Jerningham

“ Jerningham smiled with tolerant contempt. "I scarce think you will believe that, mistress," said he, lightly, "seeing how completely I am a stranger to you."
"Believe him?" she replied, scornfully. "He is the prince of cozeners; he is all made of lies and shifts. I know not how he hath come to be steward to a gentleman; belike you know not of him; perchance he hath passed upon you by another name, as he did upon us; he is Captain Ravenshaw." ”

“ A sturdy blow of a staff bore down Jerningham's rapier, a filching hook tore his dagger from his other hand. Iron-shod crutches and staves rained upon the heads of Sir Clement and the other men; hooks caught their clothing, and dragged some to the floor. When at close quarters, the beggars drew their knives; the women fought like men. Millicent, separated from Jerningham in the fray, ran shrieking in the one direction open to her; this was toward the corner at the right of the front door. Ravenshaw, dashing through the confusion, placed himself triumphantly at her side. ”

“ JERNINGHAM.
Stay, I hear horsemen.
CLARE.
I hear footmen too.
JERNINGHAM.
Nay, then I have it: we have been discovered,
And we are followed by our fathers men.
MILLISCENT.
Brother and friend, alas, what shall we do?
CLARE.
Sister, speak softly, or we are descried.
They are hard upon us, what so ere they be,
Shadow your self behind this brake of fern,
We’ll get into the wood, and let them pass.
[Enter Sir John, Blague, Smug, and Banks, one after another.]
SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! we are all mortall; the keepers abroad, and there’s an end. ”

“ Beshrew me, man, you may find yourself nested for life if you keep my favour. No more nakedness and starvation." Jerningham, on the eve of his long voyage, could afford any promise; besides, 'twas not impossible this redoubtable fellow might really be useful to him indefinitely, one way or another.
Ravenshaw glared at him with the tortured look of a man sorely tempted.
"Moreover," added Jerningham, "what profit can you have in any kind of virtue, when your reputation is so villainous?"
"Hang my reputation! I'll not be taken for a love-messenger. I'll help no man to any woman." ”

“ Beckoning his page, Sir Clement hastened from the church, while Jerningham, with Gregory at his heels, elbowed imperiously forward till he was face to face with the captain. Ravenshaw had, in the meantime, been bandying jests with the crowd, though inwardly wondering what he should do next.
"When a soldier of your ability comes to this plight," said Jerningham, in a courteous, kindly tone, "'tis plain the fault's not so much his own as it is the world's." ”

“ THE Mirables was the finest mansion in the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells: and standing on the terrace this summer’s evening and gazing beyond the rose garden, beyond the sunk garden, beyond the ha-ha dividing the home paddock from the park, Francis Rupert Jerningham, owner of the Mirables and the four thousand acres of land surrounding it, could see his possession as a poet would have wished to see it—in the last light of a summer’s day.
Jerningham was a young man of thirty-five, one of those delightful and dangerous people who never grow up ”

“ At last Jerningham said to Sir Clement: "Those rascals yonder need not have all the good cheer to themselves. There's better drink than ale left in the house." He rose, and summoned Meg from the kitchen.
"Fetch wine," said he. Meg, returning to the kitchen, presently reappeared therefrom with a flagon and a pewter drinking cup.
"First fill a cup, I pray you," said Jerningham, "and carry it to the lady in yonder room."
She poured out a cupful, set the flagon on the table, and approached the door at which Ravenshaw sat.
"Nay, you shall not pass here," quoth the captain. ”

“ Jerningham shrugged his shoulders.
"It is the truth," said the captain. "Virtue beats in her heart, modesty courses with her blood, purity shines in her eyes, she is the mirror of innocence. Should you find means to try her, I swear to you the attempt would but mar her peace, and serve you nothing. Nay, even if that were not so,—if there were a chance of your enticing her,—black curses would fall upon the man by whose deed that stainless flower were smirched. Innocence robed in beauty—there's too little of it walks the world, that gentlemen should take a hand in spoiling it!" ”

“ He would neither have her go free, nor taken back to her father. He thinks to find her at his mercy. But we shall outwit him, and no more fighting. 'Tis for you to—"
"One would think he was her friend," said Meg, glancing toward the captain.
"Poh! she fears him as he were the devil."
"Does he, then, desire her?" queried Meg, with a curious feigned unconcernedness of tone and look.
Jerningham regarded her with the silence of sudden discovery; then, restraining a smile, said, watchfully: "He is another's instrument, I think. Such a man's fancy would ne'er light upon a child; she is little more. ”

“ I take you to be a gentleman that has power in the world. I beg of you, now that the villainy has failed, deal not too hardly with us."
"It lies with yourselves. If you be minded to undo the villainy, to serve me in my protection of this maid—"
"We will, we will! and thank your good worship!" said Tom, quickly, and turned to his men with a look which elicited from them a chorus of confirmatory "ayes," supported by a variety of oaths.
"Then seize that man, till I pass with this lady," said Jerningham, in a decided tone. "To him, all of ye,—Meadows and Goodcole, too!" ”

“ At Stamford and Leicester it was in connection with coaches to the north and west.
5.—Died at his house in Bolton Row, London, Mr. Edward Jerningham, youngest son of Sir William Jerningham, Bart. The remains were removed from London to Costessey, where they were interred beneath the altar in the private chapel. Mrs. Edward Jerningham died on June 24th.
10.—A camping match took place at Ranworth between ten men of that parish, and a like number from neighbouring parishes. ”

“ Ravenshaw drew a stool to the doorway, and sat down, weapons still in hand. Sir Clement was leaning back against the table, at the opposite side of the hall, with folded arms. He made mirth for himself by suggesting various impossible places where the captain might have met him; while Jerningham, ever keeping the corner of his eye on his enemy, went back and held a whispered conversation with Meg.
"Fear not," said Jerningham, heeding the peremptory question in her eyes. "The maid is in yonder room. This captain, by a strange chance, knows her [323] as one he hath designs against. ”

“ All goes forward fast—too fast." And Jerningham sighed.
"How too fast? How can that be? Good God, man, have you lost heart for the voyage?"
"Never that. You know me better. But we shall soon be sailing, and the hours go, and yet I am no further with—oh, a plague on secrecy, 'tis that wench. There is no way under heaven I can even get speech of her."
"What wench?" inquired Ermsby, in whose thoughts there had been more than one wench since the reader first made his acquaintance.
"What wench! Gods above, is there more than one?—worth a man's lying awake at night to sigh for, I mean." ”

“ Jeremy appeared, blinking and bowing; as he passed Meg, he chuckled, and said, in undertone, "A husband mends all, sooth!" Master Jerningham, ascertaining from Meg what chamber the captain lay in, bade the old man show Goodcole the way. The pair took a lantern, of which Goodcole concealed all but a small part in his jerkin.
[293]
During the absence of the two, Jerningham directed Meg's attention to Meadows: "This is the man shall abide here for a time; I must send t'other on business that bears no delay,—him that lies up-stairs, I mean. 'Tis partly for that reason I have come here. ”

“ I bade him get it in Bucklersbury on his way to Friday Street."
"May it give her pleasant dreams!"
"When she is fast asleep," continued Jerningham, "I'll leave Gregory to watch her, and we'll come back to welcome my lord bishop in the morning. And to-morrow, when my lord has seen the last of us, and the tide is bearing us down the river, we need only put the ship to at the old landing, walk to the house, and carry her aboard. There will be none to see but Meg and old Jeremy, and they shall not know the ship is ours, or that we are farther bound than Tilbury." ”

“ He proceeded to London with the new queen, and was rewarded by the posts of vice-chamberlain of the royal household, captain of the guard, and a seat on the privy council (31 July 1553) , the offices vacated by the attainder of Sir John Gates. On 29 Sept. he was also created a K.B. Jerningham went with Norfolk against Wyatt, and routed him on his way to Rochester; their forces were, however, routed by the rebels on Rochester Bridge, but Jerningham rallied his division at Charing Cross, and finally defeated Wyatt's men (1554) . ”

“ I must be led by circumstance; 'tis for this captain's doings to say whether his throat need be cut. He had no pistol when he [290] left me. As for his sword and dagger"—here Jerningham raised his voice and called to one of the men rowing: "Goodcole, thou hast some skill in sleights, and cutting purses, and the like, I have heard."
"Ay, sir," was the confident reply. "In my time I have been called the knave with the invisible fingers. My friends used to say I could filch a man's shirt off his back while he stood talking to me in the street." ”

“ What is it you would have me bully, or cozen, or persuade for you?"
"In plain words, a certain wench's consent to a meeting," was the reply.
"What the devil!" cried the captain, aflame. "Do you take me for a ring-carrier?"
Jerningham was silent a moment; then said:
"I take you for no better—and no worse—than any disbanded soldier that lives upon his wits about the town here."
"What others do, is not for me to be judged by. I am Ravenshaw."
"I never heard any reason why Ravenshaw should be thought more tender of women than his comrades are." ”

“ Ravenshaw gazed at the speaker; manifestly without recognition.
"Sir," said the captain, "whatever faults the world hath done me, I dare yet put my dagger to the world's throat, and cry 'Deliver!'"
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"Still the swaggerer," quoth Jerningham, with his soft smile.
"Ever the swaggerer," replied Ravenshaw. "'Tis my policy. This craven world will give nothing out of love or pity; 'twill give only out of fear; and so I bully out of it a living." ”

“ Renard was proceeding to inform the queen that the insurgents had been driven from the Brass Mount, when a messenger arrived, with tidings that another success had been gained—Sir Henry Jerningham having encountered the detachment under the Duke of Suffolk, and driven them back to their vessels, was about to assist the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Henry Bedingfeld in a sally upon Sir Thomas Wyat’s party. ”

“ There was a brief stoppage from rowing while the other men hastily investigated the condition of their own pockets.
"Excellent Goodcole!" quoth Sir Clement Ermsby. "Thou art a proficient in a most delicate craft."
"Thou couldst take away a man's sword and dagger ere he knew it, belike," said Jerningham. ”

“ About five days later six ships-of-war sailed along the Suffolk coast towards Yarmouth Roads, with the intention of besieging Mary's castle.
Sir Henry Jerningham, one of the gentlemen who had attended her from Norfolk, happened to be at Yarmouth when the fleet entered the harbor, pretending that they were forced to do so on account of stormy weather. Sir Henry boldly went out in a boat to hail them. The soldiers on board the ships asked him what he wanted. "Your captains," replied the courageous knight; "who are rebels to their lawful Queen Mary." ”

“ And meanwhile, the man who attempts to enter this room declares himself her enemy."
Jerningham's face showed the rage of temporary defeat. "Then come from the door there," he said, sullenly, for want of a better speech.
"Nay, for this night I am the door here,—though she may close this wooden door an she please. These"—his sword and dagger—"she'll find true bolts and bars. She may e'en sleep, if she will,—there's a pallet to lie on."
Sitting weak and perplexed on the pallet in the dark little apartment, she wondered what purpose the captain might be about. ”

“ Surely you will not doubt me upon his wild words?"
"Nay," said she, rising compliantly, "I heed not his words."
"For proof of them," said the captain, "let me tell you that this gentleman employed me to be his go-between with you."
She blushed. Jerningham said: "Oh, villain! You have the devil's invention, I think. You would make yourself out a worse knave, that you might [310] make her distrust me. Mistress, if you have the smallest fear—"
"Sir, God forbid I should doubt a gentleman on the word of a known rascal!" ”

“ The man is not seeking a wife, ten to one."
"A few drops of this, mixed with a man's wine," said Jerningham, producing the phial in such manner that his body concealed it from Ravenshaw's view, "have been known to work a wonder."
"What is it?" she whispered, gazing at it.
"A love potion," he answered. "The surest in the world, too. 'Tis the one with which—" But [324] he broke off, shook his head, and replaced the phial in his pocket. ”

“ Next morning at eleven o’clock, as Jerningham took his place at the breakfast-table, he found a letter by his plate. It was a letter from his wife, and it was short but not at all sweet.
You apparently forgot last night that my window looks over the terrace. Temper I can forgive and a great many things, but not that. I am leaving you this morning, and when you receive this I shall be gone. Thank God I have a mother to take shelter with and to shield me from a bad husband. ”