Her head bowed low; her bonnet drawn over her eyes; ignorant what course
she took, and earnest only to discover any inlet into the country by
which she might immediately quit the town; Juliet, with hurried
footsteps, and trembling apprehensions, became again a Wanderer.
She passed through various streets, but, unacquainted with London, read,
without any aid to her purpose, their names, till, printed in large
characters, her eyes were struck with the word Piccadilly; and,
presently, she was accosted by an ordinary man, who had a long whip in
his hand, and who, holding open the door of a carriage, asked whether
she would have a cast; saying that he was ready to set off immediately.
Finding that the vehicle was a stage-coach, she eagerly accepted the
proposal, and seated herself next to an elderly woman.
The man demanded whether she meant to go all the way.
She answered in the affirmative; and, to her inexpressible satisfaction,
was driven out of London.
Not to risk discovering to her fellow-travellers so extraordinary a
circumstance, as that of beginning an excursion in utter ignorance where
it might end, she forbore asking any questions; and left to the time of
her alighting at the spot to which the stage was destined, her own
acquaintance with her local situation.
It was not, therefore, till she descended from the coach, that she found
that she had taken the road to Bagshot.
The immediate plan which, in her way, she had formed, was to enter the
first shop that she saw open; thence to write to Gabriella; and then to
stroll on to the nearest village, and lodge herself in the first clean
cottage which could afford her a room.
The sight, however, of the Salisbury stage, gave her a desire to travel
instantly further from London; and she asked whether there were a vacant
place. She was immediately accommodated; and her journey thither, though
long, and passed in dreadful apprehension, was without accident or
event.
Arrived at Salisbury, she quitted the machine, and her fellow
travellers, with whom she had scarcely exchanged a word; and, hoping
that she was now out of the way of pursuit, she put her plan into
execution, by writing a tranquillizing line to Gabriella, from a
stationer's shop; and then, set forth in search of a dwelling.
This was by no means easy to find. A solitary stranger, bearing her own
small baggage, after travelling all night, was not very likely to be
seen but with eyes of scrutiny and suspicion. Yet her air, her manner,
and her language made her application always best received by the upper
class of trades-people, who were most able to discern, that such
belonged not to any vulgar or ordinary person: but, when they found that
she enquired for a lodging, without giving any name, or any reference,
they held back, alike, from granting her admission, or forwarding her
wish by any recommendation.
The evident caution with which she hid as much as possible of her face,
made the beauty of what was still necessarily visible, create as much
ill opinion as admiration; though the perfect modesty of her deportment
rescued her from receiving any offence.
In the smaller shops, and by the meaner and poorer sort of people, her
carrying her parcel herself, levelled her, instantly, to their own rank;
while her demand of assistance, her loneliness and even her loveliness,
sunk her far beneath it, in their opinion; and, almost with one accord,
they bluntly told her that she might find a lodging at an inn.
Helpless, distressed, she wandered some time in this fruitless research;
too much self-occupied to remark the buildings, the neatness, the
antiquities, or the singularities of the city which she was patrolling;
till her eyes were caught by the little rivulets which, in most of the
streets, separate the foot-path from the high-road, by perceiving two
ruddy-cheeked, smiling little cherubs, attempting to paddle over one of
them, and playing so incautiously, that they seemed every moment in
danger of falling into the water.
She hastened towards them, to point out a bridge, somewhat higher up, by
which they might more safely pass; but the elder child, a rosy boy,
careless and sportive, heeded her not; till, finding the stream deeper
than he expected, his little feet slipt, and he would inevitably have
been under water, had not Juliet, with dextrous speed, caught him by the
coat.
She aided him to scramble out, though with much difficulty, for he was
wet through, and covered with mud. Frightened out of his little senses,
he set up an unappeaseable cry; in which the other child, a pretty
little girl, impelled by babyish though unconscious sympathy, joined,
with all the vociferation which her feeble lungs were capable of
emitting.
Juliet, with that kindness which childish helplessness ought always to
inspire, soothed them with gentle words, and persuaded the boy to hasten
to his home, that he might take off his wet cloaths before he caught
cold. But they both sat down to cry at their leisure; though rather as
if they did not understand, than as if they resisted her counsel.
Pitying their simple sufferings, she offered the boy a penny, to buy a
gingerbread cake, if he would rise.
Quick, or rather immediate, now, was the transition from despondence to
transport. The boy not merely wiped his eyes, and ceased his sobs, but,
all smiles and delight, began a rapid prattling of where he should buy,
and of what sort should be, his cake; while every word, rapturously,
though indistinctly, was echoed by the little girl, not less slack in
reviving.
The elasticity, however, of their little persons, kept not entirely pace
with that of their spirits. The wet attire of the boy, which his seat on
the dust had rendered as heavy as it was uncomfortable, nearly disabled
him from rising; and his little sister, who had lost one of her shoes in
the rivulet, had run a thorn into her foot, and could not stand without
crying.
The children were not able to give any account of who they were that was
intelligible; nor of whence they came, save that it was from a great,
great way off. Unwilling to leave them in so pitiable a plight, Juliet,
observing that the street, which led out of the town, was empty, looked
for a clean spot, and, bending upon one knee, had just drawn out the
splinter from the foot of the little girl, when the sound of the voice
of a female, who was approaching, calling out, 'Here I be, my loveys!
here comes mammy!' so miraculously electrified the little creatures,
that, forgetting all impediment to motion, they bounded up, delighted;
the boy no longer sensible to the weight of his wet garments, nor the
girl to the tenderness of her hurt foot: and both capered to embrace the
knees of their mammy; whose eyes alone could return their caresses; her
hands being engaged in holding a heavy basket upon her head.
But when she perceived their condition, she anxiously demanded what had
happened.
They both again began grievously to cry, while the boy related that he
had been drowned, but that the _dood ady_ (good lady) had come and saved
his life: and the little girl, interrupting him every moment, kept
presenting her foot, in telling a similar story of the kindness of the
_dood ady_.
To Juliet scarcely a word of their narrations was intelligible; but, to
the ears of their mother, accustomed to their dialect, their lisping and
their imperfect speech, these prattling details were as potent in
eloquence, as the most polished orations of Cicero or Demosthenes, are
to those of the classical scholar.
The gratitude of the good woman for the services rendered to her little
ones, was so warm and cordial, that she cried for joy, in pouring forth
blessings upon the head of Juliet, for having lent so friendly a hand,
she said, to her poor boy; and having done what she called so
neighbourly a kindness by her dear little girl.
She had directed her children, she said, to go straight to Dame Goss's,
beyond the turnpike; having had business to transact at a house which
they could not enter; but the little dearys were not yet come to their
memory; and, but for so good a friend, the poor loveys might have lain
in the wet and the mud, till they had been half choaked.
Seeing the children thus safely restored to their best friend, Juliet
meant to continue her solitary search; but the good woman, judging from
her kind offices, that there was nothing to fear from her disdain; and
concluding from her parcel, that there was nothing to respect in her
rank, frankly demanded her assistance, for helping on the children as
far as to the turnpike; simply adding, that she would do as good a turn
for her, in requital, another time; but that her basket was heavily
laden, and the poor little things, one without its shoe, and the other
in wet cloaths, would be but troublesome, in such a broiling sun, to
pull all the way by her petticoat.
Cruelly experiencing want of succour herself, Juliet, always open to
charity, was now more than usually ready to serve or oblige. With the
utmost alacrity, therefore, complying with the request, she deposited
her packet in the poor woman's basket; bound her pocket-handkerchief
round the foot and ancle of the little girl; and then, taking a hand of
each of the children, and gently alluring them on, by lively and playful
talk, she conducted them to the turnpike; without any other difficulty
than some fatigue to herself; which was amply compensated by the
pleasure of helping the little innocents, and their affectionate mother;
joined to the relief to her own feelings, afforded by a social exercise,
that drew her, for a while, from her fearful reflections.
The woman, charmed by such kindness, begged to have the direction of
Juliet, that she might call to thank her, when next she came to
Salisbury; whither some business commonly brought her every four or five
months.
Juliet was obliged to confess herself a mere passenger; but asked, in
return, the name and address of her new acquaintance.
Margery Fairfield, she answered, was her name, and she lived a far off
in the New Forest. She was going, in a friend's cart, to Romsey, and
there her husband would meet her, and carry her little girl. She could
never come out without her children, if she were ever so heavily laden,
for her husband was at work all day, and there was nobody to take care
of them in her absence.
A ray of pleasure now broke through the gloomy forebodings of Juliet;
there seemed to her an opening to an asylum, during the period of her
concealment, fortunate beyond her hopes; to lodge with a rustic family
of this simple description, in so retired and remote a spot, promising
all the security and privacy that she required, with fine air, pleasant
country, and worthy hosts.
A very few enquiries sufficed to satisfy her, that she might find a
small room, in which she could sleep; and a little further discourse
procured her all the details necessary for learning the route to the
dame's cottage. She forbore, nevertheless, hinting at her design, that
neither trouble, expence, nor preparation might precede her arrival.
She regretted her inability to accompany these new friends, at once, to
their home; but her letter to Gabriella had desired that the answer
might be directed to be left at the post office at Salisbury, till
called for; and she was too uncertain what her position might be in the
New Forest, to hazard any change of address. She was deeply anxious to
hear from Gabriella; and to learn whether she had herself been sought
since her flight.
When they reached the small, mean house of Dame Goss, beyond the
turnpike, the expected cart was not yet arrived; and Juliet, being
kindly invited to take a little rest, ventured to solicit, from her new
friend, a recommendation to a cheap lodging, with some honest hostess.
Enchanted to be able to serve her, the poor woman immediately said, that
she could no where be better than in that very house: and when its
mistress made various objections; first, that she had not a room
unoccupied; next, that she had no spare bed; and then, that her husband
would be angry; the zealous Dame Fairfield obviated them all. The room,
she said, with a significant nod, where they kept their boxes, would be
never the worse for being slept in a few nights, now all the boxes were
empty; and the bed she had had for herself the last winter, could be
easily carried up stairs, for she would stop to carry it with her own
hands: and as to Master Goss, he was so fond of her little dearys, that
he could not have so bad a heart as to be off doing a service to a
gentlewoman who had been so kind to them.
This eloquence was all-sufficient; the real obstacle, that of aiding an
unknown traveller, occuring neither to the advocate nor to the opponent.
Free from the niceties of custom in higher life, and unembarrassed by
the perplexities of discriminating scruples, the good women, often
lonely travellers themselves, saw nothing in such a situation to excite
distrust; and regarded it therefore simply as a claim upon hospitality.
To have manifested good nature, was sufficient to procure credit for
good character; and to have done kind offices, was to secure their
return.
Dame Fairfield busily set about putting into order a little apartment,
that was encumbered with trunks and boxes, which she piled one upon
another, to make a place for a small bed. She would suffer no one to
give her any help; sweeping, dusting, rubbing, and arranging all the
lumber herself; with an alacrity of pleasure, a gaiety of good will,
that charmed away, for a while, the misery of Juliet, by the consoling
picture thus presented to her view, of untaught benevolence and
generosity: a picture which must always be pleasing to the friend of
human nature, however less exalting, than when those qualities, as the
cultured fruits of religion and of principle, are purified into virtues.
In this mean little lodging, to avoid being seen or heard of, Juliet
passed three days, self-inclosed; with no employment but that of writing
long letters to Gabriella, which, eventually, were to be sent by the
post, or delivered by herself. This, however, not filling up her time,
the wish of obliging, joined to a constant desire of acquiring, in every
situation, the art of being useful,--that art which, more than wealth,
or state, or power, preserves its cultivator from wearying either
himself or those around him;--led her to bestow the rest of the day in
aiding the woman of the house, in sundry occupations.
To have seen and examined the famous cathedral; to have found out the
walks; to have informed herself of the manufactures; and to have visited
the antiquities and curiosities of this celebrated city, and its
neighbourhood, might have solaced the anxiety of this moment; but
discretion baffled curiosity, and fear took place of all desire of
amusement. She could only regale her confinement by the hope of soon
obtaining her freedom in an innocent and beautiful retreat; and
remained, therefore, perfectly stationary, till she conceived that an
answer might be returned from Gabriella.
On the evening of that day, she prevailed upon Dame Goss, whose mornings
were all engaged, but whose good will she had now completely secured, to
be her messenger to the post-office.
Without any letter, however, the messenger returned, though with an
acknowledgement that one was arrived; but that it could only be
delivered to Miss Ellis herself; or to a written order with a receipt.
Juliet was immediately preparing to write one, when Dame Goss said,
'They do tell me that you be a person advertised in the London
news-papers? It ben't true; be it?'
'Good Heaven, no!' Juliet ejaculated.
'Pray, be you the person called, "Commonly known by the name of Miss
Ellis?"'
Juliet, changing colour, asked why she made that enquiry.
The woman, instead of answering, looked earnestly in her face, with an
air of stedfast examination.
In the greatest dismay, Juliet turned from her, without hazarding
another question, and was going up stairs; but Dame Goss begged that she
would just stop a bit, because two persons were a coming, that she had
promised should have a peep at her.
Shocked and terrified, Juliet would still have passed on; but an instant
sufficed to tell her, that, in such an emergency, not to make some
immediate attempt to escape, was to be lost.
Turning, therefore, back, 'Dame Goss,' she cried, slipping a crown-piece
into her hands, with an apology for giving her so much trouble, 'hasten
again to the post-office, and say that I shall come for my letter
myself.'
The woman, without question or demur, received the money and set off.
And she was no sooner out of sight, than Juliet, taking her own small
packet, unnoticed by Master Goss, who was at work in his little garden,
went forth by the opposite way; turning, as quickly as possible, from
the high road, where she might most naturally be pursued; and, for all
else, committing her footsteps to chance and to hope,--those last, and
not seldom, best friends of distress and difficulty.
Wandering on, by paths unknown to herself, with feet not more swift than
trembling; fearing she was followed, yet not daring, by a glance around,
to ascertain either danger or safety, she overtook a young village-girl,
who was hoydening with a smart footman; but who caught her attention, by
representing to him, that, if he detained her any longer, she should
miss the return-chaise, and not know how to get back to Romsey; for her
mother would be too angry to wait for her even a moment.
The sound of Romsey revived the spirits of Juliet. If she could join
this young person, she might find a conveyance, equally unsuspected and
expeditious, to within a mile or two of the very spot where she hoped
for concealment. She loitered, therefore, in sight, till the footman
retreated, and then, following the girl, though with affright, by
returning to the town, she soon found herself in the church-yard of the
cathedral; where the damsel encountered her waiting mother, with whom,
boldly defying her wrath, she began, sturdily, to wrangle.
Juliet stood aloof, during the altercation, still hoping to accompany
them in their route. The beautiful Gothic structure before her, the
latest and finest remains of ancient elegance, lightness, and taste, was
nearly lost to her sight, from the misery and pre-occupation of her
mind; though appearing now with peculiar effect, from the shadows cast
upon it by the rising moon. Yet soon, in defiance of all absorption, the
magnetic affinity, in a mind natively pious, of religious solemnity with
sorrow, made the antique grace of this wonderful edifice, catch, even in
this instant of terrour and agitation, the admiring eye of Juliet; whose
mind was always open to excellence, even when most incapable of
receiving any species of pleasure.
She leaned, for a moment's repose, in a recess of the building, which
the shade rendered dark, nearly sinking under the horrour of pursuit,
and the shame of eluding it. To find herself advertised in a
news-paper!--the blood mounted indignantly into her cheeks.--Perhaps to
be described!--perhaps, named! and with a reward for her
discovery!--cold from them, at this surmise, the blood again descended
to her heart: yet every feeling was transient, that led not to
immediate escape; every reflection was momentary, that turned, not to
personal safety.
The dispute between the mother and daughter was interrupted,--not
finished,--by the re-appearance of the footman, who told them that the
position was just going off.
They scampered instantly to an inn, from the gateway of which a
post-chaise was issuing.
Juliet, who had pursued, now joined them, and proposed making one in
their party.
The women neither refused nor consented; they renewed their contention,
and heard only one another: but the postilion, to whom Juliet held out
half-a-crown, gave her a place with readiness,--and she was driven to
Romsey.