WE REAP THE FRUITS OF OUR AUDACITY
The whimsical plan fixed in our minds, we began at once to conceive a
keener rest for our affairs. Notwithstanding the urgency of our
travelling, we had not exchanged the Duke's horses at any of the
posting-houses we had passed. Poverty had taught us a fine economic
prudence. Whatever we might gain in speed we should lose in momentary
value, for his Grace's animals were an admirable pair, on which the
best part of our fortune depended at Bristol. The continuous strain
was already telling on them, however, and they flagged a good deal
during the day.
The evening had already come when we approached our destination. Among
the country lanes in the twilight it called for all Cynthia's intimate
knowledge of the neighbourhood to enable us to pursue the direct path
to her father's house. The moon was showing over the trees, and we
were within a mile of the place, according to madam's account, when we
were startled by a disconcerting incident. A sudden clatter of horses'
hoofs arose in the lane. From whence they came we could not tell; but
before we had time to think much about them, a horseman was riding
beside us, with a particularly sinister-looking pistol presented at our
faces.
My poor little madam nestled to me in a great deal of terror; but for
my own part I must confess that I was more annoyed than daunted by such
an unwarrantable intrusion.
"My dear fellow," I protested, "you are but wasting your time; and you
are wasting ours too, which just now I am inclined to think is the more
valuable. We have not a guinea in the world. Had we one we should be
only too happy to present it to you."
The highwayman laughed in a familiar voice.
"Why," says he, putting a pair of mischievous eyes into the chaise, "is
it not my friend, Lord What's-his-name?"
"My love," says I to the trembling Cynthia, "here is your papa."
"Of course," says the highwayman, "you mean the Duke of Thing-em-bob."
"To be sure I do," says I. "We are very well met, I think."
By this our chaise had stopped, and Mr. Sadler had pulled his horse up
too. I was not at all displeased by this interruption, for in any
circumstances the sight of this merry, cheerful fellow was welcome. He
was one of those rare persons whose voice alone had the power to charm.
He was a genial rogue indeed; an engaging spirit whom to meet was to
ask to dinner. We were already the better for his society.
Therefore, as we had but a mile to go to the Duke's house--Hurley Place
was the name of it--I proposed that we should carry him along with us,
and enjoy his company at dinner. Mr. Sadler was nothing loth.
Wherefore it fell out that the Lady Cynthia returned to her ancestral
home in the company of a notorious highwayman, and a bankrupt, a
discredited peer. What a suppressed excitement there was to be sure
when we drove up to the door, and it became known among the servants
that the Lady Cynthia had returned of her own free will! More than one
aged servitor, who had grown old in the service of the Duke, was so
affected by the erring child's return that he shed a silent tear.
Inquiry elicited the fact that there was no reason to expect our papa
at present: and that not a word had been heard of his Grace since he
had left the house in pursuit of his naughty daughter.
Nothing could have been more delightful than the sensations we
experienced on our brief re-entry into civilization. What luxuries in
the matter of washing, shaving, and polishing generally were we able to
enjoy after the discomforts of our itinerary!
Cynthia had her own maid to dress her; Mr. Sadler was provided with a
valet of the Duke's, and another man was found for me. Orders were
given to the butler that the best dinner for three persons the cook
could devise was to be served in an hour, and in the meantime we
arrayed ourselves in our choicest garments to do justice to it. It was
the last evening of luxury we were likely to spend; and we were
determined that we would neglect no opportunity of making the most of
it.
The contents of Mr. Waring's valise were a material assistance to my
wardrobe, and for that matter to Mr. Sadler's too. His silk stockings
and breeches, brocaded vests, and laced coats, served us admirably. We
took advantage of them, chiefly, I think, for the laudable reason that
we might do the more honour to Cynthia and the dinner. And I at least
am free to confess that the sensation of having once again clean smart
clothes upon my person gave a wonderful impetus to my self-esteem. I
felt that I could look the world in the face once more, and that I was
again my own man. I never was a scoffer at the virtues of fine
clothes, and distrust him that is. So long as one is sure of one's
tailor, one's soul may take care of itself. The grace of a good coat
is communicated to the wearer.
Although Mr. Sadler and I were attired as near the first fashion as our
borrowed plumes would permit, we were as nothing to Mrs. Cynthia. When
she joined us in the room where the dinner was laid, my friend, the
highwayman, _blasé_ as he was, could not repress his admiration. She
did indeed appear to perfection not only in the cunning of her gown,
but in the sparkling animation of her face, her lively colour, and the
mocking intrepidity lurking in her eyes.
Her mood was a match for the occasion. She clearly recognized the
extravagant whimsicality of sitting down to dinner in such company, at
such a season, and in such a place. It was a piece of mad folly, of
cynical bravado; and she took her seat at the table with an air of
reckless mischief that was wholly adorable. She played the game.
To-morrow we must leave our native land for ever, but that night we
contrived to forget everything--our perilous situation, our destitution
and our desperate case, in quips and jests, good wine and boisterous
laughter.
Mr. Sadler afterwards, very deservedly I do not doubt, came to be
hanged. But it was sound judgment in me to invite him to our last
dinner. What a fine merry rogue he was, to be sure! What an instinct
he betrayed for goodfellowship! He came to be hanged, it is true, but
that night his laugh rang the loudest and frankest, his jests had the
keenest edge, and it was from his eyes that the most whole-hearted
humour beaconed. He was as merry a rascal as any with whom I ever had
the honour to drain a glass. But he was a man of true breeding too, so
that he neither embarrassed Mrs. Cynthia as a highwayman less of a
gentleman doubtless would have done in such singular circumstances; nor
did he once arouse anger or jealousy in me.
"To your eyes, your ladyship, and to your lordship's nose," so far from
provoking offence, became a source of mirth from the frank jovial tones
with which it was uttered, and the inimitable gestures by which it was
accompanied. For his own part, Mr. Sadler admitted that this meeting
was highly piquant to him, since on a former occasion he had solemnly
written us down in his own mind as a pair of cheats and impostors. It
struck him as an entirely remarkable circumstance that after all we
should prove to be the very persons we had purported to be; and as one
no less so, that he should ever have presumed us to be otherwise. But
as I pointed out to him, after all, his error was not so surprising.
The judgment of the world is at the mercy of the obvious. It prefers
to appraise a picture by its frame. Were it otherwise, our very
titles, and material distinctions of that kind, would cease to have a
meaning.
Oblivious of everything, we continued to eat and drink, and be of good
cheer. In the audacity of our mood neither Cynthia nor I gave a
thought to our pursuers. We did not consider that we were in the house
of the enemy, and that it could be by no means unexpected that we
should be surprised at any hour. And I am not sure that we were
prepared greatly to care should aught so untoward happen. By this I
believe we were utterly desperate. A reaction had come upon us. We,
who had been so excessively solicitous for the well-being of our skins
and the preservation of our perfect liberty, were at this moment unable
to muster much interest in these matters. We were in a warm room, in a
congenial society, snug, well fed, and mighty well content. No two
persons could have been in a happier case in which to confront the
worst. Let the devil walk in if he chose. For once we were in a
condition to beard him. Our cheeks burnt; our eyes shone; our hearts
were overflowing and generous.
Such was the state of our minds, when without a solitary note of
warning, and as a wholly natural consequence, the devil walked in. In
the very height of our cheerful rattle, of our foolish talk that
hallowed by the bottle was so witty, the door opened suddenly, and the
oath that sprang to my lips involuntarily to greet the servant who had
so unceremoniously obtruded himself upon our familiar gaiety, was
stifled before it was uttered. The little Duke hopped in, purple, and
gobbling like a turkey. The cool and smiling Mr. Humphrey Waring,
chewing his eternal wisp of straw, followed at his heels at a more
elegant leisure.
I suppose their sudden unheralded appearance was to us in the nature of
a thunderbolt. Yet after all it was so little unexpected as not to
astonish us. And, speaking for myself, now that I was fairly cornered,
my last card played, the old recklessness returned, and instead of
faltering before this outraged old gentleman, I rose, bowed, and
greeted him with the completest self possession. And as I did so,
whether by virtue of the noble wine of his Grace's cellar, or as
probably by an ecstasy of desperation, I conceived a kind of joy of our
meeting.
Between his alternate gobblings and hoppings and gaspings for breath,
the old gentleman must have come perilously close to his inevitable
apoplexy. At first in his inarticulate fury he could neither speak nor
act; and I found myself awaiting his good pleasure quite a long time,
with a smile of greeting on my lips, and my hand on my heart.