_Prosper as well as any thieves may; but Dawson greatly tormented._
The next morning I went to Simon at his lodge house, having writ him a
note overnight to prepare him for my visit, and there I found him, with
all his books and papers ready for my examination. So to it we set,
casting up figures, comparing accounts, and so forth, best part of the
day, and in the end I came away convinced that he was the most
scrupulous, honest steward ever man had. And, truly, it appeared that by
his prudent investments and careful management he had trebled the value
of the estate, and more, in the last ten years. He showed me, also, that
in all his valuations he had set off a large sum for loss by accident of
fire, war, etc., so that actually at the present moment the estate,
which he reckoned at seventy-five thousand pounds, was worth at the
least one hundred and twenty-five thousand. But for better assurance on
this head, I spent the remainder of the week in visiting the farms,
messuages, etc., on his rent roll, and found them all in excellent
condition, and held by good substantial men, nothing in any particular
but what he represented it.
Reporting on these matters privily to Don Sanchez and Dawson, I asked
the Don what we should now be doing.
"Two ways lie before us," says he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out of
his house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs of
smoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, and
get out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities be
worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)
"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a third
of their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On ten
thousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way is
to make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him to
treble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and live
like kings" (puff) "in England."
"Pray, which way do you incline, Señor?" says I.
"Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like a
prince in Spain."
"That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elche
have cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis a
beggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done some
unhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should never
dare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"
"Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, of
my own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."
"Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and as
she is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"
"No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,
"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmother
into the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose her
to do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twould
be a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she has
a sneaking coward for a father."
"As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you are
to be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."
"You mean that, Señor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raising
his left.
"By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.
"Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don's
palm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Ten
from t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does that
leave us?"
"More than a hundred thousand!"
"The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.
Upon this, Moll, by the advice of Don Sanchez, sends for Simon, and
telling him she is satisfied with the account I have given of his
stewardship, offers him the further control of her affairs, subject at
all times to her decision on any question concerning her convenience,
and reserving to herself the sole government of her household, the
ordering of her home, lands, etc. And Simon grasping eagerly at this
proposal, she then gives him the promise of one thousand pounds for his
past services, and doubles the wages due to him under his contract with
Sir R. Godwin.
"Give me what it may please thee to bestow that way," cries he. "All
shall be laid out to enrich this property. I have no other use for
money, no other worldly end in life but that."
And when he saw me next he was most slavish in his thanks for my good
offices, vowing I should be paid my claim by Michaelmas, if it were in
the power of man to raise so vast a sum in such short space. Surely,
thinks I, there was never a more strange, original creature than this,
yet it do seem to me that there is no man but his passion must appear a
madness to others.
I must speak now of Moll, her admirable carriage and sober conduct in
these new circumstances, which would have turned the heads of most
others. Never once to my knowledge did she lose her self-possession, on
the most trying occasion, and this was due, not alone to her own shrewd
wit and understanding, but to the subtle intelligence of Don Sanchez,
who in the character of an old and trusty friend was ever by her side,
watchful of her interest (and his own), ready at any moment to drop in
her ear a quiet word of warning or counsel. By his advice she had taken
into her service a most commendable, proper old gentlewoman, one Mrs.
Margery Butterby, who, as being the widow of a country parson, was very
orderly in all things, and particularly nice in the proprieties. This
notable good soul was of a cheery, chatty disposition, of very pleasing
manners, and a genteel appearance, and so, though holding but the part
of housekeeper, she served as an agreeable companion and a respectable
guardian, whose mere presence in the house silenced any question that
might have arisen from the fact of three men living under the same roof
with the young and beautiful mistress of Hurst Court. Moreover, she
served us as a very useful kind of mouthpiece; for all those marvellous
stories of her life in Barbary, of the pirates we had encountered in
redeeming her from the Turk, etc., with which Moll would beguile away
any tedious half-hour, for the mere amusement of creating Mrs.
Butterby's wonder and surprise,--as one will tell stories of fairies to
children,--this good woman repeated with many additions of her own
concerning ourselves, which, to reflect credit on herself, were all to
our advantage. This was the more fitting, because the news spreading
that the lost heiress had returned to Hurst Court excited curiosity far
and wide, and it was not long before families in the surrounding seats,
who had known Sir R. Godwin in bygone times, called to see his daughter.
And here Moll's wit was taxed to the utmost, for those who had known
Judith Godwin as an infant expected that she should remember some
incident stored in their recollection; but she was ever equal to the
occasion, feigning a pretty doubting innocence at first, then suddenly
asking this lady if she had not worn a cherry dress with a beautiful
stomacher at the time, or that gentleman if he had not given her a gold
piece for a token, and it generally happened these shrewd shafts hit
their mark: the lady, though she might have forgotten her gown,
remembering she had a very becoming stomacher; the gentleman believing
that he did give her a lucky penny, and so forth, from very vanity. Then
Moll's lofty carriage and her beauty would remind them of their dear
lost friend, Mrs. Godwin, in the heyday of her youth, and all agreed in
admiring her beyond anything. And though Moll, from her lack of
knowledge, made many slips, and would now and then say things
uncustomary to women of breeding, yet these were easily attributed to
her living so long in a barbarous country, and were as readily glanced
over. Indeed, nothing could surpass Moll's artificial conduct on these
occasions. She would lard her conversation with those scraps of Italian
she learnt from me, and sometimes, affecting to have forgot her own
tongue, she would stumble at a word, and turning to Don Sanchez, ask him
the English of some Moorish phrase. Then one day, there being quite a
dozen visitors in her state room, she brings down her Moorish dress and
those baubles given her by friends at Elche, to show the ladies, much to
the general astonishment and wonder; then, being prayed to dress herself
in these clothes, she with some hesitation of modesty consents, and
after a short absence from the room returns in this costume, looking
lovelier than ever I had before seen, with the rings about her shapely
bare arms and on her ankles, and thus arrayed she brings me a guitar,
and to my strumming sings a Moorish song, swaying her arms above her
head and turning gracefully in their fashion, so that all were in an
ecstasy with this strange performance. And the talk spreading, the
number of visitors grew apace,--as bees will flock to honey,--and
yielding to their urgent entreaties, she would often repeat this piece
of business, and always with a most winning grace, that charmed every
one. But she was most a favourite of gentlemen and elderly ladies; for
the younger ones she did certainly put their noses out of joint, since
none could at all compare with her in beauty nor in manner, either, for
she had neither the awkward shyness of some nor the boldness of others,
but contrived ever to steer neatly betwixt the two extremes by her
natural self-possession and fearlessness.
Of all her new friends, the most eager in courting her were Sir Harry
Upton and his lady (living in the Crays); and they, being about to go to
London for the winter, did press Moll very hard to go with them, that
she might be presented to the king; and, truth to tell, they would not
have had to ask her twice had she been governed only by her own
inclination. For she was mad to go,--that audacious spirit of adventure
still working very strong in her,--and she, like a winning gamester,
must for ever be playing for higher and higher stakes. But we, who had
heard enough of his excellent but lawless Majesty's court to fear the
fate of any impulsive, beauteous young woman that came within his sway,
were quite against this. Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, did
persuade her from it with good strong argument,--showing that, despite
his worldliness, he did really love her as much as 'twas in his withered
heart to love any one. As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner see
his Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king's company, adding that
'twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had a
husband to keep her out of mischief. And so she refused this offer (but
with secret tears, I believe). "But," says she to her father, "if I'm
not to have my own way till I'm married, I shall get me a husband as
soon as I can."
And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for one
neither. Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparks
were courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty,
but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon had
enriched the estate. And 'twas this abundance of suitors which prevented
Moll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, I
believe the business would have been settled very quickly. For now she
was in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veins
was of no lukewarm kind.
But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Moll
for a space to tell of her father. That first hint of the Don's bringing
him to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and the
exuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect in
his behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play. And the hard,
trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen. For now
was he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to live
apart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met in
the morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart,
maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool,
indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning for
gentle, tender warmth. And these natural cravings of affection were
rather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one's hunger by
starving. To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than ever
she was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulating
that admiration which he dared not express. He beheld her loved and
courted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her than
any, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle his
desires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, like
chains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into his
being, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.
Yet, for Moll's sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, when
he could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others were
enjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber and
pace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.
These sufferings were not unperceived by Moll, who also had strong
feeling to repress, and therefore could comprehend her father's torture,
and she would often seize an opportunity, nay, run great risk of
discovery, to hie her secretly to his room, there to throw herself in
his arms and strain him to her heart, covering his great face with
tender kisses, and whispering words of hope and good cheer (with the
tears on her cheek). And one day when Jack seemed more than usual
downhearted, she offered him to give up everything and return to her old
ways, if he would. But this spurring his courage, he declared he would
live in hell rather than she should fall from her high estate, and
become a mere vagabond wench again, adding that 'twas but the first
effort gave him so much pain, that with practice 'twould all be as
nothing; that such sweet kisses as hers once a week did amply compensate
him for his fast, etc. Then her tears being brushed away, she would quit
him with noiseless step and all precautions, and maybe five minutes
afterwards, whilst Jack was sitting pensive at his window pondering her
sweetness and love, he would hear her laughing lightly below, as if he
were already forgotten.