Redgauntlet: A Tale Of The Eighteenth Century

  CHAPTER VI

  LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION

  The important interview expected at the conclusion of my last took placesooner than I had calculated; for the very day I received the letter,and just when my dinner was finished, the squire, or whatever he iscalled, entered the room so suddenly that I almost thought I beheld anapparition. The figure of this man is peculiarly noble and stately,and his voice has that deep fullness of accent which implies unresistedauthority. I had risen involuntarily as he entered; we gazed on eachother for a moment in silence, which was at length broken by my visitor.

  'You have desired to see me,' he said. 'I am here; if you have aughtto say let me hear it; my time is too brief to be consumed in childishdumb-show.'

  'I would ask of you,' said I, 'by what authority I am detained in thisplace of confinement, and for what purpose?'

  'I have told you already,' said he, 'that my authority is sufficient,and my power equal to it; this is all which it is necessary for you atpresent to know.'

  'Every British subject has a right to know why he suffers restraint,'I replied; 'nor can he be deprived of liberty without a legal warrant.Show me that by which you confine me thus.'

  'You shall see more,' he said; 'you shall see the magistrate by whom itis granted, and that without a moment's delay.'

  This sudden proposal fluttered and alarmed me; I felt, nevertheless,that I had the right cause, and resolved to plead it boldly, althoughI could well have desired a little further time for preparation. Heturned, however, threw open the door of the apartment, and commanded meto follow him. I felt some inclination, when I crossed the threshold ofmy prison-chamber, to have turned and run for it; but I knew not whereto find the stairs--had reason to think the outer doors would be securedand, to conclude, so soon as I had quitted the room to follow the proudstep of my conductor, I observed that I was dogged by Cristal Nixon, whosuddenly appeared within two paces of me, and with whose great personalstrength, independent of the assistance he might have received fromhis master, I saw no chance of contending. I therefore followed,unresistingly and in silence; along one or two passages of much greaterlength than consisted with the ideas I had previously entertained ofthe size of the house. At length a door was flung open, and we entereda large, old-fashioned parlour, having coloured glass in the windows,oaken panelling on the wall, a huge grate, in which a large faggotor two smoked under an arched chimney-piece of stone which bore somearmorial device, whilst the walls were adorned with the usual numberof heroes in armour, with large wigs instead of helmets, and ladies insacques, smelling to nosegays.

  Behind a long table, on which were several books, sat a smartunderbred-looking man, wearing his own hair tied in a club, and who,from the quire of paper laid before him, and the pen which he handledat my entrance, seemed prepared to officiate as clerk. As I wish todescribe these persons as accurately as possible, I may add, he wore adark-coloured coat, corduroy breeches, and spatterdashes. At theupper end of the same table, in an ample easy-chair covered with blackleather, reposed a fat personage, about fifty years old, who either wasactually a country justice, or was well selected to represent such acharacter. His leathern breeches were faultless in make, his jockeyboots spotless in the varnish, and a handsome and flourishing pair ofboot-garters, as they are called, united the one part of his garments tothe other; in fine, a richly-laced scarlet waistcoat and a purple coatset off the neat though corpulent figure of the little man, and threw anadditional bloom upon his plethoric aspect. I suppose he had dined,for it was two hours past noon, and he was amusing himself, and aidingdigestion, with a pipe of tobacco. There was an air of importance in hismanner which corresponded to the rural dignity of his exterior, and ahabit which he had of throwing out a number of interjectional sounds,uttered with a strange variety of intonation running from bass up totreble in a very extraordinary manner, or breaking off his sentenceswith a whiff of his pipe, seemed adopted to give an air of thought andmature deliberation to his opinions and decisions. Notwithstandingall this, Alan, it might be DOOTED, as our old Professor used to say,whether the Justice was anything more then an ass. Certainly, besides agreat deference for the legal opinion of his clerk, which might be quiteaccording to the order of things, he seemed to be wonderfully under thecommand of his brother squire, if squire either of them were, and indeedmuch more than was consistent with so much assumed consequence of hisown.

  'Ho--ha--aye--so--so--hum--humph--this is the young man, Isuppose--hum--aye--seems sickly. Young gentleman, you may sit down.'

  I used the permission given, for I had been much more reduced by myillness than I was aware of, and felt myself really fatigued, even bythe few paces I had walked, joined to the agitation I suffered.

  'And your name, young man, is--humph--aye--ha--what is it?'

  'Darsie Latimer.'

  'Right--aye--humph--very right. Darsie Latimer is the verything--ha--aye--where do you come from?'

  'From Scotland, sir,' I replied.

  'A native of Scotland--a--humph--eh--how is it?'

  'I am an Englishman by birth, sir.'

  'Right--aye--yes, you are so. But pray, Mr. Darsie Latimer, have youalways been called by that name, or have you any other?--Nick, writedown his answers, Nick.'

  'As far as I remember, I never bore any other,' was my answer.

  'How, no? well, I should not have thought so, Hey, neighbour, wouldyou?'

  Here he looked towards the other squire, who had thrown himself into achair; and, with his legs stretched out before him, and his arms foldedon his bosom, seemed carelessly attending to what was going forward.He answered the appeal of the Justice by saying, that perhaps the youngman's memory did not go back to a very early period.

  'Ah--eh--ha--you hear the gentleman. Pray, how far may your memory bepleased to run back to?--umph?'

  'Perhaps, sir, to the age of three years, or a little further.'

  'And will you presume to say, sir,' said the squire, drawing himselfsuddenly erect in his seat, and exerting the strength of his powerfulvoice, 'that you then bore your present name?'

  I was startled at the confidence with which this question was put, andin vain rummaged my memory for the means of replying. 'At least,' Isaid, 'I always remember being called Darsie; children, at that earlyage, seldom get more than their Christian name.'

  'Oh, I thought so,' he replied, and again stretched himself on his seat,in the same lounging posture as before.

  'So you were called Darsie in your infancy,' said the Justice;'and--hum--aye--when did you first take the name of Latimer?'

  'I did not take it, sir; it was given to me.'

  'I ask you,' said the lord of the mansion, but with less severity in hisvoice than formerly, 'whether you can remember that you were ever calledLatimer, until you had that name given you in Scotland?'

  'I will be candid: I cannot recollect an instance that I was so calledwhen in England, but neither can I recollect when the name was firstgiven me; and if anything is to be founded on these queries and myanswers, I desire my early childhood may be taken into consideration.'

  'Hum--aye--yes,' said the Justice; 'all that requires considerationshall be duly considered. Young man--eh--I beg to know the name of yourfather and mother?'

  This was galling a wound that has festered for years, and I did notendure the question so patiently as those which preceded it; butreplied, 'I demand, in my turn, to know if I am before an EnglishJustice of the Peace?'

  'His worship, Squire Foxley, of Foxley Hall, has been of the quorumthese twenty years,' said Master Nicholas.

  'Then he ought to know, or you, sir, as his clerk, should inform him,'said I, 'that I am the complainer in this case, and that my complaintought to be heard before I am subjected to cross-examination.'

  'Humph--hoy--what, aye--there is something in that, neighbour,' saidthe poor Justice, who, blown about by every wind of doctrine, seemeddesirous to attain the sanction of his brother squire.

  'I wonder at you, Foxley,' said his firm-minded acquain
tance; 'how canyou render the young man justice unless you know who he is?'

  'Ha--yes--egad, that's true,' said Mr. Justice Foxley; 'and now--lookinginto the matter more closely--there is, eh, upon the whole--nothingat all in what he says--so, sir, you must tell your father's name, andsurname.'

  'It is out of my power, sir; they are not known to me, since you mustneeds know so much of my private affairs.'

  The Justice collected a great AFFLATUS in his cheeks, which puffed themup like those of a Dutch cherub, while his eyes seemed flying out of hishead, from the effort with which he retained his breath. He then blewit forth with,--'Whew!--Hoom--poof--ha!--not know your parents,youngster?--Then I must commit you for a vagrant, I warrant you. OMNEIGNOTUM PRO TERRIBILI, as we used to say at Appleby school; that is,every one that is not known to the Justice; is a rogue and a vagabond.Ha!--aye, you may sneer, sir; but I question if you would have known themeaning of that Latin, unless I had told you.'

  I acknowledged myself obliged for a new edition of the adage, and aninterpretation which I could never have reached alone and unassisted. Ithen proceeded to state my case with greater confidence. The Justicewas an ass, that was clear; but if was scarcely possible he could be soutterly ignorant as not to know what was necessary in so plain a case asmine. I therefore informed him of the riot which had been committed onthe Scottish side of the Solway Firth, explained how I came to be placedin my present situation, and requested of his worship to set me atliberty. I pleaded my cause with as much earnestness as I could, castingan eye from time to time upon the opposite party, who seemed entirelyindifferent to all the animation with which I accused him.

  As for the Justice, when at length I had ceased, as really notknowing what more to say in a case so very plain, he replied,'Ho--aye--aye--yes--wonderful! and so this is all the gratitude you showto this good gentleman for the great charge and trouble he hath had withrespect to and concerning of you?'

  'He saved my life, sir, I acknowledge, on one occasion certainly, andmost probably on two; but his having done so gives him no right over myperson. I am not, however, asking for any punishment or revenge; on thecontrary, I am content to part friends with the gentleman, whose motivesI am unwilling to suppose are bad, though his actions have been, towardsme, unauthorized and violent.'

  This moderation, Alan, thou wilt comprehend, was not entirely dictatedby my feelings towards the individual of whom I complained; there wereother reasons, in which regard for him had little share. It seemed,however, as if the mildness with which I pleaded my cause had moreeffect upon him than anything I had yet said. We was moved to the pointof being almost out of countenance; and took snuff repeatedly, as if togain time to stifle some degree of emotion.

  But on Justice Foxley, on whom my eloquence was particularly designed tomake impression, the result was much less favourable. He consulted in awhisper with Mr. Nicholas, his clerk--pshawed, hemmed, and elevatedhis eyebrows, as if in scorn of my supplication. At length, havingapparently made up his mind, he leaned back in his chair, and smokedhis pipe with great energy, with a look of defiance, designed to make meaware that all my reasoning was lost on him.

  At length, when I stopped, more from lack of breath than want ofargument, he opened his oracular jaws, and made the following reply,interrupted by his usual interjectional ejaculations, and by longvolumes of smoke:--'Hem--aye--eh--poof. And, youngster, do you thinkMatthew Foxley, who has been one of the quorum for these twenty years,is to be come over with such trash as would hardly cheat an apple-woman?Poof--poof--eh! Why, man--eh--dost thou not know the charge is not abailable matter--and that--hum--aye--the greatest man--poof--the Baronof Graystock himself, must stand committed? and yet you pretend to havebeen kidnapped by this gentleman, and robbed of property, and what not;and--eh--poof--you would persuade me all you want is to get away fromhim? I do believe--eh--that it IS all you want. Therefore, as you area sort of a slip-string gentleman, and--aye--hum--a kind of idleapprentice, and something cock-brained withal, as the honest folksof the house tell me--why, you must e'en remain under custody of yourguardian, till your coming of age, or my Lord Chancellor's warrant,shall give you the management of your own affairs, which, if you cangather your brains again, you will even then not be--aye--hem--poof--inparticular haste to assume.'

  The time occupied by his worship's hums, and haws, and puffs of tobaccosmoke, together with the slow and pompous manner in which he spoke, gaveme a minute's space to collect my ideas, dispersed as they were by theextraordinary purport of this annunciation.

  'I cannot conceive, sir,' I replied, 'by what singular tenure thisperson claims my obedience as a guardian; it is a barefaced imposture. Inever in my life saw him, until I came unhappily to this country, aboutfour weeks since.'

  'Aye, sir--we--eh--know, and are aware--that--poof--you do not liketo hear some folk's names; and that--eh--you understand me--there arethings, and sounds, and matters, conversation about names, and suchlike,which put you off the hooks--which I have no humour to witness.Nevertheless, Mr. Darsie--or--poof--Mr. Darsie Latimer--or--poof,poof--eh--aye, Mr. Darsie without the Latimer--you have acknowledgedas much to-day as assures me you will best be disposed of under thehonourable care of my friend here--all your confessions--besides that,poof--eh--I know him to be a most responsible person--a--hay--aye--mostresponsible and honourable person--Can you deny this?'

  'I know nothing of him,' I repeated; 'not even his name; and I have not,as I told you, seen him in the course of my whole life, till a few weekssince.'

  'Will you swear to that?' said the singular man, who seemed to await theresult of this debate, secure as a rattle-snake is of the prey whichhas once felt its fascination. And while he said these words in deepundertone, he withdrew his chair a little behind that of the Justice, soas to be unseen by him or his clerk, who sat upon the same side; whilehe bent on me a frown so portentous, that no one who has witnessed thelook can forget it during the whole of his life. The furrows of thebrow above the eyes became livid and almost black, and were bent intoa semicircular, or rather elliptical form, above the junction of theeyebrows. I had heard such a look described in an old tale of DIABLERIE,which it was my chance to be entertained with not long since; whenthis deep and gloomy contortion of the frontal muscles was not unaptlydescribed as forming the representation of a small horseshoe.

  The tale, when told, awaked a dreadful vision of infancy, whichthe withering and blighting look now fixed on me again forced onmy recollection, but with much more vivacity. Indeed, I was so muchsurprised, and, I must add, terrified, at the vague ideas which wereawakened in my mind by this fearful sign, that I kept my eyes fixed onthe face in which it was exhibited, as on a frightful vision; until,passing his handkerchief a moment across his countenance, thismysterious man relaxed at once the look which had for me somethingso appalling. 'The young man will no longer deny that he has seen mebefore,' said he to the Justice, in a tone of complacency; 'and I trusthe will now be reconciled to my temporary guardianship, which may endbetter for him than he expects.'

  'Whatever I expect,' I replied, summoning my scattered recollectionstogether, 'I see I am neither to expect justice nor protection from thisgentleman, whose office it is to render both to the lieges. For you,sir, how strangely you have wrought yourself into the fate of an unhappyyoung man or what interest you can pretend in me, you yourself only canexplain. That I have seen you before is certain; for none can forget thelook with which you seem to have the power of blighting those upon whomyou cast it.'

  The Justice seemed not very easy under this hint,'Ha!--aye,' he said;'it is time to be going, neighbour. I have a many miles to ride, and Icare not to ride darkling in these parts. You and I, Mr. Nicholas, mustbe jogging.'

  The Justice fumbled with his gloves, in endeavouring to draw them onhastily, and Mr. Nicholas bustled to get his greatcoat and whip. Theirlandlord endeavoured to detain them, and spoke of supper and beds. Both,pouring forth many thanks for his invitation, seemed as if they wouldmuch rather not, and Mr. Justice Foxley was maki
ng a score of apologies,with at least a hundred cautionary hems and eh-ehs, when the girl Dorcasburst into the room, and announced a gentleman on justice business.

  'What gentleman?--and whom does he want?'

  'He is cuome post on his ten toes,' said the wench; 'and on justicebusiness to his worship loike. I'se uphald him a gentleman, for hespeaks as good Latin as the schule-measter; but, lack-a-day! he hasgotten a queer mop of a wig.'

  The gentleman, thus announced and described, bounced into the room.But I have already written as much as fills a sheet of my paper, and mysingular embarrassments press so hard on me that I have matter to fillanother from what followed the intrusion of--my dear Alan--your crazyclient--Poor Peter Peebles!