"Years agone, long afore you ever come this way, my Lady, my father
lived not above seven or eight mile herefrom, up to Loudacott; you must
surely have heard the name of the place. Well, there he lived with his
own bit of land, for he was a yeoman, he was, and the Clatworthys had
lived up to Loudacott hundreds of years, as he used to tell me. There
wasn't but the three of us, my father--Jeremiah Clatworthy was his
name--my mother and myself; for I was the only child they had a-living.
It's a lonely place, is Loudacott, and it wasn't many folks that we saw
there when I was a child; but when I growed up into a comely maid, and
men seed me now and again to market or fairing time, they began to come
a-courting; for 'twasn't me only that they would get, but forty acre of
land with me, if father liked mun well. There was more came than you'd
a think for, plenty enough to turn the head of a silly maid; and there
was one that father favoured particular, for he had land close nigh by
Loudacott, but I didn't like he--never could. There wasn't but one
that pleased me, and that was Jan Dart. You know his old mother that
lives to Ashacombe, or used to live, for they tell me that she's
a-dying. She couldn't never abide the name of me, Jan's mother
couldn't; and father, he couldn't abide Jan. For his father hadn't
been more than a servant with the old squire, nor his mother neither,
and Jan, he'd a been bound 'prentice to a shoemaker, and wasn't long
out of his time; while we was the Clatworthys to Loudacott.
"Well, the men come, and I was well enough pleased to keep mun dancing
round me, and poor Jan with the rest of mun, for you may depend that I
wasn't going to let he go. I'd a-been a bit spoiled, for my mother had
had a boy and another maid besides me, and fine children too, as I've
been told; but she'd a-lost the both of them o' smallpox, so that there
wasn't but me left. So I couldn't tell what to do, for I know'd but
one thing for sartain, that the man that father wanted for me wasn't
the man that I wanted for myself. But there was a wise woman--Betsy
Lavacombe her name was, I mind well, but what use to tell you
that?--that I used to see; and terrible afeared of her the folks was.
It was she that built this house, and no one knew where she lived
except myself, nor knoweth till this day. But I wasn't afeared of her,
for I had a-helped her more than once, and used to put out a bit of
mate for her now and again when I could; and she would always carry any
message from me to Jan or from Jan to me. And I asked her many times
which of mun I should marry, but she wouldn't never tell me more than
that I should cross the sea and come back with gold. 'That's enough
for 'ee,' she would say, 'don't ask no more. You shall cross the sea
and there will be lords and gentlemen with 'ee, and your bed shall be
so good as theirs, and you shall come back with gold.'
"So time went on and Jan kept courting o' me and I kept a playing with
Jan, as foolish maids will, till at last one day, I forget what it was
I said to mun, but he flinged away like a mazed man. 'I'll never come
nigh 'ee again,' he said, 'you'll have to find me if you want to see me
more; and till you find me you won't never find a man as loves you so
well as I do.' And I laughed so as he could hear as he walked away,
for I made no doubt but he'd come again so soon as I called mun. And I
mind well then that the old Betsy comed out of a hedge soon
afterward--she'd a been listening, I reckon--and saith she, 'Shall I
call mun back to 'ee now? Best lose no time,' she saith. But I let
mun go, for I depended that he'd come back, though I don't deny that I
wasn't easy.
"And it wasn't above a week afterward that the old Betsy cometh back
and saith, 'You'd best have let me call mun back when I told 'ee'; and
then she told me that a serjeant was come to Ashacombe and that Jan was
listed for a sojer and was agone. It was evening then and I heard
mother calling, so I went into house like a dumb thing, for I couldn't
think what I should do without Jan; and I minded the words that he had
said, that I must come and find mun if I wanted to see him more; and I
lay awake all night a-crying to think that I couldn't tell where to
seek for mun, for find mun I must. But next day when I went out I
glimpsed the old Betsy on the road not far away and whistled to her
(for she never showed herself about Loudacott if she could help, but
watched for me and whistled), and when she saw my face, 'Where's your
rosy cheeks gone, my dear?' she saith. 'A red coat's red enough
without they to dye mun, I reckon.' But she wouldn't tell me where he
was agone, till I said that if she did not I would go out to find mun
for myself. 'Do you mane that?' she saith--I mind it as if 'twas
yesterday--'Then I'll take 'ee to mun. 'Ere, look 'ee! I'll give 'ee
time to think about it, and if you mane to go sarch for mun, do you
meet me here with your clothes o' this day fortnight when the moon
rises.'
"And with that she went away and showed herself down Ashacombe ways
'most every day, to make folks think she was busy thereabouts--that
false and artful she was. But when the days was gone, and mortal long
days they was to me, she was waiting for me as she said, for I wasn't
agoing to change my mind; and then it was that she brought me to this
house and told me to mark the way well. We stayed here till night, and
then we started off walking across the moor, the both of us, until
morning, for she wasn't going to let a maid like me walk by myself, she
said. We took a bit of mate with us and flint and steel, and many was
the things that she taught to me on the road for a body to make herself
nighly as comfortable in the open air as in ever a house.
"We walked night-times only till we was fifty miles away from home, and
then we could keep the road middling well, though I kept my bonnet tied
across my face. And so we drew nigh to Gloucester town, and then the
old Betsy told me that Jan was there with his ridgment, and that I must
find he by myself. And she wished me good-bye, and then the poor soul
fell a-crying, for she said that there was no one left now to be kind
to her. 'And there's hard times before 'ee, my tender,' she saith--I
mind the words well--'but not yet. Good luck will be with 'ee first
along. There's a man loves 'ee, and a man he is; make the most of mun.
You shall cross the sea and come back with gold, but don't 'ee forget
my little house, and if I bean't there, dig under the table, and think
kindly of the old Betsy.'
"So she went back and I walked into the town alone, feeling terrible
fluttered; but I hadn't a-gone very far before I meets with a man in a
red coat and his hair a-powdered, a-walking along by hisself, for it
was evening. I looked at mun and hardly knowed mun at first; but Jan
it was, and beautiful he looked in his ridgmentals sure enough. The
old Betsy had a-promised me good luck first along, and yet I was most
afraid to speak to mun, though nobody was by. And when he saw me he
turned so white as death, and saith quite hoarse like, 'Lucy, what do
you here?' And I couldn't say no more than 'I've a come to find you,
Jan.' And the blood come back into his face, and we didn't want to say
no more, not then. Dear Lord! That was a day!
"We was married so soon as could be, though a sojer's pay is little
enough, as _you_ know, your honour; for the half of what is given is
took away again, so far as I can see. But Jan could always make
something with his shoe-making, while I could wash, and get many a
little job besides from the officers' ladies. So we did middling well,
and Jan got one of the men that was a bit of a scollard to write to his
mother, and got a hawker to take the letter along for the mending of
his shoes. And in six months the hawker came back to say that mother
was dead and that father had sold Loudacott and was gone to live in the
town, where he was drinking and doing no good. I reckon 'twas the old
Betsy had told mun; and I suppose that really 'twas all o' my account,
but 'twas too late to think of that. And it was less than six months
after this news come that my boy was a-born--"
She stopped a minute to pass her hand over the sick man's head, and
went on:
"A beautiful boy he was, sure enough, and glad I was, when he was about
a twelvemonth old, that the peace came and there was no chance for Jan
to be sent to the war. Scores of men was discharged, but Jan said we
should do better to stay, for there wasn't nowhere for us to go to if
we went, and he'd a got fond of the sojer's life, as I had, so long as
I was with he; and they was glad to keep so fine a man. But then the
war come again, and a terrible way I was in, for they said the ridgment
was sure to be sent soon to the Injies or some place. But it chanced
that another ridgment was raising a new battalion in Gloucester, and
there was a young chap that was got into trouble and wanted to cross
the sea as soon as might be, so wished, if he could, to change with
Jan. And by good luck 'twas done, and we was sent to the new
battalion. So there we stayed to Gloucester nighly four year. Those
was the days when they said that Boney was a-coming over, but he never
come, as you know very well, for he didn't dare.
"And at Gloucester it was that I had a little maid born to me, so sweet
a little maid as ever was seen, with blue eyes and golden hair like
your own little lady's. But there was a terrible lot of sickness among
the men. Whether it was that our other battalion brought it back from
Egypt, I can't tell, but so it was. The men died fast, for all that
the doctors would do was to bleed mun like pigs; and whether it was
that, or what it was, I couldn't say, but the little maid sickened and
died, when she was fifteen months old. Jan was terrible distressed, I
mind, and so was I; but since then I've a-thought often that it was
better so.
"But Jan and the boy kept well and strong, and as the boy growed
bigger, he got mazed with soldiering. Nothing would sarve mun but he
must be a drummer; and one of the drummers took up with mun and taught
mun almost so soon as he was big enough to hold the sticks, and it was
wonderful to see how quick he learned. It was pretty, too, to see his
little hands a-twinkling, for very soon he could beat so well as any of
mun. So he became a bit of a favourite, for he was a sweet pretty boy,
and the officers took notice of mun, and the tailor he made mun a
little coat and breeches and dressed mun out for all the world like a
riglar drummer. For the tailor's wife hadn't no children you see, my
Lady, and was wonderful took up with my boy; and Jan he made her a
beautiful pair of shoes in return, I mind. And it was a saying that
our ridgment had the smallest drummer in the army, and the best. Look
'ee, I've a kept the very coat."
And she pulled the outer clothes off the sick man's chest, and showed
the little coat which Dick had worn, tied by the sleeves about his
neck. He moved slightly and his mother poured a few drops of wine
between his lips; but he made no further sign of revival, and she went
on with her story.
"Well, it was in the year seven, I mind well, that the other battalion
of the ridgment was sent to the war in Denmark and then on to
Portingale. I didn't like that, for it seemed that the war was coming
nigh home to us, and our good luck had lasted long; and I couldn't
never get the old Betsy's words out of my head, that I must cross the
sea. And at last in the autumn of the next year, the year eight that
was, the day come. Our battalion was ordered to find men to fill up
the place of those that was dead in the other battalion, and Jan was
a-chosen for one. There was only six women to every company allowed to
go with them, and they was drawed by lot. Ah, well I mind the drawing
of they lots. It was pity to see the poor wives a-screeching and
crying, as one after another was told that she must bide home. Many a
one was on her knees to the officer begging mun to take her, and the
officer hisself oftentimes was near crying as he was forced to say No.
My turn came at last, and I was drawn to go; and then I couldn't help
a-crying so loud as any of mun for joy.
"So we was put a board ship with Jan, the boy and I was, and away we
went to sea; and the poor things that was left behind stood crying, and
the men aboard cheered and cheered again. Many's the time I've
a-thought of that day. I reckon you've a knowed what it is yourself,
my Lady, to see the ships sail away; but I was happy enough, for I was
with Jan.
"Well, we got to Lisbon, where Sir John Moore was a-waiting for us; and
the army marched away from Portingale into Spain. The women was all
told that they might sail back to England if they would; but 'twasn't
likely that any would leave their husbands, let alone me who was only
just come. So we marched with the army, and long marches it was, they
winter days, nighly five hundred mile in six weeks as I've been told.
But Jan kept up brave, for he was a strong man, and I was always
hearty, while the boy tramped along wonderful too; and when he was
a-tired there was always Jan or others of the men would carry mun, or I
would carry mun for a time myself. And what I had learned from the old
Betsy 'bout walking and camping sarved me well, for I was nigh so handy
as any of mun.
"Well, after six weeks we come to a place--I forget the name--something
like sago I think it was."
"Sahagun," said Colonel George.
"Ay, that was it; and there we was told we women must bide while the
men went vor against the French. And then I began to think that the
bad luck of which the old Betsy had a-spoke was come at last. It was
two days before Christmas, I mind well, and we wondered what ever
Christmas Day would bring. But the very next day the news come that
the French was stronger than we, and that we must go back; and many
ridgments turned back that very day. But we waited, for Jan's ridgment
was gone farther on, expecting mun all through the night, and in the
morning sure enough they came; and out we ran through the snow, for the
snow was on the ground, and there was Jan alive and well, but a bit
tired. But there wasn't no time for rest; and we had to go on to once.
The rain came down, the snow began to thaw, and the roads was so slushy
and heavy that it was miserable travelling. The men was angry too at
turning away from the French, and they kept asking if the time wasn't
never coming to halt: but on they had to go.
"My boy soon began to tire, for the way was terrible soggy, and Jan
carried mun for a bit: but he hadn't had but little to ate and had
marched a long ways already. So before very long Jan was obliged to
give mun to me, and I carried mun along as best I could. But I
couldn't help dropping behind a bit, for Jan said that I could catch
mun up first halt, and that the boy would be able to get along better
after being carried a bit. I couldn't get no help, for all the men
that I saw was so tired as I was, and worse. Now and again one would
fall down not able to go no furder, and it's my belief that every one
of mun would have done the like if it hadn't been for the General
(Craufurd was the name of mun) who rode up and down, driving mun on as
if they'd a-been sheep. But he wouldn't let mun go like sheep, not he.
'Kape your ranks and move on. No straggling,' he kept saying. And
you'd see the men a-looking up and scowling at mun: but he was
a-scowling worse than they, and if they didn't mind he'd break out at
them like a mad thing; and then look out! I never see a man fly into
such passions as he, swearing and cursing in his strange Scotch tongue.
You'd have thought he was going to kill the men, and sometimes I
believe he would, for he talked of hanging mun often enough.
"It was late at night before we got to the town where we was to rest;
and the boy was so bate that it was all I could do to bring mun in.
'Twas raining so heavy that we couldn't light a fire out of doors, so
there was little to eat; but I got a bit for the boy, and Jan tried to
mend my shoes, which was in a sad way; but there was many crying out to
have their shoes mended, and he was that tired that he couldn't do
naught, but falled asleep over his awl and bristles. The next morning
it was march again, tired as we was. The boy was fresher after a bit
of sleep and could walk for a bit, and Jan and me managed to get mun
along so well as we could; but we growed weaker and he growed weaker
every day. How many days and nights it was I can't tell, for there was
no rest, and the French was said to be close by; so days and nights we
tramped on, through the wind and the rain and the sleet; and every day
there was more men dropped down. There was hardly a pair of shoes
among the lot, officers nor men, and our feet was cut and bleeding; but
still that General Craufurd kept driving of us on. He was always the
first ready to start, and there he would stand waiting, his beard all
white with frost on the bitter mornings, looking to the men with their
clothes all in rags, so cold and stiff and faint that they was hardly
able to move; and this I will say, that he favoured hisself no more
than he favoured the men. It was terrible to see mun looking them
over, for you could see that he feeled for them; but then he would open
his mouth and give the word to march in a voice that made you jump to
hear. And when once they was a-moving, if ever a man dropped behind, a
sarjint went at mun for all the world like a sheep-dog, and a dog that
knowed how to use his teeth too. My boy got terrible 'feared of they
sarjints, for he heard mun use rough words, ay, and more than words, to
our men, and more than once he thought the sarjint was speaking to he,
and clinged to me tight, poor little soul; and night-times he would
wake and cry that the sarjint was come for mun.
"It must have been nighly a week after we started that General Craufurd
tooked a different road from we; and we went on without mun. And then
we found what it was to have such a man, hard though he was in driving
us 'vor and keeping the men in order. For we came to a town where
there was stores and stores of wine; and there the sojers, that had
marched on before us, was lying in the gutter by scores, or staggering
about the streets more like to pigs than Christian men. I seed General
Moore that night. Ah! that was a man. The handsomest man in the army
they said he was, for all that one of his cheeks was scarred where a
bullet had gone through it years before; and sure enough I never see a
finer man 'cepting my Jan. But he was terrible stern too, and I never
saw man look so dark and angry as he did then. I seed mun many times
afterward, for he was always a-looking to the rear where our ridgment
was, a-helping and encouraging so well as he could. Well, I got a drop
of wine for the boy--it was the morning of New Year's day I mind--which
did mun good, and next morning we started again.
"But worse was avore us than we had left behind, for till now the
cavalry had been behind us and had kept away the French; but now the
cavalry was sent forward, and there was nothing betwixt us and the
enemy. Two days afterward the French came upon us sure enough, and the
muskets was going all night. I couldn't sleep, for I knowed that Jan
was there, but sat with the boy, who was lying by me, tossing and
tumbling, for he was ill with the wet, and the cold, and the long ways.
Some women that was with me told me to go to sleep and not be a fule,
for 'twas naught but a scrimmage; but I couldn't do that. Ah, the
night was long; but a bit before dawn the boy grew quiet, and as the
light come in I heard our men was a-coming back, and runned out to see
Jan. And there was Jan's company a-standing in line and the sarjint
calling the roll. I heard mun call Jan Dart, but couldn't hear Jan's
voice answer; but there was a chance that he might be carrying a
wounded man or something or another, so I called 'Jan Dart, can anyone
say where Jan Dart is?' but no one answered; and then the captain asked
the same, and a man stepped out and said that he had seen mun fall.
And I cried out, 'Oh take me to mun,' and the captain (a kind gentleman
he always was) told the man to show me where he seed mun last; but he
saith, 'You mustn't stay long, my poor woman, for the French will be
here again directly;' and I knowed what that meant. So the man showed
me the way and there was Jan, sure enough, a-lying on his face. I
turned mun over, and, as I did, his hand fell across my knees, and his
face was so quiet that I thought for a minute that he was only
a-dropped asleep from weariness; but it wasn't of no use, for he was
dead--shot through the heart.
"And there I reckon I should have stayed, spite of all that the officer
said; but the man took me by the arm and told me to come on. 'The
saints rock his soul to rest in glory,' he saith, crossing hisself, for
he was an Irishman, 'and have mercy on us that is still living;' and
then I remembered the boy, and I left Jan and come away. The boy was
terrible weak and ailing, but we set off to walk, though very soon I
had to carry mun; and so I dropped behind. The road lay through the
mountains now, and was terrible rough and steep, while the snow come
down and made the ways so slippy that it was hard to move without
falling. But on I went, I can't tell how, though there was many that
dropped behind me and never come up again. That march was terrible
long, and the boy kept crying to be put down; but when I laid mun down
for a minute or two he couldn't rest for long, but would cry out again
that the sarjint was after mun, so I had to pick mun up and go on again.
"I reckon that it must have been the next day--but I can't tell, for
days turns to years at such times--that as I was a tramping on I seed a
crowd of women a-stooping down to the ground to gather up something or
another, and scrambling, and fighting, and squabbling like a lot of
fowls when they'm fed. It was money they was a-fighting for. The oxen
a-drawing the carts with the money was foundered, and the Gineral had
gived orders to throw the money away. I picked up some few pieces
myself, thinking it might buy something for the boy, but there was one
woman that loaded herself like a bee with dollars, and said she would
be a lady when she got home.
"After that, she and I was a good bit together, she carrying her
dollars and I carrying the boy; but the way grew worse and worse, and
but for the boy I think that I should have gived out myself as so many
did. Once I remember I saw a sojer and his wife a-lying down by the
wayside; they couldn't go no farther and had lain down to die together;
and I wished that it had been Jan and me; but I had the boy on my back
and I went on. Well, I won't tell you what terrible sights we saw on
the road; but I'll tell 'ee this, that I have seen grown men a-sobbing
like children for pain and cold and hunger. It was enough to turn the
head of a grown man, let alone a child. And so it was that after a
time the boy stopped crying and complaining and went quite quiet. I
couldn't think what was come to mun, that he was always a-staring and
never speaking nor taking no notice; but I reckoned that if I could
carry mun on to the end, he would recover hisself. And I did carry mun
on to the end to--what was the name of the place again?--something like
currants it was."
"Corunna?" said Colonel George.
"Ay, that was it, Corinner--but when we got there, there wasn't no
ships, and General Moore had to fight the French and bate mun before he
could sail home. And he was a-killed, poor gentleman, he was, as you
know, and many other brave men besides. But we and the sick and the
wounded was put aboard before the battle was fought, and a strange
thing there was that happened. The woman that had taken the dollars
come aboard with me, but her hands were so full that she gave me a part
of the money to hold, while she climbed from the boat to the ship's
side. And as she stepped on the ladder, her foot slipped, and she fell
into the sea and sank like a stone; for she had dollars sewn up in her
clothes so heavy, that down she went and never come up again. So there
was I left with what she give me, and as her husband was killed in the
battle and there wasn't no one else belonging to her to take the money,
I reckoned I might keep it. And then one day I thought of what the old
Betsy had said, that I should cross the sea and bring back gold, though
it wasn't gold, but silver.
"Well, on board ship the boy didn't change, though he got a bit
stronger in his body. We had a terrible storm on the way home, and for
all I could do I couldn't keep mun from being knocked about; the ship
rolling and plunging so that the men could hardly save themselves. And
when we got home and was set ashore on the beach, I could see that my
boy wasn't the only one that was gone wrong. I tell 'ee, my Lady, that
some men was even blind with the toil of that march, and hunger and
cold and misery.
"So there I was alone with my boy, for hardly a man of Jan's company
was left and not many of the whole ridgment, while what there was of
them was mostly sick. 'Twas lucky that I had money, or I can't think
what I should have done. But the worst was that my boy remained just
the same as he was. I showed mun to the doctors, and they took blood
from mun once and wanted to take more, but I wouldn't have that, for
I'd a-seen what they was with their lancets if they was let alone; and
at last they telled me that his mind was gone and wouldn't never come
back. But he grew stronger in his body after a bit, and I was able to
take mun abroad; and though he liked the sound of the drums he was a
bit frightened at the sight of a red coat, for fear that it should be a
sarjint, and if it was a sarjint he would run like a rabbit. So I was
obliged to move away as soon as I could; but go where I would there was
no peace, for he'd a-lost his speech except some few sounds, and I
couldn't let mun run with other children, for they always make sport of
such poor things as he. So for a long time we wandered from place to
place, getting little but hard words, though the boy was happy enough,
I believe; for living in the air as we did he took up with every bird
and every beast that he could find, and they seem to know mun for a
friend. Many was the young one that he took and made so tame as could
be.
"Then at last the money began to run short, for all that I was careful,
and that now and again we could earn a little bit; so I minded what old
Betsy Lavacombe had said, and thought I would go back and find she. It
was a long way to go, but we walked on day after day till we got nigh
to the moor, when I chose my road very careful and walked night-times
only till we come to this house. The old Betsy was agone, and the
house was nigh failed to pieces, and I've a-heard since that she was
found drowned in a lime-pit some years back. But I digged under the
table as the old Betsy had said, and there deep down was a box wrapped
up in a sheepskin, full of silver money, and a little gold too. How
she got it, I can't tell, unless she took it from her husband, who had
been a sailor, as she told me once, though sailors isn't given to
saving. So we built up the house again and here I made up my mind to
live, where no one couldn't hurt my boy, for he was shy of grown-up
folks, and children won't leave mun alone.
"So here we've a-been now these many years, and the boy's been so happy
as could be. Jackdaws, hedgehogs, squirrels, deer, naught comes amiss
to mun: and he knows the moor and the woods so well as the deer
themselves. He growed stronger too, though I wouldn't never take him
with me when I went down to the villages to buy meal: but he would
always keep out of sight and wait for me. And I suppose that just
lately he may have been getting a bit better in his head, for he runned
down to join the children that day when I come to Ashacombe, as you
remember; and for all that he was a bit frightened then, he was so took
up with your little lady that I hadn't the heart to keep mun from going
to look at her, though I was always hid not very far from mun. It was
me that your servant saw in the woods the day Jan brought the
bullfinch; but Lord, Lord, I never thought that it would have come to
this."
She stopped, and pulling the clothes aside looked sadly at the sick
man's face. "See there," she said in a hard, changed voice, "that's
how he looked often when we was marching back to Corinner. I thought
that I should never get mun back alive then, but I did hope never to
see mun look so again. And though he can't spake I know what he's
a-thinking. He thinks that the sarjint's come for mun, and it's a
killed the heart within mun."