|
Prev
| Next
| Contents
CHAPTER LXXIII
HOW TO GET OUT OF CHANCERY
Things at this time so befell me, that I cannot tell
one half; but am like a boy who has left his lesson (to
the master's very footfall) unready, except with false
excuses. And as this makes no good work, so I lament
upon my lingering, in the times when I might have got
through a good page, but went astray after trifles.
However, every man must do according to his intellect;
and looking at the easy manner of my constitution, I
think that most men will regard me with pity and
goodwill for trying, more than with contempt and wrath
for having tried unworthily. Even as in the wrestling
ring, whatever man did his best, and made an honest
conflict, I always laid him down with softness, easing
off his dusty fall.
But the thing which next betided me was not a fall of
any sort; but rather a most glorious rise to the summit
of all fortune. For in good truth it was no less than
the return of Lorna--my Lorna, my own darling; in
wonderful health and spirits, and as glad as a bird to
get back again. It would have done any one good for a
twelve-month to behold her face and doings, and her
beaming eyes and smile (not to mention blushes also at
my salutation), when this Queen of every heart ran
about our rooms again. She did love this, and she must
see that, and where was our old friend the cat? All
the house was full of brightness, as if the sun had
come over the hill, and Lorna were his mirror.
My mother sat in an ancient chair, and wiped her
cheeks, and looked at her; and even Lizzie's eyes must
dance to the freshness and joy of her beauty. As for
me, you might call me mad; for I ran out and flung my
best hat on the barn, and kissed mother Fry, till she
made at me with the sugar-nippers.
What a quantity of things Lorna had to tell us! And yet
how often we stopped her mouth--at least mother, I
mean, and Lizzie--and she quite as often would stop her
own, running up in her joy to some one of us! And then
there arose the eating business--which people now call
'refreshment,' in these dandyfied days of our
language--for how was it possible that our Lorna could
have come all that way, and to her own Exmoor, without
being terribly hungry?
'Oh, I do love it all so much,' said Lorna, now for the
fiftieth time, and not meaning only the victuals: 'the
scent of the gorse on the moors drove me wild, and the
primroses under the hedges. I am sure I was meant for
a farmer's--I mean for a farm-house life, dear
Lizzie'--for Lizzie was looking saucily--'just as you
were meant for a soldier's bride, and for writing
despatches of victory. And now, since you will not ask
me, dear mother, in the excellence of your manners, and
even John has not the impudence, in spite of all his
coat of arms--I must tell you a thing, which I vowed to
keep until tomorrow morning; but my resolution fails
me. I am my own mistress--what think you of that,
mother? I am my own mistress!'
'Then you shall not be so long,' cried I; for mother
seemed not to understand her, and sought about for her
glasses: 'darling, you shall be mistress of me; and I
will be your master.'
'A frank announcement of your intent, and beyond doubt
a true one; but surely unusual at this stage, and a
little premature, John. However, what must be, must
be.' And with tears springing out of smiles, she fell
on my breast, and cried a bit.
When I came to smoke a pipe over it (after the rest
were gone to bed), I could hardly believe in my good
luck. For here was I, without any merit, except of
bodily power, and the absence of any falsehood (which
surely is no commendation), so placed that the noblest
man in England might envy me, and be vexed with me.
For the noblest lady in all the land, and the purest,
and the sweetest--hung upon my heart, as if there was
none to equal it.
I dwelled upon this matter, long and very severely,
while I smoked a new tobacco, brought by my own Lorna
for me, and next to herself most delicious; and as the
smoke curled away, I thought, 'Surely this is too fine
to last, for a man who never deserved it.'
Seeing no way out of this, I resolved to place my faith
in God; and so went to bed and dreamed of it. And
having no presence of mind to pray for anything, under
the circumstances, I thought it best to fall asleep,
and trust myself to the future. Yet ere I fell asleep
the roof above me swarmed with angels, having Lorna
under it.
In the morning Lorna was ready to tell her story, and
we to hearken; and she wore a dress of most simple
stuff; and yet perfectly wonderful, by means of the
shape and her figure. Lizzie was wild with jealousy,
as might be expected (though never would Annie have
been so, but have praised it, and craved for the
pattern), and mother not understanding it, looked
forth, to be taught about it. For it was strange to
note that lately my dear mother had lost her quickness,
and was never quite brisk, unless the question were
about myself. She had seen a great deal of trouble;
and grief begins to close on people, as their power of
life declines. We said that she was hard of hearing;
but my opinion was, that seeing me inclined for
marriage made her think of my father, and so perhaps a
little too much, to dwell on the courting of thirty
years agone. Anyhow, she was the very best of mothers;
and would smile and command herself; and be (or try to
believe herself) as happy as could be, in the doings of
the younger folk, and her own skill in detecting them.
Yet, with the wisdom of age, renouncing any opinion
upon the matter; since none could see the end of it.
But Lorna in her bright young beauty, and her knowledge
of my heart, was not to be checked by any thoughts of
haply coming evil. In the morning she was up, even
sooner than I was, and through all the corners of the
hens, remembering every one of them. I caught her and
saluted her with such warmth (being now none to look at
us), that she vowed she would never come out again; and
yet she came the next morning.
These things ought not to be chronicled. Yet I am of
such nature, that finding many parts of life adverse to
our wishes, I must now and then draw pleasure from the
blessed portions. And what portion can be more blessed
than with youth, and health, and strength, to be loved
by a virtuous maid, and to love her with all one's
heart? Neither was my pride diminished, when I found
what she had done, only from her love of me.
Earl Brandir's ancient steward, in whose charge she had
travelled, with a proper escort, looked upon her as a
lovely maniac; and the mixture of pity and admiration
wherewith he regarded her, was a strange thing to
observe; especially after he had seen our simple house
and manners. On the other hand, Lorna considered him a
worthy but foolish old gentleman; to whom true
happiness meant no more than money and high position.
These two last she had been ready to abandon wholly,
and had in part escaped from them, as the enemies of
her happiness. And she took advantage of the times, in
a truly clever manner. For that happened to be a
time--as indeed all times hitherto (so far as my
knowledge extends), have, somehow, or other, happened
to be--when everybody was only too glad to take money
for doing anything. And the greatest money-taker in
the kingdom (next to the King and Queen, of course, who
had due pre-eminence, and had taught the maids of
honour) was generally acknowledged to be the Lord Chief
Justice Jeffreys.
Upon his return from the bloody assizes, with triumph
and great glory, after hanging every man who was too
poor to help it, he pleased his Gracious Majesty so
purely with the description of their delightful
agonies, that the King exclaimed, 'This man alone is
worthy to be at the head of the law.' Accordingly in
his hand was placed the Great Seal of England.
So it came to pass that Lorna's destiny hung upon Lord
Jeffreys; for at this time Earl Brandir died, being
taken with gout in the heart, soon after I left London.
Lorna was very sorry for him; but as he had never been
able to hear one tone of her sweet silvery voice, it is
not to be supposed that she wept without consolation.
She grieved for him as we ought to grieve for any good
man going; and yet with a comforting sense of the
benefit which the blessed exchange must bring to him.
Now the Lady Lorna Dugal appeared to Lord Chancellor
Jeffreys so exceeding wealthy a ward that the lock
would pay for turning. Therefore he came, of his own
accord, to visit her, and to treat with her; having
heard (for the man was as big a gossip as never cared
for anybody, yet loved to know all about everybody)
that this wealthy and beautiful maiden would not listen
to any young lord, having pledged her faith to the
plain John Ridd.
Thereupon, our Lorna managed so to hold out golden
hopes to the Lord High Chancellor, that he, being not
more than three parts drunk, saw his way to a heap of
money. And there and then (for he was not the man to
daily long about anything) upon surety of a certain
round sum--the amount of which I will not mention,
because of his kindness towards me--he gave to his fair
ward permission, under sign and seal, to marry that
loyal knight, John Ridd; upon condition only that the
King's consent should be obtained.
His Majesty, well-disposed towards me for my previous
service, and regarding me as a good Catholic, being
moved moreover by the Queen, who desired to please
Lorna, consented, without much hesitation, upon the
understanding that Lorna, when she became of full age,
and the mistress of her property (which was still under
guardianship), should pay a heavy fine to the Crown,
and devote a fixed portion of her estate to the
promotion of the holy Catholic faith, in a manner to be
dictated by the King himself. Inasmuch, however, as
King James was driven out of his kingdom before this
arrangement could take effect, and another king
succeeded, who desired not the promotion of the
Catholic religion, neither hankered after subsidies,
whether French or English), that agreement was
pronounced invalid, improper, and contemptible.
However, there was no getting back the money once paid
to Lord Chancellor Jeffreys.
But what thought we of money at this present moment; or
of position, or anything else, except indeed one
another? Lorna told me, with the sweetest smile, that
if I were minded to take her at all, I must take her
without anything; inasmuch as she meant, upon coming of
age, to make over the residue of her estates to the
next-of-kin, as being unfit for a farmer's wife. And I
replied with the greatest warmth and a readiness to
worship her, that this was exactly what I longed for,
but had never dared to propose it. But dear mother
looked most exceeding grave; and said that to be sure
her opinion could not be expected to count for much,
but she really hoped that in three years' time we
should both he a little wiser, and have more regard for
our interests, and perhaps those of others by that
time; and Master Snowe having daughters only, and
nobody coming to marry them, if anything happened to
the good old man--and who could tell in three years'
time what might happen to all or any of us?--why
perhaps his farm would be for sale, and perhaps Lady
Lorna's estates in Scotland would fetch enough money to
buy it, and so throw the two farms into one, and save
all the trouble about the brook, as my poor father had
longed to do many and many a time, but not having a
title could not do all quite as he wanted. And then if
we young people grew tired of the old mother, as seemed
only too likely, and was according to nature, why we
could send her over there, and Lizzie to keep her
company.
When mother had finished, and wiped her eyes, Lorna,
who had been blushing rosily at some portions of this
great speech, flung her fair arms around mother's neck,
and kissed her very heartily, and scolded her (as she
well deserved) for her want of confidence in us. My
mother replied that if anybody could deserve her John,
it was Lorna; but that she could not hold with the
rashness of giving up money so easily; while her
next-of-kin would be John himself, and who could tell
what others, by the time she was one-and-twenty?
Hereupon, I felt that after all my mother had common
sense on her side; for if Master Snowe's farm should be
for sale, it would be far more to the purpose than my
coat of arms, to get it; for there was a different
pasture there, just suited for change of diet to our
sheep as well as large cattle. And beside this, even
with all Annie's skill (and of course yet more now she
was gone), their butter would always command in the
market from one to three farthings a pound more than we
could get for ours. And few things vexed us more than
this. Whereas, if we got possession of the farm, we
might, without breach of the market-laws, or any harm
done to any one (the price being but a prejudice), sell
all our butter as Snowe butter, and do good to all our
customers.
Thinking thus, yet remembering that Farmer Nicholas
might hold out for another score of years--as I
heartily hoped he might--or that one, if not all, of
his comely daughters might marry a good young farmer
(or farmers, if the case were so)--or that, even
without that, the farm might never be put up for sale;
I begged my Lorna to do as she liked; or rather to wait
and think of it; for as yet she could do nothing.
Prev
| Next
| Contents
|
