Hornbeck is informed of his Wife's Adventure with Peregrine, for whom he
prepares a Stratagem, which is rendered ineffectual by the Information
of Pipes--The Husband is ducked for his Intention, and our Hero
apprehended by the Patrol.
There was another person, however, still ungained; and that was no other
than her footman, whose secrecy our hero attempted to secure in the
morning by a handsome present, which he received with many professions
of gratitude and devotion to his service; yet this complaisance was
nothing but a cloak used to disguise the design he harboured of making
his master acquainted with the whole transaction. Indeed this lacquey
had been hired, not only as a spy upon his mistress, but also as a check
on the conduct of the governante, with promise of ample reward if ever
he should discover any sinister or suspicious practices in the course of
her behaviour. As for the footman whom they had brought from England,
he was retained in attendance upon the person of his master, whose
confidence he had lost by advising him to gentle methods of reclaiming
his lady, when her irregularities had subjected her to his wrath.
The Flemish valet, in consequence of the office he had undertaken, wrote
to Hornbeck by the first post, giving an exact detail of the adventure
at Versailles, with such a description of the pretended brother as left
the husband no room to think he could be any other person than his first
dishonourer; and exasperated him to such a degree, that he resolved
to lay an ambush for this invader, and at once disqualify him from
disturbing his repose, by maintaining further correspondence with his
wife.
Meanwhile the lovers enjoyed themselves without restraint, and
Peregrine's plan of inquiry after his dear unknown was for the present
postponed. His fellow-travellers were confounded at his mysterious
motions, which filled the heart of Jolter with anxiety and terror.
This careful conductor was fraught with such experience of his pupil's
disposition, that he trembled with the apprehension of some sudden
accident, and lived in continual alarm, like a man that walks under the
wall of a nodding tower. Nor did he enjoy any alleviations of his fears,
when, upon telling the young gentleman that the rest of the company were
desirous of departing for Antwerp, he answered, they were at liberty to
consult their own inclinations; but, for his own part, he was resolved
to stay in Brussels a few days longer. By this declaration the governor
was confirmed in the opinion of his having some intrigue upon the anvil.
In the bitterness of his vexation, he took the liberty of signifying his
suspicion, and reminding him of the dangerous dilemmas to which he had
been reduced by his former precipitation.
Peregrine took his caution in good part, and promised to behave
with such circumspection as would screen him from any troublesome
consequences for the future: but, nevertheless, behaved that same
evening in such a manner as plainly showed that his prudence was nothing
else than vain speculation. He had made an appointment to spend the
night, as usual, with Mrs. Hornbeck; and about nine o'clock hastened to
her lodgings, when he was accosted in the street by his old discarded
friend Thomas Pipes, who, without any other preamble, told him, that for
all he had turned him adrift, he did not choose to see him run full
sail into his enemy's harbour, without giving him timely notice of the
danger. “I'll tell you what,” said he; “mayhap you think I want to curry
favour, that I may be taken in tow again; if you do, you have made a
mistake in your reckoning. I am old enough to be laid up, and have to
keep my planks from the weather. But this here is the affair: I have
known you since you were no higher than a marlinspike, and shouldn't
care to see you deprived of your rigging at these years; whereby I
am informed by Hornbeck's man, whom I this afternoon fell in with by
chance, as how his master has got intelligence of your boarding his
wife, and has steered privately into this port with a large complement
of hands, in order, d'ye see, to secure you while you are under the
hatches. Now, if so be as how you have a mind to give him a salt eel for
his supper, here am I, without hope of fee or reward, ready to stand
by you as long as my timbers will stick together: and if I expect any
recompense, may I be bound to eat oakum and drink bilge-water for life.”
Startled at this information, Peregrine examined him upon the
particulars of his discourse with the lacquey; and when he understood
that Hornbeck's intelligence flowed from the canal of his Flemish
footman, he believed every circumstance of Tom's report, thanked him for
his warning, and, after having reprimanded him for his misbehaviour at
Lisle, assured him that it should be his own fault if ever they should
part again. He then deliberated with himself whether or not he should
retort the purpose upon his adversary; but when he considered that
Hornbeck was not the aggressor, and made that unhappy husband's case his
own, he could not help quitting his intention of revenge; though, in his
opinion, it ought to have been executed in a more honourable manner, and
therefore he determined to chastise him for his want of spirit. Nothing
surely can be more insolent and unjust than this determination, which
induced him to punish a person for his want of courage to redress the
injury which he himself had done to his reputation and peace; and yet
this barbarity of decision is authorised by the opinion and practice of
mankind.
With these sentiments he returned to the inn, and, putting a pair of
pistols in his pocket, ordered his valet-de-chambre and Pipes to follow
him at a small distance, so as that they should be within call in
case of necessity, and then posted himself within thirty yards of his
dulcinea's door. There he had not been above half an hour, when he
perceived four men take their station on the other side, with a view, as
he guessed, to watch for his going in, that he might be taken unaware.
But when they had tarried a considerable time in that corner, without
reaping the fruits of their expectation, their leader, persuaded that
the gallant had gained admittance by some secret means, approached the
door with his followers, who, according to the instructions they had
received, no sooner saw it opened, than they rushed in, leaving their
employer in the street, where he thought his person would be least
endangered. Our adventurer, seeing him all alone, advanced with speed,
and clapping a pistol to his breast, commanded him to follow his
footsteps without noise, on pain of immediate death.
Terrified at this sudden apparition, Hornbeck obeyed in silence; and, in
a few minutes, they arrived at the quay, where Pickle, halting, gave
him to understand that he was no stranger to his villainous design; told
him, that if he conceived himself injured by any circumstance of his
conduct, he would now give him an opportunity of resenting the wrong in
a manner becoming a man of honour. “You have a sword about you,” said
he; “or, if you don't choose to put the affair on that issue, here is a
brace of pistols; take which you please.” Such an address could not fail
to disconcert a man of his character. After some hesitation, he, in a
faltering accent, denied that his design was to mutilate Mr. Pickle, but
that he thought himself entitled to the benefit of the law, by which he
would have obtained a divorce, if he could have procured evidence of his
wife's infidelity; and, with that view, he had employed people to
take advantage of the information he had received. With regard to this
alternative, he declined it entirely, because he could not see what
satisfaction he should enjoy in being shot through the head, or run
through the lungs, by a person who had already wronged him in an
irreparable manner. Lastly, his fear made him propose that the affair
should be left to the arbitration of two creditable men, altogether
unconcerned in the dispute.
To these remonstrances Peregrine replied, in the style of a hot-headed
young man, conscious of his own unjustifiable behaviour, that every
gentleman ought to be a judge of his own honour and therefore he would
submit to the decision of no umpire whatsoever; that he would forgive
his want of courage, which might be a natural infirmity, but his mean
dissimulation he could not pardon. That, as he was certified of the
rascally intent of his ambuscade by undoubted intelligence, he would
treat him, not with a retaliation of his own treachery, but with such
indignity as a scoundrel deserves to suffer, unless he would make one
effort to maintain the character he assumed in life. So saying, he again
presented his pistols, which being rejected as before, he called his two
ministers, and ordered them to duck him in the canal.
This command was pronounced and executed almost in the same breath, to
the unspeakable terror and disorder of the poor shivering patient, who,
having undergone the immersion, ran about like a drowned rat, squeaking
for assistance and revenge. His cries were overheard by the patrol,
who, chancing to pass that way, took him under their protection, and,
in consequence of his complaint and information, went in pursuit of our
adventurer and his attendants, who were soon overtaken and surrounded.
Rash and inconsiderate as the young gentleman was, he did not pretend
to stand upon the defensive against a file of musketeers, although Pipes
had drawn his cutlass at their approach, but surrendered himself without
opposition, and was conveyed to the main guard, where the commanding
officer, engaged by his appearance and address, treated him with all
imaginable respect. Hearing the particulars of his adventure, he assured
him that the prince would consider the whole as a tour de jeunesse, and
order him to be released without delay.
Next morning, when this gentleman gave in his report, he made such a
favourable representation of the prisoner, that our hero was on the
point of being discharged, when Hornbeck preferred a complaint, accusing
him of a purposed assassination, and praying that such punishment should
be inflicted upon him as his highness should think adequate to the
nature of the crime. The prince, perplexed with this petition, in
consequence of which he foresaw that he must disoblige a British
subject, sent for the plaintiff, of whom he had some knowledge, and, in
person, exhorted him to drop the prosecution, which would only serve to
propagate his own shame. But Hornbeck was too much incensed to listen to
any proposal of that kind, and peremptorily demanded justice against
the prisoner, whom he represented as an obscure adventurer, who had made
repeated attempts upon his honour and his life. Prince Charles told him,
that what he had advised was in the capacity of a friend; but, since he
insisted upon his acting as a magistrate, the affair should be examined,
and determined according to the dictates of justice and truth.
The petitioner being dismissed with this promise, the defendant was, in
his turn, brought before the judge, whose prepossession in his favour
was in a great measure weakened by what his antagonist had said to the
prejudice of his birth and reputation.