NEW FRIENDS
On arriving at the room upstairs, Captain Dave placed his hand on
Cyril's shoulder and said:
"How can I thank you, lad, for what you have done for us?"
"By saying nothing further about it, Captain Dave. I had hoped that
the matter would never have come to your ears, and yet I rejoice, for
her own sake, that Mistress Nellie has told you all. I thought that
she would do so some day, for I, too, have seen how much she has been
changed since then, and though it becomes me not to speak of one
older than myself, I think that the experience has been for her good,
and, above all, I am rejoiced to find that you have fully forgiven
her, for indeed I am sure that she has been grievously punished."
"Well, well, lad, it shall be as you say, for indeed I am but a poor
hand at talking, but believe me that I feel as grateful as if I could
express myself rightly, and that the Earl of Wisbech cannot feel one
whit more thankful to you for having saved the lives of his three
children than I do for your having saved my Nellie from the
consequences of her own folly. There is one thing that you must let
me do--it is but a small thing, but at present I have no other way of
showing what I feel: you must let me take upon myself, as if you had
been my son, the expenses of this outfit of yours. I was talking of
the matter, as you may have guessed by what I said to the Earl, when
Nellie burst into tears; and if I contemplated this when I knew only
you had saved me from ruin, how much more do I feel it now that you
have done this greater thing? I trust that you will not refuse me and
my wife this small opportunity of showing our gratitude. What say
you, John Wilkes?"
"I say, Captain Dave, that it is well spoken, and I am sure Master
Cyril will not refuse your offer."
"I will not, Captain Dave, providing that you let it be as a loan
that I may perhaps some day be enabled to repay you. I feel that it
would be churlish to refuse so kind an offer, and it will relieve me
of the one difficulty that troubled me when the prospects in all
other respects seemed so fair."
"That is right, lad, and you have taken a load off my mind. You have
not acted quite fairly by us in one respect, Master Cyril!"
"How is that?" Cyril asked in surprise.
"In not telling us that you were Sir Cyril Shenstone, and in letting
us put you up in an attic, and letting you go about as Nellie's
escort, as if you had been but an apprentice."
Cyril laughed.
"I said that my father was Sir Aubrey Shenstone, though I own that I
did not say so until I had been here some time; but the fact that he
was a Baronet and not a Knight made little difference. It was a
friendless lad whom you took in and gave shelter to, Captain Dave,
and--it mattered not whether he was plain Cyril or Sir Cyril. I had
certainly no thought of taking my title again until I entered a
foreign army, and indeed it would have been a disservice to me here
in London. I should have cut but a poor figure asking for work and
calling myself Sir Cyril Shenstone. I should have had to enter into
all sorts of explanations before anyone would have believed me, and I
don't think that, even with you, I should have been so comfortable as
I have been."
"Well, at any rate, no harm has been done," Captain Dave said; "but I
think you might have told me."
"If I had, Captain Dave, you would assuredly have told your wife and
Mistress Nellie; and it was much more pleasant for me that things
should be as they were."
"Well, perhaps you were right, lad. And I own that I might not have
let you work at my books, and worry over that robbery, had I known
that you were of a station above me."
"That you could never have known," Cyril said warmly. "We have been
poor ever since I can remember. I owed my education to the kindness
of friends of my mother, and in no way has my station been equal to
that of a London trader like yourself. As to the title, it was but a
matter of birth, and went but ill with an empty purse and a shabby
doublet. In the future it may be useful, but until now, it has been
naught, and indeed worse than naught, to me."
The next morning when Cyril went into the parlour he found that
Nellie was busy assisting the maid to lay the table. When the latter
had left the room, the girl went up to Cyril and took his hand.
"I have never thanked you yet," she said. "I could not bring myself
to speak of it, but now that I have told them I can do so. Ever since
that dreadful night I have prayed for you, morning and evening, and
thanked God for sending you to my rescue. What a wicked girl you must
have thought me--and with reason! But you could not think of me worse
than I thought of myself. Now that my father and mother have forgiven
me I shall be different altogether. I had before made up my mind to
tell them. Still, it did not seem to me that I should ever be happy
again. But now that I have had the courage to speak out, and they
have been so good to me, a great weight is lifted off my mind, and I
mean to learn to be a good housewife like my mother, and to try to be
worthy, some day, of an honest man's love."
"I am sure you will be," Cyril said warmly. "And so, Mistress Nellie,
it has all turned out for the best, though it did not seem so at one
time."
At this moment Captain Dave came in. "I am glad to see you two
talking together as of old," he said. "We had thought that there must
be some quarrel between you, for you had given up rating him, Nellie.
Give her a kiss, Cyril; she is a good lass, though she has been a
foolish one. Nay, Nellie, do not offer him your cheek--it is the
fashion to do that to every idle acquaintance. Kiss him heartily, as
if you loved him. That is right, lass. Now let us to breakfast. Where
is your mother? She is late."
"I told her that I would see after the breakfast in future, father,
and I have begun this morning--partly because it is my duty to take
the work off her hands, and partly because I wanted a private talk
with Sir Cyril."
"I won't be called Sir Cyril under this roof," the lad said,
laughing. "And I warn you that if anyone calls me so I will not
answer. I have always been Cyril with you all, and I intend to remain
so to the end, and you must remember that it is but a few months that
I have had the right to the title, and was never addressed by it
until by Prince Rupert. I was for the moment well nigh as much
surprised as you were last night."
An hour later Cyril again donned his best suit, and started to pay
his visit to the Earl. Had he not seen him over-night, he would have
felt very uncomfortable at the thought of the visit; but he had found
him so pleasant and friendly, and so entirely free from any air of
pride or condescension, that it seemed as if he were going to meet a
friend. He was particularly struck with the manner in which he had
placed Captain Dave and his family at their ease, and got them to
talk as freely and naturally with him as if he had been an
acquaintance of long standing. It seemed strange to him to give his
name as Sir Cyril Shenstone to the lackeys at the door, and he almost
expected to see an expression of amusement on their faces. They had,
however, evidently received instructions respecting him, for he was
without question at once ushered into the room in which the Earl of
Wisbech and his daughters were sitting.
The Earl shook him warmly by the hand, and then, turning to his
daughters, said,--
"This is the gentleman to whom you owe your lives, girls. Sir Cyril,
these are my daughters--Lady Dorothy, Lady Bertha, and Lady Beatrice.
It seems somewhat strange to have to introduce you, who have saved
their lives, to them; but you have the advantage of them, for you
have seen them before, but they have not until now seen your face."
Each of the girls as she was named made a deep curtsey, and then
presented her cheek to be kissed, as was the custom of the times.
"They are somewhat tongue-tied," the Earl said, smiling, as the
eldest of the three cast an appealing glance to him, "and have begged
me to thank you in their names, which I do with all my heart, and beg
you to believe that their gratitude is none the less deep because
they have no words to express it. They generally have plenty to say,
I can assure you, and will find their tongues when you are a little
better acquainted."
"I am most happy to have been of service to you, ladies," Cyril said,
bowing deeply to them. "I can hardly say that I have the advantage
your father speaks of, for in truth the smoke was so thick, and my
eyes smarted so with it, that I could scarce see your faces."
"Their attire, too, in no way helped you," the Earl said, with a
laugh, "for, as I hear, their costume was of the slightest. I believe
that Dorothy's chief concern is that she did not have time to attire
herself in a more becoming toilette before the smoke overpowered
her."
"Now, father," the girl protested, with a pretty colour in her
cheeks, "you know I have never said anything of the sort, though I
did say that I wished I had thrown a cloak round me. It is not
pleasant, whatever you may think, to know that one was handed down a
ladder in one's nightdress."
"I don't care about that a bit," Beatrice said; "but you did not say,
father, that it was a young gentleman, no older than Sydney, who
found us and carried us out. I had expected to see a great big man."
"I don't think I said anything about his age, Beatrice, but simply
told you that I had found out that it was Sir Cyril Shenstone that
had saved you."
"Is the nurse recovering, my Lord?"
"She is still in bed, and the doctor says she will be some time
before she quite recovers from the fright and shock. They were all
sleeping in the storey above. It was Dorothy who first woke, and,
after waking her sisters, ran into the nurse's room, which was next
door, and roused her. The silly woman was so frightened that she
could do nothing but stand at the window and scream until the girls
almost dragged her away, and forced her to come downstairs. The
smoke, however, was so thick that they could get no farther than the
next floor; then, guided by the screams of the other servants, they
opened a door and ran in, but, as you know, it was not the room into
which the women had gone. The nurse fell down in a faint as soon as
she got in. The girls, as it seems, dragged her as far as they could
towards the window, but she was too heavy for them; and as they had
not shut the door, the smoke poured in and overpowered them, and they
fell beside her. The rest you know. She is a silly woman, and she has
quite lost my confidence by her folly and cowardice, but she has been
a good servant, and the girls, all of whom she nursed, were fond of
her. Still, it is evident that she is not to be trusted in an
emergency, and it was only because the girls' governess is away on a
visit to her mother that she happened to be left in charge of them.
Now, young ladies, you can leave us, as I have other matters to talk
over with Sir Cyril."
The three girls curtsied deeply, first to their father, and then to
Cyril, who held the door for them to pass out.
"Now, Sir Cyril," the Earl said, as the door closed behind them, "we
must have a talk together. You may well believe that, after what has
happened, I look upon you almost as part of my family, and that I
consider you have given me the right to look after your welfare as if
you were a near relation of my own; and glad I am to have learned
yesterday evening that you are, in all respects, one whom I might be
proud indeed to call a kinsman. Had you been a cousin of mine, with
parents but indifferently off in worldly goods, it would have been my
duty, of course, to push you forward and to aid you in every way to
make a proper figure on this expedition. I think that, after what has
happened, I have equally the right to do so, and what would have been
my duty, had you been a relation, is no less a duty, and will
certainly be a great gratification to me to do now. You understand
me, do you not? I wish to take upon myself all the charges connected
with your outfit, and to make you an allowance, similar to that which
I shall give to my son, for your expenses on board ship. All this is
of course but a slight thing, but, believe me, that when the
expedition is over it will be my pleasure to help you forward to
advancement in any course which you may choose."
"I thank you most heartily, my Lord," Cyril said, "and would not
hesitate to accept your help in the present matter, did I need it.
However, I have saved some little money during the past two years,
and Captain Dowsett has most generously offered me any sum I may
require for my expenses, and has consented to allow me to take it as
a loan to be repaid at some future time, should it be in my power to
do so. Your offer, however, to aid me in my career afterwards, I most
thankfully accept. My idea has always been to take service under some
foreign prince, and Prince Rupert has most kindly promised to aid me
in that respect; but after serving for a time at sea I shall be
better enabled to judge than at present as to whether that course is
indeed the best, and I shall be most thankful for your counsel in
this and all other matters, and feel myself fortunate indeed to have
obtained your good will and patronage."
"Well, if it must be so, it must," the Earl said. "Your friend
Captain Dowsett seems to me a very worthy man. You have placed him
under an obligation as heavy as my own, and he has the first claim to
do you service. In this matter, then, I must be content to stand
aside, but on your return from sea it will be my turn, and I shall be
hurt and grieved indeed if you do not allow me an opportunity of
proving my gratitude to you. As to the career you speak of, it is a
precarious one. There are indeed many English and Scotch officers who
have risen to high rank and honour in foreign service; but to every
one that so succeeds, how many fall unnoticed, and lie in unmarked
graves, in well-nigh every country in Europe? Were you like so many
of your age, bent merely on adventure and pleasure, the case would be
different, but it is evident that you have a clear head for business,
that you are steady and persevering, and such being the case, there
are many offices under the Crown in which you might distinguish
yourself and do far better than the vast majority of those who sell
their swords to foreign princes, and become mere soldiers of fortune,
fighting for a cause in which they have no interest, and risking
their lives in quarrels that are neither their own nor their
country's.
"However, all this we can talk over when you come back after having,
as I hope, aided in destroying the Dutch Fleet. I expect my son up
to-morrow, and trust that you will accompany him to the King's
_levée_, next Monday. Prince Rupert tells me that he has already
presented you to the King, and that you were well received by him, as
indeed you had a right to be, as the son of a gentleman who had
suffered and sacrificed much in the Royal cause. But I will take the
opportunity of introducing you to several other gentlemen who will
sail with you. On the following day I shall be going down into Kent,
and shall remain there until it is time for Sydney to embark. If you
can get your preparations finished by that time, I trust that you
will give us the pleasure of your company, and will stay with me
until you embark with Sydney. In this way you will come to know us
better, and to feel, as I wish you to feel, as one of the family."
Cyril gratefully accepted the invitation, and then took his leave.
Captain Dave was delighted when he heard the issue of his visit to
the Earl.
"I should never have forgiven you, lad, if you had accepted the
Earl's offer to help you in the matter of this expedition. It is no
great thing, and comes well within my compass, and I should have been
sorely hurt had you let him come between us; but in the future I can
do little, and he much. I have spoken to several friends who are
better acquainted with public affairs than I am, and they all speak
highly of him. He holds, for the most part, aloof from Court, which
is to his credit seeing how matters go on there; but he is spoken of
as a very worthy gentleman and one of merit, who might take a
prominent part in affairs were he so minded. He has broad estates in
Kent and Norfolk, and spends the greater part of his life at one or
other of his country seats. Doubtless, he will be able to assist you
greatly in the future."
"I did not like to refuse his offer to go down with him to Kent,"
Cyril said, "though I would far rather have remained here with you
until we sail."
"You did perfectly right, lad. It will cut short your stay here but a
week, and it would be madness to refuse the opportunity of getting to
know him and his family better. The Countess died three years ago, I
hear, and he has shown no disposition to take another wife, as he
might well do, seeing he is but a year or two past forty, and has as
pleasant a face and manner as I have ever seen. He is not the sort of
man to promise what he will not perform, Cyril, and more than ever do
I think that it was a fortunate thing for you that John Wilkes
fetched you to that fire in the Savoy. And now, lad, you have no time
to lose. You must come with me at once to Master Woods, the tailor,
in Eastcheap, who makes clothes not only for the citizens but for
many of the nobles and gallants of the Court. In the first place, you
will need a fitting dress for the King's _levée_; then you will need
at least one more suit similar to that you now wear, and three for on
board ship and for ordinary occasions, made of stout cloth, but in
the fashion; then you must have helmet, and breast- and back-pieces
for the fighting, and for these we will go to Master Lawrence, the
armourer, in Cheapside. All these we will order to-day in my name,
and put them down in your account to me. As to arms, you have your
sword, and there is but a brace of pistols to be bought. You will
want a few things such as thick cloaks for sea service; for though I
suppose that Volunteers do not keep their watch, you may meet with
rains and heavy weather, and you will need something to keep you
dry."
They sallied out at once. So the clothes were ordered, and the Court
suit, with the best of the others promised by the end of the week;
the armour was fitted on and bought, and a stock of fine shirts with
ruffles, hose, and shoes, was also purchased. The next day Sydney
Oliphant, the Earl's son, called upon Cyril. He was a frank, pleasant
young fellow, about a year older than Cyril. He was very fond of his
sisters, and expressed in lively terms his gratitude for their
rescue.
"This expedition has happened in the nick of time for me," he said,
when, in accordance with his invitation, Cyril and he embarked in the
Earl's boat in which he had been rowed to the City, "for I was in bad
odour with the authorities, and was like, erelong, to have been sent
home far less pleasantly; and although the Earl, my father, is very
indulgent, he would have been terribly angry with me had it been so.
To tell you the truth, at the University we are divided into two
sets--those who read and those who don't--and on joining I found
myself very soon among the latter. I don't think it was quite my
fault, for I naturally fell in with companions whom I had known
before, and it chanced that some of these were among the wildest
spirits in the University.
"Of course I had my horses, and, being fond of riding, I was more
often in the saddle than in my seat in the college schools. Then
there were constant complaints against us for sitting up late and
disturbing the college with our melodies, and altogether we stood in
bad odour with the Dons; and when they punished us we took our
revenge by playing them pranks, until lately it became almost open
war, and would certainly have ended before long in a score or more of
us being sent down. I should not have minded that myself, but it
would have grieved the Earl, and I am not one of the new-fashioned
ones who care naught for what their fathers may say. He has been
praising you up to the skies this morning, I can tell you--I don't
mean only as to the fire but about other things--and says he hopes we
shall be great friends, and I am sure I hope so too, and think so. He
had been telling me about your finding out about their robbing that
good old sea-captain you live with, and how you were kidnapped
afterwards, and sent to Holland; and how, in another adventure,
although he did not tell me how that came about, you pricked a
ruffling gallant through the shoulder; so that you have had a larger
share of adventure, by a great deal, than I have. I had expected to
see you rather a solemn personage, for the Earl told me you had more
sense in your little finger than I had in my whole body, which was
not complimentary to me, though I dare say it is true."
"Now, as a rule, they say that sensible people are very disagreeable;
but I hope I shall not be disagreeable," Cyril laughed, "and I am
certainly not aware that I am particularly sensible."
"No, I am sure you won't be disagreeable, but I should have been
quite nervous about coming to see you if it had not been for the
girls. Little Beatrice told me she thought you were a prince in
disguise, and had evidently a private idea that the good fairies had
sent you to her rescue. Bertha said that you were a very proper young
gentleman, and that she was sure you were nice. Dorothy didn't say
much, but she evidently approved of the younger girls' sentiments, so
I felt that you must be all right, for the girls are generally pretty
severe critics, and very few of my friends stand at all high in their
good graces. What amusement are you most fond of?"
"I am afraid I have had very little time for amusements," Cyril said.
"I was very fond of fencing when I was in France, but have had no
opportunity of practising since I came to England. I went to a
bull-bait once, but thought it a cruel sport."
"I suppose you go to a play-house sometimes?"
"No; I have never been inside one. A good deal of my work has been
done in the evening, and I don't know that the thought ever occurred
to me to go. I know nothing of your English sports, and neither ride
nor shoot, except with a pistol, with which I used to be a good shot
when I was in France."
They rowed down as low as Greenwich, then, as the tide turned, made
their way back; and by the time Cyril alighted from the boat at
London Bridge stairs the two young fellows had become quite intimate
with each other.
Nellie looked with great approval at Cyril as he came downstairs in a
full Court dress. Since the avowal she had made of her fault she had
recovered much of her brightness. She bustled about the house, intent
upon the duties she had newly taken up, to the gratification of Mrs.
Dowsett, who protested that her occupation was gone.
"Not at all, mother. It is only that you are now captain of the ship,
and have got to give your orders instead of carrying them out
yourself. Father did not pull up the ropes or go aloft to furl the
sails, while I have no doubt he had plenty to do in seeing that his
orders were carried out. You will be worse off than he was, for he
had John Wilkes, and others, who knew their duty, while I have got
almost everything to learn."
Although her cheerfulness had returned, and she could again be heard
singing snatches of song about the house, her voice and manner were
gentler and softer, and Captain Dave said to Cyril,--
"It has all turned out for the best, lad. The ship was very near
wrecked, but the lesson has been a useful one, and there is no fear
of her being lost from want of care or good seamanship in future. I
feel, too, that I have been largely to blame in the matter. I spoilt
her as a child, and I spoilt her all along. Her mother would have
kept a firmer hand upon the helm if I had not always spoken up for
the lass, and said, 'Let her have her head; don't check the sheets in
too tautly.' I see I was wrong now. Why, lad, what a blessing it is
to us all that it happened when it did! for if that fire had been but
a month earlier, you would probably have gone away with the Earl, and
we should have known nothing of Nellie's peril until we found that
she was gone."
"Sir Cyril--no, I really cannot call you Cyril now," Nellie said,
curtseying almost to the ground after taking a survey of the lad,
"your costume becomes you rarely; and I am filled with wonder at the
thought of my own stupidity in not seeing all along that you were a
prince in disguise. It is like the fairy tales my old nurse used to
tell me of the king's son who went out to look for a beautiful wife,
and who worked as a scullion in the king's palace without anyone
suspecting his rank. I think fortune has been very hard upon me, in
that I was born five years too soon. Had I been but fourteen instead
of nineteen, your Royal Highness might have cast favourable eyes upon
me."
"But then, Mistress Nellie," Cyril said, laughing, "you would be
filled with grief now at the thought that I am going away to the
wars."
The girl's face changed. She dropped her saucy manner and said
earnestly,--
"I am grieved, Cyril; and if it would do any good I would sit down
and have a hearty cry. The Dutchmen are brave fighters, and their
fleet will be stronger than ours; and there will be many who sail
away to sea who will never come back again. I have never had a
brother; but it seems to me that if I had had one who was wise, and
thoughtful, and brave, I should have loved him as I love you. I think
the princess must always have felt somehow that the scullion was not
what he seemed; and though I have always laughed at you and scolded
you, I have known all along that you were not really a clerk. I don't
know that I thought you were a prince; but I somehow felt a little
afraid of you. You never said that you thought me vain and giddy, but
I knew you did think so, and I used to feel a little malice against
you; and yet, somehow, I respected and liked you all the more, and
now it seems to me that you are still in disguise, and that, though
you seem to be but a boy, you are really a man to whom some good
fairy has given a boy's face. Methinks no boy could be as thoughtful
and considerate, and as kind as you are."
"You are exaggerating altogether," Cyril said; "and yet, in what you
say about my age, I think you are partly right. I have lived most of
my life alone; I have had much care always on my shoulders, and grave
responsibility; thus it is that I am older in many ways than I should
be at my years. I would it were not so. I have not had any boyhood,
as other boys have, and I think it has been a great misfortune for
me."
"It has not been a misfortune for us, Cyril; it has been a blessing
indeed to us all that you have not been quite like other boys, and I
think that all your life it will be a satisfaction for you to know
that you have saved one house from ruin, one woman from misery, and
disgrace. Now it is time for you to be going; but although you are
leaving us tomorrow, Cyril, I hope that you are not going quite out
of our lives."
"That you may be sure I am not, Nellie. If you have reason to be
grateful to me, truly I have much reason to be grateful to your
father. I have never been so happy as since I have been in this
house, and I shall always return to it as to a home where I am sure
of a welcome--as the place to which I chiefly owe any good fortune
that may ever befall me."
The _levée_ was a brilliant one, and was attended, in addition to
the usual throng of courtiers, by most of the officers and gentlemen
who were going with the Fleet. Cyril was glad indeed that he was with
the Earl of Wisbech and his son, for he would have felt lonely and
out of place in the brilliant throng, in which Prince Rupert's face
would have been the only one with which he was familiar. The Earl
introduced him to several of the gentlemen who would be his
shipmates, and by all he was cordially received when the Earl named
him as the gentleman who had rescued his daughters from death.
At times, when the Earl was chatting with his friends, Cyril moved
about through the rooms with Sydney, who knew by appearance a great
number of those present, and was able to point out all the
distinguished persons of the Court to him.
"There is the Prince," he said, "talking with the Earl of Rochester.
What a grave face he has now! It is difficult to believe that he is
the Rupert of the wars, and the headstrong prince whose very bravery
helped to lose well-nigh as many battles as he won. We may be sure
that he will take us into the very thick of the fight, Cyril. Even
now his wrist is as firm, and, I doubt not, his arm as strong as when
he led the Cavaliers. I have seen him in the tennis-court; there is
not one at the Court, though many are well-nigh young enough to be
his sons, who is his match at tennis. There is the Duke of York. They
say he is a Catholic, but I own that makes no difference to me. He is
fond of the sea, and is never so happy as when he is on board ship,
though you would hardly think it by his grave face. The King is fond
of it, too. He has a pleasure vessel that is called a yacht, and so
has the Duke of York, and they have races one against the other; but
the King generally wins. He is making it a fashionable pastime. Some
day I will have one myself--that is, if I find I like the sea; for it
must be pleasant to sail about in your own vessel, and to go
wheresoever one may fancy without asking leave from any man."
When it came to his turn Cyril passed before the King with the Earl
and his son. The Earl presented Sydney, who had not before been at
Court, to the King, mentioning that he was going out as a Volunteer
in Prince Rupert's vessel.
"That is as it should be, my Lord," the King said. "England need
never fear so long as her nobles and gentlemen are ready themselves
to go out to fight her battles, and to set an example to the seamen.
You need not present this young gentleman to me; my cousin Rupert has
already done so, and told me of the service he has rendered to your
daughters. He, too, sails with the Prince, and after what happened
there can be no doubt that he can stand fire well. I would that this
tiresome dignity did not prevent my being of the party. I would
gladly, for once, lay my kingship down and go out as one of the
company to help give the Dutchmen a lesson that will teach them that,
even if caught unexpectedly, the sea-dogs of England can well hold
their own, though they have no longer a Blake to command them."
"I wonder that the King ventures to use Blake's name," Sydney
whispered, as they moved away, "considering the indignities that he
allowed the judges to inflict on the body of the grand old sailor."
"It was scandalous!" Cyril said warmly; "and I burned with
indignation when I heard of it in France. They may call him a traitor
because he sided with the Parliament, but even Royalists should never
have forgotten what great deeds he did for England. However, though
they might have dishonoured his body, they could not touch his fame,
and his name will be known and honoured as long as England is a
nation and when the names of the men who condemned him have been long
forgotten."
After leaving the _levée_, Cyril went back to the City, and the next
morning started on horseback, with the Earl and his son, to the
latter's seat, near Sevenoaks, the ladies having gone down in the
Earl's coach on the previous day. Wholly unaccustomed as Cyril was to
riding, he was so stiff that he had difficulty in dismounting when
they rode up to the mansion. The Earl had provided a quiet and
well-trained horse for his use, and he had therefore found no
difficulty in retaining his seat.
"You must ride every day while you are down here," the Earl said,
"and by the end of the week you will begin to be fairly at home in
the saddle. A good seat is one of the prime necessities of a
gentleman's education, and if it should be that you ever carry out
your idea of taking service abroad it will be essential for you,
because, in most cases, the officers are mounted. You can hardly
expect ever to become a brilliant rider. For that it is necessary to
begin young; but if you can keep your seat under all circumstances,
and be able to use your sword on horseback, as well as on foot, it
will be all that is needful."
The week passed very pleasantly. Cyril rode and fenced daily with
Sydney, who was surprised to find that he was fully his match with
the sword. He walked in the gardens with the girls, who had now quite
recovered from the effects of the fire. Bertha and Beatrice, being
still children, chatted with him as freely and familiarly as they did
with Sydney. Of Lady Dorothy he saw less, as she was in charge of her
_gouvernante_, who always walked beside her, and was occupied in
training her into the habits of preciseness and decorum in vogue at
the time.
"I do believe, Dorothy," Sydney said, one day, "that you are
forgetting how to laugh. You walk like a machine, and seem afraid to
move your hands or your feet except according to rule. I like you
very much better as you were a year ago, when you did not think
yourself too fine for a romp, and could laugh when you were pleased.
That dragon of yours is spoiling you altogether."
"That is a matter of opinion, Sydney," Dorothy said, with a deep
curtsey. "When you first began to fence, I have no doubt you were
stiff and awkward, and I am sure if you had always had someone by
your side, saying, 'Keep your head up!' 'Don't poke your chin
forward!' 'Pray do not swing your arms!' and that sort of thing, you
would be just as awkward as I feel. I am sure I would rather run
about with the others; the process of being turned into a young lady
is not a pleasant one. But perhaps some day, when you see the
finished article, you will be pleased to give your Lordship's august
approval," and she ended with a merry laugh that would have shocked
her _gouvernante_ if she had heard it.