MR. WOGAN REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE AN
UNDESIRABLE ACQUAINTANCE IN
ST. JAMES'S STREET
Mr. Wogan left Paris early the next morning without a thought for the
despatch-box that he had sent to Kelly, and, coming to Cadiz, sailed
with the Spaniards out of that harbour on the tenth of March, and into
the great storm which dispersed the fleet off Cape Finisterre. In
company with the Earl Marischal and the Marquis of Tullibardine, he
was aboard one of those two ships which alone touched the coast of
Scotland. Consequently, he figured with better men, as Field-Marshal
Keith, and his brother the Ambassador, and my Lord George Murray, in
that little skirmish at Glenshiel, and very thankful he was when the
night shut black upon the valleys and put its limit to the attack of
General Wightman's soldiers from Inverness. A council of war was held
in the dark upon a hill-side, whence the fires of General Wightman's
camp could be seen twinkling ruddily below, but Wogan heard little of
what was disputed, for he went to sleep with his back against a
boulder and dreamed of his ancestors. He was waked up about the middle
of the night by the Earl Marischal, who informed him that the
Spaniards had determined to surrender at discretion, and that the
handful of Highlanders were already dispersing to their homes.
'As for ourselves, we shall make for the Western Islands and wait
there for a ship to take us off.'
'Then I'll wish you luck and a ship,' said Wogan. He stood up and
shook the dew off his cloak. 'I have friends in London, and I'll trust
my lucky star to get me there.'
'Your star's in eclipse,' said the Earl. 'You will never reach London
except it be with your legs tied under a horse's belly.'
'Well, I'm thinking you have not such a clear path after all to the
Western Islands! Did you never hear of my forefather, Thomas Wogan,
that rode with twenty-eight Cavaliers through the heart of Cromwell's
England, and came safe into the Highlands? Sure what that great man
could do with twenty-eight companions to make him conspicuous, his
degenerate son can do alone.'
Mr. Wogan began his journey by walking over the hill, near to the top
of which his friends had been driven off the road to Inverness by the
English fire, which was very well nourished. He made his way to Loch
Duich, as they call it, and so by boat round Ardnamurchan, to a hamlet
they call Oban. There he changed his dress for the Campbell black and
green, and, joining company with a drove of Rob Roy's cattle from the
Lennox, travelled to Glasgow. His Irish brogue no doubt sounded a
trifle strange in a Highland drover, but he was in a country where the
people were friendly. At Glasgow he changed his dress again for a
snuff-coloured bourgeois suit, and so rode into England by the old
Carlisle and Preston route, which he had known very well in the year
1715.
Wogan was at this time little more than a lad, though full-grown
enough to make a man and a good-sized boy into the bargain, and the
exploit of the Cavalier Thomas Wogan, as it had prompted his design,
so it exhilarated him in the execution. He went lightly on his way,
weaving all manner of chivalric tales about his ancestor, to the great
increase of his own vanity, bethinking him when he stopped for an hour
at a wayside inn that here, too, perhaps Thomas Wogan had reined in
his horse, and maybe had taken a draught from that very pint-pot which
Nicholas now held to his lips. Thus the late burst up the hill-side
above the Shiel was quickly robbed of its sting, and by the time that
he had reached London he was so come to a pitch of confidence in the
high destinies of the Wogan family that, after leaving his horse in
the charge of Mr. Gunning, of Mussell Hill, whom he knew of old as a
staunch friend of George Kelly's, and borrowing from him a more
suitable raiment than his stained travelling dress, he must needs walk
down St. James's Street with no more disguise than the tilting of his
hat over his nose, and the burying of his chin in his cravat.
Soon Mr. Wogan's confidence and, with his confidence, his legs were
brought to a sudden check. For when he was come half-way down the hill
he saw the figure of one Captain Montague in the uniform of the Guards
turn the corner out of Ryder Street and walk towards him. Wogan had
met the officer before on an occasion of which he did not wish at this
particular moment to be reminded. He wheeled about, took a step or
two, and so came again to a halt. Was it known, he asked himself, that
he had sailed from Cadiz and landed in Scotland? If so, and it was a
most likely conjecture, then for Wogan to be straggling about St.
James's Street was egregious impertinence, and the sooner he got under
shelter the better for his neck. Now Wogan's destination was the
lodging of George Kelly, not five hundred yards away, in Bury Street.
But to reach that lodging it would be necessary for him to turn about
again and face the Captain. Would the Captain know him again? Wogan
debated the question, and finding no answer, asked himself another.
What would Thomas Wogan have done under the like contingency? The
answer to that was evident enough. Wogan turned about on the instant,
cocked his hat on the back of his head, took his chin out of his
cravat, twirled his cane, whistled a tune and sauntered past the
Captain, looking him over as if he were so much dirt. The Captain
stopped: Wogan felt his heart jump into his throat, whistled a bit
louder, and twirled his cane a trifle ferociously. Over his shoulder
he saw the Captain draw his brows together and rub a check with the
palm of his hand like a man perplexed. The Captain took a step towards
Wogan, and stopped again. Wogan sauntered on, expecting every moment
to hear his name called, and a clattering run, and then to feel a
heavy hand close upon his shoulder. But no voice spoke, no steps
clattered on the pavement. Wogan reached the corner and spied up St.
James's Street as he turned. The Captain was still standing in the
attitude of perplexity; only, instead of smoothing his cheek, he had
tilted his peruke aside and was scratching his head to ease the labour
of his recollections. At the sight of him the ancestor and his
twenty-eight Cavaliers rode clean out of Mr. Wogan's mind. 'Sure,
Thomas wouldn't have done it, but Nicholas will,' said he, and kicking
up his heels he ran. He ran along Ryder Street, turned into Bury
Street, raced a hundred yards or so up the cobbles, and thundered on
the door of Kelly's lodging. Here and there a head was poked from a
window, and Mr. Wogan cursed his own noisiness. It seemed an age
before the door was opened. Fortunately it was Mrs. Barnes, Kelly's
landlady, in person, and not her serving-woman, who stood in the
entrance.
'Is the Parson in London?' says Wogan. 'Say that he is, Mrs. Barnes,
and say it quick.'
'Why, it's Mr. Wogan!' cries she.
'Whisht, my dear woman!' answered Wogan, pushing through the doorway.
'It's Mr. Hilton. There's no Wogan anywhere in England. Remember that,
if you please.'
Mrs. Barnes slammed the door in a hurry.
'Then you are in trouble again,' said she, throwing up her hands.
'Well, there's nothing unusual in that,' said he. 'Sure man is born to
it, and who am I that I should escape the inheritance?' and he opened
the door of Mr. Kelly's sitting-room. He saw the figure of a man
bending over the table. As the door was thrown open, the figure
straightened itself hurriedly. There was a sound of an iron lid
clanging down upon a box, and the sharp snap of a lock. George Kelly
turned and stood between the table and the door, in a posture of
defence. Then--
'Nick!' he cried, and grasped his friend's hand. The next moment he
let it go. 'What brings you here?' he exclaimed.
'My ancestor,' said Wogan, dropping into a chair. ''Twas his spirit
guided me.'
'Then take my word for it,' cried George, 'if there's a Bedlam beyond
the grave your ancestor inhabits it.'
Wogan made no reply in words at first. But he rose stiffly from his
chair, bowed to Kelly with profuse ceremony, took his hat, and with
his hat a step towards the door. Kelly, on the other hand, shut the
door, locked it, put the key in his pocket and leaned his back against
the panels. Wogan affected to see nothing of these actions, but spoke
in a tone of dignity like a man taking his leave.
'Such insults as you are pleased to confer on me,' said he, 'no doubt
I deserve, and I take them in all Christian meekness. But when my
ancestor Thomas Wogan, God rest his soul for ever and ever, rode with
twenty-eight Cavaliers from Dover to Scotland through the thick of his
bloodthirsty foes to carry the succour of his presence to the friends
of his blessed Majesty of sacred memory King Charles the Second, it
was not, I'd have you know, Mr. Kelly, in order that his name should
be bespattered after he was dead by a snuffling long-legged
surreptitious gawk of a parson who was kicked out of his Dublin pulpit
with every circumstance of ignominy because his intellect didn't
enable him to compose a homily.'
At this point Wogan drew a long breath, which he sorely needed. It was
not at all truth that he had spoken, as he knew--none better. The
Parson was indeed stripped of his gown because he preached a very fine
homily on the text of 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,'
wherein he mingled many timely and ingenious allusions to the
Chevalier. Nor was there any particular force in that epithet
'surreptitious,' beyond that it had an abusive twang. Yet it was just
that word at which Mr. Kelly took offence.
'Surreptitious,' said he, 'and if you please what is the meaning of
that?'
And then surveying Wogan, he began of a sudden to smile.
'Ta-ta-ta,' he said with a grimace.
'It is a pretty though an interjectional wit,' replied Wogan in a high
disdain, falling upon long words, as was his fashion on the rare
occasions when he cloaked himself with dignity.
'Faith,' continued George, with the smile broadening over his face,
'but it is indeed the very picture of Christian meekness,' and then,
breaking into a laugh, 'Will you sit down, you noisy firebrand. As for
Thomas Wogan--be damned to him and to all his twenty-eight Cavaliers
into the bargain!'
Mr. Wogan will never deny but what the man's laugh was irresistible,
for the Parson's features wore in repose something of clerkly look.
They were cast in a mould of Episcopal gravity; but when he laughed
his blue eyes would lighten at you like the sun from a bank of clouds,
and the whole face of him wrinkled and creased into smiles, and his
mouth shook a great rumbling laugh out of his throat, and then of a
sudden you had come into the company of a jolly man. Wogan put his hat
on the table and struggled to preserve his countenance from any
expression of friendliness.
'It is the common talk at the Cocoa Tree that you sailed from Cadiz.
It is thought that you were one of the remnant at Glenshiel. Oh, the
rumour of your whereabouts has marched before you, and that you might
have guessed. But see what it is to know no Virgil, and,' shaking a
minatory finger,
'Fama, malum quo non aliud velocius ullum.'
Mr. Wogan bowed before Latin like a sapling before the wind. He seated
himself as he was bid.
'And you must needs come parading your monstrous person through the
thick of London, like any fashionable gentleman,' continued George.
'What am I to do with you? Why couldn't you lie quiet in a village and
send me news of you? Did you meet any of your acquaintance by chance
when you came visiting your friend Mr. Kelly? Perhaps you passed the
time of day with Mr. Walpole--' and as he spoke the name he stopped
abruptly. He walked once or twice across the room, shifting his peruke
from one side of his head to the other in the fluster of his thoughts.
Then he paused before Wogan.
'Oh, what am I to do with you?' he cried. 'Tell me that, if you
please.' But the moment Wogan began,
'Sure, George, it's not you that I will be troubling for my
security'--Kelly cut in again:
'Oh, if you have nothing better to say than that, you say nothing at
all. It is dribbling baby's talk,' and then he repeated a question
earnestly. 'Did you see anyone you knew, or rather did anyone that
knows you see you?'
'Why,' replied Wogan meekly, 'I cannot quite tell whether he knows me
or not, but to be sure I ran into the arms of Captain Montague not
half a dozen yards from the corner of Ryder Street.'
'Montague!' exclaimed Kelly. Wogan nodded.
'The man who fought against you at Preston siege?'
'The same.'
''Tis a pity you were at so much pains to save his life in that
scuffle.'
'Haven't I been thinking that myself?' asked Wogan. 'If only I had
left him lying outside the barricades, where he would have been surely
killed by the cross-fire, instead of running out and dragging him in!
But it is ever the way. Once do a thoroughly good-natured action and
you will find it's the thorn in your side that will turn and sting
you. But I am not sure that he knew me,' and he related how the
Captain had stopped with an air of perplexed recollection, and had
then gone on his way. Kelly listened to the account with a certain
relief.
'It is likely that he would not remember you. For one thing, he was
wounded when you carried him in, and perhaps gave little heed to the
features of his preserver. Moreover, you have changed, Nick, in these
years. You were a stripling then, a boy of fifteen, and,' here he
smiled and laid a hand on Wogan's shoulder, 'you have grown into a
baby in four years.'
Then he took another turn across the room. 'Well, and why not?' he
said to himself, and finally brought his fist with a bang upon the
table. 'I'll hazard it,' said he. 'I am not sure but what it is the
safest way,' and, drawing a chair close to Wogan, he sat himself down.
'It was the mention of Mr. Walpole set me on the plan,' he said. 'You
heard in Paris that Lady Oxford is a kinsman of his. Well, I go down
to Lord Oxford's in two days. It is a remote village in the north of
Herefordshire. You shall come with me as my secretary. 'Faith, but I
shall figure in my lord's eyes as a person of the greatest
importance.'
Mr. Wogan resisted the proposal as being of some risk to his friend,
but Kelly would hear of no argument. The plan grew on him, the more he
thought of it. 'You can lie snug here for the two days. Mrs. Barnes is
to be trusted, devil a doubt. You can travel down with me in safety. I
am plain Mr. Johnson here, engaged in smuggling laces from the
Continent into England. And once out of London there will be little
difficulty in shipping you out of the country until the affair's blown
over.'
So it was arranged, and Kelly, looking at his watch, says--
'By my soul, I am late. I should have been with my Lord of Rochester
half-an-hour since. The good Bishop will be swearing like a dragoon.'
He clapped his hat on his head, took up his cane, and marched to the
door. His hand was on the knob, when he turned.
'By the way, Nick, I have something which belongs to you. 'Twas sent
to my lodging in Paris by mistake. I brought it over, since I was sure
to set eyes on you shortly.'
'Ah,' said Nick. 'Then you expected me, for all your scolding and
bullying.'
'To speak the honest truth, Nick,' said Kelly, with a laugh, 'I have
been expecting you all the last week.'
He went into his bedroom, and brought out the strong-box which Wogan
had purchased in Paris.
'Sure there was no mistake,' said Wogan. 'I sent it to you as a reward
for your discretion.'
'Oh, you did. Well, you wasted your money, for I have no need for it.'
'Nor I,' replied Wogan. 'But it has a very good lock, and will serve
to hold your love-letters.'
Kelly laughed carelessly at the careless words, and laid the box aside
upon his scrutore. Many a time in the months that followed Wogan saw
it there, and the sight of it would waken him to a laugh, for he did
not know that a man's liberty, his honour, his love, came shortly to
be locked within its narrow space.