Clifford's Inn

“ The Serjeants’ Dining Hall has been dismantled; a new street has been cut through the Liberty of the Rolls. There are now few booksellers’ shops in front of St. Dunstan’s Church, and the two wild men of the wood who struck the hour with their clubs on the old church have moved elsewhere. What are we to expect of Clifford’s Inn but that it will soon be a thing of the past?
Curious characters lived in Clifford’s Inn. Opposite Wentworth resided a City curate, of whom he knew nothing save that he had a very red nose, was dressed in shabby black, and came in at all hours. ”

“ The Blue Lion itself looked melancholy enough, having been uninhabited for a month. With its doors closed, its shutters barred, with broken panes in its upper windows, it was a dreary contrast to the little inn he had known. No market-carts now drew up before the door; the ducks and the chickens no longer wandered about the road; the shed where the cart had stood was empty and already out of repair. Clifford, after one walk round into the little garden and down to the shed where he had first met Nell, hurried away from [249] the desolate spot and made haste to reach Shingle End. ”

“ Clifford made the excuse of wishing to converse a little with the old woman, that he might have an opportunity of examining her hands. They were withered and lean, rendered coarse by field work, and enlarged at the joints by rheumatism. Without a doubt it was not the hand of old Nannie which had taken his watch and purse.
When he left the kitchen, where he and the landlord had thus interviewed the staff of the establishment, Clifford followed Claris again into the road in front of the inn. ”

“ In the week following Clifford’s departure, therefore, there arrived at the Blue Lion a rough-looking person who gave himself out as a successful emigrant, who had returned to his native land with his pockets full of money. The man stayed at the inn for several days, boasted openly in the bar of his luck, showed the results of it in lavish “treating” and in the apparently careless exhibition of handfuls of gold. ”

“ I was listening,” answered Otto, “and working out in my mind a romance, a pitiful romance, of the kind that is not showy enough for people to care to hear about.”
“What! Do you mean to say that Jordan’s fallen in love with that mature and lean spinster?” asked Clifford in astonishment.
“Oh, dear, no. He’s fallen in love; I’ve found that out; but it is with the usual maid of the inn—nobody half so interesting as Miss Bostal.” ”

“ In the meantime Clifford was proceeding slowly on his way to Shingle End. It was dark by this time, and the way seemed even longer than it had done when he was on his way to Courtstairs that afternoon. There was a faint light over the gray sea, but on the right, over the marsh, and away as far as the ridge of hill on which old Fleet Castle stood, there was inky blackness. It was a lonely road at night, this long, dreary stretch of straight, hedgeless highway, with only an occasional bit of ragged bush or a still more infrequent wayside cottage, to break up its wearisome monotony. ”

“ The Judgement of Cambyses
from the picture by Gerard David in the Bruges Museum.
⇒
LARGER IMAGE
[Pg 3]
❧ EDITORIAL ARTICLES ❧ I.-CLIFFORD’S INN AND THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS
WE must confess that when we published Mr. Philip Norman’s appeal to the Government to save Clifford’s Inn, we had little hope that the appeal would be listened to; it is too much to expect an English Government to take any interest in a question of an artistic nature; in agreeing to ignore such questions the unanimity of political parties is wonderful. ”

“ Instead of being a suspected criminal, she was now a heroine. It was honor and not disgrace that she could now bring to her husband.
One thing only Clifford had to wait for. Nell would not leave her uncle until his mind was quite restored. For months she watched the reawakening of his reason, tending him with loving care.
And when he was able to return to the Blue Lion, in full possession of his reason, when the autumn tints were on the trees, Clifford took his pretty and gentle bride away from the inn by the shore.
THE END.
A Woman’s Book. ”

“ Nell looked up in some distress, her blue eyes brighter with excitement, and her voice quite tremulous in its earnestness.
“Ah, you don’t know!” she said, quickly. “I am not ungrateful, but I am in a very difficult [27] position, and I have to be careful how I treat people. Don’t you know yourself that a great many men, gentlemen too—or they call themselves so—think they have a right to treat a girl who lives at an inn differently from other girls? Surely you must know that?”
Clifford grew red, conscious that the girl had penetrated a weak spot in Willie’s social armor. ”

“ Brandon rose into positive hilarity. Lucy retired under the auspices of the landlady to bed; and the squire having drunk a bowl of bishop, and discovered a thousand new virtues in Clifford, especially that of never interrupting a good story, clapped the captain on the shoulder, and making him promise not to leave the inn till he had seen him again, withdrew also to the repose of his pillow. Clifford remained below, gazing abstractedly on the fire for some time afterwards ”

“ Innkeepers are also prohibited by statute, in some jurisdictions, to entertain on the Lord's day, persons, not lodgers in the inn, if resident in the town where the inn is kept, and an indictment founded on that statute was held to be bad, because it did not aver that the persons entertained were not lodgers, as it is clear that that circumstance was an ingredient of the offence. ”

“ Nell flashed upon him a look of supreme contempt.
“I don’t do this because I am good, but because I am angry and worried,” she said, glancing at the broom in her hand. “I could have sent some one to sweep out Mrs. Corbett’s cottage; there are plenty of people about here poor enough to be glad to do it for a few pence. I do it because I am miserable and want to make a martyr of myself!”
Now Clifford liked her even better for this show of spirit than he had done for her courage. ”

“ Nell, on the alert for the expected visitor, was not long before she discovered him. He came, only a few days after Clifford’s visit, in the guise of a mild-looking man with sandy hair and pale eyes, one of those men whose age it is difficult to guess until you perceive by a close inspection of the wrinkles under the eyes that the apparent lad is well over forty.
George Claris had no suspicion of his visitor’s [110] profession. In spite of the rumors about the house, there were travellers staying there about five nights in the seven. ”

“ Far from yielding at once to the apparently inevitable conclusion, Clifford fought against it with all his might. Quickly as his passion for the girl had sprung up, it was strong enough to make him ready to accept any hypothesis, however improbable, rather than accept the evidence of his own senses when that evidence was against her. He was ready to believe that there was in the house another woman with a hand as small, as soft, as smooth-skinned as the one he had held in his hand when [35] he bade Nell good-night. ”

“ Yes, I'll keep close to you."
"Do, girl. Now I must be off. You can sit in the porch awhile and rest yourself. Coming, Armitage."
Hetty stayed down at the inn through the remainder of the day.
In the course of the evening Vincent strode in. She was in the humor to be sweet to him, and he was in high spirits at her unwonted words and looks of affection.
The village presented a gayer and gayer spectacle as the hours went by. High good humor was the order of the day. Squire and Madam were returning. Things must go well in the future. ”

“ Why, man alive! You wouldn’t sure dare to say as my niece, my lovely Nell, was a thief to take your dirty money!” shouted the landlord, with sudden fury, all the more fierce that, as Clifford could see, he had heard whispers of the same sort before. “Here, Nell, Nell! Where are you?”
And, not heeding Clifford’s angry protests, Claris rushed into the house, and almost into the arms of his niece, who, apparently suspecting nothing, came running quickly in from the garden at the sound of her name. ”

“ It was dark when Hetty re-entered the Inn. The taproom was the scene of noisy excitement. It was crowded with eager and interested villagers. The murder was the one and only topic of conversation. Armitage was busy attending to his numerous guests, and Mrs. Armitage kept going backward and forward between the taproom and the little kitchen at the back.
When she saw Hetty she called out to her in a sharp tone.
"Where have you been, girl?" she cried. "Now just look here, your uncle won't have you stealing out in this fashion any more. You are to stay at home when it is dark. ”

“ A train of twenty mules and burros was needed for the expedition, and to procure these and load them with the necessary baggage, called for no small amount of work and skillful management. The stone courtyard of the inn rang with the shouts of burro drivers, the quarrels of peons intent on selling their wares to travelers at the best prices, and the threats and commands of General Herran and his officers. ”

“ Vincent, who with Armitage had taken up his position a few steps further down the avenue, kept looking back at her from time to time.
"Why, man," said the landlord of the village inn, with a hoarse laugh, "you're as much in love with that wife of your'n as if you hadn't been wedded for the last five years."
"Ay, I am in love with her," said Vincent. "I've got to win her yet, that's why. Strikes me she looks younger and more spry than I've seen her for many a year, to-night."
"She's mortal fond of Squire and Madam," said the landlord. "She always wor." ”

“ Acting on this, General Herran rode without stopping until nightfall, reaching just after dusk—dusk comes swiftly enough in the tropics—one of the primitive little hostelries kept for the accommodation of travelers to and from Bogota. Here, as is usual in such places, there was a large number of guests intending to spend the night. This posada, or inn, was a one-storied, rambling affair consisting of three rooms and a verandah sheltered by the overhanging eaves of a thatched roof. All the rooms were filled with people, most of them lying on mats spread on the floor ”

“ In the little dining-room at Shingle End Miss Bostal and Nell were sitting by the fire, the latter still absorbed in thoughts of Clifford, while the former tried to divert her companion’s gloomy reverie by gossip about the doings of the vicar’s wife and the high price of vegetables.
Miss Bostal looked anxiously from time to time into the coal-scuttle, divided between a wish to be economical with the fuel, on the one hand, and to have a good fire ready for her father’s return on the other. ”

“ Her own utter hopelessness, her nervous dread, had affected him during the short silences between their questions and answers to each other; she seemed to be always listening, straining her ears for any sound outside. The cry of a street urchin made her start, a cart passing quickly at the corner of the street sent the blood to her forehead. Her nerves, poor child, were altogether shaken.
Clifford looked at her in dismay. Even the strong love which had stood every test was apparently powerless to give her more than momentary comfort. ”

“ Frere."
Armitage gave the young man the key and returned to the house.
Meanwhile Frere had wandered some distance from the pretty little village and the charming rustic inn. His mind was out of tune with all harmony and beauty. He was in the sort of condition when men will do mad deeds not knowing in the least why they do them. Hetty's words had, as he himself expressed it, "awakened the very devil in him."
"She has owned it," he kept saying to himself. "Yes, I was right in my conjecture—he wants her himself. Much he regards honor and behaving straight to a woman. ”

“ A few late visitors of this sort were in the little bar when Clifford and Otto entered. But there was no sign of Jordan. Both the young men looked with curiosity at the woman who was serving behind the bar, a portly young woman with a ready tongue, who in her sturdy build and large coarse hands, as well as in the weather-beaten look of her complexion, betrayed that she was accustomed to fill up her time, when work was slack inside the house, with out-door labor of the roughest kind. ”

“ Robert had all the chivalrous instincts of his race toward women. As he walked quickly home now with Hetty by his side, his blood boiled at the thought of the insult which had been offered to her. Poor, silly little Hetty was nothing whatever to him except a remarkably pretty village girl. Her people, however, were his father's tenants; he felt it his duty to protect her. When he parted with her just outside the village inn, he said a few words.
"You ought not to allow those young men to take liberties with you, Hetty," he said. ”

“ To the intense disgust of Willie, pretty Nell was evidently much amused by these remarks. And, although a feeling of condescending gratitude to her abject admirer made her try to control her enjoyment, Clifford saw in her blue eyes a merriment none the less keen that she subdued its outward manifestation.
“It’s easy to chaff,” grumbled Willie, hotly. “Perhaps you’d like to try the work yourselves.”
“No, old chap. We should never get that depth of color,” said Otto, calmly surveying the artist’s heated, crimson face.
“It wants a natural aptitude for that sort of thing,” said Clifford. ”

“ We are expressing our admiration,” said Otto.
“And we are quite ready to try our hand ourselves,” said Clifford, as, with a sudden burst of energy, born of his desire to linger in the neighborhood of Nell, he threw off his own coat and struggled for possession of the tar-brush. ”