CHAPTER III.
Nay, I'll hold touch--the game shall be play'd out; It ne'er shall stop for me, this merry wager: That which I say when gamesome, I'll avouch In my most sober mood, ne'er trust me else. THE HAZARD TABLE.
"And how doth your kinsman, good mine host?" said Tressilian, when GilesGosling first appeared in the public room, on the morning following therevel which we described in the last chapter. "Is he well, and will heabide by his wager?"
"For well, sir, he started two hours since, and has visited I know notwhat purlieus of his old companions; hath but now returned, and is atthis instant breakfasting on new-laid eggs and muscadine. And for hiswager, I caution you as a friend to have little to do with that, orindeed with aught that Mike proposes. Wherefore, I counsel you to a warmbreakfast upon a culiss, which shall restore the tone of the stomach;and let my nephew and Master Goldthred swagger about their wager as theylist."
"It seems to me, mine host," said Tressilian, "that you know not wellwhat to say about this kinsman of yours, and that you can neither blamenor commend him without some twinge of conscience."
"You have spoken truly, Master Tressilian," replied Giles Gosling."There is Natural Affection whimpering into one ear, 'Giles, Giles, whywilt thou take away the good name of thy own nephew? Wilt thou defamethy sister's son, Giles Gosling? wilt thou defoul thine own nest,dishonour thine own blood?' And then, again, comes Justice, and says,'Here is a worthy guest as ever came to the bonny Black Bear; one whonever challenged a reckoning' (as I say to your face you never did,Master Tressilian--not that you have had cause), 'one who knows not whyhe came, so far as I can see, or when he is going away; and wilt thou,being a publican, having paid scot and lot these thirty years in thetown of Cumnor, and being at this instant head-borough, wilt thou sufferthis guest of guests, this man of men, this six-hooped pot (as I maysay) of a traveller, to fall into the meshes of thy nephew, who is knownfor a swasher and a desperate Dick, a carder and a dicer, a professor ofthe seven damnable sciences, if ever man took degrees in them?' No,by Heaven! I might wink, and let him catch such a small butterfly asGoldthred; but thou, my guest, shall be forewarned, forearmed, so thouwilt but listen to thy trusty host."
"Why, mine host, thy counsel shall not be cast away," repliedTressilian; "however, I must uphold my share in this wager, having oncepassed my word to that effect. But lend me, I pray, some of thy counsel.This Foster, who or what is he, and why makes he such mystery of hisfemale inmate?"
"Troth," replied Gosling, "I can add but little to what you heard lastnight. He was one of Queen Mary's Papists, and now he is one of QueenElizabeth's Protestants; he was an onhanger of the Abbot of Abingdon;and now he lives as master of the Manor-house. Above all, he waspoor, and is rich. Folk talk of private apartments in his old wastemansion-house, bedizened fine enough to serve the Queen, God bless her!Some men think he found a treasure in the orchard, some that he soldhimself to the devil for treasure, and some say that he cheated theabbot out of the church plate, which was hidden in the old Manor-houseat the Reformation. Rich, however, he is, and God and his conscience,with the devil perhaps besides, only know how he came by it. He hassulky ways too--breaking off intercourse with all that are of the place,as if he had either some strange secret to keep, or held himself to bemade of another clay than we are. I think it likely my kinsman and hewill quarrel, if Mike thrust his acquaintance on him; and I am sorrythat you, my worthy Master Tressilian, will still think of going in mynephew's company."
Tressilian again answered him, that he would proceed with great caution,and that he should have no fears on his account; in short, he bestowedon him all the customary assurances with which those who are determinedon a rash action are wont to parry the advice of their friends.
Meantime, the traveller accepted the landlord's invitation, and had justfinished the excellent breakfast, which was served to him and Goslingby pretty Cicely, the beauty of the bar, when the hero of the precedingnight, Michael Lambourne, entered the apartment. His toilet hadapparently cost him some labour, for his clothes, which differed fromthose he wore on his journey, were of the newest fashion, and put onwith great attention to the display of his person.
"By my faith, uncle," said the gallant, "you made a wet night of it, andI feel it followed by a dry morning. I will pledge you willingly in acup of bastard.--How, my pretty coz Cicely! why, I left you but a childin the cradle, and there thou stand'st in thy velvet waistcoat, as tighta girl as England's sun shines on. Know thy friends and kindred,Cicely, and come hither, child, that I may kiss thee, and give thee myblessing."
"Concern not yourself about Cicely, kinsman," said Giles Gosling, "bute'en let her go her way, a' God's name; for although your mother wereher father's sister, yet that shall not make you and her cater-cousins."
"Why, uncle," replied Lambourne, "think'st thou I am an infidel, andwould harm those of mine own house?"
"It is for no harm that I speak, Mike," answered his uncle, "but asimple humour of precaution which I have. True, thou art as well gildedas a snake when he casts his old slough in the spring time; but for allthat, thou creepest not into my Eden. I will look after mine Eve, Mike,and so content thee.--But how brave thou be'st, lad! To look on theenow, and compare thee with Master Tressilian here, in his sad-colouredriding-suit, who would not say that thou wert the real gentleman and hethe tapster's boy?"
"Troth, uncle," replied Lambourne, "no one would say so but one of yourcountry-breeding, that knows no better. I will say, and I care not whohears me, there is something about the real gentry that few men come upto that are not born and bred to the mystery. I wot not where the tricklies; but although I can enter an ordinary with as much audacity, rebukethe waiters and drawers as loudly, drink as deep a health, swear asround an oath, and fling my gold as freely about as any of the jinglingspurs and white feathers that are around me, yet, hang me if I can evercatch the true grace of it, though I have practised an hundred times.The man of the house sets me lowest at the board, and carves to me thelast; and the drawer says, 'Coming, friend,' without any more reverenceor regardful addition. But, hang it, let it pass; care killed a cat. Ihave gentry enough to pass the trick on Tony Fire-the-Faggot, and thatwill do for the matter in hand."
"You hold your purpose, then, of visiting your old acquaintance?" saidTressilian to the adventurer.
"Ay, sir," replied Lambourne; "when stakes are made, the game must beplayed; that is gamester's law, all over the world. You, sir, unlessmy memory fails me (for I did steep it somewhat too deeply in thesack-butt), took some share in my hazard?"
"I propose to accompany you in your adventure," said Tressilian, "if youwill do me so much grace as to permit me; and I have staked my share ofthe forfeit in the hands of our worthy host."
"That he hath," answered Giles Gosling, "in as fair Harry-nobles as everwere melted into sack by a good fellow. So, luck to your enterprise,since you will needs venture on Tony Foster; but, by my credit, you hadbetter take another draught before you depart, for your welcome atthe Hall yonder will be somewhat of the driest. And if you do get intoperil, beware of taking to cold steel; but send for me, Giles Gosling,the head-borough, and I may be able to make something out of Tony yet,for as proud as he is."
The nephew dutifully obeyed his uncle's hint, by taking a secondpowerful pull at the tankard, observing that his wit never served himso well as when he had washed his temples with a deep morning's draught;and they set forth together for the habitation of Anthony Foster.
The village of Cumnor is pleasantly built on a hill, and in a woodedpark closely adjacent was situated the ancient mansion occupied at thistime by Anthony Foster, of which the ruins may be still extant. The parkwas then full of large trees, and in particular of ancient and mightyoaks, which stretched their giant arms over the high wall surroundingthe demesne, thus giving it a melancholy, secluded, and monasticappearance. The entrance to the park lay through an old-fashionedgateway in the outer wall, the door of which was formed of two hugeoaken leaves thickly st
udded with nails, like the gate of an old town.
"We shall be finely helped up here," said Michael Lambourne, looking atthe gateway and gate, "if this fellow's suspicious humour shouldrefuse us admission altogether, as it is like he may, in case thislinsey-wolsey fellow of a mercer's visit to his premises has disquietedhim. But, no," he added, pushing the huge gate, which gave way, "thedoor stands invitingly open; and here we are within the forbiddenground, without other impediment than the passive resistance of a heavyoak door moving on rusty hinges."
They stood now in an avenue overshadowed by such old trees as we havedescribed, and which had been bordered at one time by high hedges of yewand holly. But these, having been untrimmed for many years, had run upinto great bushes, or rather dwarf-trees, and now encroached, with theirdark and melancholy boughs, upon the road which they once had screened.The avenue itself was grown up with grass, and, in one or two places,interrupted by piles of withered brushwood, which had been lopped fromthe trees cut down in the neighbouring park, and was here stacked fordrying. Formal walks and avenues, which, at different points, crossedthis principal approach, were, in like manner, choked up and interruptedby piles of brushwood and billets, and in other places by underwood andbrambles. Besides the general effect of desolation which is so stronglyimpressed whenever we behold the contrivances of man wasted andobliterated by neglect, and witness the marks of social life effacedgradually by the influence of vegetation, the size of the trees and theoutspreading extent of their boughs diffused a gloom over the scene,even when the sun was at the highest, and made a proportional impressionon the mind of those who visited it. This was felt even by MichaelLambourne, however alien his habits were to receiving any impressions,excepting from things which addressed themselves immediately to hispassions.
"This wood is as dark as a wolf's mouth," said he to Tressilian, as theywalked together slowly along the solitary and broken approach, and hadjust come in sight of the monastic front of the old mansion, with itsshafted windows, brick walls overgrown with ivy and creeping shrubs,and twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy stone-work. "And yet," continuedLambourne, "it is fairly done on the part of Foster too for since hechooses not visitors, it is right to keep his place in a fashion thatwill invite few to trespass upon his privacy. But had he been theAnthony I once knew him, these sturdy oaks had long since become theproperty of some honest woodmonger, and the manor-close here had lookedlighter at midnight than it now does at noon, while Foster played fastand loose with the price, in some cunning corner in the purlieus ofWhitefriars."
"Was he then such an unthrift?" asked Tressilian.
"He was," answered Lambourne, "like the rest of us, no saint, and nosaver. But what I liked worst of Tony was, that he loved to take hispleasure by himself, and grudged, as men say, every drop of water thatwent past his own mill. I have known him deal with such measures of winewhen he was alone, as I would not have ventured on with aid of the besttoper in Berkshire;--that, and some sway towards superstition, which hehad by temperament, rendered him unworthy the company of a good fellow.And now he has earthed himself here, in a den just befitting such a slyfox as himself."
"May I ask you, Master Lambourne," said Tressilian, "since your oldcompanion's humour jumps so little with your own, wherefore you are sodesirous to renew acquaintance with him?"
"And may I ask you, in return, Master Tressilian," answered Lambourne,"wherefore you have shown yourself so desirous to accompany me on thisparty?"
"I told you my motive," said Tressilian, "when I took share in yourwager--it was simple curiosity."
"La you there now!" answered Lambourne. "See how you civil and discreetgentlemen think to use us who live by the free exercise of our wits! HadI answered your question by saying that it was simple curiosity whichled me to visit my old comrade Anthony Foster, I warrant you had set itdown for an evasion, and a turn of my trade. But any answer, I suppose,must serve my turn."
"And wherefore should not bare curiosity," said Tressilian, "be asufficient reason for my taking this walk with you?"
"Oh, content yourself, sir," replied Lambourne; "you cannot putthe change on me so easy as you think, for I have lived among thequick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain.You are a gentleman of birth and breeding--your bearing makes it good;of civil habits and fair reputation--your manners declare it, andmy uncle avouches it; and yet you associate yourself with a sort ofscant-of-grace, as men call me, and, knowing me to be such, you makeyourself my companion in a visit to a man whom you are a strangerto--and all out of mere curiosity, forsooth! The excuse, if curiouslybalanced, would be found to want some scruples of just weight, or so."
"If your suspicions were just," said Tressilian, "you have shown noconfidence in me to invite or deserve mine."
"Oh, if that be all," said Lambourne, "my motives lie above water. Whilethis gold of mine lasts"--taking out his purse, chucking it into theair, and catching it as it fell--"I will make it buy pleasure; andwhen it is out I must have more. Now, if this mysterious Lady of theManor--this fair Lindabrides of Tony Fire-the-Fagot--be so admirable apiece as men say, why, there is a chance that she may aid me to meltmy nobles into greats; and, again, if Anthony be so wealthy a chuffas report speaks him, he may prove the philosopher's stone to me, andconvert my greats into fair rose-nobles again."
"A comfortable proposal truly," said Tressilian; "but I see not whatchance there is of accomplishing it."
"Not to-day, or perchance to-morrow," answered Lambourne; "I expect notto catch the old jack till. I have disposed my ground-baits handsomely.But I know something more of his affairs this morning than I did lastnight, and I will so use my knowledge that he shall think it moreperfect than it is. Nay, without expecting either pleasure or profit, orboth, I had not stepped a stride within this manor, I can tell you; forI promise you I hold our visit not altogether without risk.--But here weare, and we must make the best on't."
While he thus spoke, they had entered a large orchard which surroundedthe house on two sides, though the trees, abandoned by the care of man,were overgrown and messy, and seemed to bear little fruit. Those whichhad been formerly trained as espaliers had now resumed their naturalmode of growing, and exhibited grotesque forms, partaking of theoriginal training which they had received. The greater part of theground, which had once been parterres and flower-gardens, was sufferedin like manner to run to waste, excepting a few patches which had beendug up and planted with ordinary pot herbs. Some statues, which hadornamented the garden in its days of splendour, were now thrown downfrom their pedestals and broken in pieces; and a large summer-house,having a heavy stone front, decorated with carving representing the lifeand actions of Samson, was in the same dilapidated condition.
They had just traversed this garden of the sluggard, and were withina few steps of the door of the mansion, when Lambourne had ceasedspeaking; a circumstance very agreeable to Tressilian, as it saved himthe embarrassment of either commenting upon or replying to the frankavowal which his companion had just made of the sentiments and viewswhich induced him to come hither. Lambourne knocked roundly and boldlyat the huge door of the mansion, observing, at the same time, he hadseen a less strong one upon a county jail. It was not until they hadknocked more than once that an aged, sour-visaged domestic reconnoitredthem through a small square hole in the door, well secured with bars ofiron, and demanded what they wanted.
"To speak with Master Foster instantly, on pressing business of thestate," was the ready reply of Michael Lambourne.
"Methinks you will find difficulty to make that good," said Tressilianin a whisper to his companion, while the servant went to carry themessage to his master.
"Tush," replied the adventurer; "no soldier would go on were healways to consider when and how he should come off. Let us once obtainentrance, and all will go well enough."
In a short time the servant returned, and drawing with a careful handboth bolt and bar, opened the gate, which admitted them through anarchway into a square court, surrounded b
y buildings. Opposite to thearch was another door, which the serving-man in like manner unlocked,and thus introduced them into a stone-paved parlour, where there was butlittle furniture, and that of the rudest and most ancient fashion. Thewindows were tall and ample, reaching almost to the roof of the room,which was composed of black oak; those opening to the quadrangle wereobscured by the height of the surrounding buildings, and, as they weretraversed with massive shafts of solid stone-work, and thickly paintedwith religious devices, and scenes taken from Scripture history, by nomeans admitted light in proportion to their size, and what did penetratethrough them partook of the dark and gloomy tinge of the stained glass.
Tressilian and his guide had time enough to observe all theseparticulars, for they waited some space in the apartment ere the presentmaster of the mansion at length made his appearance. Prepared as he wasto see an inauspicious and ill-looking person, the ugliness of AnthonyFoster considerably exceeded what Tressilian had anticipated. He wasof middle stature, built strongly, but so clumsily as to border ondeformity, and to give all his motions the ungainly awkwardness of aleft-legged and left-handed man. His hair, in arranging which men atthat time, as at present, were very nice and curious, instead of beingcarefully cleaned and disposed into short curls, or else set up on end,as is represented in old paintings, in a manner resembling that used byfine gentlemen of our own day, escaped in sable negligence from undera furred bonnet, and hung in elf-locks, which seemed strangers tothe comb, over his rugged brows, and around his very singular andunprepossessing countenance. His keen, dark eyes were deep set beneathbroad and shaggy eyebrows, and as they were usually bent on the ground,seemed as if they were themselves ashamed of the expression natural tothem, and were desirous to conceal it from the observation of men.At times, however, when, more intent on observing others, he suddenlyraised them, and fixed them keenly on those with whom he conversed, theyseemed to express both the fiercer passions, and the power of mind whichcould at will suppress or disguise the intensity of inward feeling.The features which corresponded with these eyes and this form wereirregular, and marked so as to be indelibly fixed on the mind of himwho had once seen them. Upon the whole, as Tressilian could not helpacknowledging to himself, the Anthony Foster who now stood before themwas the last person, judging from personal appearance, upon whom onewould have chosen to intrude an unexpected and undesired visit. Hisattire was a doublet of russet leather, like those worn by the bettersort of country folk, girt with a buff belt, in which was stuck on theright side a long knife, or dudgeon dagger, and on the other acutlass. He raised his eyes as he entered the room, and fixed a keenlypenetrating glance upon his two visitors; then cast them down as ifcounting his steps, while he advanced slowly into the middle of theroom, and said, in a low and smothered tone of voice, "Let me pray you,gentlemen, to tell me the cause of this visit."
He looked as if he expected the answer from Tressilian, so true wasLambourne's observation that the superior air of breeding and dignityshone through the disguise of an inferior dress. But it was Michael whoreplied to him, with the easy familiarity of an old friend, and a tonewhich seemed unembarrassed by any doubt of the most cordial reception.
"Ha! my dear friend and ingle, Tony Foster!" he exclaimed, seizingupon the unwilling hand, and shaking it with such emphasis as almost tostagger the sturdy frame of the person whom he addressed, "how fares itwith you for many a long year? What! have you altogether forgotten yourfriend, gossip, and playfellow, Michael Lambourne?"
"Michael Lambourne!" said Foster, looking at him a moment; then droppinghis eyes, and with little ceremony extricating his hand from thefriendly grasp of the person by whom he was addressed, "are you MichaelLambourne?"
"Ay; sure as you are Anthony Foster," replied Lambourne.
"'Tis well," answered his sullen host. "And what may Michael Lambourneexpect from his visit hither?"
"VOTO A DIOS," answered Lambourne, "I expected a better welcome than Iam like to meet, I think."
"Why, thou gallows-bird--thou jail-rat--thou friend of the hangmanand his customers!" replied Foster, "hast thou the assurance to expectcountenance from any one whose neck is beyond the compass of a Tyburntippet?"
"It may be with me as you say," replied Lambourne; "and suppose I grantit to be so for argument's sake, I were still good enough societyfor mine ancient friend Anthony Fire-the-Fagot, though he be, for thepresent, by some indescribable title, the master of Cumnor Place."
"Hark you, Michael Lambourne," said Foster; "you are a gambler now, andlive by the counting of chances--compute me the odds that I do not, onthis instant, throw you out of that window into the ditch there."
"Twenty to one that you do not," answered the sturdy visitor.
"And wherefore, I pray you?" demanded Anthony Foster, setting his teethand compressing his lips, like one who endeavours to suppress someviolent internal emotion.
"Because," said Lambourne coolly, "you dare not for your life lay afinger on me. I am younger and stronger than you, and have in me adouble portion of the fighting devil, though not, it may be, quite somuch of the undermining fiend, that finds an underground way to hispurpose--who hides halters under folk's pillows, and who puts rats-baneinto their porridge, as the stage-play says."
Foster looked at him earnestly, then turned away, and paced the roomtwice with the same steady and considerate pace with which he hadentered it; then suddenly came back, and extended his hand to MichaelLambourne, saying, "Be not wroth with me, good Mike; I did but trywhether thou hadst parted with aught of thine old and honourablefrankness, which your enviers and backbiters called saucy impudence."
"Let them call it what they will," said Michael Lambourne, "it is thecommodity we must carry through the world with us.--Uds daggers! I tellthee, man, mine own stock of assurance was too small to trade upon. Iwas fain to take in a ton or two more of brass at every port where Itouched in the voyage of life; and I started overboard what modesty andscruples I had remaining, in order to make room for the stowage."
"Nay, nay," replied Foster, "touching scruples and modesty, you sailedhence in ballast. But who is this gallant, honest Mike?--is he aCorinthian--a cutter like thyself?"
"I prithee, know Master Tressilian, bully Foster," replied Lambourne,presenting his friend in answer to his friend's question, "know himand honour him, for he is a gentleman of many admirable qualities; andthough he traffics not in my line of business, at least so far as Iknow, he has, nevertheless, a just respect and admiration for artistsof our class. He will come to in time, as seldom fails; but as yet he isonly a neophyte, only a proselyte, and frequents the company of cocks ofthe game, as a puny fencer does the schools of the masters, to see how afoil is handled by the teachers of defence."
"If such be his quality, I will pray your company in another chamber,honest Mike, for what I have to say to thee is for thy privateear.--Meanwhile, I pray you, sir, to abide us in this apartment, andwithout leaving it; there be those in this house who would be alarmed bythe sight of a stranger."
Tressilian acquiesced, and the two worthies left the apartment together,in which he remained alone to await their return. [See Note 1. Foster,Lambourne, and the Black Bear.]