Robert Neilson Stephens

“ The palings were again removed and replaced, the stream was again crossed by means of the bars. The two entered the blackness of the glen, Tarby repossessing himself of his fowling-piece. By the time they had ascended to the general level of the park, the moon had risen, and, as they proceeded in a Northwesterly direction, the more open spaces, whether clothed in green sward or in bracken of autumnal brown, wore a beauty which Everell associated in his mind with the young lady not far away, and thus the silent woods and glades seemed to him a forest of enchantment. ”

“ Once your choice is made, there shall be no going back upon it: Love, or life:—if you decline to choose, you are pretty certain to lose both.—Well, sir, take a few minutes to think upon it. I see these ladies are eager to hear your decision, but for once you may leave them to their impatience.”
Everell was not heedful of the ladies. Certain words were echoing in his mind, each accompanied by a rush of the ideas attached to it: life—love—friends—joyous days and merry nights—but never to see her again!—to fly from this neighbourhood, from the garden.—Ah, the dear garden! ”

“ She had, it will be seen, formed her own plans for the future; and had talked of them, too, more than once in the last few days, taking her lover’s acquiescence for granted, as indeed his manifestations of love gave her full right to do. Such initiative on the woman’s side is, by a convention of romancers, assumed to be indelicate; if it be so, then the world must grant that real women are not the delicate creatures they have been taken for. Be that as it may, Georgiana’s dreams of the future had been bitter-sweet hearing to Everell, though he saw nothing indelicate in her mentioning them. ”

“ I love her, she loves me; but her nearest relation wishes her to marry another—one whom she does not love.”
“Devil take her nearest relation!” said Thornby.
“Amen! He has so worked upon her mind, by threats of ill consequences to me, as to obtain her consent to marry this other gentleman, much against the dictates of her heart. She is a lady who, having once given her promise, would fulfil it: she was thus barred from eloping with me of her own will. What then was I to do?”
“Ecod, sir,” Thornby replied, heartily, “you was to take matters in hand, and carry her away, of your own will!” ”

“ She looked at him a moment; then turned sorrowfully away, and went slowly up the steps and to the house, followed by her maid, to whose proffers of assistance she gave no more heed than if she had been walking in a dream.
“Sir,” said Everell, with a slight huskiness of voice, “let me assure you that I am a gentleman and a man of honour; and that I respect your niece, and have every reason to respect her, as I would a saint.”
“No assurance is needful to convince me you are a gentleman,” replied Foxwell. ”

“ In that event, young Troilus will lose both life and love. Either choice will be a gain upon that.—But you may save your pity, Lady Strange: he will choose to live and go free, depend on it.”
“I will not depend on it. He will obey the dictates of his love, and choose death rather than never see her again.”
“Indeed, I shall not be surprised if he does so,” said Rashleigh. “You take too little account of his youth, Bob. When men are of his age, and of an ardent nature, their love shuts out everything else from their view. ’Tis their universe. ”

“ I can take joy enough in the society of a pretty creature when it falls my lot, and count it among the other amenities of life. I value the grace and goodness that high-minded women diffuse in this rough world. I can be happy with sensible women, and amuse myself with light ones. But as to being what you call in love, I have not fallen into that strange condition, and I can promise you I never shall. ’Tis not in my constitution. ”

“ As soon as the man was gone, Everell said to Georgiana:
“I must brave it out with this Squire Thornby, there’s nothing else for it. We must have horses, and soon: ’twere folly to go on afoot, heaven knows how far, till we found another house. As well solicit this gentleman’s help as another’s—’tis all one, he may be no harder to persuade. He has never seen me, and now he shall not see you. Take good heed you don’t show your face, nor shift the cloak, nor let your voice be heard: or ’twill go ill, I promise you.” ”

“ Everell, seeing his first opponent draw back to recover himself, turned swiftly to consider the newcomers, placing his back to the high shrubbery. One was approaching on his front, the other at his left. They both brandished cudgels; but, as they saw him dart his glance upon them in turn and hold his sword ready for a lunge in either direction, they stopped at safe distance.
“Oh, Everell, fly!” cried Georgiana, hastening to his side.
“What! and leave you to these rascals, sweet?” he answered.
“They’ll not harm me: they are servants here. Save yourself!—for my sake!” ”

“ No, sir: and as for hazarding life for love of a woman, I must tell you I put a higher value upon life than that implies. You understand me—for love of a woman. To save a woman in danger, to serve a woman in any way, is a different matter. But merely to participate in the absurdities of love, to exchange assurances and go through the rest of the comedy,—will you have me believe ’tis worth staking such a gift as life for? Pretty odds, egad!—life against love! Love, which is at most an incident, against life, which is everything and includes all incidents! ”

“ TEARS Everell’s last meal at Foxwell Court was not marked by lively conversation. He had his own thoughts, or, rather, his own confused and whirling state of mind, so that he scarce knew whether the others spoke or were silent. Outwardly he still maintained a brave face, so that Georgiana might not yet be alarmed. The young lady herself had never taken much part in the table talk. Lady Strange and Rashleigh felt the occasion too sensibly to be capable of easy discourse, and Foxwell knew a gentleman’s part too well to intrude a gaiety either real or feigned. ”

“ Everell sighed, but in truth he could not at that time see how her feelings could have been spared in any measure by either of the other courses open to him. Indeed, it seemed to him that fidelity to her required him to elect as he had done; that any other choice would have been a renunciation of her, a treason to love. So let him be happy for a week: at the end, it would be time to think how to save her feelings.
“Very well, sir,” he said to Foxwell; “let her know nothing but that I am to be your guest for the present.” ”

“ That anything good enough for Thomas Thornby could not be good enough for another man was not a proposition soothing to Thomas Thornby’s soul. Having no fit retort within present grasp of his tongue, however, and knowing that even if he had one, his adversary would find a better one to cap it with, the Squire contented himself with a fiery glare and an inward curse. Then saying abruptly to his servant, “See that my dinner is served the moment it’s ready, Bartholomew,” he entered the inn and tramped up the stairs with great weight of heel. ”

“ At all events, the journey was resumed in good spirits, and, as no sign of Filson had appeared upon the stretch of road in sight, the lovers began to feel more secure. Georgiana now recalled Filson’s jaded appearance. Perhaps, as on a former occasion, he had yielded to the dictates of tired nature: perhaps he had thrown over the pursuit, and was merely bound for London. As for the horseman with him, that might have been a postboy or a casual fellow traveller. While their own chaise went rolling along at good speed, the lovers felt hope increase within them. ”

“ I say it must be a ghost indeed, and yet there is this difficulty: suppose there are ghosts of human beings, what of the clothes they appear in? What of this ghost’s cloak and sword?—are they real cloak and sword, or are they the ghosts of cloak and sword?—and do inanimate things have ghosts?”
“Why, certainly, ghosts always appear in clothes,” said Lady Strange, quite ignoring the dilemma, and not entering into Foxwell’s skeptical mirth. ”

“ Then the way emerged upon an open common, which undulated on one side in rounded waves of heather till the purple mass met the gray sky, and on the other side to the border of a wood. But presently Everell was again in cultivated country, with stone farm-buildings set now and then upon lawny slopes among the fields.
One great house, of which the chimneys rose in the midst of trees, and which was to be approached by a driveway of some hundreds of yards from a gate and lodge at the roadside, held Everell’s attention for a moment. The guide volunteered the information that this was Thornby Hall. ”

“ Though love had enabled him to go all the day without food, it did not weaken his appetite now that supper was to be had. John Tarby proved to be no mean cook, and the Jacobite officer, the rustic poacher, and the poacher’s dog partook together of a hearty though simple meal with manifest enjoyment. But love, not to be denied its proverbial effects in all things, asserted its presence by robbing Everell of some hours of sleep, and by directing his dreams when at last his eyes did close. ”

“ Oh, Everell, loth as I am to send you away, I feel in my soul that I ought! My heart, which would keep you here, at the same time urges you to fly: with one beat it calls to you, ‘Stay,’ and with the next cries, ‘Go!’ Oh, why did you not go on with your friend?”
“Indeed, ’tis better he and I are apart, since that fellow at the inn knew we travelled together,” replied Everell, trying to reassure her. “If the man really meant to continue dogging us, our separation was the best means of confusing him. ”

“ And when, toward noon, the great door of the house opened, and figures in feminine garb appeared, they proved to be only the two ladies in whom he was not interested. They sauntered along the terrace, arm in arm, talking and laughing, making a graceful picture against the broken balustrade, or on the wide steps between the moss-covered, crumbling flower-pots. They were joined presently by the stouter gentleman, and at last by the taller. Finally, after a half-hour of mirthful chatter, the four went indoors again, and left the terrace empty for another long time of waiting. ”

“ With his hand upon his sword-hilt, he walked to the shrubbery growing along the foot of the bank which rose to the terrace. “’Twas hereabouts,” he said, and, drawing his weapon, thrust it downward into the thick leafy mass. From the further side of the mass came the loud hoot of an owl, followed by the noise of a man scrambling to his feet.
“Ah! come out, spy!” cried Everell, as the human character of the intruder was certified by a sound of husky breathing. ”

“ It was true that any struggle with Everell in the presence of Thornby or his people might result in the letter’s falling again into that gentleman’s hands. But there was now no such person to interfere. A quick sword-thrust—which could be justified as against an escaping rebel—might win the letter in a moment; Foxwell could destroy it immediately at the fire, and make his peace with Thornby by releasing him and showing his outrage avenged. No danger, then, of the letter’s capture in the long journey of a fugitive, or of Thornby’s attempting retaliation by course of law. ”

“ And then I’m a persistent man, too; when I once get on the scent of a thing, I can’t stop till I’ve run it down. And so, pretty miss,” he added, playfully, “if you happen to see such a gentleman, within the next day or two,—young and good-looking, and most likely travelling with a friend of about the same age, who’s also a handsome young man but summat heavier built,—why, if you see such a gentleman, with the ace of hearts on his cheek, hold your tongue, and send word to me in care of this inn—Jeremiah Filson—and I’ll see you get your share of the reward.” ”

“ Nothing that we know of that most delightful of young women, Sophia Western, makes us esteem and love her more than the way in which she endured the coarse talk of her father, never receiving from it the slightest taint herself, never seeming to notice the outrageous portions of it. ”

“ One even fears that the virtuous Allworthy would rather have interpreted the duties of loyalty in all strictness, and placed the captive in the hands of justice immediately. But Foxwell, with all his selfishness and callousness, was not the man to make patriotism a vice to that extent, unless there was something to gain or save by it. He might be a heartless rake, but he was too much a gentleman to practise that degree of Roman virtue without any personal motive of profit or fear.
So the best course had seemed to be to send the fugitive packing, and nip this love-affair in the bud. ”

“ Winter!” replied Foxwell. “But ’tis not for you to speak of being dead and buried. You know not what rustication is. You have passed, I suppose, a month or so out of the world, and are now going back to it; while I have been a recluse in this county these two years, and may be so for the rest of my life. The town, as you say, has forgot me, and God knows whether I shall ever return. See what poverty brings one to, and take warning.” ”

“ The sun had come out toward evening, and now shone bright on the weathercock and spire of the parish church that stood embowered some distance from the road, on Everett’s left, as he proceeded. A short walk brought him to the end of the village street of low gray cottages in their small gardens. Thence a little bridge bore him across a stream that came murmuring down through a large field from the wooded land Northward. Looking ahead on that side of the road, he perceived the curved gables of an old house of time-dulled brick partly clad in ivy. ”

“ They have even risked their lives to prosecute their amours, but risking one’s life upon fair odds is a vastly different thing from deliberately offering it in exchange for the indulgence of one’s love. That is what my lady’s words really mean: ‘preferring one’s love to one’s life.’ Such bargains are mentioned in ancient history—as of the youth who, being deeply in love with a queen, agreed to be slain at the end of a certain time if he might pass that time as her accepted lover. ”

“ The young man, then, turned to the right, and, passing the church, quickly left the village behind. He had not met a soul, nor heard a human sound: doubtless people kept within doors on account of the nipping air; as for noise, most of the habitual producers thereof were probably at the ale-house. Presently the way bent to the left, and seemed for awhile to run nearly parallel to the other road. Everell felt Georgiana shiver slightly in his arms. He stopped his horse, and, hearing no sound as of anybody in pursuit, he undid his cloak and contrived to wrap it around her. ”

“ The Squire leaned forward toward the traveller with an almost painful expression of eagerness on his face.
“Why, sir,” said the other, as if with some reluctance, “as you are good enough to take an interest, I see no reason why I shouldn’t tell you a little story. I dare say you remember the affair of Lord Hilby,—him that was murdered by footpads one night in Covent Garden.”
“I heard of it at the time,” said the Squire, “’twas two or three years ago.”
“Yes, sir. His lordship had been playing till a late hour in a gaming-house, you may remember, and had won very heavily. ”

“ Fine gentleman, d’ye say? How can anybody be a fine gentleman on a beggarly three hundred a year? Why, don’t you know, don’t all the county know, ’twas his poverty drove him down here to his estate to be a plague among us? Ecod, who are the rest of us, I wonder, solid country gentlemen of position in the county, to be come over by this town-bred fop with his Frenchified ways? Give me a plain, home-bred Englishman, and hang all these conceited pups that come among us trying to put us down in talk with their London wit and foreign manners! ”

“ At sight of Georgiana, her uncle made an ejaculation, and advanced toward Everell with a resentful look: he held in one hand a pen, in the other the letter which the sound of Everell’s voice had interrupted; and this time both Mrs. Winter and Rashleigh took the liberty of intruding upon the scene.
“Ah, you come in good time!” cried Everell. “I refuse my liberty at the price you set. She shall not marry another to save me.”
“’Tis too late, sir,” said Foxwell, with forced quietness; “she has already bound herself by her promise.” ”

“ Abduction, horse-stealing, the other business,—any one of them is the price of a halter. With but one life to lose, then, what is a crime or two more? ’Tis but getting the more value for my neck.” He took up the pistols left on the table by Thornby, who had lost all thought of them on being convinced of Everell’s honesty. Dexterously cocking them as he spoke, the young man went on: “If I must die, be sure that one or both of you shall go before me—’tis fair precedence, cedant arma togæ! But first I will have one more venture for my life—and for my love.” ”

“ It is easier for some men to forget a material injury to their rights or interests than a sentimental hurt to their vanity, and when they have to expect a repetition of the latter in some new form at every future encounter, they must be greater philosophers than Squire Thornby if they do not rage. Indeed, had Foxwell’s offence not been partly wilful, his superiority in mind and manner would alone have drawn the Squire’s hate. ”

“ As one nears the end of a difficult or dangerous business, one should be the more fearful of disaster. Think how it may turn to naught all the toils that have brought one so far. Never relax because the goal is in sight: if you trip at the last, and through your own folly, too, ’tis the more to be regretted.”
“All true, my dear Roughwood; and yet, for our peace of mind, ’tis comforting to think how much safer we really are in England than we were across the border. Nobody expects to find Jacobites on the highroads of England.” ”

“ The landlord slunk after him, keeping close to the walls and hedges, and stepping silently. He was soon sufficiently near the bridge to perceive that no conveyance waited there. The assurance of this acted so upon his mind as to make him stop and consider whether it was safe to go further. As he stood gaping, the form of the strange gentleman suddenly vanished. The old man stared for another moment: then, assailed with a feeling that here was mystery nothing short of devil’s work, he turned and fled in a panic to his ale-house. ”