the lighted windows of the inn winked on me with yellow eyes. A cold
sleet was falling, very piercing to the flesh, and I rolled my collar
higher about my neck. It came upon me then that I was a fool to leave
that warm and comfortable tavern on such a savage night; but 'twas
Christmas Eve, and seven of the clock, and I was for Bristol on the
following day, where was a doxy that I knew, as pretty a parcel as ever
I did see, saving Polly Scarlet, and she was in London.
The landlord had joined me in a bottle well-laced with brandy, and
being of a lively and generous disposition had furnished another
himself. 'Twas a lonely inn that stood on the border of the moor, and
says he that he was mightily gratified to be in company.
So 'twas with a full belly and a merry heart that I turned into the
welter of the night. 'Twas rarely cold, and I whistled as I went,
though the breath of my nostrils went up like reek. Now I was in
the mind, being amply loaded and light-spirited, to be amiable with
the devil himself, if so be he should come that way, though 'twas,
for sure, not the night for him. Certainly I was not thinking of
rumpadding any mortal man, but would have taken him to my bosom for a
fellow-traveller. For 'tis a vulgar error to suppose that gentlemen
of the road are for ever with an eye to goldfinches. Money is muck
for us as often as not, at least to such of us as maintain a proper
dignity. But as for Dan Creech and his lousy pack, or that much-boasted
Jeremy Starbottle, why, they are no better than common cutpurses or
tally-thieves. No; to ride the high toby has its obligations as well as
its privileges, and on that Christmas Eve, damme, the whole world and
his wife might have gone secure for me.
Well in this humour, despite of the night, I rode on, sometimes at a
jog, but mostly at a walk, for the snow was heavier as I reached the
moor. Upon the stretch of broken land it lay uneven, for I suppose
'twas caught by the rough winds on that upland heath and blown into the
hollows, and upon the furze and thorn. But the continuous spread of
whiteness had absorbed the road, and Calypso had to feel her way mighty
patiently. 'Twas thus we arrived at the cross-roads near the middle of
the moor, where the ways divide 'twixt Bollingham and Messiter; and
reining in on the impulse, to make sure of my path, I perceived even
through the blackness another figure on horseback under the sign-post.
"Is't anyone?" says a voice, pretty clear.
"Ay," says I, "'tis a traveller."
"Is there a village near by?" says he out of the dark.
"Within three miles two upon either road," said I.
"I am bound for Bath," says he, "and have met with a mishap this cursed
night," and began to deliver oaths as they had been sword-thrusts in a
duello. Now I can tolerate a man that has been put to sore discomfort
and is enraged, and as for a few mouth-filling oaths, why, they are
neither here nor there. But there was something in the way of his
voice, manner and address that grated on me, and so I answered him
pretty coolly.
"Well, you can take your choice of roads with an easy heart," I said.
"Look ye here," says he, after a moment. "From what I catch of you
through your voice, my man, you should be a sturdy fellow. What think
you of carrying a message for help to the village for a guinea-piece.
'Twill serve you with good wine, mulled ale, or a doxy, I'll warrant."
That maddened me for all my good humour, to be taken for granted as a
common fetch-and-carry, and to be so addressed like a footboy by his
grace. I heard insolence and overbearing in his accent, and I would
have sworn patronage and contempt was in his face.
"Be damned!" says I, angrily, "I am no lackey. Find your own village,"
says I.
At that he uttered an oath. "You are impudent!" said he, and moved his
horse nearer, as though he would take action. But, Lord, I was awaiting
him, and this muckworm would have eaten snow in two minutes had he so
ventured. But prudence came to him, so he hesitated. "Ye're the sort of
man that is the better of the whip and the pillory," says he. "Rogue,
were it not for the darkness I would beat you for your insolence."
"Damme, what's amiss with the darkness?" said I. "For sure I can well
make out your ugly body against the snow. 'Tis a monstrous, unsightly
blackness against so much innocent whiteness." He cursed me, and then
dug his rowels into his nag so deeply that the poor beast started and
reared. But that was enough for me, for I hate to see a creature that
is so kindly in its services so mishandled; and so says I, driving at
him,--
"Rip me, you muckworm, I'll give you that which will recall this moor
to you. Deliver, damn ye!" says I, "or I'll make you food for maggots;"
and I had the barker at his head ere he knew what had happened.
Well, he made much ado, but 'twas of no avail, for I had the mastery
from the outset, and he was perforce obliged to plumb his pockets, the
which yielded but a score of guineas and a ring or so. But that was of
no consequence to me, for I had no care for his money, merely for his
discomfiture, along of his arrogance.
As I left him, foully imprecating, I threw a laughing word at him.
"Messiter," says I, "lies on the left, and Bollingham to the right.
Turn round three times, my cock, and choose which you will," whereat I
rode laughing into the darkness, yet ere I did so I saw him savagely
wheel into the Messiter Road, cutting viciously at his horse.
As for me, I rode on, singing cheerfully enough, for the encounter had
warmed my blood, and I no longer felt the cold so greatly. But I had
not got farther than a mile from the cross-roads when I was aware in
the pause of my singing of a sound near by, of a voice that called on
the unquiet air, very faint and melancholy. I reined in, and listened,
and presently the cry came to me again from the right; and so, jumping
off the mare, I left her in the road, standing obedient as she was used
to do, and walked gingerly in that direction. I did not trust myself in
that profound darkness and the treacherous snow, and, sure enough, I
was right to be careful, for in a little I was plunged up to my waist
in a hollow.
"Where are you?" I called aloud, and the voice, so clearly now a
woman's, came back.
I made my way to it with difficulty, and soon solved the riddle; here
was a chaise wandered out of the road and buried in a deep drift, and
by the body of the carriage a poor lady in the direst state of distress
and terror.
"Why, madam," said I, "are ye alone?"
At which she broke out that her husband was gone for help, as was the
postilion, but in different directions, and that they had took the
horses, and that she, poor delicate creature, was thus solitary on a
naked and solitary moor, with never even a wild-fowl to scream with her
for company.
"Oh," says I, "we will soon mend that, madam, or call me catchpole,"
and I took hold of her. "Ye're in a drift, mistress," I said. "I'll
give ye company, if ye will have it, until your husband shall
return"--and then all of a sudden it flashed upon me that her husband
was he who had abused me so grossly, and whom I had rumpadded.
"Phew!" says I to myself, "why, here's a pretty comedy." But the lady
was all that occupied my thoughts just then, and so I conducted her
to the road, and encouraged her into talk as I did so, for she was
in a terrible fluster, what with the loneliness and the cold and the
darkness.
"Now," says I, "what you need, madam, is a posset of hot brandy and a
warm and virtuous couch," I says, "and with the help of my good nag
here 'tis what you'll have."
"Oh, sir, you are very good," says she, tremulously. "You are good
beyond Christian seeming."
That tickled me pleasantly, as you may think, and I was the more
disposed to take charge of this poor creature thus left to starve of
the perishing winds of heaven. It rains not clemency from December
skies in this brisk isle of England. So says I, in a cheering voice,--
"I'll warrant you shall toast your toes and warm your stomach with
victuals within the better part of an hour. Faith, pin your hopes on
me, mistress, and you shall not be disappointed. Tis not the first time
Dick Ryder has comforted and succoured the fair. There's Dick's luck,
madam."
She smiled in a weak way, but began to take some confidence, as I could
see from the new note in her voice.
"Is it far, sir, to shelter?" she asked, and I told her there was an
inn some two miles distant, at which she plucked up her heart once
more, not knowing (bless her folly) that two miles on that wild moor,
and with that drift of snow, was no matter for spoon-fed babes. But as
chance had it, she made the discovery pretty quickly, and that through
no fault or neglect of mine. For I put her upon Calypso--as gentle a
mare, when needs be, as ever was straddled; and, sure enough, she was
straddled now. For my lady could keep no seat otherwise, and so says I
to her, if she would play the man for the nonce we should maybe be the
sooner out of our troubles. 'Twas then for the first time that I saw
there was good blood and spirit to her; for instead of crying out in
protest that she could not, or she would not, or that she dared not,
says she,--
"Oh, think you so?" and over she cocks her foot with the best grace in
the world, and a charming genuflexion to boot. "I fear I trouble you
greatly," says she.
But, Lord, with such an one (duchess or doxy, dame or dirty-face) I
would have gone to the farthest verge of trouble and made no odds of
it. 'Tis spirit that ever has appealed to me.
Well, we were no sooner astir, Calypso pegging slowly along with me at
her mouthpiece, than there comes over us a flurry of snow, driving full
and hard in our faces, the which blinded me for the time. But when I
recovered the mare was gone from the road and had took a step into a
hollow. She staggered, and plump goes the lady over her head into the
drift. I hauled her forth, breathless as she was, and all she cried out
when the wind was in her again was,--
"I fear I did not hold to her properly. I fear I am a bungler."
"Bless your heart, no," says I. "It would have took a king's regiment
to have sat that fall. You do mighty well," said I, "and I'd wring his
nose that said no to that;" with which I assisted her once more into
the saddle.
What with the drift and the darkness, and the squalls of snow, it was
an hour and more before we reached the inn which lay on the road to
Bollingham. Arrived here I rapped out the landlord, who was surprised
to see me returned--"not but what you are wise," says he. But when he
saw the lady and heard my tale he was, being a decent kindly fellow,
all of a bustle. Madam was all a-wet from her sojourn in the snow, to
say nothing of her tumble, and so she was set afore a great fire in
the ingle to dry herself, which she did with sincere appreciation, the
while the host prepared supper. She sat there, her hands extended,
drawing in deep breaths of comfort from the grateful blaze, and I
watched her. Twas the first I had seen of her face, which was of
a delicate beauty, pink from the whipping wind, and crowned with
disordered hair. I judged she was of a quality deemed proper in courts,
and she was young withal. Presently says she, looking round at me with
bright soft eyes,--
"Do you think," said she, "that my husband has reached safety?"
"Why, yes," said I, "for though he be not here, he may have taken the
other road and be at Messiter," the which I knew it was likely he had
done.
"Oh!" said she, as if thinking, and said no more.
But nearby after that supper was served, and madam was set to take in
company with your faithful servant, by your leave! Not but what I have
not often supped with the quality, ay, and made merry with them too,
man and woman, and of all ages; for we are served in our calling with
strange accidents. Yet I will confess that to be seated there at table
with her tickled me handsomely, and I fell to with a will. But the lady
showed little appetite, and had an anxious look, and thought I that she
was troubled for her husband; but I soon made out that she was not so
concerned, for said I, to stimulate her,--
"Maybe he is supping like us in a cosy room at Messiter."
"Oh!" said she, and I saw her mind had come back from another quarter.
"He is like to sup and be comfortable wherever he is. He will emerge
scatheless;" and there was that in her tone which was all but a sneer.
"Oh, well, damn the husband," says I to myself, "I take no interest in
him;" and I gave my attention to the lady. The glow had now receded
from her face, leaving it pale, according to what I took to be its
true habit, and she answered in a pleasant and engaging way, with an
emphasis of her gratitude for my assistance. But this I pooh-poohed in
curt terms, for I was more than repaid for my trouble by the figure she
cut over against the board, and the honour she did me. And I was in the
midst of rebuffing her thanks for the third time when the door opened
from the flagged passage and a man entered.
He was followed by the innkeeper, suave and bowing, and the first thing
was that madam says, in an even, pleasant voice,--
"So you are behind us after all, Charles." At that I studied him the
closer, for it must be her husband, and perhaps he that had put an
affront on me, and I knew for certain who he was when he spoke.
"It seems so," said he, scowling at me; and then "Why did you not wait?
I found you gone from the chaise."
"It was so cold. I was chilled to death," she answered, "and this
gentleman happened upon me, and was so good as to offer me his services
for a rescue."
He turned a glowering, arrogant eye on me, but said nothing at the
moment, save a demand to the innkeeper to fetch mulled wine. Now, 'twas
clear he was in ignorance of my identity, and so I was emboldened to
make trial of him, maybe, you will say, with some rashness; but I have
ever found the boldest course is the wisest.
"Perhaps, sir," said I, "you will honour me with a share of this bottle
in the meanwhile."
He hesitated, and then lowered his eyes. "I thank you, no, sir," he
returned briefly, and sat down to the fire to wait.
His ungraciousness nettled me, all the more that he thus deranged
the comfort of his own lady, who was manifestly put about by his
incivility. Seeing that he knew not I had rumpadded him he might have
thrown thanks at me for her care, even if 'twere only as you may throw
coins at a beggar. But not he. He sat and frowned, and then looked up
at her.
"The next time I pray you will have faith and patience to remain where
you are set, my lady," says he, curtly.
"Why, husband--" she began, but I broke in, for I was infuriate with
his grossness of manner.
"Look you, sir," said I, "would you have a tender lady bare to the snow
and sour winds to await your convenience? Sink me, I should be glad to
think she was warming of her ankles, what fate soever came to mine."
"Your opinion," said he, pompously, and looking at me inquisitively,
"is naturally of weight, sir."
He was a full-faced, big-nosed man, with small eyes, and a hard mouth,
but was manifestly of some dignity from his dress and style.
"Sir Charles," says she, with a little pride in her voice, "you forget
my plight. I should have perished but for this good gentleman."
"Humph," says this pig, puffing out his nostrils, and leaned over the
fire to warm himself, but cast narrow glances at me.
But here comes in mine host with the wine, and Sir Charles (if that
was his name) sits to the table, and takes a draught, which served to
loosen his tongue.
"These roads," says he, "do no credit to your country, my man."
"Sir, they are such as we must endure," says the innkeeper.
"They are a disgrace to any country," says he; "they are the haunt of
thieves and cut-throats," he says, and thumped on the table.
"Why, I've heard of none, your honour," says the fellow.
"I tell you, sir," he went on, "that no more than a mile or so from
here I was stopped by a ruffian and robbed--yes, robbed, sir; and you
boast of your secure roads. I am a justice and will see to it when I
reach London."
"Lord, sir, you say not so?" said the innkeeper, and the lady called
out in surprise,
"Robbed, Charles; why, what is this?"
"Stopped and robbed," says the man, with emphasis on his words and
looking from one to another of us. "Stopped and robbed by a dastard
with pistols and swords, when I had been looking for a friendly voice
in the night and the snow--rings, guineas and all," he says, addressing
his wife.
"I have my purse," says she, fumbling in her bodice with nervous
fingers.
"I will bring down the law on this wretched place," he declared
formidably, ignoring her. "I will see that his Majesty's processes
do clean these parts of the gentry, and of all who harbour them," he
added, with suspicious beady eyes on the innkeeper.
"Nay, sir, there is no house on this road but what is honest," says he,
hastily.
"Why," says Sir Charles, as importantly as if he were examining a
prisoner, "this fellow must have come from here, and no doubt was in
waiting for me. You cannot deny it."
"There was none such here, sir, all the day," says the landlord,
humbly; "there was none but honest folk."
"Ah, but how mark you the difference?" he asked triumphantly. "I ask
you, how do you discriminate? Does a man wear his virtue on his nose?"
And at that, looking at his blobbed nose, I chuckled to myself, for I
minded in no way that he was thus cross-questioning the taverner. Lord,
I would not have cared two sucking straws for such as he. So I broke
in,--
"There is some that has an honest look," said I, "and there's some that
wants it."
"That is so," said the lady. "'Twere easy to tell the difference."
"You are very confident," said he, sourly, "and maybe then you could
read the faces in this room, madam?"
She glanced about her with a flush at his rudeness. "I think there is
no question of this room," she answered.
He said nothing, but shot a glance at me, and then took a draught of
wine.
"And how was it this kind gentleman happened upon you, Betty?" he asked.
"Sir, 'twas a delicate voice, as of a lamb bleating in the cold
darkness, that I heard, and went for to rescue," I answered him coolly.
"Oh!" he says, and looked at the table as if thinking. "And whence came
you?" he asked bluntly.
Now it entered into my mind then for the first time that he had
conceived a suspicion of me. It was true that his bearing might be
part of his customary gross conduct, but 'twas possible that his
questions were pursuing some point. And so, as the landlord was gone
from the room, I said indifferently, "I am from Bristol and go south
for Taunton."
"Ho!" he said, "then you came along the road after me?"
"Very like," I said with the same indifference. "I know not which way
you came, as the chaise was buried deep in the drift."
"That brings to my memory," said he, rising, "a neglected duty. The
postilion must take aid to rescue the carriage;" and he marched to the
door with his heavy gait and determined mien.
When he was gone I looked across at the lady, but she avoided my eye,
embarrassed (I made no doubt) by her husband's arrogant behaviour.
And now I recalled that 'twas high time for me to be on my way after
this interlude, and I put my hand into my pocket to bring forth a coin
wherewith to discharge my reckoning. And I pulled out a handful of
guineas. As I was picking out one I heard an exclamation, and raising
my eyes, perceived that the lady was staring in astonishment at my hand.
"Where got you that?" she asked in an excitement, pointing with her
hand. "Where got you that ring?"
And then to my chagrin I saw that I had pulled out some of the
jewellery I had took from Sir Charles. "That?" says I, thinking to gain
time. "Why that?"
"The ring I gave my husband," she almost whispered across the table,
and her eyes met mine. In them suddenly arose a light of understanding,
and of something else commingled. Damme, I am not ashamed to ply the
high toby, but there is some matters that do not concern women, and
which they do not understand. She turned of a red glow to her neck.
"What--you?" she murmured faintly. "It was you?"
And I, like a fool, had never a word, but sat glum and still, staring
at her. To look at her it would have seemed that she it was that had
took the ring and been discovered.
"Oh, why did you that?" she asked in her low voice. "Was it that you
were in need?"
"Faith, no," said I, with a laugh, and never attempting to deny.
"There's a plenty of King's pictures to my pockets. But if ye will have
it, 'twas his voice annoyed me. I thought 'twas any man's duty and
right to take toll of such complacency."
She eyed me sadly, as I hate to be eyed. I can endure the devil's own
temper, and a scold's tongue (for I have my own cure for them), but
tears, and shining eyes, and melancholy looks--I cannot abide 'em. So
says I gruffly,--
"Ye are welcome to them back. I have no use for them. Maybe 'twill
teach him a lesson in manners, and that will serve;" whereat I turned
the contents of my pocket upon the table and thrust them towards her.
She sat looking at the gold and the jewels for some moments in silence,
while I looked at her. She was, I'll warrant, a pious good woman,
and though such are not generally to my taste, I can appreciate ripe
goodness and beauty, and it irked me to think of her being bound with
such a surly and unmannerly boar. But presently, with a start, she put
out her hands and began to collect the pieces with fever in her haste,
glancing fearfully at the door; and no sooner had she disposed of them
than in stalks my portentous friend, with an ugly look on his phiz.
"You come from Bristol, sir," says he in a loud voice, "and maybe can
explain why you set forth for Taunton from this very house two hours
agone by the Bristol Road?"
I gave him a steady stare, for it was plain to me now how he had come
by his information, and that he had been questioning the innkeeper
about me. It mattered not a rap to me, for he could prove nothing
against me, and even if he had, I would have kissed the beam if I could
not have settled with that hulking dung-fork. So said I equably,--
"Why the devil should I explain to you?"
"Well, to the justices, if you like it better," said he with an angry
snort. "I had a notion that I recognised that voice, and now I know it
for certain. You are the thief that made me deliver in the snow on the
heath. You have stolen my guineas and my jewels."
Now, he had no witnesses against me, and it would have been the easiest
thing in the world to have deceived him, and played him off, and got
him into a tangle of fact and evidence and imaginings. But, bless me,
ere I could get fairly started upon the sally the poor lady darts in
and shoves the fat in the fire.
"Oh, Charles," she cried trepidantly, going towards him, "this
gentleman has preserved my life. I pray you forget not that. 'Tis
Christmas Eve," says she, "'tis the eve of our Lord's birth, and should
teach us mercy. Sir Charles," she says, poor thing, a-bleating, "as you
hope for Christ's compassion for yourself visit not this short-coming
on one that has shown himself so full of tenderness and pity."
"The devil!" thinks I to myself, pulling a lugubrious face. "She plays
King's prosecutor to me. What's to do?"
"Stand aside," says he to her sharply, and glowering on me. But I
looked him in the phiz with a smile; I was not incommoded by this silly
business, not I. "You make no denial," said he, restraining himself
with an effort, as I could see. "You are a ruffianly gallows-bird. You
shall hang."
"Oh, Charles," pleaded the poor lady in despair, "he has made
restitution. Here's all that was yours--rings, guineas and all. Spare
him, I implore you, for his kindness and consideration to me."
"He showed me nice consideration," said he, with a sneer, for he was
now confident and a-swagger; "we will dispose of him with as gentle a
consideration, madam."
And at that he moved to the door, I doubt not to summon the landlord;
but I stepped in his way, for I was tired of his mustard looks and
arrogance.
"Rot me," said I, "you mistake my kidney. If 'tis a gentleman of the
road you have to deal with, you have yet to learn his quality."
He drew himself up, while the lady looked at me breathless. He was a
vastly bigger man than I, but I drew my toasting-fork.