Florence Warden

“ Jack fought like a madman, slashing and plunging at his opponent with a vigor and ferocity which seemed to render the combat a hopeless one for the lieutenant, whose wound was bleeding freely, when, just as Tregenna felt his head growing dizzy and his eyes becoming dim, the smuggler, in making a desperate lunge at him, tripped in some ropes which were lying on the floor, and stumbled headlong over a couple of the smuggled kegs of spirit. ”

“ Nay, sure, sir,” she went on feebly, as Tregenna would have spoken, “you can’t refuse me so small a boon!”
She clutched at his hand as she spoke, and held it with a convulsive grip, as he answered her.
“You shall stay here, if you please,” said he. “But do not give way. You are young, and strong: you will live yet, I doubt not. I can see no wound upon you that should lead to your death!” ”

“ Although he was in part prepared for the discovery, Tregenna gave a slight start on finding himself face to face with this being.
For he saw before him not Ann Price the decent farmer’s daughter, with her neat cap and snow-white apron, her calm face and quiet manners; but Jem Bax, the young smuggler, with the rough shock of shoulder-length hair, the seamen’s breeches, and high boots, the loose shirt, open jacket, and flowing tie, with the pale set face, and fierce devil-may-care expression. ”

“ As Tregenna was not in uniform, he flattered himself that he might go up the village unrecognized, and perhaps obtain some scraps of valuable information; but whether they were better posted up than he supposed, or whether the mere sight of a stranger awoke suspicion in the shrewd women-folk, it was certain that as soon as they caught sight of him they checked their volubility, and stood, with their hands on their hips, staring at him with broad amusement still on their faces, or else dropped a curtsey with demure and sudden respectfulness, which was in itself somewhat suspicious. ”

“ A change came over Joan’s handsome face. The look of mutinous mischief in her eyes gave place to a certain wistful kindliness even more attractive. And she spoke in such a tender, pleading, gentle voice that, if Tregenna had harbored any resentful feelings towards her, he must have been disarmed.
“Ah, sir,” said she, “it is hard for you to understand, and I doubt not we must seem perverse in your eyes. ”

“ And although Parson Langney shook his head very lugubriously, and grumbled at the folly of a woman’s marrying before she was thirty, his jolly face soon grew brighter when Joan came in, and, putting her arms round his neck under her lover’s very nose, assured him that he was the nicest and handsomest man in the whole world, and that, if she were driven to get married, it should only be on compulsion, and on receiving her future husband’s assurance that she was her father’s girl still, and might be with him as much as she liked. ”

“ One figure, and one only, attracted Tregenna’s attention the moment he entered the gates. This was Joan Langney, who, in her plain Sunday gown of russet tabby, with a full black hood, looked, he thought, a very queen of beauty among the more smartly dressed wives and daughters of the country squires.
He let the brigadier pass on alone up to the place where Squire Waldron was standing, and, dismounting from his horse, lingered a moment to pay his respects to Mistress Joan. He had always the excuse to himself that she might be able to afford him some useful information. ”

“ How mean you? Surely my safety is the last thing you would concern yourself with. ’Tis for the safety of these smuggling folk alone that you care.”
Joan looked down, and said nothing. But it was plain by the heaving of her breast and by her labored breathing, that she was much agitated.
“Is it not so, Miss Joan?”
“Nay, Mr. Tregenna, ’tis not so. I would not have you come to harm. If you pursue those whom I have reason to hold in more esteem than you do, I know that ’tis but your duty you are doing.”
“And ’tis in the performance of my duty that I must visit Rede Hall again.” ”

“ Still the lad said nothing in answer. But he looked around him with returning intelligence, not at his captor indeed, but at everything else, and particularly at the cliffs, with their jutting points and scrubby growth of reed and flowering weed.
Tregenna followed the direction of his eyes, but saw nothing in particular to attract his attention. But as he took a step away the lad suddenly sprang up, snatching up the lieutenant’s pistol, which he had deposited on the ground while tending the wounded boy, and made for a point where the cliff was steepest and apparently most inaccessible. ”

“ Not a man or a woman was to be found on the premises; not a cow or a horse; not a pig or a hen. And though the trap-door to the cellar had been flung wide to assist them in their search, it was in vain they sought for the bales among which Tregenna had stood on the previous night.
Not a keg or a bale was there in the whole place, though they searched it from garret to cellar!
The brigadier was ferociously facetious, tauntingly jocose.
“Hey-day, Tregenna, I fear they gave thee too much of their contraband aqua vitæ, and that it has bred visions in thy brain!” ”

“ Oh, blush not, Miss Joan: ’tis a common complaint you suffer from. The young ladies at Hurst Court feel, I warrant me, much as you do yourself on this matter.”
[196]
Joan’s answer was given modestly, but with some dignity.
“If I blush at your words, Ann, ’tis because of the tone in which you utter them,” she said, in a low voice, but so distinctly that every word reached Tregenna’s ears, as, indeed, they reached his heart also. “’Tis no shame to have a liking for a brave man: and if all the world has the same, there is the less reason for my concealing it.” ”

“ But Tregenna was at first rather incredulous.
“Surely,” said he, “she would not have let us go forth unmolested, if she had meant ill by us! And they would not touch your father’s daughter, villains though they be. You and he are both too well known, and too much respected even by the wrong-doers.”
“Nay, sir, I fear you exaggerate our powers and our position. These men do truly show us some respect, in return for my father’s labors among them. But the least thing will [206] turn them from kindness to savagery. And Ann is in that respect but little better than they, I fear.” ”

“ And it was abundantly clear that she got rid of her too obtrusive admirer with the physical violence he professed to admire so much; for Tregenna heard a sort of scuffling going on, and then Ben’s tread and his voice were heard no more; but the door was opened, letting in a rush of cold air, and then slammed with great force.
Ann did not at once follow her admirer to take up her own allotted share in the search for the spy. Tregenna heard her somewhat heavy tread in the great kitchen, as if she were slowly pacing up and down at the end of the room near the fireplace. ”

“ Tregenna followed her in silence as she went out, and took, without looking behind her, the path that led, through winding walks, and between quaint, stiff yew hedges, to the Italian garden. There a broad terrace, with a stone balustrade, led down to bright beds of late autumn flowers, still pretty and fragrant, though they were growing tall and straggling at this late season, and were, in places, nipped with the early frosts of the coming winter. ”

“ First ’tis Ben the Blast, and now a king’s man! Hast no better opinion of thyself, Tom, than to think thou wouldst be ousted so easy?”
“Oons, lass, I’ve a better opinion of myself than I have of thee, for such a thing as constancy! And for being ousted, as thou calls it, plague on me if I know I was ever in!”
“Come, now, Tom, han’t I always been kind to thee?”
“Ay, when you wanted to get summat from me. Other toimes, I’ve to take thy kindness turn and turn about with Ben!”
“Fie on you, Tom, fie on you! Get you gone, and learn better manners than to speak to a woman so!” ”

“ Ann stopped on the terrace, and waited for Tregenna to come up to her. When he did so, she turned abruptly, and he was surprised to see that she was in tears.
The discovery, in a woman of her fierce attributes, was startling, amazing; and Tregenna was disconcerted by it.
“You are astonished, I see, sir,” she began, in the same gentle voice that he had last heard from her, “to see a creature you have always looked upon as masculine and hard, [238] with aught so feminine as a tear upon her face!” ”

“ But you should not doubt me, Joan!”
She was looking rather ashamed of herself, and it was easy to see that it would be no difficult matter to convince her of his truth.
“’Twas only,” said she meekly, “that all men say she was so resistless a creature—that no man could stand against her wiles. But I’ll be content, so you assure me with your own lips you loved her not, but were kind to her out of pity!”
Tregenna did give her assurance with his lips, in very impressive fashion. ”

“ There was the sound of a galloping horse’s hoofs, of the splashing and churning up of the mud and water in the road. The next moment Joan’s horse dashed into the midst of the group, causing the animal Jack Price rode to start off at a smart pace; and Joan herself, [213] alighting in the very midst of the fray, made straight for Tregenna, heedless of the knives and pistols with which the smugglers were armed, and of the vile curses which assailed her ears. ”

“ Which way did he go, blockhead?”
“’Tis no matter for the boy!” cried Ben, in a voice of thunder. “’Tis for the man we must be looking! Do you, mates, search the yard and the shippens, while Ann and me’ll do the bit of road, and the bushes in front yonder!”
“He’ll be gotten clear away by this,” grumbled Gardener Tom.
“Not he. ’Tis for spying he’s come, and he’d not go back so soon, and with all of us about, too. Nay, he’ll be on the premises still, somewheres, and, odds my life, we’ll make short work of him when we find him. ”

“ And I am loath to incommode Mistress Joan, by forcing upon her more intruders than can do the task there is to do.”
“Nay, then, you should return to your ship, sir; for there be a wild sort of characters about to-night, and none too sober. Your person is known, too, and you may chance to get a bullet through you, which will further neither the king’s cause nor your own, I reckon.”
“I thank you for the advice, mistress,” said Tregenna, who was more interested in this grave woman with the quiet manners, low voice, and tranquil air of authority, the more he saw of her. ”

“ He drew back, almost imperceptibly, a little way, and said, in a cooler tone—
“And I fear ’tis little mercy some of you will get, when a stronger force is sent down to ferret your leaders out!”
“But you would make distinctions, sir, would you not?” said she, with tremulous eagerness. “You would not, for sure, deal with the lad Tom, poor Tom that you have lamed for life, as hardly as with some others?”
“Those that have done the worst will be the most harshly dealt with, certainly,” said Tregenna. ”

“ And there’s young Master Bertram at Hurst Court, [181] that craves a kiss whene’er he sees me. You cannot understand their taste, sir, doubtless? For you a woman must have soft hands and black eyes, like Mistress Joan Langney?”
There was something surprising in the sort of curious scorn with which she put these questions, as if interested, though somewhat disdainfully, in his answer. Tregenna, who was leaning back on the settle, as easily as if enjoying his rest in an inn, smiled a little.
“Ay, truly I do not know where you would find a fairer specimen of womanhood than the vicar’s daughter.” ”

“ It was Tregenna’s turn to interrupt, which he did with a scorn as steady as her own.
[176]
“As a woman! Troth, no! There’s nothing less likely, nothing less possible, I assure you. I intend to treat you—I am treating you—as Jem Bax the smuggler, as hardened a ruffian as I’ve ever met, as ferocious as a savage, and with naught of the other sex about him but the cunning and the meanness!” ”

“ Plunder, short, crooked, and evil-looking, were busily engaged in piling up against the walls of the vault a huge quantity of kegs and bales of goods, in order to make them occupy the least possible space, and so make room for more.
Tregenna, hardened as he was to the smugglers and their villainies, could scarcely believe his eyes. Not a sign of a coffin was to be seen. Apparently the dead had been turned out of their resting-place, to make way for the merchandise of the “free-traders.” ”