from his body in their mad eagerness to
+set him free, and who was bleeding and senseless in their hands. Now
+a score of prisoners ran to and fro, who had lost themselves in the
+intricacies of the prison, and were so bewildered with the noise and
+glare that they knew not where to turn or what to do, and still cried
+out for help, as loudly as before. Anon some famished wretch whose theft
+had been a loaf of bread, or scrap of butcher's meat, came skulking
+past, barefooted--going slowly away because that jail, his house, was
+burning; not because he had any other, or had friends to meet, or old
+haunts to revisit, or any liberty to gain, but liberty to starve and
+die. And then a knot of highwaymen went trooping by, conducted by the
+friends they had among the crowd, who muffled their fetters as they went
+along, with handkerchiefs and bands of hay, and wrapped them in coats
+and cloaks, and gave them drink from bottles, and held it to their lips,
+because of their handcuffs which there was no time to remove. All this,
+and Heaven knows how much more, was done amidst a noise, a hurry, and
+distraction, like nothing that we know of, even in our dreams; which
+seemed for ever on the rise, and never to decrease for the space of a
+single instant.
+
+He was still looking down from his window upon these things, when a band
+of men with torches, ladders, axes, and many kinds of weapons, poured
+into the yard, and hammering at his door, inquired if there were any
+prisoner within. He left the window when he saw them coming, and drew
+back into the remotest corner of the cell; but although he returned them
+no answer, they had a fancy that some one was inside, for they presently
+set ladders against it, and began to tear away the bars at the casement;
+not only that, indeed, but with pickaxes to hew down the very stones in
+the wall.
+
+As soon as they had made a breach at the window, large enough for the
+admission of a man's head, one of them thrust in a torch and looked all
+round the room. He followed this man's gaze until it rested on himself,
+and heard him demand why he had not answered, but made him no reply.
+
+In the general surprise and wonder, they were used to this; without
+saying anything more, they enlarged the breach until it was large enough
+to admit the body of a man, and then came dropping down upon the floor,
+one after another, until the cell was full. They caught him up among
+them, handed him to the window, and those who stood upon the ladders
+passed him down upon the pavement of the yard. Then the rest came out,
+one after another, and, bidding him fly, and lose no time, or the way
+would be choked up, hurried away to rescue others.
+
+It seemed not a minute's work from first to last. He staggered to his
+feet, incredulous of what had happened, when the yard was filled
+again, and a crowd rushed on, hurrying Barnaby among them. In another
+minute--not so much: another minute! the same instant, with no lapse or
+interval between!--he and his son were being passed from hand to hand,
+through the dense crowd in the street, and were glancing backward at a
+burning pile which some one said was Newgate.
+
+From the moment of their first entrance into the prison, the crowd
+dispersed themselves about it, and swarmed into every chink and crevice,
+as if they had a perfect acquaintance with its innermost parts, and bore
+in their minds an exact plan of the whole. For this immediate knowledge
+of the place, they were, no doubt, in a great degree, indebted to the
+hangman, who stood in the lobby, directing some to go this way, some
+that, and some the other; and who materially assisted in bringing about
+the wonderful rapidity with which the release of the prisoners was
+effected.
+
+But this functionary of the law reserved one important piece of
+intelligence, and kept it snugly to himself. When he had issued his
+instructions relative to every other part of the building, and the mob
+were dispersed from end to end, and busy at their work, he took a bundle
+of keys from a kind of cupboard in the wall, and going by a kind of
+passage near the chapel (it joined the governors house, and was then
+on fire), betook himself to the condemned cells, which were a series of
+small, strong, dismal rooms, opening on a low gallery, guarded, at the
+end at which he entered, by a strong iron wicket, and at its opposite
+extremity by two doors and a thick grate. Having double locked the
+wicket, and assured himself that the other entrances were well secured,
+he sat down on a bench in the gallery, and sucked the head of his stick
+with the utmost complacency, tranquillity, and contentment.
+
+It would have been strange enough, a man's enjoying himself in this
+quiet manner, while the prison was burning, and such a tumult was
+cleaving the air, though he had been outside the walls. But here, in the
+very heart of the building, and moreover with the prayers and cries
+of the four men under sentence sounding in his ears, and their hands,
+stretched out through the gratings in their cell-doors, clasped in
+frantic entreaty before his very eyes, it was particularly remarkable.
+Indeed, Mr Dennis appeared to think it an uncommon circumstance, and to
+banter himself upon it; for he thrust his hat on one side as some men do
+when they are in a waggish humour, sucked the head of his stick with a
+higher relish, and smiled as though he would say, 'Dennis, you're a rum
+dog; you're a queer fellow; you're capital company, Dennis, and quite a
+character!'
+
+He sat in this way for some minutes, while the four men in the cells,
+who were certain that somebody had entered the gallery, but could not
+see who, gave vent to such piteous entreaties as wretches in their
+miserable condition may be supposed to have been inspired with: urging,
+whoever it was, to set them at liberty, for the love of Heaven; and
+protesting, with great fervour, and truly enough, perhaps, for the time,
+that if they escaped, they would amend their ways, and would never,
+never, never again do wrong before God or man, but would lead penitent
+and sober lives, and sorrowfully repent the crimes they had committed.
+The terrible energy with which they spoke, would have moved any person,
+no matter how good or just (if any good or just person could have
+strayed into that sad place that night), to have set them at liberty:
+and, while he would have left any other punishment to its free course,
+to have saved them from this last dreadful and repulsive penalty; which
+never turned a man inclined to evil, and has hardened thousands who were
+half inclined to good.
+
+Mr Dennis, who had been bred and nurtured in the good old school, and
+had administered the good old laws on the good old plan, always once
+and sometimes twice every six weeks, for a long time, bore these appeals
+with a deal of philosophy. Being at last, however, rather disturbed in
+his pleasant reflection by their repetition, he rapped at one of the
+doors with his stick, and cried:
+
+'Hold your noise there, will you?'
+
+At this they all cried together that they were to be hanged on the next
+day but one; and again implored his aid.
+
+'Aid! For what!' said Mr Dennis, playfully rapping the knuckles of the
+hand nearest him.
+
+'To save us!' they cried.
+
+'Oh, certainly,' said Mr Dennis, winking at the wall in the absence
+of any friend with whom he could humour the joke. 'And so you're to be
+worked off, are you, brothers?'
+
+'Unless we are released to-night,' one of them cried, 'we are dead men!'
+
+'I tell you what it is,' said the hangman, gravely; 'I'm afraid, my
+friend, that you're not in that 'ere state of mind that's suitable to
+your condition, then; you're not a-going to be released: don't think
+it--Will you leave off that 'ere indecent row? I wonder you an't ashamed
+of yourselves, I do.'
+
+He followed up this reproof by rapping every set of knuckles one after
+the other, and having done so, resumed his seat again with a cheerful
+countenance.
+
+'You've had law,' he said, crossing his legs and elevating his eyebrows:
+'laws have been made a' purpose for you; a wery handsome prison's
+been made a' purpose for you; a parson's kept a purpose for you;
+a constitootional officer's appointed a' purpose for you; carts is
+maintained a' purpose for you--and yet you're not contented!--WILL you
+hold that noise, you sir in the furthest?'
+
+A groan was the only answer.
+
+'So well as I can make out,' said Mr Dennis, in a tone of mingled
+badinage and remonstrance, 'there's not a man among you. I begin to
+think I'm on the opposite side, and among the ladies; though for the
+matter of that, I've seen a many ladies face it out, in a manner that
+did honour to the sex.--You in number two, don't grind them teeth of
+yours. Worse manners,' said the hangman, rapping at the door with his
+stick, 'I never see in this place afore. I'm ashamed of you. You're a
+disgrace to the Bailey.'
+
+After pausing for a moment to hear if anything could be pleaded in
+justification, Mr Dennis resumed in a sort of coaxing tone:
+
+'Now look'ee here, you four. I'm come here to take care of you, and see
+that you an't burnt, instead of the other thing. It's no use your making
+any noise, for you won't be found out by them as has broken in, and
+you'll only be hoarse when you come to the speeches,--which is a pity.
+What I say in respect to the speeches always is, "Give it mouth." That's
+my maxim. Give it mouth. I've heerd,' said the hangman, pulling off his
+hat to take his handkerchief from the crown and wipe his face, and then
+putting it on again a little more on one side than before, 'I've heerd a
+eloquence on them boards--you know what boards I mean--and have heerd
+a degree of mouth given to them speeches, that they was as clear as a
+bell, and as good as a play. There's a pattern! And always, when a thing
+of this natur's to come off, what I stand up for, is, a proper frame of
+mind. Let's have a proper frame of mind, and we can go through with it,
+creditable--pleasant--sociable. Whatever you do (and I address myself in
+particular, to you in the furthest), never snivel. I'd sooner by half,
+though I lose by it, see a man tear his clothes a' purpose to spile
+'em before they come to me, than find him snivelling. It's ten to one a
+better frame of mind, every way!'
+
+While the hangman addressed them to this effect, in the tone and with
+the air of a pastor in familiar conversation with his flock, the noise
+had been in some degree subdued; for the rioters were busy in conveying
+the prisoners to the Sessions House, which was beyond the main walls of
+the prison, though connected with it, and the crowd were busy too, in
+passing them from thence along the street. But when he had got thus far
+in his discourse, the sound of voices in the yard showed plainly that
+the mob had returned and were coming that way; and directly afterwards a
+violent crashing at the grate below, gave note of their attack upon the
+cells (as they were called) at last.
+
+It was in vain the hangman ran from door to door, and covered the
+grates, one after another, with his hat, in futile efforts to stifle
+the cries of the four men within; it was in vain he dogged their
+outstretched hands, and beat them with his stick, or menaced them
+with new and lingering pains in the execution of his office; the place
+resounded with their cries. These, together with the feeling that they
+were now the last men in the jail, so worked upon and stimulated the
+besiegers, that in an incredibly short space of time they forced the
+strong grate down below, which was formed of iron rods two inches
+square, drove in the two other doors, as if they had been but deal
+partitions, and stood at the end of the gallery with only a bar or two
+between them and the cells.
+
+'Halloa!' cried Hugh, who was the first to look into the dusky passage:
+'Dennis before us! Well done, old boy. Be quick, and open here, for we
+shall be suffocated in the smoke, going out.'
+
+'Go out at once, then,' said Dennis. 'What do you want here?'
+
+'Want!' echoed Hugh. 'The four men.'
+
+'Four devils!' cried the hangman. 'Don't you know they're left for death
+on Thursday? Don't you respect the law--the constitootion--nothing? Let
+the four men be.'
+
+'Is this a time for joking?' cried Hugh. 'Do you hear 'em? Pull away
+these bars that have got fixed between the door and the ground; and let
+us in.'
+
+'Brother,' said the hangman, in a low voice, as he stooped under
+pretence of doing what Hugh desired, but only looked up in his face,
+'can't you leave these here four men to me, if I've the whim! You
+do what you like, and have what you like of everything for your
+share,--give me my share. I want these four men left alone, I tell you!'
+
+'Pull the bars down, or stand out of the way,' was Hugh's reply.
+
+'You can turn the crowd if you like, you know that well enough,
+brother,' said the hangman, slowly. 'What! You WILL come in, will you?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'You won't let these men alone, and leave 'em to me? You've no respect
+for nothing--haven't you?' said the hangman, retreating to the door by
+which he had entered, and regarding his companion with a scowl. 'You
+WILL come in, will you, brother!'
+
+'I tell you, yes. What the devil ails you? Where are you going?'
+
+'No matter where I'm going,' rejoined the hangman, looking in again at
+the iron wicket, which he had nearly shut upon himself, and held ajar.
+'Remember where you're coming. That's all!'
+
+With that, he shook his likeness at Hugh, and giving him a grin,
+compared with which his usual smile was amiable, disappeared, and shut
+the door.
+
+Hugh paused no longer, but goaded alike by the cries of the convicts,
+and by the impatience of the crowd, warned the man immediately behind
+him--the way was only wide enough for one abreast--to stand back, and
+wielded a sledge-hammer with such strength, that after a few blows the
+iron bent and broke, and gave them free admittance.
+
+If the two sons of one of these men, of whom mention has been made,
+were furious in their zeal before, they had now the wrath and vigour of
+lions. Calling to the man within each cell, to keep as far back as he
+could, lest the axes crashing through the door should wound him, a party
+went to work upon each one, to beat it in by sheer strength, and force
+the bolts and staples from their hold. But although these two lads had
+the weakest party, and the worst armed, and did not begin until after
+the others, having stopped to whisper to him through the grate, that
+door was the first open, and that man was the first out. As they dragged
+him into the gallery to knock off his irons, he fell down among them,
+a mere heap of chains, and was carried out in that state on men's
+shoulders, with no sign of life.
+
+The release of these four wretched creatures, and conveying them,
+astounded and bewildered, into the streets so full of life--a spectacle
+they had never thought to see again, until they emerged from solitude
+and silence upon that last journey, when the air should be heavy with
+the pent-up breath of thousands, and the streets and houses should
+be built and roofed with human faces, not with bricks and tiles and
+stones--was the crowning horror of the scene. Their pale and haggard
+looks and hollow eyes; their staggering feet, and hands stretched out as
+if to save themselves from falling; their wandering and uncertain air;
+the way they heaved and gasped for breath, as though in water, when they
+were first plunged into the crowd; all marked them for the men. No need
+to say 'this one was doomed to die;' for there were the words broadly
+stamped and branded on his face. The crowd fell off, as if they had been
+laid out for burial, and had risen in their shrouds; and many were seen
+to shudder, as though they had been actually dead men, when they chanced
+to touch or brush against their garments.
+
+At the bidding of the mob, the houses were all illuminated that
+night--lighted up from top to bottom as at a time of public gaiety and
+joy. Many years afterwards, old people who lived in their youth near
+this part of the city, remembered being in a great glare of light,
+within doors and without, and as they looked, timid and frightened
+children, from the windows, seeing a FACE go by. Though the whole great
+crowd and all its other terrors had faded from their recollection, this
+one object remained; alone, distinct, and well remembered. Even in the
+unpractised minds of infants, one of these doomed men darting past,
+and but an instant seen, was an image of force enough to dim the whole
+concourse; to find itself an all-absorbing place, and hold it ever
+after.
+
+When this last task had been achieved, the shouts and cries grew
+fainter; the clank of fetters, which had resounded on all sides as
+the prisoners escaped, was heard no more; all the noises of the crowd
+subsided into a hoarse and sullen murmur as it passed into the distance;
+and when the human tide had rolled away, a melancholy heap of smoking
+ruins marked the spot where it had lately chafed and roared.
+
+
+
+Chapter 66
+
+
+Although he had had no rest upon the previous night, and had watched
+with little intermission for some weeks past, sleeping only in the day
+by starts and snatches, Mr Haredale, from the dawn of morning until
+sunset, sought his niece in every place where he deemed it possible she
+could have taken refuge. All day long, nothing, save a draught of water,
+passed his lips; though he prosecuted his inquiries far and wide, and
+never so much as sat down, once.
+
+In every quarter he could think of; at Chigwell and in London; at the
+houses of the tradespeople with whom he dealt, and of the friends he
+knew; he pursued his search. A prey to the most harrowing anxieties and
+apprehensions, he went from magistrate to magistrate, and finally to the
+Secretary of State. The only comfort he received was from this minister,
+who assured him that the Government, being now driven to the exercise
+of the extreme prerogatives of the Crown, were determined to exert them;
+that a proclamation would probably be out upon the morrow, giving to the
+military, discretionary and unlimited power in the suppression of the
+riots; that the sympathies of the King, the Administration, and both
+Houses of Parliament, and indeed of all good men of every religious
+persuasion, were strongly with the injured Catholics; and that justice
+should be done them at any cost or hazard. He told him, moreover, that
+other persons whose houses had been burnt, had for a time lost sight of
+their children or their relatives, but had, in every case, within his
+knowledge, succeeded in discovering them; that his complaint should be
+remembered, and fully stated in the instructions given to the officers
+in command, and to all the inferior myrmidons of justice; and that
+everything that could be done to help him, should be done, with a
+goodwill and in good faith.
+
+Grateful for this consolation, feeble as it was in its reference to the
+past, and little hope as it afforded him in connection with the subject
+of distress which lay nearest to his heart; and really thankful for the
+interest the minister expressed, and seemed to feel, in his condition;
+Mr Haredale withdrew. He found himself, with the night coming on, alone
+in the streets; and destitute of any place in which to lay his head.
+
+He entered an hotel near Charing Cross, and ordered some refreshment and
+a bed. He saw that his faint and worn appearance attracted the attention
+of the landlord and his waiters; and thinking that they might suppose
+him to be penniless, took out his purse, and laid it on the table. It
+was not that, the landlord said, in a faltering voice. If he were one
+of those who had suffered by the rioters, he durst not give him
+entertainment. He had a family of children, and had been twice warned to
+be careful in receiving guests. He heartily prayed his forgiveness, but
+what could he do?
+
+Nothing. No man felt that more sincerely than Mr Haredale. He told the
+man as much, and left the house.
+
+Feeling that he might have anticipated this occurrence, after what
+he had seen at Chigwell in the morning, where no man dared to touch a
+spade, though he offered a large reward to all who would come and dig
+among the ruins of his house, he walked along the Strand; too proud
+to expose himself to another refusal, and of too generous a spirit
+to involve in distress or ruin any honest tradesman who might be weak
+enough to give him shelter. He wandered into one of the streets by the
+side of the river, and was pacing in a thoughtful manner up and
+down, thinking of things that had happened long ago, when he heard a
+servant-man at an upper window call to another on the opposite side of
+the street, that the mob were setting fire to Newgate.
+
+To Newgate! where that man was! His failing strength returned, his
+energies came back with tenfold vigour, on the instant. If it were
+possible--if they should set the murderer free--was he, after all he had
+undergone, to die with the suspicion of having slain his own brother,
+dimly gathering about him--
+
+He had no consciousness of going to the jail; but there he stood, before
+it. There was the crowd wedged and pressed together in a dense, dark,
+moving mass; and there were the flames soaring up into the air. His head
+turned round and round, lights flashed before his eyes, and he struggled
+hard with two men.
+
+'Nay, nay,' said one. 'Be more yourself, my good sir. We attract
+attention here. Come away. What can you do among so many men?'
+
+'The gentleman's always for doing something,' said the other, forcing
+him along as he spoke. 'I like him for that. I do like him for that.'
+
+They had by this time got him into a court, hard by the prison. He
+looked from one to the other, and as he tried to release himself, felt
+that he tottered on his feet. He who had spoken first, was the old
+gentleman whom he had seen at the Lord Mayor's. The other was John
+Grueby, who had stood by him so manfully at Westminster.
+
+'What does this mean?' he asked them faintly. 'How came we together?'
+
+'On the skirts of the crowd,' returned the distiller; 'but come with us.
+Pray come with us. You seem to know my friend here?'
+
+'Surely,' said Mr Haredale, looking in a kind of stupor at John.
+
+'He'll tell you then,' returned the old gentleman, 'that I am a man
+to be trusted. He's my servant. He was lately (as you know, I have no
+doubt) in Lord George Gordon's service; but he left it, and brought,
+in pure goodwill to me and others, who are marked by the rioters, such
+intelligence as he had picked up, of their designs.'
+
+--'On one condition, please, sir,' said John, touching his hat. No
+evidence against my lord--a misled man--a kind-hearted man, sir. My lord
+never intended this.'
+
+'The condition will be observed, of course,' rejoined the old distiller.
+'It's a point of honour. But come with us, sir; pray come with us.'
+
+John Grueby added no entreaties, but he adopted a different kind of
+persuasion, by putting his arm through one of Mr Haredale's, while his
+master took the other, and leading him away with all speed.
+
+Sensible, from a strange lightness in his head, and a difficulty in
+fixing his thoughts on anything, even to the extent of bearing his
+companions in his mind for a minute together without looking at them,
+that his brain was affected by the agitation and suffering through which
+he had passed, and to which he was still a prey, Mr Haredale let them
+lead him where they would. As they went along, he was conscious of
+having no command over what he said or thought, and that he had a fear
+of going mad.
+
+The distiller lived, as he had told him when they first met, on Holborn
+Hill, where he had great storehouses and drove a large trade. They
+approached his house by a back entrance, lest they should attract the
+notice of the crowd, and went into an upper room which faced towards the
+street; the windows, however, in common with those of every other room
+in the house, were boarded up inside, in order that, out of doors, all
+might appear quite dark.
+
+They laid him on a sofa in this chamber, perfectly insensible; but John
+immediately fetching a surgeon, who took from him a large quantity of
+blood, he gradually came to himself. As he was, for the time, too weak
+to walk, they had no difficulty in persuading him to remain there all
+night, and got him to bed without loss of a minute. That done, they
+gave him cordial and some toast, and presently a pretty strong
+composing-draught, under the influence of which he soon fell into a
+lethargy, and, for a time, forgot his troubles.
+
+The vintner, who was a very hearty old fellow and a worthy man, had
+no thoughts of going to bed himself, for he had received several
+threatening warnings from the rioters, and had indeed gone out that
+evening to try and gather from the conversation of the mob whether his
+house was to be the next attacked. He sat all night in an easy-chair in
+the same room--dozing a little now and then--and received from time
+to time the reports of John Grueby and two or three other trustworthy
+persons in his employ, who went out into the streets as scouts; and
+for whose entertainment an ample allowance of good cheer (which the old
+vintner, despite his anxiety, now and then attacked himself) was set
+forth in an adjoining chamber.
+
+These accounts were of a sufficiently alarming nature from the first;
+but as the night wore on, they grew so much worse, and involved such a
+fearful amount of riot and destruction, that in comparison with these
+new tidings all the previous disturbances sunk to nothing.
+
+The first intelligence that came, was of the taking of Newgate, and the
+escape of all the prisoners, whose track, as they made up Holborn and
+into the adjacent streets, was proclaimed to those citizens who were
+shut up in their houses, by the rattling of their chains, which formed
+a dismal concert, and was heard in every direction, as though so many
+forges were at work. The flames too, shone so brightly through the
+vintner's skylights, that the rooms and staircases below were nearly as
+light as in broad day; while the distant shouting of the mob seemed to
+shake the very walls and ceilings.
+
+At length they were heard approaching the house, and some minutes of
+terrible anxiety ensued. They came close up, and stopped before it;
+but after giving three loud yells, went on. And although they returned
+several times that night, creating new alarms each time, they did
+nothing there; having their hands full. Shortly after they had gone away
+for the first time, one of the scouts came running in with the news that
+they had stopped before Lord Mansfield's house in Bloomsbury Square.
+
+Soon afterwards there came another, and another, and then the first
+returned again, and so, by little and little, their tale was this:--That
+the mob gathering round Lord Mansfield's house, had called on those
+within to open the door, and receiving no reply (for Lord and Lady
+Mansfield were at that moment escaping by the backway), forced an
+entrance according to their usual custom. That they then began to
+demolish the house with great fury, and setting fire to it in several
+parts, involved in a common ruin the whole of the costly furniture, the
+plate and jewels, a beautiful gallery of pictures, the rarest collection
+of manuscripts ever possessed by any one private person in the world,
+and worse than all, because nothing could replace this loss, the great
+Law Library, on almost every page of which were notes in the Judge's
+own hand, of inestimable value,--being the results of the study and
+experience of his whole life. That while they were howling and exulting
+round the fire, a troop of soldiers, with a magistrate among them, came
+up, and being too late (for the mischief was by that time done), began
+to disperse the crowd. That the Riot Act being read, and the crowd still
+resisting, the soldiers received orders to fire, and levelling their
+muskets shot dead at the first discharge six men and a woman, and
+wounded many persons; and loading again directly, fired another volley,
+but over the people's heads it was supposed, as none were seen to fall.
+That thereupon, and daunted by the shrieks and tumult, the crowd began
+to disperse, and the soldiers went away, leaving the killed and wounded
+on the ground: which they had no sooner done than the rioters came back
+again, and taking up the dead bodies, and the wounded people, formed
+into a rude procession, having the bodies in the front. That in this
+order they paraded off with a horrible merriment; fixing weapons in the
+dead men's hands to make them look as if alive; and preceded by a fellow
+ringing Lord Mansfield's dinner-bell with all his might.
+
+The scouts reported further, that this party meeting with some others
+who had been at similar work elsewhere, they all united into one, and
+drafting off a few men with the killed and wounded, marched away to Lord
+Mansfield's country seat at Caen Wood, between Hampstead and Highgate;
+bent upon destroying that house likewise, and lighting up a great fire
+there, which from that height should be seen all over London. But in
+this, they were disappointed, for a party of horse having arrived before
+them, they retreated faster than they went, and came straight back to
+town.
+
+There being now a great many parties in the streets, each went to
+work according to its humour, and a dozen houses were quickly blazing,
+including those of Sir John Fielding and two other justices, and four
+in Holborn--one of the greatest thoroughfares in London--which were all
+burning at the same time, and burned until they went out of themselves,
+for the people cut the engine hose, and would not suffer the firemen to
+play upon the flames. At one house near Moorfields, they found in one of
+the rooms some canary birds in cages, and these they cast into the fire
+alive. The poor little creatures screamed, it was said, like infants,
+when they were flung upon the blaze; and one man was so touched that he
+tried in vain to save them, which roused the indignation of the crowd,
+and nearly cost him his life.
+
+At this same house, one of the fellows who went through the rooms,
+breaking the furniture and helping to destroy the building, found a
+child's doll--a poor toy--which he exhibited at the window to the mob
+below, as the image of some unholy saint which the late occupants had
+worshipped. While he was doing this, another man with an equally tender
+conscience (they had both been foremost in throwing down the canary
+birds for roasting alive), took his seat on the parapet of the house,
+and harangued the crowd from a pamphlet circulated by the Association,
+relative to the true principles of Christianity! Meanwhile the Lord
+Mayor, with his hands in his pockets, looked on as an idle man might
+look at any other show, and seemed mightily satisfied to have got a good
+place.
+
+Such were the accounts brought to the old vintner by his servants as he
+sat at the side of Mr Haredale's bed, having been unable even to doze,
+after the first part of the night; too much disturbed by his own fears;
+by the cries of the mob, the light of the fires, and the firing of the
+soldiers. Such, with the addition of the release of all the prisoners in
+the New Jail at Clerkenwell, and as many robberies of passengers in
+the streets, as the crowd had leisure to indulge in, were the scenes of
+which Mr Haredale was happily unconscious, and which were all enacted
+before midnight.
+
+
+
+Chapter 67
+
+
+When darkness broke away and morning began to dawn, the town wore a
+strange aspect indeed.
+
+Sleep had hardly been thought of all night. The general alarm was so
+apparent in the faces of the inhabitants, and its expression was so
+aggravated by want of rest (few persons, with any property to lose,
+having dared go to bed since Monday), that a stranger coming into the
+streets would have supposed some mortal pest or plague to have been
+raging. In place of the usual cheerfulness and animation of morning,
+everything was dead and silent. The shops remained closed, offices and
+warehouses were shut, the coach and chair stands were deserted, no carts
+or waggons rumbled through the slowly waking streets, the early cries
+were all hushed; a universal gloom prevailed. Great numbers of people
+were out, even at daybreak, but they flitted to and fro as though they
+shrank from the sound of their own footsteps; the public ways were
+haunted rather than frequented; and round the smoking ruins people stood
+apart from one another and in silence, not venturing to condemn the
+rioters, or to be supposed to do so, even in whispers.
+
+At the Lord President's in Piccadilly, at Lambeth Palace, at the Lord
+Chancellor's in Great Ormond Street, in the Royal Exchange, the Bank,
+the Guildhall, the Inns of Court, the Courts of Law, and every chamber
+fronting the streets near Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament,
+parties of soldiers were posted before daylight. A body of Horse Guards
+paraded Palace Yard; an encampment was formed in the Park, where fifteen
+hundred men and five battalions of Militia were under arms; the Tower
+was fortified, the drawbridges were raised, the cannon loaded and
+pointed, and two regiments of artillery busied in strengthening the
+fortress and preparing it for defence. A numerous detachment of soldiers
+were stationed to keep guard at the New River Head, which the people had
+threatened to attack, and where, it was said, they meant to cut off the
+main-pipes, so that there might be no water for the extinction of the
+flames. In the Poultry, and on Cornhill, and at several other leading
+points, iron chains were drawn across the street; parties of soldiers
+were distributed in some of the old city churches while it was yet
+dark; and in several private houses (among them, Lord Rockingham's in
+Grosvenor Square); which were blockaded as though to sustain a siege,
+and had guns pointed from the windows. When the sun rose, it shone into
+handsome apartments filled with armed men; the furniture hastily heaped
+away in corners, and made of little or no account, in the terror of the
+time--on arms glittering in city chambers, among desks and stools, and
+dusty books--into little smoky churchyards in odd lanes and by-ways,
+with soldiers lying down among the tombs, or lounging under the shade of
+the one old tree, and their pile of muskets sparkling in the light--on
+solitary sentries pacing up and down in courtyards, silent now, but
+yesterday resounding with the din and hum of business--everywhere on
+guard-rooms, garrisons, and threatening preparations.
+
+As the day crept on, still more unusual sights were witnessed in the
+streets. The gates of the King's Bench and Fleet Prisons being opened at
+the usual hour, were found to have notices affixed to them, announcing
+that the rioters would come that night to burn them down. The wardens,
+too well knowing the likelihood there was of this promise being
+fulfilled, were fain to set their prisoners at liberty, and give
+them leave to move their goods; so, all day, such of them as had any
+furniture were occupied in conveying it, some to this place, some to
+that, and not a few to the brokers' shops, where they gladly sold it,
+for any wretched price those gentry chose to give. There were some
+broken men among these debtors who had been in jail so long, and were
+so miserable and destitute of friends, so dead to the world, and utterly
+forgotten and uncared for, that they implored their jailers not to
+set them free, and to send them, if need were, to some other place of
+custody. But they, refusing to comply, lest they should incur the anger
+of the mob, turned them into the streets, where they wandered up and
+down hardly remembering the ways untrodden by their feet so long, and
+crying--such abject things those rotten-hearted jails had made them--as
+they slunk off in their rags, and dragged their slipshod feet along the
+pavement.
+
+Even of the three hundred prisoners who had escaped from Newgate, there
+were some--a few, but there were some--who sought their jailers out and
+delivered themselves up: preferring imprisonment and punishment to the
+horrors of such another night as the last. Many of the convicts, drawn
+back to their old place of captivity by some indescribable attraction,
+or by a desire to exult over it in its downfall and glut their revenge
+by seeing it in ashes, actually went back in broad noon, and loitered
+about the cells. Fifty were retaken at one time on this next day, within
+the prison walls; but their fate did not deter others, for there they
+went in spite of everything, and there they were taken in twos and
+threes, twice or thrice a day, all through the week. Of the fifty just
+mentioned, some were occupied in endeavouring to rekindle the fire; but
+in general they seemed to have no object in view but to prowl and lounge
+about the old place: being often found asleep in the ruins, or sitting
+talking there, or even eating and drinking, as in a choice retreat.
+
+Besides the notices on the gates of the Fleet and the King's Bench,
+many similar announcements were left, before one o'clock at noon, at
+the houses of private individuals; and further, the mob proclaimed their
+intention of seizing on the Bank, the Mint, the Arsenal at Woolwich, and
+the Royal Palaces. The notices were seldom delivered by more than one
+man, who, if it were at a shop, went in, and laid it, with a bloody
+threat perhaps, upon the counter; or if it were at a private
+house, knocked at the door, and thrust it in the servant's hand.
+Notwithstanding the presence of the military in every quarter of the
+town, and the great force in the Park, these messengers did their
+errands with impunity all through the day. So did two boys who went
+down Holborn alone, armed with bars taken from the railings of Lord
+Mansfield's house, and demanded money for the rioters. So did a tall man
+on horseback who made a collection for the same purpose in Fleet Street,
+and refused to take anything but gold.
+
+A rumour had now got into circulation, too, which diffused a greater
+dread all through London, even than these publicly announced intentions
+of the rioters, though all men knew that if they were successfully
+effected, there must ensue a national bankruptcy and general ruin. It
+was said that they meant to throw the gates of Bedlam open, and let all
+the madmen loose. This suggested such dreadful images to the people's
+minds, and was indeed an act so fraught with new and unimaginable
+horrors in the contemplation, that it beset them more than any loss or
+cruelty of which they could foresee the worst, and drove many sane men
+nearly mad themselves.
+
+So the day passed on: the prisoners moving their goods; people running
+to and fro in the streets, carrying away their property; groups standing
+in silence round the ruins; all business suspended; and the soldiers
+disposed as has been already mentioned, remaining quite inactive. So the
+day passed on, and dreaded night drew near again.
+
+At last, at seven o'clock in the evening, the Privy Council issued a
+solemn proclamation that it was now necessary to employ the military,
+and that the officers had most direct and effectual orders, by an
+immediate exertion of their utmost force, to repress the disturbances;
+and warning all good subjects of the King to keep themselves, their
+servants, and apprentices, within doors that night. There was then
+delivered out to every soldier on duty, thirty-six rounds of powder and
+ball; the drums beat; and the whole force was under arms at sunset.
+
+The City authorities, stimulated by these vigorous measures, held a
+Common Council; passed a vote thanking the military associations who
+had tendered their aid to the civil authorities; accepted it; and placed
+them under the direction of the two sheriffs. At the Queen's palace,
+a double guard, the yeomen on duty, the groom-porters, and all other
+attendants, were stationed in the passages and on the staircases at
+seven o'clock, with strict instructions to be watchful on their posts
+all night; and all the doors were locked. The gentlemen of the Temple,
+and the other Inns, mounted guard within their gates, and strengthened
+them with the great stones of the pavement, which they took up for the
+purpose. In Lincoln's Inn, they gave up the hall and commons to the
+Northumberland Militia, under the command of Lord Algernon Percy; in
+some few of the city wards, the burgesses turned out, and without
+making a very fierce show, looked brave enough. Some hundreds of stout
+gentlemen threw themselves, armed to the teeth, into the halls of the
+different companies, double-locked and bolted all the gates, and
+dared the rioters (among themselves) to come on at their peril. These
+arrangements being all made simultaneously, or nearly so, were completed
+by the time it got dark; and then the streets were comparatively clear,
+and were guarded at all the great corners and chief avenues by
+the troops: while parties of the officers rode up and down in all
+directions, ordering chance stragglers home, and admonishing the
+residents to keep within their houses, and, if any firing ensued, not
+to approach the windows. More chains were drawn across such of the
+thoroughfares as were of a nature to favour the approach of a great
+crowd, and at each of these points a considerable force was stationed.
+All these precautions having been taken, and it being now quite dark,
+those in command awaited the result in some anxiety: and not without a
+hope that such vigilant demonstrations might of themselves dishearten
+the populace, and prevent any new outrages.
+
+But in this reckoning they were cruelly mistaken, for in half an hour,
+or less, as though the setting in of night had been their preconcerted
+signal, the rioters having previously, in small parties, prevented the
+lighting of the street lamps, rose like a great sea; and that in so many
+places at once, and with such inconceivable fury, that those who had the
+direction of the troops knew not, at first, where to turn or what to do.
+One after another, new fires blazed up in every quarter of the town,
+as though it were the intention of the insurgents to wrap the city in a
+circle of flames, which, contracting by degrees, should burn the whole
+to ashes; the crowd swarmed and roared in every street; and none but
+rioters and soldiers being out of doors, it seemed to the latter as if
+all London were arrayed against them, and they stood alone against the
+town.
+
+In two hours, six-and-thirty fires were raging--six-and-thirty great
+conflagrations: among them the Borough Clink in Tooley Street, the
+King's Bench, the Fleet, and the New Bridewell. In almost every street,
+there was a battle; and in every quarter the muskets of the troops were
+heard above the shouts and tumult of the mob. The firing began in the
+Poultry, where the chain was drawn across the road, where nearly a score
+of people were killed on the first discharge. Their bodies having been
+hastily carried into St Mildred's Church by the soldiers, the latter
+fired again, and following fast upon the crowd, who began to give way
+when they saw the execution that was done, formed across Cheapside, and
+charged them at the point of the bayonet.
+
+The streets were now a dreadful spectacle. The shouts of the rabble,
+the shrieks of women, the cries of the wounded, and the constant firing,
+formed a deafening and an awful accompaniment to the sights which every
+corner presented. Wherever the road was obstructed by the chains, there
+the fighting and the loss of life were greatest; but there was hot work
+and bloodshed in almost every leading thoroughfare.
+
+At Holborn Bridge, and on Holborn Hill, the confusion was greater than
+in any other part; for the crowd that poured out of the city in two
+great streams, one by Ludgate Hill, and one by Newgate Street, united at
+that spot, and formed a mass so dense, that at every volley the people
+seemed to fall in heaps. At this place a large detachment of soldiery
+were posted, who fired, now up Fleet Market, now up Holborn, now up Snow
+Hill--constantly raking the streets in each direction. At this place
+too, several large fires were burning, so that all the terrors of that
+terrible night seemed to be concentrated in one spot.
+
+Full twenty times, the rioters, headed by one man who wielded an axe
+in his right hand, and bestrode a brewer's horse of great size and
+strength, caparisoned with fetters taken out of Newgate, which clanked
+and jingled as he went, made an attempt to force a passage at this
+point, and fire the vintner's house. Full twenty times they were
+repulsed with loss of life, and still came back again; and though
+the fellow at their head was marked and singled out by all, and was a
+conspicuous object as the only rioter on horseback, not a man could
+hit him. So surely as the smoke cleared away, so surely there was he;
+calling hoarsely to his companions, brandishing his axe above his head,
+and dashing on as though he bore a charmed life, and was proof against
+ball and powder.
+
+This man was Hugh; and in every part of the riot, he was seen. He headed
+two attacks upon the Bank, helped to break open the Toll-houses on
+Blackfriars Bridge, and cast the money into the street: fired two of the
+prisons with his own hand: was here, and there, and everywhere--always
+foremost--always active--striking at the soldiers, cheering on the
+crowd, making his horse's iron music heard through all the yell and
+uproar: but never hurt or stopped. Turn him at one place, and he made
+a new struggle in another; force him to retreat at this point, and he
+advanced on that, directly. Driven from Holborn for the twentieth
+time, he rode at the head of a great crowd straight upon Saint Paul's,
+attacked a guard of soldiers who kept watch over a body of prisoners
+within the iron railings, forced them to retreat, rescued the men they
+had in custody, and with this accession to his party, came back again,
+mad with liquor and excitement, and hallooing them on like a demon.
+
+It would have been no easy task for the most careful rider to sit a
+horse in the midst of such a throng and tumult; but though this madman
+rolled upon his back (he had no saddle) like a boat upon the sea, he
+never for an instant lost his seat, or failed to guide him where he
+would. Through the very thickest of the press, over dead bodies and
+burning fragments, now on the pavement, now in the road, now riding up
+a flight of steps to make himself the more conspicuous to his party,
+and now forcing a passage through a mass of human beings, so closely
+squeezed together that it seemed as if the edge of a knife would
+scarcely part them,--on he went, as though he could surmount all
+obstacles by the mere exercise of his will. And perhaps his not being
+shot was in some degree attributable to this very circumstance; for his
+extreme audacity, and the conviction that he must be one of those to
+whom the proclamation referred, inspired the soldiers with a desire to
+take him alive, and diverted many an aim which otherwise might have been
+more near the mark.
+
+The vintner and Mr Haredale, unable to sit quietly listening to the
+noise without seeing what went on, had climbed to the roof of the house,
+and hiding behind a stack of chimneys, were looking cautiously down into
+the street, almost hoping that after so many repulses the rioters would
+be foiled, when a great shout proclaimed that a parry were coming round
+the other way; and the dismal jingling of those accursed fetters warned
+them next moment that they too were led by Hugh. The soldiers had
+advanced into Fleet Market and were dispersing the people there; so that
+they came on with hardly any check, and were soon before the house.
+
+'All's over now,' said the vintner. 'Fifty thousand pounds will be
+scattered in a minute. We must save ourselves. We can do no more, and
+shall have reason to be thankful if we do as much.'
+
+Their first impulse was, to clamber along the roofs of the houses, and,
+knocking at some garret window for admission, pass down that way into
+the street, and so escape. But another fierce cry from below, and a
+general upturning of the faces of the crowd, apprised them that they
+were discovered, and even that Mr Haredale was recognised; for Hugh,
+seeing him plainly in the bright glare of the fire, which in that part
+made it as light as day, called to him by his name, and swore to have
+his life.
+
+'Leave me here,' said Mr Haredale, 'and in Heaven's name, my good
+friend, save yourself! Come on!' he muttered, as he turned towards Hugh
+and faced him without any further effort at concealment: 'This roof is
+high, and if we close, we will die together!'
+
+'Madness,' said the honest vintner, pulling him back, 'sheer madness.
+Hear reason, sir. My good sir, hear reason. I could never make myself
+heard by knocking at a window now; and even if I could, no one would be
+bold enough to connive at my escape. Through the cellars, there's a kind
+of passage into the back street by which we roll casks in and out. We
+shall have time to get down there before they can force an entry. Do
+not delay an instant, but come with me--for both our sakes--for mine--my
+dear good sir!'
+
+As he spoke, and drew Mr Haredale back, they had both a glimpse of the
+street. It was but a glimpse, but it showed them the crowd, gathering
+and clustering round the house: some of the armed men pressing to the
+front to break down the doors and windows, some bringing brands from
+the nearest fire, some with lifted faces following their course upon the
+roof and pointing them out to their companions: all raging and roaring
+like the flames they lighted up. They saw some men thirsting for the
+treasures of strong liquor which they knew were stored within; they saw
+others, who had been wounded, sinking down into the opposite doorways
+and dying, solitary wretches, in the midst of all the vast assemblage;
+here a frightened woman trying to escape; and there a lost child; and
+there a drunken ruffian, unconscious of the death-wound on his head,
+raving and fighting to the last. All these things, and even such trivial
+incidents as a man with his hat off, or turning round, or stooping down,
+or shaking hands with another, they marked distinctly; yet in a glance
+so brief, that, in the act of stepping back, they lost the whole, and
+saw but the pale faces of each other, and the red sky above them.
+
+Mr Haredale yielded to the entreaties of his companion--more because he
+was resolved to defend him, than for any thought he had of his own life,
+or any care he entertained for his own safety--and quickly re-entering
+the house, they descended the stairs together. Loud blows were
+thundering on the shutters, crowbars were already thrust beneath the
+door, the glass fell from the sashes, a deep light shone through every
+crevice, and they heard the voices of the foremost in the crowd so close
+to every chink and keyhole, that they seemed to be hoarsely whispering
+their threats into their very ears. They had but a moment reached the
+bottom of the cellar-steps and shut the door behind them, when the mob
+broke in.
+
+The vaults were profoundly dark, and having no torch or candle--for
+they had been afraid to carry one, lest it should betray their place of
+refuge--they were obliged to grope with their hands. But they were not
+long without light, for they had not gone far when they heard the crowd
+forcing the door; and, looking back among the low-arched passages,
+could see them in the distance, hurrying to and fro with flashing links,
+broaching the casks, staving the great vats, turning off upon the right
+hand and the left, into the different cellars, and lying down to drink
+at the channels of strong spirits which were already flowing on the
+ground.
+
+They hurried on, not the less quickly for this; and had reached the only
+vault which lay between them and the passage out, when suddenly, from
+the direction in which they were going, a strong light gleamed upon
+their faces; and before they could slip aside, or turn back, or hide
+themselves, two men (one bearing a torch) came upon them, and cried in
+an astonished whisper, 'Here they are!'
+
+At the same instant they pulled off what they wore upon their heads. Mr
+Haredale saw before him Edward Chester, and then saw, when the vintner
+gasped his name, Joe Willet.
+
+Ay, the same Joe, though with an arm the less, who used to make the
+quarterly journey on the grey mare to pay the bill to the purple-faced
+vintner; and that very same purple-faced vintner, formerly of Thames
+Street, now looked him in the face, and challenged him by name.
+
+'Give me your hand,' said Joe softly, taking it whether the astonished
+vintner would or no. 'Don't fear to shake it; it's a friendly one and
+a hearty one, though it has no fellow. Why, how well you look and how
+bluff you are! And you--God bless you, sir. Take heart, take heart.
+We'll find them. Be of good cheer; we have not been idle.'
+
+There was something so honest and frank in Joe's speech, that Mr
+Haredale put his hand in his involuntarily, though their meeting
+was suspicious enough. But his glance at Edward Chester, and that
+gentleman's keeping aloof, were not lost upon Joe, who said bluntly,
+glancing at Edward while he spoke:
+
+'Times are changed, Mr Haredale, and times have come when we ought to
+know friends from enemies, and make no confusion of names. Let me tell
+you that but for this gentleman, you would most likely have been dead by
+this time, or badly wounded at the best.'
+
+'What do you say?' cried Mr Haredale.
+
+'I say,' said Joe, 'first, that it was a bold thing to be in the crowd
+at all disguised as one of them; though I won't say much about that, on
+second thoughts, for that's my case too. Secondly, that it was a brave
+and glorious action--that's what I call it--to strike that fellow off
+his horse before their eyes!'
+
+'What fellow! Whose eyes!'
+
+'What fellow, sir!' cried Joe: 'a fellow who has no goodwill to you, and
+who has the daring and devilry in him of twenty fellows. I know him of
+old. Once in the house, HE would have found you, here or anywhere. The
+rest owe you no particular grudge, and, unless they see you, will only
+think of drinking themselves dead. But we lose time. Are you ready?'
+
+'Quite,' said Edward. 'Put out the torch, Joe, and go on. And be silent,
+there's a good fellow.'
+
+'Silent or not silent,' murmured Joe, as he dropped the flaring link
+upon the ground, crushed it with his foot, and gave his hand to Mr
+Haredale, 'it was a brave and glorious action;--no man can alter that.'
+
+Both Mr Haredale and the worthy vintner were too amazed and too much
+hurried to ask any further questions, so followed their conductors
+in silence. It seemed, from a short whispering which presently ensued
+between them and the vintner relative to the best way of escape, that
+they had entered by the back-door, with the connivance of John Grueby,
+who watched outside with the key in his pocket, and whom they had taken
+into their confidence. A party of the crowd coming up that way, just as
+they entered, John had double-locked the door again, and made off for
+the soldiers, so that means of retreat was cut off from under them.
+
+However, as the front-door had been forced, and this minor crowd, being
+anxious to get at the liquor, had no fancy for losing time in breaking
+down another, but had gone round and got in from Holborn with the rest,
+the narrow lane in the rear was quite free of people. So, when they had
+crawled through the passage indicated by the vintner (which was a mere
+shelving-trap for the admission of casks), and had managed with some
+difficulty to unchain and raise the door at the upper end, they emerged
+into the street without being observed or interrupted. Joe still holding
+Mr Haredale tight, and Edward taking the same care of the vintner, they
+hurried through the streets at a rapid pace; occasionally standing aside
+to let some fugitives go by, or to keep out of the way of the soldiers
+who followed them, and whose questions, when they halted to put any,
+were speedily stopped by one whispered word from Joe.
+
+
+
+Chapter 68
+
+
+While Newgate was burning on the previous night, Barnaby and his
+father, having been passed among the crowd from hand to hand, stood in
+Smithfield, on the outskirts of the mob, gazing at the flames like men
+who had been suddenly roused from sleep. Some moments elapsed before
+they could distinctly remember where they were, or how they got
+there; or recollected that while they were standing idle and listless
+spectators of the fire, they had tools in their hands which had been
+hurriedly given them that they might free themselves from their fetters.
+
+Barnaby, heavily ironed as he was, if he had obeyed his first impulse,
+or if he had been alone, would have made his way back to the side of
+Hugh, who to his clouded intellect now shone forth with the new lustre
+of being his preserver and truest friend. But his father's terror
+of remaining in the streets, communicated itself to him when he
+comprehended the full extent of his fears, and impressed him with the
+same eagerness to fly to a place of safety.
+
+In a corner of the market among the pens for cattle, Barnaby knelt down,
+and pausing every now and then to pass his hand over his father's face,
+or look up to him with a smile, knocked off his irons. When he had seen
+him spring, a free man, to his feet, and had given vent to the transport
+of delight which the sight awakened, he went to work upon his own, which
+soon fell rattling down upon the ground, and left his limbs unfettered.
+
+Gliding away together when this task was accomplished, and passing
+several groups of men, each gathered round a stooping figure to hide
+him from those who passed, but unable to repress the clanking sound of
+hammers, which told that they too were busy at the same work,--the two
+fugitives made towards Clerkenwell, and passing thence to Islington, as
+the nearest point of egress, were quickly in the fields. After wandering
+about for a long time, they found in a pasture near Finchley a poor
+shed, with walls of mud, and roof of grass and brambles, built for
+some cowherd, but now deserted. Here, they lay down for the rest of the
+night.
+
+They wandered to and fro when it was day, and once Barnaby went off
+alone to a cluster of little cottages two or three miles away, to
+purchase some bread and milk. But finding no better shelter, they
+returned to the same place, and lay down again to wait for night.
+
+Heaven alone can tell, with what vague hopes of duty, and affection;
+with what strange promptings of nature, intelligible to him as to a man
+of radiant mind and most enlarged capacity; with what dim memories of
+children he had played with when a child himself, who had prattled
+of their fathers, and of loving them, and being loved; with how many
+half-remembered, dreamy associations of his mother's grief and tears and
+widowhood; he watched and tended this man. But that a vague and shadowy
+crowd of such ideas came slowly on him; that they taught him to be sorry
+when he looked upon his haggard face, that they overflowed his eyes when
+he stooped to kiss him, that they kept him waking in a tearful gladness,
+shading him from the sun, fanning him with leaves, soothing him when he
+started in his sleep--ah! what a troubled sleep it was--and wondering
+when SHE would come to join them and be happy, is the truth. He sat
+beside him all that day; listening for her footsteps in every breath
+of air, looking for her shadow on the gently-waving grass, twining the
+hedge flowers for her pleasure when she came, and his when he awoke; and
+stooping down from time to time to listen to his mutterings, and wonder
+why he was so restless in that quiet place. The sun went down, and night
+came on, and he was still quite tranquil; busied with these thoughts, as
+if there were no other people in the world, and the dull cloud of smoke
+hanging on the immense city in the distance, hid no vices, no crimes, no
+life or death, or cause of disquiet--nothing but clear air.
+
+But the hour had now come when he must go alone to find out the blind
+man (a task that filled him with delight) and bring him to that place;
+taking especial care that he was not watched or followed on his way
+back. He listened to the directions he must observe, repeated them again
+and again, and after twice or thrice returning to surprise his father
+with a light-hearted laugh, went forth, at last, upon his errand:
+leaving Grip, whom he had carried from the jail in his arms, to his
+care.
+
+Fleet of foot, and anxious to return, he sped swiftly on towards the
+city, but could not reach it before the fires began, and made the night
+angry with their dismal lustre. When he entered the town--it might be
+that he was changed by going there without his late companions, and on
+no violent errand; or by the beautiful solitude in which he had passed
+the day, or by the thoughts that had come upon him,--but it seemed
+peopled by a legion of devils. This flight and pursuit, this cruel
+burning and destroying, these dreadful cries and stunning noises, were
+THEY the good lord's noble cause!
+
+Though almost stupefied by the bewildering scene, still he found the
+blind man's house. It was shut up and tenantless.
+
+He waited for a long while, but no one came. At last he withdrew; and as
+he knew by this time that the soldiers were firing, and many people must
+have been killed, he went down into Holborn, where he heard the great
+crowd was, to try if he could find Hugh, and persuade him to avoid the
+danger, and return with him.
+
+If he had been stunned and shocked before, his horror was increased a
+thousandfold when he got into this vortex of the riot, and not being an
+actor in the terrible spectacle, had it all before his eyes. But there,
+in the midst, towering above them all, close before the house they were
+attacking now, was Hugh on horseback, calling to the rest!
+
+Sickened by the sights surrounding him on every side, and by the heat
+and roar, and crash, he forced his way among the crowd (where many
+recognised him, and with shouts pressed back to let him pass), and in
+time was nearly up with Hugh, who was savagely threatening some one, but
+whom or what he said, he could not, in the great confusion, understand.
+At that moment the crowd forced their way into the house, and Hugh--it
+was impossible to see by what means, in such a concourse--fell headlong
+down.
+
+Barnaby was beside him when he staggered to his feet. It was well he
+made him hear his voice, or Hugh, with his uplifted axe, would have
+cleft his skull in twain.
+
+'Barnaby--you! Whose hand was that, that struck me down?'
+
+'Not mine.'
+
+'Whose!--I say, whose!' he cried, reeling back, and looking wildly
+round. 'What are you doing? Where is he? Show me!'
+
+'You are hurt,' said Barnaby--as indeed he was, in the head, both by the
+blow he had received, and by his horse's hoof. 'Come away with me.'
+
+As he spoke, he took the horse's bridle in his hand, turned him, and
+dragged Hugh several paces. This brought them out of the crowd, which
+was pouring from the street into the vintner's cellars.
+
+'Where's--where's Dennis?' said Hugh, coming to a stop, and checking
+Barnaby with his strong arm. 'Where has he been all day? What did
+he mean by leaving me as he did, in the jail, last night? Tell me,
+you--d'ye hear!'
+
+With a flourish of his dangerous weapon, he fell down upon the ground
+like a log. After a minute, though already frantic with drinking and
+with the wound in his head, he crawled to a stream of burning spirit
+which was pouring down the kennel, and began to drink at it as if it
+were a brook of water.
+
+Barnaby drew him away, and forced him to rise. Though he could neither
+stand nor walk, he involuntarily staggered to his horse, climbed upon
+his back, and clung there. After vainly attempting to divest the animal
+of his clanking trappings, Barnaby sprung up behind him, snatched the
+bridle, turned into Leather Lane, which was close at hand, and urged the
+frightened horse into a heavy trot.
+
+He looked back, once, before he left the street; and looked upon a sight
+not easily to be erased, even from his remembrance, so long as he had
+life.
+
+The vintner's house with a half-a-dozen others near at hand, was one
+great, glowing blaze. All night, no one had essayed to quench the
+flames, or stop their progress; but now a body of soldiers were actively
+engaged in pulling down two old wooden houses, which were every moment
+in danger of taking fire, and which could scarcely fail, if they were
+left to burn, to extend the conflagration immensely. The tumbling
+down of nodding walls and heavy blocks of wood, the hooting and
+the execrations of the crowd, the distant firing of other military
+detachments, the distracted looks and cries of those whose habitations
+were in danger, the hurrying to and fro of frightened people with
+their goods; the reflections in every quarter of the sky, of deep, red,
+soaring flames, as though the last day had come and the whole universe
+were burning; the dust, and smoke, and drift of fiery particles,
+scorching and kindling all it fell upon; the hot unwholesome vapour,
+the blight on everything; the stars, and moon, and very sky,
+obliterated;--made up such a sum of dreariness and ruin, that it seemed
+as if the face of Heaven were blotted out, and night, in its rest and
+quiet, and softened light, never could look upon the earth again.
+
+But there was a worse spectacle than this--worse by far than fire and
+smoke, or even the rabble's unappeasable and maniac rage. The gutters
+of the street, and every crack and fissure in the stones, ran with
+scorching spirit, which being dammed up by busy hands, overflowed
+the road and pavement, and formed a great pool, into which the people
+dropped down dead by dozens. They lay in heaps all round this fearful
+pond, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, women
+with children in their arms and babies at their breasts, and drank until
+they died. While some stooped with their lips to the brink and never
+raised their heads again, others sprang up from their fiery draught,
+and danced, half in a mad triumph, and half in the agony of suffocation,
+until they fell, and steeped their corpses in the liquor that had killed
+them. Nor was even this the worst or most appalling kind of death that
+happened on this fatal night. From the burning cellars, where they
+drank out of hats, pails, buckets, tubs, and shoes, some men were drawn,
+alive, but all alight from head to foot; who, in their unendurable
+anguish and suffering, making for anything that had the look of water,
+rolled, hissing, in this hideous lake, and splashed up liquid fire
+which lapped in all it met with as it ran along the surface, and
+neither spared the living nor the dead. On this last night of the great
+riots--for the last night it was--the wretched victims of a senseless
+outcry, became themselves the dust and ashes of the flames they had
+kindled, and strewed the public streets of London.
+
+With all he saw in this last glance fixed indelibly upon his mind,
+Barnaby hurried from the city which enclosed such horrors; and holding
+down his head that he might not even see the glare of the fires upon the
+quiet landscape, was soon in the still country roads.
+
+He stopped at about half-a-mile from the shed where his father lay, and
+with some difficulty making Hugh sensible that he must dismount, sunk
+the horse's furniture in a pool of stagnant water, and turned the animal
+loose. That done, he supported his companion as well as he could, and
+led him slowly forward.
+
+
+
+Chapter 69
+
+
+It was the dead of night, and very dark, when Barnaby, with his
+stumbling comrade, approached the place where he had left his father;
+but he could see him stealing away into the gloom, distrustful even of
+him, and rapidly retreating. After calling to him twice or thrice that
+there was nothing to fear, but without effect, he suffered Hugh to sink
+upon the ground, and followed to bring him back.
+
+He continued to creep away, until Barnaby was close upon him; then
+turned, and said in a terrible, though suppressed voice:
+
+'Let me go. Do not lay hands upon me. You have told her; and you and she
+together have betrayed me!'
+
+Barnaby looked at him, in silence.
+
+'You have seen your mother!'
+
+'No,' cried Barnaby, eagerly. 'Not for a long time--longer than I can
+tell. A whole year, I think. Is she here?'
+
+His father looked upon him steadfastly for a few moments, and then
+said--drawing nearer to him as he spoke, for, seeing his face, and
+hearing his words, it was impossible to doubt his truth:
+
+'What man is that?'
+
+'Hugh--Hugh. Only Hugh. You know him. HE will not harm you. Why, you're
+afraid of Hugh! Ha ha ha! Afraid of gruff, old, noisy Hugh!'
+
+'What man is he, I ask you,' he rejoined so fiercely, that Barnaby
+stopped in his laugh, and shrinking back, surveyed him with a look of
+terrified amazement.
+
+'Why, how stern you are! You make me fear you, though you are my father.
+Why do you speak to me so?'
+
+--'I want,' he answered, putting away the hand which his son, with
+a timid desire to propitiate him, laid upon his sleeve,--'I want an
+answer, and you give me only jeers and questions. Who have you brought
+with you to this hiding-place, poor fool; and where is the blind man?'
+
+'I don't know where. His house was close shut. I waited, but no person
+came; that was no fault of mine. This is Hugh--brave Hugh, who broke
+into that ugly jail, and set us free. Aha! You like him now, do you? You
+like him now!'
+
+'Why does he lie upon the ground?'
+
+'He has had a fall, and has been drinking. The fields and trees go
+round, and round, and round with him, and the ground heaves under his
+feet. You know him? You remember? See!'
+
+They had by this time returned to where he lay, and both stooped over
+him to look into his face.
+
+'I recollect the man,' his father murmured. 'Why did you bring him
+here?'
+
+'Because he would have been killed if I had left him over yonder. They
+were firing guns and shedding blood. Does the sight of blood turn you
+sick, father? I see it does, by your face. That's like me--What are you
+looking at?'
+
+'At nothing!' said the murderer softly, as he started back a pace or
+two, and gazed with sunken jaw and staring eyes above his son's head.
+'At nothing!'
+
+He remained in the same attitude and with the same expression on his
+face for a minute or more; then glanced slowly round as if he had lost
+something; and went shivering back, towards the shed.
+
+'Shall I bring him in, father?' asked Barnaby, who had looked on,
+wondering.
+
+He only answered with a suppressed groan, and lying down upon the
+ground, wrapped his cloak about his head, and shrunk into the darkest
+corner.
+
+Finding that nothing would rouse Hugh now, or make him sensible for a
+moment, Barnaby dragged him along the grass, and laid him on a little
+heap of refuse hay and straw which had been his own bed; first having
+brought some water from a running stream hard by, and washed his wound,
+and laved his hands and face. Then he lay down himself, between the two,
+to pass the night; and looking at the stars, fell fast asleep.
+
+Awakened early in the morning, by the sunshine and the songs of birds,
+and hum of insects, he left them sleeping in the hut, and walked into
+the sweet and pleasant air. But he felt that on his jaded senses,
+oppressed and burdened with the dreadful scenes of last night, and many
+nights before, all the beauties of opening day, which he had so often
+tasted, and in which he had had such deep delight, fell heavily. He
+thought of the blithe mornings when he and the dogs went bounding on
+together through the woods and fields; and the recollection filled his
+eyes with tears. He had no consciousness, God help him, of having done
+wrong, nor had he any new perception of the merits of the cause in which
+he had been engaged, or those of the men who advocated it; but he was
+full of cares now, and regrets, and dismal recollections, and wishes
+(quite unknown to him before) that this or that event had never
+happened, and that the sorrow and suffering of so many people had been
+spared. And now he began to think how happy they would be--his father,
+mother, he, and Hugh--if they rambled away together, and lived in some
+lonely place, where there were none of these troubles; and that perhaps
+the blind man, who had talked so wisely about gold, and told him of
+the great secrets he knew, could teach them how to live without being
+pinched by want. As this occurred to him, he was the more sorry that he
+had not seen him last night; and he was still brooding over this regret,
+when his father came, and touched him on the shoulder.
+
+'Ah!' cried Barnaby, starting from his fit of thoughtfulness. 'Is it
+only you?'
+
+'Who should it be?'
+
+'I almost thought,' he answered, 'it was the blind man. I must have some
+talk with him, father.'
+
+'And so must I, for without seeing him, I don't know where to fly or
+what to do, and lingering here, is death. You must go to him again, and
+bring him here.'
+
+'Must I!' cried Barnaby, delighted; 'that's brave, father. That's what I
+want to do.'
+
+'But you must bring only him, and none other. And though you wait at
+his door a whole day and night, still you must wait, and not come back
+without him.'
+
+'Don't you fear that,' he cried gaily. 'He shall come, he shall come.'
+
+'Trim off these gewgaws,' said his father, plucking the scraps of ribbon
+and the feathers from his hat, 'and over your own dress wear my cloak.
+Take heed how you go, and they will be too busy in the streets to notice
+you. Of your coming back you need take no account, for he'll manage
+that, safely.'
+
+'To be sure!' said Barnaby. 'To be sure he will! A wise man, father, and
+one who can teach us to be rich. Oh! I know him, I know him.'
+
+He was speedily dressed, and as well disguised as he could be. With a
+lighter heart he then set off upon his second journey, leaving Hugh,
+who was still in a drunken stupor, stretched upon the ground within the
+shed, and his father walking to and fro before it.
+
+The murderer, full of anxious thoughts, looked after him, and paced up
+and down, disquieted by every breath of air that whispered among the
+boughs, and by every light shadow thrown by the passing clouds upon the
+daisied ground. He was anxious for his safe return, and yet, though his
+own life and safety hung upon it, felt a relief while he was gone. In
+the intense selfishness which the constant presence before him of his
+great crimes, and their consequences here and hereafter, engendered,
+every thought of Barnaby, as his son, was swallowed up and lost. Still,
+his presence was a torture and reproach; in his wild eyes, there were
+terrible images of that guilty night; with his unearthly aspect, and his
+half-formed mind, he seemed to the murderer a creature who had sprung
+into existence from his victim's blood. He could not bear his look, his
+voice, his touch; and yet he was forced, by his own desperate condition
+and his only hope of cheating the gibbet, to have him by his side, and
+to know that he was inseparable from his single chance of escape.
+
+He walked to and fro, with little rest, all day, revolving these things
+in his mind; and still Hugh lay, unconscious, in the shed. At length,
+when the sun was setting, Barnaby returned, leading the blind man, and
+talking earnestly to him as they came along together.
+
+The murderer advanced to meet them, and bidding his son go on and speak
+to Hugh, who had just then staggered to his feet, took his place at the
+blind man's elbow, and slowly followed, towards the shed.
+
+'Why did you send HIM?' said Stagg. 'Don't you know it was the way to
+have him lost, as soon as found?'
+
+'Would you have had me come myself?' returned the other.
+
+'Humph! Perhaps not. I was before the jail on Tuesday night, but missed
+you in the crowd. I was out last night, too. There was good work last
+night--gay work--profitable work'--he added, rattling the money in his
+pockets.
+
+'Have you--'
+
+--'Seen your good lady? Yes.'
+
+'Do you mean to tell me more, or not?'
+
+'I'll tell you all,' returned the blind man, with a laugh. 'Excuse
+me--but I love to see you so impatient. There's energy in it.'
+
+'Does she consent to say the word that may save me?'
+
+'No,' returned the blind man emphatically, as he turned his face towards
+him. 'No. Thus it is. She has been at death's door since she lost her
+darling--has been insensible, and I know not what. I tracked her to a
+hospital, and presented myself (with your leave) at her bedside. Our
+talk was not a long one, for she was weak, and there being people near
+I was not quite easy. But I told her all that you and I agreed upon, and
+pointed out the young gentleman's position, in strong terms. She tried
+to soften me, but that, of course (as I told her), was lost time. She
+cried and moaned, you may be sure; all women do. Then, of a sudden, she
+found her voice and strength, and said that Heaven would help her and
+her innocent son; and that to Heaven she appealed against us--which she
+did; in really very pretty language, I assure you. I advised her, as
+a friend, not to count too much on assistance from any such distant
+quarter--recommended her to think of it--told her where I lived--said I
+knew she would send to me before noon, next day--and left her, either in
+a faint or shamming.'
+
+When he had concluded this narration, during which he had made several
+pauses, for the convenience of cracking and eating nuts, of which
+he seemed to have a pocketful, the blind man pulled a flask from his
+pocket, took a draught himself, and offered it to his companion.
+
+'You won't, won't you?' he said, feeling that he pushed it from him.
+'Well! Then the gallant gentleman who's lodging with you, will. Hallo,
+bully!'
+
+'Death!' said the other, holding him back. 'Will you tell me what I am
+to do!'
+
+'Do! Nothing easier. Make a moonlight flitting in two hours' time with
+the young gentleman (he's quite ready to go; I have been giving him good
+advice as we came along), and get as far from London as you can. Let me
+know where you are, and leave the rest to me. She MUST come round; she
+can't hold out long; and as to the chances of your being retaken in
+the meanwhile, why it wasn't one man who got out of Newgate, but three
+hundred. Think of that, for your comfort.'
+
+'We must support life. How?'
+
+'How!' repeated the blind man. 'By eating and drinking. And how get meat
+and drink, but by paying for it! Money!' he cried, slapping his pocket.
+'Is money the word? Why, the streets have been running money. Devil send
+that the sport's not over yet, for these are jolly times; golden, rare,
+roaring, scrambling times. Hallo, bully! Hallo! Hallo! Drink, bully,
+drink. Where are ye there! Hallo!'
+
+With such vociferations, and with a boisterous manner which bespoke his
+perfect abandonment to the general licence and disorder, he groped his
+way towards the shed, where Hugh and Barnaby were sitting on the ground.
+
+'Put it about!' he cried, handing his flask to Hugh. 'The kennels run
+with wine and gold. Guineas and strong water flow from the very pumps.
+About with it, don't spare it!'
+
+Exhausted, unwashed, unshorn, begrimed with smoke and dust, his hair
+clotted with blood, his voice quite gone, so that he spoke in whispers;
+his skin parched up by fever, his whole body bruised and cut, and beaten
+about, Hugh still took the flask, and raised it to his lips. He was in
+the act of drinking, when the front of the shed was suddenly darkened,
+and Dennis stood before them.
+
+'No offence, no offence,' said that personage in a conciliatory tone, as
+Hugh stopped in his draught, and eyed him, with no pleasant look, from
+head to foot. 'No offence, brother. Barnaby here too, eh? How are you,
+Barnaby? And two other gentlemen! Your humble servant, gentlemen. No
+offence to YOU either, I hope. Eh, brothers?'
+
+Notwithstanding that he spoke in this very friendly and confident
+manner, he seemed to have considerable hesitation about entering, and
+remained outside the roof. He was rather better dressed than usual:
+wearing the same suit of threadbare black, it is true, but having round
+his neck an unwholesome-looking cravat of a yellowish white; and, on his
+hands, great leather gloves, such as a gardener might wear in following
+his trade. His shoes were newly greased, and ornamented with a pair of
+rusty iron buckles; the packthread at his knees had been renewed; and
+where he wanted buttons, he wore pins. Altogether, he had something the
+look of a tipstaff, or a bailiff's follower, desperately faded, but who
+had a notion of keeping up the appearance of a professional character,
+and making the best of the worst means.
+
+'You're very snug here,' said Mr Dennis, pulling out a mouldy
+pocket-handkerchief, which looked like a decomposed halter, and wiping
+his forehead in a nervous manner.
+
+'Not snug enough to prevent your finding us, it seems,' Hugh answered,
+sulkily.
+
+'Why I'll tell you what, brother,' said Dennis, with a friendly smile,
+'when you don't want me to know which way you're riding, you must wear
+another sort of bells on your horse. Ah! I know the sound of them you
+wore last night, and have got quick ears for 'em; that's the truth.
+Well, but how are you, brother?'
+
+He had by this time approached, and now ventured to sit down by him.
+
+'How am I?' answered Hugh. 'Where were you yesterday? Where did you go
+when you left me in the jail? Why did you leave me? And what did you
+mean by rolling your eyes and shaking your fist at me, eh?'
+
+'I shake my fist!--at you, brother!' said Dennis, gently checking Hugh's
+uplifted hand, which looked threatening.
+
+'Your stick, then; it's all one.'
+
+'Lord love you, brother, I meant nothing. You don't understand me by
+half. I shouldn't wonder now,' he added, in the tone of a desponding and
+an injured man, 'but you thought, because I wanted them chaps left in
+the prison, that I was a going to desert the banners?'
+
+Hugh told him, with an oath, that he had thought so.
+
+'Well!' said Mr Dennis, mournfully, 'if you an't enough to make a man
+mistrust his feller-creeturs, I don't know what is. Desert the banners!
+Me! Ned Dennis, as was so christened by his own father!--Is this axe
+your'n, brother?'
+
+'Yes, it's mine,' said Hugh, in the same sullen manner as before; 'it
+might have hurt you, if you had come in its way once or twice last
+night. Put it down.'
+
+'Might have hurt me!' said Mr Dennis, still keeping it in his hand, and
+feeling the edge with an air of abstraction. 'Might have hurt me! and me
+exerting myself all the time to the wery best advantage. Here's a world!
+And you're not a-going to ask me to take a sup out of that 'ere bottle,
+eh?'
+
+Hugh passed it towards him. As he raised it to his lips, Barnaby jumped
+up, and motioning them to be silent, looked eagerly out.
+
+'What's the matter, Barnaby?' said Dennis, glancing at Hugh and dropping
+the flask, but still holding the axe in his hand.
+
+'Hush!' he answered softly. 'What do I see glittering behind the hedge?'
+
+'What!' cried the hangman, raising his voice to its highest pitch, and
+laying hold of him and Hugh. 'Not SOLDIERS, surely!'
+
+That moment, the shed was filled with armed men; and a body of horse,
+galloping into the field, drew up before it.
+
+'There!' said Dennis, who remained untouched among them when they had
+seized their prisoners; 'it's them two young ones, gentlemen, that the
+proclamation puts a price on. This other's an escaped felon.--I'm sorry
+for it, brother,' he added, in a tone of resignation, addressing himself
+to Hugh; 'but you've brought it on yourself; you forced me to do it; you
+wouldn't respect the soundest constitootional principles, you know; you
+went and wiolated the wery framework of society. I had sooner have
+given away a trifle in charity than done this, I would upon my soul.--If
+you'll keep fast hold on 'em, gentlemen, I think I can make a shift to
+tie 'em better than you can.'
+
+But this operation was postponed for a few moments by a new occurrence.
+The blind man, whose ears were quicker than most people's sight, had
+been alarmed, before Barnaby, by a rustling in the bushes, under cover
+of which the soldiers had advanced. He retreated instantly--had hidden
+somewhere for a minute--and probably in his confusion mistaking the
+point at which he had emerged, was now seen running across the open
+meadow.
+
+An officer cried directly that he had helped to plunder a house last
+night. He was loudly called on, to surrender. He ran the harder, and in
+a few seconds would have been out of gunshot. The word was given, and
+the men fired.
+
+There was a breathless pause and a profound silence, during which all
+eyes were fixed upon him. He had been seen to start at the discharge, as
+if the report had frightened him. But he neither stopped nor slackened
+his pace in the least, and ran on full forty yards further. Then,
+without one reel or stagger, or sign of faintness, or quivering of any
+limb, he dropped.
+
+Some of them hurried up to where he lay;--the hangman with them.
+Everything had passed so quickly, that the smoke had not yet scattered,
+but curled slowly off in a little cloud, which seemed like the dead
+man's spirit moving solemnly away. There were a few drops of blood upon
+the grass--more, when they turned him over--that was all.
+
+'Look here! Look here!' said the hangman, stooping one knee beside the
+body, and gazing up with a disconsolate face at the officer and men.
+'Here's a pretty sight!'
+
+'Stand out of the way,' replied the officer. 'Serjeant! see what he had
+about him.'
+
+The man turned his pockets out upon the grass, and counted, besides some
+foreign coins and two rings, five-and-forty guineas in gold. These were
+bundled up in a handkerchief and carried away; the body remained there
+for the present, but six men and the serjeant were left to take it to
+the nearest public-house.
+
+'Now then, if you're going,' said the serjeant, clapping Dennis on the
+back, and pointing after the officer who was walking towards the shed.
+
+To which Mr Dennis only replied, 'Don't talk to me!' and then repeated
+what he had said before, namely, 'Here's a pretty sight!'
+
+'It's not one that you care for much, I should think,' observed the
+serjeant coolly.
+
+'Why, who,' said Mr Dennis rising, 'should care for it, if I don't?'
+
+'Oh! I didn't know you was so tender-hearted,' said the serjeant.
+'That's all!'
+
+'Tender-hearted!' echoed Dennis. 'Tender-hearted! Look at this man. Do
+you call THIS constitootional? Do you see him shot through and through
+instead of being worked off like a Briton? Damme, if I know which
+party to side with. You're as bad as the other. What's to become of the
+country if the military power's to go a superseding the ciwilians in
+this way? Where's this poor feller-creetur's rights as a citizen, that
+he didn't have ME in his last moments! I was here. I was willing. I
+was ready. These are nice times, brother, to have the dead crying out
+against us in this way, and sleep comfortably in our beds arterwards;
+wery nice!'
+
+Whether he derived any material consolation from binding the prisoners,
+is uncertain; most probably he did. At all events his being summoned to
+that work, diverted him, for the time, from these painful reflections,
+and gave his thoughts a more congenial occupation.
+
+They were not all three carried off together, but in two parties;
+Barnaby and his father, going by one road in the centre of a body of
+foot; and Hugh, fast bound upon a horse, and strongly guarded by a troop
+of cavalry, being taken by another.
+
+They had no opportunity for the least communication, in the short
+interval which preceded their departure; being kept strictly apart. Hugh
+only observed that Barnaby walked with a drooping head among his guard,
+and, without raising his eyes, that he tried to wave his fettered hand
+when he passed. For himself, he buoyed up his courage as he rode along,
+with the assurance that the mob would force his jail wherever it might
+be, and set him at liberty. But when they got into London, and more
+especially into Fleet Market, lately the stronghold of the rioters,
+where the military were rooting out the last remnant of the crowd, he
+saw that this hope was gone, and felt that he was riding to his death.
+
+
+
+Chapter 70
+
+
+Mr Dennis having despatched this piece of business without any personal
+hurt or inconvenience, and having now retired into the tranquil
+respectability of private life, resolved to solace himself with half an
+hour or so of female society. With this amiable purpose in his mind,
+he bent his steps towards the house where Dolly and Miss Haredale were
+still confined, and whither Miss Miggs had also been removed by order of
+Mr Simon Tappertit.
+
+As he walked along the streets with his leather gloves clasped
+behind him, and his face indicative of cheerful thought and pleasant
+calculation, Mr Dennis might have been likened unto a farmer ruminating
+among his crops, and enjoying by anticipation the bountiful gifts of
+Providence. Look where he would, some heap of ruins afforded him rich
+promise of a working off; the whole town appeared to have been ploughed
+and sown, and nurtured by most genial weather; and a goodly harvest was
+at hand.
+
+Having taken up arms and resorted to deeds of violence, with the great
+main object of preserving the Old Bailey in all its purity, and the
+gallows in all its pristine usefulness and moral grandeur, it would
+perhaps be going too far to assert that Mr Dennis had ever distinctly
+contemplated and foreseen this happy state of things. He rather looked
+upon it as one of those beautiful dispensations which are inscrutably
+brought about for the behoof and advantage of good men. He felt, as
+it were, personally referred to, in this prosperous ripening for the
+gibbet; and had never considered himself so much the pet and favourite
+child of Destiny, or loved that lady so well or with such a calm and
+virtuous reliance, in all his life.
+
+As to being taken up, himself, for a rioter, and punished with the
+rest, Mr Dennis dismissed that possibility from his thoughts as an idle
+chimera; arguing that the line of conduct he had adopted at Newgate,
+and the service he had rendered that day, would be more than a set-off
+against any evidence which might identify him as a member of the crowd.
+That any charge of companionship which might be made against him by
+those who were themselves in danger, would certainly go for nought. And
+that if any trivial indiscretion on his part should unluckily come out,
+the uncommon usefulness of his office, at present, and the great demand
+for the exercise of its functions, would certainly cause it to be winked
+at, and passed over. In a word, he had played his cards throughout, with
+great care; had changed sides at the very nick of time; had delivered
+up two of the most notorious rioters, and a distinguished felon to boot;
+and was quite at his ease.
+
+Saving--for there is a reservation; and even Mr Dennis was not perfectly
+happy--saving for one circumstance; to wit, the forcible detention of
+Dolly and Miss Haredale, in a house almost adjoining his own. This was
+a stumbling-block; for if they were discovered and released, they could,
+by the testimony they had it in their power to give, place him in a
+situation of great jeopardy; and to set them at liberty, first extorting
+from them an oath of secrecy and silence, was a thing not to be thought
+of. It was more, perhaps, with an eye to the danger which lurked in this
+quarter, than from his abstract love of conversation with the sex, that
+the hangman, quickening his steps, now hastened into their society,
+cursing the amorous natures of Hugh and Mr Tappertit with great
+heartiness, at every step he took.
+
+When he entered the miserable room in which they were confined, Dolly
+and Miss Haredale withdrew in silence to the remotest corner. But Miss
+Miggs, who was particularly tender of her reputation, immediately fell
+upon her knees and began to scream very loud, crying, 'What will become
+of me!'--'Where is my Simmuns!'--'Have mercy, good gentlemen, on my
+sex's weaknesses!'--with other doleful lamentations of that nature,
+which she delivered with great propriety and decorum.
+
+'Miss, miss,' whispered Dennis, beckoning to her with his forefinger,
+'come here--I won't hurt you. Come here, my lamb, will you?'
+
+On hearing this tender epithet, Miss Miggs, who had left off screaming
+when he opened his lips, and had listened to him attentively, began
+again, crying: 'Oh I'm his lamb! He says I'm his lamb! Oh gracious, why
+wasn't I born old and ugly! Why was I ever made to be the youngest of
+six, and all of 'em dead and in their blessed graves, excepting
+one married sister, which is settled in Golden Lion Court, number
+twenty-sivin, second bell-handle on the--!'
+
+'Don't I say I an't a-going to hurt you?' said Dennis, pointing to a
+chair. 'Why miss, what's the matter?'
+
+'I don't know what mayn't be the matter!' cried Miss Miggs, clasping her
+hands distractedly. 'Anything may be the matter!'
+
+'But nothing is, I tell you,' said the hangman. 'First stop that noise
+and come and sit down here, will you, chuckey?'
+
+The coaxing tone in which he said these latter words might have failed
+in its object, if he had not accompanied them with sundry sharp jerks of
+his thumb over one shoulder, and with divers winks and thrustings of his
+tongue into his cheek, from which signals the damsel gathered that he
+sought to speak to her apart, concerning Miss Haredale and Dolly. Her
+curiosity being very powerful, and her jealousy by no means inactive,
+she arose, and with a great deal of shivering and starting back, and
+much muscular action among all the small bones in her throat, gradually
+approached him.
+
+'Sit down,' said the hangman.
+
+Suiting the action to the word, he thrust her rather suddenly and
+prematurely into a chair, and designing to reassure her by a little
+harmless jocularity, such as is adapted to please and fascinate the sex,
+converted his right forefinger into an ideal bradawl or gimlet, and
+made as though he would screw the same into her side--whereat Miss Miggs
+shrieked again, and evinced symptoms of faintness.
+
+'Lovey, my dear,' whispered Dennis, drawing his chair close to hers.
+'When was your young man here last, eh?'
+
+'MY young man, good gentleman!' answered Miggs in a tone of exquisite
+distress.
+
+'Ah! Simmuns, you know--him?' said Dennis.
+
+'Mine indeed!' cried Miggs, with a burst of bitterness--and as she said
+it, she glanced towards Dolly. 'MINE, good gentleman!'
+
+This was just what Mr Dennis wanted, and expected.
+
+'Ah!' he said, looking so soothingly, not to say amorously on Miggs,
+that she sat, as she afterwards remarked, on pins and needles of
+the sharpest Whitechapel kind, not knowing what intentions might be
+suggesting that expression to his features: 'I was afraid of that. I saw
+as much myself. It's her fault. She WILL entice 'em.'
+
+'I wouldn't,' cried Miggs, folding her hands and looking upwards with
+a kind of devout blankness, 'I wouldn't lay myself out as she does; I
+wouldn't be as bold as her; I wouldn't seem to say to all male creeturs
+"Come and kiss me"'--and here a shudder quite convulsed her frame--'for
+any earthly crowns as might be offered. Worlds,' Miggs added solemnly,
+'should not reduce me. No. Not if I was Wenis.'
+
+'Well, but you ARE Wenus, you know,' said Mr Dennis, confidentially.
+
+'No, I am not, good gentleman,' answered Miggs, shaking her head with an
+air of self-denial which seemed to imply that she might be if she chose,
+but she hoped she knew better. 'No, I am not, good gentleman. Don't
+charge me with it.'
+
+Up to this time she had turned round, every now and then, to where Dolly
+and Miss Haredale had retired and uttered a scream, or groan, or laid
+her hand upon her heart and trembled excessively, with a view of keeping
+up appearances, and giving them to understand that she conversed with
+the visitor, under protest and on compulsion, and at a great personal
+sacrifice, for their common good. But at this point, Mr Dennis looked
+so very full of meaning, and gave such a singularly expressive twitch
+to his face as a request to her to come still nearer to him, that
+she abandoned these little arts, and gave him her whole and undivided
+attention.
+
+'When was Simmuns here, I say?' quoth Dennis, in her ear.
+
+'Not since yesterday morning; and then only for a few minutes. Not all
+day, the day before.'
+
+'You know he meant all along to carry off that one!' said Dennis,
+indicating Dolly by the slightest possible jerk of his head:--'And to
+hand you over to somebody else.'
+
+Miss Miggs, who had fallen into a terrible state of grief when the first
+part of this sentence was spoken, recovered a little at the second,
+and seemed by the sudden check she put upon her tears, to intimate
+that possibly this arrangement might meet her views; and that it might,
+perhaps, remain an open question.
+
+'--But unfort'nately,' pursued Dennis, who observed this: 'somebody else
+was fond of her too, you see; and even if he wasn't, somebody else is
+took for a rioter, and it's all over with him.'
+
+Miss Miggs relapsed.
+
+'Now I want,' said Dennis, 'to clear this house, and to see you righted.
+What if I was to get her off, out of the way, eh?'
+
+Miss Miggs, brightening again, rejoined, with many breaks and pauses
+from excess of feeling, that temptations had been Simmuns's bane. That
+it was not his faults, but hers (meaning Dolly's). That men did not see
+through these dreadful arts as women did, and therefore was caged
+and trapped, as Simmun had been. That she had no personal motives to
+serve--far from it--on the contrary, her intentions was good towards
+all parties. But forasmuch as she knowed that Simmun, if united to any
+designing and artful minxes (she would name no names, for that was not
+her dispositions)--to ANY designing and artful minxes--must be made
+miserable and unhappy for life, she DID incline towards prewentions.
+Such, she added, was her free confessions. But as this was private
+feelings, and might perhaps be looked upon as wengeance, she begged the
+gentleman would say no more. Whatever he said, wishing to do her duty
+by all mankind, even by them as had ever been her bitterest enemies, she
+would not listen to him. With that she stopped her ears, and shook her
+head from side to side, to intimate to Mr Dennis that though he talked
+until he had no breath left, she was as deaf as any adder.
+
+'Lookee here, my sugar-stick,' said Mr Dennis, 'if your view's the same
+as mine, and you'll only be quiet and slip away at the right time, I
+can have the house clear to-morrow, and be out of this trouble.--Stop
+though! there's the other.'
+
+'Which other, sir?' asked Miggs--still with her fingers in her ears and
+her head shaking obstinately.
+
+'Why, the tallest one, yonder,' said Dennis, as he stroked his chin, and
+added, in an undertone to himself, something about not crossing Muster
+Gashford.
+
+Miss Miggs replied (still being profoundly deaf) that if Miss Haredale
+stood in the way at all, he might make himself quite easy on that score;
+as she had gathered, from what passed between Hugh and Mr Tappertit when
+they were last there, that she was to be removed alone (not by them, but
+by somebody else), to-morrow night.
+
+Mr Dennis opened his eyes very wide at this piece of information,
+whistled once, considered once, and finally slapped his head once and
+nodded once, as if he had got the clue to this mysterious removal, and
+so dismissed it. Then he imparted his design concerning Dolly to Miss
+Miggs, who was taken more deaf than before, when he began; and so
+remained, all through.
+
+The notable scheme was this. Mr Dennis was immediately to seek out from
+among the rioters, some daring young fellow (and he had one in his eye,
+he said), who, terrified by the threats he could hold out to him, and
+alarmed by the capture of so many who were no better and no worse than
+he, would gladly avail himself of any help to get abroad, and out of
+harm's way, with his plunder, even though his journey were incumbered
+by an unwilling companion; indeed, the unwilling companion being
+a beautiful girl, would probably be an additional inducement and
+temptation. Such a person found, he proposed to bring him there on
+the ensuing night, when the tall one was taken off, and Miss Miggs had
+purposely retired; and then that Dolly should be gagged, muffled in a
+cloak, and carried in any handy conveyance down to the river's side;
+where there were abundant means of getting her smuggled snugly off in
+any small craft of doubtful character, and no questions asked. With
+regard to the expense of this removal, he would say, at a rough
+calculation, that two or three silver tea or coffee-pots, with something
+additional for drink (such as a muffineer, or toast-rack), would more
+than cover it. Articles of plate of every kind having been buried by the
+rioters in several lonely parts of London, and particularly, as he
+knew, in St James's Square, which, though easy of access, was little
+frequented after dark, and had a convenient piece of water in the midst,
+the needful funds were close at hand, and could be had upon the shortest
+notice. With regard to Dolly, the gentleman would exercise his own
+discretion. He would be bound to do nothing but to take her away,
+and keep her away. All other arrangements and dispositions would rest
+entirely with himself.
+
+If Miss Miggs had had her hearing, no doubt she would have been greatly
+shocked by the indelicacy of a young female's going away with a stranger
+by night (for her moral feelings, as we have said, were of the tenderest
+kind); but directly Mr Dennis ceased to speak, she reminded him that he
+had only wasted breath. She then went on to say (still with her fingers
+in her ears) that nothing less than a severe practical lesson would save
+the locksmith's daughter from utter ruin; and that she felt it, as it
+were, a moral obligation and a sacred duty to the family, to wish that
+some one would devise one for her reformation. Miss Miggs remarked, and
+very justly, as an abstract sentiment which happened to occur to her
+at the moment, that she dared to say the locksmith and his wife would
+murmur, and repine, if they were ever, by forcible abduction, or
+otherwise, to lose their child; but that we seldom knew, in this world,
+what was best for us: such being our sinful and imperfect natures, that
+very few arrived at that clear understanding.
+
+Having brought their conversation to this satisfactory end, they parted:
+Dennis, to pursue his design, and take another walk about his farm; Miss
+Miggs, to launch, when he left her, into such a burst of mental anguish
+(which she gave them to understand was occasioned by certain tender
+things he had had the presumption and audacity to say), that little
+Dolly's heart was quite melted. Indeed, she said and did so much to
+soothe the outraged feelings of Miss Miggs, and looked so beautiful
+while doing so, that if that young maid had not had ample vent for her
+surpassing spite, in a knowledge of the mischief that was brewing, she
+must have scratched her features, on the spot.
+
+
+
+Chapter 71
+
+
+All next day, Emma Haredale, Dolly, and Miggs, remained cooped up
+together in what had now been their prison for so many days, without
+seeing any person, or hearing any sound but the murmured conversation,
+in an outer room, of the men who kept watch over them. There appeared to
+be more of these fellows than there had been hitherto; and they could
+no longer hear the voices of women, which they had before plainly
+distinguished. Some new excitement, too, seemed to prevail among them;
+for there was much stealthy going in and out, and a constant questioning
+of those who were newly arrived. They had previously been quite reckless
+in their behaviour; often making a great uproar; quarrelling among
+themselves, fighting, dancing, and singing. They were now very subdued
+and silent, conversing almost in whispers, and stealing in and out with
+a soft and stealthy tread, very different from the boisterous trampling
+in which their arrivals and departures had hitherto been announced to
+the trembling captives.
+
+Whether this change was occasioned by the presence among them of some
+person of authority in their ranks, or by any other cause, they were
+unable to decide. Sometimes they thought it was in part attributable to
+there being a sick man in the chamber, for last night there had been a
+shuffling of feet, as though a burden were brought in, and afterwards a
+moaning noise. But they had no means of ascertaining the truth: for
+any question or entreaty on their parts only provoked a storm of
+execrations, or something worse; and they were too happy to be left
+alone, unassailed by threats or admiration, to risk even that comfort,
+by any voluntary communication with those who held them in durance.
+
+It was sufficiently evident, both to Emma and to the locksmith's poor
+little daughter herself, that she, Dolly, was the great object of
+attraction; and that so soon as they should have leisure to indulge in
+the softer passion, Hugh and Mr Tappertit would certainly fall to blows
+for her sake; in which latter case, it was not very difficult to see
+whose prize she would become. With all her old horror of that man
+revived, and deepened into a degree of aversion and abhorrence which no
+language can describe; with a thousand old recollections and regrets,
+and causes of distress, anxiety, and fear, besetting her on all sides;
+poor Dolly Varden--sweet, blooming, buxom Dolly--began to hang her head,
+and fade, and droop, like a beautiful flower. The colour fled from her
+cheeks, her courage forsook her, her gentle heart failed. Unmindful
+of all her provoking caprices, forgetful of all her conquests and
+inconstancy, with all her winning little vanities quite gone, she
+nestled all the livelong day in Emma Haredale's bosom; and, sometimes
+calling on her dear old grey-haired father, sometimes on her mother, and
+sometimes even on her old home, pined slowly away, like a poor bird in
+its cage.
+
+Light hearts, light hearts, that float so gaily on a smooth stream, that
+are so sparkling and buoyant in the sunshine--down upon fruit, bloom
+upon flowers, blush in summer air, life of the winged insect, whose
+whole existence is a day--how soon ye sink in troubled water! Poor
+Dolly's heart--a little, gentle, idle, fickle thing; giddy, restless,
+fluttering; constant to nothing but bright looks, and smiles and
+laughter--Dolly's heart was breaking.
+
+Emma had known grief, and could bear it better. She had little comfort
+to impart, but she could soothe and tend her, and she did so; and Dolly
+clung to her like a child to its nurse. In endeavouring to inspire her
+with some fortitude, she increased her own; and though the nights
+were long, and the days dismal, and she felt the wasting influence
+of watching and fatigue, and had perhaps a more defined and clear
+perception of their destitute condition and its worst dangers, she
+uttered no complaint. Before the ruffians, in whose power they were, she
+bore herself so calmly, and with such an appearance, in the midst of all
+her terror, of a secret conviction that they dared not harm her, that
+there was not a man among them but held her in some degree of dread;
+and more than one believed she had a weapon hidden in her dress, and was
+prepared to use it.
+
+Such was their condition when they were joined by Miss Miggs, who gave
+them to understand that she too had been taken prisoner because of her
+charms, and detailed such feats of resistance she had performed (her
+virtue having given her supernatural strength), that they felt it quite
+a happiness to have her for a champion. Nor was this the only comfort
+they derived at first from Miggs's presence and society: for that young
+lady displayed such resignation and long-suffering, and so much meek
+endurance, under her trials, and breathed in all her chaste discourse a
+spirit of such holy confidence and resignation, and devout belief that
+all would happen for the best, that Emma felt her courage strengthened
+by the bright example; never doubting but that everything she said was
+true, and that she, like them, was torn from all she loved, and agonised
+by doubt and apprehension. As to poor Dolly, she was roused, at
+first, by seeing one who came from home; but when she heard under what
+circumstances she had left it, and into whose hands her father had
+fallen, she wept more bitterly than ever, and refused all comfort.
+
+Miss Miggs was at some trouble to reprove her for this state of mind,
+and to entreat her to take example by herself, who, she said, was now
+receiving back, with interest, tenfold the amount of her subscriptions
+to the red-brick dwelling-house, in the articles of peace of mind and a
+quiet conscience. And, while on serious topics, Miss Miggs considered it
+her duty to try her hand at the conversion of Miss Haredale; for whose
+improvement she launched into a polemical address of some length, in the
+course whereof, she likened herself unto a chosen missionary, and that
+young lady to a cannibal in darkness. Indeed, she returned so often to
+these subjects, and so frequently called upon them to take a lesson from
+her,--at the same time vaunting and, as it were, rioting in, her huge
+unworthiness, and abundant excess of sin,--that, in the course of a
+short time, she became, in that small chamber, rather a nuisance than a
+comfort, and rendered them, if possible, even more unhappy than they had
+been before.
+
+The night had now come; and for the first time (for their jailers had
+been regular in bringing food and candles), they were left in darkness.
+Any change in their condition in such a place inspired new fears; and
+when some hours had passed, and the gloom was still unbroken, Emma could
+no longer repress her alarm.
+
+They listened attentively. There was the same murmuring in the outer
+room, and now and then a moan which seemed to be wrung from a person in
+great pain, who made an effort to subdue it, but could not. Even these
+men seemed to be in darkness too; for no light shone through the chinks
+in the door, nor were they moving, as their custom was, but quite still:
+the silence being unbroken by so much as the creaking of a board.
+
+At first, Miss Miggs wondered greatly in her own mind who this sick
+person might be; but arriving, on second thoughts, at the conclusion
+that he was a part of the schemes on foot, and an artful device soon to
+be employed with great success, she opined, for Miss Haredale's comfort,
+that it must be some misguided Papist who had been wounded: and this
+happy supposition encouraged her to say, under her breath, 'Ally
+Looyer!' several times.
+
+'Is it possible,' said Emma, with some indignation, 'that you who have
+seen these men committing the outrages you have told us of, and who have
+fallen into their hands, like us, can exult in their cruelties!'
+
+'Personal considerations, miss,' rejoined Miggs, 'sinks into nothing,
+afore a noble cause. Ally Looyer! Ally Looyer! Ally Looyer, good
+gentlemen!'
+
+It seemed from the shrill pertinacity with which Miss Miggs repeated
+this form of acclamation, that she was calling the same through the
+keyhole of the door; but in the profound darkness she could not be seen.
+
+'If the time has come--Heaven knows it may come at any moment--when they
+are bent on prosecuting the designs, whatever they may be, with which
+they have brought us here, can you still encourage, and take part with
+them?' demanded Emma.
+
+'I thank my goodness-gracious-blessed-stars I can, miss,' returned
+Miggs, with increased energy.--'Ally Looyer, good gentlemen!'
+
+Even Dolly, cast down and disappointed as she was, revived at this, and
+bade Miggs hold her tongue directly.
+
+'WHICH, was you pleased to observe, Miss Varden?' said Miggs, with a
+strong emphasis on the irrelative pronoun.
+
+Dolly repeated her request.
+
+'Ho, gracious me!' cried Miggs, with hysterical derision. 'Ho, gracious
+me! Yes, to be sure I will. Ho yes! I am a abject slave, and a
+toiling, moiling, constant-working, always-being-found-fault-with,
+never-giving-satisfactions, nor-having-no-time-to-clean-oneself,
+potter's wessel--an't I, miss! Ho yes! My situations is lowly, and my
+capacities is limited, and my duties is to humble myself afore the
+base degenerating daughters of their blessed mothers as is--fit to
+keep companies with holy saints but is born to persecutions from
+wicked relations--and to demean myself before them as is no better than
+Infidels--an't it, miss! Ho yes! My only becoming occupations is to help
+young flaunting pagins to brush and comb and titiwate theirselves into
+whitening and suppulchres, and leave the young men to think that there
+an't a bit of padding in it nor no pinching ins nor fillings out nor
+pomatums nor deceits nor earthly wanities--an't it, miss! Yes, to be
+sure it is--ho yes!'
+
+Having delivered these ironical passages with a most wonderful
+volubility, and with a shrillness perfectly deafening (especially when
+she jerked out the interjections), Miss Miggs, from mere habit, and not
+because weeping was at all appropriate to the occasion, which was one of
+triumph, concluded by bursting into a flood of tears, and calling in an
+impassioned manner on the name of Simmuns.
+
+What Emma Haredale and Dolly would have done, or how long Miss Miggs,
+now that she had hoisted her true colours, would have gone on waving
+them before their astonished senses, it is impossible to tell. Nor is
+it necessary to speculate on these matters, for a startling interruption
+occurred at that moment, which took their whole attention by storm.
+
+This was a violent knocking at the door of the house, and then its
+sudden bursting open; which was immediately succeeded by a scuffle in
+the room without, and the clash of weapons. Transported with the hope
+that rescue had at length arrived, Emma and Dolly shrieked aloud for
+help; nor were their shrieks unanswered; for after a hurried interval, a
+man, bearing in one hand a drawn sword, and in the other a taper, rushed
+into the chamber where they were confined.
+
+It was some check upon their transport to find in this person an entire
+stranger, but they appealed to him, nevertheless, and besought him, in
+impassioned language, to restore them to their friends.
+
+'For what other purpose am I here?' he answered, closing the door, and
+standing with his back against it. 'With what object have I made my way
+to this place, through difficulty and danger, but to preserve you?'
+
+With a joy for which it was impossible to find adequate expression, they
+embraced each other, and thanked Heaven for this most timely aid. Their
+deliverer stepped forward for a moment to put the light upon the table,
+and immediately returning to his former position against the door, bared
+his head, and looked on smilingly.
+
+'You have news of my uncle, sir?' said Emma, turning hastily towards
+him.
+
+'And of my father and mother?' added Dolly.
+
+'Yes,' he said. 'Good news.'
+
+'They are alive and unhurt?' they both cried at once.
+
+'Yes, and unhurt,' he rejoined.
+
+'And close at hand?'
+
+'I did not say close at hand,' he answered smoothly; 'they are at no
+great distance. YOUR friends, sweet one,' he added, addressing Dolly,
+'are within a few hours' journey. You will be restored to them, I hope,
+to-night.'
+
+'My uncle, sir--' faltered Emma.
+
+'Your uncle, dear Miss Haredale, happily--I say happily, because he has
+succeeded where many of our creed have failed, and is safe--has crossed
+the sea, and is out of Britain.'
+
+'I thank God for it,' said Emma, faintly.
+
+'You say well. You have reason to be thankful: greater reason than it is
+possible for you, who have seen but one night of these cruel outrages,
+to imagine.'
+
+'Does he desire,' said Emma, 'that I should follow him?'
+
+'Do you ask if he desires it?' cried the stranger in surprise. 'IF he
+desires it! But you do not know the danger of remaining in England,
+the difficulty of escape, or the price hundreds would pay to secure the
+means, when you make that inquiry. Pardon me. I had forgotten that you
+could not, being prisoner here.'
+
+'I gather, sir,' said Emma, after a moment's pause, 'from what you hint
+at, but fear to tell me, that I have witnessed but the beginning, and
+the least, of the violence to which we are exposed, and that it has not
+yet slackened in its fury?'
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, lifted up his hands; and with
+the same smooth smile, which was not a pleasant one to see, cast his
+eyes upon the ground, and remained silent.
+
+'You may venture, sir, to speak plain,' said Emma, 'and to tell me the
+worst. We have undergone some preparation for it.'
+
+But here Dolly interposed, and entreated her not to hear the worst, but
+the best; and besought the gentleman to tell them the best, and to
+keep the remainder of his news until they were safe among their friends
+again.
+
+'It is told in three words,' he said, glancing at the locksmith's
+daughter with a look of some displeasure. 'The people have risen, to a
+man, against us; the streets are filled with soldiers, who support
+them and do their bidding. We have no protection but from above, and no
+safety but in flight; and that is a poor resource; for we are watched on
+every hand, and detained here, both by force and fraud. Miss Haredale,
+I cannot bear--believe me, that I cannot bear--by speaking of myself,
+or what I have done, or am prepared to do, to seem to vaunt my services
+before you. But, having powerful Protestant connections, and having my
+whole wealth embarked with theirs in shipping and commerce, I happily
+possessed the means of saving your uncle. I have the means of saving
+you; and in redemption of my sacred promise, made to him, I am here;
+pledged not to leave you until I have placed you in his arms. The
+treachery or penitence of one of the men about you, led to the discovery
+of your place of confinement; and that I have forced my way here, sword
+in hand, you see.'
+
+'You bring,' said Emma, faltering, 'some note or token from my uncle?'
+
+'No, he doesn't,' cried Dolly, pointing at him earnestly; 'now I am sure
+he doesn't. Don't go with him for the world!'
+
+'Hush, pretty fool--be silent,' he replied, frowning angrily upon her.
+'No, Miss Haredale, I have no letter, nor any token of any kind; for
+while I sympathise with you, and such as you, on whom misfortune so
+heavy and so undeserved has fallen, I value my life. I carry, therefore,
+no writing which, found upon me, would lead to its certain loss. I
+never thought of bringing any other token, nor did Mr Haredale think of
+entrusting me with one--possibly because he had good experience of my
+faith and honesty, and owed his life to me.'
+
+There was a reproof conveyed in these words, which to a nature like
+Emma Haredale's, was well addressed. But Dolly, who was differently
+constituted, was by no means touched by it, and still conjured her, in
+all the terms of affection and attachment she could think of, not to be
+lured away.
+
+'Time presses,' said their visitor, who, although he sought to express
+the deepest interest, had something cold and even in his speech, that
+grated on the ear; 'and danger surrounds us. If I have exposed myself to
+it, in vain, let it be so; but if you and he should ever meet again, do
+me justice. If you decide to remain (as I think you do), remember, Miss
+Haredale, that I left you with a solemn caution, and acquitting myself
+of all the consequences to which you expose yourself.'
+
+'Stay, sir!' cried Emma--'one moment, I beg you. Cannot we'--and she drew
+Dolly closer to her--'cannot we go together?'
+
+'The task of conveying one female in safety through such scenes as we
+must encounter, to say nothing of attracting the attention of those who
+crowd the streets,' he answered, 'is enough. I have said that she will
+be restored to her friends to-night. If you accept the service I tender,
+Miss Haredale, she shall be instantly placed in safe conduct, and that
+promise redeemed. Do you decide to remain? People of all ranks and
+creeds are flying from the town, which is sacked from end to end. Let me
+be of use in some quarter. Do you stay, or go?'
+
+'Dolly,' said Emma, in a hurried manner, 'my dear girl, this is our last
+hope. If we part now, it is only that we may meet again in happiness and
+honour. I will trust to this gentleman.'
+
+'No no-no!' cried Dolly, clinging to her. 'Pray, pray, do not!'
+
+'You hear,' said Emma, 'that to-night--only to-night--within a few
+hours--think of that!--you will be among those who would die of grief to
+lose you, and who are now plunged in the deepest misery for your sake.
+Pray for me, dear girl, as I will for you; and never forget the many
+quiet hours we have passed together. Say one "God bless you!" Say that
+at parting!'
+
+But Dolly could say nothing; no, not when Emma kissed her cheek a
+hundred times, and covered it with tears, could she do more than hang
+upon her neck, and sob, and clasp, and hold her tight.
+
+'We have time for no more of this,' cried the man, unclenching her
+hands, and pushing her roughly off, as he drew Emma Haredale towards the
+door: 'Now! Quick, outside there! are you ready?'
+
+'Ay!' cried a loud voice, which made him start. 'Quite ready! Stand back
+here, for your lives!'
+
+And in an instant he was felled like an ox in the butcher's
+shambles--struck down as though a block of marble had fallen from the
+roof and crushed him--and cheerful light, and beaming faces came pouring
+in--and Emma was clasped in her uncle's embrace, and Dolly, with a
+shriek that pierced the air, fell into the arms of her father and
+mother.
+
+What fainting there was, what laughing, what crying, what sobbing, what
+smiling, how much questioning, no answering, all talking together, all
+beside themselves with joy; what kissing, congratulating, embracing,
+shaking of hands, and falling into all these raptures, over and over and
+over again; no language can describe.
+
+At length, and after a long time, the old locksmith went up and fairly
+hugged two strangers, who had stood apart and left them to themselves;
+and then they saw--whom? Yes, Edward Chester and Joseph Willet.
+
+'See here!' cried the locksmith. 'See here! where would any of us have
+been without these two? Oh, Mr Edward, Mr Edward--oh, Joe, Joe, how
+light, and yet how full, you have made my old heart to-night!'
+
+'It was Mr Edward that knocked him down, sir,' said Joe: 'I longed to do
+it, but I gave it up to him. Come, you brave and honest gentleman! Get
+your senses together, for you haven't long to lie here.'
+
+He had his foot upon the breast of their sham deliverer, in the absence
+of a spare arm; and gave him a gentle roll as he spoke. Gashford, for
+it was no other, crouching yet malignant, raised his scowling face, like
+sin subdued, and pleaded to be gently used.
+
+'I have access to all my lord's papers, Mr Haredale,' he said, in a
+submissive voice: Mr Haredale keeping his back towards him, and not once
+looking round: 'there are very important documents among them. There are
+a great many in secret drawers, and distributed in various places, known
+only to my lord and me. I can give some very valuable information, and
+render important assistance to any inquiry. You will have to answer it,
+if I receive ill usage.
+
+'Pah!' cried Joe, in deep disgust. 'Get up, man; you're waited for,
+outside. Get up, do you hear?'
+
+Gashford slowly rose; and picking up his hat, and looking with a baffled
+malevolence, yet with an air of despicable humility, all round the room,
+crawled out.
+
+'And now, gentlemen,' said Joe, who seemed to be the spokesman of the
+party, for all the rest were silent; 'the sooner we get back to the
+Black Lion, the better, perhaps.'
+
+Mr Haredale nodded assent, and drawing his niece's arm through his,
+and taking one of her hands between his own, passed out straightway;
+followed by the locksmith, Mrs Varden, and Dolly--who would scarcely
+have presented a sufficient surface for all the hugs and caresses they
+bestowed upon her though she had been a dozen Dollys. Edward Chester and
+Joe followed.
+
+And did Dolly never once look behind--not once? Was there not one little
+fleeting glimpse of the dark eyelash, almost resting on her flushed
+cheek, and of the downcast sparkling eye it shaded? Joe thought there
+was--and he is not likely to have been mistaken; for there were not many
+eyes like Dolly's, that's the truth.
+
+The outer room through which they had to pass, was full of men; among
+them, Mr Dennis in safe keeping; and there, had been since yesterday,
+lying in hiding behind a wooden screen which was now thrown down,
+Simon Tappertit, the recreant 'prentice, burnt and bruised, and with a
+gun-shot wound in his body; and his legs--his perfect legs, the pride
+and glory of his life, the comfort of his existence--crushed into
+shapeless ugliness. Wondering no longer at the moans they had heard,
+Dolly kept closer to her father, and shuddered at the sight; but neither
+bruises, burns, nor gun-shot wound, nor all the torture of his shattered
+limbs, sent half so keen a pang to Simon's breast, as Dolly passing out,
+with Joe for her preserver.
+
+A coach was ready at the door, and Dolly found herself safe and whole
+inside, between her father and mother, with Emma Haredale and her uncle,
+quite real, sitting opposite. But there was no Joe, no Edward; and they
+had said nothing. They had only bowed once, and kept at a distance. Dear
+heart! what a long way it was to the Black Lion!
+
+
+
+Chapter 72
+
+
+The Black Lion was so far off, and occupied such a length of time in the
+getting at, that notwithstanding the strong presumptive evidence she had
+about her of the late events being real and of actual occurrence, Dolly
+could not divest herself of the belief that she must be in a dream which
+was lasting all night. Nor was she quite certain that she saw and heard
+with her own proper senses, even when the coach, in the fulness of time,
+stopped at the Black Lion, and the host of that tavern approached in a
+gush of cheerful light to help them to dismount, and give them hearty
+welcome.
+
+There too, at the coach door, one on one side, one upon the other, were
+already Edward Chester and Joe Willet, who must have followed in another
+coach: and this was such a strange and unaccountable proceeding, that
+Dolly was the more inclined to favour the idea of her being fast asleep.
+But when Mr Willet appeared--old John himself--so heavy-headed and
+obstinate, and with such a double chin as the liveliest imagination
+could never in its boldest flights have conjured up in all its vast
+proportions--then she stood corrected, and unwillingly admitted to
+herself that she was broad awake.
+
+And Joe had lost an arm--he--that well-made, handsome, gallant fellow!
+As Dolly glanced towards him, and thought of the pain he must have
+suffered, and the far-off places in which he had been wandering, and
+wondered who had been his nurse, and hoped that whoever it was, she
+had been as kind and gentle and considerate as she would have been,
+the tears came rising to her bright eyes, one by one, little by little,
+until she could keep them back no longer, and so before them all, wept
+bitterly.
+
+'We are all safe now, Dolly,' said her father, kindly. 'We shall not be
+separated any more. Cheer up, my love, cheer up!'
+
+The locksmith's wife knew better perhaps, than he, what ailed her
+daughter. But Mrs Varden being quite an altered woman--for the riots had
+done that good--added her word to his, and comforted her with similar
+representations.
+
+'Mayhap,' said Mr Willet, senior, looking round upon the company, 'she's
+hungry. That's what it is, depend upon it--I am, myself.'
+
+The Black Lion, who, like old John, had been waiting supper past all
+reasonable and conscionable hours, hailed this as a philosophical
+discovery of the profoundest and most penetrating kind; and the table
+being already spread, they sat down to supper straightway.
+
+The conversation was not of the liveliest nature, nor were the appetites
+of some among them very keen. But, in both these respects, old John more
+than atoned for any deficiency on the part of the rest, and very much
+distinguished himself.
+
+It was not in point of actual conversation that Mr Willet shone so
+brilliantly, for he had none of his old cronies to 'tackle,' and was
+rather timorous of venturing on Joe; having certain vague misgivings
+within him, that he was ready on the shortest notice, and on receipt of
+the slightest offence, to fell the Black Lion to the floor of his own
+parlour, and immediately to withdraw to China or some other remote and
+unknown region, there to dwell for evermore, or at least until he had
+got rid of his remaining arm and both legs, and perhaps an eye or so,
+into the bargain. It was with a peculiar kind of pantomime that Mr
+Willet filled up every pause; and in this he was considered by the Black
+Lion, who had been his familiar for some years, quite to surpass and
+go beyond himself, and outrun the expectations of his most admiring
+friends.
+
+The subject that worked in Mr Willet's mind, and occasioned these
+demonstrations, was no other than his son's bodily disfigurement, which
+he had never yet got himself thoroughly to believe, or comprehend.
+Shortly after their first meeting, he had been observed to wander, in
+a state of great perplexity, to the kitchen, and to direct his gaze
+towards the fire, as if in search of his usual adviser in all matters of
+doubt and difficulty. But there being no boiler at the Black Lion, and
+the rioters having so beaten and battered his own that it was quite
+unfit for further service, he wandered out again, in a perfect bog of
+uncertainty and mental confusion, and in that state took the strangest
+means of resolving his doubts: such as feeling the sleeve of his son's
+greatcoat as deeming it possible that his arm might be there; looking at
+his own arms and those of everybody else, as if to assure himself that
+two and not one was the usual allowance; sitting by the hour together in
+a brown study, as if he were endeavouring to recall Joe's image in his
+younger days, and to remember whether he really had in those times one
+arm or a pair; and employing himself in many other speculations of the
+same kind.
+
+Finding himself at this supper, surrounded by faces with which he had
+been so well acquainted in old times, Mr Willet recurred to the subject
+with uncommon vigour; apparently resolved to understand it now or never.
+Sometimes, after every two or three mouthfuls, he laid down his knife
+and fork, and stared at his son with all his might--particularly at his
+maimed side; then, he looked slowly round the table until he caught some
+person's eye, when he shook his head with great solemnity, patted his
+shoulder, winked, or as one may say--for winking was a very slow process
+with him--went to sleep with one eye for a minute or two; and so, with
+another solemn shaking of his head, took up his knife and fork
+again, and went on eating. Sometimes, he put his food into his mouth
+abstractedly, and, with all his faculties concentrated on Joe, gazed at
+him in a fit of stupefaction as he cut his meat with one hand, until he
+was recalled to himself by symptoms of choking on his own part, and was
+by that means restored to consciousness. At other times he resorted to
+such small devices as asking him for the salt, the pepper, the vinegar,
+the mustard--anything that was on his maimed side--and watching him as
+he handed it. By dint of these experiments, he did at last so satisfy
+and convince himself, that, after a longer silence than he had yet
+maintained, he laid down his knife and fork on either side his plate,
+drank a long draught from a tankard beside him (still keeping his eyes
+on Joe), and leaning backward in his chair and fetching a long breath,
+said, as he looked all round the board:
+
+'It's been took off!'
+
+'By George!' said the Black Lion, striking the table with his hand,
+'he's got it!'
+
+'Yes, sir,' said Mr Willet, with the look of a man who felt that he had
+earned a compliment, and deserved it. 'That's where it is. It's been
+took off.'
+
+'Tell him where it was done,' said the Black Lion to Joe.
+
+'At the defence of the Savannah, father.'
+
+'At the defence of the Salwanners,' repeated Mr Willet, softly; again
+looking round the table.
+
+'In America, where the war is,' said Joe.
+
+'In America, where the war is,' repeated Mr Willet. 'It was took off in
+the defence of the Salwanners in America where the war is.' Continuing
+to repeat these words to himself in a low tone of voice (the same
+information had been conveyed to him in the same terms, at least fifty
+times before), Mr Willet arose from table, walked round to Joe, felt his
+empty sleeve all the way up, from the cuff, to where the stump of his
+arm remained; shook his hand; lighted his pipe at the fire, took a long
+whiff, walked to the door, turned round once when he had reached it,
+wiped his left eye with the back of his forefinger, and said, in
+a faltering voice: 'My son's arm--was took off--at the defence of
+the--Salwanners--in America--where the war is'--with which words he
+withdrew, and returned no more that night.
+
+Indeed, on various pretences, they all withdrew one after another, save
+Dolly, who was left sitting there alone. It was a great relief to be
+alone, and she was crying to her heart's content, when she heard Joe's
+voice at the end of the passage, bidding somebody good night.
+
+Good night! Then he was going elsewhere--to some distance, perhaps. To
+what kind of home COULD he be going, now that it was so late!
+
+She heard him walk along the passage, and pass the door. But there was a
+hesitation in his footsteps. He turned back--Dolly's heart beat high--he
+looked in.
+
+'Good night!'--he didn't say Dolly, but there was comfort in his not
+saying Miss Varden.
+
+'Good night!' sobbed Dolly.
+
+'I am sorry you take on so much, for what is past and gone,' said Joe
+kindly. 'Don't. I can't bear to see you do it. Think of it no longer.
+You are safe and happy now.'
+
+Dolly cried the more.
+
+'You must have suffered very much within these few days--and yet you're
+not changed, unless it's for the better. They said you were, but I don't
+see it. You were--you were always very beautiful,' said Joe, 'but you
+are more beautiful than ever, now. You are indeed. There can be no harm
+in my saying so, for you must know it. You are told so very often, I am
+sure.'
+
+As a general principle, Dolly DID know it, and WAS told so, very often.
+But the coachmaker had turned out, years ago, to be a special donkey;
+and whether she had been afraid of making similar discoveries in others,
+or had grown by dint of long custom to be careless of compliments
+generally, certain it is that although she cried so much, she was better
+pleased to be told so now, than ever she had been in all her life.
+
+'I shall bless your name,' sobbed the locksmith's little daughter, 'as
+long as I live. I shall never hear it spoken without feeling as if my
+heart would burst. I shall remember it in my prayers, every night and
+morning till I die!'
+
+'Will you?' said Joe, eagerly. 'Will you indeed? It makes me--well, it
+makes me very glad and proud to hear you say so.'
+
+Dolly still sobbed, and held her handkerchief to her eyes. Joe still
+stood, looking at her.
+
+'Your voice,' said Joe, 'brings up old times so pleasantly, that, for
+the moment, I feel as if that night--there can be no harm in talking
+of that night now--had come back, and nothing had happened in the mean
+time. I feel as if I hadn't suffered any hardships, but had knocked down
+poor Tom Cobb only yesterday, and had come to see you with my bundle on
+my shoulder before running away.--You remember?'
+
+Remember! But she said nothing. She raised her eyes for an instant. It
+was but a glance; a little, tearful, timid glance. It kept Joe silent
+though, for a long time.
+
+'Well!' he said stoutly, 'it was to be otherwise, and was. I have been
+abroad, fighting all the summer and frozen up all the winter, ever
+since. I have come back as poor in purse as I went, and crippled for
+life besides. But, Dolly, I would rather have lost this other arm--ay, I
+would rather have lost my head--than have come back to find you dead,
+or anything but what I always pictured you to myself, and what I always
+hoped and wished to find you. Thank God for all!'
+
+Oh how much, and how keenly, the little coquette of five years ago, felt
+now! She had found her heart at last. Never having known its worth till
+now, she had never known the worth of his. How priceless it appeared!
+
+'I did hope once,' said Joe, in his homely way, 'that I might come back
+a rich man, and marry you. But I was a boy then, and have long known
+better than that. I am a poor, maimed, discharged soldier, and must
+be content to rub through life as I can. I can't say, even now, that I
+shall be glad to see you married, Dolly; but I AM glad--yes, I am, and
+glad to think I can say so--to know that you are admired and courted,
+and can pick and choose for a happy life. It's a comfort to me to know
+that you'll talk to your husband about me; and I hope the time will come
+when I may be able to like him, and to shake hands with him, and to
+come and see you as a poor friend who knew you when you were a girl. God
+bless you!'
+
+His hand DID tremble; but for all that, he took it away again, and left
+her.
+
+
+
+Chapter 73
+
+
+By this Friday night--for it was on Friday in the riot week, that Emma
+and Dolly were rescued, by the timely aid of Joe and Edward Chester--the
+disturbances were entirely quelled, and peace and order were restored
+to the affrighted city. True, after what had happened, it was impossible
+for any man to say how long this better state of things might last, or
+how suddenly new outrages, exceeding even those so lately witnessed,
+might burst forth and fill its streets with ruin and bloodshed; for
+this reason, those who had fled from the recent tumults still kept at
+a distance, and many families, hitherto unable to procure the means
+of flight, now availed themselves of the calm, and withdrew into the
+country. The shops, too, from Tyburn to Whitechapel, were still shut;
+and very little business was transacted in any of the places of great
+commercial resort. But, notwithstanding, and in spite of the melancholy
+forebodings of that numerous class of society who see with the greatest
+clearness into the darkest perspectives, the town remained profoundly
+quiet. The strong military force disposed in every advantageous quarter,
+and stationed at every commanding point, held the scattered fragments
+of the mob in check; the search after rioters was prosecuted with
+unrelenting vigour; and if there were any among them so desperate and
+reckless as to be inclined, after the terrible scenes they had beheld,
+to venture forth again, they were so daunted by these resolute measures,
+that they quickly shrunk into their hiding-places, and had no thought
+but for their safety.
+
+In a word, the crowd was utterly routed. Upwards of two hundred had been
+shot dead in the streets. Two hundred and fifty more were lying, badly
+wounded, in the hospitals; of whom seventy or eighty died within a short
+time afterwards. A hundred were already in custody, and more were taken
+every hour. How many perished in the conflagrations, or by their own
+excesses, is unknown; but that numbers found a terrible grave in the hot
+ashes of the flames they had kindled, or crept into vaults and cellars
+to drink in secret or to nurse their sores, and never saw the light
+again, is certain. When the embers of the fires had been black and cold
+for many weeks, the labourers' spades proved this, beyond a doubt.
+
+Seventy-two private houses and four strong jails were destroyed in the
+four great days of these riots. The total loss of property, as estimated
+by the sufferers, was one hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds; at the
+lowest and least partial estimate of disinterested persons, it exceeded
+one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds. For this immense loss,
+compensation was soon afterwards made out of the public purse, in
+pursuance of a vote of the House of Commons; the sum being levied on the
+various wards in the city, on the county, and the borough of Southwark.
+Both Lord Mansfield and Lord Saville, however, who had been great
+sufferers, refused to accept of any compensation whatever.
+
+The House of Commons, sitting on Tuesday with locked and guarded doors,
+had passed a resolution to the effect that, as soon as the tumults
+subsided, it would immediately proceed to consider the petitions
+presented from many of his Majesty's Protestant subjects, and would take
+the same into its serious consideration. While this question was under
+debate, Mr Herbert, one of the members present, indignantly rose and
+called upon the House to observe that Lord George Gordon was then
+sitting under the gallery with the blue cockade, the signal of
+rebellion, in his hat. He was not only obliged, by those who sat near,
+to take it out; but offering to go into the street to pacify the mob
+with the somewhat indefinite assurance that the House was prepared to
+give them 'the satisfaction they sought,' was actually held down in his
+seat by the combined force of several members. In short, the disorder
+and violence which reigned triumphant out of doors, penetrated into
+the senate, and there, as elsewhere, terror and alarm prevailed, and
+ordinary forms were for the time forgotten.
+
+On the Thursday, both Houses had adjourned until the following Monday
+se'nnight, declaring it impossible to pursue their deliberations with
+the necessary gravity and freedom, while they were surrounded by armed
+troops. And now that the rioters were dispersed, the citizens were beset
+with a new fear; for, finding the public thoroughfares and all their
+usual places of resort filled with soldiers entrusted with the free use
+of fire and sword, they began to lend a greedy ear to the rumours which
+were afloat of martial law being declared, and to dismal stories of
+prisoners having been seen hanging on lamp-posts in Cheapside and
+Fleet Street. These terrors being promptly dispelled by a Proclamation
+declaring that all the rioters in custody would be tried by a special
+commission in due course of law, a fresh alarm was engendered by its
+being whispered abroad that French money had been found on some of the
+rioters, and that the disturbances had been fomented by foreign powers
+who sought to compass the overthrow and ruin of England. This report,
+which was strengthened by the diffusion of anonymous handbills, but
+which, if it had any foundation at all, probably owed its origin to the
+circumstance of some few coins which were not English money having been
+swept into the pockets of the insurgents with other miscellaneous booty,
+and afterwards discovered on the prisoners or the dead bodies,--caused
+a great sensation; and men's minds being in that excited state when they
+are most apt to catch at any shadow of apprehension, was bruited about
+with much industry.
+
+All remaining quiet, however, during the whole of this Friday, and on
+this Friday night, and no new discoveries being made, confidence began
+to be restored, and the most timid and desponding breathed again.
+In Southwark, no fewer than three thousand of the inhabitants formed
+themselves into a watch, and patrolled the streets every hour. Nor were
+the citizens slow to follow so good an example: and it being the manner
+of peaceful men to be very bold when the danger is over, they were
+abundantly fierce and daring; not scrupling to question the stoutest
+passenger with great severity, and carrying it with a very high hand
+over all errand-boys, servant-girls, and 'prentices.
+
+As day deepened into evening, and darkness crept into the nooks and
+corners of the town as if it were mustering in secret and gathering
+strength to venture into the open ways, Barnaby sat in his dungeon,
+wondering at the silence, and listening in vain for the noise and outcry
+which had ushered in the night of late. Beside him, with his hand in
+hers, sat one in whose companionship he felt at peace. She was worn, and
+altered, full of grief, and heavy-hearted; but the same to him.
+
+'Mother,' he said, after a long silence: 'how long,--how many days and
+nights,--shall I be kept here?'
+
+'Not many, dear. I hope not many.'
+
+'You hope! Ay, but your hoping will not undo these chains. I hope, but
+they don't mind that. Grip hopes, but who cares for Grip?'
+
+The raven gave a short, dull, melancholy croak. It said 'Nobody,' as
+plainly as a croak could speak.
+
+'Who cares for Grip, except you and me?' said Barnaby, smoothing the
+bird's rumpled feathers with his hand. 'He never speaks in this place;
+he never says a word in jail; he sits and mopes all day in his dark
+corner, dozing sometimes, and sometimes looking at the light that creeps
+in through the bars, and shines in his bright eye as if a spark from
+those great fires had fallen into the room and was burning yet. But who
+cares for Grip?'
+
+The raven croaked again--Nobody.
+
+'And by the way,' said Barnaby, withdrawing his hand from the bird, and
+laying it upon his mother's arm, as he looked eagerly in her face; 'if
+they kill me--they may: I heard it said they would--what will become of
+Grip when I am dead?'
+
+The sound of the word, or the current of his own thoughts, suggested to
+Grip his old phrase 'Never say die!' But he stopped short in the middle
+of it, drew a dismal cork, and subsided into a faint croak, as if he
+lacked the heart to get through the shortest sentence.
+
+'Will they take HIS life as well as mine?' said Barnaby. 'I wish they
+would. If you and I and he could die together, there would be none to
+feel sorry, or to grieve for us. But do what they will, I don't fear
+them, mother!'
+
+'They will not harm you,' she said, her tears choking her utterance.
+'They never will harm you, when they know all. I am sure they never
+will.'
+
+'Oh! Don't be too sure of that,' cried Barnaby, with a strange pleasure
+in the belief that she was self-deceived, and in his own sagacity. 'They
+have marked me from the first. I heard them say so to each other when
+they brought me to this place last night; and I believe them. Don't you
+cry for me. They said that I was bold, and so I am, and so I will be.
+You may think that I am silly, but I can die as well as another.--I have
+done no harm, have I?' he added quickly.
+
+'None before Heaven,' she answered.
+
+'Why then,' said Barnaby, 'let them do their worst. You told me
+once--you--when I asked you what death meant, that it was nothing to
+be feared, if we did no harm--Aha! mother, you thought I had forgotten
+that!'
+
+His merry laugh and playful manner smote her to the heart. She drew him
+closer to her, and besought him to talk to her in whispers and to be
+very quiet, for it was getting dark, and their time was short, and she
+would soon have to leave him for the night.
+
+'You will come to-morrow?' said Barnaby.
+
+Yes. And every day. And they would never part again.
+
+He joyfully replied that this was well, and what he wished, and what he
+had felt quite certain she would tell him; and then he asked her where
+she had been so long, and why she had not come to see him when he had
+been a great soldier, and ran through the wild schemes he had had for
+their being rich and living prosperously, and with some faint notion in
+his mind that she was sad and he had made her so, tried to console and
+comfort her, and talked of their former life and his old sports and
+freedom: little dreaming that every word he uttered only increased her
+sorrow, and that her tears fell faster at the freshened recollection of
+their lost tranquillity.
+
+'Mother,' said Barnaby, as they heard the man approaching to close the
+cells for the night, 'when I spoke to you just now about my father you
+cried "Hush!" and turned away your head. Why did you do so? Tell me why,
+in a word. You thought HE was dead. You are not sorry that he is alive
+and has come back to us. Where is he? Here?'
+
+'Do not ask any one where he is, or speak about him,' she made answer.
+
+'Why not?' said Barnaby. 'Because he is a stern man, and talks roughly?
+Well! I don't like him, or want to be with him by myself; but why not
+speak about him?'
+
+'Because I am sorry that he is alive; sorry that he has come back;
+and sorry that he and you have ever met. Because, dear Barnaby, the
+endeavour of my life has been to keep you two asunder.'
+
+'Father and son asunder! Why?'
+
+'He has,' she whispered in his ear, 'he has shed blood. The time has
+come when you must know it. He has shed the blood of one who loved him
+well, and trusted him, and never did him wrong in word or deed.'
+
+Barnaby recoiled in horror, and glancing at his stained wrist for an
+instant, wrapped it, shuddering, in his dress.
+
+'But,' she added hastily as the key turned in the lock, 'although we
+shun him, he is your father, dearest, and I am his wretched wife. They
+seek his life, and he will lose it. It must not be by our means; nay, if
+we could win him back to penitence, we should be bound to love him yet.
+Do not seem to know him, except as one who fled with you from the jail,
+and if they question you about him, do not answer them. God be with you
+through the night, dear boy! God be with you!'
+
+She tore herself away, and in a few seconds Barnaby was alone. He stood
+for a long time rooted to the spot, with his face hidden in his hands;
+then flung himself, sobbing, on his miserable bed.
+
+But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the stars
+looked out, and through the small compass of the grated window, as
+through the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life of guilt,
+the face of Heaven shone bright and merciful. He raised his head;
+gazed upward at the quiet sky, which seemed to smile upon the earth in
+sadness, as if the night, more thoughtful than the day, looked down in
+sorrow on the sufferings and evil deeds of men; and felt its peace sink
+deep into his heart. He, a poor idiot, caged in his narrow cell, was as
+much lifted up to God, while gazing on the mild light, as the freest and
+most favoured man in all the spacious city; and in his ill-remembered
+prayer, and in the fragment of the childish hymn, with which he sung and
+crooned himself asleep, there breathed as true a spirit as ever studied
+homily expressed, or old cathedral arches echoed.
+
+As his mother crossed a yard on her way out, she saw, through a grated
+door which separated it from another court, her husband, walking round
+and round, with his hands folded on his breast, and his head hung down.
+She asked the man who conducted her, if she might speak a word with
+this prisoner. Yes, but she must be quick for he was locking up for
+the night, and there was but a minute or so to spare. Saying this, he
+unlocked the door, and bade her go in.
+
+It grated harshly as it turned upon its hinges, but he was deaf to
+the noise, and still walked round and round the little court, without
+raising his head or changing his attitude in the least. She spoke to
+him, but her voice was weak, and failed her. At length she put herself
+in his track, and when he came near, stretched out her hand and touched
+him.
+
+He started backward, trembling from head to foot; but seeing who it was,
+demanded why she came there. Before she could reply, he spoke again.
+
+'Am I to live or die? Do you murder too, or spare?'
+
+'My son--our son,' she answered, 'is in this prison.'
+
+'What is that to me?' he cried, stamping impatiently on the stone
+pavement. 'I know it. He can no more aid me than I can aid him. If you
+are come to talk of him, begone!'
+
+As he spoke he resumed his walk, and hurried round the court as before.
+When he came again to where she stood, he stopped, and said,
+
+'Am I to live or die? Do you repent?'
+
+'Oh!--do YOU?' she answered. 'Will you, while time remains? Do not
+believe that I could save you, if I dared.'
+
+'Say if you would,' he answered with an oath, as he tried to disengage
+himself and pass on. 'Say if you would.'
+
+'Listen to me for one moment,' she returned; 'for but a moment. I am but
+newly risen from a sick-bed, from which I never hoped to rise again. The
+best among us think, at such a time, of good intentions half-performed
+and duties left undone. If I have ever, since that fatal night, omitted
+to pray for your repentance before death--if I omitted, even then,
+anything which might tend to urge it on you when the horror of your
+crime was fresh--if, in our later meeting, I yielded to the dread that
+was upon me, and forgot to fall upon my knees and solemnly adjure you,
+in the name of him you sent to his account with Heaven, to prepare for
+the retribution which must come, and which is stealing on you now--I
+humbly before you, and in the agony of supplication in which you see me,
+beseech that you will let me make atonement.'
+
+'What is the meaning of your canting words?' he answered roughly. 'Speak
+so that I may understand you.'
+
+'I will,' she answered, 'I desire to. Bear with me for a moment more.
+The hand of Him who set His curse on murder, is heavy on us now. You
+cannot doubt it. Our son, our innocent boy, on whom His anger fell
+before his birth, is in this place in peril of his life--brought here
+by your guilt; yes, by that alone, as Heaven sees and knows, for he
+has been led astray in the darkness of his intellect, and that is the
+terrible consequence of your crime.'
+
+'If you come, woman-like, to load me with reproaches--' he muttered,
+again endeavouring to break away.
+
+'I do not. I have a different purpose. You must hear it. If not
+to-night, to-morrow; if not to-morrow, at another time. You MUST hear
+it. Husband, escape is hopeless--impossible.'
+
+'You tell me so, do you?' he said, raising his manacled hand, and
+shaking it. 'You!'
+
+'Yes,' she said, with indescribable earnestness. 'But why?'
+
+'To make me easy in this jail. To make the time 'twixt this and death,
+pass pleasantly. For my good--yes, for my good, of course,' he said,
+grinding his teeth, and smiling at her with a livid face.
+
+'Not to load you with reproaches,' she replied; 'not to aggravate the
+tortures and miseries of your condition, not to give you one hard word,
+but to restore you to peace and hope. Husband, dear husband, if you will
+but confess this dreadful crime; if you will but implore forgiveness of
+Heaven and of those whom you have wronged on earth; if you will dismiss
+these vain uneasy thoughts, which never can be realised, and will rely
+on Penitence and on the Truth, I promise you, in the great name of the
+Creator, whose image you have defaced, that He will comfort and console
+you. And for myself,' she cried, clasping her hands, and looking upward,
+'I swear before Him, as He knows my heart and reads it now, that from
+that hour I will love and cherish you as I did of old, and watch you
+night and day in the short interval that will remain to us, and
+soothe you with my truest love and duty, and pray with you, that one
+threatening judgment may be arrested, and that our boy may be spared to
+bless God, in his poor way, in the free air and light!'
+
+He fell back and gazed at her while she poured out these words, as
+though he were for a moment awed by her manner, and knew not what to do.
+But anger and fear soon got the mastery of him, and he spurned her from
+him.
+
+'Begone!' he cried. 'Leave me! You plot, do you! You plot to get speech
+with me, and let them know I am the man they say I am. A curse on you
+and on your boy.'
+
+'On him the curse has already fallen,' she replied, wringing her hands.
+
+'Let it fall heavier. Let it fall on one and all. I hate you both. The
+worst has come to me. The only comfort that I seek or I can have, will
+be the knowledge that it comes to you. Now go!'
+
+She would have urged him gently, even then, but he menaced her with his
+chain.
+
+'I say go--I say it for the last time. The gallows has me in its grasp,
+and it is a black phantom that may urge me on to something more. Begone!
+I curse the hour that I was born, the man I slew, and all the living
+world!'
+
+In a paroxysm of wrath, and terror, and the fear of death, he broke from
+her, and rushed into the darkness of his cell, where he cast himself
+jangling down upon the stone floor, and smote it with his ironed hands.
+The man returned to lock the dungeon door, and having done so, carried
+her away.
+
+On that warm, balmy night in June, there were glad faces and light
+hearts in all quarters of the town, and sleep, banished by the late
+horrors, was doubly welcomed. On that night, families made merry in
+their houses, and greeted each other on the common danger they had
+escaped; and those who had been denounced, ventured into the streets;
+and they who had been plundered, got good shelter. Even the timorous
+Lord Mayor, who was summoned that night before the Privy Council to
+answer for his conduct, came back contented; observing to all his
+friends that he had got off very well with a reprimand, and repeating
+with huge satisfaction his memorable defence before the Council, 'that
+such was his temerity, he thought death would have been his portion.'
+
+On that night, too, more of the scattered remnants of the mob were
+traced to their lurking-places, and taken; and in the hospitals, and
+deep among the ruins they had made, and in the ditches, and fields, many
+unshrouded wretches lay dead: envied by those who had been active in
+the disturbances, and who pillowed their doomed heads in the temporary
+jails.
+
+And in the Tower, in a dreary room whose thick stone walls shut out
+the hum of life, and made a stillness which the records left by former
+prisoners with those silent witnesses seemed to deepen and intensify;
+remorseful for every act that had been done by every man among the cruel
+crowd; feeling for the time their guilt his own, and their lives put in
+peril by himself; and finding, amidst such reflections, little comfort
+in fanaticism, or in his fancied call; sat the unhappy author of
+all--Lord George Gordon.
+
+He had been made prisoner that evening. 'If you are sure it's me you
+want,' he said to the officers, who waited outside with the warrant for
+his arrest on a charge of High Treason, 'I am ready to accompany you--'
+which he did without resistance. He was conducted first before the Privy
+Council, and afterwards to the Horse Guards, and then was taken by way
+of Westminster Bridge, and back over London Bridge (for the purpose of
+avoiding the main streets), to the Tower, under the strongest guard ever
+known to enter its gates with a single prisoner.
+
+Of all his forty thousand men, not one remained to bear him company.
+Friends, dependents, followers,--none were there. His fawning secretary
+had played the traitor; and he whose weakness had been goaded and urged
+on by so many for their own purposes, was desolate and alone.
+
+
+
+Chapter 74
+
+
+Mr Dennis, having been made prisoner late in the evening, was removed to
+a neighbouring round-house for that night, and carried before a justice
+for examination on the next day, Saturday. The charges against him
+being numerous and weighty, and it being in particular proved, by the
+testimony of Gabriel Varden, that he had shown a special desire to take
+his life, he was committed for trial. Moreover he was honoured with
+the distinction of being considered a chief among the insurgents, and
+received from the magistrate's lips the complimentary assurance that
+he was in a position of imminent danger, and would do well to prepare
+himself for the worst.
+
+To say that Mr Dennis's modesty was not somewhat startled by these
+honours, or that he was altogether prepared for so flattering a
+reception, would be to claim for him a greater amount of stoical
+philosophy than even he possessed. Indeed this gentleman's stoicism was
+of that not uncommon kind, which enables a man to bear with exemplary
+fortitude the afflictions of his friends, but renders him, by way of
+counterpoise, rather selfish and sensitive in respect of any that happen
+to befall himself. It is therefore no disparagement to the great officer
+in question to state, without disguise or concealment, that he was at
+first very much alarmed, and that he betrayed divers emotions of fear,
+until his reasoning powers came to his relief, and set before him a more
+hopeful prospect.
+
+In proportion as Mr Dennis exercised these intellectual qualities
+with which he was gifted, in reviewing his best chances of coming off
+handsomely and with small personal inconvenience, his spirits rose, and
+his confidence increased. When he remembered the great estimation in
+which his office was held, and the constant demand for his services;
+when he bethought himself, how the Statute Book regarded him as a kind
+of Universal Medicine applicable to men, women, and children, of every
+age and variety of criminal constitution; and how high he stood, in
+his official capacity, in the favour of the Crown, and both Houses of
+Parliament, the Mint, the Bank of England, and the Judges of the land;
+when he recollected that whatever Ministry was in or out, he remained
+their peculiar pet and panacea, and that for his sake England stood
+single and conspicuous among the civilised nations of the earth: when
+he called these things to mind and dwelt upon them, he felt certain that
+the national gratitude MUST relieve him from the consequences of his
+late proceedings, and would certainly restore him to his old place in
+the happy social system.
+
+With these crumbs, or as one may say, with these whole loaves of comfort
+to regale upon, Mr Dennis took his place among the escort that awaited
+him, and repaired to jail with a manly indifference. Arriving at
+Newgate, where some of the ruined cells had been hastily fitted up for
+the safe keeping of rioters, he was warmly received by the turnkeys,
+as an unusual and interesting case, which agreeably relieved their
+monotonous duties. In this spirit, he was fettered with great care, and
+conveyed into the interior of the prison.
+
+'Brother,' cried the hangman, as, following an officer, he traversed
+under these novel circumstances the remains of passages with which he
+was well acquainted, 'am I going to be along with anybody?'
+
+'If you'd have left more walls standing, you'd have been alone,' was the
+reply. 'As it is, we're cramped for room, and you'll have company.'
+
+'Well,' returned Dennis, 'I don't object to company, brother. I rather
+like company. I was formed for society, I was.'
+
+'That's rather a pity, an't it?' said the man.
+
+'No,' answered Dennis, 'I'm not aware that it is. Why should it be a
+pity, brother?'
+
+'Oh! I don't know,' said the man carelessly. 'I thought that was what
+you meant. Being formed for society, and being cut off in your flower,
+you know--'
+
+'I say,' interposed the other quickly, 'what are you talking of? Don't.
+Who's a-going to be cut off in their flowers?'
+
+'Oh, nobody particular. I thought you was, perhaps,' said the man.
+
+Mr Dennis wiped his face, which had suddenly grown very hot, and
+remarking in a tremulous voice to his conductor that he had always been
+fond of his joke, followed him in silence until he stopped at a door.
+
+'This is my quarters, is it?' he asked facetiously.
+
+'This is the shop, sir,' replied his friend.
+
+He was walking in, but not with the best possible grace, when he
+suddenly stopped, and started back.
+
+'Halloa!' said the officer. 'You're nervous.'
+
+'Nervous!' whispered Dennis in great alarm. 'Well I may be. Shut the
+door.'
+
+'I will, when you're in,' returned the man.
+
+'But I can't go in there,' whispered Dennis. 'I can't be shut up with
+that man. Do you want me to be throttled, brother?'
+
+The officer seemed to entertain no particular desire on the subject one
+way or other, but briefly remarking that he had his orders, and intended
+to obey them, pushed him in, turned the key, and retired.
+
+Dennis stood trembling with his back against the door, and involuntarily
+raising his arm to defend himself, stared at a man, the only other
+tenant of the cell, who lay, stretched at his fall length, upon a stone
+bench, and who paused in his deep breathing as if he were about to wake.
+But he rolled over on one side, let his arm fall negligently down, drew
+a long sigh, and murmuring indistinctly, fell fast asleep again.
+
+Relieved in some degree by this, the hangman took his eyes for an
+instant from the slumbering figure, and glanced round the cell in search
+of some 'vantage-ground or weapon of defence. There was nothing moveable
+within it, but a clumsy table which could not be displaced without
+noise, and a heavy chair. Stealing on tiptoe towards this latter
+piece of furniture, he retired with it into the remotest corner,
+and intrenching himself behind it, watched the enemy with the utmost
+vigilance and caution.
+
+The sleeping man was Hugh; and perhaps it was not unnatural for Dennis
+to feel in a state of very uncomfortable suspense, and to wish with
+his whole soul that he might never wake again. Tired of standing, he
+crouched down in his corner after some time, and rested on the cold
+pavement; but although Hugh's breathing still proclaimed that he
+was sleeping soundly, he could not trust him out of his sight for an
+instant. He was so afraid of him, and of some sudden onslaught, that he
+was not content to see his closed eyes through the chair-back, but
+every now and then, rose stealthily to his feet, and peered at him with
+outstretched neck, to assure himself that he really was still asleep,
+and was not about to spring upon him when he was off his guard.
+
+He slept so long and so soundly, that Mr Dennis began to think he might
+sleep on until the turnkey visited them. He was congratulating himself
+upon these promising appearances, and blessing his stars with much
+fervour, when one or two unpleasant symptoms manifested themselves: such
+as another motion of the arm, another sigh, a restless tossing of the
+head. Then, just as it seemed that he was about to fall heavily to the
+ground from his narrow bed, Hugh's eyes opened.
+
+It happened that his face was turned directly towards his unexpected
+visitor. He looked lazily at him for some half-dozen seconds without any
+aspect of surprise or recognition; then suddenly jumped up, and with a
+great oath pronounced his name.
+
+'Keep off, brother, keep off!' cried Dennis, dodging behind the chair.
+'Don't do me a mischief. I'm a prisoner like you. I haven't the free use
+of my limbs. I'm quite an old man. Don't hurt me!'
+
+He whined out the last three words in such piteous accents, that Hugh,
+who had dragged away the chair, and aimed a blow at him with it, checked
+himself, and bade him get up.
+
+'I'll get up certainly, brother,' cried Dennis, anxious to propitiate
+him by any means in his power. 'I'll comply with any request of yours,
+I'm sure. There--I'm up now. What can I do for you? Only say the word,
+and I'll do it.'
+
+'What can you do for me!' cried Hugh, clutching him by the collar with
+both hands, and shaking him as though he were bent on stopping his
+breath by that means. 'What have you done for me?'
+
+'The best. The best that could be done,' returned the hangman.
+
+Hugh made him no answer, but shaking him in his strong grip until his
+teeth chattered in his head, cast him down upon the floor, and flung
+himself on the bench again.
+
+'If it wasn't for the comfort it is to me, to see you here,' he
+muttered, 'I'd have crushed your head against it; I would.'
+
+It was some time before Dennis had breath enough to speak, but as soon
+as he could resume his propitiatory strain, he did so.
+
+'I did the best that could be done, brother,' he whined; 'I did indeed.
+I was forced with two bayonets and I don't know how many bullets on each
+side of me, to point you out. If you hadn't been taken, you'd have been
+shot; and what a sight that would have been--a fine young man like you!'
+
+'Will it be a better sight now?' asked Hugh, raising his head, with such
+a fierce expression, that the other durst not answer him just then.
+
+'A deal better,' said Dennis meekly, after a pause. 'First, there's all
+the chances of the law, and they're five hundred strong. We may get off
+scot-free. Unlikelier things than that have come to pass. Even if we
+shouldn't, and the chances fail, we can but be worked off once: and when
+it's well done, it's so neat, so skilful, so captiwating, if that don't
+seem too strong a word, that you'd hardly believe it could be brought
+to sich perfection. Kill one's fellow-creeturs off, with muskets!--Pah!'
+and his nature so revolted at the bare idea, that he spat upon the
+dungeon pavement.
+
+His warming on this topic, which to one unacquainted with his pursuits
+and tastes appeared like courage; together with his artful suppression
+of his own secret hopes, and mention of himself as being in the same
+condition with Hugh; did more to soothe that ruffian than the most
+elaborate arguments could have done, or the most abject submission.
+He rested his arms upon his knees, and stooping forward, looked from
+beneath his shaggy hair at Dennis, with something of a smile upon his
+face.
+
+'The fact is, brother,' said the hangman, in a tone of greater
+confidence, 'that you got into bad company. The man that was with you
+was looked after more than you, and it was him I wanted. As to me, what
+have I got by it? Here we are, in one and the same plight.'
+
+'Lookee, rascal,' said Hugh, contracting his brows, 'I'm not altogether
+such a shallow blade but I know you expected to get something by it, or
+you wouldn't have done it. But it's done, and you're here, and it will
+soon be all over with you and me; and I'd as soon die as live, or live
+as die. Why should I trouble myself to have revenge on you? To eat, and
+drink, and go to sleep, as long as I stay here, is all I care for. If
+there was but a little more sun to bask in, than can find its way into
+this cursed place, I'd lie in it all day, and not trouble myself to sit
+or stand up once. That's all the care I have for myself. Why should I
+care for YOU?'
+
+Finishing this speech with a growl like the yawn of a wild beast, he
+stretched himself upon the bench again, and closed his eyes once more.
+
+After looking at him in silence for some moments, Dennis, who was
+greatly relieved to find him in this mood, drew the chair towards his
+rough couch and sat down near him--taking the precaution, however, to
+keep out of the range of his brawny arm.
+
+'Well said, brother; nothing could be better said,' he ventured to
+observe. 'We'll eat and drink of the best, and sleep our best, and make
+the best of it every way. Anything can be got for money. Let's spend it
+merrily.'
+
+'Ay,' said Hugh, coiling himself into a new position.--'Where is it?'
+
+'Why, they took mine from me at the lodge,' said Mr Dennis; 'but mine's
+a peculiar case.'
+
+'Is it? They took mine too.'
+
+'Why then, I tell you what, brother,' Dennis began. 'You must look up
+your friends--'
+
+'My friends!' cried Hugh, starting up and resting on his hands. 'Where
+are my friends?'
+
+'Your relations then,' said Dennis.
+
+'Ha ha ha!' laughed Hugh, waving one arm above his head. 'He talks of
+friends to me--talks of relations to a man whose mother died the death
+in store for her son, and left him, a hungry brat, without a face he
+knew in all the world! He talks of this to me!'
+
+'Brother,' cried the hangman, whose features underwent a sudden change,
+'you don't mean to say--'
+
+'I mean to say,' Hugh interposed, 'that they hung her up at Tyburn. What
+was good enough for her, is good enough for me. Let them do the like by
+me as soon as they please--the sooner the better. Say no more to me. I'm
+going to sleep.'
+
+'But I want to speak to you; I want to hear more about that,' said
+Dennis, changing colour.
+
+'If you're a wise man,' growled Hugh, raising his head to look at him
+with a frown, 'you'll hold your tongue. I tell you I'm going to sleep.'
+
+Dennis venturing to say something more in spite of this caution, the
+desperate fellow struck at him with all his force, and missing him, lay
+down again with many muttered oaths and imprecations, and turned his
+face towards the wall. After two or three ineffectual twitches at his
+dress, which he was hardy enough to venture upon, notwithstanding his
+dangerous humour, Mr Dennis, who burnt, for reasons of his own, to
+pursue the conversation, had no alternative but to sit as patiently as
+he could: waiting his further pleasure.
+
+
+
+Chapter 75
+
+
+A month has elapsed,--and we stand in the bedchamber of Sir John
+Chester. Through the half-opened window, the Temple Garden looks green
+and pleasant; the placid river, gay with boat and barge, and dimpled
+with the plash of many an oar, sparkles in the distance; the sky is blue
+and clear; and the summer air steals gently in, filling the room with
+perfume. The very town, the smoky town, is radiant. High roofs and
+steeple-tops, wont to look black and sullen, smile a cheerful grey;
+every old gilded vane, and ball, and cross, glitters anew in the bright
+morning sun; and, high among them all, St Paul's towers up, showing its
+lofty crest in burnished gold.
+
+Sir John was breakfasting in bed. His chocolate and toast stood upon a
+little table at his elbow; books and newspapers lay ready to his hand,
+upon the coverlet; and, sometimes pausing to glance with an air of
+tranquil satisfaction round the well-ordered room, and sometimes to
+gaze indolently at the summer sky, he ate, and drank, and read the news
+luxuriously.
+
+The cheerful influence of the morning seemed to have some effect, even
+upon his equable temper. His manner was unusually gay; his smile more
+placid and agreeable than usual; his voice more clear and pleasant. He
+laid down the newspaper he had been reading; leaned back upon his
+pillow with the air of one who resigned himself to a train of charming
+recollections; and after a pause, soliloquised as follows:
+
+'And my friend the centaur, goes the way of his mamma! I am not
+surprised. And his mysterious friend Mr Dennis, likewise! I am not
+surprised. And my old postman, the exceedingly free-and-easy young
+madman of Chigwell! I am quite rejoiced. It's the very best thing that
+could possibly happen to him.'
+
+After delivering himself of these remarks, he fell again into his
+smiling train of reflection; from which he roused himself at length
+to finish his chocolate, which was getting cold, and ring the bell for
+more.
+
+The new supply arriving, he took the cup from his servant's hand;
+and saying, with a charming affability, 'I am obliged to you, Peak,'
+dismissed him.
+
+'It is a remarkable circumstance,' he mused, dallying lazily with the
+teaspoon, 'that my friend the madman should have been within an ace of
+escaping, on his trial; and it was a good stroke of chance (or, as the
+world would say, a providential occurrence) that the brother of my Lord
+Mayor should have been in court, with other country justices, into whose
+very dense heads curiosity had penetrated. For though the brother of my
+Lord Mayor was decidedly wrong; and established his near relationship
+to that amusing person beyond all doubt, in stating that my friend
+was sane, and had, to his knowledge, wandered about the country with a
+vagabond parent, avowing revolutionary and rebellious sentiments; I am
+not the less obliged to him for volunteering that evidence. These insane
+creatures make such very odd and embarrassing remarks, that they really
+ought to be hanged for the comfort of society.'
+
+The country justice had indeed turned the wavering scale against poor
+Barnaby, and solved the doubt that trembled in his favour. Grip little
+thought how much he had to answer for.
+
+'They will be a singular party,' said Sir John, leaning his head upon
+his hand, and sipping his chocolate; 'a very curious party. The hangman
+himself; the centaur; and the madman. The centaur would make a very
+handsome preparation in Surgeons' Hall, and would benefit science
+extremely. I hope they have taken care to bespeak him.--Peak, I am not
+at home, of course, to anybody but the hairdresser.'
+
+This reminder to his servant was called forth by a knock at the door,
+which the man hastened to open. After a prolonged murmur of question and
+answer, he returned; and as he cautiously closed the room-door behind
+him, a man was heard to cough in the passage.
+
+'Now, it is of no use, Peak,' said Sir John, raising his hand in
+deprecation of his delivering any message; 'I am not at home. I cannot
+possibly hear you. I told you I was not at home, and my word is sacred.
+Will you never do as you are desired?'
+
+Having nothing to oppose to this reproof, the man was about to withdraw,
+when the visitor who had given occasion to it, probably rendered
+impatient by delay, knocked with his knuckles at the chamber-door, and
+called out that he had urgent business with Sir John Chester, which
+admitted of no delay.
+
+'Let him in,' said Sir John. 'My good fellow,' he added, when the door
+was opened, 'how come you to intrude yourself in this extraordinary
+manner upon the privacy of a gentleman? How can you be so wholly
+destitute of self-respect as to be guilty of such remarkable
+ill-breeding?'
+
+'My business, Sir John, is not of a common kind, I do assure you,'
+returned the person he addressed. 'If I have taken any uncommon course
+to get admission to you, I hope I shall be pardoned on that account.'
+
+'Well! we shall see; we shall see,' returned Sir John, whose face
+cleared up when he saw who it was, and whose prepossessing smile was now
+restored. 'I am sure we have met before,' he added in his winning tone,
+'but really I forget your name?'
+
+'My name is Gabriel Varden, sir.'
+
+'Varden, of course, Varden,' returned Sir John, tapping his forehead.
+'Dear me, how very defective my memory becomes! Varden to be sure--Mr
+Varden the locksmith. You have a charming wife, Mr Varden, and a most
+beautiful daughter. They are well?'
+
+Gabriel thanked him, and said they were.
+
+'I rejoice to hear it,' said Sir John. 'Commend me to them when you
+return, and say that I wished I were fortunate enough to convey, myself,
+the salute which I entrust you to deliver. And what,' he asked very
+sweetly, after a moment's pause, 'can I do for you? You may command me
+freely.'
+
+'I thank you, Sir John,' said Gabriel, with some pride in his
+manner, 'but I have come to ask no favour of you, though I come on
+business.--Private,' he added, with a glance at the man who stood
+looking on, 'and very pressing business.'
+
+'I cannot say you are the more welcome for being independent, and having
+nothing to ask of me,' returned Sir John, graciously, 'for I should have
+been happy to render you a service; still, you are welcome on any terms.
+Oblige me with some more chocolate, Peak, and don't wait.'
+
+The man retired, and left them alone.
+
+'Sir John,' said Gabriel, 'I am a working-man, and have been so, all my
+life. If I don't prepare you enough for what I have to tell; if I come
+to the point too abruptly; and give you a shock, which a gentleman could
+have spared you, or at all events lessened very much; I hope you will
+give me credit for meaning well. I wish to be careful and considerate,
+and I trust that in a straightforward person like me, you'll take the
+will for the deed.'
+
+'Mr Varden,' returned the other, perfectly composed under this exordium;
+'I beg you'll take a chair. Chocolate, perhaps, you don't relish? Well!
+it IS an acquired taste, no doubt.'
+
+'Sir John,' said Gabriel, who had acknowledged with a bow the invitation
+to be seated, but had not availed himself of it. 'Sir John'--he
+dropped his voice and drew nearer to the bed--'I am just now come from
+Newgate--'
+
+'Good Gad!' cried Sir John, hastily sitting up in bed; 'from Newgate,
+Mr Varden! How could you be so very imprudent as to come from Newgate!
+Newgate, where there are jail-fevers, and ragged people, and bare-footed
+men and women, and a thousand horrors! Peak, bring the camphor, quick!
+Heaven and earth, Mr Varden, my dear, good soul, how COULD you come from
+Newgate?'
+
+Gabriel returned no answer, but looked on in silence while Peak (who had
+entered with the hot chocolate) ran to a drawer, and returning with
+a bottle, sprinkled his master's dressing-gown and the bedding; and
+besides moistening the locksmith himself, plentifully, described a
+circle round about him on the carpet. When he had done this, he again
+retired; and Sir John, reclining in an easy attitude upon his pillow,
+once more turned a smiling face towards his visitor.
+
+'You will forgive me, Mr Varden, I am sure, for being at first a little
+sensitive both on your account and my own. I confess I was startled,
+notwithstanding your delicate exordium. Might I ask you to do me the
+favour not to approach any nearer?--You have really come from Newgate!'
+
+The locksmith inclined his head.
+
+'In-deed! And now, Mr Varden, all exaggeration and embellishment apart,'
+said Sir John Chester, confidentially, as he sipped his chocolate, 'what
+kind of place IS Newgate?'
+
+'A strange place, Sir John,' returned the locksmith, 'of a sad and
+doleful kind. A strange place, where many strange things are heard and
+seen; but few more strange than that I come to tell you of. The case is
+urgent. I am sent here.'
+
+'Not--no, no--not from the jail?'
+
+'Yes, Sir John; from the jail.'
+
+'And my good, credulous, open-hearted friend,' said Sir John, setting
+down his cup, and laughing,--'by whom?'
+
+'By a man called Dennis--for many years the hangman, and to-morrow
+morning the hanged,' returned the locksmith.
+
+Sir John had expected--had been quite certain from the first--that he
+would say he had come from Hugh, and was prepared to meet him on that
+point. But this answer occasioned him a degree of astonishment, which,
+for the moment, he could not, with all his command of feature, prevent
+his face from expressing. He quickly subdued it, however, and said in
+the same light tone:
+
+'And what does the gentleman require of me? My memory may be at
+fault again, but I don't recollect that I ever had the pleasure of
+an introduction to him, or that I ever numbered him among my personal
+friends, I do assure you, Mr Varden.'
+
+'Sir John,' returned the locksmith, gravely, 'I will tell you, as nearly
+as I can, in the words he used to me, what he desires that you should
+know, and what you ought to know without a moment's loss of time.'
+
+Sir John Chester settled himself in a position of greater repose, and
+looked at his visitor with an expression of face which seemed to say,
+'This is an amusing fellow! I'll hear him out.'
+
+'You may have seen in the newspapers, sir,' said Gabriel, pointing to
+the one which lay by his side, 'that I was a witness against this man
+upon his trial some days since; and that it was not his fault I was
+alive, and able to speak to what I knew.'
+
+'MAY have seen!' cried Sir John. 'My dear Mr Varden, you are quite
+a public character, and live in all men's thoughts most deservedly.
+Nothing can exceed the interest with which I read your testimony,
+and remembered that I had the pleasure of a slight acquaintance with
+you.---I hope we shall have your portrait published?'
+
+'This morning, sir,' said the locksmith, taking no notice of these
+compliments, 'early this morning, a message was brought to me from
+Newgate, at this man's request, desiring that I would go and see him,
+for he had something particular to communicate. I needn't tell you
+that he is no friend of mine, and that I had never seen him, until the
+rioters beset my house.'
+
+Sir John fanned himself gently with the newspaper, and nodded.
+
+'I knew, however, from the general report,' resumed Gabriel, 'that the
+order for his execution to-morrow, went down to the prison last night;
+and looking upon him as a dying man, I complied with his request.'
+
+'You are quite a Christian, Mr Varden,' said Sir John; 'and in that
+amiable capacity, you increase my desire that you should take a chair.'
+
+'He said,' continued Gabriel, looking steadily at the knight, 'that he
+had sent to me, because he had no friend or companion in the whole world
+(being the common hangman), and because he believed, from the way in
+which I had given my evidence, that I was an honest man, and would act
+truly by him. He said that, being shunned by every one who knew his
+calling, even by people of the lowest and most wretched grade, and
+finding, when he joined the rioters, that the men he acted with had no
+suspicion of it (which I believe is true enough, for a poor fool of an
+old 'prentice of mine was one of them), he had kept his own counsel, up
+to the time of his being taken and put in jail.'
+
+'Very discreet of Mr Dennis,' observed Sir John with a slight yawn,
+though still with the utmost affability, 'but--except for your admirable
+and lucid manner of telling it, which is perfect--not very interesting
+to me.'
+
+'When,' pursued the locksmith, quite unabashed and wholly regardless of
+these interruptions, 'when he was taken to the jail, he found that his
+fellow-prisoner, in the same room, was a young man, Hugh by name, a
+leader in the riots, who had been betrayed and given up by himself. From
+something which fell from this unhappy creature in the course of the
+angry words they had at meeting, he discovered that his mother had
+suffered the death to which they both are now condemned.--The time is
+very short, Sir John.'
+
+The knight laid down his paper fan, replaced his cup upon the table at
+his side, and, saving for the smile that lurked about his mouth, looked
+at the locksmith with as much steadiness as the locksmith looked at him.
+
+'They have been in prison now, a month. One conversation led to many
+more; and the hangman soon found, from a comparison of time, and place,
+and dates, that he had executed the sentence of the law upon this woman,
+himself. She had been tempted by want--as so many people are--into the
+easy crime of passing forged notes. She was young and handsome; and the
+traders who employ men, women, and children in this traffic, looked
+upon her as one who was well adapted for their business, and who
+would probably go on without suspicion for a long time. But they were
+mistaken; for she was stopped in the commission of her very first
+offence, and died for it. She was of gipsy blood, Sir John--'
+
+It might have been the effect of a passing cloud which obscured the sun,
+and cast a shadow on his face; but the knight turned deadly pale. Still
+he met the locksmith's eye, as before.
+
+'She was of gipsy blood, Sir John,' repeated Gabriel, 'and had a high,
+free spirit. This, and her good looks, and her lofty manner, interested
+some gentlemen who were easily moved by dark eyes; and efforts were made
+to save her. They might have been successful, if she would have given
+them any clue to her history. But she never would, or did. There was
+reason to suspect that she would make an attempt upon her life. A watch
+was set upon her night and day; and from that time she never spoke
+again--'
+
+Sir John stretched out his hand towards his cup. The locksmith going on,
+arrested it half-way.
+
+--'Until she had but a minute to live. Then she broke silence, and said,
+in a low firm voice which no one heard but this executioner, for all
+other living creatures had retired and left her to her fate, "If I had
+a dagger within these fingers and he was within my reach, I would strike
+him dead before me, even now!" The man asked "Who?" She said, "The
+father of her boy."'
+
+Sir John drew back his outstretched hand, and seeing that the locksmith
+paused, signed to him with easy politeness and without any new
+appearance of emotion, to proceed.
+
+'It was the first word she had ever spoken, from which it could be
+understood that she had any relative on earth. "Was the child alive?" he
+asked. "Yes." He asked her where it was, its name, and whether she had
+any wish respecting it. She had but one, she said. It was that the boy
+might live and grow, in utter ignorance of his father, so that no arts
+might teach him to be gentle and forgiving. When he became a man,
+she trusted to the God of their tribe to bring the father and the
+son together, and revenge her through her child. He asked her other
+questions, but she spoke no more. Indeed, he says, she scarcely said
+this much, to him, but stood with her face turned upwards to the sky,
+and never looked towards him once.'
+
+Sir John took a pinch of snuff; glanced approvingly at an elegant little
+sketch, entitled 'Nature,' on the wall; and raising his eyes to the
+locksmith's face again, said, with an air of courtesy and patronage,
+'You were observing, Mr Varden--'
+
+'That she never,' returned the locksmith, who was not to be diverted by
+any artifice from his firm manner, and his steady gaze, 'that she never
+looked towards him once, Sir John; and so she died, and he forgot her.
+But, some years afterwards, a man was sentenced to die the same death,
+who was a gipsy too; a sunburnt, swarthy fellow, almost a wild man; and
+while he lay in prison, under sentence, he, who had seen the hangman
+more than once while he was free, cut an image of him on his stick, by
+way of braving death, and showing those who attended on him, how little
+he cared or thought about it. He gave this stick into his hands at
+Tyburn, and told him then, that the woman I have spoken of had left her
+own people to join a fine gentleman, and that, being deserted by him,
+and cast off by her old friends, she had sworn within her own proud
+breast, that whatever her misery might be, she would ask no help of any
+human being. He told him that she had kept her word to the last; and
+that, meeting even him in the streets--he had been fond of her once, it
+seems--she had slipped from him by a trick, and he never saw her again,
+until, being in one of the frequent crowds at Tyburn, with some of
+his rough companions, he had been driven almost mad by seeing, in
+the criminal under another name, whose death he had come to witness,
+herself. Standing in the same place in which she had stood, he told
+the hangman this, and told him, too, her real name, which only her own
+people and the gentleman for whose sake she had left them, knew. That
+name he will tell again, Sir John, to none but you.'
+
+'To none but me!' exclaimed the knight, pausing in the act of raising
+his cup to his lips with a perfectly steady hand, and curling up his
+little finger for the better display of a brilliant ring with which it
+was ornamented: 'but me!--My dear Mr Varden, how very preposterous, to
+select me for his confidence! With you at his elbow, too, who are so
+perfectly trustworthy!'
+
+'Sir John, Sir John,' returned the locksmith, 'at twelve tomorrow, these
+men die. Hear the few words I have to add, and do not hope to deceive
+me; for though I am a plain man of humble station, and you are a
+gentleman of rank and learning, the truth raises me to your level, and
+I KNOW that you anticipate the disclosure with which I am about to end,
+and that you believe this doomed man, Hugh, to be your son.'
+
+'Nay,' said Sir John, bantering him with a gay air; 'the wild gentleman,
+who died so suddenly, scarcely went as far as that, I think?'
+
+'He did not,' returned the locksmith, 'for she had bound him by some
+pledge, known only to these people, and which the worst among them
+respect, not to tell your name: but, in a fantastic pattern on the
+stick, he had carved some letters, and when the hangman asked it, he
+bade him, especially if he should ever meet with her son in after life,
+remember that place well.'
+
+'What place?'
+
+'Chester.'
+
+The knight finished his cup of chocolate with an appearance of infinite
+relish, and carefully wiped his lips upon his handkerchief.
+
+'Sir John,' said the locksmith, 'this is all that has been told to me;
+but since these two men have been left for death, they have conferred
+together closely. See them, and hear what they can add. See this Dennis,
+and learn from him what he has not trusted to me. If you, who hold the
+clue to all, want corroboration (which you do not), the means are easy.'
+
+'And to what,' said Sir John Chester, rising on his elbow, after
+smoothing the pillow for its reception; 'my dear, good-natured,
+estimable Mr Varden--with whom I cannot be angry if I would--to what
+does all this tend?'
+
+'I take you for a man, Sir John, and I suppose it tends to some pleading
+of natural affection in your breast,' returned the locksmith. 'I suppose
+to the straining of every nerve, and the exertion of all the influence
+you have, or can make, in behalf of your miserable son, and the man
+who has disclosed his existence to you. At the worst, I suppose to your
+seeing your son, and awakening him to a sense of his crime and danger.
+He has no such sense now. Think what his life must have been, when he
+said in my hearing, that if I moved you to anything, it would be to
+hastening his death, and ensuring his silence, if you had it in your
+power!'
+
+'And have you, my good Mr Varden,' said Sir John in a tone of mild
+reproof, 'have you really lived to your present age, and remained so
+very simple and credulous, as to approach a gentleman of established
+character with such credentials as these, from desperate men in their
+last extremity, catching at any straw? Oh dear! Oh fie, fie!'
+
+The locksmith was going to interpose, but he stopped him:
+
+'On any other subject, Mr Varden, I shall be delighted--I shall be
+charmed--to converse with you, but I owe it to my own character not to
+pursue this topic for another moment.'
+
+'Think better of it, sir, when I am gone,' returned the locksmith;
+'think better of it, sir. Although you have, thrice within as many
+weeks, turned your lawful son, Mr Edward, from your door, you may have
+time, you may have years to make your peace with HIM, Sir John: but that
+twelve o'clock will soon be here, and soon be past for ever.'
+
+'I thank you very much,' returned the knight, kissing his delicate hand
+to the locksmith, 'for your guileless advice; and I only wish, my good
+soul, although your simplicity is quite captivating, that you had a
+little more worldly wisdom. I never so much regretted the arrival of my
+hairdresser as I do at this moment. God bless you! Good morning! You'll
+not forget my message to the ladies, Mr Varden? Peak, show Mr Varden to
+the door.'
+
+Gabriel said no more, but gave the knight a parting look, and left him.
+As he quitted the room, Sir John's face changed; and the smile gave
+place to a haggard and anxious expression, like that of a weary actor
+jaded by the performance of a difficult part. He rose from his bed with
+a heavy sigh, and wrapped himself in his morning-gown.
+
+'So she kept her word,' he said, 'and was constant to her threat! I
+would I had never seen that dark face of hers,--I might have read these
+consequences in it, from the first. This affair would make a noise
+abroad, if it rested on better evidence; but, as it is, and by not
+joining the scattered links of the chain, I can afford to slight
+it.--Extremely distressing to be the parent of such an uncouth creature!
+Still, I gave him very good advice. I told him he would certainly be
+hanged. I could have done no more if I had known of our relationship;
+and there are a great many fathers who have never done as much for THEIR
+natural children.--The hairdresser may come in, Peak!'
+
+The hairdresser came in; and saw in Sir John Chester (whose
+accommodating conscience was soon quieted by the numerous precedents
+that occurred to him in support of his last observation), the same
+imperturbable, fascinating, elegant gentleman he had seen yesterday, and
+many yesterdays before.
+
+
+
+Chapter 76
+
+
+As the locksmith walked slowly away from Sir John Chester's chambers,
+he lingered under the trees which shaded the path, almost hoping that
+he might be summoned to return. He had turned back thrice, and still
+loitered at the corner, when the clock struck twelve.
+
+It was a solemn sound, and not merely for its reference to to-morrow;
+for he knew that in that chime the murderer's knell was rung. He had
+seen him pass along the crowded street, amidst the execration of the
+throng; and marked his quivering lip, and trembling limbs; the ashy hue
+upon his face, his clammy brow, the wild distraction of his eye--the
+fear of death that swallowed up all other thoughts, and gnawed without
+cessation at his heart and brain. He had marked the wandering look,
+seeking for hope, and finding, turn where it would, despair. He had seen
+the remorseful, pitiful, desolate creature, riding, with his coffin
+by his side, to the gibbet. He knew that, to the last, he had been an
+unyielding, obdurate man; that in the savage terror of his condition he
+had hardened, rather than relented, to his wife and child; and that the
+last words which had passed his white lips were curses on them as his
+enemies.
+
+Mr Haredale had determined to be there, and see it done. Nothing but
+the evidence of his own senses could satisfy that gloomy thirst for
+retribution which had been gathering upon him for so many years. The
+locksmith knew this, and when the chimes had ceased to vibrate, hurried
+away to meet him.
+
+'For these two men,' he said, as he went, 'I can do no more. Heaven have
+mercy on them!--Alas! I say I can do no more for them, but whom can I
+help? Mary Rudge will have a home, and a firm friend when she most wants
+one; but Barnaby--poor Barnaby--willing Barnaby--what aid can I render
+him? There are many, many men of sense, God forgive me,' cried the
+honest locksmith, stopping in a narrow court to pass his hand across his
+eyes, 'I could better afford to lose than Barnaby. We have always been
+good friends, but I never knew, till now, how much I loved the lad.'
+
+There were not many in the great city who thought of Barnaby that day,
+otherwise than as an actor in a show which was to take place to-morrow.
+But if the whole population had had him in their minds, and had wished
+his life to be spared, not one among them could have done so with a
+purer zeal or greater singleness of heart than the good locksmith.
+
+Barnaby was to die. There was no hope. It is not the least evil
+attendant upon the frequent exhibition of this last dread punishment,
+of Death, that it hardens the minds of those who deal it out, and makes
+them, though they be amiable men in other respects, indifferent to, or
+unconscious of, their great responsibility. The word had gone forth that
+Barnaby was to die. It went forth, every month, for lighter crimes.
+It was a thing so common, that very few were startled by the awful
+sentence, or cared to question its propriety. Just then, too, when the
+law had been so flagrantly outraged, its dignity must be asserted.
+The symbol of its dignity,--stamped upon every page of the criminal
+statute-book,--was the gallows; and Barnaby was to die.
+
+They had tried to save him. The locksmith had carried petitions and
+memorials to the fountain-head, with his own hands. But the well was not
+one of mercy, and Barnaby was to die.
+
+From the first his mother had never left him, save at night; and with
+her beside him, he was as usual contented. On this last day, he was more
+elated and more proud than he had been yet; and when she dropped the
+book she had been reading to him aloud, and fell upon his neck, he
+stopped in his busy task of folding a piece of crape about his hat,
+and wondered at her anguish. Grip uttered a feeble croak, half in
+encouragement, it seemed, and half in remonstrance, but he wanted heart
+to sustain it, and lapsed abruptly into silence.
+
+With them who stood upon the brink of the great gulf which none can see
+beyond, Time, so soon to lose itself in vast Eternity, rolled on like a
+mighty river, swollen and rapid as it nears the sea. It was morning but
+now; they had sat and talked together in a dream; and here was evening.
+The dreadful hour of separation, which even yesterday had seemed so
+distant, was at hand.
+
+They walked out into the courtyard, clinging to each other, but not
+speaking. Barnaby knew that the jail was a dull, sad, miserable place,
+and looked forward to to-morrow, as to a passage from it to something
+bright and beautiful. He had a vague impression too, that he was
+expected to be brave--that he was a man of great consequence, and that
+the prison people would be glad to make him weep. He trod the ground
+more firmly as he thought of this, and bade her take heart and cry no
+more, and feel how steady his hand was. 'They call me silly, mother.
+They shall see to-morrow!'
+
+Dennis and Hugh were in the courtyard. Hugh came forth from his cell as
+they did, stretching himself as though he had been sleeping. Dennis sat
+upon a bench in a corner, with his knees and chin huddled together, and
+rocked himself to and fro like a person in severe pain.
+
+The mother and son remained on one side of the court, and these two men
+upon the other. Hugh strode up and down, glancing fiercely every now and
+then at the bright summer sky, and looking round, when he had done so,
+at the walls.
+
+'No reprieve, no reprieve! Nobody comes near us. There's only the night
+left now!' moaned Dennis faintly, as he wrung his hands. 'Do you think
+they'll reprieve me in the night, brother? I've known reprieves come
+in the night, afore now. I've known 'em come as late as five, six, and
+seven o'clock in the morning. Don't you think there's a good chance
+yet,--don't you? Say you do. Say you do, young man,' whined the
+miserable creature, with an imploring gesture towards Barnaby, 'or I
+shall go mad!'
+
+'Better be mad than sane, here,' said Hugh. 'GO mad.'
+
+'But tell me what you think. Somebody tell me what he thinks!' cried
+the wretched object,--so mean, and wretched, and despicable, that even
+Pity's self might have turned away, at sight of such a being in the
+likeness of a man--'isn't there a chance for me,--isn't there a good
+chance for me? Isn't it likely they may be doing this to frighten me?
+Don't you think it is? Oh!' he almost shrieked, as he wrung his hands,
+'won't anybody give me comfort!'
+
+'You ought to be the best, instead of the worst,' said Hugh, stopping
+before him. 'Ha, ha, ha! See the hangman, when it comes home to him!'
+
+'You don't know what it is,' cried Dennis, actually writhing as he
+spoke: 'I do. That I should come to be worked off! I! I! That I should
+come!'
+
+'And why not?' said Hugh, as he thrust back his matted hair to get a
+better view of his late associate. 'How often, before I knew your trade,
+did I hear you talking of this as if it was a treat?'
+
+'I an't unconsistent,' screamed the miserable creature; 'I'd talk so
+again, if I was hangman. Some other man has got my old opinions at this
+minute. That makes it worse. Somebody's longing to work me off. I know
+by myself that somebody must be!'
+
+'He'll soon have his longing,' said Hugh, resuming his walk. 'Think of
+that, and be quiet.'
+
+Although one of these men displayed, in his speech and bearing, the
+most reckless hardihood; and the other, in his every word and action,
+testified such an extreme of abject cowardice that it was humiliating
+to see him; it would be difficult to say which of them would most have
+repelled and shocked an observer. Hugh's was the dogged desperation of
+a savage at the stake; the hangman was reduced to a condition little
+better, if any, than that of a hound with the halter round his neck.
+Yet, as Mr Dennis knew and could have told them, these were the two
+commonest states of mind in persons brought to their pass. Such was the
+wholesome growth of the seed sown by the law, that this kind of harvest
+was usually looked for, as a matter of course.
+
+In one respect they all agreed. The wandering and uncontrollable train
+of thought, suggesting sudden recollections of things distant and long
+forgotten and remote from each other--the vague restless craving for
+something undefined, which nothing could satisfy--the swift flight of
+the minutes, fusing themselves into hours, as if by enchantment--the
+rapid coming of the solemn night--the shadow of death always upon them,
+and yet so dim and faint, that objects the meanest and most trivial
+started from the gloom beyond, and forced themselves upon the view--the
+impossibility of holding the mind, even if they had been so disposed,
+to penitence and preparation, or of keeping it to any point while one
+hideous fascination tempted it away--these things were common to them
+all, and varied only in their outward tokens.
+
+'Fetch me the book I left within--upon your bed,' she said to Barnaby,
+as the clock struck. 'Kiss me first.'
+
+He looked in her face, and saw there, that the time was come. After a
+long embrace, he tore himself away, and ran to bring it to her; bidding
+her not stir till he came back. He soon returned, for a shriek recalled
+him,--but she was gone.
+
+He ran to the yard-gate, and looked through. They were carrying her
+away. She had said her heart would break. It was better so.
+
+'Don't you think,' whimpered Dennis, creeping up to him, as he stood
+with his feet rooted to the ground, gazing at the blank walls--'don't
+you think there's still a chance? It's a dreadful end; it's a terrible
+end for a man like me. Don't you think there's a chance? I don't mean
+for you, I mean for me. Don't let HIM hear us (meaning Hugh); 'he's so
+desperate.'
+
+'Now then,' said the officer, who had been lounging in and out with his
+hands in his pockets, and yawning as if he were in the last extremity
+for some subject of interest: 'it's time to turn in, boys.'
+
+'Not yet,' cried Dennis, 'not yet. Not for an hour yet.'
+
+'I say,--your watch goes different from what it used to,' returned the
+man. 'Once upon a time it was always too fast. It's got the other fault
+now.'
+
+'My friend,' cried the wretched creature, falling on his knees, 'my
+dear friend--you always were my dear friend--there's some mistake. Some
+letter has been mislaid, or some messenger has been stopped upon the
+way. He may have fallen dead. I saw a man once, fall down dead in the
+street, myself, and he had papers in his pocket. Send to inquire. Let
+somebody go to inquire. They never will hang me. They never can.--Yes,
+they will,' he cried, starting to his feet with a terrible scream.
+'They'll hang me by a trick, and keep the pardon back. It's a plot
+against me. I shall lose my life!' And uttering another yell, he fell in
+a fit upon the ground.
+
+'See the hangman when it comes home to him!' cried Hugh again, as they
+bore him away--'Ha ha ha! Courage, bold Barnaby, what care we? Your
+hand! They do well to put us out of the world, for if we got loose a
+second time, we wouldn't let them off so easy, eh? Another shake! A man
+can die but once. If you wake in the night, sing that out lustily, and
+fall asleep again. Ha ha ha!'
+
+Barnaby glanced once more through the grate into the empty yard;
+and then watched Hugh as he strode to the steps leading to his
+sleeping-cell. He heard him shout, and burst into a roar of laughter,
+and saw him flourish his hat. Then he turned away himself, like one who
+walked in his sleep; and, without any sense of fear or sorrow, lay down
+on his pallet, listening for the clock to strike again.
+
+
+
+Chapter 77
+
+
+The time wore on. The noises in the streets became less frequent by
+degrees, until silence was scarcely broken save by the bells in church
+towers, marking the progress--softer and more stealthy while the city
+slumbered--of that Great Watcher with the hoary head, who never sleeps
+or rests. In the brief interval of darkness and repose which feverish
+towns enjoy, all busy sounds were hushed; and those who awoke from
+dreams lay listening in their beds, and longed for dawn, and wished the
+dead of the night were past.
+
+Into the street outside the jail's main wall, workmen came straggling at
+this solemn hour, in groups of two or three, and meeting in the centre,
+cast their tools upon the ground and spoke in whispers. Others soon
+issued from the jail itself, bearing on their shoulders planks and
+beams: these materials being all brought forth, the rest bestirred
+themselves, and the dull sound of hammers began to echo through the
+stillness.
+
+Here and there among this knot of labourers, one, with a lantern or
+a smoky link, stood by to light his fellows at their work; and by its
+doubtful aid, some might be dimly seen taking up the pavement of the
+road, while others held great upright posts, or fixed them in the holes
+thus made for their reception. Some dragged slowly on, towards the rest,
+an empty cart, which they brought rumbling from the prison-yard; while
+others erected strong barriers across the street. All were busily
+engaged. Their dusky figures moving to and fro, at that unusual hour,
+so active and so silent, might have been taken for those of shadowy
+creatures toiling at midnight on some ghostly unsubstantial work, which,
+like themselves, would vanish with the first gleam of day, and leave but
+morning mist and vapour.
+
+While it was yet dark, a few lookers-on collected, who had plainly come
+there for the purpose and intended to remain: even those who had to pass
+the spot on their way to some other place, lingered, and lingered yet,
+as though the attraction of that were irresistible. Meanwhile the noise
+of saw and mallet went on briskly, mingled with the clattering of boards
+on the stone pavement of the road, and sometimes with the workmen's
+voices as they called to one another. Whenever the chimes of the
+neighbouring church were heard--and that was every quarter of an hour--a
+strange sensation, instantaneous and indescribable, but perfectly
+obvious, seemed to pervade them all.
+
+Gradually, a faint brightness appeared in the east, and the air, which
+had been very warm all through the night, felt cool and chilly. Though
+there was no daylight yet, the darkness was diminished, and the stars
+looked pale. The prison, which had been a mere black mass with little
+shape or form, put on its usual aspect; and ever and anon a solitary
+watchman could be seen upon its roof, stopping to look down upon the
+preparations in the street. This man, from forming, as it were, a part
+of the jail, and knowing or being supposed to know all that was passing
+within, became an object of as much interest, and was as eagerly looked
+for, and as awfully pointed out, as if he had been a spirit.
+
+By and by, the feeble light grew stronger, and the houses with their
+signboards and inscriptions, stood plainly out, in the dull grey
+morning. Heavy stage waggons crawled from the inn-yard opposite; and
+travellers peeped out; and as they rolled sluggishly away, cast many
+a backward look towards the jail. And now, the sun's first beams came
+glancing into the street; and the night's work, which, in its various
+stages and in the varied fancies of the lookers-on had taken a hundred
+shapes, wore its own proper form--a scaffold, and a gibbet.
+
+As the warmth of the cheerful day began to shed itself upon the scanty
+crowd, the murmur of tongues was heard, shutters were thrown open,
+and blinds drawn up, and those who had slept in rooms over against the
+prison, where places to see the execution were let at high prices, rose
+hastily from their beds. In some of the houses, people were busy taking
+out the window-sashes for the better accommodation of spectators; in
+others, the spectators were already seated, and beguiling the time with
+cards, or drink, or jokes among themselves. Some had purchased seats
+upon the house-tops, and were already crawling to their stations from
+parapet and garret-window. Some were yet bargaining for good places, and
+stood in them in a state of indecision: gazing at the slowly-swelling
+crowd, and at the workmen as they rested listlessly against the
+scaffold--affecting to listen with indifference to the proprietor's
+eulogy of the commanding view his house afforded, and the surpassing
+cheapness of his terms.
+
+A fairer morning never shone. From the roofs and upper stories of these
+buildings, the spires of city churches and the great cathedral dome were
+visible, rising up beyond the prison, into the blue sky, and clad in the
+colour of light summer clouds, and showing in the clear atmosphere their
+every scrap of tracery and fretwork, and every niche and loophole. All
+was brightness and promise, excepting in the street below, into which
+(for it yet lay in shadow) the eye looked down as into a dark trench,
+where, in the midst of so much life, and hope, and renewal of existence,
+stood the terrible instrument of death. It seemed as if the very sun
+forbore to look upon it.
+
+But it was better, grim and sombre in the shade, than when, the day
+being more advanced, it stood confessed in the full glare and glory of
+the sun, with its black paint blistering, and its nooses dangling in the
+light like loathsome garlands. It was better in the solitude and gloom
+of midnight with a few forms clustering about it, than in the freshness
+and the stir of morning: the centre of an eager crowd. It was better
+haunting the street like a spectre, when men were in their beds, and
+influencing perchance the city's dreams, than braving the broad day, and
+thrusting its obscene presence upon their waking senses.
+
+Five o'clock had struck--six--seven--and eight. Along the two main
+streets at either end of the cross-way, a living stream had now set in,
+rolling towards the marts of gain and business. Carts, coaches, waggons,
+trucks, and barrows, forced a passage through the outskirts of the
+throng, and clattered onward in the same direction. Some of these
+which were public conveyances and had come from a short distance in the
+country, stopped; and the driver pointed to the gibbet with his whip,
+though he might have spared himself the pains, for the heads of all the
+passengers were turned that way without his help, and the coach-windows
+were stuck full of staring eyes. In some of the carts and waggons, women
+might be seen, glancing fearfully at the same unsightly thing; and even
+little children were held up above the people's heads to see what kind
+of a toy a gallows was, and learn how men were hanged.
+
+Two rioters were to die before the prison, who had been concerned in
+the attack upon it; and one directly afterwards in Bloomsbury Square.
+At nine o'clock, a strong body of military marched into the street,
+and formed and lined a narrow passage into Holborn, which had been
+indifferently kept all night by constables. Through this, another
+cart was brought (the one already mentioned had been employed in the
+construction of the scaffold), and wheeled up to the prison-gate. These
+preparations made, the soldiers stood at ease; the officers lounged
+to and fro, in the alley they had made, or talked together at the
+scaffold's foot; and the concourse, which had been rapidly augmenting
+for some hours, and still received additions every minute, waited with
+an impatience which increased with every chime of St Sepulchre's clock,
+for twelve at noon.
+
+Up to this time they had been very quiet, comparatively silent, save
+when the arrival of some new party at a window, hitherto unoccupied,
+gave them something new to look at or to talk of. But, as the hour
+approached, a buzz and hum arose, which, deepening every moment, soon
+swelled into a roar, and seemed to fill the air. No words or even voices
+could be distinguished in this clamour, nor did they speak much to each
+other; though such as were better informed upon the topic than the rest,
+would tell their neighbours, perhaps, that they might know the hangman
+when he came out, by his being the shorter one: and that the man who
+was to suffer with him was named Hugh: and that it was Barnaby Rudge who
+would be hanged in Bloomsbury Square.
+
+The hum grew, as the time drew near, so loud, that those who were at the
+windows could not hear the church-clock strike, though it was close at
+hand. Nor had they any need to hear it, either, for they could see it
+in the people's faces. So surely as another quarter chimed, there was
+a movement in the crowd--as if something had passed over it--as if the
+light upon them had been changed--in which the fact was readable as on a
+brazen dial, figured by a giant's hand.
+
+Three quarters past eleven! The murmur now was deafening, yet every man
+seemed mute. Look where you would among the crowd, you saw strained eyes
+and lips compressed; it would have been difficult for the most vigilant
+observer to point this way or that, and say that yonder man had cried
+out. It were as easy to detect the motion of lips in a sea-shell.
+
+Three quarters past eleven! Many spectators who had retired from the
+windows, came back refreshed, as though their watch had just begun.
+Those who had fallen asleep, roused themselves; and every person in the
+crowd made one last effort to better his position--which caused a press
+against the sturdy barriers that made them bend and yield like twigs.
+The officers, who until now had kept together, fell into their several
+positions, and gave the words of command. Swords were drawn, muskets
+shouldered, and the bright steel winding its way among the crowd,
+gleamed and glittered in the sun like a river. Along this shining path,
+two men came hurrying on, leading a horse, which was speedily harnessed
+to the cart at the prison-door. Then, a profound silence replaced the
+tumult that had so long been gathering, and a breathless pause ensued.
+Every window was now choked up with heads; the house-tops teemed with
+people--clinging to chimneys, peering over gable-ends, and holding on
+where the sudden loosening of any brick or stone would dash them down
+into the street. The church tower, the church roof, the church yard,
+the prison leads, the very water-spouts and lampposts--every inch of
+room--swarmed with human life.
+
+At the first stroke of twelve the prison-bell began to toll. Then the
+roar--mingled now with cries of 'Hats off!' and 'Poor fellows!' and,
+from some specks in the great concourse, with a shriek or groan--burst
+forth again. It was terrible to see--if any one in that distraction of
+excitement could have seen--the world of eager eyes, all strained upon
+the scaffold and the beam.
+
+The hollow murmuring was heard within the jail as plainly as without.
+The three were brought forth into the yard, together, as it resounded
+through the air. They knew its import well.
+
+'D'ye hear?' cried Hugh, undaunted by the sound. 'They expect us!
+I heard them gathering when I woke in the night, and turned over on
+t'other side and fell asleep again. We shall see how they welcome the
+hangman, now that it comes home to him. Ha, ha, ha!'
+
+The Ordinary coming up at this moment, reproved him for his indecent
+mirth, and advised him to alter his demeanour.
+
+'And why, master?' said Hugh. 'Can I do better than bear it easily? YOU
+bear it easily enough. Oh! never tell me,' he cried, as the other would
+have spoken, 'for all your sad look and your solemn air, you think
+little enough of it! They say you're the best maker of lobster salads in
+London. Ha, ha! I've heard that, you see, before now. Is it a good
+one, this morning--is your hand in? How does the breakfast look? I hope
+there's enough, and to spare, for all this hungry company that'll sit
+down to it, when the sight's over.'
+
+'I fear,' observed the clergyman, shaking his head, 'that you are
+incorrigible.'
+
+'You're right. I am,' rejoined Hugh sternly. 'Be no hypocrite, master!
+You make a merry-making of this, every month; let me be merry, too. If
+you want a frightened fellow there's one that'll suit you. Try your hand
+upon him.'
+
+He pointed, as he spoke, to Dennis, who, with his legs trailing on the
+ground, was held between two men; and who trembled so, that all his
+joints and limbs seemed racked by spasms. Turning from this wretched
+spectacle, he called to Barnaby, who stood apart.
+
+'What cheer, Barnaby? Don't be downcast, lad. Leave that to HIM.'
+
+'Bless you,' cried Barnaby, stepping lightly towards him, 'I'm not
+frightened, Hugh. I'm quite happy. I wouldn't desire to live now,
+if they'd let me. Look at me! Am I afraid to die? Will they see ME
+tremble?'
+
+Hugh gazed for a moment at his face, on which there was a strange,
+unearthly smile; and at his eye, which sparkled brightly; and
+interposing between him and the Ordinary, gruffly whispered to the
+latter:
+
+'I wouldn't say much to him, master, if I was you. He may spoil your
+appetite for breakfast, though you ARE used to it.'
+
+He was the only one of the three who had washed or trimmed himself
+that morning. Neither of the others had done so, since their doom was
+pronounced. He still wore the broken peacock's feathers in his hat; and
+all his usual scraps of finery were carefully disposed about his person.
+His kindling eye, his firm step, his proud and resolute bearing, might
+have graced some lofty act of heroism; some voluntary sacrifice, born of
+a noble cause and pure enthusiasm; rather than that felon's death.
+
+But all these things increased his guilt. They were mere assumptions.
+The law had declared it so, and so it must be. The good minister had
+been greatly shocked, not a quarter of an hour before, at his parting
+with Grip. For one in his condition, to fondle a bird!--The yard was
+filled with people; bluff civic functionaries, officers of justice,
+soldiers, the curious in such matters, and guests who had been bidden as
+to a wedding. Hugh looked about him, nodded gloomily to some person
+in authority, who indicated with his hand in what direction he was to
+proceed; and clapping Barnaby on the shoulder, passed out with the gait
+of a lion.
+
+They entered a large room, so near to the scaffold that the voices of
+those who stood about it, could be plainly heard: some beseeching
+the javelin-men to take them out of the crowd: others crying to those
+behind, to stand back, for they were pressed to death, and suffocating
+for want of air.
+
+In the middle of this chamber, two smiths, with hammers, stood beside an
+anvil. Hugh walked straight up to them, and set his foot upon it with a
+sound as though it had been struck by a heavy weapon. Then, with folded
+arms, he stood to have his irons knocked off: scowling haughtily round,
+as those who were present eyed him narrowly and whispered to each other.
+
+It took so much time to drag Dennis in, that this ceremony was over with
+Hugh, and nearly over with Barnaby, before he appeared. He no sooner
+came into the place he knew so well, however, and among faces with which
+he was so familiar, than he recovered strength and sense enough to clasp
+his hands and make a last appeal.
+
+'Gentlemen, good gentlemen,' cried the abject creature, grovelling down
+upon his knees, and actually prostrating himself upon the stone floor:
+'Governor, dear governor--honourable sheriffs--worthy gentlemen--have
+mercy upon a wretched man that has served His Majesty, and the Law, and
+Parliament, for so many years, and don't--don't let me die--because of a
+mistake.'
+
+'Dennis,' said the governor of the jail, 'you know what the course
+is, and that the order came with the rest. You know that we could do
+nothing, even if we would.'
+
+'All I ask, sir,--all I want and beg, is time, to make it sure,' cried
+the trembling wretch, looking wildly round for sympathy. 'The King and
+Government can't know it's me; I'm sure they can't know it's me; or they
+never would bring me to this dreadful slaughterhouse. They know my name,
+but they don't know it's the same man. Stop my execution--for charity's
+sake stop my execution, gentlemen--till they can be told that I've
+been hangman here, nigh thirty year. Will no one go and tell them?' he
+implored, clenching his hands and glaring round, and round, and round
+again--'will no charitable person go and tell them!'
+
+'Mr Akerman,' said a gentleman who stood by, after a moment's pause,
+'since it may possibly produce in this unhappy man a better frame of
+mind, even at this last minute, let me assure him that he was well known
+to have been the hangman, when his sentence was considered.'
+
+'--But perhaps they think on that account that the punishment's not so
+great,' cried the criminal, shuffling towards this speaker on his knees,
+and holding up his folded hands; 'whereas it's worse, it's worse a
+hundred times, to me than any man. Let them know that, sir. Let them
+know that. They've made it worse to me by giving me so much to do. Stop
+my execution till they know that!'
+
+The governor beckoned with his hand, and the two men, who had supported
+him before, approached. He uttered a piercing cry:
+
+'Wait! Wait. Only a moment--only one moment more! Give me a last chance
+of reprieve. One of us three is to go to Bloomsbury Square. Let me be
+the one. It may come in that time; it's sure to come. In the Lord's name
+let me be sent to Bloomsbury Square. Don't hang me here. It's murder.'
+
+They took him to the anvil: but even then he could be heard above the
+clinking of the smiths' hammers, and the hoarse raging of the crowd,
+crying that he knew of Hugh's birth--that his father was living, and
+was a gentleman of influence and rank--that he had family secrets in his
+possession--that he could tell nothing unless they gave him time, but
+must die with them on his mind; and he continued to rave in this sort
+until his voice failed him, and he sank down a mere heap of clothes
+between the two attendants.
+
+It was at this moment that the clock struck the first stroke of twelve,
+and the bell began to toll. The various officers, with the two sheriffs
+at their head, moved towards the door. All was ready when the last chime
+came upon the ear.
+
+They told Hugh this, and asked if he had anything to say.
+
+'To say!' he cried. 'Not I. I'm ready.--Yes,' he added, as his eye fell
+upon Barnaby, 'I have a word to say, too. Come hither, lad.'
+
+There was, for the moment, something kind, and even tender, struggling
+in his fierce aspect, as he wrung his poor companion by the hand.
+
+'I'll say this,' he cried, looking firmly round, 'that if I had ten
+lives to lose, and the loss of each would give me ten times the agony
+of the hardest death, I'd lay them all down--ay, I would, though you
+gentlemen may not believe it--to save this one. This one,' he added,
+wringing his hand again, 'that will be lost through me.'
+
+'Not through you,' said the idiot, mildly. 'Don't say that. You were
+not to blame. You have always been very good to me.--Hugh, we shall know
+what makes the stars shine, NOW!'
+
+'I took him from her in a reckless mood, and didn't think what harm
+would come of it,' said Hugh, laying his hand upon his head, and
+speaking in a lower voice. 'I ask her pardon; and his.--Look here,' he
+added roughly, in his former tone. 'You see this lad?'
+
+They murmured 'Yes,' and seemed to wonder why he asked.
+
+'That gentleman yonder--' pointing to the clergyman--'has often in the
+last few days spoken to me of faith, and strong belief. You see what
+I am--more brute than man, as I have been often told--but I had faith
+enough to believe, and did believe as strongly as any of you gentlemen
+can believe anything, that this one life would be spared. See what he
+is!--Look at him!'
+
+Barnaby had moved towards the door, and stood beckoning him to follow.
+
+'If this was not faith, and strong belief!' cried Hugh, raising his
+right arm aloft, and looking upward like a savage prophet whom the near
+approach of Death had filled with inspiration, 'where are they! What
+else should teach me--me, born as I was born, and reared as I have
+been reared--to hope for any mercy in this hardened, cruel, unrelenting
+place! Upon these human shambles, I, who never raised this hand in
+prayer till now, call down the wrath of God! On that black tree, of
+which I am the ripened fruit, I do invoke the curse of all its victims,
+past, and present, and to come. On the head of that man, who, in his
+conscience, owns me for his son, I leave the wish that he may never
+sicken on his bed of down, but die a violent death as I do now, and have
+the night-wind for his only mourner. To this I say, Amen, amen!'
+
+His arm fell downward by his side; he turned; and moved towards them
+with a steady step, the man he had been before.
+
+'There is nothing more?' said the governor.
+
+Hugh motioned Barnaby not to come near him (though without looking in
+the direction where he stood) and answered, 'There is nothing more.'
+
+'Move forward!'
+
+'--Unless,' said Hugh, glancing hurriedly back,--'unless any person here
+has a fancy for a dog; and not then, unless he means to use him well.
+There's one, belongs to me, at the house I came from, and it wouldn't
+be easy to find a better. He'll whine at first, but he'll soon get over
+that.--You wonder that I think about a dog just now,' he added, with a
+kind of laugh. 'If any man deserved it of me half as well, I'd think of
+HIM.'
+
+He spoke no more, but moved onward in his place, with a careless air,
+though listening at the same time to the Service for the Dead, with
+something between sullen attention, and quickened curiosity. As soon as
+he had passed the door, his miserable associate was carried out; and the
+crowd beheld the rest.
+
+Barnaby would have mounted the steps at the same time--indeed he would
+have gone before them, but in both attempts he was restrained, as he
+was to undergo the sentence elsewhere. In a few minutes the sheriffs
+reappeared, the same procession was again formed, and they passed
+through various rooms and passages to another door--that at which the
+cart was waiting. He held down his head to avoid seeing what he knew his
+eyes must otherwise encounter, and took his seat sorrowfully,--and yet
+with something of a childish pride and pleasure,--in the vehicle. The
+officers fell into their places at the sides, in front and in the rear;
+the sheriffs' carriages rolled on; a guard of soldiers surrounded the
+whole; and they moved slowly forward through the throng and pressure
+toward Lord Mansfield's ruined house.
+
+It was a sad sight--all the show, and strength, and glitter, assembled
+round one helpless creature--and sadder yet to note, as he rode along,
+how his wandering thoughts found strange encouragement in the crowded
+windows and the concourse in the streets; and how, even then, he felt
+the influence of the bright sky, and looked up, smiling, into its deep
+unfathomable blue. But there had been many such sights since the riots
+were over--some so moving in their nature, and so repulsive too, that
+they were far more calculated to awaken pity for the sufferers, than
+respect for that law whose strong arm seemed in more than one case to be
+as wantonly stretched forth now that all was safe, as it had been basely
+paralysed in time of danger.
+
+Two cripples--both mere boys--one with a leg of wood, one who dragged
+his twisted limbs along by the help of a crutch, were hanged in this
+same Bloomsbury Square. As the cart was about to glide from under them,
+it was observed that they stood with their faces from, not to, the house
+they had assisted to despoil; and their misery was protracted that this
+omission might be remedied. Another boy was hanged in Bow Street; other
+young lads in various quarters of the town. Four wretched women, too,
+were put to death. In a word, those who suffered as rioters were, for
+the most part, the weakest, meanest, and most miserable among them. It
+was a most exquisite satire upon the false religious cry which had led
+to so much misery, that some of these people owned themselves to be
+Catholics, and begged to be attended by their own priests.
+
+One young man was hanged in Bishopsgate Street, whose aged grey-headed
+father waited for him at the gallows, kissed him at its foot when he
+arrived, and sat there, on the ground, till they took him down. They
+would have given him the body of his child; but he had no hearse, no
+coffin, nothing to remove it in, being too poor--and walked meekly away
+beside the cart that took it back to prison, trying, as he went, to
+touch its lifeless hand.
+
+But the crowd had forgotten these matters, or cared little about them
+if they lived in their memory: and while one great multitude fought
+and hustled to get near the gibbet before Newgate, for a parting look,
+another followed in the train of poor lost Barnaby, to swell the throng
+that waited for him on the spot.
+
+
+
+Chapter 78
+
+
+On this same day, and about this very hour, Mr Willet the elder sat
+smoking his pipe in a chamber at the Black Lion. Although it was hot
+summer weather, Mr Willet sat close to the fire. He was in a state of
+profound cogitation, with his own thoughts, and it was his custom
+at such times to stew himself slowly, under the impression that that
+process of cookery was favourable to the melting out of his ideas,
+which, when he began to simmer, sometimes oozed forth so copiously as to
+astonish even himself.
+
+Mr Willet had been several thousand times comforted by his friends and
+acquaintance, with the assurance that for the loss he had sustained in
+the damage done to the Maypole, he could 'come upon the county.' But as
+this phrase happened to bear an unfortunate resemblance to the popular
+expression of 'coming on the parish,' it suggested to Mr Willet's mind
+no more consolatory visions than pauperism on an extensive scale, and
+ruin in a capacious aspect. Consequently, he had never failed to receive
+the intelligence with a rueful shake of the head, or a dreary stare, and
+had been always observed to appear much more melancholy after a visit of
+condolence than at any other time in the whole four-and-twenty hours.
+
+It chanced, however, that sitting over the fire on this particular
+occasion--perhaps because he was, as it were, done to a turn; perhaps
+because he was in an unusually bright state of mind; perhaps because
+he had considered the subject so long; perhaps because of all these
+favouring circumstances, taken together--it chanced that, sitting over
+the fire on this particular occasion, Mr Willet did, afar off and in
+the remotest depths of his intellect, perceive a kind of lurking hint or
+faint suggestion, that out of the public purse there might issue funds
+for the restoration of the Maypole to its former high place among the
+taverns of the earth. And this dim ray of light did so diffuse itself
+within him, and did so kindle up and shine, that at last he had it as
+plainly and visibly before him as the blaze by which he sat; and, fully
+persuaded that he was the first to make the discovery, and that he had
+started, hunted down, fallen upon, and knocked on the head, a perfectly
+original idea which had never presented itself to any other man, alive
+or dead, he laid down his pipe, rubbed his hands, and chuckled audibly.
+
+'Why, father!' cried Joe, entering at the moment, 'you're in spirits
+to-day!'
+
+'It's nothing partickler,' said Mr Willet, chuckling again. 'It's
+nothing at all partickler, Joseph. Tell me something about the
+Salwanners.' Having preferred this request, Mr Willet chuckled a third
+time, and after these unusual demonstrations of levity, he put his pipe
+in his mouth again.
+
+'What shall I tell you, father?' asked Joe, laying his hand upon his
+sire's shoulder, and looking down into his face. 'That I have come back,
+poorer than a church mouse? You know that. That I have come back, maimed
+and crippled? You know that.'
+
+'It was took off,' muttered Mr Willet, with his eyes upon the fire, 'at
+the defence of the Salwanners, in America, where the war is.'
+
+'Quite right,' returned Joe, smiling, and leaning with his remaining
+elbow on the back of his father's chair; 'the very subject I came to
+speak to you about. A man with one arm, father, is not of much use in
+the busy world.'
+
+This was one of those vast propositions which Mr Willet had never
+considered for an instant, and required time to 'tackle.' Wherefore he
+made no answer.
+
+'At all events,' said Joe, 'he can't pick and choose his means of
+earning a livelihood, as another man may. He can't say "I will turn my
+hand to this," or "I won't turn my hand to that," but must take what he
+can do, and be thankful it's no worse.--What did you say?'
+
+Mr Willet had been softly repeating to himself, in a musing tone, the
+words 'defence of the Salwanners:' but he seemed embarrassed at having
+been overheard, and answered 'Nothing.'
+
+'Now look here, father.--Mr Edward has come to England from the West
+Indies. When he was lost sight of (I ran away on the same day, father),
+he made a voyage to one of the islands, where a school-friend of his
+had settled; and, finding him, wasn't too proud to be employed on his
+estate, and--and in short, got on well, and is prospering, and has come
+over here on business of his own, and is going back again speedily. Our
+returning nearly at the same time, and meeting in the course of the late
+troubles, has been a good thing every way; for it has not only enabled
+us to do old friends some service, but has opened a path in life for me
+which I may tread without being a burden upon you. To be plain, father,
+he can employ me; I have satisfied myself that I can be of real use to
+him; and I am going to carry my one arm away with him, and to make the
+most of it.'
+
+In the mind's eye of Mr Willet, the West Indies, and indeed all foreign
+countries, were inhabited by savage nations, who were perpetually
+burying pipes of peace, flourishing tomahawks, and puncturing strange
+patterns in their bodies. He no sooner heard this announcement,
+therefore, than he leaned back in his chair, took his pipe from his
+lips, and stared at his son with as much dismay as if he already beheld
+him tied to a stake, and tortured for the entertainment of a lively
+population. In what form of expression his feelings would have found
+a vent, it is impossible to say. Nor is it necessary: for, before a
+syllable occurred to him, Dolly Varden came running into the room, in
+tears, threw herself on Joe's breast without a word of explanation, and
+clasped her white arms round his neck.
+
+'Dolly!' cried Joe. 'Dolly!'
+
+'Ay, call me that; call me that always,' exclaimed the locksmith's
+little daughter; 'never speak coldly to me, never be distant, never
+again reprove me for the follies I have long repented, or I shall die,
+Joe.'
+
+'I reprove you!' said Joe.
+
+'Yes--for every kind and honest word you uttered, went to my heart. For
+you, who have borne so much from me--for you, who owe your sufferings
+and pain to my caprice--for you to be so kind--so noble to me, Joe--'
+
+He could say nothing to her. Not a syllable. There was an odd sort of
+eloquence in his one arm, which had crept round her waist: but his lips
+were mute.
+
+'If you had reminded me by a word--only by one short word,' sobbed
+Dolly, clinging yet closer to him, 'how little I deserved that you
+should treat me with so much forbearance; if you had exulted only for
+one moment in your triumph, I could have borne it better.'
+
+'Triumph!' repeated Joe, with a smile which seemed to say, 'I am a
+pretty figure for that.'
+
+'Yes, triumph,' she cried, with her whole heart and soul in her earnest
+voice, and gushing tears; 'for it is one. I am glad to think and know
+it is. I wouldn't be less humbled, dear--I wouldn't be without the
+recollection of that last time we spoke together in this place--no, not
+if I could recall the past, and make our parting, yesterday.'
+
+Did ever lover look as Joe looked now!
+
+'Dear Joe,' said Dolly, 'I always loved you--in my own heart I always
+did, although I was so vain and giddy. I hoped you would come back that
+night. I made quite sure you would. I prayed for it on my knees. Through
+all these long, long years, I have never once forgotten you, or left off
+hoping that this happy time might come.'
+
+The eloquence of Joe's arm surpassed the most impassioned language; and
+so did that of his lips--yet he said nothing, either.
+
+'And now, at last,' cried Dolly, trembling with the fervour of her
+speech, 'if you were sick, and shattered in your every limb; if you were
+ailing, weak, and sorrowful; if, instead of being what you are, you were
+in everybody's eyes but mine the wreck and ruin of a man; I would be
+your wife, dear love, with greater pride and joy, than if you were the
+stateliest lord in England!'
+
+'What have I done,' cried Joe, 'what have I done to meet with this
+reward?'
+
+'You have taught me,' said Dolly, raising her pretty face to his, 'to
+know myself, and your worth; to be something better than I was; to be
+more deserving of your true and manly nature. In years to come, dear
+Joe, you shall find that you have done so; for I will be, not only
+now, when we are young and full of hope, but when we have grown old and
+weary, your patient, gentle, never-tiring wife. I will never know a wish
+or care beyond our home and you, and I will always study how to please
+you with my best affection and my most devoted love. I will: indeed I
+will!'
+
+Joe could only repeat his former eloquence--but it was very much to the
+purpose.
+
+'They know of this, at home,' said Dolly. 'For your sake, I would leave
+even them; but they know it, and are glad of it, and are as proud of you
+as I am, and as full of gratitude.--You'll not come and see me as a poor
+friend who knew me when I was a girl, will you, dear Joe?'
+
+Well, well! It don't matter what Joe said in answer, but he said a great
+deal; and Dolly said a great deal too: and he folded Dolly in his one
+arm pretty tight, considering that it was but one; and Dolly made no
+resistance: and if ever two people were happy in this world--which is
+not an utterly miserable one, with all its faults--we may, with some
+appearance of certainty, conclude that they were.
+
+To say that during these proceedings Mr Willet the elder underwent
+the greatest emotions of astonishment of which our common nature is
+susceptible--to say that he was in a perfect paralysis of surprise, and
+that he wandered into the most stupendous and theretofore unattainable
+heights of complicated amazement--would be to shadow forth his state of
+mind in the feeblest and lamest terms. If a roc, an eagle, a griffin, a
+flying elephant, a winged sea-horse, had suddenly appeared, and, taking
+him on its back, carried him bodily into the heart of the 'Salwanners,'
+it would have been to him as an everyday occurrence, in comparison with
+what he now beheld. To be sitting quietly by, seeing and hearing these
+things; to be completely overlooked, unnoticed, and disregarded,
+while his son and a young lady were talking to each other in the most
+impassioned manner, kissing each other, and making themselves in
+all respects perfectly at home; was a position so tremendous, so
+inexplicable, so utterly beyond the widest range of his capacity of
+comprehension, that he fell into a lethargy of wonder, and could no more
+rouse himself than an enchanted sleeper in the first year of his fairy
+lease, a century long.
+
+'Father,' said Joe, presenting Dolly. 'You know who this is?'
+
+Mr Willet looked first at her, then at his son, then back again at
+Dolly, and then made an ineffectual effort to extract a whiff from his
+pipe, which had gone out long ago.
+
+'Say a word, father, if it's only "how d'ye do,"' urged Joe.
+
+'Certainly, Joseph,' answered Mr Willet. 'Oh yes! Why not?'
+
+'To be sure,' said Joe. 'Why not?'
+
+'Ah!' replied his father. 'Why not?' and with this remark, which he
+uttered in a low voice as though he were discussing some grave question
+with himself, he used the little finger--if any of his fingers can
+be said to have come under that denomination--of his right hand as a
+tobacco-stopper, and was silent again.
+
+And so he sat for half an hour at least, although Dolly, in the most
+endearing of manners, hoped, a dozen times, that he was not angry with
+her. So he sat for half an hour, quite motionless, and looking all
+the while like nothing so much as a great Dutch Pin or Skittle. At the
+expiration of that period, he suddenly, and without the least notice,
+burst (to the great consternation of the young people) into a very loud
+and very short laugh; and repeating, 'Certainly, Joseph. Oh yes! Why
+not?' went out for a walk.
+
+
+
+Chapter 79
+
+
+Old John did not walk near the Golden Key, for between the Golden Key
+and the Black Lion there lay a wilderness of streets--as everybody
+knows who is acquainted with the relative bearings of Clerkenwell and
+Whitechapel--and he was by no means famous for pedestrian exercises.
+But the Golden Key lies in our way, though it was out of his; so to the
+Golden Key this chapter goes.
+
+The Golden Key itself, fair emblem of the locksmith's trade, had been
+pulled down by the rioters, and roughly trampled under foot. But, now,
+it was hoisted up again in all the glory of a new coat of paint,
+and showed more bravely even than in days of yore. Indeed the whole
+house-front was spruce and trim, and so freshened up throughout, that if
+there yet remained at large any of the rioters who had been concerned in
+the attack upon it, the sight of the old, goodly, prosperous dwelling,
+so revived, must have been to them as gall and wormwood.
+
+The shutters of the shop were closed, however, and the window-blinds
+above were all pulled down, and in place of its usual cheerful
+appearance, the house had a look of sadness and an air of mourning;
+which the neighbours, who in old days had often seen poor Barnaby go in
+and out, were at no loss to understand. The door stood partly open;
+but the locksmith's hammer was unheard; the cat sat moping on the ashy
+forge; all was deserted, dark, and silent.
+
+On the threshold of this door, Mr Haredale and Edward Chester met. The
+younger man gave place; and both passing in with a familiar air, which
+seemed to denote that they were tarrying there, or were well-accustomed
+to go to and fro unquestioned, shut it behind them.
+
+Entering the old back-parlour, and ascending the flight of stairs,
+abrupt and steep, and quaintly fashioned as of old, they turned into
+the best room; the pride of Mrs Varden's heart, and erst the scene of
+Miggs's household labours.
+
+'Varden brought the mother here last evening, he told me?' said Mr
+Haredale.
+
+'She is above-stairs now--in the room over here,' Edward rejoined. 'Her
+grief, they say, is past all telling. I needn't add--for that you know
+beforehand, sir--that the care, humanity, and sympathy of these good
+people have no bounds.'
+
+'I am sure of that. Heaven repay them for it, and for much more! Varden
+is out?'
+
+'He returned with your messenger, who arrived almost at the moment of
+his coming home himself. He was out the whole night--but that of course
+you know. He was with you the greater part of it?'
+
+'He was. Without him, I should have lacked my right hand. He is an older
+man than I; but nothing can conquer him.'
+
+'The cheeriest, stoutest-hearted fellow in the world.'
+
+'He has a right to be. He has a right to he. A better creature never
+lived. He reaps what he has sown--no more.'
+
+'It is not all men,' said Edward, after a moment's hesitation, 'who have
+the happiness to do that.'
+
+'More than you imagine,' returned Mr Haredale. 'We note the harvest more
+than the seed-time. You do so in me.'
+
+In truth his pale and haggard face, and gloomy bearing, had so far
+influenced the remark, that Edward was, for the moment, at a loss to
+answer him.
+
+'Tut, tut,' said Mr Haredale, ''twas not very difficult to read a
+thought so natural. But you are mistaken nevertheless. I have had my
+share of sorrows--more than the common lot, perhaps, but I have borne
+them ill. I have broken where I should have bent; and have mused and
+brooded, when my spirit should have mixed with all God's great creation.
+The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother.
+I have turned FROM the world, and I pay the penalty.'
+
+Edward would have interposed, but he went on without giving him time.
+
+'It is too late to evade it now. I sometimes think, that if I had
+to live my life once more, I might amend this fault--not so much, I
+discover when I search my mind, for the love of what is right, as for my
+own sake. But even when I make these better resolutions, I instinctively
+recoil from the idea of suffering again what I have undergone; and in
+this circumstance I find the unwelcome assurance that I should still be
+the same man, though I could cancel the past, and begin anew, with its
+experience to guide me.'
+
+'Nay, you make too sure of that,' said Edward.
+
+'You think so,' Mr Haredale answered, 'and I am glad you do. I know
+myself better, and therefore distrust myself more. Let us leave this
+subject for another--not so far removed from it as it might, at first
+sight, seem to be. Sir, you still love my niece, and she is still
+attached to you.'
+
+'I have that assurance from her own lips,' said Edward, 'and you know--I
+am sure you know--that I would not exchange it for any blessing life
+could yield me.'
+
+'You are frank, honourable, and disinterested,' said Mr Haredale; 'you
+have forced the conviction that you are so, even on my once-jaundiced
+mind, and I believe you. Wait here till I come back.'
+
+He left the room as he spoke; but soon returned with his niece. 'On that
+first and only time,' he said, looking from the one to the other, 'when
+we three stood together under her father's roof, I told you to quit it,
+and charged you never to return.'
+
+'It is the only circumstance arising out of our love,' observed Edward,
+'that I have forgotten.'
+
+'You own a name,' said Mr Haredale, 'I had deep reason to remember. I
+was moved and goaded by recollections of personal wrong and injury, I
+know, but, even now I cannot charge myself with having, then, or ever,
+lost sight of a heartfelt desire for her true happiness; or with having
+acted--however much I was mistaken--with any other impulse than the one
+pure, single, earnest wish to be to her, as far as in my inferior nature
+lay, the father she had lost.'
+
+'Dear uncle,' cried Emma, 'I have known no parent but you. I have loved
+the memory of others, but I have loved you all my life. Never was father
+kinder to his child than you have been to me, without the interval of
+one harsh hour, since I can first remember.'
+
+'You speak too fondly,' he answered, 'and yet I cannot wish you were
+less partial; for I have a pleasure in hearing those words, and shall
+have in calling them to mind when we are far asunder, which nothing else
+could give me. Bear with me for a moment longer, Edward, for she and I
+have been together many years; and although I believe that in resigning
+her to you I put the seal upon her future happiness, I find it needs an
+effort.'
+
+He pressed her tenderly to his bosom, and after a minute's pause,
+resumed:
+
+'I have done you wrong, sir, and I ask your forgiveness--in no common
+phrase, or show of sorrow; but with earnestness and sincerity. In the
+same spirit, I acknowledge to you both that the time has been when
+I connived at treachery and falsehood--which if I did not perpetrate
+myself, I still permitted--to rend you two asunder.'
+
+'You judge yourself too harshly,' said Edward. 'Let these things rest.'
+
+'They rise in judgment against me when I look back, and not now for
+the first time,' he answered. 'I cannot part from you without your full
+forgiveness; for busy life and I have little left in common now, and
+I have regrets enough to carry into solitude, without addition to the
+stock.'
+
+'You bear a blessing from us both,' said Emma. 'Never mingle thoughts of
+me--of me who owe you so much love and duty--with anything but undying
+affection and gratitude for the past, and bright hopes for the future.'
+
+'The future,' returned her uncle, with a melancholy smile, 'is a bright
+word for you, and its image should be wreathed with cheerful hopes. Mine
+is of another kind, but it will be one of peace, and free, I trust, from
+care or passion. When you quit England I shall leave it too. There are
+cloisters abroad; and now that the two great objects of my life are set
+at rest, I know no better home. You droop at that, forgetting that I am
+growing old, and that my course is nearly run. Well, we will speak of it
+again--not once or twice, but many times; and you shall give me cheerful
+counsel, Emma.'
+
+'And you will take it?' asked his niece.
+
+'I'll listen to it,' he answered, with a kiss, 'and it will have its
+weight, be certain. What have I left to say? You have, of late, been
+much together. It is better and more fitting that the circumstances
+attendant on the past, which wrought your separation, and sowed between
+you suspicion and distrust, should not be entered on by me.'
+
+'Much, much better,' whispered Emma.
+
+'I avow my share in them,' said Mr Haredale, 'though I held it, at the
+time, in detestation. Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the
+broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by
+the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.
+Those that cannot, are bad; and may be counted so at once, and left
+alone.'
+
+He looked from her to Edward, and said in a gentler tone:
+
+'In goods and fortune you are now nearly equal. I have been her faithful
+steward, and to that remnant of a richer property which my brother left
+her, I desire to add, in token of my love, a poor pittance, scarcely
+worth the mention, for which I have no longer any need. I am glad you go
+abroad. Let our ill-fated house remain the ruin it is. When you return,
+after a few thriving years, you will command a better, and a more
+fortunate one. We are friends?'
+
+Edward took his extended hand, and grasped it heartily.
+
+'You are neither slow nor cold in your response,' said Mr Haredale,
+doing the like by him, 'and when I look upon you now, and know you, I
+feel that I would choose you for her husband. Her father had a generous
+nature, and you would have pleased him well. I give her to you in his
+name, and with his blessing. If the world and I part in this act, we
+part on happier terms than we have lived for many a day.'
+
+He placed her in his arms, and would have left the room, but that he was
+stopped in his passage to the door by a great noise at a distance, which
+made them start and pause.
+
+It was a loud shouting, mingled with boisterous acclamations, that rent
+the very air. It drew nearer and nearer every moment, and approached
+so rapidly, that, even while they listened, it burst into a deafening
+confusion of sounds at the street corner.
+
+'This must be stopped--quieted,' said Mr Haredale, hastily. 'We should
+have foreseen this, and provided against it. I will go out to them at
+once.'
+
+But, before he could reach the door, and before Edward could catch up
+his hat and follow him, they were again arrested by a loud shriek from
+above-stairs: and the locksmith's wife, bursting in, and fairly running
+into Mr Haredale's arms, cried out:
+
+'She knows it all, dear sir!--she knows it all! We broke it out to her
+by degrees, and she is quite prepared.' Having made this communication,
+and furthermore thanked Heaven with great fervour and heartiness, the
+good lady, according to the custom of matrons, on all occasions of
+excitement, fainted away directly.
+
+They ran to the window, drew up the sash, and looked into the crowded
+street. Among a dense mob of persons, of whom not one was for an instant
+still, the locksmith's ruddy face and burly form could be descried,
+beating about as though he was struggling with a rough sea. Now, he was
+carried back a score of yards, now onward nearly to the door, now
+back again, now forced against the opposite houses, now against those
+adjoining his own: now carried up a flight of steps, and greeted by the
+outstretched hands of half a hundred men, while the whole tumultuous
+concourse stretched their throats, and cheered with all their might.
+Though he was really in a fair way to be torn to pieces in the general
+enthusiasm, the locksmith, nothing discomposed, echoed their shouts till
+he was as hoarse as they, and in a glow of joy and right good-humour,
+waved his hat until the daylight shone between its brim and crown.
+
+But in all the bandyings from hand to hand, and strivings to and fro,
+and sweepings here and there, which--saving that he looked more jolly
+and more radiant after every struggle--troubled his peace of mind no
+more than if he had been a straw upon the water's surface, he never once
+released his firm grasp of an arm, drawn tight through his. He sometimes
+turned to clap this friend upon the back, or whisper in his ear a word
+of staunch encouragement, or cheer him with a smile; but his great care
+was to shield him from the pressure, and force a passage for him to the
+Golden Key. Passive and timid, scared, pale, and wondering, and gazing
+at the throng as if he were newly risen from the dead, and felt himself
+a ghost among the living, Barnaby--not Barnaby in the spirit, but in
+flesh and blood, with pulses, sinews, nerves, and beating heart, and
+strong affections--clung to his stout old friend, and followed where he
+led.
+
+And thus, in course of time, they reached the door, held ready for their
+entrance by no unwilling hands. Then slipping in, and shutting out
+the crowd by main force, Gabriel stood between Mr Haredale and Edward
+Chester, and Barnaby, rushing up the stairs, fell upon his knees beside
+his mother's bed.
+
+'Such is the blessed end, sir,' cried the panting locksmith, to Mr
+Haredale, 'of the best day's work we ever did. The rogues! it's been
+hard fighting to get away from 'em. I almost thought, once or twice,
+they'd have been too much for us with their kindness!'
+
+They had striven, all the previous day, to rescue Barnaby from his
+impending fate. Failing in their attempts, in the first quarter to which
+they addressed themselves, they renewed them in another. Failing there,
+likewise, they began afresh at midnight; and made their way, not only to
+the judge and jury who had tried him, but to men of influence at court,
+to the young Prince of Wales, and even to the ante-chamber of the King
+himself. Successful, at last, in awakening an interest in his favour,
+and an inclination to inquire more dispassionately into his case, they
+had had an interview with the minister, in his bed, so late as eight
+o'clock that morning. The result of a searching inquiry (in which
+they, who had known the poor fellow from his childhood, did other good
+service, besides bringing it about) was, that between eleven and twelve
+o'clock, a free pardon to Barnaby Rudge was made out and signed, and
+entrusted to a horse-soldier for instant conveyance to the place of
+execution. This courier reached the spot just as the cart appeared in
+sight; and Barnaby being carried back to jail, Mr Haredale, assured that
+all was safe, had gone straight from Bloomsbury Square to the Golden
+Key, leaving to Gabriel the grateful task of bringing him home in
+triumph.
+
+'I needn't say,' observed the locksmith, when he had shaken hands with
+all the males in the house, and hugged all the females, five-and-forty
+times, at least, 'that, except among ourselves, I didn't want to make a
+triumph of it. But, directly we got into the street we were known, and
+this hubbub began. Of the two,' he added, as he wiped his crimson face,
+'and after experience of both, I think I'd rather be taken out of my
+house by a crowd of enemies, than escorted home by a mob of friends!'
+
+It was plain enough, however, that this was mere talk on Gabriel's part,
+and that the whole proceeding afforded him the keenest delight; for
+the people continuing to make a great noise without, and to cheer as if
+their voices were in the freshest order, and good for a fortnight, he
+sent upstairs for Grip (who had come home at his master's back, and had
+acknowledged the favours of the multitude by drawing blood from every
+finger that came within his reach), and with the bird upon his arm
+presented himself at the first-floor window, and waved his hat again
+until it dangled by a shred, between his finger and thumb. This
+demonstration having been received with appropriate shouts, and silence
+being in some degree restored, he thanked them for their sympathy; and
+taking the liberty to inform them that there was a sick person in the
+house, proposed that they should give three cheers for King George,
+three more for Old England, and three more for nothing particular, as
+a closing ceremony. The crowd assenting, substituted Gabriel Varden
+for the nothing particular; and giving him one over, for good measure,
+dispersed in high good-humour.
+
+What congratulations were exchanged among the inmates at the Golden
+Key, when they were left alone; what an overflowing of joy and happiness
+there was among them; how incapable it was of expression in Barnaby's
+own person; and how he went wildly from one to another, until he became
+so far tranquillised, as to stretch himself on the ground beside his
+mother's couch and fall into a deep sleep; are matters that need not be
+told. And it is well they happened to be of this class, for they would
+be very hard to tell, were their narration ever so indispensable.
+
+Before leaving this bright picture, it may be well to glance at a dark
+and very different one which was presented to only a few eyes, that same
+night.
+
+The scene was a churchyard; the time, midnight; the persons, Edward
+Chester, a clergyman, a grave-digger, and the four bearers of a homely
+coffin. They stood about a grave which had been newly dug, and one of
+the bearers held up a dim lantern,--the only light there--which shed
+its feeble ray upon the book of prayer. He placed it for a moment on the
+coffin, when he and his companions were about to lower it down. There
+was no inscription on the lid.
+
+The mould fell solemnly upon the last house of this nameless man; and
+the rattling dust left a dismal echo even in the accustomed ears of
+those who had borne it to its resting-place. The grave was filled in to
+the top, and trodden down. They all left the spot together.
+
+'You never saw him, living?' asked the clergyman, of Edward.
+
+'Often, years ago; not knowing him for my brother.'
+
+'Never since?'
+
+'Never. Yesterday, he steadily refused to see me. It was urged upon him,
+many times, at my desire.'
+
+'Still he refused? That was hardened and unnatural.'
+
+'Do you think so?'
+
+'I infer that you do not?'
+
+'You are right. We hear the world wonder, every day, at monsters of
+ingratitude. Did it never occur to you that it often looks for monsters
+of affection, as though they were things of course?'
+
+They had reached the gate by this time, and bidding each other good
+night, departed on their separate ways.
+
+
+
+Chapter 80
+
+
+That afternoon, when he had slept off his fatigue; had shaved, and
+washed, and dressed, and freshened himself from top to toe; when he had
+dined, comforted himself with a pipe, an extra Toby, a nap in the great
+arm-chair, and a quiet chat with Mrs Varden on everything that had
+happened, was happening, or about to happen, within the sphere of their
+domestic concern; the locksmith sat himself down at the tea-table in
+the little back-parlour: the rosiest, cosiest, merriest, heartiest,
+best-contented old buck, in Great Britain or out of it.
+
+There he sat, with his beaming eye on Mrs V., and his shining face
+suffused with gladness, and his capacious waistcoat smiling in every
+wrinkle, and his jovial humour peeping from under the table in the very
+plumpness of his legs; a sight to turn the vinegar of misanthropy into
+purest milk of human kindness. There he sat, watching his wife as she
+decorated the room with flowers for the greater honour of Dolly and
+Joseph Willet, who had gone out walking, and for whom the tea-kettle
+had been singing gaily on the hob full twenty minutes, chirping as
+never kettle chirped before; for whom the best service of real undoubted
+china, patterned with divers round-faced mandarins holding up broad
+umbrellas, was now displayed in all its glory; to tempt whose
+appetites a clear, transparent, juicy ham, garnished with cool green
+lettuce-leaves and fragrant cucumber, reposed upon a shady table,
+covered with a snow-white cloth; for whose delight, preserves and jams,
+crisp cakes and other pastry, short to eat, with cunning twists, and
+cottage loaves, and rolls of bread both white and brown, were all set
+forth in rich profusion; in whose youth Mrs V. herself had grown quite
+young, and stood there in a gown of red and white: symmetrical in
+figure, buxom in bodice, ruddy in cheek and lip, faultless in ankle,
+laughing in face and mood, in all respects delicious to behold--there
+sat the locksmith among all and every these delights, the sun that shone
+upon them all: the centre of the system: the source of light, heat,
+life, and frank enjoyment in the bright household world.
+
+And when had Dolly ever been the Dolly of that afternoon? To see how she
+came in, arm-in-arm with Joe; and how she made an effort not to blush or
+seem at all confused; and how she made believe she didn't care to sit on
+his side of the table; and how she coaxed the locksmith in a whisper not
+to joke; and how her colour came and went in a little restless flutter
+of happiness, which made her do everything wrong, and yet so charmingly
+wrong that it was better than right!--why, the locksmith could have
+looked on at this (as he mentioned to Mrs Varden when they retired for
+the night) for four-and-twenty hours at a stretch, and never wished it
+done.
+
+The recollections, too, with which they made merry over that long
+protracted tea! The glee with which the locksmith asked Joe if he
+remembered that stormy night at the Maypole when he first asked after
+Dolly--the laugh they all had, about that night when she was going out
+to the party in the sedan-chair--the unmerciful manner in which they
+rallied Mrs Varden about putting those flowers outside that very
+window--the difficulty Mrs Varden found in joining the laugh against
+herself, at first, and the extraordinary perception she had of the joke
+when she overcame it--the confidential statements of Joe concerning the
+precise day and hour when he was first conscious of being fond of Dolly,
+and Dolly's blushing admissions, half volunteered and half extorted, as
+to the time from which she dated the discovery that she 'didn't mind'
+Joe--here was an exhaustless fund of mirth and conversation.
+
+Then, there was a great deal to be said regarding Mrs Varden's doubts,
+and motherly alarms, and shrewd suspicions; and it appeared that from
+Mrs Varden's penetration and extreme sagacity nothing had ever been
+hidden. She had known it all along. She had seen it from the first. She
+had always predicted it. She had been aware of it before the principals.
+She had said within herself (for she remembered the exact words) 'that
+young Willet is certainly looking after our Dolly, and I must look
+after HIM.' Accordingly, she had looked after him, and had observed many
+little circumstances (all of which she named) so exceedingly minute that
+nobody else could make anything out of them even now; and had, it
+seemed from first to last, displayed the most unbounded tact and most
+consummate generalship.
+
+Of course the night when Joe WOULD ride homeward by the side of the
+chaise, and when Mrs Varden WOULD insist upon his going back again,
+was not forgotten--nor the night when Dolly fainted on his name being
+mentioned--nor the times upon times when Mrs Varden, ever watchful and
+prudent, had found her pining in her own chamber. In short, nothing was
+forgotten; and everything by some means or other brought them back to
+the conclusion, that that was the happiest hour in all their lives;
+consequently, that everything must have occurred for the best, and
+nothing could be suggested which would have made it better.
+
+While they were in the full glow of such discourse as this, there came a
+startling knock at the door, opening from the street into the workshop,
+which had been kept closed all day that the house might be more quiet.
+Joe, as in duty bound, would hear of nobody but himself going to open
+it; and accordingly left the room for that purpose.
+
+It would have been odd enough, certainly, if Joe had forgotten the way
+to this door; and even if he had, as it was a pretty large one and stood
+straight before him, he could not easily have missed it. But Dolly,
+perhaps because she was in the flutter of spirits before mentioned, or
+perhaps because she thought he would not be able to open it with his one
+arm--she could have had no other reason--hurried out after him; and they
+stopped so long in the passage--no doubt owing to Joe's entreaties
+that she would not expose herself to the draught of July air which must
+infallibly come rushing in on this same door being opened--that the
+knock was repeated, in a yet more startling manner than before.
+
+'Is anybody going to open that door?' cried the locksmith. 'Or shall I
+come?'
+
+Upon that, Dolly went running back into the parlour, all dimples and
+blushes; and Joe opened it with a mighty noise, and other superfluous
+demonstrations of being in a violent hurry.
+
+'Well,' said the locksmith, when he reappeared: 'what is it? eh Joe?
+what are you laughing at?'
+
+'Nothing, sir. It's coming in.'
+
+'Who's coming in? what's coming in?' Mrs Varden, as much at a loss as
+her husband, could only shake her head in answer to his inquiring look:
+so, the locksmith wheeled his chair round to command a better view of
+the room-door, and stared at it with his eyes wide open, and a mingled
+expression of curiosity and wonder shining in his jolly face.
+
+Instead of some person or persons straightway appearing, divers
+remarkable sounds were heard, first in the workshop and afterwards
+in the little dark passage between it and the parlour, as though some
+unwieldy chest or heavy piece of furniture were being brought in, by an
+amount of human strength inadequate to the task. At length after much
+struggling and humping, and bruising of the wall on both sides, the
+door was forced open as by a battering-ram; and the locksmith, steadily
+regarding what appeared beyond, smote his thigh, elevated his eyebrows,
+opened his mouth, and cried in a loud voice expressive of the utmost
+consternation:
+
+'Damme, if it an't Miggs come back!'
+
+The young damsel whom he named no sooner heard these words, than
+deserting a small boy and a very large box by which she was accompanied,
+and advancing with such precipitation that her bonnet flew off her head,
+burst into the room, clasped her hands (in which she held a pair of
+pattens, one in each), raised her eyes devotedly to the ceiling, and
+shed a flood of tears.
+
+'The old story!' cried the locksmith, looking at her in inexpressible
+desperation. 'She was born to be a damper, this young woman! nothing can
+prevent it!'
+
+'Ho master, ho mim!' cried Miggs, 'can I constrain my feelings in these
+here once agin united moments! Ho Mr Warsen, here's blessedness
+among relations, sir! Here's forgivenesses of injuries, here's
+amicablenesses!'
+
+The locksmith looked from his wife to Dolly, and from Dolly to Joe, and
+from Joe to Miggs, with his eyebrows still elevated and his mouth still
+open. When his eyes got back to Miggs, they rested on her; fascinated.
+
+'To think,' cried Miggs with hysterical joy, 'that Mr Joe, and dear
+Miss Dolly, has raly come together after all as has been said and done
+contrairy! To see them two a-settin' along with him and her, so pleasant
+and in all respects so affable and mild; and me not knowing of it, and
+not being in the ways to make no preparations for their teas. Ho what a
+cutting thing it is, and yet what sweet sensations is awoke within me!'
+
+Either in clasping her hands again, or in an ecstasy of pious joy, Miss
+Miggs clinked her pattens after the manner of a pair of cymbals, at this
+juncture; and then resumed, in the softest accents:
+
+'And did my missis think--ho goodness, did she think--as her own Miggs,
+which supported her under so many trials, and understood her natur'
+when them as intended well but acted rough, went so deep into her
+feelings--did she think as her own Miggs would ever leave her? Did she
+think as Miggs, though she was but a servant, and knowed that servitudes
+was no inheritances, would forgit that she was the humble instruments
+as always made it comfortable between them two when they fell out,
+and always told master of the meekness and forgiveness of her blessed
+dispositions! Did she think as Miggs had no attachments! Did she think
+that wages was her only object!'
+
+To none of these interrogatories, whereof every one was more
+pathetically delivered than the last, did Mrs Varden answer one word:
+but Miggs, not at all abashed by this circumstance, turned to the
+small boy in attendance--her eldest nephew--son of her own married
+sister--born in Golden Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, and bred in the
+very shadow of the second bell-handle on the right-hand door-post--and
+with a plentiful use of her pocket-handkerchief, addressed herself to
+him: requesting that on his return home he would console his parents for
+the loss of her, his aunt, by delivering to them a faithful statement
+of his having left her in the bosom of that family, with which, as his
+aforesaid parents well knew, her best affections were incorporated; that
+he would remind them that nothing less than her imperious sense of duty,
+and devoted attachment to her old master and missis, likewise Miss Dolly
+and young Mr Joe, should ever have induced her to decline that pressing
+invitation which they, his parents, had, as he could testify, given her,
+to lodge and board with them, free of all cost and charge, for evermore;
+lastly, that he would help her with her box upstairs, and then repair
+straight home, bearing her blessing and her strong injunctions to mingle
+in his prayers a supplication that he might in course of time grow up
+a locksmith, or a Mr Joe, and have Mrs Vardens and Miss Dollys for his
+relations and friends.
+
+Having brought this admonition to an end--upon which, to say the truth,
+the young gentleman for whose benefit it was designed, bestowed little
+or no heed, having to all appearance his faculties absorbed in the
+contemplation of the sweetmeats,--Miss Miggs signified to the company in
+general that they were not to be uneasy, for she would soon return; and,
+with her nephew's aid, prepared to bear her wardrobe up the staircase.
+
+'My dear,' said the locksmith to his wife. 'Do you desire this?'
+
+'I desire it!' she answered. 'I am astonished--I am amazed--at her
+audacity. Let her leave the house this moment.'
+
+Miggs, hearing this, let her end of the box fall heavily to the floor,
+gave a very loud sniff, crossed her arms, screwed down the corners of
+her mouth, and cried, in an ascending scale, 'Ho, good gracious!' three
+distinct times.
+
+'You hear what your mistress says, my love,' remarked the locksmith.
+'You had better go, I think. Stay; take this with you, for the sake of
+old service.'
+
+Miss Miggs clutched the bank-note he took from his pocket-book and held
+out to her; deposited it in a small, red leather purse; put the purse
+in her pocket (displaying, as she did so, a considerable portion of some
+under-garment, made of flannel, and more black cotton stocking than is
+commonly seen in public); and, tossing her head, as she looked at Mrs
+Varden, repeated--
+
+'Ho, good gracious!'
+
+'I think you said that once before, my dear,' observed the locksmith.
+
+'Times is changed, is they, mim!' cried Miggs, bridling; 'you can spare
+me now, can you? You can keep 'em down without me? You're not in wants
+of any one to scold, or throw the blame upon, no longer, an't you, mim?
+I'm glad to find you've grown so independent. I wish you joy, I'm sure!'
+
+With that she dropped a curtsey, and keeping her head erect, her ear
+towards Mrs Varden, and her eye on the rest of the company, as she
+alluded to them in her remarks, proceeded:
+
+'I'm quite delighted, I'm sure, to find sich independency, feeling sorry
+though, at the same time, mim, that you should have been forced into
+submissions when you couldn't help yourself--he he he! It must be great
+vexations, 'specially considering how ill you always spoke of Mr Joe--to
+have him for a son-in-law at last; and I wonder Miss Dolly can put
+up with him, either, after being off and on for so many years with a
+coachmaker. But I HAVE heerd say, that the coachmaker thought twice
+about it--he he he!--and that he told a young man as was a frind of his,
+that he hoped he knowed better than to be drawed into that; though she
+and all the family DID pull uncommon strong!'
+
+Here she paused for a reply, and receiving none, went on as before.
+
+'I HAVE heerd say, mim, that the illnesses of some ladies was all
+pretensions, and that they could faint away, stone dead, whenever they
+had the inclinations so to do. Of course I never see sich cases with my
+own eyes--ho no! He he he! Nor master neither--ho no! He he he! I HAVE
+heerd the neighbours make remark as some one as they was acquainted
+with, was a poor good-natur'd mean-spirited creetur, as went out
+fishing for a wife one day, and caught a Tartar. Of course I never to my
+knowledge see the poor person himself. Nor did you neither, mim--ho no.
+I wonder who it can be--don't you, mim? No doubt you do, mim. Ho yes. He
+he he!'
+
+Again Miggs paused for a reply; and none being offered, was so oppressed
+with teeming spite and spleen, that she seemed like to burst.
+
+'I'm glad Miss Dolly can laugh,' cried Miggs with a feeble titter. 'I
+like to see folks a-laughing--so do you, mim, don't you? You was always
+glad to see people in spirits, wasn't you, mim? And you always did your
+best to keep 'em cheerful, didn't you, mim? Though there an't such a
+great deal to laugh at now either; is there, mim? It an't so much of a
+catch, after looking out so sharp ever since she was a little chit, and
+costing such a deal in dress and show, to get a poor, common soldier,
+with one arm, is it, mim? He he! I wouldn't have a husband with one arm,
+anyways. I would have two arms. I would have two arms, if it was me,
+though instead of hands they'd only got hooks at the end, like our
+dustman!'
+
+Miss Miggs was about to add, and had, indeed, begun to add, that,
+taking them in the abstract, dustmen were far more eligible matches than
+soldiers, though, to be sure, when people were past choosing they must
+take the best they could get, and think themselves well off too; but her
+vexation and chagrin being of that internally bitter sort which finds no
+relief in words, and is aggravated to madness by want of contradiction,
+she could hold out no longer, and burst into a storm of sobs and tears.
+
+In this extremity she fell on the unlucky nephew, tooth and nail, and
+plucking a handful of hair from his head, demanded to know how long she
+was to stand there to be insulted, and whether or no he meant to help
+her to carry out the box again, and if he took a pleasure in hearing his
+family reviled: with other inquiries of that nature; at which disgrace
+and provocation, the small boy, who had been all this time gradually
+lashed into rebellion by the sight of unattainable pastry, walked off
+indignant, leaving his aunt and the box to follow at their leisure.
+Somehow or other, by dint of pushing and pulling, they did attain the
+street at last; where Miss Miggs, all blowzed with the exertion of
+getting there, and with her sobs and tears, sat down upon her property
+to rest and grieve, until she could ensnare some other youth to help her
+home.
+
+'It's a thing to laugh at, Martha, not to care for,' whispered the
+locksmith, as he followed his wife to the window, and good-humouredly
+dried her eyes. 'What does it matter? You had seen your fault before.
+Come! Bring up Toby again, my dear; Dolly shall sing us a song; and
+we'll be all the merrier for this interruption!'
+
+
+
+Chapter 81
+
+
+Another month had passed, and the end of August had nearly come, when Mr
+Haredale stood alone in the mail-coach office at Bristol. Although but a
+few weeks had intervened since his conversation with Edward Chester and
+his niece, in the locksmith's house, and he had made no change, in the
+mean time, in his accustomed style of dress, his appearance was greatly
+altered. He looked much older, and more care-worn. Agitation and anxiety
+of mind scatter wrinkles and grey hairs with no unsparing hand; but
+deeper traces follow on the silent uprooting of old habits, and severing
+of dear, familiar ties. The affections may not be so easily wounded as
+the passions, but their hurts are deeper, and more lasting. He was now a
+solitary man, and the heart within him was dreary and lonesome.
+
+He was not the less alone for having spent so many years in seclusion
+and retirement. This was no better preparation than a round of social
+cheerfulness: perhaps it even increased the keenness of his sensibility.
+He had been so dependent upon her for companionship and love; she had
+come to be so much a part and parcel of his existence; they had had so
+many cares and thoughts in common, which no one else had shared; that
+losing her was beginning life anew, and being required to summon up the
+hope and elasticity of youth, amid the doubts, distrusts, and weakened
+energies of age.
+
+The effort he had made to part from her with seeming cheerfulness and
+hope--and they had parted only yesterday--left him the more depressed.
+With these feelings, he was about to revisit London for the last time,
+and look once more upon the walls of their old home, before turning his
+back upon it, for ever.
+
+The journey was a very different one, in those days, from what the
+present generation find it; but it came to an end, as the longest
+journey will, and he stood again in the streets of the metropolis. He
+lay at the inn where the coach stopped, and resolved, before he went
+to bed, that he would make his arrival known to no one; would spend but
+another night in London; and would spare himself the pang of parting,
+even with the honest locksmith.
+
+Such conditions of the mind as that to which he was a prey when he lay
+down to rest, are favourable to the growth of disordered fancies, and
+uneasy visions. He knew this, even in the horror with which he started
+from his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the
+presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it
+were, the witness of his dream. But it was not a new terror of the
+night; it had been present to him before, in many shapes; it had haunted
+him in bygone times, and visited his pillow again and again. If it had
+been but an ugly object, a childish spectre, haunting his sleep, its
+return, in its old form, might have awakened a momentary sensation of
+fear, which, almost in the act of waking, would have passed away. This
+disquiet, however, lingered about him, and would yield to nothing. When
+he closed his eyes again, he felt it hovering near; as he slowly sunk
+into a slumber, he was conscious of its gathering strength and purpose,
+and gradually assuming its recent shape; when he sprang up from his bed,
+the same phantom vanished from his heated brain, and left him filled
+with a dread against which reason and waking thought were powerless.
+
+The sun was up, before he could shake it off. He rose late, but not
+refreshed, and remained within doors all that day. He had a fancy for
+paying his last visit to the old spot in the evening, for he had been
+accustomed to walk there at that season, and desired to see it under the
+aspect that was most familiar to him. At such an hour as would afford
+him time to reach it a little before sunset, he left the inn, and turned
+into the busy street.
+
+He had not gone far, and was thoughtfully making his way among the noisy
+crowd, when he felt a hand upon his shoulder, and, turning, recognised
+one of the waiters from the inn, who begged his pardon, but he had left
+his sword behind him.
+
+'Why have you brought it to me?' he asked, stretching out his hand, and
+yet not taking it from the man, but looking at him in a disturbed and
+agitated manner.
+
+The man was sorry to have disobliged him, and would carry it back again.
+The gentleman had said that he was going a little way into the country,
+and that he might not return until late. The roads were not very safe
+for single travellers after dark; and, since the riots, gentlemen had
+been more careful than ever, not to trust themselves unarmed in lonely
+places. 'We thought you were a stranger, sir,' he added, 'and that you
+might believe our roads to be better than they are; but perhaps you know
+them well, and carry fire-arms--'
+
+He took the sword, and putting it up at his side, thanked the man, and
+resumed his walk.
+
+It was long remembered that he did this in a manner so strange, and
+with such a trembling hand, that the messenger stood looking after his
+retreating figure, doubtful whether he ought not to follow, and watch
+him. It was long remembered that he had been heard pacing his bedroom in
+the dead of the night; that the attendants had mentioned to each other
+in the morning, how fevered and how pale he looked; and that when this
+man went back to the inn, he told a fellow-servant that what he had
+observed in this short interview lay very heavy on his mind, and that he
+feared the gentleman intended to destroy himself, and would never come
+back alive.
+
+With a half-consciousness that his manner had attracted the man's
+attention (remembering the expression of his face when they parted),
+Mr Haredale quickened his steps; and arriving at a stand of coaches,
+bargained with the driver of the best to carry him so far on his road as
+the point where the footway struck across the fields, and to await his
+return at a house of entertainment which was within a stone's-throw of
+that place. Arriving there in due course, he alighted and pursued his
+way on foot.
+
+He passed so near the Maypole, that he could see its smoke rising from
+among the trees, while a flock of pigeons--some of its old inhabitants,
+doubtless--sailed gaily home to roost, between him and the unclouded
+sky. 'The old house will brighten up now,' he said, as he looked towards
+it, 'and there will be a merry fireside beneath its ivied roof. It is
+some comfort to know that everything will not be blighted hereabouts. I
+shall be glad to have one picture of life and cheerfulness to turn to,
+in my mind!'
+
+He resumed his walk, and bent his steps towards the Warren. It was a
+clear, calm, silent evening, with hardly a breath of wind to stir the
+leaves, or any sound to break the stillness of the time, but drowsy
+sheep-bells tinkling in the distance, and, at intervals, the far-off
+lowing of cattle, or bark of village dogs. The sky was radiant with
+the softened glory of sunset; and on the earth, and in the air, a deep
+repose prevailed. At such an hour, he arrived at the deserted mansion
+which had been his home so long, and looked for the last time upon its
+blackened walls.
+
+The ashes of the commonest fire are melancholy things, for in them there
+is an image of death and ruin,--of something that has been bright, and
+is but dull, cold, dreary dust,--with which our nature forces us to
+sympathise. How much more sad the crumbled embers of a home: the casting
+down of that great altar, where the worst among us sometimes perform
+the worship of the heart; and where the best have offered up such
+sacrifices, and done such deeds of heroism, as, chronicled, would put
+the proudest temples of old Time, with all their vaunting annals, to the
+blush!
+
+He roused himself from a long train of meditation, and walked slowly
+round the house. It was by this time almost dark.
+
+He had nearly made the circuit of the building, when he uttered a
+half-suppressed exclamation, started, and stood still. Reclining, in an
+easy attitude, with his back against a tree, and contemplating the ruin
+with an expression of pleasure,--a pleasure so keen that it overcame his
+habitual indolence and command of feature, and displayed itself utterly
+free from all restraint or reserve,--before him, on his own ground,
+and triumphing then, as he had triumphed in every misfortune and
+disappointment of his life, stood the man whose presence, of all
+mankind, in any place, and least of all in that, he could the least
+endure.
+
+Although his blood so rose against this man, and his wrath so stirred
+within him, that he could have struck him dead, he put such fierce
+constraint upon himself that he passed him without a word or look. Yes,
+and he would have gone on, and not turned, though to resist the Devil
+who poured such hot temptation in his brain, required an effort scarcely
+to be achieved, if this man had not himself summoned him to stop: and
+that, with an assumed compassion in his voice which drove him well-nigh
+mad, and in an instant routed all the self-command it had been
+anguish--acute, poignant anguish--to sustain.
+
+All consideration, reflection, mercy, forbearance; everything by which
+a goaded man can curb his rage and passion; fled from him as he turned
+back. And yet he said, slowly and quite calmly--far more calmly than he
+had ever spoken to him before:
+
+'Why have you called to me?'
+
+'To remark,' said Sir John Chester with his wonted composure, 'what an
+odd chance it is, that we should meet here!'
+
+'It IS a strange chance.'
+
+'Strange? The most remarkable and singular thing in the world. I never
+ride in the evening; I have not done so for years. The whim seized me,
+quite unaccountably, in the middle of last night.--How very picturesque
+this is!'--He pointed, as he spoke, to the dismantled house, and raised
+his glass to his eye.
+
+'You praise your own work very freely.'
+
+Sir John let fall his glass; inclined his face towards him with an air
+of the most courteous inquiry; and slightly shook his head as though he
+were remarking to himself, 'I fear this animal is going mad!'
+
+'I say you praise your own work very freely,' repeated Mr Haredale.
+
+'Work!' echoed Sir John, looking smilingly round. 'Mine!--I beg your
+pardon, I really beg your pardon--'
+
+'Why, you see,' said Mr Haredale, 'those walls. You see those tottering
+gables. You see on every side where fire and smoke have raged. You see
+the destruction that has been wanton here. Do you not?'
+
+'My good friend,' returned the knight, gently checking his impatience
+with his hand, 'of course I do. I see everything you speak of, when you
+stand aside, and do not interpose yourself between the view and me. I
+am very sorry for you. If I had not had the pleasure to meet you here,
+I think I should have written to tell you so. But you don't bear it as
+well as I had expected--excuse me--no, you don't indeed.'
+
+He pulled out his snuff-box, and addressing him with the superior air of
+a man who, by reason of his higher nature, has a right to read a moral
+lesson to another, continued:
+
+'For you are a philosopher, you know--one of that stern and rigid school
+who are far above the weaknesses of mankind in general. You are removed,
+a long way, from the frailties of the crowd. You contemplate them from a
+height, and rail at them with a most impressive bitterness. I have heard
+you.'
+
+--'And shall again,' said Mr Haredale.
+
+'Thank you,' returned the other. 'Shall we walk as we talk? The damp
+falls rather heavily. Well,--as you please. But I grieve to say that I
+can spare you only a very few moments.'
+
+'I would,' said Mr Haredale, 'you had spared me none. I would, with
+all my soul, you had been in Paradise (if such a monstrous lie could be
+enacted), rather than here to-night.'
+
+'Nay,' returned the other--'really--you do yourself injustice. You are a
+rough companion, but I would not go so far to avoid you.'
+
+'Listen to me,' said Mr Haredale. 'Listen to me.'
+
+'While you rail?' inquired Sir John.
+
+'While I deliver your infamy. You urged and stimulated to do your work
+a fit agent, but one who in his nature--in the very essence of his
+being--is a traitor, and who has been false to you (despite the sympathy
+you two should have together) as he has been to all others. With hints,
+and looks, and crafty words, which told again are nothing, you set on
+Gashford to this work--this work before us now. With these same hints,
+and looks, and crafty words, which told again are nothing, you urged
+him on to gratify the deadly hate he owes me--I have earned it, I thank
+Heaven--by the abduction and dishonour of my niece. You did. I see
+denial in your looks,' he cried, abruptly pointing in his face, and
+stepping back, 'and denial is a lie!'
+
+He had his hand upon his sword; but the knight, with a contemptuous
+smile, replied to him as coldly as before.
+
+'You will take notice, sir--if you can discriminate sufficiently--that I
+have taken the trouble to deny nothing. Your discernment is hardly fine
+enough for the perusal of faces, not of a kind as coarse as your speech;
+nor has it ever been, that I remember; or, in one face that I could
+name, you would have read indifference, not to say disgust, somewhat
+sooner than you did. I speak of a long time ago,--but you understand
+me.'
+
+'Disguise it as you will, you mean denial. Denial explicit or reserved,
+expressed or left to be inferred, is still a lie. You say you don't
+deny. Do you admit?'
+
+'You yourself,' returned Sir John, suffering the current of his
+speech to flow as smoothly as if it had been stemmed by no one word of
+interruption, 'publicly proclaimed the character of the gentleman in
+question (I think it was in Westminster Hall) in terms which relieve me
+from the necessity of making any further allusion to him. You may
+have been warranted; you may not have been; I can't say. Assuming the
+gentleman to be what you described, and to have made to you or any other
+person any statements that may have happened to suggest themselves to
+him, for the sake of his own security, or for the sake of money, or for
+his own amusement, or for any other consideration,--I have nothing to
+say of him, except that his extremely degrading situation appears to me
+to be shared with his employers. You are so very plain yourself, that
+you will excuse a little freedom in me, I am sure.'
+
+'Attend to me again, Sir John but once,' cried Mr Haredale; 'in your
+every look, and word, and gesture, you tell me this was not your act. I
+tell you that it was, and that you tampered with the man I speak of, and
+with your wretched son (whom God forgive!) to do this deed. You talk of
+degradation and character. You told me once that you had purchased the
+absence of the poor idiot and his mother, when (as I have discovered
+since, and then suspected) you had gone to tempt them, and had found
+them flown. To you I traced the insinuation that I alone reaped any
+harvest from my brother's death; and all the foul attacks and whispered
+calumnies that followed in its train. In every action of my life, from
+that first hope which you converted into grief and desolation, you have
+stood, like an adverse fate, between me and peace. In all, you have ever
+been the same cold-blooded, hollow, false, unworthy villain. For the
+second time, and for the last, I cast these charges in your teeth, and
+spurn you from me as I would a faithless dog!'
+
+With that he raised his arm, and struck him on the breast so that he
+staggered. Sir John, the instant he recovered, drew his sword, threw
+away the scabbard and his hat, and running on his adversary made a
+desperate lunge at his heart, which, but that his guard was quick and
+true, would have stretched him dead upon the grass.
+
+In the act of striking him, the torrent of his opponent's rage had
+reached a stop. He parried his rapid thrusts, without returning them,
+and called to him, with a frantic kind of terror in his face, to keep
+back.
+
+'Not to-night! not to-night!' he cried. 'In God's name, not tonight!'
+
+Seeing that he lowered his weapon, and that he would not thrust in turn,
+Sir John lowered his.
+
+'Not to-night!' his adversary cried. 'Be warned in time!'
+
+'You told me--it must have been in a sort of inspiration--' said Sir
+John, quite deliberately, though now he dropped his mask, and showed his
+hatred in his face, 'that this was the last time. Be assured it is! Did
+you believe our last meeting was forgotten? Did you believe that your
+every word and look was not to be accounted for, and was not well
+remembered? Do you believe that I have waited your time, or you mine?
+What kind of man is he who entered, with all his sickening cant of
+honesty and truth, into a bond with me to prevent a marriage he affected
+to dislike, and when I had redeemed my part to the spirit and the
+letter, skulked from his, and brought the match about in his own time,
+to rid himself of a burden he had grown tired of, and cast a spurious
+lustre on his house?'
+
+'I have acted,' cried Mr Haredale, 'with honour and in good faith. I do
+so now. Do not force me to renew this duel to-night!'
+
+'You said my "wretched" son, I think?' said Sir John, with a smile.
+'Poor fool! The dupe of such a shallow knave--trapped into marriage by
+such an uncle and by such a niece--he well deserves your pity. But he
+is no longer a son of mine: you are welcome to the prize your craft has
+made, sir.'
+
+'Once more,' cried his opponent, wildly stamping on the ground,
+'although you tear me from my better angel, I implore you not to come
+within the reach of my sword to-night. Oh! why were you here at all! Why
+have we met! To-morrow would have cast us far apart for ever!'
+
+'That being the case,' returned Sir John, without the least emotion, 'it
+is very fortunate we have met to-night. Haredale, I have always despised
+you, as you know, but I have given you credit for a species of brute
+courage. For the honour of my judgment, which I had thought a good one,
+I am sorry to find you a coward.'
+
+Not another word was spoken on either side. They crossed swords, though
+it was now quite dusk, and attacked each other fiercely. They were
+well matched, and each was thoroughly skilled in the management of his
+weapon.
+
+After a few seconds they grew hotter and more furious, and pressing on
+each other inflicted and received several slight wounds. It was directly
+after receiving one of these in his arm, that Mr Haredale, making a
+keener thrust as he felt the warm blood spirting out, plunged his sword
+through his opponent's body to the hilt.
+
+Their eyes met, and were on each other as he drew it out. He put his
+arm about the dying man, who repulsed him, feebly, and dropped upon the
+turf. Raising himself upon his hands, he gazed at him for an instant,
+with scorn and hatred in his look; but, seeming to remember, even then,
+that this expression would distort his features after death, he tried
+to smile, and, faintly moving his right hand, as if to hide his bloody
+linen in his vest, fell back dead--the phantom of last night.
+
+
+
+Chapter the Last
+
+
+A parting glance at such of the actors in this little history as it has
+not, in the course of its events, dismissed, will bring it to an end.
+
+Mr Haredale fled that night. Before pursuit could be begun, indeed
+before Sir John was traced or missed, he had left the kingdom. Repairing
+straight to a religious establishment, known throughout Europe for the
+rigour and severity of its discipline, and for the merciless penitence
+it exacted from those who sought its shelter as a refuge from the world,
+he took the vows which thenceforth shut him out from nature and
+his kind, and after a few remorseful years was buried in its gloomy
+cloisters.
+
+Two days elapsed before the body of Sir John was found. As soon as
+it was recognised and carried home, the faithful valet, true to his
+master's creed, eloped with all the cash and movables he could lay his
+hands on, and started as a finished gentleman upon his own account. In
+this career he met with great success, and would certainly have married
+an heiress in the end, but for an unlucky check which led to his
+premature decease. He sank under a contagious disorder, very prevalent
+at that time, and vulgarly termed the jail fever.
+
+Lord George Gordon, remaining in his prison in the Tower until Monday
+the fifth of February in the following year, was on that day solemnly
+tried at Westminster for High Treason. Of this crime he was, after a
+patient investigation, declared Not Guilty; upon the ground that there
+was no proof of his having called the multitude together with any
+traitorous or unlawful intentions. Yet so many people were there, still,
+to whom those riots taught no lesson of reproof or moderation, that a
+public subscription was set on foot in Scotland to defray the cost of
+his defence.
+
+For seven years afterwards he remained, at the strong intercession of
+his friends, comparatively quiet; saving that he, every now and then,
+took occasion to display his zeal for the Protestant faith in some
+extravagant proceeding which was the delight of its enemies; and saving,
+besides, that he was formally excommunicated by the Archbishop of
+Canterbury, for refusing to appear as a witness in the Ecclesiastical
+Court when cited for that purpose. In the year 1788 he was stimulated by
+some new insanity to write and publish an injurious pamphlet, reflecting
+on the Queen of France, in very violent terms. Being indicted for the
+libel, and (after various strange demonstrations in court) found guilty,
+he fled into Holland in place of appearing to receive sentence: from
+whence, as the quiet burgomasters of Amsterdam had no relish for his
+company, he was sent home again with all speed. Arriving in the month of
+July at Harwich, and going thence to Birmingham, he made in the latter
+place, in August, a public profession of the Jewish religion; and
+figured there as a Jew until he was arrested, and brought back to London
+to receive the sentence he had evaded. By virtue of this sentence he
+was, in the month of December, cast into Newgate for five years and ten
+months, and required besides to pay a large fine, and to furnish heavy
+securities for his future good behaviour.
+
+After addressing, in the midsummer of the following year, an appeal to
+the commiseration of the National Assembly of France, which the English
+minister refused to sanction, he composed himself to undergo his full
+term of punishment; and suffering his beard to grow nearly to his waist,
+and conforming in all respects to the ceremonies of his new religion, he
+applied himself to the study of history, and occasionally to the art
+of painting, in which, in his younger days, he had shown some skill.
+Deserted by his former friends, and treated in all respects like the
+worst criminal in the jail, he lingered on, quite cheerful and resigned,
+until the 1st of November 1793, when he died in his cell, being then
+only three-and-forty years of age.
+
+Many men with fewer sympathies for the distressed and needy, with less
+abilities and harder hearts, have made a shining figure and left a
+brilliant fame. He had his mourners. The prisoners bemoaned his loss,
+and missed him; for though his means were not large, his charity was
+great, and in bestowing alms among them he considered the necessities of
+all alike, and knew no distinction of sect or creed. There are wise men
+in the highways of the world who may learn something, even from this
+poor crazy lord who died in Newgate.
+
+To the last, he was truly served by bluff John Grueby. John was at his
+side before he had been four-and-twenty hours in the Tower, and never
+left him until he died. He had one other constant attendant, in the
+person of a beautiful Jewish girl; who attached herself to him
+from feelings half religious, half romantic, but whose virtuous and
+disinterested character appears to have been beyond the censure even of
+the most censorious.
+
+Gashford deserted him, of course. He subsisted for a time upon his
+traffic in his master's secrets; and, this trade failing when the stock
+was quite exhausted, procured an appointment in the honourable corps
+of spies and eavesdroppers employed by the government. As one of these
+wretched underlings, he did his drudgery, sometimes abroad, sometimes at
+home, and long endured the various miseries of such a station. Ten or a
+dozen years ago--not more--a meagre, wan old man, diseased and miserably
+poor, was found dead in his bed at an obscure inn in the Borough, where
+he was quite unknown. He had taken poison. There was no clue to his
+name; but it was discovered from certain entries in a pocket-book he
+carried, that he had been secretary to Lord George Gordon in the time of
+the famous riots.
+
+Many months after the re-establishment of peace and order, and even when
+it had ceased to be the town-talk, that every military officer, kept at
+free quarters by the City during the late alarms, had cost for his board
+and lodging four pounds four per day, and every private soldier two and
+twopence halfpenny; many months after even this engrossing topic was
+forgotten, and the United Bulldogs were to a man all killed, imprisoned,
+or transported, Mr Simon Tappertit, being removed from a hospital
+to prison, and thence to his place of trial, was discharged by
+proclamation, on two wooden legs. Shorn of his graceful limbs, and
+brought down from his high estate to circumstances of utter destitution,
+and the deepest misery, he made shift to stump back to his old master,
+and beg for some relief. By the locksmith's advice and aid, he was
+established in business as a shoeblack, and opened shop under an archway
+near the Horse Guards. This being a central quarter, he quickly made a
+very large connection; and on levee days, was sometimes known to have
+as many as twenty half-pay officers waiting their turn for polishing.
+Indeed his trade increased to that extent, that in course of time he
+entertained no less than two apprentices, besides taking for his wife
+the widow of an eminent bone and rag collector, formerly of Millbank.
+With this lady (who assisted in the business) he lived in great domestic
+happiness, only chequered by those little storms which serve to clear
+the atmosphere of wedlock, and brighten its horizon. In some of these
+gusts of bad weather, Mr Tappertit would, in the assertion of his
+prerogative, so far forget himself, as to correct his lady with a brush,
+or boot, or shoe; while she (but only in extreme cases) would retaliate
+by taking off his legs, and leaving him exposed to the derision of those
+urchins who delight in mischief.
+
+Miss Miggs, baffled in all her schemes, matrimonial and otherwise, and
+cast upon a thankless, undeserving world, turned very sharp and sour;
+and did at length become so acid, and did so pinch and slap and tweak
+the hair and noses of the youth of Golden Lion Court, that she was by
+one consent expelled that sanctuary, and desired to bless some other
+spot of earth, in preference. It chanced at that moment, that the
+justices of the peace for Middlesex proclaimed by public placard that
+they stood in need of a female turnkey for the County Bridewell, and
+appointed a day and hour for the inspection of candidates. Miss Miggs
+attending at the time appointed, was instantly chosen and selected from
+one hundred and twenty-four competitors, and at once promoted to
+the office; which she held until her decease, more than thirty years
+afterwards, remaining single all that time. It was observed of this lady
+that while she was inflexible and grim to all her female flock, she was
+particularly so to those who could establish any claim to beauty: and
+it was often remarked as a proof of her indomitable virtue and severe
+chastity, that to such as had been frail she showed no mercy; always
+falling upon them on the slightest occasion, or on no occasion at all,
+with the fullest measure of her wrath. Among other useful inventions
+which she practised upon this class of offenders and bequeathed to
+posterity, was the art of inflicting an exquisitely vicious poke or dig
+with the wards of a key in the small of the back, near the spine. She
+likewise originated a mode of treading by accident (in pattens) on
+such as had small feet; also very remarkable for its ingenuity, and
+previously quite unknown.
+
+It was not very long, you may be sure, before Joe Willet and Dolly
+Varden were made husband and wife, and with a handsome sum in bank (for
+the locksmith could afford to give his daughter a good dowry), reopened
+the Maypole. It was not very long, you may be sure, before a red-faced
+little boy was seen staggering about the Maypole passage, and kicking up
+his heels on the green before the door. It was not very long, counting
+by years, before there was a red-faced little girl, another red-faced
+little boy, and a whole troop of girls and boys: so that, go to Chigwell
+when you would, there would surely be seen, either in the village
+street, or on the green, or frolicking in the farm-yard--for it was a
+farm now, as well as a tavern--more small Joes and small Dollys than
+could be easily counted. It was not a very long time before these
+appearances ensued; but it WAS a VERY long time before Joe looked five
+years older, or Dolly either, or the locksmith either, or his wife
+either: for cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are
+famous preservers of youthful looks, depend upon it.
+
+It was a long time, too, before there was such a country inn as the
+Maypole, in all England: indeed it is a great question whether there has
+ever been such another to this hour, or ever will be. It was a long time
+too--for Never, as the proverb says, is a long day--before they forgot
+to have an interest in wounded soldiers at the Maypole, or before Joe
+omitted to refresh them, for the sake of his old campaign; or before
+the serjeant left off looking in there, now and then; or before they
+fatigued themselves, or each other, by talking on these occasions of
+battles and sieges, and hard weather and hard service, and a thousand
+things belonging to a soldier's life. As to the great silver snuff-box
+which the King sent Joe with his own hand, because of his conduct in the
+Riots, what guest ever went to the Maypole without putting finger and
+thumb into that box, and taking a great pinch, though he had never taken
+a pinch of snuff before, and almost sneezed himself into convulsions
+even then? As to the purple-faced vintner, where is the man who lived in
+those times and never saw HIM at the Maypole: to all appearance as much
+at home in the best room, as if he lived there? And as to the feastings
+and christenings, and revellings at Christmas, and celebrations of
+birthdays, wedding-days, and all manner of days, both at the Maypole and
+the Golden Key,--if they are not notorious, what facts are?
+
+Mr Willet the elder, having been by some extraordinary means possessed
+with the idea that Joe wanted to be married, and that it would be well
+for him, his father, to retire into private life, and enable him to live
+in comfort, took up his abode in a small cottage at Chigwell; where
+they widened and enlarged the fireplace for him, hung up the boiler,
+and furthermore planted in the little garden outside the front-door, a
+fictitious Maypole; so that he was quite at home directly. To this, his
+new habitation, Tom Cobb, Phil Parkes, and Solomon Daisy went regularly
+every night: and in the chimney-corner, they all four quaffed, and
+smoked, and prosed, and dozed, as they had done of old. It being
+accidentally discovered after a short time that Mr Willet still appeared
+to consider himself a landlord by profession, Joe provided him with
+a slate, upon which the old man regularly scored up vast accounts for
+meat, drink, and tobacco. As he grew older this passion increased upon
+him; and it became his delight to chalk against the name of each of his
+cronies a sum of enormous magnitude, and impossible to be paid: and such
+was his secret joy in these entries, that he would be perpetually seen
+going behind the door to look at them, and coming forth again, suffused
+with the liveliest satisfaction.
+
+He never recovered the surprise the Rioters had given him, and remained
+in the same mental condition down to the last moment of his life. It was
+like to have been brought to a speedy termination by the first sight of
+his first grandchild, which appeared to fill him with the belief that
+some alarming miracle had happened to Joe. Being promptly blooded,
+however, by a skilful surgeon, he rallied; and although the doctors
+all agreed, on his being attacked with symptoms of apoplexy six months
+afterwards, that he ought to die, and took it very ill that he did
+not, he remained alive--possibly on account of his constitutional
+slowness--for nearly seven years more, when he was one morning found
+speechless in his bed. He lay in this state, free from all tokens
+of uneasiness, for a whole week, when he was suddenly restored to
+consciousness by hearing the nurse whisper in his son's ear that he was
+going. 'I'm a-going, Joseph,' said Mr Willet, turning round upon the
+instant, 'to the Salwanners'--and immediately gave up the ghost.
+
+He left a large sum of money behind him; even more than he was supposed
+to have been worth, although the neighbours, according to the custom of
+mankind in calculating the wealth that other people ought to have saved,
+had estimated his property in good round numbers. Joe inherited the
+whole; so that he became a man of great consequence in those parts, and
+was perfectly independent.
+
+Some time elapsed before Barnaby got the better of the shock he had
+sustained, or regained his old health and gaiety. But he recovered
+by degrees: and although he could never separate his condemnation and
+escape from the idea of a terrific dream, he became, in other respects,
+more rational. Dating from the time of his recovery, he had a better
+memory and greater steadiness of purpose; but a dark cloud overhung his
+whole previous existence, and never cleared away.
+
+He was not the less happy for this, for his love of freedom and interest
+in all that moved or grew, or had its being in the elements, remained
+to him unimpaired. He lived with his mother on the Maypole farm, tending
+the poultry and the cattle, working in a garden of his own, and helping
+everywhere. He was known to every bird and beast about the place, and
+had a name for every one. Never was there a lighter-hearted husbandman,
+a creature more popular with young and old, a blither or more happy soul
+than Barnaby; and though he was free to ramble where he would, he never
+quitted Her, but was for evermore her stay and comfort.
+
+It was remarkable that although he had that dim sense of the past, he
+sought out Hugh's dog, and took him under his care; and that he never
+could be tempted into London. When the Riots were many years old,
+and Edward and his wife came back to England with a family almost as
+numerous as Dolly's, and one day appeared at the Maypole porch, he knew
+them instantly, and wept and leaped for joy. But neither to visit them,
+nor on any other pretence, no matter how full of promise and enjoyment,
+could he be persuaded to set foot in the streets: nor did he ever
+conquer this repugnance or look upon the town again.
+
+Grip soon recovered his looks, and became as glossy and sleek as ever.
+But he was profoundly silent. Whether he had forgotten the art of Polite
+Conversation in Newgate, or had made a vow in those troubled times to
+forego, for a period, the display of his accomplishments, is matter of
+uncertainty; but certain it is that for a whole year he never indulged
+in any other sound than a grave, decorous croak. At the expiration of
+that term, the morning being very bright and sunny, he was heard to
+address himself to the horses in the stable, upon the subject of the
+Kettle, so often mentioned in these pages; and before the witness who
+overheard him could run into the house with the intelligence, and add
+to it upon his solemn affirmation the statement that he had heard him
+laugh, the bird himself advanced with fantastic steps to the very door
+of the bar, and there cried, 'I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil!'
+with extraordinary rapture.
+
+From that period (although he was supposed to be much affected by the
+death of Mr Willet senior), he constantly practised and improved himself
+in the vulgar tongue; and, as he was a mere infant for a raven when
+Barnaby was grey, he has very probably gone on talking to the present
+time.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Barnaby Rudge, by Charles Dickens
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