Tregenna

“ As Tregenna was not in uniform, he flattered himself that he might go up the village unrecognized, and perhaps obtain some scraps of valuable information; but whether they were better posted up than he supposed, or whether the mere sight of a stranger awoke suspicion in the shrewd women-folk, it was certain that as soon as they caught sight of him they checked their volubility, and stood, with their hands on their hips, staring at him with broad amusement still on their faces, or else dropped a curtsey with demure and sudden respectfulness, which was in itself somewhat suspicious. ”

“ Nay, sure, sir,” she went on feebly, as Tregenna would have spoken, “you can’t refuse me so small a boon!”
She clutched at his hand as she spoke, and held it with a convulsive grip, as he answered her.
“You shall stay here, if you please,” said he. “But do not give way. You are young, and strong: you will live yet, I doubt not. I can see no wound upon you that should lead to your death!” ”

“ Ann stopped on the terrace, and waited for Tregenna to come up to her. When he did so, she turned abruptly, and he was surprised to see that she was in tears.
The discovery, in a woman of her fierce attributes, was startling, amazing; and Tregenna was disconcerted by it.
“You are astonished, I see, sir,” she began, in the same gentle voice that he had last heard from her, “to see a creature you have always looked upon as masculine and hard, [238] with aught so feminine as a tear upon her face!” ”

“ Not a man or a woman was to be found on the premises; not a cow or a horse; not a pig or a hen. And though the trap-door to the cellar had been flung wide to assist them in their search, it was in vain they sought for the bales among which Tregenna had stood on the previous night.
Not a keg or a bale was there in the whole place, though they searched it from garret to cellar!
The brigadier was ferociously facetious, tauntingly jocose.
“Hey-day, Tregenna, I fear they gave thee too much of their contraband aqua vitæ, and that it has bred visions in thy brain!” ”

“ I don’t believe that there is a man living who can rouse any love in Rhoda’s heart save one.”
“And who’s that?” cried Tregenna, with flashing eyes.
“Your humble servant,” said the other, smiling. “She loves me devotedly—God bless her! And I think that I, too, shall be ready to hate any one who robs me of the slightest smile or look.”
“I shall not be jealous of you, Penwynn,” said Tregenna, with a strange gleam in his eyes. “There, I’ll go now and have a walk on the cliff, so as to get my nerves back in tone. We are friends still?” ”

“ Mr Penwynn uttered a sigh of relief.
“And you will see Tregenna when he calls. I beg, I implore you to, Rhoda.”
“I will see him then, papa; but—”
“No, no. Let me have no hasty declarations, my dear,” he said, rising, and taking her hand. “Marriages are a mystery. See Mr Tregenna, and take time. Hear what he has to say; give him time too, as well—months, years if you like—and, meanwhile, shut your ears against all paltry scandal.” ”

“ It was impossible for Tregenna to see the face of the man who had seized him by the leg; for his own body was thrust through the hole between the boards which filled up the great east window.
He kicked out, however, with all his might; and after a silent struggle of a few moments’ duration, he managed to get rid of his assailant: and the next minute he heard him drop with a thud to the ground. ”

“ Although he was in part prepared for the discovery, Tregenna gave a slight start on finding himself face to face with this being.
For he saw before him not Ann Price the decent farmer’s daughter, with her neat cap and snow-white apron, her calm face and quiet manners; but Jem Bax, the young smuggler, with the rough shock of shoulder-length hair, the seamen’s breeches, and high boots, the loose shirt, open jacket, and flowing tie, with the pale set face, and fierce devil-may-care expression. ”

“ Lieutenant Tregenna who was near the window, jumped up, and looked out, as a wagon, piled high with kegs, and surrounded by a band of half a dozen armed men on horseback, dashed past the house and up the hill towards the village.
“Smugglers, as I live!” cried Tregenna, much excited, and turning to attract the attention of the rest.
But not a man of them moved; not one so much as turned his head in the direction of the window.
The blood flew to the young man’s brain. “Gentlemen!” cried he, as he dashed across the room to the door; “you will excuse me. You, squire, are a justice of the peace ”

“ Poor soul!” he muttered; “she takes me for Trethick.”
Madge heard his words, and if any spark of love or passion remained for him in her breast, those words crushed it out. The weak girl had indeed become a woman now—a woman and a mother; and if John Tregenna, in a fit of remorse, had asked her then to be his wife, she would have refused, and gone on bearing the burthen of her shame. ”

“ It was Tregenna’s turn to interrupt, which he did with a scorn as steady as her own.
[176]
“As a woman! Troth, no! There’s nothing less likely, nothing less possible, I assure you. I intend to treat you—I am treating you—as Jem Bax the smuggler, as hardened a ruffian as I’ve ever met, as ferocious as a savage, and with naught of the other sex about him but the cunning and the meanness!” ”

“ On the following day Tregenna sent word to General Hambledon that he had better search the neighborhood of Rede Hall for “Gardener Tom,” who had escaped him at the Parsonage on the previous evening.
But he had very little hope of any result; and his fears were justified when, a few days later, he met the brigadier, who had, of course, been as completely fooled by the artful Ann as Tregenna himself had been. ”

“ Still the lad said nothing in answer. But he looked around him with returning intelligence, not at his captor indeed, but at everything else, and particularly at the cliffs, with their jutting points and scrubby growth of reed and flowering weed.
Tregenna followed the direction of his eyes, but saw nothing in particular to attract his attention. But as he took a step away the lad suddenly sprang up, snatching up the lieutenant’s pistol, which he had deposited on the ground while tending the wounded boy, and made for a point where the cliff was steepest and apparently most inaccessible. ”

“ I exclaimed, “you may be truly thankful the boy has escaped, but he has escaped, remember, and is perfectly well. Now, I am something of a doctor, and I must ask you to take the child away. Look at your wife—see how agitated she is.”
“Why, Kate, old woman, has this been too much for you?” said Tregenna. He rose hastily, strode up to her, put his arms round her and kissed her.
“I never thought you cared enough,” he continued. “The fact is, you have puzzled me now and then; but I see—of course, of course, it is all right—bless you, old woman, bless you.”
Lady Tregenna did not say a word. ”

“ Tregenna noticed that at this point she sought the eyes of the woman with whom she had been talking, and who had withdrawn respectfully to a distance of some paces on his approach. “Or the day after. ’Tis a fair view, certainly, when there’s no mist on the marshes; but hardly worth the trouble of climbing our staircase, which is encumbered by much lumber of my father’s,” she ended somewhat lamely, but recovering her composure. ”

“ The men from the barn had gone out to meet their comrades returning from the raid.
On an instant the place seemed to be alive with unseen creatures, whispering, laughing, singing softly. Sheltered from observation from below, for the present at least, Tregenna crouched down in the thatch, and wondered how long he would be safe from his late assailant. [157] The next moment he saw a head appear above the eaves of one of the outhouses. ”

“ But Tregenna was at first rather incredulous.
“Surely,” said he, “she would not have let us go forth unmolested, if she had meant ill by us! And they would not touch your father’s daughter, villains though they be. You and he are both too well known, and too much respected even by the wrong-doers.”
“Nay, sir, I fear you exaggerate our powers and our position. These men do truly show us some respect, in return for my father’s labors among them. But the least thing will [206] turn them from kindness to savagery. And Ann is in that respect but little better than they, I fear.” ”

“ From his limping gait, Tregenna had long since recognized him as “Gardener Tom,” and he felt at the first moment rather sorry that this man, the only one of the “free-traders” for whom he felt the slightest kindness, should be the only one to fall into his hands. ”

“ Tregenna took almost in silence the taunts with which the brigadier now saluted him. Leaving the soldiers to return to Rye, the young man, with a shrewd suspicion that the mammoth beast he had dimly seen crawling through the village in the dark on the previous evening was the smugglers’ boat, resolved to try to track it to its new resting-place. ”

“ My own feeling is that it would be cruelty ever to tell this horrible plot to Sir John. We must remember that he has never doubted for a moment that the child is his own. Your confession will give immense relief to Lady Tregenna—and I think Dayrell for his own sake will consent to leave the country. If he does not do so, of course Sir John must be told. Now come with me at once to Lady Tregenna. ”

“ The newcomer was Jack Price, whose tears and maudlin protests at the farmhouse had excited the derision of his comrades.
“Hold your hands!” shouted Tregenna [211] back. “Do you not see whom I have with me? There is none here, I am very sure, would harm Parson Langney’s daughter?”
“Nay,” cried out one of the horsemen, whom, by the voice, Tregenna knew to be Tom; “we’ll not harm her. But thou shalt not shelter thyself behind a woman’s petticoats!” ”

“ He limped when he moved, and Tregenna guessed that this was the “Gardener Tom” whom he had himself wounded, and whom the parson and his daughter had sheltered under their roof. He was a young fellow of not more than five or six and twenty, well made and handsome, with an open, honest face and manly voice: a man too good for a smuggler, Tregenna decided.
[150]
“Nay, the young officer does but his duty in running us down. And I don’t want to see no harm come to him, though ’twas he shot me through the leg. So we can but keep clear of him,’tis all I want. ”

“ Look here, Master Tregenna, you’re a gentleman, and I’m only a rough miner, but we are both on the same road. I arn’t blind, so you may just as well speak plain. I know, you know, and speak plain, and don’t hide it from you about Bess Prawle, and my being kicked off and threatened. You don’t suppose I let Amos Pengelly half kill me when he threw me on the rocks without owing him for it and wanting to pay it back, even if I do work with him now all smooth? Why can’t you speak plain too? ”

“ The brigadier was in the highest spirits, and was inclined to look down upon Tregenna’s capture, and upon his methods of work.
“’S’no use, my lad, no mortal use,” he said, laying down the law with vigor, and trying to sit straight upon the saddle so that his gesticulating arm should not overbalance him, “to try t’ get on in anything without th’ women! Now, I alwaysh make up to th’ women!” ”

“ He drew back, almost imperceptibly, a little way, and said, in a cooler tone—
“And I fear ’tis little mercy some of you will get, when a stronger force is sent down to ferret your leaders out!”
“But you would make distinctions, sir, would you not?” said she, with tremulous eagerness. “You would not, for sure, deal with the lad Tom, poor Tom that you have lamed for life, as hardly as with some others?”
“Those that have done the worst will be the most harshly dealt with, certainly,” said Tregenna. ”

“ I want to show you the boy. He is as fine a lad as the heart of father could desire. Dayrell is still in the country, and sometimes visits at the Manor, but with my fine young heir to look at, I no longer mind him. In short, I breathe freely.
“Yours, John Tregenna.”
After reading this letter I felt a curious desire to glance once again at the cablegram which Collett had sent me, and which, amongst other items of intelligence, had informed me that Lady Tregenna had given birth to a boy, who had died after an hour of life. I had been careful not to destroy this cablegram. ”

“ Tregenna saw on the left the smoldering torch of one of the men who had been at work inside the barn: he dared not, therefore, get down and cross the farmyard. Having withdrawn his shoulders from the hold in which he had wedged himself, he saw that the roof of the nearest outhouse was only some four feet away. He contrived, by a risky spring, [156] to reach the thatch; and then it was easy to cross by the roofs of the outhouses to an open window of the farmhouse, through which he peeped. ”

“ Plunder, short, crooked, and evil-looking, were busily engaged in piling up against the walls of the vault a huge quantity of kegs and bales of goods, in order to make them occupy the least possible space, and so make room for more.
Tregenna, hardened as he was to the smugglers and their villainies, could scarcely believe his eyes. Not a sign of a coffin was to be seen. Apparently the dead had been turned out of their resting-place, to make way for the merchandise of the “free-traders.” ”

“ As they were all far nimbler of foot over the ground, which they knew well, than were their opponents, Lieutenant Tregenna stopped the pursuit of the smugglers when he saw how [100] fast they gained ground, and directed his men to seize such of the contraband goods as were already landed.
When, however, they reached in their turn the bottom of the dell, where they expected to find the booty, they discovered that it had all been safely removed, under cover of the mist, and of the excitement of the fight, and that the boat which had brought it had got out of sight also. ”