HOW HARRY GOT RELEASED.
"He is now," said Dr. Powlett, returning to the lodge where I awaited
him, "safely chained up in a strait-waistcoat. A strong young
gentleman, indeed, and took four of my fellows to reduce him. Almost a
pity," he went on, thinking of the case from a professional point of
view, "that so valiant a fellow is in his right mind."
"Doctor, what may that mean?"
"Nay, I was but thinking--a physician must needs consider these
things--that a county gentleman, with so great an estate, would be
indeed a windfall in such an establishment as mine."
"Why, doctor, would you have all the world mad?"
"They are already," he replied; "as mad as March hares--all of them. I
would only have them in establishments, with strait-waistcoats on, and
an experienced and humane physician to reduce them by means of--those
measures which are never known to fail."
"I hope," I said seriously, because I began to fear that some violence
might have been used, "that my poor friend has been treated gently."
"We never," replied the doctor, "treat them otherwise than gently. My
fellows understand that this--ahem!--unfortunate escaped sufferer from
lunacy or dementia (because I have not yet had time to diagnose his
case with precision) is to be treated with singular forbearance. One or
two cuffs on the head, an admonition by means of a keeper's boot, he
hath doubtless received. These things are absolutely necessary: but no
collar-bones put out or ribs broken. In the case of violent patients,
ribs, as a rule, do get broken, and give trouble in the setting. Your
friend, young lady, has all his bones whole. No discipline, so far,
has been administered beyond a few buckets of water, which it was
absolutely necessary to pour over his head, out of common humanity, and
in order to calm the excessive rage into which the poor gentleman fell.
He is quite calm now, and has neither been put under the pump nor in
the tank. I have expressly ordered that there is to be no cudgelling.
And I have promised my fellows half-a-guinea apiece"--here he looked
at me with a meaning smile--"if they are gentle with him. I have told
them that there is a young lady interested in his welfare. My keepers,
I assure you, madam, have rough work to do, but they are the most
tender-hearted of men. Otherwise, they would be sent packing. And at
the sight of half-a-guinea, their hearts yearn with affection towards
the patients."
I smiled, and promised the half-guineas on the liberation of
the prisoner. Cuffs and kicks! a few buckets of cold water! a
strait-waistcoat! My poor Harry! surely this would be enough to cure
any man of his passion. And what a fitting end to a journey commenced
with the intention of killing and murdering your old playfellow's
lover! Yet, to be sure, it was a wicked thing I had done, and I
resolved to lose no time (as soon as there was no longer any fear of a
duel) in beginning to repent.
* * * * *
All this accomplished, which was, after all, only a beginning, I left
the house and walked up the hill, intending to find the three gentlemen
waiting for their duel. These meetings generally took place, I knew,
on the way to the old well. I left Durdans on the right, and struck
across the turf to the left. Presently I saw before me a group of
three gentlemen, standing together and talking. That is to say, two
were talking, and one, Lord Chudleigh, was standing apart. They saw me
presently, and I heard Sir Miles, in his loud and hearty voice, crying
out: "Gad so! It is pretty Kitty herself."
"You look, gentlemen," I said, "as if you were expecting quite another
person. But pray, Sir Miles, why on the Downs so early? There is no
race to-day, nor any bull-baiting. The card-room is open, and I believe
the inns are not shut."
"We are here," he replied, unblushingly, "to take the air. It is
bracing: it is good for the complexion: it expands the chest and opens
the breathing pipes: it is as good as a draught of the waters: and as
stimulating as a bottle of port."
"Indeed! Then I am surprised you do not use the fresh air oftener. For
surely it is cheaper than drinking wine."
"In future," he said, "I intend to do so."
"But why these swords, Sir Miles? You know the rule of the Wells."
"They wanted sharpening," he replied. "The air of the Downs is so keen,
that it sets an edge on sword-blades."
"You looked--fie, gentlemen!--for Mr. Temple to help sharpen the
blades, as a butcher sharpens his knife, by putting steel to steel. Sir
Miles, you are a wicked and bloodthirsty man."
He laughed, and so did the officer. Lord Chudleigh changed colour.
"Gentlemen," I went on, "I have to tell you--I have come here to tell
you--that an accident has happened to Mr. Temple, which will prevent
his keeping the appointment made for him at this hour. I am sure, if
he knew that I was coming here, he would ask me to express his great
regret at keeping you waiting. Now, however, you may all go home again,
and put off killing each other for another day."
They looked at each other, astonished.
"My lord," I said, "I am sure you will let me ask you what injury my
poor friend Harry Temple has done you that you desire to compass his
death."
"Nay," he replied, "I desire not to compass any man's death. I am here
against my will. I have no quarrel with him."
"What do you say, Sir Miles?" I asked. "Are you determined that blood
should be spilt?"
"Not I," he replied. "But as the affair concerns the honour of two
gentlemen, I think, with respect to so fair a lady, that it had better
be left in the hands of gentlemen."
"But," I said, "it concerns me too now, partly because I have brought
you the reason of Mr. Temple's absence, and partly because he is one of
my oldest friends and a gentleman for whom I have a very great regard.
And methinks, Sir Miles, with submission, because a woman cannot
understand the laws of the duello or the scruples of what gentlemen
call honour--that honour which allows a man to drink and gamble, but
not to take a hasty word, that if I can persuade Lord Chudleigh that
Mr. Temple does not desire the duel, and is unfeignedly ashamed of
himself, and if I can assure Mr. Temple that Lord Chudleigh would not
be any the happier for killing Mr. Temple, why then this dreadful
encounter need not take place, and we may all go home again in peace."
Upon this they looked at each other doubtfully, and Sir Miles burst
out laughing. When Sir Miles laughed I thought it would all end well
at once. But then Harry's second spoke up gravely, and threatened to
trouble the waters.
"I represent Mr. Temple in this affair. I cannot allow my principal to
leave the field without satisfaction. We have been insulted. We demand
reparation to our honour. We cannot be set aside in this unbecoming
manner by a young lady."
"Pray, sir," I asked, "does your scarlet coat and your commission"--I
have said he was an officer--"enjoin you to set folks by the ears,
and to promote that method of murder which men call duelling? What
advantage will it be to you, provided these two gentlemen fight and
kill each other?"
"Why, as for advantage--none," he said. "But who ever heard----"
"Then, sir, as it will be of infinite advantage to many of their
friends, and a subject of great joy and thankfulness that they should
not fight, be pleased not to embroil matters further. And, indeed, sir,
I am quite sure that you have breathed the bracing air of the Downs
quite long enough, and had better leave us here, and go back to the
town. You may else want me to fight in the place of Mr. Temple. That
would be a fine way of getting reparation to your wounded honour."
At this he became very red in the face, and spoke more about honour,
laws among gentlemen, and fooling away his time among people who, it
seemed, either did not know their own minds, or contrived accidents to
happen in the nick of time.
"Hark ye, brother," said Sir Miles upon this, "the young lady is
right in her way, because, say what we will, our men were going out
on a fool's errand. Why, in the devil's name, should they fight? What
occasion has Mr. Temple to quarrel with my lord?"
"If Mr. Temple likes...." said his second, shrugging his shoulders.
"After all it is his business, not mine. If, in the army, a man pulls
another man's nose, why----"
"Will you please to understand, sir," I broke in, "that Mr. Temple
is really delayed by an accident--it happened to him on his way here,
and was entirely unforeseen by him, and was one which he could neither
prevent nor expect? If a woman had any honour, in your sense, I would
give you my word of honour that this is so."
"Under these circumstances," the gallant officer said, "I do not see
why we are waiting here. Mr. Temple will, of course, tell his own
story in his own way, and unless the fight takes place on the original
quarrel, why, he may find another second. Such a lame ending I never
experienced."
"And that," interposed Sir Miles, who surely was the most good-natured
of men, "that reminds me, my good sir, that in this matter, unless we
would make bad worse, we all of us had better make up our minds to tell
no story at all, but leave it to Mr. Temple. Wherefore, if it please
you, I will walk to the town in your company, there to contradict any
idle gossip we may hear, and to lay upon the back of the rightful
person, either with cudgels or rapiers, any calumny which may be
attached to Mr. Temple's name. But, no doubt, he is strong enough to
defend himself."
"Really, Sir Miles," said the officer with a sneer, "I wonder you do
not fight for him yourself. Here is your principal, Lord Chudleigh,
ready for you."
"Sir, he is not my friend, but the friend of Miss Pleydell. He is, as
I believe you or any other person who may quarrel with him would find,
perfectly well able to fight his own battles. Meantime I am ready to
fight my own, as is already pretty well known."
With that they both walked off the field, not together, but near each
other, the officer in a great huff and Sir Miles rolling along beside
him, big and good-tempered, yet, like a bull-dog, an ugly dog to tackle.
Lord Chudleigh and I were left alone upon the Downs.
"Kitty," he cried, "what does this mean?"
"That there is to be no fighting between you and Harry Temple. That is
what it means, my lord. Oh, the wickedness of men!"
"But where is he? what is the accident? What does your presence mean?
Did he send you?"
I laughed, but could not tell him. Then I reflected that the errand on
which he had come was no laughing matter, and I became grave again.
"My lord," I said, "is it well to tell a girl one day that you love
her, and the next to come out to fight with swords about a trifle? Do
you think nothing of a broken heart?"
"My dear," he replied, "it was forced upon me, believe me. A man must
fight if he is insulted openly. There is no help for it till customs
change."
"Oh!" I cried; "can that man be in his senses who hopes to win a
woman's heart by insulting and trying to kill--her--her lover?"
"Yes, Kitty." He caught my hand and kissed it. "Your lover--your most
unhappy lover! who can do no more than say he loves you, and yet can
never hope to marry you. How did I dare to open my heart to you, my
dear, with such a shameful story to tell?"
"My lord," I said, "promise me, if you sincerely love me, which I
cannot doubt, not to fight with this hot-headed young man."
"I promise," he replied, "to do all that a man of honour may, in order
to avoid a duel with him."
"Then, my lord, I promise, once more in return--if you would care to
have such a promise from so poor a creature as myself----"
"Kitty! Divine angel!"
"I swear, even though you never wed me, to remain single for your sake.
And even should you change your mind, and bestow your affections upon
another woman, and scorn and loathe me, never to think upon another
man."
He seized me in his arms, though we were on the open Downs (only there
was not a soul within sight, so far as I could see around), and kissed
me on the cheeks and lips.
"My love!" he murmured; "my sweet and gracious lady!"
* * * * *
Next, I had to consider what best to do about my prisoner. I begged my
lord to go home through the Durdans, while I returned by the road. On
the way I resolved to liberate Harry at once, but to make conditions
with him. I therefore returned to the doctor's, and asked that I might
be allowed to see the prisoner.
Dr. Powlett was at first very unwilling. He pointed out, with some
justice, that there had not, as yet, been time enough to allow of a
colourable pretence at discovering the supposed mistake; a few days,
say a fortnight, should elapse, during which the search might be
supposed to be a-making; in that interval Harry was to sit chained in
his cell, with a strait-waistcoat on.
"And believe me," said this kind physician, "he will learn from his
imprisonment to admire the many kindnesses and great humanity shown to
unhappy persons who are afflicted with the loss of their wits. Besides
this, he will have an opportunity of discovering for what moderate
charges such persons are received, entertained, and treated with the
highest medical skill, at Epsom, by the learned physician, Jonathan
Powlett, _Medicinæ Doctor_. He will swallow my pills, drink my potions
(which are sovereign in all diseases of the brain), be nourished on
my gruel (compounded scientifically with the Epsom water), will be
tenderly handled by my keepers, and all for the low charge of four
guineas a week, paid in advance, including servants. And he will, when
cured (if Providence assist), come out----"
"Twice as mad as he went in. No, doctor; that, if you please, was not
what I intended. The mischief is averted for the present, and, if you
will conduct me to your prisoner, I think I can manage to avert it
altogether."
Well, finding that there was nothing more to be got out of the case--I
am quite sure that he was ready to treat poor Harry as really mad, and
to keep him there as long as any money could be got out of him--the
doctor gave way, and led me to the room in which lay prisoner Harry.
It was a room apart from the great common rooms in which idiots and
imbecile persons are chained at regular intervals to the wall, never
leaving their places, night or day, until they die. I was thus spared
the pain of seeing what I am told is one of the most truly awful and
terrifying spectacles in the world. The doctor, who measured his
kindness by the guineas which he could extract from his patients'
friends, kept certain private chambers, where, if the poor creatures
were chained, they were not exposed to the sights and sounds of the
common rooms.
In one of these, therefore, he had bestowed Harry.
"Let me," I said, "go in first, and speak with him. Do you come
presently."
I think if I had known, beforehand, what they were going to do, I might
have relented--but no: anything was better than that those two men
should stand, sword in hand, face to face, trying to kill each other
for the sake of an unworthy girl.
Yet the poor lad, whom I had ever loved like a brother, looked in
piteous case; for they had put the strait-waistcoat over him, which
pinned his arms to his sides, and a chain about his waist which was
fastened to the wall behind him; his wig was lying on the floor; he
seemed wet through, which was the natural effect of those savage
keepers' buckets; his face wore a look of rage and despair sad to
behold: his eyes glared like the eyes of a bull at a baiting.
"You here, Kitty?" he cried. "You? What is the meaning of you in this
house?"
"Harry, there has been, it seems a very terrible blunder committed
by Dr. Powlett's servants; they were told you were a certain escaped
madman, and they arrested you in the discharge of their duty. It is
most fortunate that the fact has been brought to my ears, because I
could hasten----"
"Then quick, Kitty, quick!" he cried. "Go, call the doctor, and set me
free. It may not yet be too late. Quick, Kitty! They are waiting for
me."
He forgot, I suppose, what this "waiting" might mean to me.
"Who are waiting, Harry?"
He did not reply.
"What were you going to do on the Downs this morning, Harry, when they
made a prisoner of you?"
"That is nothing to do with you," he replied. "Go, call the rascally
doctor, whose ribs I will break, and his men, whom I will murder, for
this job."
"Nothing to do with me, Harry! Are you quite sure?"
"You look, Kitty, as if you knew. Did Lord Chud----No; he would not.
Did Sir Miles go sneaking to you with the news? Gad! I feel inclined to
try conclusions with the Norfolk baronet with his cudgel about which he
makes such a coil."
"Never mind who told me. I know the whole wicked, disgraceful,
murderous story!"
"Disgraceful! You talk like a woman. Shall a man sit down idly, and see
his wife snatched out of his arms?"
"What wife? O Harry! you have gone mad about this business. Cannot you
understand that I was never engaged to marry you--that I never thought
of such a thing? I could never have been your wife, whether there was
any rival or no. And did you think that you would make me think the
more kindly of you, should you kill the man who, as you foolishly
think, had supplanted you? Or was it out of revenge, and in the hope of
making me miserable, that you designed to fight this duel?"
He was silent at this. When a man is in a strait-waistcoat, and chained
to a wall, it is difficult to look dignified. But Harry's look of shame
and confusion, under the circumstances of having no arms, was truly
pitiful.
"You can talk about that afterwards," he said doggedly. "Go, call the
scoundrel doctor."
"Presently. I want to tell you, first, what I think about it. Was it
kind to the woman you pretended to love to bring upon her the risk of
this great unhappiness? Remember, Harry, I told you all. I told you
what I could not have told even to Nancy, in the hope of breaking you
of this mad passion. I trusted that you were good and true of heart;
and this is the return."
"It is done now," he replied gloomily. "Do not reproach me, Kitty. Let
Lord Chudleigh run me through the body, and so an end. Now, fetch the
doctor fellow and his men."
"That would have been indeed an end," I said. "But, Harry, I have done
better than that for you. I have stayed the duel altogether. You will
not have to fight."
With that I told him how I had gone to the Downs, and what I had said
to the gentlemen. Only, be sure that I left out what passed in the road
between his lordship and myself.
Well, Master Harry flew into a mighty rage upon hearing this, and,
being still in the strait-waistcoat and in chains, his wrath was
increased because he could not move: he talked wildly about his injured
honour, swore that he would go and offer Lord Chudleigh first, and Sir
Miles later, such an open and public affront as must be washed out with
the blood of one; declared that I might have destroyed his reputation
for courage for good, but that he was resolved the world should judge
to the contrary. As for the company at the Wells, he would challenge
every man at Epsom, if necessary, if he should dare to asperse his
bravery. More he said to the same effect, but I interrupted him.
First, I promised to go with him upon the Terrace, there to meet the
people and give him such countenance as a woman could. Next I promised
him that Lord Chudleigh should meet him in a friendly spirit; that Sir
Miles should be the first to proclaim Mr. Temple's courage. I assured
him that he might be quite certain of finding many other opportunities
of proving his valiancy, should he continue in his present bloodthirsty
frame of mind. I congratulated him on his Christian readiness to throw
away a life which had hitherto been surrounded by so many blessings.
Lastly, I advised him to consider how far his present attitude and
sentiments corresponded with the divine philosophy of the ancients,
whom he had once been so fond of quoting.
He refused to make any promise whatever.
Then I bade him remember--first, where he was; second, under what
circumstances he came there; third, that he was surrounded by raving
madmen, chained to the wall as one of them, put in a strait-waistcoat
like one of them, and about to be reduced to a diet of bread and
water; that no one knew where he was except myself and Dr. Powlett;
that neither of us would tell anything about him; and that, in point
of fact, unless he promised what I asked, he might remain where he was
until all danger was past.
"And that, Harry, may be I know not when. For be very well assured
that, as I have obtained from Lord Chudleigh a promise to seek no
quarrel with you, I will not let you go from this place until I am
assured that you will seek no quarrel with him, either on my account or
under any other pretext whatever. You are in great misery (which you
richly deserve for your wicked and murderous design); you are wet and
hungry: if I go away without your promise, you will continue in greater
misery until I return. Bethink thee, Harry."
Still he was obdurate. Strange that a man will face almost anything
rather than possible ridicule.
What, after long persuasion, made him give way, was a plain threat that
if he would not promise what I required I would release him at once,
but tell his story to all the town, so that, for very ridicule's sake,
it would be impossible for the duel to take place.
"It will tell very prettily, Harry," I said. "Nancy will dress it up
for me, and will relate it in her best and liveliest way; how you tried
to get a little country girl of sixteen to engage herself to you; how,
when you found her a year later turned into a lady, you thought that
you could terrify her into accepting your proposals, on the plea that
she had already promised; how you turned sulky; how you quarrelled
with Lord Chudleigh, and made him accept your duel; how you were taken
prisoner by mistake, and kicked, cuffed----"
"I was not kicked!" he cried.
"You were. Dr. Powlett's patients are always kicked. Then you
had buckets of cold water thrown over you; you were put into a
strait-waistcoat and chained to the wall: while I came and asked you
whether you preferred remaining in the madhouse or promising to behave
like an honourable gentleman, and abstain from insulting persons who
have done no harm to you or yours."
"I believe," he said, "that it is none other than yourself who has had
me captured and treated in this manner, _femina furens_!"
"A mere mistake, Harry," I replied, "of this good physician's zealous
servants. Why, it might have happened in any such establishment. But
for me to order it--oh! impossible--though, when one comes to think
of it, there are few things a woman--_Femina furens_, the English of
which, Master Harry, I know--would not do to save two friends from
hacking and slashing each other."
Upon this he gave way.
"I must," he said, "get away from this place with what speed I may,
even if I have to pink half the men in Epsom to prove I am no coward.
Kitty, call the doctor. I believe, mad nymph, thou hast a devil!"
"Nay, Harry, all this was planned but to lay the devil, believe me. But
promise first."
"Well, then. It is a hard pill to swallow, Kitty."
"Promise."
"I promise."
"Not to pick any quarrel, or to revive any old quarrel, with Lord
Chudleigh or Sir Miles Lackington."
He repeated the words after me.
"And to remain good friends with Kitty Pleydell and all who are her
friends and followers."
He repeated these words as well, though with some appearance of
swallowing distasteful food.
"I cannot shake hands with you, Harry, because, poor boy, your hands
are hidden away beneath that strait-waistcoat. But I know you to be
an honourable gentleman, as becomes a man of your birth and so great
a scholar, and I accept your word. Wherefore, my dear old friend and
schoolfellow, seeing that there is to be no more pretence of love
between us, but only of friendship and good wishes, I will call--Dr.
Powlett."
That good man was waiting in the corridor or passage while Harry and I
held this long conversation. He came as soon as I called him.
"Sir," said I, as soon as he came in (I noticed that he looked
anxiously behind him to see that his four varlets were at hand, ready
to defend him if necessary)--"Sir, here is a most grievous mischance
indeed. For this gentleman is no other than Mr. Harry Temple, Justice
of the Peace, Bachelor of Arts of the University of Cambridge, Fellow
Commoner of his College, Member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's
Inn, and a country gentleman, with a great estate of East Kent. He is,
in truth, doctor, no more mad than you or I, or any one else in the
world."
The doctor affected the greatest surprise and indignation. First he
expressed his inability to believe my statement, although it pained
him deeply to differ from a lady; then he called upon one of his
men to bring him the _Hue and Cry_, and read out a description of a
runaway madman which so perfectly answered the appearance of Harry,
that it would deceive any one, except myself, because I was sure he had
himself written it--_after the capture_. He then asked me, solemnly and
gravely, if I did not think, having heard the description, that the men
were justified in their action.
I replied that the paper so exactly tallied with Harry's appearance
that such a mistake was most easy to account for, and must at once,
when explained, command forgiveness. Nevertheless, Harry's face looked
far from forgiving.
"Varlets," said Dr. Powlett, who in some respects reminded me of a
certain Doctor of Divinity, because his voice was deep and his manner
stately, "go, instantly, every man Jack, upon his bended knees and ask
the pardon of Mr. Temple for an offence committed by pure inadvertence
and excess of honourable zeal in the extirpation--I mean the
comfortable and kindly confinement--of the lunatic, insane, and persons
demented."
They all four fell upon their knees and asked forgiveness.
Harry replied briefly, that as for pardoning them, he would wait until
he was free, when he would break all their ribs and wring their necks.
"Sir," said the doctor, "you are doubtless in the right, and are
naturally, for the moment, annoyed at this little misadventure, at
which you will laugh when you consider it at leisure. It will perhaps
be of use to you as showing you on what humane, kindly, and gentle a
system such establishments as ours are conducted. As regards the pardon
which you will extend to these honest fellows, time is no object to
them. They would as soon receive their pardon to-morrow, or a week
hence, or a year, or twenty years hence, as to-day, because their
consciences are at rest, having done their duty; therefore, good sir,
they will wait to release you until you are ready with their pardon."
Harry, after thinking for a few moments over this statement, said, that
so far as he was concerned, the four men might go to the devil, and
that he pardoned them.
"There remains only," said the doctor, "one person who infinitely
regrets the temporary annoyance your honour has been subjected to.
It is myself. I have to ask of you, for the sake of my establishment
and my reputation, two or three conditions. The first of them is
your forgiveness, without which I feel that my self-respect as a
true Christian and man of science would suffer; the second, absolute
secrecy as regards these proceedings, a knowledge of which might be
prejudicial to me; and the third----" here he hesitated and glanced
sideways at me. "The third is, of course"--he plucked up courage and
spoke confidently--"a reimbursement of the expenses I have been put
to, as, for instance"--here he drew out a long roll, and read from
it--"services of four men in watching for the escaped lunatic for five
hours, at five shillings an hour for each man, five pounds; to the
capture of the same, being done in expeditious and workmanlike fashion,
without confusion, scandal, cracking of crowns or breaking of ribs,
two guineas; to bringing him in, and receiving many cuffs, blows,
kicks, &c., on the way, three guineas; to use of private room for one
month at one guinea a week (we never let our private and comfortable
chambers for less than one month), four guineas; to wear and tear of
bucket, strait-waistcoat, and chain, used in confining and bringing to
reason the prisoner, two guineas; to board and lodging of the patient
for one month at two guineas a week (we never receive a patient for
less than one month), eight guineas; to attendants' fees for the same
time, two guineas for entrance and three guineas for departure: to my
own professional attendance at two guineas a week (I never undertake a
case for less than one month certain), eight guineas. The total, good
sir, I find to amount to a mere trifle of thirty-eight pounds twelve
shillings."
Heavens! did one ever hear of such an extortionate charge? And all for
two hours in a strait-waistcoat!
Harry stormed and swore. But the most he could get was a reduction of
the bill by which certain items, including the three guineas for giving
and receiving kicks and cuffs, and the two guineas for wear and tear
of the bucket which had been emptied over him, were to be remitted.
Finally he accepted the conditions, with the promise to pay thirty
guineas in full discharge. And really I think that Dr. Powlett had done
a good morning's work, having taken ten guineas out of me and thirty
out of Harry. But then, as he said, it was a delicate and dangerous
business, and might, in less skilful hands (meaning perhaps mine,
perhaps his own), have led to very awkward results.
The Terrace was full of people, for it was now half-past twelve. As
Harry and I made our way slowly under the trees they parted for us
left and right, staring at us as we passed them with curious eyes.
For the rumour had spread abroad that there was to have been a duel
that morning between Lord Chudleigh and Mr. Temple, and that it was
stopped--no one knew how--by some accident which prevented Mr. Temple
from keeping his appointment. Now at the other end of the Terrace we
met Lord Chudleigh himself, who, after saluting me, held out his hand
before all the world to Harry, who took it with a bow and a blush.
There was a great sigh of disappointment. No duel, then, would be
fought at all, and the two gentlemen who were to have fought it were
shaking hands like ordinary mortals, and the lady for whom they were
going to fight was walking between them, and all three were smiling and
talking together like excellent friends.
Thus, then, did I heal up the quarrel between Harry Temple and my lord.
It would have grieved me sore had poor Harry, almost my brother, been
wounded or killed; but what would have been my lot had my lover fallen?
Three suitors had I rejected in a month, and a lover had I gained, who
was also, though this I never ventured to confess, my husband. But
there was one man whom I had forgotten quite, and he was destined to
be the cause of the greatest trouble of all. Who would have believed
that Will Levett would have dared to call himself my accepted lover?
Who would have believed that this sot, this stable and kennel haunter,
would have remembered me for a whole year, and would have come to Epsom
in the full confidence that he was coming to claim a bride?