A COMFORTABLE INN, AND A GOOD LANDLADY----THE MISFORTUNES OF HEROES DO
NOT ALWAYS DESTROY THE APPETITE.
As soon as Butler landed from the skiff, he threw his cloak into the
hands of the sergeant; then, with a disturbed haste, sprang upon his
horse, and, commanding Robinson to follow, galloped along the road down
the river as fast as the nature of the ground and the obscurity of the
hour would allow. A brief space brought them to the spot where the road
crossed the stream, immediately in the vicinity of the widow Dimock's
little inn, which might here be discerned ensconced beneath the cover of
the opposite hill. The low-browed wooden building, quietly stationed
some thirty paces off the road, was so adumbrated in the shelter of a
huge willow, that the journeyer, at such an hour as this, might
perchance pass the spot unconsciously by, were it not for an insulated
and somewhat haggard sign-post that, like a hospitable seeker of
strangers, stood hard by the road side, and there displayed a shattered
emblem in the guise of a large blue ball, a little decayed by wind and
weather, which said Blue Ball, without superscription or device, was
universally interpreted to mean "entertainment for man and horse, by the
widow Dimock." The moonlight fell with a broad lustre upon the sign post
and its pendent globe; and our travellers, besides, could descry,
through the drapery of the willow, a window, of some rear building of
the inn, richly illuminated by what, from the redness of the light,
might be conjectured to be a bundle of blazing faggots.
As the horses had, immediately upon entering the ford, compelled their
masters to a halt, whilst they thrust their noses into the water and
drank with the greediness of a long and neglected thirst, it was with no
equivocal self-gratulation that Robinson directed his eye to the
presignifications of good cheer which were now before him. Butler had
spoken "never a word," and the sergeant's habits of subordination, as
well as an honest sympathy in what he guessed to be the griefs of his
superior officer, had constrained him to a respectful silence. The
sergeant, however, was full of thoughts which, more than once during the
gallop from the Fawn's Tower, he was on the point of uttering by way of
consolation to Butler, and which nothing prevented but that real
delicacy of mind that lies at the bottom of a kind nature, and inhabits
the shaggy breast of the rustic, at least full as often as it lodges in
the heart of the trim worldling. The present halt, seemed, in Horse
Shoe's reckoning, not only to furnish a pretext to speak, but, in some
degree, to render it a duty; and, in truth, an additional very
stimulating subject presented itself to our good squire, in his
instantaneous conviction that the glare from the tavern window had its
origin in some active operation which, at this late hour, might be going
on at the kitchen chimney; to understand the full pungency of which
consideration, it is necessary to inform my reader, that Robinson had,
for some time past, been yielding himself to certain doubts, whether his
friend and himself might not arrive at the inn at too late an hour to
hope for much despatch in the preparation for supper. In this state of
feeling, partly bent to cheer the spirits of Butler, and partly to
express his satisfaction at the prospect of his own comfort, he broke
forth in the following terms--
"God bless all widows that set themselves down by the road-side, is my
worst wish! and, in particular, I pray for good luck to the widow
Dimock, for an orderly sort of body, which I have no doubt she is; and
keeps good hours--to judge by the shine of the kitchen fire which is
blazing yonder in the rear--and which, to tell truth, major, I began to
be afeard would be as dead, by this time o' night, as the day the
hearth-stone was first laid. She desarves to be spoken of as a
praiseworthy woman. And, moreover, I should say she has popped her house
down in a most legible situation, touching our day's march, by which I
mean it isn't one step too near a reasonable bed hour. I count it lucky,
major, on your account; and although it isn't for me to give advice in
woman affairs--for I know the creatures do try the grit and edge of a
man amazingly sometimes--yet, if I mought say what was running in my
head fit for a gentleman and an officer like you to do in such a
tribulation, it would be this: drop thinking and chawing over your
troubles, and take them with a light heart, as things that's not to be
mended by a solemncolly long-facedness. A good victual's meal and a fair
night's rest would make another man of you. That's my observation; and I
remember once to hear you say the same yourself, upon occasion of your
losing the baggage wagons last fall on the Beaufort convoy. You ha'n't
forgot it, major?"
"Thank you, thank you, sergeant. Your counsel is kindly offered and
wisely said, and I will follow it. But it is a little hard, fellow
soldier," added Butler, with something like an approach to jocularity,
"it's a little hard to have one's misfortunes cast in his teeth by a
comrade."
"I thought it would make you laugh, major!" replied Robinson, with a
good-natured solicitude, "for it wan't in the possibilities of a mortal
earthly man to save the baggage; and, I remember, you laughed then, as
well as the rest of us, when them pestifarious, filching sheep stealers
made off with our dinners: nobody ever blamed you for it."
"Ah, Galbraith, you are a good friend, and you shall say what you please
to me," said Butler, with a returning cheerfulness; "sorrow is a dull
companion to him who feeds it, and an impertinent one to everybody
beside. So, ride forward, and we will endeavor to console ourselves with
the good cheer of the widow. And, hark, Galbraith, this Mistress Dimock
is an especial friend of mine: pray you, let her see, by your
considerateness towards her, that you are aware of that--for my sake,
good Horse Shoe."
The two soldiers soon reached the inn, and, having dismounted, Butler
aroused the attention of the inmates by a few strokes upon the door with
his riding rod.
The reply to this summons was a shrill invitation, in a feminine voice,
to "walk in;" and no sooner had Butler thrown open the door and advanced
a few paces into the passage, than the head of an elderly female was
seen thrust through the partially expanded doorway of the adjoining
room. Another instant, and the dusky figure of Mistress Dimock herself
was visible to our travellers.
"What would you be pleased to have, sir?" inquired the dame, with
evident distrust at this untimely approach of strangers.
"Accommodation for the night, and whatever you have good to offer a
friend, Mistress Dimock."
"Who are you that ride so late?" again interrogated the hostess; "I am
cowardly, sir, and cautious, and have reason to be careful who comes
into my house; a poor unprotected woman, good man."
"A light, mother," said Butler, "and you shall know us better. We are
travellers and want food and rest, and would have both with as little
trouble to you as possible; a light will show you an old friend."
"Wait a moment," returned the dame; and then added, as she observed
Butler walk into a room on the left, "Take care, sir, it is risking a
fall to grope in the dark in a strange house."
"The house is not so strange to me as you suppose. Unless you have moved
your furniture I can find the green settee beyond the cupboard," said
Butler, familiarly striding across the room, and throwing himself into
the old commodity he had named.
The landlady, without heeding this evidence of the conversancy of her
visitor with the localities of the little parlor, had hastily retreated,
and, in a moment afterwards, returned with a light, which, as she held
it above her head, while she peered through a pair of spectacles, threw
its full effulgence upon the face of her guest.
"Dear me, good lack!" she exclaimed, after a moment's gazing; "Arthur
Butler, o' my conscience! And is it you, Mr. Butler?" Then, putting the
candle upon the table, she seized both of his hands and gave them a long
and hearty shake. "That Nancy Dimock shouldn't know your voice, of all
others! Where have you been, and where are you going? Mercy on me! what
makes you so late? And why didn't you let me know you were coming? I
could have made you so much more comfortable. You are chilled with the
night air; and hungry, no doubt. And you look pale, poor fellow! You
surely couldn't have been at the Dove Cote?" which last interrogatory
was expressed with a look of earnest and anxious inquiry.
"No, not there," replied Butler, almost in a whisper; "alas, my kind
dame, not there," he added, with a melancholy smile, as he held the hand
of the hostess and shook his head; "my fortune has in no jot improved
since I left you almost a year ago. I broke from you hastily then to
resume my share in the war, and I have had nothing but hard blows ever
since. The tide, Mistress Dimock, sets sadly against us."
"Never let your heart fail you," exclaimed the landlady; "it isn't in
the nature of things for the luck to be for ever on the shady side.
Besides, take the good and bad together, you have not been so hardly
dealt by, Captain Butler."
"Major Butler, madam, of the second Carolina continental reg'lar
infantry," interrupted Robinson, who had stood by all this time
unnoticed, "_Major_ Butler; the captain has been promoted, by occasion
of the wiping out of a few friends from the upper side of the adjutant's
roll, in the scrimmage of Fort Moultrie. He is what we call, in common
parley, brevetted."
This annunciation was made by the sergeant with due solemnity,
accompanied by an attempt at a bow, which was abundantly stiff and
ungraceful.
"My friend Sergeant Robinson," said Butler; "I commend him, Mistress
Dimock, to your especial favor, both for a trusty comrade, and a most
satisfactory and sufficient trencher man."
"You are welcome and free to the best that's in the house, sergeant,"
said the landlady, courtesying; "and I wish, for your sake, it was as
good as your appetite, which ought to be of the best. Mr. Arthur
Butler's word is all in all under this roof; and, whether he be captain
or major, I promise you, makes no difference with me. Bless me! when I
first saw you, major, you was only an ensign; then, whisk and away! and
back you come a pretty lieutenant, about my house: and then a captain,
forsooth! and now, on the track of that, a major. It is up-up-up-the
ladder, till you will come, one of these days, to be a general; and too
proud, I misdoubt, to look at such a little old woman as me! hegh, hegh,
hegh! a pinch of snuff, Mr. Arthur." And here the good dame prolonged
her phthisicky laugh for some moments, as she presented a box of Scotch
snuff to her guest. "But I'll engage promotion never yet made the
appetite of a travelling man smaller than before; so, gentlemen, you
will excuse me while I look after your supper."
"The sooner the better, ma'am," said Robinson; "your night air is a sort
of a whetstone to the stomach; but first, ma'am, I would be obligated to
you, if you would let me see the ostler."
"Hut, tut! and have I been drivelling here all this time," exclaimed the
dame, "without once spending a thought upon your cattle! Tony, Tony,
To-ny, I say," almost shrieked the hostess, as she retreated along the
passage towards the region of the kitchen, and then back again to the
front door. "Are you asleep? Look to the gentlemen's horses; lead them
to the stable, and don't spare to rub them down; and give them as much
as they can eat. Where are you, old man?"
"What's the use of all this fuss, Missus Dimck? Arn't I here on the
spot, with the cretur's in my hand?" grumbled out an old, stunted negro,
who answered to the appellation of ostler; "Arn't I getting the baggage
off, as fast as I can onbuckle the straps?--I don't want nobody to tell
me when I ought to step out. If a hos could talk, he ain't got nothing
new to say to me. Get out, you varmints," he shouted, with a sudden
vivacity of utterance, at three or four dogs that were barking around
him; "Consarn you! What you making such a conbobberation about? You all
throat when you see gentmen coming to the house; better wait tell you
see a thief; bound, you silent enough then, with your tail twixt your
legs! Blossom, ya sacy slut, keep quiet, I tell you!"
In the course of this din and objurgation, the old negro succeeded in
disburdening the horses of their furniture, and was about to lead them
to the stable, when Robinson came to give him some directions.
"Mind what you are after with them there cattle. Give them not a
mouthful for a good hour, and plenty of fodder about their feet; I'll
look at them myself before you shut up. Throw a handful of salt into the
trough, Tony, and above all things, don't let me catch you splashing
water over their backs; none of that; do you hear?"
"Haw, haw, haw!" chuckled Tony; "think I don't know how to take care of
a hos, mass! Been too use to creturs, ever sense so high. Bless the
gentman! one of the best things on arth, when you're feared your hos is
too much blowed, is to put a sprinkling of salt in a bucket o'water, and
just stir a leetle Indian meal in with it; it sort of freshes the cretur
up like, and is onaccountable good in hot weather, when you ain't got no
time to feed. But cold water across the lines! oh, oh, I too cute in hos
larning for that! Look at the top of my head--gray as a fox!"
"Skip then, or I'll open upon you like a pack of hounds," said
Robinson, as he turned on his heel to re-enter the house, "I'll look in
after supper."
"Never mind me," replied Tony, as he led the horses off, "I have tended
Captain Butler's hos afore this, and he wan't never onsatisfied with
me."
These cares being disposed of, Horse Shoe returned to the parlor. The
tidy display of some plain furniture, and the scrupulous attention to
cleanliness in every part of the room, afforded an intelligent
commentary upon the exact, orderly and decent character of the Widow
Dimock. The dame herself was a pattern of useful thrift. Her short
figure, as she now bustled to and fro, through the apartment, was
arrayed in that respectable, motherly costume which befitted her years;
and which was proper to the period of my story, when the luxury of dress
was more expensive than at present, and when a correspondent degree of
care was used to preserve it in repair. Evidences of this laudable
economy were seen in the neatness with which a ruffle was darned, or a
weak point fortified by a nicely adjusted patch, presenting, in some
respect, a token both of the commendable pride of the wearer, and of the
straitness of the national means, since the prevalence of war for five
years had not only reduced the wealth of individuals and rendered
frugality indispensable, but had, also, literally deprived the country
of its necessary supply of commodities; thus putting the opulent and the
needy, to a certain extent, upon the same footing. On the present
occasion, our good landlady was arrayed in a gown of sober-colored
chintz, gathered into plaits in the skirt, whilst the body fitted
closely over a pair of long-waisted stays, having tight sleeves that
reached to the elbow. The stature of the dame was increased a full inch
by a pair of high-heeled, parti-colored shoes, remarkable for their
sharp toes; and a frilled muslin cap, with lappets that reached under
the chin, towered sufficiently high to contribute, also, something
considerable to the elevation of the tripping little figure of its
wearer.
In such guise did Mistress Dimock appear, as she busied herself in
preparing needful refreshment for the travellers; and for some time the
house exhibited all that stir which belongs to this important care when
despatched in a retired country inn.
By degrees, the table began to show the bounties of the kitchen. A
savory dish of fried bacon, the fumes of which had been, for a quarter
of an hour, gently stimulating the appetite of the guests, now made its
appearance, in company with a pair of broiled pullets; and these were
followed by a detachment of brown-crested hoecakes--the peculiar
favorite of the province; an abundance of rich milk, eggs, butter, and
other rural knicknackeries, such as no hungry man ever surveys with
indifference. These were successively deposited upon a homespun table
cloth, whose whiteness rivalled the new snow, with an accuracy of
adjustment that, by its delay, produced the most visible effects upon
the sergeant, who, during the spreading of the board, sat silently by,
watching, with an eager and gloating earnestness, the slow process, ever
and anon uttering a short hem, and turning about restlessly on his
chair.
I may pause here, after the fashion of our worthy friend Horse Shoe, to
make an observation. There is nothing that works so kindly upon the
imagination of a traveller, if he be in any doubt as to his appetite, as
the display of such a table. My particularity of detail, on the present
occasion, will, therefore, be excused by my reader, when I inform him
that Butler had arrived at the inn in that depressed tone of spirits
which seemed to defy refreshment; and that, notwithstanding this
impediment, he played no insignificant part afterwards at supper; a
circumstance mainly attributable to that gentle but irresistible
solicitation, which the actual sight and fragrance of the board
addressed to his dormant physical susceptibility. I might, indeed, have
pretermitted the supper altogether, were there not a philosophical truth
at the bottom of the matter, worthy of the notice of the speculative and
curious reader; namely, that where a man's heart is a little teased with
love, and his temper fretted by crossings, and his body jolted by
travel; especially, when he has been wandering through the night air,
with owls hooting in his ears; and a thin drapery of melancholy has been
flung, like cobwebs, across his spirits, then it is my doctrine, that a
clean table, a good-humored landlady and an odorous steaming-up of good
things, in a snug, cheerful little parlor, are certain to beget in him a
complete change of mood, and to give him, instead, a happy train of
thoughts and a hearty relish for his food. Such was precisely Butler's
condition.
He and the sergeant now sat down at the table, and each drew the
attention of the other by the unexpected vigor of their assaults upon
the dainties before them; Robinson surprised to find the major so
suddenly revived, and Butler no less unprepared to see a man, who had
achieved such wonders at dinner, now successively demolish what might be
deemed a stout allowance for a well fed lion.
"It almost seems to go against the credit of my house," said the
hostess, "to set gentlefolks down at my table without a cup of tea; but
so it is; we must get used to be stripped of all the old-fashioned
comforts. It is almost treason for an honest woman to have such an
article in her house now, even if it could be fairly come by. Still,
I'll engage I am tory enough yet to like the smell of hyson. They have
no mercy upon us old women, major; they should have a care, or they will
drive us into the arms of the enemy."
"Faith then, ma'am," interrupted Horse Shoe bluntly, as he threw his eye
over his shoulder at the landlady, who had broken into a laugh at her
own sally of humor, "it would be no wonder if you were soon driven back
again."
"Shame on you, Mr. Sergeant Robinson," retorted the dame, laughing
again, "I didn't expect to hear such a speech from you; that's a very
sorry compliment to a poor country woman. If the men on our side think
so little of us as you do, it would be no wonder if we all desert to
King George; but Major Arthur Butler, I am sure, will tell you that we
old bodies can sometimes make ourselves very useful--gainsay it who
will."
"You seem to be rather hard, Galbraith," said Butler, "on my good friend
Mistress Dimock. I am sure, madam, the sergeant has only been unlucky in
making himself understood; for I know him to be a man of gallantry to
your sex, and to cherish an especial liking for the female friends of
our cause, amongst whom, Mistress Dimock, I can certify he is prepared
to set a high value upon yourself. The sergeant was only endeavoring to
provoke your good humor. Try this honey, Galbraith; Mistress Dimock is
famous for her beehives; and perhaps it will give a sweeter edge to your
tongue."
"I spoke, major," replied Robinson, awkwardly endeavoring to extricate
himself under this joint rebuke, and, at the same time, plunging a spoon
into the dish to which Butler had invited his notice, "consarning the
difficulty of having ladies--whether old or young makes no difference,
it wan't respecting the age of Mistress Dimock, nor her beauty, by no
means, that I said what I did say; but it was consarning of the
difficulty of having the women with them in their marches and their
counter-marches. What could such tender creatures have done at such a
place as the sieging of Charlestown? Certain, this is most elegant
honey!" he added, by way of parenthesis, as he devoured a large slice of
bread, well covered with a fragment of honeycomb, as if anxious to gain
time to collect his ideas; for, with all Horse Shoe's bluntness, he was
essentially a diffident man. "It is my opinion, ma'am, the best thing
the women can do, in these here wars, is to knit; and leave the fighting
of it out, to us who hav'n't faces to be spoiled by bad weather and
tough times."
"I don't want to have art nor part in these quarrels," replied the
widow. "The saints above are witnesses, I think it unnatural enough to
see a peaceable country, and a quiet honest people, vexed and harried,
and run down with all this trooping of horses, and parading of armies,
and clattering of drums, amongst the hills that never heard any thing
worse than the lowing of a heifer before. But still, I wish well to
liberty; and if it must be fought for, why, I am even content to take my
share of the suffering, in my own lonesome way; and they that bear the
heat of the day, and their friends, shall always be served in my house
with the best that's in it, and at the most reasonable rates. Even if
they come without money, I am not the woman to turn them off with an
empty stomach; I mean them of the right side."
"Well, that's as sensible a speech, Mistress Dimock," said Horse Shoe,
quickly seizing the occasion to make amends to the landlady for his
former bluntness, "and as much to the purpose, and spoken with as much
wisdom and circumscription, as mought come out of the mouth of e'er a
lady in the land--high born or low born--I don't care where the other
comes from. And it does a man's heart good to hear the woman-kind
holding out such presentments. It's encouraging on the face of it."
During this conversation the supper was finished, and Mrs. Dimock had
now seated herself, with her elbows upon the table, so placed as to
allow her to prop her chin upon her hands, in which position she fell
into an earnest but quiet, under-toned confabulation with Butler, who
partook of it with the more interest, as it related to the concerns of
the family at the Dove Cote.
"Mr. Lindsay, poor man," said the dame, in the course of this
conference, "is wofully beset. It almost looks as if he was haunted by
an evil spirit, sure enough, which folks used to say of him after his
wife's death--and which, to tell you the truth, our young lady Mildred
has sometimes more than half hinted to me; he is so run at, and
perplexed, and misguided by strangers that can have no good intention in
coming to see him. There is Mr. Tyrrel, over at the Dove Cote at this
very time, on his third visit, major, in less now than two months past;
yes, let me see, he brought the news here of the recapitulation--I think
you military call it--though, heaven knows, I have but a poor head for
these bloodthirsty words--I mean the taking of Charleston; three times
has he been here, counting from that day. Where he comes from, and who
are his kith and kin, I am sure I don't know."
"Tyrrel, ha! yes, I have heard of him to-night, for the first time,"
said Butler.
"He must be a rich man," continued the hostess, "for he travels with two
white servants, and always pays his way in gold. One of his men is now
in the house; and, between you and me, major, this man is a very
inquisitive sort of person, and would hardly be taken for a serving man;
and he is a cautious fellow too, although there is a good deal of
swagger and bullying about him, which might deceive one at first sight."
"Here, in the house to-night?" inquired Butler.
"Speak low, major, the man is now walking the porch before our windows."
"What does Mildred say of this Tyrrel?" asked Butler.
"Has she been here lately?"
"The good lady never stirs from home whilst Tyrrel is at the Dove Cote;
for fear, I believe, that he will follow her, for they do whisper about
in the neighborhood--though I don't say it to alarm you, Mr. Arthur,
that this man is of the high quality, a nobleman, some say, and that he
has come here a-courting. Only think of the assurance of the man! But if
he was a prince, and every hair of his head strung with diamonds, and
Miss Mildred was as free as the day you first saw her, I can say with
safety he would find but cold comfort in that game; for she despises
him, major, both for himself and for his tory principles. She does hate
him with a good will. No, no, her heart and soul are both where they
ought to be, for all her father, poor man, and this rich gentleman! Oh,
it is a cruel thing that you and our pretty lady cannot live quietly
together; but Mr. Lindsay is past talking to about it. I declare I think
his mind is touched: I positively believe it would kill him if he knew
all that has passed in this house; but he is, in the main, a good man,
and a kind father, and is very much to be pitied. I see you are sad and
sorrowful, Mr. Arthur: I didn't mean to distress you with my prating.
You tell me, you think you may travel as far as Georgie."
"Even so far, good dame, if some accident should not shorten my career.
These are doubtful times, and my path is as uncertain as the chances of
war. It may be long before I return.
"I grieve night and day, and my heart bleeds for Miss Mildred, for she
is so good, so constant, so brave, too, for a woman," said the widow
with unaffected emotion. "Well-a-day! what woes these wars have brought
upon us! You told her your plans, Mr. Arthur?"
"Our interview was short and painful," replied Butler. "I scarcely know
what I said to her. But, one thing I entreat of you: my letters will be
directed to your charge; you will contrive to have them promptly and
secretly delivered: oblige me still in that, good mother. Henry will
often visit you."
"And a brave and considerate young man he is, major; I'll be surety for
his making of an honorable and a real gentleman. Do you join the army in
Carolina?"
"Perhaps not. My route lies into the mountains, our troops struggle for
a footing in the low country."
"If I may make bold, Major Butler, to drop a word of advice into your
ear, which, seeing that I'm an older man than you," interrupted the
sergeant, in an admonitory whisper, "I think I have got good right to
do, why I would just say that there may be no great disconvenience in
talking before friends; but sometimes silence brings more profit than
words. So, I vote that we leave off telling the course of our march till
such time as it is done, and all is safe. There will be briers enough in
our way, without taking the trouble to sow them by the road-side. The
man that stands a little aside from that window, out on the porch,
throws his shadow across the sill oftener than is honest, according to
my reckoning. You said, ma'am," continued Horse Shoe, addressing the
widow, "that the fellow in the porch yon is Mr. Tyrrel's man."
"He walks later than usual to-night," replied Mrs. Dimock, "for though
he can't be called a man of regular hours, yet, unless he can find an
idler to keep him company, he is accustomed to be in his bed before
this."
"He is after no good, depend upon that," said Horse Shoe. "I have twice
seen the light upon his face behind the shutter: so, true man or spy,
it's my admonishment not to speak above the purring of a cat."
"You are right, Galbraith," said Butler. "We have many reasons to
distrust him; and it is at least safest to keep our affairs private."
"If I thought he was prying," continued Galbraith, "which I do
measurably insinuate and believe, I would take the freedom to give him
the benefit of a drilling on good manners. Ha, major! as I have a hand,
he is reconnoitring us now at this identical time! Didn't you see him
pass up and down before the door, and look in as greedily as if our
faces were picture-books for him to read? I will have a word with him,
and, wise or simple, I will get his calibre before I am done with him.
Never let on, major; stay where you are. I promised to look after our
horses."
The hostess and her guest now continued their communion; in which we
leave them, whilst we follow Horse Shoe towards the stable.