"I asked you to come out with me because there is something I must say before you return to Sandtoft." So I feebly began, as we paced the garden, now somewhat cleared of the mire and refuse brought by the flood, a few flowers lifting their heads to the July sun. "I told you the other night I loved you. I might never have dared to say it, but for the fear that I should not have another chance. Mistress Goel—Anna—do you, can you love me?"
She lifted her noble face a little, gave me a look which I could not understand, and then the eyelids drooped, as she answered with trembling lips—
"It would be only too easy to love you, Frank, but I am bound—betrothed already. Have patience with me, while I tell you my miserable story." She sat down, and I beside her, heavy-hearted.
"Years ago, my father and his dearest friend, Cornelius Vliet, agreed upon a marriage between me and his friend's only son. I shrank from the thought of it, and begged my father to allow me to refuse; but he laughed at what he took to be girlish perversity. He could not believe I had a repugnance against a young man, who was reckoned handsome, well-bred, brave, the heir to a large fortune. And, indeed, I could say nothing against Sebastian, but only that I had the strongest dislike to be married to him, or to any man. My father so far yielded as to defer the matter awhile. Then he was seized and thrown into prison, and we knew his doom would be death, or lifelong imprisonment. Sebastian came to me, and offered to secure my father's escape—on one condition. I gave him my promise, and he fulfilled his own by lavish bribery, and, I must acknowledge, at the risk of his own liberty, perhaps his life. He accompanied us to Paris. There I saw and heard much more of his manner of living than I had known at home, and it was fearful and loathsome to me. My father assured me young men were no worse for—what was so offensive to me. I cannot tell you how dreadful I felt it to be to fail in duty and love toward my father, and to be so ungrateful to Sebastian for my father's life and freedom, but I could not keep my plighted word. I vowed that I would not be married until Sebastian changed his course. He did not upbraid or taunt me, or argue with me, but disappeared. For some months we have heard nothing of him. I supposed he had been disgusted with what he must think my ingratitude and fickleness; but yesterday my father received a letter from him, saying he has given up drinking and dicing and all evil ways, and is coming to claim his bride. He has decided to join Vermuijden, and to share our exile, and will quickly follow his letter. My father is delighted. Forgive me, Frank, that I have not avoided you. I am guilty, I know. Forgive me."
I had been on the point to interrupt the story a dozen times; but seeing how hard Anna found the telling of it, I would not make it harder. Now I burst out. "Forgive her! Forgive the sun for shining, the flowers for blooming!" I told her how sorely my heart ached for her, but she must bear up bravely still. I would not hear of duty to her father in regard to this marriage. I declared that a promise so extorted could not bind her. To try to keep it would be to sin against herself, against the man, against her father, who must be made wretched by it in the end, against me, against love, against God. I told her I was sure she loved me a little, and I would never give her up. She wasmine, and should be mine as long as she or I lived. Where the words came from I did not know, for I am commonly slow of speech, but they came hot and swift, and Anna looked up at me, as I stood over her (my feelings had raised me to my feet) smiling through swimming eyes, and said tremulously—
"You masterful Frank! I could almost believe you; but oh! it cannot be."
She rose to her feet in a sudden agitation. "Here is Sebastian!" she exclaimed, and I turned and saw him, accompanied by Doctor Goel, approaching us. After greeting had passed between Anna and him, the doctor said something by way of introduction, and Vliet and I bowed, he looking as black as a thundercloud, and I, doubtless, equally so. I think he knew me his rival at first glance, and hated me accordingly. How heartily I detested him there are no words to express.
He was a fairly well-made man two or three inches below my height, with cold, bluish-grey eyes, rather closely set, a big mouth, thick-lipped, a low forehead, and cheeks somewhat bloated. That he had turned to sober and cleanly living I did not believe, or that he ever would, and my unbelief was warming to the heart. Having no part in the Dutch conversation, I left the three, and returned to the house, where I heard that Vermuijden was again at Sandtoft, and had sent Sebastian Vliet in command of six of his men to escort Doctor Goel and his daughter thither, with request that they would come with speed.
Within the hour the party was ready to set off, two of the Dutchmen carrying the baggage (except certain small boxes, which the doctor would not entrust to other hands), and the other three men with muskets, cutlasses, and pistols, going in front. Then came the doctor and Vliet, Anna and I last. As the landing-place, where they had left their boat in charge of one of their number, was not more than half a mile away, I hastened to take up the thread of our previous talk, but was baulked of my intent. At a spot where three roads met we encountered a crowd "riding the stang." At the head of the procession strode a fellow blowing a horn; then a dozen others, beating pans and kettles with pokers and iron spoons; a bagpiper made a noise like pigs in a storm; a ragged rascal, sitting a donkey, carried a pole on which dangled a woman's smock. After this standard bearer followed an old horse, bestridden by a grinning woman, who held an enormous ladle, with which she merrily belaboured her husband, who rode behind her, his face turned to the horse's tail, pretending to work at a distaff. Two lads marched behind the couple on horseback, bearing a pole, on which rode a third, thumping a pan, and repeating—
"With a ran, tan, tan,On my old tin can,Mrs. Mooley and her good man,She banged him, she banged him,For spending a penny when he stood in need.She up with a three-footed stool;She struck him so hard, and cut him so deep,Till the blood ran down like a new-stuck sheep."
A shouting, jeering rabble accompanied the cavalcade, making uproar with marrow-bones and cleavers, tongs, gridirons, and kettles, and 'some half-score of barking and yelping curs swelled the din. A prominent figure in the rout was Ducker's wife, who had gone crazy through the loss of her child. She skipped and screamed and laughed, now here, now there, almost as much the object of amusement to the mob as the henpecked husband and his shrew of a wife.
If the mad woman caught sight of Anna there would be trouble, I felt sure; so I pushed on, hoping to avoid touch with the crowd, who would most likely turn by the road we had come, to make the circuit of the town. But the spectacle had some attraction for Vliet, who stood to see the crowd go by, saying with a laugh, "Ah! justitia de los cornudos!" from which I surmised he had seen the riding of the stang in Spain.
I asked Anna to urge the five Dutchmen forward, the boat being yet some four hundred yards away. As I feared, some of the mob stopped to stare at Vliet in his foreign costume, and this led to Ducker's wife perceiving Anna and me. She raised the cry, "Witches! witches!" and the crowd took it up instantly. I saw the vixen leap down from her charger to join the blacksmith's wife in the leadership of the gang, which followed us pell-mell. Then I ran for the boat, half carrying Anna, who at first hung back, imploring me to go to her father's rescue. As he had six men well armed to defend him—for the Dutchmen had faced about and behaved manfully, the two who had borne the baggage pitching it into the reed-bed that bordered the road, and taking to their weapons—I attended to nothing but Anna's safety. I had put her into the boat, and made the man understand that he must push out into the stream, and take shelter under the reeds, when the rest of our party came up, the mob at their heels, brandishing their pokers, gridirons, cleavers, and what not, encouraging one another with shouts of "The witch! Tear her to scotticks!" and savage curses.
With great coolness and quickness, the Dutchmen took in the condition of things, and faced the angry rabble, and two of them fired. Whether any one was hurt, I could not see, but the yelling mob was not even checked. On they came furiously, and for some minutes we were engaged in a confused hand-to-hand struggle, which would have ended, most likely, in our being forced into the river by sheer weight of numbers, but for a pistol-shot fired into the rear of the crowd, which took them by surprise, and scattered them a little. This gave the Dutchmen the chance to use their muskets, and as one of the leaders of the mob fell, the rest were somewhat daunted, and drew off a few yards. Then Luke ran from behind them, and took his stand by me. He it was who had fired the shot which saved us, having followed me with my pistols. In this lull of the storm, I tried to persuade the folk to go away; but I had scarcely begun to speak, when one of the men took a stride forward and hurled a gridiron at my head, which happily flew wide, for I leaped on him in the act, snatching him up, and tossing him into the reed-bed. But he had given the others a lead which they were quick to follow; all sorts of missiles hurtled about us, and one of the musketeers was struck and fell backwards into the river. We could do nothing for him, because another shower of knives, pots, and stones flew about us, and our assailants came on with a rush. I gave Vliet a hint, though I knew not whether he understood English. He nodded, and spoke to his men. When the foremost of the crowd were right upon us, we drew apart swiftly, Vliet and three of the Dutchmen on one side, I and Luke and one of the Dutchmen on the other. The pressure of those behind sent five or six of the leaders headlong into the river, and we threw or thrust several more after them. The rest took fright, and ran like so many rabbits. I believe the discovery that the "witch" had vanished had as much to do with their panic as the loss of their boldest spirits, who were floundering in the water. As the rabble fled, I perceived that blood was spouting from my right wrist, and my strength going with it. I asked Luke to tie my handkerchief tightly round it, but that did no good; the handkerchief was a soaked rag in no time, and the blood still pouring. Luke in great alarm called for Doctor Goel, who came and ripped up my coat and shirt-sleeves, and placing a bit of wood on my arm some distance above the elbow, fastened it there with a bandage torn from my shirt. This marvellously staunched the bleeding, but I became queerly drowsy, and sat on the ground, overcome with languor. The doctor went from me to look at two fellows, dead, or badly wounded, who lay in the road.
The Dutchmen were chasing the men in the river, firing now and then, but everything was dreamlike to me, until I heard a light footstep behind me, which I knew was Anna's. Before I could turn round, I saw a movement in the reeds, and then a face, the mad woman's face, glaring at me, or at some one behind me. The next instant she sprang from her hiding-place, knife in hand, and I, now roused from my stupor, rose to seize her. I caught her in my arms, but she bore me to the ground. She writhed and twisted; she clasped her hands round my neck, trying to strangle me; she bit my bare shoulder; but I had just sense and strength enough to hold her fast until I heard Luke say—
"Let go, Measter Frank—let go; I have her safe, and you're bleeding to death."
The next thing I knew was that the vicar stood near in his old gown, and he and everybody looked so solemn that I got the notion this was a funeral company, and I the person they meant to bury.
"You mustn't," I whispered. "I'm not dead."
Wine was produced in some mysterious way, and Anna held the horn to my lips. The draught revived me greatly, and they told me what had passed during my fainting fit. As soon as the crazy woman had been secured, Luke had run to the vicarage for wine, and had ordered the sexton to bring the bier as the handiest means of conveyance. The vicar had followed. The doctor had attended to my wounds, and given instructions for their future treatment, and now Vliet was impatient to be gone. So we said our adieux, and Anna's right hand lay for a moment in my left, and my lips touched it. Then the boat moved off, and I was carried to the vicarage.
No one cares to read of sickness and pain (unless it may be those whose business it is to cure them), but I am in a manner compelled to say something of my wounds, else my story later on would be hardly understood. The cut in my wrist caused me much trouble by the third day, so much that I could scarcely forbear from ripping off the bandage. By-and-by the pain in my hand was almost intolerable. The hurts in my shoulder were painful too. The earlier wound broke out again, and the bite inflamed greatly, and a kind of fever came upon me, so that I grew light-headed at times, and hardly knew where I was, or what I said. When I was myself again, I fumed and chafed at my weak and helpless condition, and sometimes grew frightened lest the bite of the mad woman might communicate madness. I could not comprehend my own irritability and want of self-command. The servants enraged me by stealing in and out of my room so softly, and by speaking in sharp whispers which went to my brain like stiletto thrusts. Good Mr. Butharwick, who nursed me with nigh unsleeping care, nearly drove me crazy by bidding me not to think of subjects which disturbed me, and by talking of matters that in nowise concerned me. He had made some astounding discovery about the children of Israel, and how their destiny was written in the sky, as also were the future of the true Church and the doom of Antichrist. Everything could be made plain to one who read the Bible and knew astrology, and my good tutor appeared to think I might be soothed by hearing these mysteries expounded. I refrain from blasphemous language about the Holy Scriptures, but I said things about the stars and star-gazing which hurt Mr. Butharwick grievously.
Dick Portington watched with me one night, and in my intervals of relief from pain, he told me how the commissioner had been carried away more dead than alive, but vowing vengeance on those who had caused his sufferings. Of fights between the Dutch and the Islonians he had much to tell; how the men of Haxey had driven off Vermuijden's men, thrown down their embankments, filled up the drains, burned carts and tools, and utterly destroyed their works in the south of the Isle; how an attack had been made on Sandtoft and repelled, some of the assailants falling into the hands of the Dutch, who had flogged them within an inch of their lives, and then turned them loose to shift as best they could, threatening worse punishment to the next batch of captives. This was done by order of the new commandant, Vliet, who was in high esteem with the Dutchmen on account of his boldness and cunning. Vermuijden had gone away to oversee another operation in Bedfordshire, leaving Vliet in full authority.
For the next two days I was in high fever, and my guardians refused to give Dick another opportunity of conversing with me. Luke was my best nurse and companion in these days, for my stolid man was in love, and in love with Martha, Anna's maid. They contrived to meet somehow, whenever I gave him permission to cross to Sandtoft, which I was never loath to do. If he had asked leave to go seven times a week, I should not have said him nay. In fact, losing count of time as I sometimes did, by reason of weakness and wandering of mind, I would ask him if he meant to go to-day, and he would answer, "Lord love you, Measter Frank, an' 'twere but yesterday I fared across." Through Luke I heard of my love, and she sent me messages, and gave him directions about the treatment of my hurts and as to my diet, Luke it was who told me that her mother was an English woman, the daughter of a London merchant, who had gone into exile for conscience sake. Martha also was of English parentage, the child of a servant who had accompanied the family to the Netherlands. "Which accounts for her pastry-making," added Luke. Through Luke I heard that Vliet pressed his suit with ardour, Doctor Goel seconding him; but that I had a friend at court in the maid, who was a humble friend rather than a common servant, and hated Sebastian with a perfect hatred. I was surprised and perplexed to hear Sheffield had visited Sandtoft, and struck up a friendship with Vliet. This I could not understand, and it disquieted me.
At the end of a fortnight I could go about a little, but the wounds in the shoulder did not properly heal, and I recovered strength but slowly.
One day as I sat out on the lawn in front of the house, Luke near me, busied in cleaning a gun, an old woman, with a tattered shawl over her head and a basket on her arm, came feebly up the drive, now and then coughing asthmatically. In a wheezing voice she begged to be allowed to show me the contents of her basket. Luke gave her his stool, which she accepted with profuse gratitude, and then asked for a drink of water.
"Bring her a cordial, Luke," I said, as he went off to the kitchen.
As soon as he was out of hearing, the old woman said in Bess Boswell's voice.
"Send him away again when he returns. I must have a private word with you."
Sure enough, now I looked narrowly at her, I recognised the eyes, but the rest of the face was that of an aged woman.
"What is the meaning of this mummery, Bess?" I asked.
"Have you forgotten what I told you? It is dangerous for me to be seen speaking to you," she replied.
"No; but I can't for the life of me understand the danger," said I.
"Certainly you can't; but that does not alter the fact," answered she, in a tone rather scornful of my sagacity, I thought.
Luke came toward us with the cordial at this point, and I bade him leave us awhile, as the poor body had something to tell me of her affairs. He withdrew out of earshot, but remained within sight of us.
"Your man is quicker of apprehension than you," she said. "He doesn't know me, and he doesn't trust me. He is loading his gun, and keeping a watchful eye on me; a good servant, that. I wish you would take a leaf out of his book, and be on your guard against strangers. Two months ago I begged you to go away out of the Isle, and it is by the most wonderful luck you are alive to-day."
"I have been in danger once or twice; I do know so much."
Bess waved her hand loftily.
"I do not speak of mobs and crazy women; your enemies are much more formidable."
"Come now, Bess, drop this mysterious style, and tell a plain tale, if you have one. You mean that Sheffield owes me a grudge, and won't stick at trifles to pay it. I know that as well as you, and I am not shaking in my shoes about it."
Bess laughed. "One of your worst enemies is your confidence in bodily strength and pluck. Lord Sheffield is not blessed with the sharpest wits in the world, though he is more than your match in craftiness, but he has the help of a man as cunning as the devil."
"Do you mean the Dutchman, Vliet?" I asked.
Bess laughed again. "The Dutchman is a bulldog, and, if you are prudent, you will not go near his kennel. But you have to be on your guard against one who can intrigue. Let me tell you there are sworn accusations now at Castle Mulgrave that Daft Jack was your tool, and if the poor fellow is caught he will be made to confess that he was."
"But it is a lie!" I exclaimed.
"I wonder how many lies have been confessed on the rack," retorted Bess. "There is a charge against you—waiting for something to strengthen the case—of having resisted the King's authority at Thorne, and inciting others to do so. At the same time it is being whispered about among the common sort that you are a traitor to the Islonian cause, and to your father. The Dutch are told that you are their secret enemy, the instigator of the attacks made on them."
"But these stories are contradictory, the one of the other!"
"What does that matter? The effect of them is that you are looked upon with hate and disgust all round. You were in great favour with the people just after the Crowle flood, but they are in a different mind to-day. Tales are told of you in every alehouse which would be laughable, if they were not believed. All this is done on the chance that your enemy may be saved the trouble of your taking off; he is prepared to act himself, if they don't."
"But what motive can he have?" I asked, incredulously.
"To get money," she answered.
"Who is the man?"
"Before I tell you, I must have your word never to betray me—never to tell any one else, directly or indirectly."
"I give it you."
"The man is my father."
I laughed now. "Lord Bozzy," "cheating Bozzy," the gipsy rascal, whose feats and pranks were a perpetual and relishing jest all over the Isle! It was ridiculous to consider him in the light of a malignant, subtle enemy.
Bess gave me a contemptuous smile. "Do you happen to know that he has stolen a horse, and sold it afterwards to the man from whom he had stolen it? Did you ever hear of his being entertained as an honoured guest at the house of a magistrate, who had condemned him to the stocks a day or two before? Have you heard of his passing for a clergyman, London merchant, French traveller, and a dozen other characters, among people who knew him well, or thought they did? And if he can take in every dull-witted squire in the Isle just for mirth and play, what do you suppose he can't do, when he is to gain a fortune by doing it?"
On reflection, I admitted to myself that contempt for Boswell might be foolish, and passed at once to suspicion. What if this girl had been employed to frighten me away? Her I did not suspect, but might she not have been allowed to hear this and that, in the hope that she would inform me, and so I might be driven out of the Isle? A fine fellow I should be to run for my life, because a wench cried Bugaboo!
"Well, Bess, I am infinitely obliged to you," I said; "but I am not likely to take to flight. If you are good enough to warn me of any scheme you may hear of, I shall be forearmed."
"Do you suppose my father imparts his plans to me, or any one? I may guess his design by some direction he gives; I may divine a purpose by watching him closely. He doesn't talk of doing a thing, he does it."
It was curious to see the sort of pride she had in the man whose plans she was endeavouring to thwart, pride mingled with fear.
We sat a little while in silence. Then Bess got up to go.
"You will not heed my warning? Oh, you are bewitched, or you would not lose house and land, scorn a fair damsel, who would be your loving, faithful wife, break your father's heart, risk your life, all for—an outlandish woman!"
"I believe you honest, Bess," I rejoined; "but is all this of your own motion?"
"And who should prompt me?" she asked.
"Nay, that I cannot guess."
"Nor ever will." And away she went without another word.
A day or two later, my father returned, looking worn and aged, so that my heart ached to see the change. He, on his part, was deeply concerned to find me weak and ailing, and sent Luke to Doncaster with a letter to a physician there, forbidding him to return until he could bring the doctor. When he heard that my wounds had been got in defending the Goels, he refrained from speech, but his looks were of sorrow and anger both.
Late in the evening he gave to Mr. Butharwick and me an account of what he had done to get the decision of the judges put in force against Vermuijden, but all in vain. At length he determined to appeal to the King himself, whose will made null and void the sentence of the law. He bribed some of his Majesty's attendants heavily, but could not for a long time obtain audience. The King was in such anxiety and excitement about the Queen's French servants, of whom he greatly desired to be rid, and to have them sent back to their own country, that he could think or hear of nothing else, unless it were of some means of laying hands on money, which he wanted sorely. So the courtiers and servants said. Nevertheless, my father followed the King, who was exceedingly restless, from one place to another, seeking a favourable occasion, and at last found it in a village near Cambridge. One of the King's gentlemen, who had taken my father's money, came to him at his lodging, reporting his Majesty to be in better humour that evening, having had from his Grace of Buckingham a letter which satisfied him the mounseers would soon be packed off to France. Seeing him in this temper, the gentleman had presented my father's petition, which the King had read, and then signified that the petitioner might be admitted to his chamber.
"But as soon as I came into the King's presence," said my father, "I knew, by the scowl on his face, my plea had no chance of success. He did not condescend to speak to me until he had told his people I was from Lincolnshire, which Henry VIII. had declared the most disloyal county in England, which condemnation was justified in his own experience. And of this rebellious county, the worst part was the Isle of Axholme, where one of his commissioners had been vilely used of late. Then he went on to say that in his care for his subjects in that barbarous corner of his dominions, he had authorized a scheme for reclaiming many acres of soil now under water, and, pointing to me, he said, 'This fellow has dared to defy his King by opposing our gracious purpose, setting forth I know not what legal quibbles in the courts of law; and when he fails in his rebellious design, actually has the audacity to approach us in person.' Then he tore up the paper and threw it into the fire, and turned to me, saying, 'Go to the devil, and thank your stars you are not helped thither by a sword through your body.' Whereupon I was jostled out of the sacred presence."
After Mr. Butharwick had retired, my father opened out to me on the state of our affairs, and in a strain altogether new. The change was so great as to make me afraid of I hardly knew what. He, who was used to speak and act with so much resolution and masterfulness, now lamented his unwisdom in taking upon him the burdensome charge of the "solicitorship," and accused himself of wronging me thereby. I could scarcely believe my ears, and doubted whether I was awake or dreaming.
"I had confidence that a just cause must prevail in England, but I ought to have perceived that everything is changed in this country. A King, who despises the rights of his people in general, and flouts his Parliament, cannot be hindered of his will with a few landowners and poor folk in Axholme, when he is in dire straits for money, and can get it by trampling us underfoot. In my foolish confidence I have done a great wrong by encumbering the estate so heavily."
I knew not how to answer; babbled something about doing our utmost to repair the mischief.
"Happily, it is possible to do that," he replied. "There is no doubt that Mistress Ryther and her father will welcome you as a suitor for her hand in marriage. You may not be inclined for matrimony just at present, and there is no hurry, but you should lose no time in asking the lady's promise. That obtained, all our troubles are at an end. And as soon as you are wedded I will go abroad, taking Butharwick with me, leaving the bride to queen it here. When I return, a house in Beltoft will suffice for me.
"Unfortunately, I cannot ask Mistress Ryther to marry me," I answered, "because I love another lady with every fibre of my body and every thought of my heart."
My father smiled. "You think so, Frank; and it is partly my fault. I ought to have turned you loose in town, sent you on the grand tour, given you a chance to prove how often we can be in love, and how quickly out of it again. 'Tis a malady incident to youth, a passing fever; but while the delirium lasts, we see and converse with angels. Change of air is a cure for it."
How I threw scorn on this scorn of love, how I protested and vowed my love could not die, may be imagined by a lover, and no other would care to read such matter.
My father replied, with an indulgent smile, "Yes, yes, my son, I know. But you must see that marriage with the Dutch girl is out of the question. You have nothing to marry on. If you refuse Mistress Ryther, you are a landless, penniless man. Even if it were otherwise, how can you wed the daughter of a fellow who broke prison and fled his country, sooner than take his trial for conspiracy to murder his Prince? A pretty family connection for the master of Temple Belwood! You might as well propose to marry a gipsy; better indeed, for your own people would not burn the house over your head for that, as they certainly would, if you took a wife from the camp of the Dutch invaders. Besides, the girl is mated already—or as good as mated—with a rascal who was drummed out of King Christian's army for cheating at dice. You see I have taken some pains to inform myself about your Fancy and her associates."
"And who is your informant, may I ask?"
"A Frenchman, Chavatte by name, a gentleman and a man of affairs, who came over with Vermuijden, putting much money into the business. I met with him at Cambridge, where he was seeking Vermuijden, as I was seeking the Lord's Anointed. He has withdrawn from the company for good reasons. For one thing, he is convinced that the plan for the drainage is fatally defective, and Vermuijden will not hear of alteration. Then he has discovered that the King has sold what never belonged to him, and has no mind to be a receiver of stolen goods, nor does he expect that the rightful owners will ever submit to the robbery. And he has the strongest distaste to Vermuijden's lieutenant and deputy. He is trying to recover some of his money, and will shortly go home. You will be inclined to consider him a man of sense, for he admires Mistress Goel's beauty, and applauds her devotion to her father, whom he regards as lunatic, most especially because he desires to give her in marriage to this Vliet. 'But he finds favour with the incomprehensible sex,' Chavatte added, with his French shrug of the shoulders."
I did not speak for some time. A horrible doubt had crept into my mind. Suppose Anna's filial piety should overcome her repugnance to Sebastian Vliet. Suppose the fellow had reformed his conduct. Suppose he succeeded in gaining her consent. If Anna were lost to me, what mattered it to me whether I married Mistress Ryther, or a gipsy, or a blackamoor? If I could redeem the dear old place, and make my father happy, was it not my duty to do so? Always supposing that Anna could not, or would not be my wife. It was the first time I had given way to despondency, and even now I do not understand what it was that plunged me into gloom.
One thing only was clear to me, that I must see Anna without delay, and learn whether I was to be blessed or miserable for the whole of my life. I could not keep before myself that I had nothing to offer for her acceptance, or that her father might treat the offer with ridicule. I could think of nothing but the necessity to see Anna, and hear the word which should decide my fate. My father said nothing to interrupt my meditations. Since he had been away from home, he had formed the habit of smoking, and he now lighted his pipe and puffed silently. When he had finished his pipe and knocked out the ashes, he said—
"I will not press you for an answer to-night; but it is to be remembered that handsome young women, who have heaps of money, are not as plentiful as blackberries in September."
"I will give you an answer to-morrow evening," I replied; but did not say anything of my intention to go to Sandtoft in the morning, for I felt certain my father would oppose it strongly. Indeed, what with the lightness of my head and the heaviness of my heart, it took me some time to get upstairs and to bed. Luke, who was accustomed to help me, was away, and it occurred to me that if I missed him to-night, I should miss him much more to-morrow.
As I was about to turn in to bed, I perceived a red glare in the sky westward, and feared it meant trouble at Sandtoft, so I lay long awake; but at length weariness overpowered me, and I slept for some hours. I awoke early, and, having dressed in a slow, fumbling way—my arm being more than usually painful—I walked out as if I sought the morning air, taking care to give no inkling of my purpose to the servants, who were already astir.
At that time of the year, the middle of August, there was choice of three modes of crossing the fen. One might pick one's way on stilts, or with cleat-boards, but in my present weakness I dared not adventure either method. The third course was to take boat at Belshaw, on a winding stream, which in the end joined the Idle a mile or so above Sandtoft. Luke had told me that the Idle was flowing again since the destruction of Vermuijden's work in the south of the Isle, so I chose the easiest, if slowest, manner of going; but when I reached the little inn at Belshaw, there was no boat to be had. Dame Drury told me their boat was at the carpenter's under repair, and the flat-bottomed punt Drury had taken out, meaning to try for half-duck and snipe, which had begun to appear in the fen. There was nothing for me but to await his return, which would be early or late, according to his luck in fowling.
While the dame got ready a breakfast for me, she chanced to make mention of her husband's cousin, who had lain at their house for a year, crippled with a kind of palsy. Half in curiosity, half in compassion, I questioned her, and learned that he was about thirty years of age, that he had inherited a moderate property on the death of his father thirteen years ago, and had gone out to see the world, seeking knowledge and adventure in many countries. Some twelve months before this time he had arrived in London, intending to visit his friends in the Isle, and then to go to Virginia to join Captain John Smith (who was a distant kinsman of the Drurys); but he had been suddenly struck down by a mysterious disease, and now lay helpless in an upper room. On my asking whether the poor fellow would welcome a visitor, she went to inquire, while I took my meal, and came back with the message that he would be very glad to receive me.
At first sight my heart warmed to him, though what was the secret of his charm for me I do not know. Do we ever know what it is which draws us toward another? He had a handsome face, but his eyes only were remarkable. The broad brow was crowned with clusters of dark hair; mouth and chin were hidden under moustachios and beard, but the eyes glowed. There was witchery in his smile, as he extended his thin hand, saying—
"This is a day to be marked with a white stone. I have often heard of you, but little expected ever to see you in my den."
I gripped the hand, with a choking in my throat to see such a man a prisoner, and said—
"If I had known, I would have come earlier."
"I thank Dame Fortune that you have come now," said he.
He had made his poor little room a wonderful place. On the walls were many sketches, pencilled from memory chiefly, as I came to know afterwards, full of life and spirit. Quaint drawings, the expression of his humorous fancy, there were also. A few well-thumbed books in several languages stood at his bed's head. On the table lay papers covered with mathematical studies. He followed my glance, and said—
"The hours are not so leaden-footed as you might fear. With books and pencil and a questioning habit of mind, one need not be idle."
"But accustomed to liberty and travel——" I began.
"And, therefore, with store of remembrances," he interrupted. "I used to roam the field and browse; now I lie and chew the cud. You may laugh when I tell you that my worst plague is the perpetual swarm of flies. At times their buzzing and their touch nearly madden me. The idlest, foulest, most impudent and vilest things on earth, no wonder the Bible ascribes their creation to Beelzebub. You don't happen to know what is the proper sacrifice to offer him? I should make it, if he would be favourable to me, and remove his creatures from me."
"The dame would prepare you a paper to catch them."
"Don't speak of it! She did, and the horror of it abides with me. But one thing I learned therefrom. The priests are wrong with their doctrine of everlasting torment. Why, I could not endure the miserable struggles of the most loathsome and detestable and worthless insects.A fortiori."
"Questions of divinity are beyond me," I said, laughing.
"Whereas questions of all sorts are my occupation," he answered.
Then the conversation turned on his travels, and he talked of men and things in nearly all the countries of Europe. He seemed to have made friends wherever he had been, and had something to say of the virtues of every people. He had seen with his own eyes and judged for himself, and spoke with a delightful freshness. Many a droll prank he had played in his desire to see things from the inside, here to get into a mosque, there to penetrate into a brigand's cave, and he told his escapades briefly and lightly, as I had never heard man speak before in my life. Despite my longing to be away to Sandtoft, the time passed quickly in his company, and we took our luncheon together pleasantly. But when two o'clock, three o'clock struck, and Drury did not appear, I grew restless and uneasy, and made some excuse for going out.
"As you will," said he; "but if you want only a vent for your impatience, pace about, and swear a little. It is long since I have had the pleasure to watch a lover."
"And who tells you I am one?"
He laughed as I have never heard another man laugh, softly, musically.
"Oh, my friend, the name is writ all over you. A blind beggar's card is not so readable. Sighs, fits of silence, eager hearkening for means of flight—a dozen signs make it plain. And besides, what could take a wounded man, still ailing no little, across the fen to Sandtoft, of all places in the world—but Love, the strongest of the most ancient gods, venerable as Chaos and Mother Earth and the Nether Deep?"
"You speak like a votary," said I.
"Ay, of the god; not, like you, of the priestess. The deity is one; his ministrants are many."
To me this was a jangling and jarring note, but there came to my ears the sound of Dame Drury's voice in grumbling welcome of her husband, so I bade my new friend "Good day," and hurried downstairs.
I had difficulty in getting the loan of the punt. Drury had this, that, and the other to do to-morrow. There was "a plenty of fowl" about, which would fetch good prices so early in the season, and he distrusted my assurance of return that evening; and even hinted doubt of ever seeing the punt or me again, if he allowed me to take it to Sandtoft, where "the Dutchees are as mad as bees when their skep has been upset." "Would he sell it outright?" I asked, impatient of the waste of time in wrangling. No; he wouldn't do that, because the price of the punt would not cover the loss of time while a new one was being put together. "Take any price you please," said I, and at five o'clock stepped into the punt, and began to pole down stream. I could not ply two poles by reason of the weakness of my right arm, so I got forward but slowly. Several times I was compelled to use both arms to the single pole where the water was very shallow, or the weeds grew rank; and heavy work I found it, so heavy that after an hour's toil, I was taken with a kind of swimming in the head, and lay down in the bottom of the punt to rest awhile. I know not whether I fell asleep or fainted, but when I came out of slumber or swoon, the light had faded, and a gentle shower was falling. I suppose the rain on my face awoke me. I pushed on, but so feebly that darkness overtook me before I reached Sandtoft, for the thickening rainclouds cut off the twilight. When I came to the settlement I got out at the first convenient spot for landing, and, having moored the punt, walked slowly and cautiously along the bank to find the gate. Suddenly a lantern flashed in my face, and my arms were seized from behind and pinioned. My captors hurried me forward, exchanging a few words in their own language, but saying nothing to me.
Shortly, I was thrust into a bare room, lighted by a lamp slung from a hook in the planking overhead, where Vliet and three others sat, smoking, round a table, on which stood two or three square bottles, several glasses, and a pitcher of water. The closeness of the room with the reek of tobacco and odour of Schiedam was choking and sickening, and all things began to go round; but I pulled myself together by strong effort of will, for something warned me that I must have my wits about me here. While Vliet and the others talked in Dutch, one of the men loosed my bonds, and on looking down I saw my right hand was red, and then felt a slow trickling down the arm. Now I understood my faintness. My wound had broken out again, and loss of blood had weakened me.
The man who had cut the cord which tied my arms now searched me, as if he supposed I had weapons hidden under my clothing. In so doing, he stripped off my coat, and finding my shirt sleeve soaked in blood, looked in my face narrowly, and then made some remark to Vliet, which caused him to take the lantern from one of the men and poke it against my nose. He sat down after the inspection, and laughed until his face grew purple. Then he poured out a huge glassful of spirit, half of which he took down at a gulp, and laughed again. When his fit was over, I said—
"You recognise me, I believe, Mynherr Vliet?"
He could speak English, I found, though abominably, and with a drunken stutter.
"Oh yes, mister—devil take your name! I know you."
"You cannot suppose that I came to Sandtoft with any ill intent."
"By heaven and hell, but I can suppose it, and be sure of it. Thousand devils, yes. You are a spy, a traitor, a Judas."
Then he turned to his men, gabbling fast them in Dutch, finally issuing an order to one of the men, which he went out to execute.
"These hurts got in defending your people should certify you, M. Vliet," I said, pointing t my shoulder.
"Ah! you are crafty, Mister-Judas. You fight a little in the daylight for us, that you may plot against us in the dark. You designing devil!"
Although I knew, looking at Vliet's countenance, in which raging hatred was no less visible than drunkenness, that there was but a step between me and death, I could not refrain from smiling at the character he gave me.
"You laugh! You will look very funny when you are hanged!" he said.
"Be sure of this," I said, speaking slowly, and as plainly as I could, if perchance some of the Dutchmen, might have English enough to take my meaning: "if you hang me, you will be hanged, and every man who aids you."
I saw by the look of one of the fellows that he understood me. He whispered to Vliet, who looked up and asked—
"What lie have you to tell why you came here?"
"I came to speak with Doctor Goel and his daughter on private business."
"Under cover of darkness, like a thief! You creep on the bank at an unguarded place. To see the doctor! Liar!"
"I set out early this morning, but was hindered by the way, and, being fatigued, I got out of my boat at the first spot I touched."
I saw I had somewhat impressed the one man, for he asked Vliet a question, in which he mentioned the doctor's name, to which the answer was a roaring negative; and as he gave it, Vliet took a pistol from a drawer under the table, and looked at the man threateningly. Then he turned to me.
"You are a liar. Your Lord Sheffield told me how you are cunning. You pretend to be a friend of some of our people that you may get knowledge of our work and our defences. Then you send your rascals to burn and destroy, as they did last night. I hanged two of them, and I will hang you. Your English law!—that for it!"—snapping his fingers. "You are a rebel against your King; and an English lord will stand my friend."
He swallowed another fiery draught. I began to think my chance of life was small. Vliet might or might not really believe I was the instigator of attacks on the settlement, but he had the word of Sheffield for it, and would doubtless have Sheffield's men ready to swear it, if so it pleased his lordship. Vliet's real motive could be well hidden under pretence of summary justice on a public enemy. There was, however, a possibility which had not occurred to him; I would put it to him. All this passed through my mind before Vliet placed his empty glass on the table.
"Have you any witnesses to prove that Lord Sheffield told you I raised rioters against you? Because if you have not, when you have gratified him by putting me out of the way, he will not lift a finger to keep you out of the hangman's clutches. He will deny that he ever said such things, and laugh in your face."
For a moment he was staggered, but he was too far gone in liquor to be able to think.
"Bah! you are a lying devil!" he said.
At this moment, the man whom he had sent out returned to say, as I understood, that everything was ready. I took a glass from the table, rinsed it out with water from the pitcher, filled it again, and drank. I was inclined to shiver, and the fellow might think I trembled with fear. Vliet gave a signal, and I was led out into the open. Several men stood by, with flaming torches and cressets in their hands, and by these lights I saw the gallows overhead, from which a rope dangled. The noose was slipped over my head. Some men spat on their hands and seized the other end of the rope, ready to haul upon it; and I closed my eyes to pray the publican's prayer, when a loud cry in the clearest voice in the world roused me. The crowd parted, and Anna came up to the foot of the gallows, saying something in Dutch with an imperious tone. The men slacked the rope, one of them giving it a turn or two round a peg in the upright. Then followed a rapid conversation between Anna and Vliet, with an accompaniment of murmuring voices from the bystanders. I understood no word, but by tones and gestures I knew that Anna began in indignation and anger, but was driven to pleading. Then the doctor came up and joined in the talk, addressing himself to his daughter chiefly. It ended in Anna allowing Vliet to take her hand, repeating a sentence which he seemed to dictate. Anna now made as if to come to me, but Vliet barred the way; and there ensued an altercation, which again ended in Vliet having his will. Anna went reluctantly away with her father, and I was conducted to the room to which I had been taken at first.
When we—that is, Vliet and I and his three toping companions—re-entered the room, one of them handed me my coat, but I did not put it on, for it was drenched with the rain. He then found a horse-blanket, threw it over my shoulders, and offered me the spirit-bottle. Seeing him thus far well inclined, I asked for bread, and he produced some, which I munched before helping myself to a small quantity of the liquor. It made me shudder to drink it, but it put life and warmth into me. All this time Vliet lay back in his chair in a sort of stupor, consequent, I imagined, on his having been, in the fresh air after so much gin-drinking. After awhile he roused himself and took a dram. Then he lighted his pipe and began to talk to his comrades in a snuffling manner, and thickly. By-and-by he turned to me—
"I spare your life; I will not hang you. Why do you not kneel down and kiss my boots? Where is your gratitude for my mercy?"
As I did not answer the inquiry, he continued—
"Stupid pig! But I will make you speak. I have given my word to my wife—mywife, you understand—that I will not hang you; but I will crop your ears and slit your nose. Thousand devils, yes! And then I will kick you out into the fen, and if you die there that will not be my fault."
"If you want revenge on me, take it like a man," I answered. "You have a knife in your belt; give me one and let us fight. You are half drunk, but I have only my left arm, and am otherwise weak. Come, be a man."
And I stood up, for I desired nothing better than a duel to the death. Life without Anna was nothing worth, and if I could by any chance kill him, she would be freed from the loathsome brute. The other Dutchmen jabbered among themselves and to Vliet, and, as far as I could understand, they backed my demand for a fight. Perhaps they would not greatly grieve, if the bully got the worst of it. He scowled savagely round on us all, poured out more gin and drank it, let his pipe fall to the floor, drew his knife, and came at me. But he had drunk too much to be dangerous. One blow between the eyes sent him to the ground like a log, and he lay there senseless. The friendly Dutchman took me by the arm and led me to Doctor Goel's house.