Shrewsbury: A Romance Page 5

  CHAPTER IV

  At that I remember that I cried out in overwhelming excitement andamazement; cried out that I knew the man and his story, and the placewhence she had been taken; that I had heard the tale from my fatheryears before. "It was Colonel Porter who picked you up--ColonelPorter, and he saved his life by it!" I cried, quite beside myself atthe wonderful discovery I had made. "It was Colonel Porter, in thegreat riot at Norwich."

  "Ah?" she said, slowly; looking away from me, and speaking so coollyand strangely as both to surprise and damp me.

  Yet I persisted. "Yes," I said, "the story is well known; at leastthat part of it. But----" and there and at that word I stopped,dumbfounded and gaping.

  "But what?" she asked sharply, and looked at me again; the colourrisen in her face.

  "But--you are only eighteen," I hazarded timidly, "and the Norwichriot was in the War time. I dare say, thirty years ago."

  She turned on me in a sort of passion.

  "Well, sir, and what of that?" she cried. "Do you think me thirty?"

  "No, indeed," I answered. And at the most she was nineteen.

  "Then don't you believe me?"

  I cried out too at that; but, boy-like, I was so proud of my knowledgeand acuteness that I could not let the point lie. "All I mean," Iexplained, "is that to have been alive then, and at Norwich, you mustbe thirty now. And----"

  "And was it I?" she answered, flying out at me in a fine fury. "Whosaid anything about Norwich? Or your dirty riots? Or your Porter,whose name I never heard before! Go away! I hate you! I hate you!" shecontinued, passionately, waving me off. "You make up things and thenput them on me! I never said a word about Norwich."

  "I know you did not," I protested.

  "Then why did you say I did?" she wailed. "Why did you say I did? Youare a wretch! I hate you!"

  And with that, dissolving in tears and sobs she at one and the sametime showed me another side of love, and reduced me to the utmostdepths of despair; whence I was not permitted to emerge, norreinstated in the least degree of favour until I had a hundred timesabased myself before her, and was ready to curse the day when I firstheard the name of Porter. Still peace was at last, and with infinitedifficulty restored; and so complete was our _redintegratio amoris_that we presently ventured to recur to her tale and to the strangecoincidence that had divided us; which did not seem so veryremarkable, on second thought, seeing that she could not now rememberthat she had said a word about booths or stalls, but would have it Ihad inserted those particulars; the man in her case having takenrefuge--she fancied, but could not at this distance of time remembervery clearly--among the seats of a kind of bull-ring or circus erectedin the marketplace. Which of course made a good deal of difference.

  Notwithstanding this discrepancy, however, and though, taught byexperience, I hastened to agree with her that the secret of her birthwas not likely to be discovered in a moment, nor by so simple aprocess as the journey to Norwich, which I had been going to suggest,it was natural that we should often revert to the subject, and to herpretensions, and the hardship of her lot: and my curiosity andquestions giving a fillip to her memory, scarcely a day passed but sherecovered some new detail from the past; as at one time a service ofgold-plate which she perfectly remembered she had seen on her father'ssideboard; and at another time an accident that had befell her in herchildhood, through her father's coach and six horses being overturnedin a slough. Such particulars (and many others as pertinent andromantic, on which I will not linger) gave us a certainty of her pastconsequence and her future fortune were her parents once known; andwhile they served to augment the respect in which my love held her,gradually and almost imperceptibly led her to take a higher tone withme, and even on occasions to carry herself towards me with an air ofmystery, as if there were still some things which she had not confidedto me.

  This attitude on her part--which in itself pained me extremely--andstill more the fear naturally arising from it, that if she came by herown I should immediately lose her, forced me to make the acquaintanceof yet another side of love; by throwing me, I mean, into such a feverof suspicion and jealousy as made me for a period the most unhappy ofmen. From this plight my mistress, exercising the privilege of hersex, made no haste to relieve me. On the contrary, by affecting anincreased reserve and asserting that her movements were watched, sheprolonged my doubts; nor when this treatment had wrought the desiredend of reducing me to the lowest depths, and she at length consentedto meet me, did she entirely relent or abandon her reserve; or if shedid so, on rare occasions, it was only to set me some task as theprice of her complaisance, or expose me to some trial by which shemight prove my devotion.

  In a word, while I became hopelessly enslaved, even to the flogging aboy at her word, or procuring a dress far above my station--merelythat she might see me by stealth in it, and judge of my air!--whichwere two of her caprices, she appeared to be farther removed from meevery day, and at each meeting granted me fewer privileges. Whetherthis treatment had its origin in the natural instinct of a woman, orwas deliberately chosen as better calculated to increase mysubservience, it had the latter effect; and to such an extent thatwhen, after a long absence, she condescended to meet me, and broacheda plan that earlier would have raised my hair, I asked no better thanto do her bidding, and, instead of pointing out the folly of herproposal, fell in with it with scarcely a murmur.

  Her plan, when she communicated it to me, which she did with an air ofmystery and the same assumption of a secret withheld that hadtormented me before, amounted to nothing less than an evening sallyinto the town on the occasion of the approaching visit of the Duke ofYork, who was to lie one night at the Rose at Ware on his way toNewmarket. Mr. D---- had issued the strictest orders that all shouldkeep the house during this visit; not so much out of a proper care forthe boys' morality (though the gay crowd that followed the Courtserved for a pretext) as because, in his character of fanatic andExclusionist, he held His Highness's religion and person in equalabhorrence. Such a restriction weighed little in the scale againstlove; but, infatuated as I was, I found something that sensiblyshocked me in the proposal coming from Dorinda's lips; nor could Ifail to foresee many dangers to which a young girl must expose herselfon such an expedition in the town, and at night. But as to a youth inlove nothing that his mistress chooses to do seems long amiss, so thisproposal scared me for a moment only; after which it cost my mistressno more than a little rallying on my crop-eared manners, and somescolding, to make me see it in its true aspect of an innocent frolic,fraught with as much pleasure to the cavalier as novelty to theescorted.

  "You will don your new suit," she said, merrily, "and I shall meet youin the garden at half past nine."

  "And if the boys may miss me?" I protested feebly.

  "The boys have missed you before!" she answered, mocking my tone."Were you not here last night? And for a whole hour, sir?"

  I confessed with hot cheeks that I had been there; humbly and tamelyawaiting her pleasure.

  "And did they tell then?" she asked scornfully. "Or are they lessafraid of the birch now? But of course--if you don't care to come withme--or are afraid, sir----?"

  "I am neither," I said warmly. "Only I do not quite understand, sweet,what you wish."

  "They lie at the Rose," she said. "And amongst them, I am told, arethe prettiest men and the most lovely women in the world. And jewels,and laces, and such dresses! Oh, I am mad to see them! And music andgaming and dancing! And dishes and plates of gold! And a Popishpriest, which is a thing I have never seen, though I have heard of it.And----"

  "And do you expect to see all these things through the windows?" Icried in my superior knowledge.

  She did not answer at once, but with her hands on my shoulders, swayedto and fro sideways as if she already heard the music; while her gipsyface looked archly into mine, first on this side and then on that, andher hair swung to and fro on her shoulders in a beautiful abandonmentwhich I found it impossible to resist. At last she stopped
, and,"Yes," she said demurely, "through the windows, Master RichardLongface! Do you meet me here at half past nine--in your new suit,sir--and you shall see them too--through the windows."

  STOLE DOWN THE STAIRS AND INTO THE GARDEN]

  After that, though I made a last effort to dissuade her, there wasnothing more to be said. Obedient to her behest, I made mypreparations, and at the appointed hour next evening rose softly fromthe miserable pallet on which I had just laid down; and dressingmyself with shaking fingers and in the dark--that my bed-fellows mightknow as little as possible of my movements--stole down the stairs andinto the garden.

  Here I found myself first at the rendezvous. The night was dark, butan unusual light hung over the town, and the wind that stirred thepoplars brought scraps and sounds of music to the ear. I had some timeto wait, and time too to think what I was about to do; to weigh thechances of detection and dismissal, and even to taste the qualms thatrawness and timidity mingled with my anticipations of pleasure. But,though I had my fears, no vision of the real future obtruded itself onmy mind as I stood there listening: nor any forewarning of the plungeI was about to take. And before I had come to the end of my patienceDorinda stood beside me.

  Dark as it was, I fancied that I discerned something strange in herappearance, and I would have investigated it; but she whispered thatwe were late, and evading as well my questions as the caress Ioffered, she bade me help her as quickly as I could over the fence. Idid so; we crossed a neighbouring garden, and in a twinkling and withthe least possible difficulty stood in the road. Here the strains ofmusic came more plainly to the ear, and the glare of light hung lowerand shone more brightly. This seemed enough for my mistress; sheturned that way without hesitation, and set forward, the outskirts ofthe town being quickly passed. Between the late hour and the flux ofpeople towards the centre of interest, the streets were vacant; and wemet no one until we reached the main thoroughfare, and came upon theedge of the great crowd that moved to and fro before the Rose Inn.Here all the windows, in one of which a band of music was playing somenew air, were brilliantly lighted; while below and round the door wassuch a throng of hurrying waiters and drawers, and such a carrying ofmeals and drinks, and a shouting of orders as almost turned the brain.A carriage and six that had just set down a grandee, come to pay hisdevoirs to the Prince, was moving off as we came up, the horsessmoking, the footmen panting, and the postilions stooping in theirsaddles. A little to one side a cask was being staved for the trooperswho had come with the Duke; and on all the noisy, moving scene and theflags that streamed from the roofs and windows, and the shiftingcrowd, poured the ruddy light of a great _bon-feu_ that burned on thefarther side of the way.

  Nor, rare as were these things, were they the most pertinent or thestrangest that the fire revealed to me. I had come for nothing elsebut to see, _clam et furtim_, as the classics say, what was to beseen; with no thought of passing beyond the uttermost ring ofspectators. But as I hung back shamefacedly my companion seized mywrist and drew me on; and when I turned to her to remonstrate, asHeaven lives, I did not know her! I conceived for a moment that somemadam of the court had seized me in a frolic; nor for a perceptiblespace could I imagine that the fine cloaked lady, whose eyes shonebright as stars through the holes in her mask, and whose raven hair,so cunningly dressed, failed to hide the brilliance of her neck, wherethe cloak fell loose, was my Dorinda, my mistress, the cook-maid whomI had kissed in the garden! Honestly, for an instant, I recoiled andhung back, afraid of her; nor was I quite assured of the truth, sounprepared was I for the change, until she whispered me sharply tocome on.

  "Whither?" I said, still hanging back in dismay. The bystanders werebeginning to turn and stare, and in a moment would have jeered us.

  "Within doors," she urged.

  "They will not admit us!"

  "They will admit me," she answered proudly, and made as if she wouldthrow my hand from her.

  Still I did not believe her, and it was that, and that only, thatemboldened me; though, to be sure, I was in love and her slave.Reluctantly, and almost sulkily, I gave way, and sneaked behind her tothe door. A man who stood on the steps seemed, at the first glance,minded to stop her; but, looking again, smiled and let us pass; and ina twinkling we stood in the hall among hurrying waiters, and shoutingcall-boys, and bloods in silk coats, whose scabbards rang as they camedown the stairs, and a fair turmoil of pages, and footboys, andgentlemen, and gentlemen's gentlemen.

  MY COMPANION SEIZED MY WRIST]

  In such a company, elbowed this way and that by my betters, I knewneither how to carry myself, nor where to look; but Dorinda, withbarely a pause, and as if she knew the house, thrust open the nearestdoor, and led the way into a great room that stood on the right of thehall.

  Here, down the spacious floor, and lighted by shaded candles, wereranged several tables, at which a number of persons had seats, whileothers again stood or moved about the room. The majority of thosepresent were men. I noticed, however, three or four women masked afterthe fashion of my companion, but more gorgeously dressed, and in mysimplicity did not doubt that these were duchesses, the more as theytalked and laughed loudly; whereas the general company--save those whosat at one table where the game was at a standstill, and all werecrying persistently for a Tallier--spoke low, the rattle of dice andchink of coin, and an occasional oath, taking the place ofconversation. I saw piles of guineas and half-guineas on the tables,and gold lace on the men's coats, and the women a dream of silks andfurbelows, and gleaming shoulders and flashing eyes; and between aweof my company, and horror at finding myself in such a place, I tookall for real that glittered. Where, therefore, a man of experiencewould have discerned a crowd of dubious rakes and rustic squirestempting fortune for the benefit of the Groom-Porter, whose privilegewas ambulatory, I fancied I gazed on earls and barons; saw a garter onevery leg, and, blind to the stained walls of the common inn-room,supplied every bully who cried the main or called the trumps with thepedigree of a Howard.

  This was a delusion not unnatural, and a prey to it, I expected eachmoment to be my last in that company. But the fringe of spectatorsthat stood behind the players favouring us, we fell easily into lineat one of the tables, and nothing happening, and no one saying us nay,I presently breathed more freely. I could see that my companion'sbeauty, though hidden in the main by her mask, was the subject ofgeneral remark; and that it drew on her looks and regards more or lessinsolent. But as she took no heed of these, but on the contrary gazedabout her unmoved and with indifference, I hoped for the best; andexcited by the brilliance and movement of a scene so far above mywildest dreams, that I already anticipated the pride with which Ishould hereafter describe it, I began to draw a fearful joy from ourescapade. Like AEneas and Ulysses, I had seen men and cities! And stoodamong heroes! And seen the sirens! To which thoughts I was proceedingto add others equally classical, when a gentleman behind me divertedmy thoughts by touching my companion on the arm, and very politelyrequesting, her to lay on the table a guinea which he handed to her.

  She did so, and he thanked her with a low-spoken compliment; thenadded with bent head, but bold eyes, "Fortune, my pretty lady, cannotsurely have been unkind to one so fair!"

  "I do not play," Dorinda answered, with all the bluntness I coulddesire.

  "And yet I think I have seen you play?" he replied. And affecting tobe engaged in identifying her, he let his eyes rove over her figure.

  Doubtless Dorinda's mask gave her courage; yet, even this taken intothe count, her wit and resource astonished me. "You do not know me, mypretty gentleman," she said, coolly, and with a proud air.

  "I know that you have cost me a guinea!" he answered. "See, they haveswept it off. And as I staked it for nothing else but to have anexcuse to address the handsomest woman in the room----"

  "You do not know what I am--behind my mask," she retorted.

  "No," he replied, hardily, "and therefore I am going--I am going----"

  "So am I!" my mistress answered, with a quickness that both surpri
sedand delighted me. "Good night, good spendthrift! You are going; and Iam going."

  "Well hit!" he replied, with a grin. "And well content if we gotogether! Yet I think I know how I could keep you!"

  "Yes?" she said, indifferently.

  "By deserving the name," he answered. "You called me spendthrift."

  On that I do not know whether she thought him too forward, or saw thatI was nearly at the end of my patience--which it may be imagined wasno little tried by this badinage--but she turned her shoulder to himoutright, and spoke a word to me in a low tone. Then: "Give me aguinea, Dick!" she said, pretty loudly. "I think I'll play."