KENILWORTH BY SIR WALTER SCOTT CONTINUED COMPLIMENTS OF WIKISOURCE CHAPTER III. Nay, Ill hold touch--the game shall be playd out; It neer shall stop for me, this merry wager: That which I say when gamesome, Ill avouch In my most sober mood, neer trust me else. THE HAZARD TABLE. And how doth your kinsman, good mine host? said Tressilian, when Giles Gosling first appeared in the public room, on the morning following the revel which we described in the last chapter. Is he well, and will he abide by his wager? For well, sir, he started two hours since, and has visited I know not what purlieus of his old companions; hath but now returned, and is at this instant breakfasting on new-laid eggs and muscadine. And for his wager, I caution you as a friend to have little to do with that, or indeed with aught that Mike proposes. Wherefore, I counsel you to a warm breakfast upon a culiss, which shall restore the tone of the stomach; and let my nephew and Master Goldthred swagger about their wager as they list. It seems to me, mine host, said Tressilian, that you know not well what to say about this kinsman of yours, and that you can neither blame nor commend him without some twinge of conscience. You have spoken truly, Master Tressilian, replied Giles Gosling. There is Natural Affection whimpering into one ear, Giles, Giles, why wilt thou take away the good name of thy own nephew? Wilt thou defame thy sisters son, Giles Gosling? wilt thou defoul thine own nest, dishonour thine own blood? And then, again, comes Justice, and says, Here is a worthy guest as ever came to the bonny Black Bear; one who never challenged a reckoning (as I say to your face you never did, Master Tressilian--not that you have had cause), one who knows not why he came, so far as I can see, or when he is going away; and wilt thou, being a publican, having paid scot and lot these thirty years in the town of Cumnor, and being at this instant head-borough, wilt thou suffer this guest of guests, this man of men, this six-hooped pot (as I may say) of a traveller, to fall into the meshes of thy nephew, who is known for a swasher and a desperate Dick, a carder and a dicer, a professor of the seven damnable sciences, if ever man took degrees in them? No, by Heaven! I might wink, and let him catch such a small butterfly as Goldthred; but thou, my guest, shall be forewarned, forearmed, so thou wilt but listen to thy trusty host. Why, mine host, thy counsel shall not be cast away, replied Tressilian; however, I must uphold my share in this wager, having once passed my word to that effect. But lend me, I pray, some of thy counsel. This Foster, who or what is he, and why makes he such mystery of his female inmate? Troth, replied Gosling, I can add but little to what you heard last night. He was one of Queen Marys Papists, and now he is one of Queen Elizabeths Protestants; he was an onhanger of the Abbot of Abingdon; and now he lives as master of the Manor-house. Above all, he was poor, and is rich. Folk talk of private apartments in his old waste mansion-house, bedizened fine enough to serve the Queen, God bless her! Some men think he found a treasure in the orchard, some that he sold himself to the devil for treasure, and some say that he cheated the abbot out of the church plate, which was hidden in the old Manor-house at the Reformation. Rich, however, he is, and God and his conscience, with the devil perhaps besides, only know how he came by it. He has sulky ways too--breaking off intercourse with all that are of the place, as if he had either some strange secret to keep, or held himself to be made of another clay than we are. I think it likely my kinsman and he will quarrel, if Mike thrust his acquaintance on him; and I am sorry that you, my worthy Master Tressilian, will still think of going in my nephews company. Tressilian again answered him, that he would proceed with great caution, and that he should have no fears on his account; in short, he bestowed on him all the customary assurances with which those who are determined on a rash action are wont to parry the advice of their friends. Meantime, the traveller accepted the landlords invitation, and had just finished the excellent breakfast, which was served to him and Gosling by pretty Cicely, the beauty of the bar, when the hero of the preceding night, Michael Lambourne, entered the apartment. His toilet had apparently cost him some labour, for his clothes, which differed from those he wore on his journey, were of the newest fashion, and put on with great attention to the display of his person. By my faith, uncle, said the gallant, you made a wet night of it, and I feel it followed by a dry morning. I will pledge you willingly in a cup of bastard.--How, my pretty coz Cicely! why, I left you but a child in the cradle, and there thou standst in thy velvet waistcoat, as tight a girl as Englands sun shines on. Know thy friends and kindred, Cicely, and come hither, child, that I may kiss thee, and give thee my blessing. Concern not yourself about Cicely, kinsman, said Giles Gosling, but een let her go her way, a Gods name; for although your mother were her fathers sister, yet that shall not make you and her cater-cousins. Why, uncle, replied Lambourne, thinkst thou I am an infidel, and would harm those of mine own house? It is for no harm that I speak, Mike, answered his uncle, but a simple humour of precaution which I have. True, thou art as well gilded as a snake when he casts his old slough in the spring time; but for all that, thou creepest not into my Eden. I will look after mine Eve, Mike, and so content thee.--But how brave thou best, lad! To look on thee now, and compare thee with Master Tressilian here, in his sad-coloured riding-suit, who would not say that thou wert the real gentleman and he the tapsters boy? Troth, uncle, replied Lambourne, no one would say so but one of your country-breeding, that knows no better. I will say, and I care not who hears me, there is something about the real gentry that few men come up to that are not born and bred to the mystery. I wot not where the trick lies; but although I can enter an ordinary with as much audacity, rebuke the waiters and drawers as loudly, drink as deep a health, swear as round an oath, and fling my gold as freely about as any of the jingling spurs and white feathers that are around me, yet, hang me if I can ever catch the true grace of it, though I have practised an hundred times. The man of the house sets me lowest at the board, and carves to me the last; and the drawer says, Coming, friend, without any more reverence or regardful addition. But, hang it, let it pass; care killed a cat. I have gentry enough to pass the trick on Tony Fire-the-Faggot, and that will do for the matter in hand. You hold your purpose, then, of visiting your old acquaintance? said Tressilian to the adventurer. Ay, sir, replied Lambourne; when stakes are made, the game must be played; that is gamesters law, all over the world. You, sir, unless my memory fails me (for I did steep it somewhat too deeply in the sack-butt), took some share in my hazard? I propose to accompany you in your adventure, said Tressilian, if you will do me so much grace as to permit me; and I have staked my share of the forfeit in the hands of our worthy host. That he hath, answered Giles Gosling, in as fair Harry-nobles as ever were melted into sack by a good fellow. So, luck to your enterprise, since you will needs venture on Tony Foster; but, by my credit, you had better take another draught before you depart, for your welcome at the Hall yonder will be somewhat of the driest. And if you do get into peril, beware of taking to cold steel; but send for me, Giles Gosling, the head-borough, and I may be able to make something out of Tony yet, for as proud as he is. The nephew dutifully obeyed his uncles hint, by taking a second powerful pull at the tankard, observing that his wit never served him so well as when he had washed his temples with a deep mornings draught; and they set forth together for the habitation of Anthony Foster. The village of Cumnor is pleasantly built on a hill, and in a wooded park closely adjacent was situated the ancient mansion occupied at this time by Anthony Foster, of which the ruins may be still extant. The park was then full of large trees, and in particular of ancient and mighty oaks, which stretched their giant arms over the high wall surrounding the demesne, thus giving it a melancholy, secluded, and monastic appearance. The entrance to the park lay through an old-fashioned gateway in the outer wall, the door of which was formed of two huge oaken leaves thickly studded with nails, like the gate of an old town. We shall be finely helped up here, said Michael Lambourne, looking at the gateway and gate, if this fellows suspicious humour should refuse us admission altogether, as it is like he may, in case this linsey-wolsey fellow of a mercers visit to his premises has disquieted him. But, no, he added, pushing the huge gate, which gave way, the door stands invitingly open; and here we are within the forbidden ground, without other impediment than the passive resistance of a heavy oak door moving on rusty hinges. They stood now in an avenue overshadowed by such old trees as we have described, and which had been bordered at one time by high hedges of yew and holly. But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf-trees, and now encroached, with their dark and melancholy boughs, upon the road which they once had screened. The avenue itself was grown up with grass, and, in one or two places, interrupted by piles of withered brushwood, which had been lopped from the trees cut down in the neighbouring park, and was here stacked for drying. Formal walks and avenues, which, at different points, crossed this principal approach, were, in like manner, choked up and interrupted by piles of brushwood and billets, and in other places by underwood and brambles. Besides the general effect of desolation which is so strongly impressed whenever we behold the contrivances of man wasted and obliterated by neglect, and witness the marks of social life effaced gradually by the influence of vegetation, the size of the trees and the outspreading extent of their boughs diffused a gloom over the scene, even when the sun was at the highest, and made a proportional impression on the mind of those who visited it. This was felt even by Michael Lambourne, however alien his habits were to receiving any impressions, excepting from things which addressed themselves immediately to his passions. This wood is as dark as a wolfs mouth, said he to Tressilian, as they walked together slowly along the solitary and broken approach, and had just come in sight of the monastic front of the old mansion, with its shafted windows, brick walls overgrown with ivy and creeping shrubs, and twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy stone-work. And yet, continued Lambourne, it is fairly done on the part of Foster too for since he chooses not visitors, it is right to keep his place in a fashion that will invite few to trespass upon his privacy. But had he been the Anthony I once knew him, these sturdy oaks had long since become the property of some honest woodmonger, and the manor-close here had looked lighter at midnight than it now does at noon, while Foster played fast and loose with the price, in some cunning corner in the purlieus of Whitefriars. Was he then such an unthrift? asked Tressilian. He was, answered Lambourne, like the rest of us, no saint, and no saver. But what I liked worst of Tony was, that he loved to take his pleasure by himself, and grudged, as men say, every drop of water that went past his own mill. I have known him deal with such measures of wine when he was alone, as I would not have ventured on with aid of the best toper in Berkshire;--that, and some sway towards superstition, which he had by temperament, rendered him unworthy the company of a good fellow. And now he has earthed himself here, in a den just befitting such a sly fox as himself. May I ask you, Master Lambourne, said Tressilian, since your old companions humour jumps so little with your own, wherefore you are so desirous to renew acquaintance with him? And may I ask you, in return, Master Tressilian, answered Lambourne, wherefore you have shown yourself so desirous to accompany me on this party? I told you my motive, said Tressilian, when I took share in your wager--it was simple curiosity. La you there now! answered Lambourne. See how you civil and discreet gentlemen think to use us who live by the free exercise of our wits! Had I answered your question by saying that it was simple curiosity which led me to visit my old comrade Anthony Foster, I warrant you had set it down for an evasion, and a turn of my trade. But any answer, I suppose, must serve my turn. And wherefore should not bare curiosity, said Tressilian, be a sufficient reason for my taking this walk with you? Oh, content yourself, sir, replied Lambourne; you cannot put the change on me so easy as you think, for I have lived among the quick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain. You are a gentleman of birth and breeding--your bearing makes it good; of civil habits and fair reputation--your manners declare it, and my uncle avouches it; and yet you associate yourself with a sort of scant-of-grace, as men call me, and, knowing me to be such, you make yourself my companion in a visit to a man whom you are a stranger to--and all out of mere curiosity, forsooth! The excuse, if curiously balanced, would be found to want some scruples of just weight, or so. If your suspicions were just, said Tressilian, you have shown no confidence in me to invite or deserve mine. Oh, if that be all, said Lambourne, my motives lie above water. While this gold of mine lasts--taking out his purse, chucking it into the air, and catching it as it fell--I will make it buy pleasure; and when it is out I must have more. Now, if this mysterious Lady of the Manor--this fair Lindabrides of Tony Fire-the-Fagot--be so admirable a piece as men say, why, there is a chance that she may aid me to melt my nobles into greats; and, again, if Anthony be so wealthy a chuff as report speaks him, he may prove the philosophers stone to me, and convert my greats into fair rose-nobles again. A comfortable proposal truly, said Tressilian; but I see not what chance there is of accomplishing it. Not to-day, or perchance to-morrow, answered Lambourne; I expect not to catch the old jack till. I have disposed my ground-baits handsomely. But I know something more of his affairs this morning than I did last night, and I will so use my knowledge that he shall think it more perfect than it is. Nay, without expecting either pleasure or profit, or both, I had not stepped a stride within this manor, I can tell you; for I promise you I hold our visit not altogether without risk.--But here we are, and we must make the best ont. While he thus spoke, they had entered a large orchard which surrounded the house on two sides, though the trees, abandoned by the care of man, were overgrown and messy, and seemed to bear little fruit. Those which had been formerly trained as espaliers had now resumed their natural mode of growing, and exhibited grotesque forms, partaking of the original training which they had received. The greater part of the ground, which had once been parterres and flower-gardens, was suffered in like manner to run to waste, excepting a few patches which had been dug up and planted with ordinary pot herbs. Some statues, which had ornamented the garden in its days of splendour, were now thrown down from their pedestals and broken in pieces; and a large summer-house, having a heavy stone front, decorated with carving representing the life and actions of Samson, was in the same dilapidated condition. They had just traversed this garden of the sluggard, and were within a few steps of the door of the mansion, when Lambourne had ceased speaking; a circumstance very agreeable to Tressilian, as it saved him the embarrassment of either commenting upon or replying to the frank avowal which his companion had just made of the sentiments and views which induced him to come hither. Lambourne knocked roundly and boldly at the huge door of the mansion, observing, at the same time, he had seen a less strong one upon a county jail. It was not until they had knocked more than once that an aged, sour-visaged domestic reconnoitred them through a small square hole in the door, well secured with bars of iron, and demanded what they wanted. To speak with Master Foster instantly, on pressing business of the state, was the ready reply of Michael Lambourne. Methinks you will find difficulty to make that good, said Tressilian in a whisper to his companion, while the servant went to carry the message to his master. Tush, replied the adventurer; no soldier would go on were he always to consider when and how he should come off. Let us once obtain entrance, and all will go well enough. In a short time the servant returned, and drawing with a careful hand both bolt and bar, opened the gate, which admitted them through an archway into a square court, surrounded by buildings. Opposite to the arch was another door, which the serving-man in like manner unlocked, and thus introduced them into a stone-paved parlour, where there was but little furniture, and that of the rudest and most ancient fashion. The windows were tall and ample, reaching almost to the roof of the room, which was composed of black oak; those opening to the quadrangle were obscured by the height of the surrounding buildings, and, as they were traversed with massive shafts of solid stone-work, and thickly painted with religious devices, and scenes taken from Scripture history, by no means admitted light in proportion to their size, and what did penetrate through them partook of the dark and gloomy tinge of the stained glass. Tressilian and his guide had time enough to observe all these particulars, for they waited some space in the apartment ere the present master of the mansion at length made his appearance. Prepared as he was to see an inauspicious and ill-looking person, the ugliness of Anthony Foster considerably exceeded what Tressilian had anticipated. He was of middle stature, built strongly, but so clumsily as to border on deformity, and to give all his motions the ungainly awkwardness of a left-legged and left-handed man. His hair, in arranging which men at that time, as at present, were very nice and curious, instead of being carefully cleaned and disposed into short curls, or else set up on end, as is represented in old paintings, in a manner resembling that used by fine gentlemen of our own day, escaped in sable negligence from under a furred bonnet, and hung in elf-locks, which seemed strangers to the comb, over his rugged brows, and around his very singular and unprepossessing countenance. His keen, dark eyes were deep set beneath broad and shaggy eyebrows, and as they were usually bent on the ground, seemed as if they were themselves ashamed of the expression natural to them, and were desirous to conceal it from the observation of men. At times, however, when, more intent on observing others, he suddenly raised them, and fixed them keenly on those with whom he conversed, they seemed to express both the fiercer passions, and the power of mind which could at will suppress or disguise the intensity of inward feeling. The features which corresponded with these eyes and this form were irregular, and marked so as to be indelibly fixed on the mind of him who had once seen them. Upon the whole, as Tressilian could not help acknowledging to himself, the Anthony Foster who now stood before them was the last person, judging from personal appearance, upon whom one would have chosen to intrude an unexpected and undesired visit. His attire was a doublet of russet leather, like those worn by the better sort of country folk, girt with a buff belt, in which was stuck on the right side a long knife, or dudgeon dagger, and on the other a cutlass. He raised his eyes as he entered the room, and fixed a keenly penetrating glance upon his two visitors; then cast them down as if counting his steps, while he advanced slowly into the middle of the room, and said, in a low and smothered tone of voice, Let me pray you, gentlemen, to tell me the cause of this visit. He looked as if he expected the answer from Tressilian, so true was Lambournes observation that the superior air of breeding and dignity shone through the disguise of an inferior dress. But it was Michael who replied to him, with the easy familiarity of an old friend, and a tone which seemed unembarrassed by any doubt of the most cordial reception. Ha! my dear friend and ingle, Tony Foster! he exclaimed, seizing upon the unwilling hand, and shaking it with such emphasis as almost to stagger the sturdy frame of the person whom he addressed, how fares it with you for many a long year? What! have you altogether forgotten your friend, gossip, and playfellow, Michael Lambourne? Michael Lambourne! said Foster, looking at him a moment; then dropping his eyes, and with little ceremony extricating his hand from the friendly grasp of the person by whom he was addressed, are you Michael Lambourne? Ay; sure as you are Anthony Foster, replied Lambourne. Tis well, answered his sullen host. And what may Michael Lambourne expect from his visit hither? VOTO A DIOS, answered Lambourne, I expected a better welcome than I am like to meet, I think. Why, thou gallows-bird--thou jail-rat--thou friend of the hangman and his customers! replied Foster, hast thou the assurance to expect countenance from any one whose neck is beyond the compass of a Tyburn tippet? It may be with me as you say, replied Lambourne; and suppose I grant it to be so for arguments sake, I were still good enough society for mine ancient friend Anthony Fire-the-Fagot, though he be, for the present, by some indescribable title, the master of Cumnor Place. Hark you, Michael Lambourne, said Foster; you are a gambler now, and live by the counting of chances--compute me the odds that I do not, on this instant, throw you out of that window into the ditch there. Twenty to one that you do not, answered the sturdy visitor. And wherefore, I pray you? demanded Anthony Foster, setting his teeth and compressing his lips, like one who endeavours to suppress some violent internal emotion. Because, said Lambourne coolly, you dare not for your life lay a finger on me. I am younger and stronger than you, and have in me a double portion of the fighting devil, though not, it may be, quite so much of the undermining fiend, that finds an underground way to his purpose--who hides halters under folks pillows, and who puts rats-bane into their porridge, as the stage-play says. Foster looked at him earnestly, then turned away, and paced the room twice with the same steady and considerate pace with which he had entered it; then suddenly came back, and extended his hand to Michael Lambourne, saying, Be not wroth with me, good Mike; I did but try whether thou hadst parted with aught of thine old and honourable frankness, which your enviers and backbiters called saucy impudence. Let them call it what they will, said Michael Lambourne, it is the commodity we must carry through the world with us.--Uds daggers! I tell thee, man, mine own stock of assurance was too small to trade upon. I was fain to take in a ton or two more of brass at every port where I touched in the voyage of life; and I started overboard what modesty and scruples I had remaining, in order to make room for the stowage. Nay, nay, replied Foster, touching scruples and modesty, you sailed hence in ballast. But who is this gallant, honest Mike?--is he a Corinthian--a cutter like thyself? I prithee, know Master Tressilian, bully Foster, replied Lambourne, presenting his friend in answer to his friends question, know him and honour him, for he is a gentleman of many admirable qualities; and though he traffics not in my line of business, at least so far as I know, he has, nevertheless, a just respect and admiration for artists of our class. He will come to in time, as seldom fails; but as yet he is only a neophyte, only a proselyte, and frequents the company of cocks of the game, as a puny fencer does the schools of the masters, to see how a foil is handled by the teachers of defence. If such be his quality, I will pray your company in another chamber, honest Mike, for what I have to say to thee is for thy private ear.--Meanwhile, I pray you, sir, to abide us in this apartment, and without leaving it; there be those in this house who would be alarmed by the sight of a stranger. Tressilian acquiesced, and the two worthies left the apartment together, in which he remained alone to await their return. [See Note 1. Foster, Lambourne, and the Black Bear.] CHAPTER IV. Not serve two masters?--Heres a youth will try it-- Would fain serve God, yet give the devil his due; Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy, And returns his thanks devoutly when tis acted,--OLD PLAY. The room into which the Master of Cumnor Place conducted his worthy visitant was of greater extent than that in which they had at first conversed, and had yet more the appearance of dilapidation. Large oaken presses, filled with shelves of the same wood, surrounded the room, and had, at one time, served for the arrangement of a numerous collection of books, many of which yet remained, but torn and defaced, covered with dust, deprived of their costly clasps and bindings, and tossed together in heaps upon the shelves, as things altogether disregarded, and abandoned to the pleasure of every spoiler. The very presses themselves seemed to have incurred the hostility of those enemies of learning who had destroyed the volumes with which they had been heretofore filled. They were, in several places, dismantled of their shelves, and otherwise broken and damaged, and were, moreover, mantled with cobwebs and covered with dust. The men who wrote these books, said Lambourne, looking round him, little thought whose keeping they were to fall into. Nor what yeomans service they were to do me, quoth Anthony Foster; the cook hath used them for scouring his pewter, and the groom hath had nought else to clean my boots with, this many a month past. And yet, said Lambourne, I have been in cities where such learned commodities would have been deemed too good for such offices. Pshaw, pshaw, answered Foster, they are Popish trash, every one of them--private studies of the mumping old Abbot of Abingdon. The nineteenthly of a pure gospel sermon were worth a cartload of such rakings of the kennel of Rome. Gad-a-mercy, Master Tony Fire-the-Fagot! said Lambourne, by way of reply. Foster scowled darkly at him, as he replied, Hark ye, friend Mike; forget that name, and the passage which it relates to, if you would not have our newly-revived comradeship die a sudden and a violent death. Why, said Michael Lambourne, you were wont to glory in the share you had in the death of the two old heretical bishops. That, said his comrade, was while I was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and applies not to my walk or my ways now that I am called forth into the lists. Mr. Melchisedek Maultext compared my misfortune in that matter to that of the Apostle Paul, who kept the clothes of the witnesses who stoned Saint Stephen. He held forth on the matter three Sabbaths past, and illustrated the same by the conduct of an honourable person present, meaning me. I prithee peace, Foster, said Lambourne, for I know not how it is, I have a sort of creeping comes over my skin when I hear the devil quote Scripture; and besides, man, how couldst thou have the heart to quit that convenient old religion, which you could slip off or on as easily as your glove? Do I not remember how you were wont to carry your conscience to confession, as duly as the month came round? and when thou hadst it scoured, and burnished, and whitewashed by the priest, thou wert ever ready for the worst villainy which could be devised, like a child who is always readiest to rush into the mire when he has got his Sundays clean jerkin on. Trouble not thyself about my conscience, said Foster; it is a thing thou canst not understand, having never had one of thine own. But let us rather to the point, and say to me, in one word, what is thy business with me, and what hopes have drawn thee hither? The hope of bettering myself, to be sure, answered Lambourne, as the old woman said when she leapt over the bridge at Kingston. Look you, this purse has all that is left of as round a sum as a man would wish to carry in his slop-pouch. You are here well established, it would seem, and, as I think, well befriended, for men talk of thy being under some special protection--nay, stare not like a pig that is stuck, mon; thou canst not dance in a net and they not see thee. Now I know such protection is not purchased for nought; you must have services to render for it, and in these I propose to help thee. But how if I lack no assistance from thee, Mike? I think thy modesty might suppose that were a case possible. That is to say, retorted Lambourne, that you would engross the whole work, rather than divide the reward. But be not over-greedy, Anthony--covetousness bursts the sack and spills the grain. Look you, when the huntsman goes to kill a stag, he takes with him more dogs than one. He has the stanch lyme-hound to track the wounded buck over hill and dale, but he hath also the fleet gaze-hound to kill him at view. Thou art the lyme-hound, I am the gaze-hound; and thy patron will need the aid of both, and can well afford to requite it. Thou hast deep sagacity--an unrelenting purpose--a steady, long-breathed malignity of nature, that surpasses mine. But then, I am the bolder, the quicker, the more ready, both at action and expedient. Separate, our properties are not so perfect; but unite them, and we drive the world before us. How sayest thou--shall we hunt in couples? It is a currish proposal--thus to thrust thyself upon my private matters, replied Foster; but thou wert ever an ill-nurtured whelp. You shall have no cause to say so, unless you spurn my courtesy, said Michael Lambourne; but if so, keep thee well from me, Sir Knight, as the romance has it. I will either share your counsels or traverse them; for I have come here to be busy, either with thee or against thee. Well, said Anthony Foster, since thou dost leave me so fair a choice, I will rather be thy friend than thine enemy. Thou art right; I CAN prefer thee to the service of a patron who has enough of means to make us both, and an hundred more. And, to say truth, thou art well qualified for his service. Boldness and dexterity he demands--the justice-books bear witness in thy favour; no starting at scruples in his service why, who ever suspected thee of a conscience? an assurance he must have who would follow a courtier--and thy brow is as impenetrable as a Milan visor. There is but one thing I would fain see amended in thee. And what is that, my most precious friend Anthony? replied Lambourne; for I swear by the pillow of the Seven Sleepers I will not be slothful in amending it. Why, you gave a sample of it even now, said Foster. Your speech twangs too much of the old stamp, and you garnish it ever and anon with singular oaths, that savour of Papistrie. Besides, your exterior man is altogether too deboshed and irregular to become one of his lordships followers, since he has a reputation to keep up in the eye of the world. You must somewhat reform your dress, upon a more grave and composed fashion; wear your cloak on both shoulders, and your falling band unrumpled and well starched. You must enlarge the brim of your beaver, and diminish the superfluity of your trunk-hose; go to church, or, which will be better, to meeting, at least once a month; protest only upon your faith and conscience; lay aside your swashing look, and never touch the hilt of your sword but when you would draw the carnal weapon in good earnest. By this light, Anthony, thou art mad, answered Lambourne, and hast described rather the gentleman-usher to a puritans wife, than the follower of an ambitious courtier! Yes, such a thing as thou wouldst make of me should wear a book at his girdle instead of a poniard, and might just be suspected of manhood enough to squire a proud dame-citizen to the lecture at Saint Antonlins, and quarrel in her cause with any flat-capped threadmaker that would take the wall of her. He must ruffle it in another sort that would walk to court in a noblemans train. Oh, content you, sir, replied Foster, there is a change since you knew the English world; and there are those who can hold their way through the boldest courses, and the most secret, and yet never a swaggering word, or an oath, or a profane word in their conversation. That is to say, replied Lambourne, they are in a trading copartnery, to do the devils business without mentioning his name in the firm? Well, I will do my best to counterfeit, rather than lose ground in this new world, since thou sayest it is grown so precise. But, Anthony, what is the name of this nobleman, in whose service I am to turn hypocrite? Aha! Master Michael, are you there with your bears? said Foster, with a grim smile; and is this the knowledge you pretend of my concernments? How know you now there is such a person IN RERUM NATURA, and that I have not been putting a jape upon you all this time? Thou put a jape on me, thou sodden-brained gull? answered Lambourne, nothing daunted. Why, dark and muddy as thou thinkst thyself, I would engage in a days space to see as clear through thee and thy concernments, as thou callest them, as through the filthy horn of an old stable lantern. At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a scream from the next apartment. By the holy Cross of Abingdon, exclaimed Anthony Foster, forgetting his Protestantism in his alarm, I am a ruined man! So saying, he rushed into the apartment whence the scream issued, followed by Michael Lambourne. But to account for the sounds which interrupted their conversation, it is necessary to recede a little way in our narrative. It has been already observed, that when Lambourne accompanied Foster into the library, they left Tressilian alone in the ancient parlour. His dark eye followed them forth of the apartment with a glance of contempt, a part of which his mind instantly transferred to himself, for having stooped to be even for a moment their familiar companion. These are the associates, Amy--it was thus he communed with himself--to which thy cruel levity--thine unthinking and most unmerited falsehood, has condemned him of whom his friends once hoped far other things, and who now scorns himself, as he will be scorned by others, for the baseness he stoops to for the love of thee! But I will not leave the pursuit of thee, once the object of my purest and most devoted affection, though to me thou canst henceforth be nothing but a thing to weep over. I will save thee from thy betrayer, and from thyself; I will restore thee to thy parent--to thy God. I cannot bid the bright star again sparkle in the sphere it has shot from, but-- A slight noise in the apartment interrupted his reverie. He looked round, and in the beautiful and richly-attired female who entered at that instant by a side-door he recognized the object of his search. The first impulse arising from this discovery urged him to conceal his face with the collar of his cloak, until he should find a favourable moment of making himself known. But his purpose was disconcerted by the young lady (she was not above eighteen years old), who ran joyfully towards him, and, pulling him by the cloak, said playfully, Nay, my sweet friend, after I have waited for you so long, you come not to my bower to play the masquer. You are arraigned of treason to true love and fond affection, and you must stand up at the bar and answer it with face uncovered--how say you, guilty or not? Alas, Amy! said Tressilian, in a low and melancholy tone, as he suffered her to draw the mantle from his face. The sound of his voice, and still more the unexpected sight of his face, changed in an instant the ladys playful mood. She staggered back, turned as pale as death, and put her hands before her face. Tressilian was himself for a moment much overcome, but seeming suddenly to remember the necessity of using an opportunity which might not again occur, he said in a low tone, Amy, fear me not. Why should I fear you? said the lady, withdrawing her hands from her beautiful face, which was now covered with crimson,--Why should I fear you, Master Tressilian?--or wherefore have you intruded yourself into my dwelling, uninvited, sir, and unwished for? Your dwelling, Amy! said Tressilian. Alas! is a prison your dwelling?--a prison guarded by one of the most sordid of men, but not a greater wretch than his employer! This house is mine, said Amy--mine while I choose to inhabit it. If it is my pleasure to live in seclusion, who shall gainsay me? Your father, maiden, answered Tressilian, your broken-hearted father, who dispatched me in quest of you with that authority which he cannot exert in person. Here is his letter, written while he blessed his pain of body which somewhat stunned the agony of his mind. The pain! Is my father then ill? said the lady. So ill, answered Tressilian, that even your utmost haste may not restore him to health; but all shall be instantly prepared for your departure, the instant you yourself will give consent. Tressilian, answered the lady, I cannot, I must not, I dare not leave this place. Go back to my father--tell him I will obtain leave to see him within twelve hours from hence. Go back, Tressilian--tell him I am well, I am happy--happy could I think he was so; tell him not to fear that I will come, and in such a manner that all the grief Amy has given him shall be forgotten--the poor Amy is now greater than she dare name. Go, good Tressilian--I have injured thee too, but believe me I have power to heal the wounds I have caused. I robbed you of a childish heart, which was not worthy of you, and I can repay the loss with honours and advancement. Do you say this to me, Amy?--do you offer me pageants of idle ambition, for the quiet peace you have robbed me of!--But be it so I came not to upbraid, but to serve and to free you. You cannot disguise it from me--you are a prisoner. Otherwise your kind heart--for it was once a kind heart--would have been already at your fathers bedside.--Come, poor, deceived, unhappy maiden!--all shall be forgot--all shall be forgiven. Fear not my importunity for what regarded our contract--it was a dream, and I have awaked. But come--your father yet lives--come, and one word of affection, one tear of penitence, will efface the memory of all that has passed. Have I not already said, Tressilian, replied she, that I will surely come to my father, and that without further delay than is necessary to discharge other and equally binding duties?--Go, carry him the news; I come as sure as there is light in heaven--that is, when I obtain permission. Permission!--permission to visit your father on his sick-bed, perhaps on his death-bed! repeated Tressilian, impatiently; and permission from whom? From the villain, who, under disguise of friendship, abused every duty of hospitality, and stole thee from thy fathers roof! Do him no slander, Tressilian! He whom thou speakest of wears a sword as sharp as thine--sharper, vain man; for the best deeds thou hast ever done in peace or war were as unworthy to be named with his, as thy obscure rank to match itself with the sphere he moves in.--Leave me! Go, do mine errand to my father; and when he next sends to me, let him choose a more welcome messenger. Amy, replied Tressilian calmly, thou canst not move me by thy reproaches. Tell me one thing, that I may bear at least one ray of comfort to my aged friend:--this rank of his which thou dost boast--dost thou share it with him, Amy?--does he claim a husbands right to control thy motions? Stop thy base, unmannered tongue! said the lady; to no question that derogates from my honour do I deign an answer. You have said enough in refusing to reply, answered Tressilian; and mark me, unhappy as thou art, I am armed with thy fathers full authority to command thy obedience, and I will save thee from the slavery of sin and of sorrow, even despite of thyself, Amy. Menace no violence here! exclaimed the lady, drawing back from him, and alarmed at the determination expressed in his look and manner; threaten me not, Tressilian, for I have means to repel force. But not, I trust, the wish to use them in so evil a cause? said Tressilian. With thy will--thine uninfluenced, free, and natural will, Amy, thou canst not choose this state of slavery and dishonour. Thou hast been bound by some spell--entrapped by some deceit--art now detained by some compelled vow. But thus I break the charm--Amy, in the name of thine excellent, thy broken-hearted father, I command thee to follow me! As he spoke he advanced and extended his arm, as with the purpose of laying hold upon her. But she shrunk back from his grasp, and uttered the scream which, as we before noticed, brought into the apartment Lambourne and Foster. The latter exclaimed, as soon as he entered, Fire and fagot! what have we here? Then addressing the lady, in a tone betwixt entreaty and command, he added, Uds precious! madam, what make you here out of bounds? Retire--retire--there is life and death in this matter.--And you, friend, whoever you may be, leave this house--out with you, before my daggers hilt and your costard become acquainted.--Draw, Mike, and rid us of the knave! Not I, on my soul, replied Lambourne; he came hither in my company, and he is safe from me by cutters law, at least till we meet again.--But hark ye, my Cornish comrade, you have brought a Cornish flaw of wind with you hither, a hurricanoe as they call it in the Indies. Make yourself scarce--depart--vanish--or well have you summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver, and that before Dudman and Ramhead meet. [Two headlands on the Cornish coast. The expressions are proverbial.] Away, base groom! said Tressilian.--And you, madam, fare you well--what life lingers in your fathers bosom will leave him at the news I have to tell. He departed, the lady saying faintly as he left the room, Tressilian, be not rash--say no scandal of me. Here is proper gear, said Foster. I pray you go to your chamber, my lady, and let us consider how this is to be answered--nay, tarry not. I move not at your command, sir, answered the lady. Nay, but you must, fair lady, replied Foster; excuse my freedom, but, by blood and nails, this is no time to strain courtesies--you MUST go to your chamber.--Mike, follow that meddling coxcomb, and, as you desire to thrive, see him safely clear of the premises, while I bring this headstrong lady to reason. Draw thy tool, man, and after him. Ill follow him, said Michael Lambourne, and see him fairly out of Flanders; but for hurting a man I have drunk my mornings draught withal, tis clean against my conscience. So saying, he left the apartment. Tressilian, meanwhile, with hasty steps, pursued the first path which promised to conduct him through the wild and overgrown park in which the mansion of Foster was situated. Haste and distress of mind led his steps astray, and instead of taking the avenue which led towards the village, he chose another, which, after he had pursued it for some time with a hasty and reckless step, conducted him to the other side of the demesne, where a postern door opened through the wall, and led into the open country. Tressilian paused an instant. It was indifferent to him by what road he left a spot now so odious to his recollections; but it was probable that the postern door was locked, and his retreat by that pass rendered impossible. I must make the attempt, however, he said to himself; the only means of reclaiming this lost--this miserable--this still most lovely and most unhappy girl, must rest in her fathers appeal to the broken laws of his country. I must haste to apprise him of this heartrending intelligence. As Tressilian, thus conversing with himself, approached to try some means of opening the door, or climbing over it, he perceived there was a key put into the lock from the outside. It turned round, the bolt revolved, and a cavalier, who entered, muffled in his riding-cloak, and wearing a slouched hat with a drooping feather, stood at once within four yards of him who was desirous of going out. They exclaimed at once, in tones of resentment and surprise, the one Varney! the other Tressilian! What make you here? was the stern question put by the stranger to Tressilian, when the moment of surprise was past--what make you here, where your presence is neither expected nor desired? Nay, Varney, replied Tressilian, what make you here? Are you come to triumph over the innocence you have destroyed, as the vulture or carrion-crow comes to batten on the lamb whose eyes it has first plucked out? Or are you come to encounter the merited vengeance of an honest man? Draw, dog, and defend thyself! Tressilian drew his sword as he spoke, but Varney only laid his hand on the hilt of his own, as he replied, Thou art mad, Tressilian. I own appearances are against me; but by every oath a priest can make or a man can swear, Mistress Amy Robsart hath had no injury from me. And in truth I were somewhat loath to hurt you in this cause--thou knowest I can fight. I have heard thee say so, Varney, replied Tressilian; but now, methinks, I would fain have some better evidence than thine own word. That shall not be lacking, if blade and hilt be but true to me, answered Varney; and drawing his sword with the right hand, he threw his cloak around his left, and attacked Tressilian with a vigour which, for a moment, seemed to give him the advantage of the combat. But this advantage lasted not long. Tressilian added to a spirit determined on revenge a hand and eye admirably well adapted to the use of the rapier; so that Varney, finding himself hard pressed in his turn, endeavoured to avail himself of his superior strength by closing with his adversary. For this purpose, he hazarded the receiving one of Tressilians passes in his cloak, wrapped as it was around his arm, and ere his adversary could, extricate his rapier thus entangled, he closed with him, shortening his own sword at the same time, with the purpose of dispatching him. But Tressilian was on his guard, and unsheathing his poniard, parried with the blade of that weapon the home-thrust which would otherwise have finished the combat, and, in the struggle which followed, displayed so much address, as might have confirmed, the opinion that he drew his origin from Cornwall whose natives are such masters in the art of wrestling, as, were the games of antiquity revived, might enable them to challenge all Europe to the ring. Varney, in his ill-advised attempt, received a fall so sudden and violent that his sword flew several paces from his hand and ere he could recover his feet, that of his antagonist was; pointed to his throat. Give me the instant means of relieving the victim of thy treachery, said Tressilian, or take the last look of your Creators blessed sun! And while Varney, too confused or too sullen to reply, made a sudden effort to arise, his adversary drew back his arm, and would have executed his threat, but that the blow was arrested by the grasp of Michael Lambourne, who, directed by the clashing of swords had come up just in time to save the life of Varney. Come, come, comrade; said Lambourne, here is enough done and more than enough; put up your fox and let us be jogging. The Black Bear growls for us. Off, abject! said Tressilian, striking himself free of Lambournes grasp; darest thou come betwixt me and mine enemy? Abject! abject! repeated Lambourne; that shall be answered with cold steel whenever a bowl of sack has washed out memory of the mornings draught that we had together. In the meanwhile, do you see, shog--tramp--begone--we are two to one. He spoke truth, for Varney had taken the opportunity to regain his weapon, and Tressilian perceived it was madness to press the quarrel further against such odds. He took his purse from his side, and taking out two gold nobles, flung them to Lambourne. There, caitiff, is thy morning wage; thou shalt not say thou hast been my guide unhired.--Varney, farewell! we shall meet where there are none to come betwixt us. So saying, he turned round and departed through the postern door. Varney seemed to want the inclination, or perhaps the power (for his fall had been a severe one), to follow his retreating enemy. But he glared darkly as he disappeared, and then addressed Lambourne. Art thou a comrade of Fosters, good fellow? Sworn friends, as the haft is to the knife, replied Michael Lambourne. Here is a broad piece for thee. Follow yonder fellow, and see where he takes earth, and bring me word up to the mansion-house here. Cautious and silent, thou knave, as thou valuest thy throat. Enough said, replied Lambourne; I can draw on a scent as well as a sleuth-hound. Begone, then, said Varney, sheathing his rapier; and, turning his back on Michael Lambourne, he walked slowly towards the house. Lambourne stopped but an instant to gather the nobles which his late companion had flung towards him so unceremoniously, and muttered to himself, while he put them upon his purse along with the gratuity of Varney, I spoke to yonder gulls of Eldorado. By Saint Anthony, there is no Eldorado for men of our stamp equal to bonny Old England! It rains nobles, by Heaven--they lie on the grass as thick as dewdrops--you may have them for gathering. And if I have not my share of such glittering dewdrops, may my sword melt like an icicle! TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:33:51 +0000
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