It was with no small trepidation that Rupert Holliday ascended the
steps of the Earl of Marlborough's residence in Pall Mall. Hugh
accompanied him thus far and stopped at the door, outside which, in
the courtyard and in the hall, were standing many lackeys who had
attended their masters. Rupert felt very young, and the somewhat
surprised looks of the servants in the hall at his appearance added
to his feeling of youth. He was shown into an antechamber, where a
number of officers of all ranks, of courtiers, and politicians,
were assembled, talking in groups. Rupert felt alone and
uncomfortable among this crowd of distinguished men, none of whom
did he know, and no one paid the smallest attention to him. He had
on entering written his name down in a book in the hall, whence it
would be taken in with others to the great man.
Presently an officer in general's uniform came out from an inner
room, and an instant afterwards the earl himself appeared. Not only
was John Churchill one of the most handsome men in Europe, but he
was the most courtly and winning in manner; and Rupert, shrinking
back from observation, watched with admiration as he moved round
the room, stopping to say a few words here, shaking hands there,
listening to a short urgent person, giving an answer to a petition,
before presented, by another, giving pleasure and satisfaction
wherever he moved.
Rupert saw, however, that even while speaking his eye was wandering
round the room, and directly he perceived him he walked straight
towards him, those standing between falling back as he advanced.
"Ah, my young friend," he said warmly, holding out his hand to
Rupert, "I was expecting you.
"Sir John Loveday, Lord Fairholm," he said, turning to two young
gentlemen near, "let me present to you Master Rupert Holliday,
grandson of Colonel Holliday, one of the bravest of our cavaliers,
and who I can guarantee has inherited the skill and courage of his
grandfather. He will make the campaign in Holland with you,
gentlemen, for his commission has been made out today in her
Majesty's fifth regiment of dragoons.
"I will speak to you more, presently, Rupert."
So saying, the earl moved away among his visitors, leaving Rupert
flushed with pleasure and confusion. The young gentlemen to whom
the earl had introduced him, much surprised at the flattering
manner in which the great general had spoken of the lad before
them, at once entered into conversation with him, and hearing that
he was but newly come to London, offered to show him the various
places where men of fashion resorted, and begged him to consider
them at his disposal. Rupert, who had been carefully instructed by
his grandfather in courtly expression and manner, returned many
thanks to the gentlemen for their obliging offers, of which, after
he had again spoken to the earl, and knew what commands he would
lay upon him, he would thankfully avail himself.
It was nearly an hour before the Earl of Marlborough had made the
round of the antechamber, but the time passed quickly to Rupert.
The room was full of men whose names were prominent in the history
of the time, and these Sir John Loveday, and Lord Fairholm, who
were lively young men, twenty-two or twenty-three years old,
pointed out to him, often telling him a merry story or some droll
jest regarding them. There was Saint John, handsome, but delicate
looking, with a half sneer on his face, and dressed in the
extremity of fashion, with a coat of peach-coloured velvet with
immense cuffs, crimson leather shoes with diamond buckles; his
sword was also diamond hilted, his hands were almost hidden in lace
ruffles, and he wore his hair in ringlets of some twenty inches in
length, tied behind with a red ribbon. The tall man, with a haughty
but irritable face, in the scarlet uniform of a general officer,
was the Earl of Peterborough. There too were Godolphin and Orford,
both leading members of the cabinet; the Earl of Sutherland, the
Dukes of Devonshire and Newcastle, Lord Nottingham, and many
others.
At last the audience was over, and the minister, bowing to all,
withdrew, and the visitors began to leave. A lackey came up to
Rupert and requested him to follow him; and bidding adieu to his
new friends, who both gave him their addresses and begged him to
call up on them, he followed the servant into the hall and upstairs
into a cosy room, such as would now be called a boudoir. There
stood the Earl of Marlborough, by the chair in which a lady of
great beauty and commanding air was sitting.
"Sarah," he said, "this is my young friend, Rupert Holliday, who as
you know did me good service in the midlands."
The countess held out her hand kindly to Rupert, and he bent over
it and touched it with his lips.
"You must remember you are my friend as well as my husband's," she
said. "He tells me you saved his life; and although I can scarce
credit the tale, seeing how young you are, yet courage and skill
dwell not necessarily in great bodies. Truly, Master Holliday, I am
deeply indebted to you; and Sarah Churchill is true in her
friendships."
"As in her hates, eh?" laughed the earl.
Between the Earl of Marlborough and his wife there existed no
common affection. They were passionately attached to each other;
and the earl's letters show that at all times, even when in the
field surrounded by difficulties, harassed by opposition, menaced
with destruction by superior forces, his thoughts were turned
affectionately towards her, and he was ever wishing that the war
would end that he might return to her side. She on her part was
equally attached to him, but much as she strove to add to his power
and to forward his plans, her haughty and violent temper was the
main cause of the unmerited disgrace into which he fell with his
royal mistress, who owed so much to him personally, and whose reign
he did so much to render a brilliant and successful one. At the
present time, however, she stood upon the footing of the closest
intimacy and affection with Queen Anne.
The earl then introduced Rupert to those other ladies who were
present; the eldest, his daughter Lady Harriet, recently married to
Mr. Godolphin; the second, Anne, married to Lord Spencer; and the
two daughters still unmarried, aged sixteen and seventeen
respectively.
Rupert was so confused with the earl's kindness that he had
difficulty in finding words, but he made a great effort, and
expressed in proper set terms his thankfulness to the countess for
her great kindness to him, and of his own want of deserts.
"There," the countess said, "that will do very nicely and prettily;
and now put it aside until we are in public, and talk in your own
natural way. So you have been fighting again, have you, and
well-nigh killing young Master Brownlow?"
Rupert was completely astounded at this address; and the earl said,
laughing:
"I told you that I expected you. The worthy colonel your
grandfather wrote me a letter, which I received this morning,
telling me the incident which had taken place, and your sudden
disappearance, stating that he doubted not you had made for London,
and begging--which indeed was in no way necessary--my protection on
your behalf."
"Did my grandfather say, sir," Rupert asked anxiously, "aught of
the state of Master Brownlow?"
"Yes; he said that the leech had strong hopes that he would
recover."
"I am indeed glad of that," Rupert said; "for I had no ill will to
him."
"We must be careful of you, Master Holliday," the countess said;
"for if you go on like this you will much diminish the number of
the queen's subjects."
"I can assure your grace," Rupert said earnestly, "that I am no
brawler, and am not quarrelsome by nature, and that the thought of
shedding blood, except of the foes of my country in battle, pains
me much."
"I'll warrant me you are the mildest-tempered boy alive," the earl
said. "Now tell me frankly: you have been in London some
forty-eight hours; have you passed that time without getting into a
fray or quarrel of any kind?"
Rupert turned scarlet with confusion.
"His looks betray him," the earl laughed. "Look, girls, at the
mild-tempered young gentleman.
"Now, out with it. How was it?"
Thus exhorted, Rupert very stammeringly gave an account of the fray
in which he had been engaged.
"Von Duyk!" the earl said. "She must be a daughter of the great
merchant of Dort--a useful friend to have made, maybe, Master
Holliday; and it may be that your adventure may even be of service
to the state. Never speak now, Master Rupert, of your peaceful
intentions. You take after your namesake, the Prince, and are a
veritable knight errant of adventure. The sooner I have you over in
Holland fighting the queen's enemies, and not the queen's subjects,
the better.
"Now tell me, where have you taken up your abode?"
"At the Bell, at Bishopsgate Street," Rupert answered.
"And your follower, for I know one accompanied you; where is he?"
"He waits without, sir."
The earl touched a hand bell.
"Fetch in Master Holliday's retainer; you will find him without.
Make him at home in the servant's hall. Send a messenger down to
the Bell at Bishopsgate, fetch hither the mails of Master Holliday;
he will remain as my guest at present."
Rupert now entered upon a life very different to that which he had
led hitherto. He received a letter from Colonel Holliday, enclosing
an order on a London banker for fifty pounds, and he was soon
provided with suits of clothes fit for balls and other occasions.
Wherever the earl went, Rupert accompanied him as one of his
personal followers; and the frank, straightforward manners of the
lad pleased the ladies of the court, and thus "Little Holliday," as
he was called, soon became a great favourite.
It was about a fortnight after his arrival in town that, for the
first time, he accompanied his friends Sir John Loveday and Lord
Fairholm to the fencing school of Maitre Dalboy, the great fencing
master of the day. Rupert had been looking forward much to this
visit, as he was anxious to see what was the degree of proficiency
of the young court gallants in the art which he so much loved.
Maitre Dalboy's school was a fashionable lounge of the young men of
the court and army. It was a large and lofty room, and some six
assistants were in the act of giving instructions to beginners, or
of fencing with more advanced students, when the trio entered.
Maitre Dalboy himself came up to greet them, for both Rupert's
friends had been his pupils.
"You are strangers," he said reproachfully. "How are your muscles
to keep in good order, and your eye true, if you do not practise?
It is heart rending! I take every pains to turn out accomplished
swordsmen; and no sooner have my pupils learned something of the
business, than they begin to forget it."
"We shall begin to put your teaching into effect before long,
Maitre Dalboy," Sir John Loveday said, with a smile, "for we are
going over to join the army in Holland in a few weeks, and we shall
then have an opportunity of trying the utility of the parries you
have taught us."
"It is too bad," the Frenchman said, shrugging his shoulders, "that
my pupils should use the science I have taught them against my
countrymen; but what would you have? It is the fortune of war. Is
this young gentleman a new pupil that you have brought me?"
"No, indeed," Lord Fairholm said; "this is Master Rupert Holliday,
a cornet in the 5th regiment of dragoons, who is also about to
start for Holland."
"I have had the advantage of learning from a countryman of yours,
Monsieur Dalboy," Rupert said, "a Monsieur Dessin, who is good
enough to teach the noble art in the town of Derby."
"Dessin! Dessin!" Maitre Dalboy said, thoughtfully "I do not
remember the name among our maitres d'escrime."
"The Earl of Marlborough himself vouches for the skill of Master
Holliday with the sword. His grandfather, Colonel Holliday, was, I
believe, noted as one of the finest blades at the court of Saint
Germains."
"I have heard of him," Monsieur Dalboy said, with interest. "Let me
think; he wounded the Marquis de Beauchamp, who was considered one
of the best swordsmen in France. Yes, yes, his fame as a swordsman
is still remembered. And he is alive yet?"
"Alive and active," Rupert said; "and although, as he says himself,
he has lost some of his quickness of reposte, there are, Monsieur
Dessin says, few fencers who could even now treat him lightly."
"And you have had the benefit of his instruction as well as that of
my countryman?" Monsieur Dalboy asked.
"Yes," Rupert said, "my grandfather, although he cares not at his
age for prolonged exercise, has yet made a point of giving me for a
few minutes each day the benefit of his skill."
"I should like to have a bout with you, Master Holliday," Monsieur
Dalboy said; "will you take a foil? I am curious to see what the
united teaching of my countryman and that noted swordsman Colonel
Holliday may have done. To me, as a master, it is interesting to
discover what is possible with good teachers, when the science is
begun young. What may your age be, Master Holliday?"
"I am four months short of sixteen," Rupert said, "and I shall be
very proud of the honour of crossing swords with so famed a master
as yourself, if you think me worthy of so great a privilege."
There was quite a sensation in the fencing school, round which were
gathered some forty or fifty of the young men of the day, when
Maitre Dalboy called for his plastron and foil, for it was seldom
indeed, and then only with swordsmen of altogether exceptional
strength, that Monsieur Dalboy condescended to fence, contenting
himself ordinarily with walking about the school and giving a hint
now and then to those fencing with his assistants, not, perhaps,
more than once a week taking a foil in his hand to illustrate some
thrust or guard which he was inculcating. At this call, therefore,
there was a general silence; and everyone turned to see who was the
fencer whom the great master thus signally deigned to honour.
Great was the astonishment when, as Monsieur Dalboy divested
himself of his coat and vest, the lad who had entered with Lord
Fairholm and Sir John Loveday was seen similarly to prepare for the
contest.
"Who is he? What singular freak is this of the maitre to take up a
foil with a boy!" was the question which ran round the room.
Several of those present had met Rupert Holliday, and could give
his name; but none could account for the freak on the part of the
master.
Fortunately Rupert was unacquainted with the fact that what seemed
to him a natural occurrence was an extraordinary event in the eyes
of all assembled, and he therefore experienced no feeling of
nervousness whatever. He knew that Colonel Holliday was a master of
the sword, and his grandfather had told him that Monsieur Dessin
was an altogether exceptional swordsman. As he knew himself to be
fully a match for the latter, he felt sure that, however perfect a
master Monsieur Dalboy might be, he need not fear discrediting his
master, even if his present opponent should prove more than his
match.
There was a dead silence of curiosity at the singularity of the
affair, as Rupert Holliday took his post face to face with the
master; but a murmur of surprise and admiration ran round the room
at the grace and perfection of accuracy with which Rupert went
through the various parades which were then customary before the
combatants crossed swords.
Rupert felt as calm and as steady as when fencing at home, and
determined to use all his caution as well as all his skill; for not
only did he feel that his own strength was upon trial, but that the
honour of the teachers who had taken such pains with him was
concerned in the result. The swords had scarcely crossed when an
expression of surprise passed across Maitre Dalboy's face. The
first few passes showed him that in this lad he had found an
opponent of no ordinary character, and that all his skill would be
needed to obtain a victory over him.
For the first few minutes each fought cautiously, feeling each
other's strength rather than attempting to attack seriously. Then
the master dropped his point.
"Ma foi! Young sir, you have done monsieur le colonel and my
compatriot justice. I offer you my congratulations."
"They are premature, sir," Rupert said, smiling; "you have not as
yet begun."
The silence in the school was even more profound when the swords
again crossed than it had been when the bout began, for wonder had
now taken the place of amused curiosity. The struggle now commenced
in earnest. Several times at first Rupert narrowly escaped being
touched, for the master's play was new to him. The thrusts and
feints, the various attacks, were all familiar; but whereas Colonel
Holliday had fought simply with his arm and his head, standing
immovably in one place, and Monsieur Dessin had, although quick to
advance and fall back, fought comparatively on the defensive, while
he himself had been the assailant from his superior activity,
Monsieur Dalboy was as quick and as active as himself, and the
rapidity of the attacks, the quick bounds, the swift rushes, at
first almost bewildered him; but gradually, as he grew accustomed
to the play, he steadied himself, and eluded the master's attacks
with an activity as great as his own.
In vain Monsieur Dalboy employed every feint, every combination in
his repertoire. Rupert was always prepared, for from one or other
of his teachers he had learnt the defence to be employed against
each; and at last, as the master, exhausted with his exertions,
flagged a little, Rupert in turn took the offensive. Now Monsieur
Dalboy's skill stood him in equal stead to defend himself against
Rupert's rapid attacks and lightning-like passes and thrusts; and
although the combat had lasted without a second's interruption for
nearly a quarter of an hour, neither combatant had touched the
other.
At last Rupert saw by his opponent's eye that a new and special
combination was about to be put into action against him, and he
instantly steadied himself to resist it. It came with the rapidity
of thought, but Rupert recognized it by the first pass as the very
last combination which Monsieur Dessin had taught him, assuring him
at the time that he would find it irresistible, for that there were
not three men in Europe acquainted with it. He met the attack then
with the defence which Monsieur Dessin had showed him to be the
sure escape, ending with a wrench which nearly tore the sword from
the hand of his opponent.
Monsieur Dalboy sprang back on guard, with a look of profound
astonishment; and then throwing down his foil, he threw himself, in
the impetuous manner of his countrymen, on Rupert's neck, and
embraced him.
"Mon dieu! mon dieu!" he exclaimed, "You are incroyable, you are a
miracle.
"Gentlemen," he said, turning to those present, when the burst of
enthusiastic applause which greeted the conclusion of this
extraordinary contest subsided, "you see in this young gentleman
one of the finest swordsmen in Europe. I do not say the finest, for
he has not touched me, and having no idea of his force I extended
myself rashly at first; but I may say he is my equal. Never but
once have I crossed swords with such a fencer, and I doubt if even
he was as strong. His parry to my last attack was miraculous. It
was a coup invented by myself, and brought to perfection with that
one I speak of. I believed no one else knew it, and have ever
reserved it for a last extremity; but his defence, even to the last
wrench, which would have disarmed any other man but myself, and
even me had I not known that it should have come then, was perfect;
it was astounding.
"This maitre of yours--this Monsieur Dessin," he went on, turning
to Rupert, "must be a wonder.
"Ah!" he said suddenly, and as if to himself; "c'est bien possible!
What was he like, this Monsieur Dessin?"
"He is tall, and slight except as to his shoulders, where he is
very broad."
"And he has a little scar here, has he not?" the fencing master
said, pointing to his temple.
"Yes," Rupert said, surprised; "I have often noticed it."
"Then it is he," Monsieur Dalboy said, "the swordsman of whom I
spoke. No wonder you parried my coup. I had wondered what had
become of him. And you know him as Monsieur Dessin? And he teaches
fencing?"
"Yes," Rupert said; "but my grandfather always said that Monsieur
Dessin was only an assumed name, and that he was undoubtedly of
noble blood."
"Your grandfather was right," the master said. "Yes, you have had
wonderful masters; but unless I had seen it, I should not have
believed that even the best masters in the world could have turned
out such a swordsman as you at your age."
By this time the various couples had begun fencing again, and the
room resounded with the talk of the numerous lookers on, who were
all discoursing on what appeared to them, as to Monsieur Dalboy,
the almost miraculous occurrence of a lad under sixteen holding his
own against a man who had the reputation of being the finest maitre
in Europe. Lord Fairholm, Sir John Loveday, and other gentlemen,
now came round.
"I was rather thinking," Sir John said, with a laugh, "of taking
you under my protection, Master Holliday, and fighting your battles
for you, as an old boy does for a young one at school; but it must
even be the other way. And by my faith, if any German Ritter or
French swordsman should challenge the British dragoons to a trial
of the sword, we shall put you forth as our David."
"I trust that that may not be," Rupert said; "for though in battle
I hope that I shall not be found wanting, yet I trust that I shall
have nought to do in private quarrels, but be looked upon as one of
a peaceful disposition."
"Very peaceful, doubtless!" laughed Lord Fairholm. "Tell me, Master
Rupert, honestly now, didst ever use in earnest that sword that you
have just shown that you know so well how to wield?"
Rupert flushed up crimson.
"Yes," he said, with a shame-faced look, "I have twice used my
sword in self defence."
"Ha, ha! Our peaceful friend!" laughed Lord Fairholm. "And tell me,
didst put an end to both unfortunates?"
Rupert coloured still more deeply.
"I had the misfortune to slay one, my lord; but there are good
hopes that the other will recover."
A general shout of laughter greeted the announcement, which
together with Rupert's evident shame-faced look, was altogether too
much for their gravity.
Just at this moment a diversion was caused by a young man dressed
in the extreme of fashion who entered the school. He had a
dissipated and jaded air.
"Fulke, where hast been?" one of the group standing round Rupert
asked. "We have missed you these two weeks. Someone said you had
been roughly mauled, and had even lost some teeth. Is it so?"
"It is," the newcomer said, with an angry scowl. "Any beauty I once
may have had is gone forever. I have lost three of my upper teeth,
and two of my lower, and I am learning now to speak with my lips
shut, so as to hide the gap."
"But how came it about?"
"I was walking down a side street off the Strand, when four men
sprang out and held my hands to my side, another snatched my watch
and purse, and as I gave a cry for the watch, he smote me with the
pommel of his rapier in my mouth, then throwing me on the ground
the villains took to their heels together."
The exclamations of commiseration and indignation which arose
around, were abruptly checked by a loud laugh from Rupert.
There was a dead silence and Sir Richard Fulke, turning his eyes
with fury towards the lad who had dared to jeer at his misfortune,
demanded why he laughed.
"I could not help but laugh," Rupert said, "although doubtless it
was unmannerly; but your worship's story reminded me so
marvellously of the tale of the stout knight, Sir John Falstaff's
adventure with the men of buckram."
"What mean you?" thundered Sir Richard.
"I mean, sir," Rupert said quietly, "that your story has not one
word of truth in it. I came upon you in that side street off the
Strand, as you were trying to carry off by force, aided by a rascal
named Captain Copper, a lady, whose name shall not be mentioned
here. I had not my sword with me, but with a walking stick I
trounced your friend the captain, and then, with my stick against
your rapier, I knocked out those teeth you regret, with a fair
thrust.
"If my word is doubted, gentlemen, Alderman Hawkins, who heard the
details of the matter from the young lady and her chairman, can
vouch for it."
A cry of fury burst from Sir Richard Fulke; and drawing his sword
he would have sprung upon the lad, who had not only disfigured him
for life, but now made him the laughingstock of society, for the
tale would, he knew, spread far and wide. Several of the gentlemen
threw themselves between him and Rupert.
"I will have his life's blood!" he exclaimed, struggling in the
arms of those who would hold him back. "I will kill the dog as he
stands."
"Sir Richard Fulke," Lord Fairholm said, "Master Holliday is a
friend of mine, and will give you an honourable meeting when you
will; but I should advise you to smother your choler. It seems he
proved himself with a stick your superior, although armed with a
sword, and Master Dalboy will tell you that it is better to leave
him alone."
Master Dalboy was standing by, and going up to Sir Richard, he
said:
"Sir, if you will take my poor advice you will go your way, and
leave Master Holliday to himself. He has, as those here will tell
you, proved himself fully my equal as a swordsman, and could kill
you if only armed with a six-inch dagger against your sword. It
would be safer for you to challenge the whole of those in this
present company than to cross swords with him."
A few words from those standing round corroborated a statement
which at first appeared fabulous; and then finding that an open
encounter with Rupert would be the worst possible method of
obtaining satisfaction for the injuries he had received, Sir
Richard Fulke flung himself out of the school, muttering deep vows
of future vengeance.
"You have made a dangerous enemy," Lord Fairholm said, as the three
friends walked homeward. "He bears a bad character, and is a
reckless and ruined man. After what he has heard of your skill as a
swordsman he will, we may be sure, take no open steps against you;
but it is certain that he will scheme night and day for vengeance.
When the report gets abroad of his cock-and-bull story, and the
true history of the loss of his teeth, he will not be able to show
his face in public for some time; but he will be none the less
dangerous. Through that notorious ruffian, Captain Copper, he can
dispose of half the cutthroats about the town, and I should advise
you not to go out after dark until you have put the seas between
you and him, and even then you had better be cautious for a time."
Rupert agreed with his friend's advice, and the next day begged his
patron to let him embark at once for Holland, in a ship that was to
sail with troops from London Bridge. He urged as his reason for
desiring to go at once, his wish to learn something at least of his
duties before the campaign began.
As the earl had already heard a rumour of the scene in the fencing
school, he made no opposition to the plan, and the next day Rupert,
accompanied by Hugh, sailed down the Thames, bound for Rotterdam.