The room had a prodigious sense of change about it. That came over me
with something of a shock, since the moment before I had it settled that
I was in Marlboro' Street. The bare branches swaying in the wind outside
should belong to the trees in Freshwater Lane. But beyond the branches
were houses, the like of which I had no remembrance of in Annapolis.
And then my grandfather should be sitting in that window. Surely, he
was there! He moved! He was coming toward me to say: “Richard, you are
forgiven,” and to brush his eyes with his ruffles.
Then there was the bed-canopy, the pleatings of which were gone, and it
was turned white instead of the old blue. And the chimney-place! That
was unaccountably smaller, and glowed with a sea-coal fire. And the
mantel was now but a bit of a shelf, and held many things that seemed
scarce at home on the rough and painted wood,--gold filigree; and China
and Japan, and a French clock that ought not to have been just there.
Ah, the teacups! Here at last was something to touch a fibre of my
brain, but a pain came with the effort of memory. So my eyes went
back to my grandfather in the window. His face was now become black as
Scipio's, and he wore a red turban and a striped cotton gown that was
too large for him. And he was sewing. This was monstrous!
I hurried over to the tea-cups, such a twinge did that discovery give
me. But they troubled me near as much, and the sea-coal fire held
strange images. The fascination in the window was not to be denied, for
it stood in line with the houses and the trees. Suddenly there rose up
before me a gate. Yes, I knew that gate, and the girlish figure leaning
over it. They were in Prince George Street. Behind them was a mass of
golden-rose bushes, and out of these came forth a black face under a
turban, saying, “Yes, mistis, I'se comin'.”
“Mammy--Mammy Lucy!”
The figure in the window stirred, and the sewing fell its ample lap.
“Now Lawd'a mercy!”
I trembled--with a violence unspeakable. Was this but one more of those
thousand voices, harsh and gentle, rough and tender, to which I had
listened in vain this age past? The black face was hovering over me
now, and in an agony of apprehension I reached up and felt its honest
roughness. Then I could have wept for joy.
“Mammy Lucy!”
“Yes, Marse Dick?”
“Where--where is Miss Dolly?”
“Now, Marse Dick, doctah done say you not t' talk, suh.”
“Where is Miss Dolly?” I cried, seizing her arm.
“Hush, Marse Dick. Miss Dolly'll come terectly, suh. She's lyin' down,
suh.”
The door creaked, and in my eagerness I tried to lift myself. 'Twas
Aunt Lucy's hand that restrained me, and the next face I saw was that of
Dorothy's mother. But why did it appear so old and sorrow-lined? And why
was the hair now of a whiteness with the lace of the cap? She took my
fingers in her own, and asked me anxiously if I felt any pain.
“Where am I, Mrs. Manners?”
“You are in London, Richard.”
“In Arlington Street?”
She shook her head sadly. “No, my dear, not in Arlington Street. But you
are not to talk.”
“And Dorothy? May I not see Dorothy? Aunt Lucy tells me she is here.”
Mrs. Manners gave the old mammy a glance of reproof, a signal that
alarmed me vastly.
“Oh, tell me, Mrs. Manners! You will speak the truth. Tell me if she is
gone away?”
“My dear boy, she is here, and under this very roof. And you shall see
her as soon as Dr. Barry will permit. Which will not be soon,” she added
with a smile, “if you persist in this conduct.”
The threat had the desired effect. And Mrs. Manners quietly left the
room, and after a while as quietly came back again and sat down by the
fire, whispering to Aunt Lucy.
Fate, in some inexplicable way, had carried me into the enemy's country
and made me the guest of Mr. Marmaduke Manners. As I lay staring
upward, odd little bits of the past came floating to the top of my mind,
presently to be pieced together. The injuries Mr. Marmaduke had done
me were the first to collect, since I was searching for the cause of
my resentment against him. The incidents arrived haphazard as magic
lanthorn views, but very vivid. His denial of me before Mr. Dix, and his
treachery at Vauxhall, when he had sent me to be murdered. Next I felt
myself clutching the skin over his ribs in Arlington Street, when I had
flung him across the room in his yellow night-gown. That brought me to
the most painful scene of my life, when I had parted with Dorothy at the
top of the stairs. Afterward followed scraps of the years at Gordon's
Pride, and on top of them the talk with McAndrews. Here was the secret I
sought. The crash had come. And they were no longer in Mayfair, but must
have taken a house in some poorer part of London. This thought cast me
down tremendously.
And Dorothy! Had time changed her? 'Twas with that query on my lips I
fell asleep, to dream of the sun shining down on Carvel Hall and Wilmot
House; of Aunt Hester and Aunt Lucy, and a lass and a lad romping
through pleasant fields and gardens.
When I awoke it was broad day once more. A gentleman sat on the edge of
my bed. He had a queer, short face, ruddy as the harvest moon, and he
smiled good-humouredly when I opened my eyes.
“I bid you good morning, Mr. Carvel, for the first time since I have
made your acquaintance,” said he. “And how do you feel, sir?”
“I have never felt better in my life,” I replied, which was the whole
truth.
“Well, vastly well,” says he, laughing, “prodigious well for a young
man who has as many holes in him as have you. Do you hear him, Mrs.
Manners?”
At that last word, I popped up to look about the room, and the doctor
caught hold of me with ludicrous haste. A pain shot through my body.
“Avast, avast, my hearty,” cries he. “'Tis a miracle you can speak,
let alone carry your bed and walk for a while yet.” And he turned to
Dorothy's mother, whom I beheld smiling at me. “You will give him the
physic, ma'am, at the hours I have chosen. Egad, I begin to think we
shall come through.
“But pray remember, ma'am, if he talks, you are to put a wad in his
mouth.”
“He shall have no opportunity to talk, Dr. Barry,” said Mrs. Manners.
“Save for a favour I have to ask you, doctor,” I cried.
“'Od's bodkins! Already, sir? And what may that be?”
“That you will allow me to see Miss Manners.”
He shook with laughter, and then winked at me very roguishly.
“Oh!” says he, “and faith, I should be worse than cruel. First she comes
imploring me to see you, and so prettily that a man of oak could not
refuse her. And now it is you begging to see her. Had your eyes been
opened, sir, you might have had many a glimpse of Miss Dolly these three
weeks past.”
“What! She has been watching with me?” I asked, in a rapture not to be
expressed.
“'Od's, but those are secrets. And the medical profession is
close-mouthed, Mr. Carvel. So you want to see her? No,” cries he, “'tis
not needful to swear it on the Evangels. And I let her come in, will you
give me your honour as a gentleman not to speak more than two words to
her?”
“I promise anything, and you will not deny me looking at her,” said I.
He shook again, all over. “You rascal! You sad dog, sir! No, sir, faith,
you must shut your eyes. Eh, madam, must he not shut his eyes?”
“They were playmates, doctor,” answers Mrs. Manners. She was laughing a
little, too.
“Well, she shall come in. But remember that I shall have my ear to the
keyhole, and you go beyond your promise, out she's whisked. So I caution
you not to spend rashly those two words, sir.”
And he followed Mrs. Manners out of the room, frowning and shaking his
fist at me in mock fierceness. I would have died for the man. For a
space--a prodigious long space--I lay very still, my heart bumping like
a gun-carriage broke loose, and my eyes riveted on the crack of the
door. Then I caught the sound of a light footstep, the knob turned, and
joy poured into my soul with the sweep of a Fundy tide.
“Dorothy!” I cried. “Dorothy!”
She put her finger to her lips.
“There, sir,” said she, “now you have spoken them both at once!”
She closed the door softly behind her, and stood looking down upon me
with such a wondrous love-light in her eyes as no man may describe.
My fancy had not lifted me within its compass, my dreams even had not
imagined it. And the fire from which it sprang does not burn in humbler
souls. So she stood gazing, those lips which once had been the seat of
pride now parted in a smile of infinite tenderness. But her head she
still held high, and her body straight. Down the front of her dress
fell a tucked apron of the whitest linen, and in her hand was a cup of
steaming broth.
“You are to take this, Richard,” she commanded. And added, with a touch
of her old mischief, “Mind, sir, if I hear a sound out of you, I am to
disappear like the fairy godmother.”
I knew full well she meant it, and the terror of losing her kept me
silent. She put down the cup, placed another pillow behind my head with
a marvellous deftness, and then began feeding me in dainty spoonfuls
something which was surely nectar. And mine eyes, too, had their feast.
Never before had I seen my lady in this gentle guise, this task of
nursing the sick, which her doing raised to a queenly art.
Her face had changed some. Years of trial unknown to me had left an
ennobling mark upon her features, increasing their power an hundred
fold. And the levity of girlish years was gone. How I burned to question
her! But her lips were now tight closed, her glance now and anon seeking
mine, and then falling with an exquisite droop to the coverlet. For the
old archness, at least, would never be eradicated. Presently, after she
had taken the cup and smoothed my pillow, I reached out for her hand. It
was a boldness of which I had not believed myself capable; but she did
not resist, and even, as I thought, pressed my fingers with her own
slender ones, the red of our Maryland holly blushing in her cheeks. And
what need of words, indeed! Our thoughts, too, flew coursing hand in
hand through primrose paths, and the angels themselves were not to be
envied.
A master might picture my happiness, waking and sleeping, through the
short winter days that came and went like flashes of gray light. The
memory of them is that of a figure tall and lithe, a little more rounded
than of yore, and a chiselled face softened by a power that is one
of the world's mysteries. Dorothy had looked the lady in rags, and
housewife's cap and apron became her as well as silks or brocades.
When for any reason she was absent from my side, I moped, to the quiet
amusement of Mrs. Manners and the more boisterous delight of Aunt Lucy,
who took her turn sewing in the window. I was near to forgetting the use
of words, until at length, one rare morning when the sun poured in,
the jolly doctor dressed my wounds with more despatch than common, and
vouchsafed that I might talk awhile that day.
“Oh!” cries he, putting me as ever to confusion, “but I have a guess
whom my gentleman will be wishing to talk with. But I'll warrant, sir,
you have said a deal more than I have any notion of without opening your
lips.”
And he went away, intolerably pleased with his joke.
Alas for the perversity of maiden natures! It was not my dear nurse who
brought my broth that morning, but Mrs. Manners herself. She smiled at
my fallen face, and took a chair at my bedside.
“Now, my dear boy,” she said, “you may ask what questions you choose,
and I will tell you very briefly how you have come here.”
“I have been thinking, Mrs. Manners,” I replied, “that if it were known
that you harboured one of John Paul Jones's officers in London, very
serious trouble might follow for you.”
I thought her brow clouded a little.
“No one knows of it, Richard, or is likely to. Dr. Barry, like so many
in England, is a good Whig and friend to America. And you are in a part
of London far removed from Mayfair.” She hesitated, and then continued
in a voice that strove to be lighter: “This little house is in Charlotte
Street, Mary-le-Bone, for the war has made all of us suffer some. And
we are more fortunate than many, for we are very comfortable here, and
though I say it, happier than in Arlington Street. And the best of our
friends are still faithful. Mr. Fox, with all his greatness, has never
deserted us, nor my Lord Comyn. Indeed, we owe them much more than I can
tell you of now,” she said, and sighed. “They are here every day of the
world to inquire for you, and it was his Lordship brought you out of
Holland.”
And so I had reason once more to bless this stanch friend!
“Out of Holland?” I cried.
“Yes. One morning as we sat down to breakfast, Mr. Ripley's clerk
brought in a letter for Dorothy. But I must say first that Mr. Dulany,
who is in London, told us that you were with John Paul Jones. You
can have no conception, Richard, of the fear and hatred that name has
aroused in England. Insurance rates have gone up past belief, and the
King's ships are cruising in every direction after the traitor and
pirate, as they call him. We have prayed daily for your safety, and
Dorothy--well, here is the letter she received. It had been opened
by the inspector, and allowed to pass. And it is to be kept as a
curiosity.” She drew it from the pocket of her apron and began to read.
“THE TEXEL, October 3, 1779
“MY DEAR Miss DOROTHY: I would not be thought to flutter y'r Gentle
Bosom with Needless Alarms, nor do I believe I have misjudged y'r
Warm & Generous Nature when I write you that One who is held very
High in y'r Esteem lies Exceeding Ill at this Place, who might by
Tender Nursing regain his Health. I seize this Opportunity to say,
my dear Lady, that I have ever held my too Brief Acquaintance with
you in London as one of the Sacred Associations of my Life. From
the Little I saw of you then I feel Sure that this Appeal will not
pass in Vain. I remain y'r most Humble and Devoted Admirer,
“JAMES ORCHARDSON.”
“And she knew it was from Commodore Jones?” I asked, in astonishment.
“My dear,” replied Mrs. Manners, with a quiet smile, “we women have a
keener instinct than men--though I believe your commodore has a woman's
intuition. Yes, Dorothy knew. And I shall never forget the fright she
gave me as she rose from the table and handed me the sheet to read,
crying but the one word. She sent off to Brook Street for Lord Comyn,
who came at once, and, in half an hour the dear fellow was set out for
Dover. He waited for nothing, since war with Holland was looked for
at any day. And his Lordship himself will tell you about that rescue.
Within the week he had brought you to us. Your skull had been trepanned,
you had this great hole in your thigh, and your heart was beating but
slowly. By Mr. Fox's advice we sent for Dr. Barry, who is a skilled
surgeon, and a discreet man despite his manner. And you have been here
for better than three weeks, Richard, hanging between life and death.”
“And I owe my life to you and to Dorothy,” I said.
“To Lord Comyn and Dr. Barry, rather,” she replied quickly. “We have
done little but keep the life they saved. And I thank God it was given
me to do it for the son of your mother and father.”
Something of the debt I owed them was forced upon me.
They were poor, doubtless driven to make ends meet, and yet they had
taken me in, called upon near the undivided services of an able surgeon,
and worn themselves out with nursing me. Nor did I forget the risk
they ran with such a guest. For the first time in many years my heart
relented toward Mr. Marmaduke. For their sakes I forgave him over and
over what I had suffered, and my treatment of him lay like a weight upon
me. And how was I to repay them? They needed the money I had cost them,
of that I was sure. After the sums I had expended to aid the commodore
with the 'Ranger' and the 'Bon homme Richard', I had scarce a farthing
to my name. With such leaden reflections was I occupied when I heard
Mrs. Manners speaking to me.
“Richard, I have some news for you which the doctor thinks you can bear
to-day. Mr. Dulany, who is exiled like the rest of us, brought them. It
is a great happiness to be able to tell you, my dear, that you are now
the master of Carvel Hall, and like to stay so.”
The tears stole into her eyes as she spoke. And the enormity of those
tidings, coming as they did on the top of my dejection, benumbed me. All
they meant was yet far away from my grasp, but the one supreme result
that was first up to me brought me near to fainting in my weakness.
“I would not raise your hopes unduly, Richard,” the good lady was
saying, “but the best informed here seem to think that England cannot
push the war much farther. If the Colonies win, you are secure in your
title.”
“But how is it come about, Mrs. Manners?” I demanded, with my first
breath.
“You doubtless have heard that before the Declaration was signed at
Philadelphia your Uncle Grafton went to the committee at Annapolis and
contributed to the patriot cause, and took very promptly the oath of the
Associated Freemen of Maryland, thus forsaking the loyalist party--”
“Yes, yes,” I interrupted, “I heard of it when I was on the Cabot. He
thought his property in danger.”
“Just so,” said Mrs. Manners, laughing; “he became the best and most
exemplary of patriots, even as he had been the best of Tories. He sent
wheat and money to the army, and went about bemoaning that his only son
fought under the English flag. But very little fighting has Philip done,
my dear. Well, when the big British fleet sailed up the bay in '77,
your precious uncle made the first false step in his long career of
rascality. He began to correspond with the British at Philadelphia, and
one of his letters was captured near the Head of Elk. A squad was sent
to the Kent estate, where he had been living, to arrest him, but he made
his escape to New York. And his lands were at once confiscated by the
state.”
“'Then they belong to the state,” I said, with misgiving.
“Not so fast, Richard. At the last session of the Maryland Legislature a
bill was introduced, through the influence of Mr. Bordley and others, to
restore them to you, their rightful owner. And insomuch as you were even
then serving the country faithfully and bravely, and had a clean and
honourable record of service, the whole of the lands were given to you.
And now, my dear, you have had excitement enough for one day.”