AT THE CHARGE.
Strenuous vitality, strong pulse, thick skin, tough bone, and steadfast
brain, all elements of force and fortitude, were united in this Dr. Fox;
and being thus endowed, and with ready money too, he felt more of anger
than of fear, when a quarrel was thrust upon him. While he waited alone
for the schoolmaster, he struck Mr. Penniloe's best dining-table with a
heavy fist that made the dishes ring, and the new-fashioned candles
throw spots of grease upon the coarse white diaper. Then he laughed at
himself, and put a calm face on, as he heard the strong steps in the
passage.
"Sit here, Mr. Jakes," he said, pointing to a chair, as the Sergeant
offered him a stiff salute. "Mrs. Muggridge, you had better leave the
room. This is not a nice matter for ladies. Now Sergeant, what is all
this rotten stuff about me?"
"Not about you, sir, I hope with all my heart."
Mr. Jakes met the young man's flashing eyes, with a gaze that
replied--"You don't scare me," and drew his chair close enough to study
every feature. If the young man was full of wrath, so was the old
man--implacable wrath, at the outrage to his Colonel.
"Well, tell your pack of lies"--Fox was driven beyond himself, by the
other's suspicious scrutiny--"oh, I beg your pardon, you believe them
true, of course. But out with your stuff, like a man, sir!"
"It is your place to prove it a pack of lies;" said the old man, with
his shaggy eyebrows rigid as a line of British bayonets; "and if you
can't, by the God who made me, I'll run my old sword through your
heart."
"Rather hard upon me. Not got it here, I hope. Half an hour for
repentance, while you fetch it out of some cheese-toasting rack. A nice
man to teach the youth of Perlycross! What a fool you are, Jakes! But
that you can't help. Even a fool though may try to be fair. During your
long time in the wars, were you ever accused wrongfully, my friend?"
"Yes, sir, a score of times. And I like your spirit. If you did what
they say of you, you would be a cur. Every evil name you call me makes
me think the better of you."
"I will call you no more; for I want no favour. All I want is truth
about this cursed outrage. Am I to wait all night for it? Now just tell
your tale, as if your were sitting at the _Ivy-bush_. You have been in
command of men, no doubt--just command yourself."
"That I will," said the veteran with an upward glance--"not like the
_Ivy-bush_, but as before the Lord. Sir, I will command myself, as you
recommend; and perhaps you would be none the worse, for taking your own
medicine."
"Jakes, you are right. It is enough to turn me savage. But you shall not
hear me speak again, until you have finished."
"It was just like this, sir," began the Sergeant, looking round for a
glass, by force of habit, and then ashamed of himself for such a thought
just now; "everybody in this parish knows how much I thought of Colonel
Waldron; for a better and a braver man never trod this earth. Even
Parson Penniloe will have to stand behind him, when the last muster
cometh; because he hath not served his country. But I never was
satisfied with any of you doctors. You may be very well in your way, Mr.
Fox, for toothing, or measles, or any young complaint; but where is your
experience in times of peace? And as for that hang-dog looking chap from
London--well, I won't say what I thought of him; for I always keep my
own opinions to myself. But I knew it was all over with our poor
Colonel, the moment I clapped eyes on that fellow. Why, I went myself at
once, and begged the Colonel to have him drummed out of the parish to
the rogue's tattoo. But the good Colonel only laughed, and shook my
hand--the last time it was, sir, the very last time.
"You were at the funeral, and there never was a truer one. I was proud
to my heart, though it felt like lead, to see three old Officers come
from miles away, brave men as ever led a storming column, with tears in
their eyes, and not a thought of their own ends. There was no
firing-party as should have been, being nothing but peace going on
nowadays, and only country bumpkins about here. But I see you are
impatient; because you know all that.
"As soon as all were gone away, and the ground put tidy, I brought a few
of my own white flowers, as they do in Spanish land, and put them in
very carefully with a bit of moss below them, and fastened them so as
not to blow away, although there was a strong east wind up. Later on at
night, I came again by the little wicket from the schoolroom, just to
see that all was right; for my mind was uneasy somehow.
"The moon was going low, and it was getting very cold, and not a soul
about, that I could see. The flowers showed bright, at the head of the
mound; and close by was a little guardian--the Colonel's pet dog, that
could never bear to leave him--she was lying there all in the cold by
herself, sobbing every now and then, or as it were bewailing, with her
chin along the ground, as if her heart was broken. It struck me so sad,
that I could look at her no more.
"In the morning I slept past the usual time, being up so late, and out
of spirits. But I saw the white frost on the ground, and I had a few
boys to correct before school began, and then lessons to see to till
twelve o'clock; and it must have been turned the half hour, when I went
to Churchyard again, to see how my flowers had stood the frost. I had
brought a bit of victuals in my pocket, for the dog; but little _Jess_
was gone; and I could not blame her, considering how easily a man
forgets his dog; and yet I was vexed with her, for being so like us; for
the poor things have no religion, such as we make smooth with. My
flowers were there; but not exactly as I thought I had put them; and the
bank appeared to me to be made up sharper.
"Well, Mr. Fox, I am not one of them that notice little things upon the
earth so much, (as if there was never any sky above them,) and make more
fuss about a blade of grass, than the nature of men and good metal. I
thought that old Channing had been at work again, not satisfied with his
understrapper's job. Then I drew forth my flowers; and they looked
almost, as if they had been tossed about the yard--crumpled almost
anyhow, as well as scorched with frost.
"At this, I was angry, when I thought how kind the poor Colonel had been
to that old stick of a clerk, and even let him muck up their liveries;
and so I set off for the old man's cottage, to have a word or two with
him, about it. But he was not at home; and little Polly, his
grand-daughter, was sure that he had not been near the church that day,
but was gone to help dig Farmer John's potatoes.
"Then back I went again, in a terrible quandary, remembering the wicked
doings up the country, and the things that had come across my fancy in
the night.
"The first thing I saw, when I came back by south-gate, was a young man,
red in the face, and out of breath, jumping, in and out, over graves and
tombstones, from the west end, where the contractor's work is. 'What are
you doing, Bob?' said I, rebuking of him pretty strongly; for I saw that
it was one of my old boys, now become a trusty sort of groom at
Walderscourt.
"'Sergeant, what have you been doing here?' says he 'Our little _Jess_
has just come home, with one leg cut in two.'
"All my blood seemed to stand still, and I should have dropped, if I
hadn't laid hold of that very tombstone, which the Parson can't endure.
The whole of it flashed upon me, in a moment; and a fool I must have
been not to see it all before. But wicked as our men were, and wicked I
myself was--as I will not deny it, in the rough-and-tumble times--such a
blackguard dastard crime was out of my conception. Considering who the
Colonel was; considering what he was, sir!"
The Sergeant turned away his face, and desired to snuff the candles. No
snuffers were there, for this new invention was warranted not to want
them. So he fumbled with his empty sleeve; but it would not come up to
order; and then he turned back, as if brought to bay, and reckless of
public opinion; with his best new handkerchief in his hand--a piece of
cotton goods imprinted with the Union-Jack in colours.
"My friend, you are a noble fellow," said Fox, with his own wrongs out
of date, in the movement of large feeling. "Would to God, that I had any
one as true to me, as you are!"
"It is not that," resumed the Sergeant, trying to look stern again. "It
is the cursed cruelty, that makes me hate mankind, sir. That a man
should kill a poor dumb thing, because it loved its master--there,
there, the Almighty will smite the brute; for all helpless things belong
to Him.
"Well, sir, I hardly know what happened next, or what I said to Bob
Cornish. But he went round the wall, to fetch his horse; and the news
must have spread, like wildfire. A young man, who had helped to make up
the grave, was going to his dinner through the Churchyard; and seeing us
there, he came and looked, and turned like a ghost, and followed us.
Presently we were in the street, with half the village after us, going
to the chief Churchwarden's house; for we knew how ill the Parson was.
At the cross-roads, we met Farmer John, and old Clerk Channing along of
him, looking doiled as bad as we were, and between them the blacksmith
from Susscot ford; and a terrible tale we had from them.
"Farmer John, as the head of the parish now, took the lead; and well he
did it. We went back by the big iron gate, and there we kept the
outsiders back; and Mr. Adney was as good with his, who were working
near the tower. I was ordered to the eastern end, where the stone stile
leads into Perlycombe lane, by which the villains must have got in; with
no house there in view of it, but only the tumble-down Abbey. Somebody
was sent for my old sword, that I knocked away from the French officer,
and now hangeth over the Commandments; and I swore that I would slash
off any hand, that was laid on the edge of the riser; while Adney
brought a pile of scaffold-cords, and enclosed all the likelihood of
footprints.
"By this time the other Churchwarden was come, and they all put their
heads together, and asked what my opinion was; and I said--'Make no
bones of it.' But they had done a wiser thing than that, with an eye to
the law, and the penalties. They had sent Bob Cornish on the fast young
horse, the Colonel thought so much of, to fetch the nearest Justice of
the Peace, from his house this side of Perliton. Squire Mockham came, as
strong as he could ride, with his mind made up about it; and four
digging men were set to work at once. Squire Mockham was as sharp about
it, as if he had just had the lid taken off of him, by death of superior
officer; and I, who had seen him on the Bench knock under, to half a
wink from the Colonel's eye, was vexed with the dignity he took over, by
reason of being survivor.
"Clerk Channing will tell you more about the condition of things
underground, for I never made them my study; though I have helped to
bury a many brave men, in the rough, both French and English. My
business it was to keep people away; and while I was putting a stern
face on, and looking fit to kill any of the bumpkins, the Lord knows I
could never have touched them, for my blood was as cold as snow-water.
And when they sang up--'No Colonel here!' just as if it made no
difference--I dropped the French sword, and my flesh clave to my bones,
the same as it did to King David. And ever since that, I have been fit
for Bedlam; and the boys may stand and make mouths at me."
"I can understand that," said Dr. Fox, with his medical instincts
moving--generously, as they always do with a man worthy of that high
calling--"Jakes, you are in a depressed condition; and this exertion has
made it worse. What you want is a course of carminatives. I will send
you a bottle this very night. No more excitement for you at present. Lay
aside all thought of this sad matter."
"As if I could, sir; as if I could!"
"No, I am a fool for suggesting that. But think of it, as little as you
can. Above all things, go in for more physical exertion. Cane
half-a-dozen boys, before breakfast."
"There's a dozen and a half, sir, that have been neglected sadly."
"That will be a noble tonic. Making mouths at Sergeant Jakes! You look
better already, at the thought of doing duty, and restoring discipline."
"Talk about duty, sir! Where was I? Oh, if I had only gone out again; if
I had only gone out again, instead of turning into my bed, like a
sluggard! I shall never forgive myself for that."
"You would just have been killed; as poor _Jess_ was. Such scoundrels
think nothing of adding murder to a crime still worse. But before you go
home--which is the best thing you can do, and have a dish of hot kidneys
from your brother's shop--one thing I must ask; and you must answer.
What lunatic has dared to say, that I had anything to do with this?"
"The whole parish is lunatic; if it comes to that, sir."
"And all the world, sometimes. But who began it? Jakes, you are a just
man; or you could not be so loyal. Is it fair, to keep me in the dark,
about the black things they are saying of me?"
"Sir, it is not. And I will tell you all I know; whatever enemies I may
make. When a thing flares about, you can seldom lay your hand on the
man, or the woman, who fired the train. It was Crang, the shoeing smith
at Susscot ford, who first brought your name into it."
"Crang is an honest, and a simple-minded man. He would never speak
against me, of his own will. He has been most grateful for what I did,
when his little girl had scarlet fever. How could he have started this
cursed tale?"
"From the evidence of his own eyes, sir; according at least to his use
of them."
"Tell me what he saw, or thought he saw. He is not the man to tell a
lie. Whatever he said, he believed in."
Fox spoke without any anger now; for this could be no scheme of his
enemies.
"You are wonderful fair, sir;" said Sergeant Jakes. "You deserve to
have all above board; and you shall have it."
Tired as he was, and beginning to feel poorly at the threat of medicine,
the old soldier told the blacksmith's tale, with as few variations as
can contrive to keep themselves out of a repetition. Fox began to see
that the case was not by any means so easy, as he first supposed. Here
was evidence direct against him, from an impartial witness; a tale
coherent, and confirmed by facts independent of it, a motive easily
assigned; and the public eager to accept it, after recent horrors. But
he was young, and warm of faith in friendship, candour, and good-will;
or (if the worst should come to the worst) in absolute pure justice.
"It will not take long to put this to rights," he said, when the
Sergeant had finished his account. "No one can really have believed it,
except that blockhead of a blacksmith. He was in a blue funk all the
time, and no need to be ashamed of it. There are two people I must see
to-night--Mr. Mockham, and that Joe Crang himself. I shall borrow a
horse from Walter Haddon; my young mare has had enough of it. I shall
see how the Parson looks before I go. Now go to bed, Sergeant, as I told
you. To-morrow you will find all the wiseacres saying, what fools they
have made of one another."
But the veteran shook his head, and said, "If a cat has nine lives, sir;
a lie has ninety-nine."