John Trevanion

“ The hour was still early; there were neither vehicles nor pedestrians visible; and they arrived at the Towers considerably excited by their discovery, and with a healthy appetite for breakfast.
While they were still engaged in that meal, John Trevanion issued from the front door of the Dower House. He wore an old shooting-coat and leggings, and carried a fowling-piece slung over his shoulder. Leaving his own grounds, he skirted those of the Towers, gained the road, walked along it for some distance, then struck into the path leading past Penwarden's cottage in the direction of St. Cuby's Well. ”

“ The re-opening of the Dower House was already the all-engrossing topic of conversation among the old wives and young wives, fishers, farmers, tradesmen, loafers and small fry of Polkerran and the neighbourhood. The "wagon-full of females" of Sam's kindling eye turned out to be one plump woman of forty and one slim maid of half that age, the cook and housemaid whom John Trevanion had engaged, as afterwards appeared, in a Devonshire village. ”

“ Polwhele, the riding-officer, close by on horseback, his face flushed and stern-set with anger.
"You look on and do nothing!" he said indignantly to John Trevanion.
"My dear sir, why should I interfere? Boys must fight, let them fight it out." ”

“ When he had done cackling, he loosed us, and we crawled down the ladder more dead than alive, and here we are."
"PETHERICK'S HEAD APPEARED THROUGH THE HATCH." "And I lay my life 'twas John Trevanion's plot," cried Mr. Polwhele hotly. "Never has such a scandalous outrage been known in Cornwall before. The Judas came to the door and bade us good-night, and said he was sorry we must go, but duty must be done—the detestable hypocrite."
"There was certainly more art in it than the village folks are capable of," said the Vicar. "By——dear me! ”

“ He rode away, giving smiling greetings to the people, men and women, whom he passed on the road.
"A fine feller!" said Doubledick, enthusiastically. "'Twill be heyday in village, Zacky; stirring life, and not so much of a tomb as 'tis since Squire became a pauper."
"But I'm sorry he do want us to break with Delarousse. He be a good trader, for a Frenchman. Howsomever, if there be a better, all the better for we, to be sure."
The men parted, to retail to their friends and neighbours the pleasing news of the great things John Trevanion was about to do for the village. ”

“ There's riches here, take my word for't."
"Be-jowned if I bean't fust to tell Squire," cried Jake Tonkin, instantly pulling his boat round and making for the shore. The others followed him, deaf to the entreaties of the miner to come back and take him off. Half-a-dozen boats raced madly to the beach; a score of youths sprang out, dashed through the village, up the hill, and along the high road. One, thinking to gain an advantage over the rest, tried to leap one of John Trevanion's fences, and fell headlong to the ground, his competitors shouting with laughter, none attempting to emulate him. ”

“ Free-trading is all very well, but arson is an ugly word and a hanging matter; and, egad! if any man is caught playing such low tricks, and brought before me, he'll get no mercy, I promise you. Make that clear, will you?"
"Iss sure, Sir Bevil," replied the innkeeper. "'Twas a cruel deed, the Squire bein' so cast down and all. I'll tell the folks yer very words, sir, that I will."
"That's right. I saw Mr. John Trevanion on the way down, and he agreed with me, so there will be an eye on the village nearer than mine." ”

“ Doubledick strolled up the hill next day, and stood with a look of keen enjoyment on his face as a score of miners drilled under Trevanion's direction. At the close of the exercise he accosted Trevanion.
"'Tis a noble sperit, to be sure, Maister John," he said, "but daze me if I think yer new sojers and yer iron shetters will keep out Boney and his thousands and millions. He's a tarrible feller, by all accounts."
"'Tis every man's duty to defend his country so far as he is able," said Trevanion coldly, beginning to move away. ”

“ He be a very clever feller: I say it to his face."
"Good night, then. I wish you well."
Dick heard his cousin return to the house and lock the door. So John Trevanion was a freighter: one who bought contraband goods in a foreign port, paid the expenses of shipment and carrying, and received the profits. This was food for reflection. A word to Mr. Mildmay or Mr. Polwhele, the riding-officer, would lead to John Trevanion's arrest. The fate of smugglers caught in the act was five years' service in a man-of-war, or a long term of imprisonment ”

“ Now, however, John Trevanion had taken the lead. For some reason, which none knew, and only Doubledick suspected, he had thrown over Delarousse, and did business with a rival and enemy of his in Roscoff. Having more capital than Tonkin, whose recent losses had indeed been crippling, he could buy more largely and employ more men, so that Tonkin found himself in a position of galling subordination. As Trevanion had said to Doubledick, the big man did not care to play second fiddle. He was beginning to wonder whether the jovial master of the Dower House was quite so good a friend as he seemed. ”

“ Mildmay is going to the randy at the Dower House to-morrow, I hear," said the Squire.
"Is he, sir?" replied Dick, surprised.
"Yes; I heard it from Mr. Polwhele, who is going too."
"Mr. Mildmay is almost a stranger, and 'tis rather a dull life for him between whiles; but Mr. Polwhele knew John Trevanion years ago, did he not, sir?"
"Oh! he is going as watch-dog. He suspects that the invitation may be a trick to get them out of the way while the smugglers run a cargo, and got Mr. Mildmay to promise to leave promptly at nine. He accompanies him to see that he is not detained." ”

“ Mildmay with a rueful look. "Here have I been dashing about in the cutter, and Polwhele riding up and down, and all the fuss and fury not half so effective as your quiet use of your wits. 'Tis a dash to one's proper pride."
"There was a great deal of luck about it, sir," said Dick. "If Sam hadn't overheard the conversation between John Trevanion and Doubledick, we might have puzzled our wits for years without getting at the truth."
"Ah!" said Mr. Carlyon with a chuckle, "and there's a lady in the case as usual. I understand that Sam takes a brotherly interest in Mr. ”

“ I do not know. No doubt a stranger, who has more money than judgment. I am sorry for this; I am indeed; and if there were any chance of getting metal out of the earth I could have transferred your mortgages with the greatest ease. As it is—but there, I won't talk of it. As for my own little bond on the Towers, that may remain till Doomsday so far as I am concerned. It would cut me to the heart to see the old place in the hands of any one but a Trevanion."
"You're a good fellow, Trevenick," said the Squire, "and I'm grateful to you."
"Not at all, not at all, my dear sir. ”

“ We've no forts nor cannons nor sojers to defend us, and Boney may choose the place according; 't 'ud be easier to land here than at Weymouth, where the King and all his high generals sometimes be."
"What I say is, Maister John be a fine feller," said Mail. "'Tidn' every gentleman as 'ud do what he be doin'. Why, he've had a dozen men from Trura riggin' up iron shetters to his winders, and a cart come t'other day wi' firelocks and pikes, and I seed him only yesterday marchin' his miners up and down in front o' the house, every man of 'em wi' a terrible weapon o' some sort ”

“ Now, Trevanion had established a high reputation at the University; but less as a scholar, though a pretty fair one, than as a man to rise in life. Every faculty he had was an energy. He aimed at everything: lost some things, gained others. He was a great speaker in a debating society, a member of some politico-economical club. He was an eternal talker,—brilliant, various, paradoxical, florid; different from what he is now, for, dreading fancy, his career since has been one effort to curb it. ”

“ I have no doubt the horses thrived all the better for it. What Trevanion wants is a concert once a week. With him it is always saddle and spur. Yet, after all, who would not envy him? If life be a drama, his name stands high in the play-bill, and is printed in capitals on the walls.”
“Envy me!” said Trevanion,—“Me! No, you are the enviable man,—you, who have only one grief in the world, and that so absurd a one that I will make you blush by disclosing it. Hear, O sage Austin! ”

“ There could not in the world be a stronger contrast to the bland look and courteous expression of Trevanion’s handsome features, than the savage scowl of the enraged Frenchman, in whose features the strong and ill-repressed workings of passion were twitching and distorting every lineament and line ”

“ Come, I will tell you the one secret of my public life, that which explains all its failure (for, in spite of my position, I have failed) and its regrets,—I want Conviction!"
"Exactly," said my father; "because to every question there are two sides, and you look at them both."
"You have said it," answered Trevanion, smiling also. "For public life a man should be one-sided: he must act with a party; and a party insists that the shield is silver, when, if it will take the trouble to turn the corner, it will see that the reverse of the shield is gold. ”

“ Into these boats Delarousse and his men leapt, and pulled off swiftly to the privateer. They had no sooner left the jetty than a puff of smoke issued from one of the vessel's portholes; there was a roar, and a round shot crashed into the planking, smashing several yards of it, and sending up splinters almost into the eyes of the Squire.
"'Tis no good, Trevanion," cried the Vicar. "We shall all be slaughtered if we line up and fire at them. They've got your cousin, and we can't help it."
"But they can't get out of the fairway, and there's no water on the reef," said the Squire. ”

“ I knew enough of Trevanion, to feel that I could not reveal the circumstances under which I had formed that acquaintance, for he was much too practical a man not to have been frightened out of his wits at the idea of submitting so classical a performance to so disreputable a scapegrace. ”

“ As he walked towards the house, he saw a horseman riding down the road towards the village. At a second glance he recognised him as Sir Bevil Portharvan. When he reached home his father told him that Mr. Polwhele had ridden over to Portharvan House very early, and informed Sir Bevil of the night's occurrence. That gentleman had never been on more than speaking terms with Squire Trevanion; it is not easy for a wealthy man to be cordial with one who has gone down in the world and yet retains his pride. ”

“ There be hundreds o' men shoutin' and hollerin', and Cook be fainted dead away in kitchen."
"Fling cold water on her, Susan. There's nothing to be afraid of. They're shooting rabbits, I've no doubt."
Trevanion's thought was that the smugglers had been checkmated at the creek, and then, in their fury, had attacked the Towers, believing that their discomfiture was due to an alliance between the Squire and the revenue officers. ”

“ I happen to know that Mildmay has been twice to the Towers of late; the Squire's as poor as a church mouse, and informer's pay will be riches to him."
"Squire turn informer!" cried Tonkin. "I can't believe it."
"I can, though," said Doubledick. "When a man's as low down in the world as Squire, he'll do a deal o' dirtiness to fill his purse, 'a b'lieve."
"Of course he will," said Trevanion. "You don't know the world, Tonkin. Depend upon it, a good many golden guineas will find their way to the Towers before a week's out." ”

“ Grundy—that is,'the World'—without injury to any one. We must suppose that that footman of Trevanion's was out of his mind,—it is but a charitable, and your good father would say a philosophical, supposition. All great knavery is madness! The world could not get on if truth and goodness were not the natural tendencies of sane minds. Do you understand?"
"Not quite."
"Why, the footman, being out of his mind, invented this mad story of Trevanion's illness, frightened Lady Ellinor and Miss Trevanion out of their wits with his own chimera, and hurried them both off, one after the other. ”

“ Cook be here, too, and Feyther do look tarrible low in the sperits, 'cos she told un he'd no more idee than a chiel o' three how to stir up a figgy pudden."
When Dick joined his parents, he found them discussing the future of the two women with Mr. Carlyon.
"We can't afford to keep them, you know, Vicar," said Mrs. Trevanion. "The girl seems a pleasant, handy young thing, and I should like her about the house much better than young Sam; but——"
"Exactly," said the Vicar. "Well now, 'tis Christmas Eve. Shall we forget all our troubles, and get our souls in tune for to-morrow? ”

“ If he have time to think, they will outwit us. We must make no noise; we must enter the house unknown to its masters."
"You speak wisely, Trevanion—perchance Trevisa hath had more to do with treason than we wot of," and by this speech he betrayed the fact that he had inherited much of his father's love for arresting people concerning whom he had any suspicions.
When we came to the lodge gate, the man let us enter without any ado as soon as Hugh Boscawen had mentioned his name. I knew, too, by [Pg 392] the fear expressed in his quavering voice that we need have no apprehensions concerning him. ”