Peregrine is overtaken by Mr. Gauntlet, with whom he fights a Duel, and
contracts an intimate Friendship--He arrives at the Garrison, and finds
his Mother as implacable as ever--He is insulted by his Brother Gam,
whose Preceptor he disciplines with a Horsewhip.
In order to expel the melancholy images that took possession of his
fancy, at parting from his mistress, he called in the flattering ideas
of those pleasures he expected to enjoy in France; and before he had
rode ten miles, his imagination was effectually amused. While he thus
prosecuted his travels by anticipation, and indulged himself in all
the insolence of hope, at the turning of a lane he was all of a sudden
overtaken by Emilia's brother on horseback, who told him he was riding
the same way, and should be glad of his company. This young gentleman,
whether prompted by personal pique, or actuated with zeal for the honour
of his family, had followed our hero, with the view of obliging him to
explain the nature of his attachment to his sister.
Peregrine returned his compliment with such disdainful civility as gave
him room to believe that he suspected his errand; and therefore, without
further preamble, he declared his business in these words: “Mr. Pickle,
you have carried on a correspondence with my sister for some time, and
I should be glad to know the nature of it.” To this question our lover
replied, “Sir, I should be glad to know what title you have to demand
that satisfaction?”--“Sir,” answered the other, “I demand it in the
capacity of a brother, jealous of his own honour, as well as of his
sister's reputation; and if your intentions are honourable, you will
not refuse it.”--“Sir,” said Peregrine, “I am not at present disposed to
appeal to your opinion for the rectitude of my intentions: and I think
you assume a little too much importance, in pretending to judge my
conduct.”--“Sir,” replied the soldier, “I pretend to judge the conduct
of every man who interferes with my concerns, and even to chastise
him, if I think he acts amiss.”--“Chastise!” cried the youth, with
indignation in his looks, “sure you dare not apply that term to
me?”--“You are mistaken,” said Godfrey; “I dare do anything that becomes
the character of a gentleman.”--“Gentleman, God wot!” replied the other,
looking contemptuously at his equipage, which was none of the most
superb, “a very pretty gentleman, truly!”
The soldier's wrath was inflamed by this ironical repetition, the
contempt of which his conscious poverty made him feel; and he called his
antagonist presumptuous boy, insolent upstart, and with other epithets,
which Perry retorted with great bitterness. A formal challenge having
passed between them, they alighted at the first inn, and walked into
the next field, in order to decide their quarrel by the sword. Having
pitched upon the spot, helped to pull off each other's boots, and laid
aside their coats and waistcoats, Mr. Gauntlet told his opponent, that
he himself was looked upon in the army as an expert swordsman, and
that if Mr. Pickle had not made that science his particular study, they
should be upon a more equal footing in using pistols. Peregrine was too
much incensed to thank him for his plain dealing, and too confident
of his own skill to relish the other's proposal, which he accordingly
rejected: then, drawing his sword, he observed, that were he to treat
Mr. Gauntlet according to his deserts, he would order his man to punish
his audacity with a horsewhip. Exasperated at this expression, which he
considered as an indelible affront, he made no reply, but attacked his
adversary with equal ferocity and address. The youth parried his
first and second thrust, but received the third in the outside of his
sword-arm. Though the wound was superficial, he was transported with
rage at sight of his own blood, and returned the assault with such
fury and precipitation, that Gauntlet, loath to take advantage of
his unguarded heat, stood upon the defensive. In the second lounge,
Peregrine's weapon entering a kind of network in the shell of Godfrey's
sword, the blade snapped in two, and left him at the mercy of the
soldier, who, far from making an insolent use of the victory he had
gained, put up his Toledo with great deliberation, like a man who had
been used to that kind of reencounters, and observed that such a blade
as Peregrine's was not to be trusted with a man's life: then advising
the owner to treat a gentleman in distress with more respect for the
future, he slipped on his boots, and with sullen dignity of demeanour
stalked back to the inn.
Though Pickle was extremely mortified at his miscarriage in this
adventure, he was also struck with the behaviour of his antagonist,
which affected him the more, as he understood that Godfrey's fierte had
proceeded from the jealous sensibility of a gentleman declined into the
vale of misfortune. Gauntlet's valour and moderation induced him to
put a favourable construction on all those circumstances of that young
soldier's conduct, which before had given him disgust. Though in any
other case he would have industriously avoided the least appearance of
submission, he followed his conqueror to the inn with a view of thanking
him for his generous forbearance, and of soliciting his friendship and
correspondence.
Godfrey had his foot in the stirrup to mount, when Peregrine, coming up
to him, desired he would defer his departure for a quarter of an hour,
and favour him with a little private conversation. The soldier, who
mistook the meaning of the request, immediately quitted his horse, and
followed Pickle into a chamber, where he expected to find a brace of
pistols loaded on the table: but he was very agreeably deceived,
when our hero, in the most respectful terms, acknowledged his noble
deportment in the field, owned that till then he had misunderstood his
character, and begged that he would honour him with his intimacy and
correspondence.
Gauntlet, who had seen undoubted proofs of Peregrine's courage, which
had considerably raised him in his esteem, and had sense enough to
perceive that this concession was not owing to any sordid or sinister
motive, embraced his offer with demonstrations of infinite satisfaction.
When he understood the terms on which Mr. Pickle was with his sister,
he proffered his service in his turn, either as agent, mediator, or
confidant: nay, to give this new friend a convincing proof of his
sincerity, he disclosed to him a passion which he had for some time
entertained for his cousin Miss Sophy, though he durst not reveal his
sentiments to her father, lest he should be offended at his presumption,
and withdraw his protection from the family.
Peregrine's generous heart was wrung with anguish, when he understood
that this young gentleman, who was the only son of a distinguished
officer, had carried arms for the space of five years, without being
able to obtain a subaltern's commission, though he always had behaved
with remarkable regularity and spirit, and, acquired the friendship and
esteem of all the officers under whom he had served. He would, at that
time, with the utmost pleasure, have shared his finances with him; but
as he would not run the risk of offending the young soldier's delicacy
of honour by a premature exertion of his liberality, he resolved to
insinuate himself into an intimacy with him, before he would venture to
take such freedoms; and with that view pressed Mr. Gauntlet to accompany
him to the garrison, where he did not doubt of having influence enough
to make him a welcome guest. Godfrey thanked him very courteously for
his invitation, which he said he could not immediately accept; but
promised, if he would favour him with a letter, and fix the time at
which he proposed to set out for France, he would endeavour to visit
him at the commodore's habitation, and from thence give him a convoy to
Dover. This new treaty being settled, and a dossil of lint, with a
snip of plaster, applied to our adventurer's wound, he parted from the
brother of his dear Emilia, to whom and his friend Sophy he sent his
kindest wishes; and having lodged one night upon the road, arrived next
day in the afternoon at the garrison, where he found all his friends in
good health, and overjoyed at his return.
The commodore, who was by this time turned of seventy, and altogether
crippled by the gout, seldom went abroad; and as his conversation was
not very entertaining, had but little company within doors; so that his
spirits must have quite stagnated, had not they been kept in motion
by the conversation of Hatchway, and received at different times a
wholesome fillip from the discipline of his spouse, who, by the force of
pride, religion, and Cognac, had erected a most terrible tyranny in the
house. There was such a quick circulation of domestics in the family,
that every suit of livery had been worn by figures of all dimensions.
Trunnion himself had long before this time yielded to the torrent of her
arbitrary sway, though not without divers obstinate efforts to maintain
his liberty; and now, that he was disabled by his infirmities, when
he used to bear his empress singing the loud Orthyan song among the
servants below, he would often in whispers communicate to the lieutenant
hints of what he would do if so be as how he was not deprived of the use
of his precious limbs. Hatchway was the only person whom the temper of
Mrs. Trunnion respected, either because she dreaded his ridicule, or
looked upon his person with eyes of affection. This being the situation
of things in the garrison, it is not to be doubted that the old
gentleman highly enjoyed the presence of Peregrine, who found means to
ingratiate himself so effectually with his aunt, that while he remained
at home, she seemed to have exchanged the disposition of a tigress for
that of a gentle kid; but he found his own mother as implacable, and his
father as much henpecked, as ever.
Gamaliel, who now very seldom enjoyed the conversation of his old friend
the commodore, had some time ago entered into an amicable society,
consisting of the barber, apothecary, attorney, and exciseman of the
parish, among whom he used to spend the evening at Tunley's, and listen
to their disputes upon philosophy and politics with great comfort and
edification, while his sovereign lady domineered at home as usual,
visited with pomp in the neighbourhood, and employed her chief care in
the education of her darling son Gam, who was now in the fifteenth year
of his age, and so remarkable for his perverse disposition, that, in
spite of his mother's influence and authority, he was not only hated,
but also despised, both at home and abroad. She had put him under the
tuition of the curate, who lived in the family, and was obliged to
attend him in all his exercises and excursions. This governor was a
low-bred fellow, who had neither experience nor ingenuity, but possessed
a large fund of adulation and servile complaisance, by which he had
gained the good graces of Mrs. Pickle, and presided over all her
deliberations in the same manner as his superior managed those of Mrs.
Trunnion.
He had one day rode out to take the air with his pupil, who, as I have
already observed, was odious to the poor people, for having killed
their dogs and broken their inclosures, and, on account of his hump,
distinguished by the title of My Lord, when in a narrow lane they
chanced to meet Peregrine on horseback. The young squire no sooner
perceived his elder brother, for whom he had been instructed to
entertain the most inveterate grudge, than he resolved to insult him en
passant, and actually rode against him from gallop. Our hero, guessing
his aim, fixed himself in his stirrups, and by a dexterous management
of the reins avoided the shock in such a manner as that their legs only
should encounter; by which means my lord was tilted out of his saddle,
and in a twinkling laid sprawling in the dirt. The governor, enraged at
the disgrace of his charge, advanced with great insolence and fury, and
struck at Peregrine with his whip. Nothing could be more agreeable
to our young gentleman than this assault, which furnished him with
an opportunity of chastising an officious wretch, whose petulance and
malice he had longed to punish. He therefore, spurring up his horse
towards his antagonist, overthrew him in the middle of a hedge. Before
he had time to recollect himself from the confusion of the fall, Pickle
alighted in a trice, and exercised his horsewhip with such agility about
the curate's face and ears, that he was fain to prostrate himself before
his enraged conqueror, and implore his forbearance in the most abject
terms. While Peregrine was thus employed, his brother Gam had made shift
to rise and attack him in the rear; for which reason, when the tutor was
quelled, the victor faced about, snatched the weapon out of his hand,
and having broken it to pieces, remounted his horse and rode off,
without deigning to honour him with any other notice.
The condition in which they returned produced infinite clamour against
the conqueror, who was represented as a ruffian who had lain in ambush
to make away with his brother, in whose defence the curate was said to
have received those cruel stripes that hindered him from appearing for
three whole weeks in the performance of his duty at church. Complaints
were made to the commodore, who, having inquired into the circumstances
of the affair, approved of what his nephew had done, adding, with many
oaths, that provided Peregrine had been out of the scrape, he wished
Crook-back had broken his neck in the fall.