'To John? How could he give her up to a man already over head and ears
in love with that actress woman?'
'O? You surprise me. Which actress is it?'
'That Miss Johnson. Anne tells me that he loves her hopelessly.'
Festus arose. Miss Johnson seemed suddenly to acquire high value as a
sweetheart at this announcement. He had himself felt a nameless
attractiveness in her, and John had done likewise. John crossed his path
in all possible ways.
Before the yeoman had replied somebody opened the door, and the firelight
shone upon the uniform of the person they discussed. Festus nodded on
recognizing him, wished Mrs. Loveday good evening, and went out
precipitately.
'So Bob told you he meant to break off with my Anne when he went away?'
Mrs. Loveday remarked to the trumpet-major. 'I wish I had known of it
before.'
John appeared disturbed at the sudden charge. He murmured that he could
not deny it, and then hastily turned from her and followed Derriman, whom
he saw before him on the bridge.
'Derriman!' he shouted.
Festus started and looked round. 'Well, trumpet-major,' he said blandly.
'When will you have sense enough to mind your own business, and not come
here telling things you have heard by sneaking behind people's backs?'
demanded John hotly. 'If you can't learn in any other way, I shall have
to pull your ears again, as I did the other day!'
'_You_ pull my ears? How can you tell that lie, when you know 'twas
somebody else pulled 'em?'
'O no, no. I pulled your ears, and thrashed you in a mild way.'
'You'll swear to it? Surely 'twas another man?'
'It was in the parlour at the public-house; you were almost in the dark.'
And John added a few details as to the particular blows, which amounted
to proof itself.
'Then I heartily ask your pardon for saying 'twas a lie!' cried Festus,
advancing with extended hand and a genial smile. 'Sure, if I had known
_'twas_ you, I wouldn't have insulted you by denying it.'
'That was why you didn't challenge me, then?'
'That was it! I wouldn't for the world have hurt your nice sense of
honour by letting 'ee go unchallenged, if I had known! And now, you see,
unfortunately I can't mend the mistake. So long a time has passed since
it happened that the heat of my temper is gone off. I couldn't oblige
'ee, try how I might, for I am not a man, trumpet-major, that can butcher
in cold blood--no, not I, nor you neither, from what I know of 'ee. So,
willy-nilly, we must fain let it pass, eh?'
'We must, I suppose,' said John, smiling grimly. 'Who did you think I
was, then, that night when I boxed you all round?'
'No, don't press me,' replied the yeoman. 'I can't reveal; it would be
disgracing myself to show how very wide of the truth the mockery of wine
was able to lead my senses. We will let it be buried in eternal mixens
of forgetfulness.'
'As you wish,' said the trumpet-major loftily. 'But if you ever _should_
think you knew it was me, why, you know where to find me?' And Loveday
walked away.
The instant that he was gone Festus shook his fist at the evening star,
which happened to lie in the same direction as that taken by the dragoon.
'Now for my revenge! Duels? Lifelong disgrace to me if ever I fight
with a man of blood below my own! There are other remedies for upper-
class souls!. . . Matilda--that's my way.'
Festus strode along till he reached the Hall, where Cripplestraw appeared
gazing at him from under the arch of the porter's lodge. Derriman dashed
open the entrance-hurdle with such violence that the whole row of them
fell flat in the mud.
'Mercy, Maister Festus!' said Cripplestraw. '"Surely," I says to myself
when I see ye a-coming, "surely Maister Festus is fuming like that
because there's no chance of the enemy coming this year after all."'
'Cr-r-ripplestraw! I have been wounded to the heart,' replied Derriman,
with a lurid brow.
'And the man yet lives, and you wants yer horse-pistols instantly?
Certainly, Maister F---'
'No, Cripplestraw, not my pistols, but my new-cut clothes, my heavy gold
seals, my silver-topped cane, and my buckles that cost more money than he
ever saw! Yes, I must tell somebody, and I'll tell you, because there's
no other fool near. He loves her heart and soul. He's poor; she's tip-
top genteel, and not rich. I am rich, by comparison. I'll court the
pretty play-actress, and win her before his eyes.'
'Play-actress, Maister Derriman?'
'Yes. I saw her this very day, met her by accident, and spoke to her.
She's still in the town--perhaps because of him. I can meet her at any
hour of the day-- But I don't mean to marry her; not I. I will court
her for my pastime, and to annoy him. It will be all the more death to
him that I don't want her. Then perhaps he will say to me, "You have
taken my one ewe lamb"--meaning that I am the king, and he's the poor
man, as in the church verse; and he'll beg for mercy when 'tis too
late--unless, meanwhile, I shall have tired of my new toy. Saddle the
horse, Cripplestraw, to-morrow at ten.'
Full of this resolve to scourge John Loveday to the quick through his
passion for Miss Johnson, Festus came out booted and spurred at the time
appointed, and set off on his morning ride.
Miss Johnson's theatrical engagement having long ago terminated, she
would have left the Royal watering-place with the rest of the visitors
had not matrimonial hopes detained her there. These had nothing whatever
to do with John Loveday, as may be imagined, but with a stout, staid boat-
builder in Cove Row by the quay, who had shown much interest in her
impersonations. Unfortunately this substantial man had not been quite so
attentive since the end of the season as his previous manner led her to
expect; and it was a great pleasure to the lady to see Mr. Derriman
leaning over the harbour bridge with his eyes fixed upon her as she came
towards it after a stroll past her elderly wooer's house.
'Od take it, ma'am, you didn't tell me when I saw you last that the
tooting man with the blue jacket and lace was yours devoted?' began
Festus.
'Who do you mean?' In Matilda's ever-changing emotional interests, John
Loveday was a stale and unprofitable personality.
'Why, that trumpet-major man.'
'O! What of him?'
'Come; he loves you, and you know it, ma'am.'
She knew, at any rate, how to take the current when it served. So she
glanced at Festus, folded her lips meaningly, and nodded.
'I've come to cut him out.'
She shook her head, it being unsafe to speak till she knew a little more
of the subject.
'What!' said Festus, reddening, 'do you mean to say that you think of him
seriously--you, who might look so much higher?'
'Constant dropping will wear away a stone; and you should only hear his
pleading! His handsome face is impressive, and his manners are--O, so
genteel! I am not rich; I am, in short, a poor lady of decayed family,
who has nothing to boast of but my blood and ancestors, and they won't
find a body in food and clothing!--I hold the world but as the world,
Derrimanio--a stage where every man must play a part, and mine a sad
one!' She dropped her eyes thoughtfully and sighed.
'We will talk of this,' said Festus, much affected. 'Let us walk to the
Look-out.'
She made no objection, and said, as they turned that way, 'Mr. Derriman,
a long time ago I found something belonging to you; but I have never yet
remembered to return it.' And she drew from her bosom the paper which
Anne had dropped in the meadow when eluding the grasp of Festus on that
summer day.
'Zounds, I smell fresh meat!' cried Festus when he had looked it over.
''Tis in my uncle's writing, and 'tis what I heard him singing on the day
the French didn't come, and afterwards saw him marking in the road. 'Tis
something he's got hid away. Give me the paper, there's a dear; 'tis
worth sterling gold!'
'Halves, then?' said Matilda tenderly.
'Gad, yes--anything!' replied Festus, blazing into a smile, for she had
looked up in her best new manner at the possibility that he might be
worth the winning. They went up the steps to the summit of the cliff,
and dwindled over it against the sky.