THE RESOLUTION OF MR. LAW
The problems of England's troubled finances, the questions of the
coinage, the gossip of the king's embroilments with the
Parliament--these things, it may again be said, occupied Law's mind far
less than the question of gaining audience with his fair rescuer of the
morn at Sadler's Wells. This was the puzzle which, revolve it as he
might, not even his audacious wit was able to provide with plausible
solution. He pondered the matter in a hundred different pleasing phases
as he passed from the Bank of England through the crowded streets of
London, and so at length found himself at the shabby little lodgings in
Bradwell Street, where he and his brother had, for the time, taken up
their quarters.
"It starteth well, my boy," cried he, gaily, to his brother, when at
length he had found his way up the narrow stair into the little room,
and discovered Will patiently awaiting his return. "Already two of my
errands are well acquit."
"You have, then, sent the letters to our goldsmith here?" said Will.
"Now, to say truth, I had not thought of that. But letters of
credit--why need we trouble over such matters? These English are but
babes. Give me a night or so in the week at the Green Lion, and we'll
need no letters of credit, Will. Look at your purse, boy--since you are
the thrifty cashier of our firm!"
"I like not this sort of gold," said Will Law, setting his lips
judicially.
"Yet it seems to purchase well as any," said the other, indifferently.
"At least, such is my hope, for I have made debt against our purse of
some fifty sovereigns--some little apparel which I have ordered. For,
look you, Will, I must be clothed proper. In these days, as I may tell
you, I am to meet such men as Montague, chancellor of the exchequer--my
Lord Keeper Somers--Sir Isaac Newton--Mr. John Locke--gentry of that
sort. It is fitting I should have better garb than this which we have
brought with us."
"You are ever free with some mad jest or other, Jack; but what is this
new madness of which you speak?"
"No madness at all, my dear boy; for in fact I have but come from the
council chamber, where I have met these very gentlemen whom I have
named to you. But pray you note, my dear brother, there are those who
hold John Law, and his studies, not so light as doth his own brother.
For myself, the matter furnishes no surprise at all. As for you, you had
never confidence in me, nor in yourself. Gad! Will, hadst but the
courage of a flea, what days we two might have together here in this old
town!"
"I want none of such days, Jack," said Will Law, soberly. "I care most
to see you settled in some decent way of living. What will your mother
say, if we but go on gaming and roistering, with dangers of some sudden
quarrel--as this which has already sprung up--with no given aim in life,
with nothing certain for an ambition--"
"Now, Will," began his brother, yet with no petulance in his tone, "pray
go not too hard with me at the start. I thought I had done fairly well,
to sit at the table of the council of coinage on my first day in London.
'Tis not every young man gets so far as that. Come, now, Will!"
"But after all, there must be serious purpose."
"Know then," cried the elder man, suddenly, "that I have found such
serious purpose!"
The speaker stood looking out of the window, his eye fixed out across
the roofs of London. There had now fallen from his face all trace of
levity, and into his eye and mouth there came reflex of the decision of
his speech. Will stirred in his chair, and at length the two faced each
other.
"And pray, what is this sudden resolution, Jack?" said Will Law.
"If I must tell you, it is simply this: I am resolved to marry the girl
we met at Sadler's Wells."
"How--what--?"
"Yes, how--what--?" repeated his brother, mockingly.
"But I would ask, which?"
"There was but one," said John Law. "The tall one, with the
brassy-brown, copper-red hair, the bright blue eye, and the figure of a
queen. Her like is not in all the world!"
"Methought 'twas more like to be the other," replied Will. "Yet you--how
dare you think thus of that lady? Why, Jack, 'twas the Lady Catharine
Knollys, sister to the Earl of Banbury!"
Law did not at once make any answer. He turned to the dressing-table and
began making such shift as he could to better his appearance.
"Will," said he, at length, "you are, as ever, a babe and a suckling. I
quite despair of you. 'Twould serve no purpose to explain anything to so
faint a heart as yours. But you may come with me."
"And whither?"
"Whither? Where else, than to the residence of this same lady! Look
you, I have learned this. She is, as you say, the sister of the Earl of
Banbury, and is for the time at the town house in Knightwell Terrace.
Moreover, if that news be worth while to so white-feathered a swain as
yourself, the other, damsel, the dark one--the one with the mighty
pretty little foot--lives there for the time as the guest of Lady
Catharine. They are rated thick as peas in a pod. True, we are
strangers, yet I venture we have made a beginning, and if we venture
more we may better that beginning. Should I falter, when luck gave me
the run of _trente et le va_ but yesterday? Nay, ever follow fortune
hard, and she waits for you."
"Yes," said Will, scornfully. "You would get the name of gambler, and
add to it the name of fortune-hunting, heiress-seeking adventurer."
"Not so," replied John Law, taking snuff calmly and still keeping the
evenness of his temper. "My own fortune, as I admit, I keep safe at the
Green Lion. For the rest, I seek at the start only respectful footing
with this maid herself. When first I saw her, I knew well enough how the
end would be. We were made for each other. This whole world was made for
us both. Will, boy, I could not live without the Lady Catharine
Knollys!"
"Oh, cease such talk, Jack! 'Tis ill-mannered, such presumption
regarding a lady, even had you known her long. Besides, 'tis but another
of your fancies, Jack," said Will. "Wilt never make an end of such
follies?"
"Yes, my boy," said his brother, gravely. "I have made an end. Indeed, I
made it the other morning at Sadler's Wells."
"Methinks," said Will, dryly, "that it might be well first to be sure
that you can win past the front door of the house of Knollys."
John Law still kept both his temper and his confidence.
"Come with me," said he, blithely, "and I will show you how that thing
may be done."