The Admiral immediately repaired to the stranger. 'Young woman,' he
cried, 'I hope you don't take it into your mind, that I was more
disposed to serve you while I thought you of foreign culture, than now I
know you to be of our own growth? If I came forwarder then, it was only
because I was afraid that those who have had less occasion than I have
had, to get the upper hand of their prejudices, would keep backwarder.'
The stranger bowed her thanks.
'But as to me,' he continued, 'I have had the experience of what it is
to be in a strange land; and, moreover, a prisoner: in which time I came
to an agreement with myself--a person over whom I keep a pretty tight
hand! because why? If I don't the devil will! So I came, I say, to an
agreement with myself, to remember all the ill-usage I then met with, as
a memento to forbear exciting in others, those black passions which
sundry unhandsome tricks excited, in those days, in myself.'
Observing her breakfast to be utterly neglected, he demanded, with an
air of some displeasure, whether she had no longing to taste the food of
her mother country again?
The fulness of her mind, she answered, had deprived her of appetite.
'Poor girl! poor woman!' cried he, compassionately, 'for I hardly know
which to call you, those cap-flounces pon the cheeks making a young
woman look no better than an old one. However, be you which you may, I
can't consent to see you starve in a land of plenty; which would be a
base ingratitude to our Creator, who, in dispensing the most to the
upper class; grants us the pleasure of dispensing the overplus,
ourselves, to the under class; which I take to be the true reason of
Providence for ordering that difference between the rich and the poor;
as, most like, we shall all find, when we come to give in our accounts
in t'other world.'
He then enquired what it was she intended to do; adding, 'I don't mean
as to your secrets, because they are what I have no right to meddle
with; though I disapprove your having any, they being of little service,
except to keep foul deeds from the light; for what is fair loves to be
above board. Besides, as every thing is sure to come out, sooner or
later, it only breeds suspicion and trouble for nothing, to
procrastinate telling to-day with your own free will, what you may be
certain will be known to-morrow, or next day, with or without it. Don't
be discomposed, however, for I don't say this by way of a sift, nor yet
for a reproach; I merely drop it as a piece of advice.'
'And I should be happy, Sir, to endeavour to deserve it, by frankly
explaining my situation, but that the least mistake, the smallest
imprudence, might betray me to insupportable wretchedness.'
'Why then, if that's the case, you are very right to hold your tongue.
If the law never makes a person condemn himself, much less ought a
little civility. There are dangers enough in the world without running
risks out of mere compliment.'
Then putting his guinea before her, upon the table, he charged her to
keep it unbroken till she set out, assuring her that he should himself
order whatever she could require for her dinner, supper, and lodging,
and settle for the whole with the landlord; as well as with the
book-keeper for her journey to London.
The stranger seemed almost overpowered with gratitude; but interrupting
what she attempted to say, 'No thankings,' he cried, 'young woman! it's
a bad sign when a good turn surprises a person. I have not escaped from
such hard fare with my body, to leave my soul behind me; though, God
knows, I may forget it all fast enough. There's no great fear of mortal
man's being too good.'
Then, wishing her farewell, he was quitting the room, but, thoughtfully
turning back, 'Before we part,' he said, 'it will be but Christian-like
to give you a hint for your serious profit. In whatever guise you may
have demeaned yourself, up to this present date, which is a solution I
don't mean to meddle with, I hope you'll always conduct yourself in a
becoming manner, for the rest of your days, in remembrance of your great
good fortune, in landing safely upon this happy shore.'
He was going, but the Incognita stopt him, and again the dark hue of
her skin, was inadequate to disguise the deep blushes that were burning
upon her cheeks, as she replied, 'I see, Sir, through all your
benevolence, that you believe me to be one of those unhappy persons,
whose misfortunes have been the effect of their crimes: I have no way to
prove my innocence; and assertion may but make it seem more doubtful;
yet--'
'You are right! you are right!' interrupted he; 'I am no abettor of
assertions. They are but a sort of cheap coinage, to make right and
wrong pass current together.'
'I find I have been too quick,' she answered, 'in thinking myself happy!
to receive bounty under so dreadful a suspicion, proves me to be in a
desolate state indeed!'
'Young woman,' said the Admiral, in a tone approaching to severity,
'don't complain! We must all bear what we have earned. I can't but see
what you are, though it's what I won't own to the rest of the crew, who
think a flaw in the character excuse plenty for letting a poor weak
female starve alive; for which, to my seeming, they deserve to want a
crust of bread themselves. But I hope I know better than that where the
main fault is apt to lie; for I am not ignorant how apt our sex is to
misbehave to yours; especially in slighting you, if you don't slight
them; a thing not to be defended, either to God or man. But for all
that, young woman, I must make free to remark, that the devil himself
never yet put it into a man's head, nor into the world's neither, to
abandon, or leave, as you call it, desolate, a woman who has kept tight
to her own duty, and taken a modest care of herself.'
The eyes of the stranger were now no longer bright from their mere
natural lustre, nor from the beams of quick surprize, or of sudden
vivacity; 'twas with trembling emotion that they shone, and with
indignation that they sparkled. She took up the guinea, from which her
sight seemed averted with horror, and said, 'Pardon me, Sir, but I must
beg you to receive this again.'
'Why, what now? do you think, because I make no scruple to give you an
item that I don't fancy being imposed upon; do you think, I say, because
of that, I have so little Christian charity, as not to know that you may
be a very good sort of woman in the main, for all some flaunty coxcomb
may have played the scoundrel, and left you to the wide world, after
teaching you to go so awry, that he knows the world will forsake you
too? a thing for which, however, he'll pay well in time; as I make no
doubt but the devil takes his own notes of all such actions.'
She now cast the guinea upon the table. 'I would rather, Sir,' she
cried, 'beg alms of every passenger that I may meet, than owe succour to
a species of pity that dishonours me!'
The Admiral looked at her with earnestness. 'I don't well know,' he
said, 'what class to put you in; but if you are really a virtuous woman,
to be sure I ought to ask your pardon for that little hint I let drop;
and, moreover, if I asked it upon my knees, I can't say I should think
it would be over-much, for affronting a virtuous woman, without cause.
And, indeed, if I were free to confess the truth, I must own there's
something about you, which I don't over-much know what to call, but that
is so agreeable, that it goes against me to think ill of you.'
'Ah, Sir! think well of me, then!--let your benevolence be as liberal as
it is kind, and try, for once, to judge favourably of a stranger upon
trust!'
'Well, I will! I will, then! if you have the complaisance to wish for my
good opinion, I will!' cried he, nodding, while his eyes glistened;
'though it's not my general method, I can tell you, young woman, to go
the direct opposite road to my understanding. But, out of the way as
things may look, you seem to me, in the main, to be an innocent person;
so pray, Ma'am, don't refuse to accept this little token of my good
will.'
The countenance of the stranger exhibited strong indecision. He enjoined
her, however, to keep the guinea, and, after struggling vainly to speak,
she sighed, and seemed distressed, but complied.
He nodded again, saying, 'Be of good cheer, my dear. Nothing comes of
being faint-hearted. I give you my promise I'll see you in town. And, if
I find that you turn out to be good; or, moreover, if you turn good,
after having unluckily been t'other thing, I'll stand your friend. You
may depend upon it.'
With a look of mingled kindness and concern, he then left the room.
And here, shocked, yet relieved, and happy, however forlorn, she
remained, till a waiter brought her a fowl, a tart, and a pint of white
wine, according to commands issued by the Admiral. She then heard that
the whole of the boat-party had set off for London, except Mrs Ireton,
the sick lady, who did not think herself sufficiently recovered to
travel till the next day, and who had enquired for some genteel young
lady to attend her to town; but she was so difficult, the waiter said,
to please, that she had rejected half-a-dozen candidates who had been
presented to her successively. She seemed very rich, he added, for she
ordered things at a great rate, though she found fault with them as fast
as they were carried to her; but what had put her the most out of humour
of all, was that the young gentleman, her son, had set off without her,
in a quarrel: which was not, however, so much to be wondered at, for the
maids of the two other ladies said that the gentlewoman was of so
aggravating a humour, that nobody could live with her; which had
provoked her own woman to leave her short in France, and hire herself to
a French lady.
The little repast of the stranger was scarcely over, when the waiter
brought her word that the sick lady desired to see her up stairs.
Extremely surprised, she demanded for what purpose.
He answered, that a seventh young person whom he had taken into the
lady's room, with an offer to serve her, upon being sharply treated, had
as sharply replied; which had so affronted her, that she had ordered
that no one else should be brought into her presence; though in two
minutes more, she had rung the bell, said she was too ill to be left
alone, and bid him fetch her the woman who came over from France.
The stranger, at first, refused to obey this imperious summons; but the
wish of placing herself under female protection during her journey,
presently conquered her repugnance, and she accompanied the messenger
back.
Mrs Ireton was reclining upon an easy chair, still somewhat disordered
from her voyage, though by no means as much in need of assistance for
her shattered frame, as of amusement for her restless mind.
'So!' she cried, 'you are here still? Pray,--if I may ask so
confidential a question,--what acquaintance may you have found in this
inn?--The waiters?--or the grooms?'
'I was told, Madam, that you had some commands for me.'
'O, you are in haste, are you? you want to be shewing off those patches
and bandages, perhaps? You won't forget a veil, I hope, to preserve your
white skin? Not but 'twould be pity to make any sort of change in your
dress, 'tis so prodigiously tasty!'
The stranger, offended, was now moving off, but, calling her back, 'Did
not the waiter,' Mrs Ireton demanded, 'give you to understand that I
sent for you?'
'Yes, Madam; and therefore--'
'Well, and what do you suppose it was for? To let you open and shut the
door, just to give me all the cold wind of the passages? You suppose it
was for that, do you? You surmize that I have a passion for the
tooth-ache? You conclude that I delight in sneezing?--coughing?--and a
stuft-up nose?'
'I am sorry, Madam,--'
'Or perhaps you think me so robust, that it would be kind to give me a
little indisposition, to prevent my growing too boisterous? You may deem
my strength and health to be overbearing? and be so good as to intend
making me more delicate? You may be of opinion that it would render me
more interesting?'
'Indeed, Madam,'--
'Or, you may fancy that a friendly catarrh might be useful, in
furnishing me with employment, from ordering water-gruel, and balm-tea,
and barley-water, and filling up my leisure in devising successive
slops?'
The difficulty of being heard made the stranger now cease to attempt
speaking; and Mrs Ireton, after sundry similar interrogatories, angrily
said, 'So you really don't think fit to initiate me into your motives
for coming to me, without troubling yourself to learn mine for admitting
you into my presence?'
'On the contrary, Ma'am, I desire--'
'O! I am mistaken, am I? It's on the contrary, is it? You are vastly
kind to set me right; vastly kind, indeed! Perhaps you purpose to give
me a few lessons of behaviour?'
'I am so wholly at a loss, Madam, why I have been summoned, that I can
divine no reason why I should stay. I beg, therefore, to take my leave.'
Again she was retreating; but Mrs Ireton, struck by her courage, began
to conceive that the mystery of her birth and business, might possibly
terminate in a discovery of her belonging to a less abject class than
her appearance announced; and therefore, though firmly persuaded that
what might be diminished in poverty, would be augmented in disgrace, her
desire was so inflamed to develop the secret, that, softening her tone,
she asked the young person to take a chair, and then entered into
discourse with some degree of civility.
Yet with all this restraint, inflicted upon a nature that, to the
privilege of uttering whatever it suggested, claimed that of hearing
only what it liked, she could gather no further intelligence, than that
the stranger had received private information of the purposed sailing of
the vessel, in which they all came over: but her birth, her name, her
connexions, her actual situation, and her object in making the voyage,
resisted enquiry, eluded insinuation, and baffled conjecture.
Nevertheless, her manners were so strikingly elevated above her attire,
that, notwithstanding the disdain with which, in the height of her
curiosity, Mrs Ireton surveyed her mean apparel, and shrunk from her
dusky skin, she gave up her plan of seeking for any other person to wait
upon her, during her journey to town, and told the Incognita that, if
she could make her dress a little less shocking, she might relinquish
her place in the stage-coach, to occupy one in a post-chaise.
To avoid new and untried risks, in travelling wholly alone, the stranger
acceded to this proposal; and immediately, by the assistance of the maid
of the inn, appropriated the guinea of the Admiral to purchasing decent
clothing, though of the cheapest and coarsest texture.
The next morning they set off together for London.