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CHAPTER XXXVI
JOHN RETURNS TO BUSINESS
Now November was upon us, and we had kept
Allhallowmass, with roasting of skewered apples (like
so many shuttlecocks), and after that the day of
Fawkes, as became good Protestants, with merry bonfires
and burned batatas, and plenty of good feeding in
honour of our religion; and then while we were at
wheat-sowing, another visitor arrived.
This was Master Jeremy Stickles, who had been a good
friend to me (as described before) in London, and had
earned my mother's gratitude, so far as ever he chose
to have it. And he seemed inclined to have it all; for
he made our farm-house his headquarters, and kept us
quite at his beck and call, going out at any time of
the evening, and coming back at any time of the
morning, and always expecting us to be ready, whether
with horse, or man, or maiden, or fire, or provisions.
We knew that he was employed somehow upon the service
of the King, and had at different stations certain
troopers and orderlies quite at his disposal; also we
knew that he never went out, nor even slept in his
bedroom, without heavy firearms well loaded, and a
sharp sword nigh his hand; and that he held a great
commission, under royal signet, requiring all good
subjects, all officers of whatever degree, and
especially justices of the peace, to aid him to the
utmost, with person, beast, and chattel, or to
answer it at their peril.
Now Master Jeremy Stickles, of course, knowing well
what women are, durst not open to any of them the
nature of his instructions. But, after awhile,
perceiving that I could be relied upon, and that it was
a great discomfort not to have me with him, he took me
aside in a lonely place, and told me nearly everything;
having bound me first by oath, not to impart to any
one, without his own permission, until all was over.
But at this present time of writing, all is over long
ago; ay and forgotten too, I ween, except by those who
suffered. Therefore may I tell the whole without any
breach of confidence. Master Stickles was going forth
upon his usual night journey, when he met me coming
home, and I said something half in jest, about his zeal
and secrecy; upon which he looked all round the yard,
and led me to an open space in the clover field
adjoining.
'John,' he said, 'you have some right to know the
meaning of all this, being trusted as you were by the
Lord Chief Justice. But he found you scarcely supple
enough, neither gifted with due brains.'
'Thank God for that same,' I answered, while he tapped
his head, to signify his own much larger allowance.
Then he made me bind myself, which in an evil hour I
did, to retain his secret; and after that he went on
solemnly, and with much importance,--
'There be some people fit to plot, and others to be
plotted against, and others to unravel plots, which
is the highest gift of all. This last hath fallen
to my share, and a very thankless gift it is,
although a rare and choice one. Much of peril too
attends it; daring courage and great coolness are as
needful for the work as ready wit and spotless honour.
Therefore His Majesty's advisers have chosen me for
this high task, and they could not have chosen a better
man. Although you have been in London, Jack, much
longer than you wished it, you are wholly ignorant, of
course, in matters of state, and the public weal.'
'Well,' said I, 'no doubt but I am, and all the better
for me. Although I heard a deal of them; for
everybody was talking, and ready to come to blows; if
only it could be done without danger. But one said
this, and one said that; and they talked so much about
Birminghams, and Tantivies, and Whigs and Tories, and
Protestant flails and such like, that I was only too
glad to have my glass and clink my spoon for answer.'
'Right, John, thou art right as usual. Let the King go
his own gait. He hath too many mistresses to be ever
England's master. Nobody need fear him, for he is not
like his father: he will have his own way, 'tis true,
but without stopping other folk of theirs: and well he
knows what women are, for he never asks them questions.
Now heard you much in London town about the Duke of
Monmouth?'
'Not so very much,' I answered; 'not half so much as in
Devonshire: only that he was a hearty man, and a very
handsome one, and now was banished by the Tories; and
most people wished he was coming back, instead of the
Duke of York, who was trying boots in Scotland.'
'Things are changed since you were in town. The Whigs
are getting up again, through the folly of the Tories
killing poor Lord Russell; and now this Master Sidney
(if my Lord condemns him) will make it worse again.
There is much disaffection everywhere, and it must grow
to an outbreak. The King hath many troops in London,
and meaneth to bring more from Tangier; but he cannot
command these country places; and the trained bands
cannot help him much, even if they would. Now, do you
understand me, John?'
'In truth, not I. I see not what Tangier hath to do
with Exmoor; nor the Duke of Monmouth with Jeremy
Stickles.'
'Thou great clod, put it the other way. Jeremy
Stickles may have much to do about the Duke of
Monmouth. The Whigs having failed of Exclusion, and
having been punished bitterly for the blood they shed,
are ripe for any violence. And the turn of the balance
is now to them. See-saw is the fashion of England
always; and the Whigs will soon be the top-sawyers.'
'But,' said I, still more confused, '"The King is the
top-sawyer," according to our proverb. How then can
the Whigs be?'
'Thou art a hopeless ass, John. Better to sew with a
chestnut than to teach thee the constitution. Let it
be so, let it be. I have seen a boy of five years old
more apt at politics than thou. Nay, look not
offended, lad. It is my fault for being over-deep to
thee. I should have considered thy intellect.'
'Nay, Master Jeremy, make no apologies. It is I that
should excuse myself; but, God knows, I have no
politics.'
'Stick to that, my lad,' he answered; 'so shalt thou
die easier. Now, in ten words (without parties, or
trying thy poor brain too much), I am here to watch the
gathering of a secret plot, not so much against the
King as against the due succession.'
'Now I understand at last. But, Master Stickles, you
might have said all that an hour ago almost.'
'It would have been better, if I had, to thee,' he
replied with much compassion; 'thy hat is nearly off
thy head with the swelling of brain I have given thee.
Blows, blows, are thy business, Jack. There thou art
in thine element. And, haply, this business will bring
thee plenty even for thy great head to take. Now
hearken to one who wishes thee well, and plainly sees
the end of it--stick thou to the winning side, and have
naught to do with the other one.'
'That,' said I, in great haste and hurry, 'is the very
thing I want to do, if I only knew which was the
winning side, for the sake of Lorna--that is to say,
for the sake of my dear mother and sisters, and the
farm.'
'Ha!' cried Jeremy Stickles, laughing at the redness of
my face--'Lorna, saidst thou; now what Lorna? Is it
the name of a maiden, or a light-o'-love?'
'Keep to your own business,' I answered, very proudly;
'spy as much as e'er thou wilt, and use our house for
doing it, without asking leave or telling; but if I
ever find thee spying into my affairs, all the King's
lifeguards in London, and the dragoons thou bringest
hither, shall not save thee from my hand--or one finger
is enough for thee.'
Being carried beyond myself by his insolence about
Lorna, I looked at Master Stickles so, and spake in
such a voice, that all his daring courage and his
spotless honour quailed within him, and he shrank--as
if I would strike so small a man.
Then I left him, and went to work at the sacks upon the
corn-floor, to take my evil spirit from me before I
should see mother. For (to tell the truth) now my
strength was full, and troubles were gathering round
me, and people took advantage so much of my easy
temper, sometimes when I was over-tried, a sudden heat
ran over me, and a glowing of all my muscles, and a
tingling for a mighty throw, such as my utmost
self-command, and fear of hurting any one, could but
ill refrain. Afterwards, I was always very sadly
ashamed of myself, knowing how poor a thing bodily
strength is, as compared with power of mind, and that
it is a coward's part to misuse it upon weaker folk.
For the present there was a little breach between
Master Stickles and me, for which I blamed myself very
sorely. But though, in full memory of his kindness and
faithfulness in London, I asked his pardon many times
for my foolish anger with him, and offered to undergo
any penalty he would lay upon me, he only said it was
no matter, there was nothing to forgive. When people
say that, the truth often is that they can forgive
nothing.
So for the present a breach was made between Master
Jeremy and myself, which to me seemed no great loss,
inasmuch as it relieved me from any privity to his
dealings, for which I had small liking. All I feared
was lest I might, in any way, be ungrateful to him; but
when he would have no more of me, what could I do to
help it? However, in a few days' time I was of good
service to him, as you shall see in its proper place.
But now my own affairs were thrown into such disorder
that I could think of nothing else, and had the
greatest difficulty in hiding my uneasiness. For
suddenly, without any warning, or a word of message,
all my Lorna's signals ceased, which I had been
accustomed to watch for daily, and as it were to feed
upon them, with a glowing heart. The first time I
stood on the wooded crest, and found no change from
yesterday, I could hardly believe my eyes, or thought
at least that it must be some great mistake on the
part of my love. However, even that oppressed me with
a heavy heart, which grew heavier, as I found from day
to day no token.
Three times I went and waited long at the bottom of the
valley, where now the stream was brown and angry with
the rains of autumn, and the weeping trees hung
leafless. But though I waited at every hour of day,
and far into the night, no light footstep came to meet
me, no sweet voice was in the air; all was lonely,
drear, and drenched with sodden desolation. It seemed
as if my love was dead, and the winds were at her
funeral.
Once I sought far up the valley, where I had never been
before, even beyond the copse where Lorna had found and
lost her brave young cousin. Following up the river
channel, in shelter of the evening fog, I gained a
corner within stone's throw of the last outlying cot.
This was a gloomy, low, square house, without any light
in the windows, roughly built of wood and stone, as I
saw when I drew nearer. For knowing it to be Carver's
dwelling (or at least suspecting so, from some words of
Lorna's), I was led by curiosity, and perhaps by jealousy,
to have a closer look at it. Therefore, I crept up the
stream, losing half my sense of fear, by reason of anxiety.
And in truth there was not much to fear, the sky being now
too dark for even a shooter of wild fowl to make good aim.
And nothing else but guns could hurt me, as in the pride of
my strength I thought, and in my skill of single-stick.
Nevertheless, I went warily, being now almost among
this nest of cockatrices. The back of Carver's house
abutted on the waves of the rushing stream; and seeing
a loop-hole, vacant for muskets, I looked in, but all
was quiet. So far as I could judge by listening, there
was no one now inside, and my heart for a moment leaped
with joy, for I had feared to find Lorna there. Then I
took a careful survey of the dwelling, and its windows,
and its door, and aspect, as if I had been a robber
meaning to make privy entrance. It was well for me
that I did this, as you will find hereafter.
Having impressed upon my mind (a slow but, perhaps
retentive mind), all the bearings of the place, and all
its opportunities, and even the curve of the stream
along it, and the bushes near the door, I was much
inclined to go farther up, and understand all the
village. But a bar of red light across the river, some
forty yards on above me, and crossing from the opposite
side like a chain, prevented me. In that second house
there was a gathering of loud and merry outlaws, making
as much noise as if they had the law upon their side.
Some, indeed, as I approached, were laying down both
right and wrong, as purely, and with as high a sense,
as if they knew the difference. Cold and troubled as I
was, I could hardly keep from laughing.
Before I betook myself home that night, and eased dear
mother's heart so much, and made her pale face spread
with smiles, I had resolved to penetrate Glen Doone
from the upper end, and learn all about my Lorna. Not
but what I might have entered from my unsuspected
channel, as so often I had done; but that I saw fearful
need for knowing something more than that. Here was
every sort of trouble gathering upon me, here was
Jeremy Stickles stealing upon every one in the dark;
here was Uncle Reuben plotting Satan only could tell
what; here was a white night-capped man coming bodily
from the grave; here was my own sister Annie committed
to a highwayman, and mother in distraction; most of all
--here, there, and where--was my Lorna stolen,
dungeoned, perhaps outraged. It was no time for shilly
shally, for the balance of this and that, or for a man
with blood and muscle to pat his nose and ponder. If I
left my Lorna so; if I let those black-soul'd villains
work their pleasure on my love; if the heart that clave
to mine could find no vigour in it--then let maidens
cease from men, and rest their faith in tabby-cats.
Rudely rolling these ideas in my heavy head and brain I
resolved to let the morrow put them into form and
order, but not contradict them. And then, as my
constitution willed (being like that of England), I
slept, and there was no stopping me.
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