AND OLD SIR JOHN
Sir John Bristol! There, gentlemen, was a brave, honest man! A man of
spirit and of a humour! If you crossed him, if you toyed with him, his
mirth was rough, his hand was hard, he was relentless as iron. But for
a man who stood his ground and fought a bold fight and met squarely the
old man's eyes, there was nothing Sir John would not do.
After all his weary travels by land and sea, Philip Marsham had at last
come back to find a man whom he had seen but once and for a brief time.
Yet in that man he had such complete confidence as he had never had in
any other, and since Jamie Barwick had left the man's service and taken
the inn--who knew?
Striding over the same rolling country road that he had tramped with
Martin long before, and coming soon to the park, he skirted it and
pressed on, keeping meanwhile his eyes and wits about him, until
he perceived a gate and a porter's lodge. He went to the gate and
finding it ajar slipped through and made haste up a long avenue with
overarching trees. A man from the lodge came out and angrily called
after the intruder, but Phil never looked back. The avenue turned to
the left and he saw at a distance the great house; he was of no mind to
suffer hindrance or delay.
The sunset sky threw long, still shadows across the grass, and
countless wandering branches of ivy lay like a dark drapery upon the
grey walls of the old house. A huge dog came bounding and roaring down
the avenue, but when the lad smiled without fear and reached a friendly
hand toward him, the beast stopped clamouring and came quietly to heel.
Lights shone from the windows and softly on the still evening air the
thin, sweet music of a virginal stole over the broad terraces and lawns.
The clamour of the dog, it seemed, had attracted the attention of those
within, for a grey-haired servant met the stranger in the door. He
stood there suspiciously, forbiddingly, and with a cold stare searched
the young man from head to heel.
"I would have speech of Sir John Bristol," said Phil.
The servant frowned. "Nay, you have blundered," he replied haughtily.
"The servants' hall--"
"I said Sir John."
"Sir John? It is--ahem!--impossible."
"I said Sir John."
The servant moved as if to shut the door.
"Come," said Phil quietly, "enough of that! I will have speech of Sir
John Bristol."
For a moment the servant hesitated, then from within a great voice
cried, "Come, Cobden, what's afoot?"
In haughty disapproval of the lad without, the servant turned his back,
but to the man within he spoke with deference, as if apologizing. "Yea,
Sir John. The fellow is insistent, but I shall soon have him off."
"Go, Cobden. Leave him to me."
The servant moved away and disappeared.
The virginalling had ceased, and on the lawns and the avenue and the
park, which stretched away into the dark valley, a deep silence had
come with the twilight. The sun had set and the long shadows across
the grass were lost in the greater shadow of evening. As the world
without had grown darker, the lights within seemed to have grown
brighter.
"Come, fellow, come into the hall. So! Have I not seen thee before?"
"Yea, Sir John."
"Ha! I can remember faces. Aye, there are few that escape me. Let us
consider. Why, on my life! This is the lad that gave Barwick such a
tumbling that the fellow walked lame for a month. Speak up! Have I not
placed thee right?"
"Though I was faint for want of food, I was quicker on my feet than he."
The old man laughed until his brave curls shook.
"In faith, and it is said with moderation. And what now, lad? What hath
brought thee hither?"
"Since Barwick hath left your service--"
"That he hath, that he hath!"
"It seemed there might be a place for a keeper."
"For a keeper? Ha, ha, ha! Nay, th' art too spirited a lad to waste
away as keeper. Mark my word, lad, the King will shortly have need for
such courageous gallants as thou. Unless I mistake thy spirit, we shall
soon see thee riding among the foremost when we chase these dogs of
Roundheads into the King's kennels and slit their noses and prick their
ears as a warning to all of weak mind and base spirit."
"I have a taste for such sport, and God knows I am the King's man."
"Good, say I!" Sir John's clear eyes searched the frank eyes of the
lad, and the old man was pleased with what he found. "Come, the cook
shall fill thy belly and Cobden shall find thee a bed. Cobden! Cobden,
I say!"
"Yea, Sir John."
"Make place for this good fellow in the servants' hall and see that he
hath all that he can eat and drink."
"Yea, Sir John."
"But stay a moment. Thy name, fellow."
"Philip Marsham."
"Philip Marsham?" The heavy brows knotted and Sir John spoke musingly.
"Philip Marsham! I once knew a man of that name."
Silence fell upon the hall. Grey Cobden stood a little behind his
master, and when Phil looked past Sir John he saw standing in a door
the tall, quiet girl he had seen with the old knight that day in the
wood so long since. Doubtless it was she who had played upon the
virginal. Her dark eyes and fine dignity wove a spell around the lad--a
spell of the magic that has come down from the beginning of time--the
magic that is always young.
Take such spells, such magic, as lightly as you please; yet they have
overturned kingdoms and not once, but many times, have they launched a
thousand ships.
"Did you ever hear of Dr. Marsham of Little Grimsby?" Sir John asked,
and he watched the lad very closely.
"Yea."
"And what have you heard of him?"
"He is my grandfather."
"So!" The old knight stepped back and bent his brows. "Verily," he
said, "I believe the lad hath spoken truth. Go, Cobden. There is no
place in the hall for this lad."
The servant departed and the girl stepped nearer.
"Your father's name?" Sir John said.
"My father's name was Thomas Marsham."
"Doubtless he bred you to the sea."
"He did."
"He broke the hearts of his father and his mother."
Phil stood silent in the hall and looked Sir John in the eye. Since
there seemed to be no reply, he waited for the knight to speak again.
"Tom Marsham's father and mother are dead, but within the year, lad,
they stood where you are standing now. It was the last time I saw them."
What could a young man say? Phil Marsham remembered well the one time
he had himself seen them. Who knew what might have happened had he
spoken? But the chance was gone, and for ever.
"There is no place for Philip Marsham in my servants' hall," said Sir
John. "His father--but no! Let the dead lie. There is no place for
Philip Marsham in my servants' hall. Under my roof he is my guest."