THE CAPTAIN'S AMBITION
"Jack," said the captain, "I am now resolved that Molly shall make her
appearance at the assembly, and that as the heiress that she is. Not
lowly and humbly. She shall take her place at once among the fine
ladies."
"But she is not a gentlewoman, captain," I objected.
"She shall be finer than any gentlewoman of the whole company--just as
she is better to look at without any finery."
"Will the company," I asked, "welcome her among them?"
"The women, Jack, will flout and slight her--I have watched them. They
flout and slight each other. That breaks no bones. She shall go."
He went on to explain his designs. As you have heard, they were
ambitious.
"I have this day acquainted Molly, for the first time, with the truth.
She now knows that she is richer than any one believed. As for
herself, she never thought about her fortune, knowing, she says, that
it was safe in my hands. I have opened her father's strong place--it
is in the cellar, behind a stone, and I have taken out the treasures
that even her mother never saw, because her father wished to lead a
homely life, and concealed his treasures. There are jewels and gold
chains, bracelets, necklaces, rings--all kinds of things--Molly has
them all--she is even now hugging them all in her lap and trying them
on before her looking-glass. She shall go to the assembly covered with
jewels."
"Is there any one among the whole company fit for her?" I asked.
"There is one, Jack. He is the noble Lord--the Lord Fylingdale--a very
great man, indeed."
"Lord Fylingdale? Captain, are you serious?"
"Why, Jack, who can be too high and too grand for my Molly? He is said
to be of a virtuous character and pious disposition; he neither
gambles nor drinks, nor is a libertine, as is too common among many of
his rank."
"But, captain, he will marry one of his own rank."
"Ta-ta! he will marry a fine girl, virtuously brought up, made finer
by her fortune. What more can he expect than beauty, modesty, virtue,
and a great--a noble fortune? If the girl pleases him--why, Jack, come
to think of it, the girl must please him--she would move the heart of
an ice-berg--then, I say, I shall see my girl raised to her proper
place, and I shall die happy."
"But, captain, you will raise her above her mother and above yourself,
and above all her old friends. You will lose her altogether."
"Ay, there's the rub. But I shall be contented even with that loss if
she is happy."
I can see even now the honest eyes of the good old man humid for a
moment as he contemplated his own loss, and I can hear his voice shake
a little at thinking of the happiness he designed for his ward.
No one would believe that the captain could be so cunning. No one who
reads this history would believe, either, that a man could be so
ignorant and so simple. We were all as ignorant and as simple. We all
believed what these lying people--these creatures of the devil--(when
I say the devil I mean Lord Fylingdale)--told us. Sir Harry said that
he was too virtuous and too serious for the world of fashion; the
parson said that he was the most cleanly liver of all young men; the
poet swore that he was all day long doing and scheming acts of charity
and goodness towards the unfortunate. They were all in a tale--these
villains--and we were simple and ignorant folk, credulous sailors and
honest citizens living remote from the vices of town, who knew nothing
and suspected nothing. As for myself, I was carried away, as much as
the old captain, with the thought of the honour and glory that awaited
our Molly. I concluded, in my simplicity, that the mere appearance and
sight of the lovely girl would make all the men fall madly in love
with her, without considering the hundred thousand additional charms
held in trust for her by her guardian.
After this talk with the captain I sought Molly. She was in the
summerhouse up the garden with her treasures spread out before her. It
was a most wonderful sight--but it filled me with madness. I never
imagined such a pile of gold and of precious stones. There were
diamonds, and rubies, and blue sapphires; there were all kinds of
gems, with chains of gold and bracelets--a glittering pile of gold and
jewels. Yet my heart sank at the spectacle.
"Look, Jack, look," she cried. "They are all mine! All mine!" She
gathered up a handful, and let them roll through her fingers. "All
mine! Only think, and yesterday I was thinking how delightful it must
be to have even one gold chain to hang round my neck! All mine!"
"Has your mother seen them, Molly?"
"Yes; she knew that there were things somewhere, but my father kept
them put away. Mother didn't want jewels and chains. They came to us
from grandfather, who sailed to the East Indies and brought them home.
Look at the dainty delicate work!" She held up a chain most wonderful
for its fine small work. "Did you ever see anything more beautiful?"
I turned away. The sight of the treasures made me sick. For, you see,
they showed me how wide was the gulf between Molly and me.
"You want no jewels, Molly. I wish you were poor with all my heart."
"Oh! Jack! and so not to have these lovely things? That is cruel of
you. And oh! Jack, I am to go to the assembly to-morrow evening."
"So the captain tells me."
"At last. Victory and Amanda"--Victory was the daughter of the curate
of St. Nicholas, and Amanda was the daughter of the doctor--"have been
already, and I have been kept at home. The dear, bewitching assembly!
The music! The dancing! The fine ladies!"
"There will be none finer than you, Molly."
"That is what the captain says. I am to wear my gold chains and my
jewels. My dress is waiting to be tried on. It came from Norwich. I
shall not let you see it till the evening. The hairdresser is engaged
for to-morrow afternoon. Victory says that the fine ladies turn up
their noses and hide their faces with their fans when the girls of the
place pass before them. Why? Victory does not thrust her company upon
them. Nor shall I. As for that, I can bear their disdainful looks and
their flouts with patience, I dare say."
"If these are the manners of the Great," I said, "give me our own
manners."
"We are not gentlefolk, Jack, you and I and the captain. We must not
complain. If we intrude upon the Quality they will show what they
think of us. To be sure, the captain says that I could buy up the
whole room. But I don't want to buy up anybody. I would rather let
them go their own way, so that I may go mine. Jack, if I were a great
lady I think I would be kind to a girl who was not so well born, if
only she knew her place."
"You need not be humble, Molly. When they know who you are, and what
is your fortune, you will make these fine ladies ashamed."
"The captain wants me to marry some great person," she laughed. "Oh!
If the great person could see me making the bed and baking the apple
pie and beating the eggs for the custard, with my sleeves turned up
and my apron tied round my waist! What a fine lady I shall make, to be
sure!"
"Well, but, Molly, remember that you are rich. You cannot marry
anybody in Lynn. You must look higher."
"Jack, it makes me laugh. How shall I learn to be a great lady? How
should I command an army of servants who have had but my faithful
black? How should I sit in a gilded coach, who am used to ride a pony
or to sail a boat?"
"You will soon get accustomed, Molly, even to a coach and six and
running footmen, such as Lord Fylingdale has. You are not like Victory
and Amanda, and the rest of the girls of Lynn, portionless and
penniless. You must remember the station to which your fortune calls
you."
"Money makes not a gentleman," she returned. "Nor a gentlewoman. I
know my station. It is here, with my guardian, among my old friends.
Well, perhaps I shall not take my place in what you call my station
this year--or next year." Her face cleared, and became once more full
of sunshine. "Jack," she said, "has the captain told you? No one is to
dance with me to-morrow except yourself. We are to have the last
minuet and first country dance together. None of the pretty fellows at
the assembly are to speak to me. It is arranged with Mr. Prappet. They
may look on with admiration and longing, Mr. Prappet says."
Since the arrival of our master of the ceremonies, Mr. Prappet, the
dancing master of Norwich, he had been giving Molly lessons in those
arts of dancing and the carriage of the body, the arms, the face, the
head, which are considered to mark the polite world. As for myself, I
was called upon to be her partner. Truth to say, I was always better
at a hornpipe or a jig than in any of the fashionable dances; but, in
a way, I could make shift to go through the steps.
"Now," she said, "let us practise once more by ourselves."
So we stepped out upon the grass, and there--she in her stuff frock,
her apron, her hair lying about her neck and shoulders, and I in my
workaday garb--we practised the dance which belongs to the assembly,
to courts, to stately ladies and to gentlemen of birth and rank.
The captain was more cunning than one could have believed possible. He
would produce this girl before the astonished company. They should see
that she was more beautiful than any other woman in the whole room;
more finely dressed; covered with gold chains and jewels; thus
proclaiming herself as an heiress of great wealth. She should dance,
at first, with none but one of her own station, or near it, and her
old companion. She would first make all the world talk about her; but
she should be kept apart. It should be understood that she was not for
any of the young fellows of the company. Then, if she attracted the
attention of this young nobleman, so virtuous, so pious, and of such
rare qualities of heart and head--the thing which most he desired--her
marriage with some man of high position, fit for such a girl, might
take place. That was his design, thinking of Lord Fylingdale. If it
failed he would withdraw the girl from the company and cast about for
some other way.
While we were practising he came into the garden and stood leaning on
his stick to look at us.
"Body and bones!" he said; "you've caught the very trick of it.
Prappet has taught you how they do it. Sprawl, Jack; sprawl with a
will. Twist and turn your body. Shake your leg, man. It's a fine leg;
better than most. Shake it lustily. Slide, Molly, slide; slide with
zeal. Slide and bend and twist, and shake your fan. I don't call that
dancing! Why, there isn't a lad in any fo'k'sle couldn't do it better.
Give them the hornpipe, Jack, when the sliding and sprawling is
finished. Stand up and say, 'Ladies, your most obedient. I will now
show a dance that is a dance.'"
When we finished he went on with his discourse.
"Molly has told you, I suppose. She will dance to-morrow evening with
none but you. After the country dance lead her to her chair, and we
will walk home beside her."
"Jack will look very fine among all the beaux," said Molly, laughing.
Truly, I had not considered the matter of dress, and I stood in my
workaday things--to wit, a brown frieze coat with black buttons, a
drugget waistcoat, shag breeches, and black stockings. I remembered
the grand silk and velvet of the beaux and stood abashed.
"Show him, captain," said Molly, laughing, "what we have got for him."
The captain shook his head. "My mind misgives me," he said. "That boy
will feel awkward in this new gear. However, fine feathers make fine
birds. Also fine birds flock together. Since thou art to dance with
Molly, my lad, thy rig must do credit to her as well as thyself, so
come with me."
If you believe me, the captain, who thought of everything, had
provided such a dress as might have been worn by any gentleman in the
room without discredit. It consisted of a blue coat with silver
buttons and silver braid; a waistcoat of pink silk, velvet breeches,
and white silk stockings. There was added a gold laced hat with lace
for throat and sleeves.
"So," said the captain when I stood before him arrayed in this guise,
"'tis a gentleman born and bred, to look upon. Powder thy hair, my
lad; tie it with a white ribbon and a large bow. There will not be a
fribble in the whole company, even including the poor old atomy, Sir
Harry, to compare with you."
[Illustration: "'TIS A GENTLEMAN BORN AND BRED, TO LOOK UPON."]
Molly clapped her hands. "Jack!" she cried, "if I pretend to be a
great lady you must pretend to be an admiral, at least. Why, sir, I
feel as if we had never known you before. As for me--but you shall
see." She sighed. "It is only for the evening," she said. "We shall
come home and I shall put on my old homespun again and you your shag
and your frieze. I am Cinderella and you are Cinderella's brother, and
the captain is the Fairy."
So we laughed and made merry. Yet still I felt that sinking of the
heart which weighed upon me from the first night of the great
discovery and never left me. There are sailors--I have known such--I
think that I am myself one--who know beforehand by such a premonitory
sinking when the voyage will be stormy. Nay, there are some who know
and can foretell when the ship will be cast away and all her crew
drowned in the sea or broken to pieces against the rocks.
I looked into the parlour and found Molly's mother. She sat with her
work in her hands, her lips moving, her eyes fixed. And I saw that she
was unhappy. She was a homely body always. One could understand that
her husband was right in judging that she was not likely to want
jewels and gold chains or to show them to advantage. Like many women
of the station in which she was born (which was beneath that of her
husband) she was unlearned, and could not read; but she was a notable
housewife.
"Jack," she said, coming to herself, "Molly has told you, I suppose."
"I have seen her treasures, and have heard that she is to go to the
assembly."
"She is richer than I suspected. Oh, Jack, she will marry some great
man, the captain says--and so I shall lose my girl--and she is all I
have in the world--all I have--all I have!"
She threw her apron over her head--and I slipped away, my heart full
of forebodings. It is wonderful to remember these forebodings because
they were so fully justified. Patience! You shall hear.