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CHAPTER LXVI
SUITABLE DEVOTION
Now Kickums was not like Winnie, any more than a man
is like a woman; and so he had not followed my
fortunes, except at his own distance. No doubt but
what he felt a certain interest in me; but his interest
was not devotion; and man might go his way and be
hanged, rather than horse would meet hardship.
Therefore, seeing things to be bad, and his master
involved in trouble, what did this horse do but start
for the ease and comfort of Plover's Barrows, and the
plentiful ration of oats abiding in his own manger.
For this I do not blame him. It is the manner of
mankind.
But I could not help being very uneasy at the thought
of my mother's discomfort and worry, when she should
spy this good horse coming home, without any master, or
rider, and I almost hoped that he might be caught
(although he was worth at least twenty pounds) by some
of the King's troopers, rather than find his way home,
and spread distress among our people. Yet, knowing his
nature, I doubted if any could catch, or catching would
keep him.
Jeremy Stickles assured me, as we took the road to
Bridgwater, that the only chance for my life (if I
still refused to fly) was to obtain an order forthwith,
for my despatch to London, as a suspected person
indeed, but not found in open rebellion, and believed
to be under the patronage of the great Lord Jeffreys.
'For,' said he, 'in a few hours time you would fall
into the hands of Lord Feversham, who has won this
fight, without seeing it, and who has returned to bed
again, to have his breakfast more comfortably. Now he
may not be quite so savage perhaps as Colonel Kirke,
nor find so much sport in gibbeting; but he is equally
pitiless, and his price no doubt would be higher.'
'I will pay no price whatever,' I answered, 'neither
will I fly. An hour agone I would have fled for the
sake of my mother, and the farm. But now that I have
been taken prisoner, and my name is known, if I fly,
the farm is forfeited; and my mother and sister must
starve. Moreover, I have done no harm; I have borne no
weapons against the King, nor desired the success of
his enemies. I like not that the son of a bona-roba
should be King of England; neither do I count the
Papists any worse than we are. If they have aught to
try me for, I will stand my trial.'
'Then to London thou must go, my son. There is no such
thing as trial here: we hang the good folk without it,
which saves them much anxiety. But quicken thy step,
good John; I have influence with Lord Churchill, and we
must contrive to see him, ere the foreigner falls to
work again. Lord Churchill is a man of sense, and
imprisons nothing but his money.'
We were lucky enough to find this nobleman, who has
since become so famous by his foreign victories. He
received us with great civility; and looked at me with
much interest, being a tall and fine young man himself,
but not to compare with me in size, although far better
favoured. I liked his face well enough, but thought
there was something false about it. He put me a few
keen questions, such as a man not assured of honesty
might have found hard to answer; and he stood in a very
upright attitude, making the most of his figure.
I saw nothing to be proud of, at the moment, in this
interview; but since the great Duke of Marlborough rose
to the top of glory, I have tried to remember more
about him than my conscience quite backs up. How
should I know that this man would be foremost of our
kingdom in five-and-twenty years or so; and not
knowing, why should I heed him, except for my own
pocket? Nevertheless, I have been so
cross-questioned--far worse than by young Lord
Churchill--about His Grace the Duke of Marlborough,
and what he said to me, and what I said then, and how
His Grace replied to that, and whether he smiled like
another man, or screwed up his lips like a button (as
our parish tailor said of him), and whether I knew from
the turn of his nose that no Frenchman could stand
before him: all these inquiries have worried me so,
ever since the Battle of Blenheim, that if tailors
would only print upon waistcoats, I would give double
price for a vest bearing this inscription, 'No
information can be given about the Duke of
Marlborough.'
Now this good Lord Churchill--for one might call him
good, by comparison with the very bad people around
him--granted without any long hesitation the order for
my safe deliverance to the Court of King's Bench at
Westminster; and Stickles, who had to report in London,
was empowered to convey me, and made answerable for
producing me. This arrangement would have been
entirely to my liking, although the time of year was
bad for leaving Plover's Barrows so; but no man may
quite choose his times, and on the while I would have
been quite content to visit London, if my mother could
be warned that nothing was amiss with me, only a mild,
and as one might say, nominal captivity. And to
prevent her anxiety, I did my best to send a letter
through good Sergeant Bloxham, of whom I heard as
quartered with Dumbarton's regiment at Chedzuy. But
that regiment was away in pursuit; and I was forced to
entrust my letter to a man who said that he knew him,
and accepted a shilling to see to it.
For fear of any unpleasant change, we set forth at once
for London; and truly thankful may I be that God in His
mercy spared me the sight of the cruel and bloody work
with which the whole country reeked and howled during
the next fortnight. I have heard things that set my
hair on end, and made me loathe good meat for days; but
I make a point of setting down only the things which I
saw done; and in this particular case, not many will
quarrel with my decision. Enough, therefore, that we
rode on (for Stickles had found me a horse at last) as
far as Wells, where we slept that night; and being
joined in the morning by several troopers and
orderlies, we made a slow but safe journey to London,
by way of Bath and Reading.
The sight of London warmed my heart with various
emotions, such as a cordial man must draw from the
heart of all humanity. Here there are quick ways and
manners, and the rapid sense of knowledge, and the
power of understanding, ere a word be spoken. Whereas
at Oare, you must say a thing three times, very slowly,
before it gets inside the skull of the good man you are
addressing. And yet we are far more clever there than
in any parish for fifteen miles.
But what moved me most, when I saw again the noble oil
and tallow of the London lights, and the dripping
torches at almost every corner, and the handsome
signboards, was the thought that here my Lorna lived,
and walked, and took the air, and perhaps thought now
and then of the old days in the good farm-house.
Although I would make no approach to her, any more than
she had done to me (upon which grief I have not dwelt,
for fear of seeming selfish), yet there must be some
large chance, or the little chance might be enlarged,
of falling in with the maiden somehow, and learning how
her mind was set. If against me, all should be over.
I was not the man to sigh and cry for love, like a
Romeo: none should even guess my grief, except my
sister Annie.
But if Lorna loved me still--as in my heart of hearts I
hoped--then would I for no one care, except her own
delicious self. Rank and title, wealth and grandeur,
all should go to the winds, before they scared me from
my own true love.
Thinking thus, I went to bed in the centre of London
town, and was bitten so grievously by creatures whose
name is 'legion,' mad with the delight of getting a
wholesome farmer among them, that verily I was ashamed
to walk in the courtly parts of the town next day,
having lumps upon my face of the size of a pickling
walnut. The landlord said that this was nothing; and
that he expected, in two days at the utmost, a very
fresh young Irishman, for whom they would all forsake
me. Nevertheless, I declined to wait, unless he could
find me a hayrick to sleep in; for the insects of grass
only tickle. He assured me that no hayrick could now
be found in London; upon which I was forced to leave
him, and with mutual esteem we parted.
The next night I had better luck, being introduced to a
decent widow, of very high Scotch origin. That house
was swept and garnished so, that not a bit was left to
eat, for either man or insect. The change of air
having made me hungry, I wanted something after supper;
being quite ready to pay for it, and showing my purse
as a symptom. But the face of Widow MacAlister, when I
proposed to have some more food, was a thing to be
drawn (if it could be drawn further) by our new
caricaturist.
Therefore I left her also; for liefer would I be eaten
myself than have nothing to eat; and so I came back to
my old furrier; the which was a thoroughly hearty man,
and welcomed me to my room again, with two shillings
added to the rent, in the joy of his heart at seeing
me. Being under parole to Master Stickles, I only went
out betwixt certain hours; because I was accounted as
liable to be called upon; for what purpose I knew not,
but hoped it might be a good one. I felt it a loss,
and a hindrance to me, that I was so bound to remain at
home during the session of the courts of law; for
thereby the chance of ever beholding Lorna was very
greatly contracted, if not altogether annihilated. For
these were the very hours in which the people of
fashion, and the high world, were wont to appear to the
rest of mankind, so as to encourage them. And of
course by this time, the Lady Lorna was high among
people of fashion, and was not likely to be seen out of
fashionable hours. It is true that there were some
places of expensive entertainment, at which the better
sort of mankind might be seen and studied, in their
hours of relaxation, by those of the lower order, who
could pay sufficiently. But alas, my money was getting
low; and the privilege of seeing my betters was more
and more denied to me, as my cash drew shorter. For a
man must have a good coat at least, and the pockets not
wholly empty, before he can look at those whom God has
created for his ensample.
Hence, and from many other causes--part of which was my
own pride --it happened that I abode in London betwixt
a month and five weeks' time, ere ever I saw Lorna. It
seemed unfit that I should go, and waylay her, and spy
on her, and say (or mean to say), 'Lo, here is your
poor faithful farmer, a man who is unworthy of you, by
means of his common birth; and yet who dares to crawl
across your path, that you may pity him. For God's
sake show a little pity, though you may not feel it.'
Such behaviour might be comely in a love-lorn boy, a
page to some grand princess; but I, John Ridd, would
never stoop to the lowering of love so.
Nevertheless I heard of Lorna, from my worthy furrier,
almost every day, and with a fine exaggeration. This
honest man was one of those who in virtue of their
trade, and nicety of behaviour, are admitted into noble
life, to take measurements, and show patterns. And
while so doing, they contrive to acquire what is to the
English mind at once the most important and most
interesting of all knowledge,--the science of being
able to talk about the titled people. So my furrier
(whose name was Ramsack), having to make robes for
peers, and cloaks for their wives and otherwise, knew
the great folk, sham or real, as well as he knew a fox
or skunk from a wolverine skin.
And when, with some fencing and foils of inquiry, I
hinted about Lady Lorna Dugal, the old man's face
became so pleasant that I knew her birth must be
wondrous high. At this my own countenance fell, I
suppose,--for the better she was born, the harder she
would be to marry--and mistaking my object, he took me
up:--
'Perhaps you think, Master Ridd, that because her
ladyship, Lady Lorna Dugal, is of Scottish origin,
therefore her birth is not as high as of our English
nobility. If you think so you are wrong, sir. She
comes not of the sandy Scotch race, with high
cheek-bones, and raw shoulder-blades, who set up
pillars in their courtyards. But she comes of the very
best Scotch blood, descended from the Norsemen. Her
mother was of the very noblest race, the Lords of
Lorne; higher even than the great Argyle, who has
lately made a sad mistake, and paid for it most sadly.
And her father was descended from the King Dugal, who
fought against Alexander the Great. No, no, Master
Ridd; none of your promiscuous blood, such as runs in
the veins of half our modern peerage.'
'Why should you trouble yourself about it, Master
Ramsack?' I replied: 'let them all go their own ways:
and let us all look up to them, whether they come by
hook or crook.'
'Not at all, not at all, my lad. That is not the way
to regard it. We look up at the well-born men, and
side-ways at the base-born.'
'Then we are all base-born ourselves. I will look up
to no man, except for what himself has done.'
'Come, Master Ridd, you might be lashed from New-gate
to Tyburn and back again, once a week, for a
twelvemonth, if some people heard you. Keep your
tongue more close, young man; or here you lodge no
longer; albeit I love your company, which smells to me
of the hayfield. Ah, I have not seen a hayfield for
nine-and-twenty years, John Ridd. The cursed moths
keep me at home, every day of the summer.'
'Spread your furs on the haycocks,' I answered very
boldly: 'the indoor moth cannot abide the presence of
the outdoor ones.'
'Is it so?' he answered: 'I never thought of that
before. And yet I have known such strange things
happen in the way of fur, that I can well believe it.
If you only knew, John, the way in which they lay their
eggs, and how they work tail-foremost--'
'Tell me nothing of the kind,' I replied, with equal
confidence: 'they cannot work tail-foremost; and they
have no tails to work with.' For I knew a little about
grubs, and the ignorance concerning them, which we have
no right to put up with. However, not to go into that
(for the argument lasted a fortnight; and then was only
come so far as to begin again), Master Ramsack soon
convinced me of the things I knew already; the
excellence of Lorna's birth, as well as her lofty place
at Court, and beauty, and wealth, and elegance. But
all these only made me sigh, and wish that I were born
to them.
From Master Ramsack I discovered that the nobleman to
whose charge Lady Lorna had been committed, by the
Court of Chancery, was Earl Brandir of Lochawe, her
poor mother's uncle. For the Countess of Dugal was
daughter, and only child, of the last Lord Lorne, whose
sister had married Sir Ensor Doone; while he himself
had married the sister of Earl Brandir. This nobleman
had a country house near the village of Kensington; and
here his niece dwelled with him, when she was not in
attendance on Her Majesty the Queen, who had taken a
liking to her. Now since the King had begun to attend
the celebration of mass, in the chapel at
Whitehall--and not at Westminster Abbey, as our gossips
had averred--he had given order that the doors should
be thrown open, so that all who could make interest to
get into the antechamber, might see this form of
worship. Master Ramsack told me that Lorna was there
almost every Sunday; their Majesties being most anxious
to have the presence of all the nobility of the
Catholic persuasion, so as to make a goodly show. And
the worthy furrier, having influence with the
door-keepers, kindly obtained admittance for me, one
Sunday, into the antechamber.
Here I took care to be in waiting, before the Royal
procession entered; but being unknown, and of no high
rank, I was not allowed to stand forward among the
better people, but ordered back into a corner very dark
and dismal; the verger remarking, with a grin, that I
could see over all other heads, and must not set my own
so high. Being frightened to find myself among so many
people of great rank and gorgeous apparel, I blushed at
the notice drawn upon me by this uncourteous fellow;
and silently fell back into the corner by the hangings.
You may suppose that my heart beat high, when the King
and Queen appeared, and entered, followed by the Duke
of Norfolk, bearing the sword of state, and by several
other noblemen, and people of repute. Then the doors
of the chapel were thrown wide open; and though I could
only see a little, being in the corner so, I thought
that it was beautiful. Bowers of rich silk were there,
and plenty of metal shining, and polished wood with
lovely carving; flowers too of the noblest kind, and
candles made by somebody who had learned how to clarify
tallow. This last thing amazed me more than all, for
our dips never will come clear, melt the mutton-fat how
you will. And methought that this hanging of flowers
about was a pretty thing; for if a man can worship God
best of all beneath a tree, as the natural instinct is,
surely when by fault of climate the tree would be too
apt to drip, the very best make-believe is to have
enough and to spare of flowers; which to the dwellers
in London seem to have grown on the tree denied them.
Be that as it may, when the King and Queen crossed the
threshold, a mighty flourish of trumpets arose, and a
waving of banners. The Knights of the Garter (whoever
they be) were to attend that day in state; and some
went in, and some stayed out, and it made me think of
the difference betwixt the ewes and the wethers. For
the ewes will go wherever you lead them; but the
wethers will not, having strong opinions, and meaning
to abide by them. And one man I noticed was of the
wethers, to wit the Duke of Norfolk; who stopped
outside with the sword of state, like a beadle with a
rapping-rod. This has taken more to tell than the time
it happened in. For after all the men were gone, some
to this side, some to that, according to their
feelings, a number of ladies, beautifully dressed,
being of the Queen's retinue, began to enter, and were
stared at three times as much as the men had been. And
indeed they were worth looking at (which men never are
to my ideas, when they trick themselves with gewgaws),
but none was so well worth eye-service as my own
beloved Lorna. She entered modestly and shyly, with
her eyes upon the ground, knowing the rudeness of the
gallants, and the large sum she was priced at. Her
dress was of the purest white, very sweet and simple,
without a line of ornament, for she herself adorned it.
The way she walked. and touched her skirt (rather than
seemed to hold it up) with a white hand beaming one red
rose, this and her stately supple neck, and the flowing
of her hair would show, at a distance of a hundred
yards, that she could be none but Lorna Doone. Lorna
Doone of my early love; in the days when she blushed
for her name before me by reason of dishonesty; but now
the Lady Lorna Dugal as far beyond reproach as above my
poor affection. All my heart, and all my mind,
gathered themselves upon her. Would she see me, or
would she pass? Was there instinct in our love?
By some strange chance she saw me. Or was it through
our destiny? While with eyes kept sedulously on the
marble floor, to shun the weight of admiration thrust
too boldly on them, while with shy quick steps she
passed, some one (perhaps with purpose) trod on the
skirt of her clear white dress,--with the quickness
taught her by many a scene of danger, she looked up,
and her eyes met mine.
As I gazed upon her, steadfastly, yearningly, yet with
some reproach, and more of pride than humility, she
made me one of the courtly bows which I do so much
detest; yet even that was sweet and graceful, when my
Lorna did it. But the colour of her pure clear cheeks
was nearly as deep as that of my own, when she went on
for the religious work. And the shining of her eyes
was owing to an unpaid debt of tears.
Upon the whole I was satisfied. Lorna had seen me, and
had not (according to the phrase of the high world
then) even tried to 'cut' me. Whether this low phrase
is born of their own stupid meanness, or whether it
comes of necessity exercised on a man without money, I
know not, and I care not. But one thing I know right
well; any man who 'cuts' a man (except for vice or
meanness) should be quartered without quarter.
All these proud thoughts rose within me as the lovely
form of Lorna went inside, and was no more seen. And
then I felt how coarse I was; how apt to think strong
thoughts, and so on; without brains to bear me out:
even as a hen's egg, laid without enough of lime, and
looking only a poor jelly.
Nevertheless, I waited on; as my usual manner is. For
to be beaten, while running away, is ten times worse
than to face it out, and take it, and have done with
it. So at least I have always found, because of
reproach of conscience: and all the things those clever
people carried on inside, at large, made me long for
our Parson Bowden that he might know how to act.
While I stored up, in my memory, enough to keep our
parson going through six pipes on a Saturday night--to
have it as right as could be next day--a lean man with
a yellow beard, too thin for a good Catholic (which
religion always fattens), came up to me, working
sideways, in the manner of a female crab.
'This is not to my liking,' I said: 'if aught thou
hast, speak plainly; while they make that horrible
noise inside.'
Nothing had this man to say; but with many sighs,
because I was not of the proper faith, he took my
reprobate hand to save me: and with several religious
tears, looked up at me, and winked with one eye.
Although the skin of my palms was thick, I felt a
little suggestion there, as of a gentle leaf in spring,
fearing to seem too forward. I paid the man, and he
went happy; for the standard of heretical silver is
purer than that of the Catholics.
Then I lifted up my little billet; and in that dark
corner read it, with a strong rainbow of colours coming
from the angled light. And in mine eyes there was
enough to make rainbow of strongest sun, as my anger
clouded off.
Not that it began so well; but that in my heart I knew
(ere three lines were through me) that I was with all
heart loved--and beyond that, who may need? The
darling of my life went on, as if I were of her own
rank, or even better than she was; and she dotted her
'i's,' and crossed her 't's,' as if I were at least a
schoolmaster. All of it was done in pencil; but as
plain as plain could be. In my coffin it shall lie,
with my ring and something else. Therefore will I not
expose it to every man who buys this book, and haply
thinks that he has bought me to the bottom of my heart.
Enough for men of gentle birth (who never are
inquisitive) that my love told me, in her letter, just
to come and see her.
I ran away, and could not stop. To behold even her, at
the moment, would have dashed my fancy's joy. Yet my
brain was so amiss, that I must do something.
Therefore to the river Thames, with all speed, I
hurried; and keeping all my best clothes on (indued for
sake of Lorna), into the quiet stream I leaped, and
swam as far as London Bridge, and ate nobler dinner
afterwards.
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