Everell

“ He cannot get the civil powers to move so quickly. Well, we must keep our lead. In the country he will not venture too close upon our heels. We are out of the town, at last. I wonder if he stopped at that inn.”
Everell thrust his head out of the side window and looked back. Nobody was following. He then called to the driver, and gave instructions in regard to the pace of travel, hinting at the reward in store for obedience. The lad was so compliant, the horses so fresh, that in due time Everell thought a pause might be made for dinner without much risk of their being overtaken. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Down that side of the glade a dark figure was approaching so swiftly, and in such manner else, that Everell knew it as that of a man running for his life. There is a difference so pronounced as to be plain even in twilight and afar between the attitude of a man who runs in pursuit, and that of a man who runs from pursuit ”

“ There’s a plenty in the same boat amongst the she-folk hereabouts. There’s only one beauty in these four parishes, if I be any judge.”
“’Tis for no such reason,” said Everell, with a smile, as he began to see his way. “Sir, I perceive you’re a blunt, outspoken gentleman, given to plain dealing yourself, and no doubt preferring it in others. I’m resolved to throw myself on your confidence, as far as I think safe, and tell you my story, or as much as I dare. ”

“ As for harm, I do begin to feel something like a cracked crown; but my wits are whole enough, so the damage can’t be very great. I can tell better if you will allow me to rise—which you can safely do, as I assure you I’m not your enemy, nor was I lying in wait.”
Everell then explained his concealment among the bracken, relating exactly what he had seen. “I thought you must have got far away, to judge from your speed down yonder slope.”
“Nay, sir,” said the man, stepping back so that Everell might rise, “I had no need to run further. ”

“ Everell was for Roughwood’s taking the place beside Georgiana, but that gentleman cut short all dispute by mounting the bar in front and allowing Everell ten seconds in which to enter the chaise. Before less time had passed, Everell was seated at his Georgiana’s side, her hand was stealing into his, the hostler had closed the door of the chaise, and the postilion had given the word of starting. He drove carefully out through the gate with the solitary lamp, slowly on through the lane to the street, and then for the open road southward, the horses getting up speed at the crack of the whip. ”

“ It occurred to Everell that he had best speak, at this stage, as if he were a friend, or at least an acquaintance, of the master of the house: he was thus more likely to obtain prompt admittance, and, secondly, he might thus better secure the gatekeeper against betraying him to the inquiries of pursuers. Upon this later point, moreover, he took a grain of comfort from the fact that Foxwell was not liked by the gentry in the neighbourhood.
“Is your master at home?” he said. “We have met with an accident. Pray do not keep us waiting in the cold—the lady is shivering. ”

“ Having no desire to interfere with a rogue who had just fired at, or been fired at by, somebody’s gamekeeper, or at best had taken a forbidden shot at somebody’s game, Everell concealed himself among some bracken of a man’s height. ”

“ And right glad I be to know I didn’t shorten your honour’s, especially now I see what sort of gentleman your honour is.”
“’Twould have been an odd twist of luck indeed,” returned Everell, good-humouredly. “I am much in your own case, friend: far from desiring to trip up another man, I must look to it that I’m not tripped up myself. My fellow-feeling at present is with the fox rather than the hounds.”
“Then belike you are seeking cover hereabouts?” inquired the poacher, in a tone of friendly interest. ”

“ Everell sighed, realizing that, as far as speeches went, he was not making rapid progress. “At all events,” said he, rallying his powers of gaiety, “here I am, and in this neighbourhood I mean to stay for a time, so ’tis of no use bidding me go—”
“But are you safe in this neighbourhood?” she broke in, her eyes forgetting their shyness in searching his face to see if his confidence was real. “That man at the inn may have described you to many people.”
“I will take care none of them see me. I have a secure hiding-place in the wilderness, and a friend to supply my wants. ”

“ Whereupon Everell, for the hearing of his guide, inquired urgently about the possibility of getting a horse in the morning to carry him to Burndale. Being assured on this point, also, Everell dismissed the guide, and had his single piece of baggage taken into his room, which proved to be not merely the best room, but the only room, properly so-called, in addition to the long apartment which served as kitchen, bar, living-room of the family, and general clubroom of the village; the chambers up-stairs being mere lofts under the roof. ”

“ And we are in constant danger of encountering men who fought against us, like that fellow we dodged so narrowly yesterday.”
“Oh, he and I had our particular reasons for remembering each other,” said Everell, touching the scar on his cheek. “’Tis not in chance that we should run across him again. One such coincidence is remarkable enough.”
“Who can tell? In any case, he is not the only soldier of the enemy who would remember us. We are like to fall in with more; and ’tis of such, as all accounts agree, that most of the witnesses are, who have testified at Carlisle and York.” ”

“ Here Sir Evelyn's guardian angel smiled again. How far these beings arrange our future for us is uncertain, but there is no doubt that they know what is going to happen to us some time ahead. When they hear us asserting confidently that we are going to do something, or not going to do it, they are [24] amused, being aware that our plans have very little to do with what actually happens. Sir Evelyn's angel knew perfectly well that his ward would lunch that day at the vicarage, that he would meet Mrs. Eames, and that consequences of the most unexpected kind would follow. ”

“ The Earl had not come down when he entered the famous breakfast-room, and, not a little to his satisfaction, he found himself alone with Lady Evelyn for the first time since his arrival at the Manor. A student of faces always, he studied this face to-day with a curiosity which he set down to his own delusions rather than to an absolute interest in the personality of a stranger. ”

“ Young, animated, entirely off your guard, and thoughtless of consequences, Imagination took the reins; and Reason, slow-paced, though sure-footed, was unequal to the race of so eccentric and flighty a companion. How rapid was then my Evelina's progress through those regions of fancy and passion whither her new guide conducted her!-She saw Lord Orville at a ball,-and he was the most amiable of men! ”

“ But one of Czar Peter's favorite recreations had been to demolish the hedges by riding through them in a wheelbarrow.
October, 1699, his elder brother, George Evelyn, dying without male issue, aged eighty-three, he succeeded to the paternal estate; and in May following, he quitted Sayes Court and went to Wotton, where he passed the remainder of his life, with the exception of occasional visits to London, where he retained a house. In the great storm of 1703, he mentions in his last edition of the "Sylva," above one thousand trees were blown down in sight of his residence. ”

“ In fact, an air of sincere and inevitable truthfulness robs John Evelyn's diary of all that is romantic and sentimental. We see in it the life of a highly cultivated and deeply religious man, whose fate it was to witness all those tremendous and sovereign changes which swept over England like successive tidal waves between the execution of the Earl of Strafford and the accession of Queen Anne. ”

“ She met her father each morning at the breakfast table; dined with him in solemn state at night—occasionally received visits from their neighbors, and was some times the guest of the vicar of the parish, a pleasant old Cambridge Don, by name Harry Fillimore. But in the main Evelyn lived alone, in the wild glades of the beautiful park, down by the silent pool of the river—just as she had lived and dreamed in the old days of the longing for the world, its glamour and its glories. ”

“ To believe Evelyn, the voice of a man, or even the passing footstep of an animal pushing its way through the brushwood, was always quite enough to arouse the whole elfin world into activity; and, at the first sound of the kind, a score or two of little elfin heads might be seen peering out from their secret hiding-places, eagerly gazing on every side to discover who or what might be the intruder.
No one appeared to disturb this first fairy sleep of our little heroine, and she slumbered calmly on with her new companions. ”

“ When he went to stay at Evelyn’s house, Sayes Court, at Deptford, in order to more conveniently indulge in his favourite pursuit of shipbuilding, Evelyn’s servant writes to him:—“There is a house full of people, and right nasty. The Czar lies next your Library, and dines in the parlour next your study. He dines at ten o’clock and six at night, is very seldom home a whole day, very often in the King’s Yard or by water, dressed in several dresses.” Evelyn himself afterwards remarked “how miserably the Czar had left his house, after three months making it his Court.” ”

“ But as for going into the house to fetch a knife and with that knife dissecting a Red Admiral’s head, as Evelyn would have done, no sane person in the twentieth century would entertain such a project for a second. Individually we may know as little as Evelyn, but collectively we know so much that there is little incentive to venture on private discoveries. We seek the encyclopædia, not the scissors; and know in two minutes not only more than was known to Evelyn in his lifetime, but that the mass of knowledge is so vast that it is scarcely worth while to possess a single crumb. ”

“ Evelyn is the typical instance of the accomplished and public-spirited country gentleman of the Restoration, a pious and devoted member of the church of England, and a staunch loyalist in spite of his grave disapproval of the manners of the court. His domestic life was pure and his affections strong, and he devoted himself to work of public utility, although prudence or diffidence kept him aloof from the active political life which might have tested his character more severely. His books are for the most part occasional and of little permanent value. ”

“ OH, Sir, Lord Orville is still himself! still what, from the moment I beheld, I believed him to be-all that is amiable in man! and your happy Evelina, restored at once to spirits and tranquillity, is no longer sunk in her own opinion, nor discontented with the world;-no longer, with dejected eyes, sees the prospect of passing her future days in sadness, doubt, and suspicion!-with revived courage she now looks forward, and expects to meet with goodness, even among mankind:-though still she feels, as strongly as ever, the folly of hoping, in any second instance, to meet with perfection. ”

“ It was not above a day or two that going to Whitehall to take leave of his Lordship, who had his lodgings in the Privy-Garden, shaking me by the hand he bid me good-by, and said he thought he would see me no more, and I saw, to my thinking, something boding in his countenance: "No," says he, "they will not have me live. Had I lost a fleet (meaning on his return from Bergen when he took the East India prize) I should have fared better; but, be as it pleases God—I must do something, I know not what, to save my reputation." ”

“ Lord Evelyn said, with a laugh. "What! We already believe in England, and patriotism, and the love of freedom? And we are prepared to admit that there is one woman—positively, in the world, one woman—who is not a cheat and a selfish coquette? Why, where are we to end?"
"I don't think I said only one woman," Brand replied, quite good-naturedly; and then he added, with a smile, "You ask where we are to end. Suppose I were to accept your new religion, Evelyn? ”

“ And just as she had said in Derbyshire, "Etta Romney would marry him," so now for an instant did the same voice speak to her to tell her the truths of such a passion as this and to put the spell of its great temptation upon her. Then, white and trembling, the true Evelyn spoke.
"Count Odin," she said, "I love another man. I must answer you once and forever—this cannot be; it is impossible." ”

“ Both the little elves now began to whisper eagerly in his ears, and Evelyn quite plainly heard the words, "poor boys!" "only a couple of apples," "honest parents," "no such great offence after all," and various other expressions calculated to appease the wrath of the old farmer against the culprits of whom the fairy queen had spoken. The old man soon began to mutter again, and from what he said it was evident to Evelyn that the words of the whisperers were not without their effect. ”