“Prithee, Kate, let's stand aside, and see the end of this controversy.”
_Shakspeare_.
During the warm discussions of the preceding chapter, Miss Howard had
bowed her pale face to the arm of the couch, and sat an unwilling and
distressed listener to the controversy; but now that another, and one
whom she thought an unauthorized, intruder on her privacy was announced,
she asserted the dignity of her sex as proudly, though with something
more of discretion, than her cousin could possibly have done. Rising
from her seat, she inquired:
“To what are we indebted for so unexpected a visit from Mr. Dillon?
Surely he must know that we are prohibited going to the part of the
dwelling where he resides, and I trust Colonel Howard will tell him that
common justice requires we should be permitted to be private.”
The gentleman replied, in a manner in which malignant anger was
sufficiently mingled with calculating humility:
“Miss Howard will think better of my intrusion, when she knows that I am
come on business of importance to her uncle.”
“Ah! that may alter the case, Kit; but the ladies must have the respect
that is due to their sex. I forgot, somehow, to have myself announced;
but that Borroughcliffe leads me deeper into my Madeira than I have been
accustomed to go, since the time when my poor brother Harry, with his
worthy friend, Hugh Griffith--the devil seize Hugh Griffith, and all
his race--your pardon, Miss Alice--what is your business with me, Mr.
Dillon?”
“I bear a message from Captain Borroughcliffe. You may remember that,
according to your suggestions, the sentinels were to be changed every
night, sir.”
“Ay! ay! we practised that in our campaign against Montcalm; 'twas
necessary to avoid the murders of their Indians, who were sure, Miss
Alice, to shoot down a man at his post, if he were placed two nights
running in the same place.”
“Well, sir, your prudent precautions have not been thrown away,”
continued Dillon, moving farther into the apartment, as if he felt
himself becoming a more welcome guest as he proceeded; “the consequences
are, that we have already made three prisoners.”
“Truly it has been a most politic scheme!” exclaimed Katherine Plowden,
with infinite contempt. “I suppose, as Mr. Christopher Dillon applauds
it so highly, that it has some communion with the law! and that the
redoubtable garrison of St. Ruth are about to reap the high glory of
being most successful thief-takers!”
The sallow face of Dillon actually became livid as he replied, and his
whole frame shook with the rage he vainly endeavored to suppress.
“There may be a closer communion with the law, and its ministers,
perhaps, than Miss Plowden can desire,” he said; “for rebellion seldom
finds favor in any Christian code.”
“Rebellion!” exclaimed the Colonel; “and what has this detention of
three vagabonds to do with rebellion, Kit? Has the damnable poison found
its way across the Atlantic?--your pardon--Miss Alice--but this is a
subject on which you can feel with me; I know your sentiments on the
allegiance that is due to our anointed sovereign. Speak, Mr. Dillon, are
we surrounded by another set of Demons! if so, we must give ourselves to
the work and rally round our prince; for this island is the main pillar
of his throne.”
“I cannot say that there is any appearance at present, of an intention
to rise in this island,” said Dillon, with demure gravity; “though the
riots in London warrant any precautionary measures on the part of his
majesty's ministers, even to a suspension of the habeas corpus. But you
have had your suspicions concerning two certain vessels that have
been threatening the coast, for several days past, in a most piratical
manner?”
The little foot of Katherine played rapidly on the splendid carpet,
but she contented herself with bestowing a glance of the most sovereign
contempt on the speaker, as if she disdained any further reply. With the
Colonel, however, this was touching a theme that lay nearest his heart,
and he answered, in a manner worthy of the importance of the subject:
“You speak like a sensible man, and a loyal subject, Mr. Dillon. The
habeas corpus, Miss Alice, was obtained in the reign of King John, along
with Magna Charta, for the security of the throne, by his majesty's
barons; some of my own blood were of the number, which alone would be a
pledge that the dignity of the crown was properly consulted. As to our
piratical countrymen, Christopher, there is much reason to think that
the vengeance of an offended Providence has already reached them. Those
who know the coast well tell me that without a better pilot than an
enemy would be likely to procure, it would be impossible for any vessel
to escape the shoals among which they entered, on a dark night, and with
an adverse gale; the morning has arrived, and they are not to be seen!”
“But be they friends or be they enemies, sir,” continued Dillon,
respectfully, “there is much reason to think that we have now in the
abbey those who can tell us something of their true character; for
the men we have detained carry with them the appearance of having just
landed, and wear not only the dress but the air of seamen.”
“Of seamen!” echoed Katherine, a deadly paleness chasing from her cheeks
the bloom which indignation had heightened.
“Of seamen, Miss Plowden,” repeated Dillon, with malignant satisfaction,
but concealing it under an air of submissive respect.
“I thank you, sir, for so gentle a term,” replied the young lady,
recollecting herself, and recovering her presence of mind in the same
instant; “the imagination of Mr. Dillon is so apt to conjure the worst,
that he is entitled to our praise for so far humoring our weakness, as
not to alarm us with the apprehensions of their being pirates.”
“Nay, madam, they may yet deserve that name,” returned the other,
coolly; “but my education has instructed me to hear the testimony before
I pronounce sentence.”
“Ah! that the boy has found in his Coke upon Littleton,” cried the
Colonel; “the law is a salutary corrective to human infirmities,
Miss Alice; and among other things, it teaches patience to a hasty
temperament. But for this cursed, unnatural rebellion, madam, the
young man would at this moment have been diffusing its blessings from a
judicial chair in one of the colonies--ay! and I pledge myself, to all
alike, black and white, red and yellow, with such proper distinctions as
nature has made between the officer and the private. Keep a good heart,
kinsman; we shall yet find a time! the royal arms have many hands and
things look better at the last advices. But come, we will proceed to
the guard-room and put these stragglers to the question; runaways,
I'll venture to predict, from one of his majesty's cruisers, or perhaps
honest subjects engaged in supplying the service with men. Come, Kit,
come, let us go, and----”
“Are we then to lose the company of Colonel Howard so soon?” said
Katherine, advancing to her guardian, with an air of blandishment and
pleasantry. “I know that he too soon forgets the hasty language of our
little disputes, to part in anger, if, indeed, he will even quit us till
he has tasted of our coffee.”
The veteran turned to the speaker of this unexpected address, and
listened with profound attention. When she had done, he replied, with a
good deal of softness in his tones:
“Ah! provoking one! you know me too well, to doubt my forgiveness; but
duty must be attended to, though even a young lady's smiles tempt me to
remain. Yes, yes, child, you, too, are the daughter of a very brave and
worthy seaman; but you carry your attachment to that profession too far,
Miss Plowden--you do, indeed you do.”
Katherine might have faintly blushed; but the slight smile, which
mingled with the expression of her shame, gave to her countenance a look
of additional archness, and she laid her hand lightly on the sleeve of
her guardian, to detain him, as she replied:
“Yet why leave us, Colonel Howard? It is long since we have seen you in
the cloisters, and you know you come as a father; tarry, and you may yet
add confessor to the title.”
“I know thy sins already, girl,” said the worthy colonel, unconsciously
yielding to her gentle efforts to lead him back to his seat; “they
are, deadly rebellion in your heart to your prince, a most inveterate
propensity to salt water, and a great disrespect to the advice and
wishes of an old fellow whom your father's will and the laws of the
realm have made the guardian of your person and fortune.”
“Nay, say not the last, dear sir,” cried Katherine; “for there is not a
syllable you have ever said to me on that foolish subject, that I have
forgotten. Will you resume your seat again? Cecilia, Colonel Howard
consents to take his coffee with us.”
“But you forget the three men, honest Kit there, and our respectable
guest, Captain Borroughcliffe.”
“Let honest Kit stay there, if he please; you may send a request to
Captain Borroughcliffe to join our party; I have a woman's curiosity to
see the soldier; and as for the three men--” she paused, and affected
to muse a moment, when she continued, as if struck by an obvious
thought--“yes, and the men can be brought in and examined here; who
knows but they may have been wrecked in the gale, and need our pity and
assistance, rather than deserve your suspicions.”
“There is a solemn warning in Miss Plowden's conjecture, that should
come home to the breasts of all who live on this wild coast,” said Alice
Dunscombe; “I have known many a sad wreck among the hidden shoals, and
when the wind has blown but a gentle gale, compared to last night's
tempest. The wars, and the uncertainties of the times, together with
man's own wicked passions, have made great havoc with those who knew
well the windings of the channels among the 'Ripples.' Some there were
who could pass, as I have often heard, within a fearful distance of the
'Devil's Grip,' the darkest night that ever shadowed England; but all
are now gone of that daring set, either by the hand of death, or, what
is even as mournful, by unnatural banishment from the land of their
fathers.”
“This war has then probably drawn off most of them, for your
recollections must be quite recent, Miss Alice,” said the veteran;
“as many of them were engaged in the business of robbing his majesty's
revenue, the country is in some measure requited for the former
depredations, by their present services, and at the same time it
is happily rid of their presence. Ah! madam, ours is a glorious
constitution, where things are so nicely balanced, that, as in the
physical organization of a healthy, vigorous man, the baser parts are
purified in the course of things, by its own wholesome struggles.”
The pale features of Alice Dunscombe became slightly tinged with red, as
the colonel proceeded, nor did the faint glow entirely leave her pallid
face, until she had said:
“There might have been some who knew not how to respect the laws of the
land, for such are never wanting but there were others, who, however
guilty they might be in many respects, need not charge themselves with
that mean crime, and yet who could find the passages that lie hid from
common eyes, beneath the rude waves, as well as you could find the way
through the halls and galleries of the Abbey, with a noonday sun shining
upon its vanes and high chimneys.”
“Is it your pleasure, Colonel Howard, that we examine the three men,
and ascertain whether they belong to the number of these gifted
pilots?” said Christopher Dillon, who was growing uneasy at his awkward
situation, and who hardly deemed it necessary to conceal the look of
contempt which he cast at the mild Alice, while he spoke; “perhaps we
may gather information enough from them, to draw a chart of the coast
that may gain us credit with my lords of the Admiralty.”
This unprovoked attack on their unresisting and unoffending guest
brought the rich blood to the very temples of Miss Howard, who rose, and
addressed herself to her kinsman, with a manner that could not easily be
mistaken any more than it could be condemned:
“If Mr. Dillon will comply with the wishes of Colonel Howard, as my
cousin has expressed them, we shall not, at least, have to accuse
ourselves of unnecessarily detaining men who probably are more
unfortunate than guilty.”
When she concluded, Cecilia walked across the apartment and took a seat
by the side of Alice Dunscombe, with whom she began to converse, in
a low, soothing tone of voice. Mr. Dillon bowed with a deprecating
humility, and having ascertained that Colonel Howard chose to give an
audience, where he sat, to the prisoners, he withdrew to execute his
mission, secretly exulting at any change that promised to lead to a
renewal of an intercourse that might terminate more to his advantage,
than the lofty beauty whose favor he courted was, at present, disposed
to concede.
“Christopher is a worthy, serviceable, good fellow,” said the colonel,
when the door closed, “and I hope to live yet to see him clad in ermine.
I would not be understood literally, but figuratively; for furs would
but ill comport with the climate of the Carolinas. I trust I am to be
consulted by his majesty's ministers when the new appointments shall be
made for the subdued colonies, and he may safely rely on my good
word being spoken in his favor. Would he not make an excellent and
independent ornament of the bench, Miss Plowden?”
Katherine compressed her lips a little as she replied.
“I must profit by his own discreet rules, and see testimony to that
effect, before I decide, sir. But listen!” The young lady's color
changed rapidly, and her eyes became fixed in a sort of feverish gaze
on the door. “He has at least been active; I hear the heavy tread of men
already approaching.”
“Ah! it is he certainly; justice ought always to be prompt as well as
certain, to make it perfect; like a drumhead court-martial, which, by
the way, is as summary a sort of government as heart could wish to live
under. If his majesty's ministers could be persuaded to introduce into
the revolted colonies----”
“Listen!” interrupted Katherine, in a voice which bespoke her deep
anxiety; “they draw near!”
The sound of footsteps was in fact now so audible as to induce the
colonel to suspend the delivery of his plan for governing the recovered
provinces. The long, low gallery, which was paved with a stone flagging,
soon brought the footsteps of the approaching party more distinctly to
their ears, and presently a low tap at the door announced their arrival.
Colonel Howard arose, with the air of one who was to sustain the
principal character in the ensuing interview, and bade them enter.
Cecilia and Alice Dunscombe merely cast careless looks at the opening
door, indifferent to the scene; but the quick eye of Katherine embraced,
at a glance, every figure in the group. Drawing a long, quivering
breath, she fell back on the couch, and her eyes again lighted with
their playful expression, as she hummed a low rapid air, with a voice in
which even the suppressed tones were liquid melody.
Dillon entered, preceding the soldier, whose gait had become more
steady, and in whose rigid eye a thoughtful expression had taken the
place of its former vacant gaze. In short, something had manifestly
restored to him a more complete command of his mental powers, although
he might not have been absolutely sobered. The rest of the party
continued in the gallery, while Mr. Dillon presented the renovated
captain to the colonel, when the latter did him the same kind office
with the ladies.
“Miss Plowden,” said the veteran, for she offered first in the circle,
“this is my friend, Captain Borroughcliffe: he has long been ambitious
of this honor, and I have no doubt his reception will be such as to
leave him no cause to repent he has been at last successful.”
Katherine smiled, and answered with ambiguous emphasis:
“I know not how to thank him sufficiently for the care he has bestowed
on our poor persons.”
The soldier looked steadily at her for a moment, with an eye that seemed
to threaten a retaliation in kind, ere he replied:
“One of those smiles, madam, would be an ample compensation for services
that are more real than such as exist only in intention.”
Katherine bowed with more complacency than she usually bestowed on those
who wore the British uniform; and they proceeded to the next.
“This is Miss Alice Dunscombe, Captain Borroughcliffe, daughter of a
very worthy clergyman who was formerly the curate of this parish, and a
lady who does us the pleasure of giving us a good deal of her society,
though far less than we all wish for.”
The captain returned the civil inclination of Alice, and the colonel
proceeded:
“Miss Howard, allow me to present Captain Borroughcliffe, a gentleman
who, having volunteered to defend St. Ruth in these critical times,
merits all the favor of its mistress.”
Cecilia gracefully rose, and received her guest with sweet complacency.
The soldier made no reply to the customary compliments that she uttered,
but stood an instant gazing at her speaking countenance, and then,
laying his hand involuntarily on his breast, bowed nearly to his
sword-hilt.
These formalities duly observed, the colonel declared his readiness to
receive the prisoners. As the door was opened by Dillon, Katherine cast
a cool and steady look at the strangers, and beheld the light glancing
along the arms of the soldiers who guarded them. But the seamen entered
alone; while the rattling of arms, and the heavy dash of the muskets on
the stone pavement, announced that it was thought prudent to retain a
force at hand, to watch these secret intruders on the grounds of the
abbey.