Chapter 38
The secretary put his hand before his eyes to shade them from the glareof the lamp, and for some moments looked at Hugh with a frowning brow,as if he remembered to have seen him lately, but could not call to mindwhere, or on what occasion. His uncertainty was very brief, for beforeHugh had spoken a word, he said, as his countenance cleared up:
'Ay, ay, I recollect. It's quite right, John, you needn't wait. Don'tgo, Dennis.'
'Your servant, master,' said Hugh, as Grueby disappeared.
'Yours, friend,' returned the secretary in his smoothest manner. 'Whatbrings YOU here? We left nothing behind us, I hope?'
Hugh gave a short laugh, and thrusting his hand into his breast,produced one of the handbills, soiled and dirty from lying out of doorsall night, which he laid upon the secretary's desk after flattening itupon his knee, and smoothing out the wrinkles with his heavy palm.
'Nothing but that, master. It fell into good hands, you see.'
'What is this!' said Gashford, turning it over with an air of perfectlynatural surprise. 'Where did you get it from, my good fellow; what doesit mean? I don't understand this at all.'
A little disconcerted by this reception, Hugh looked from the secretaryto Dennis, who had risen and was standing at the table too, observingthe stranger by stealth, and seeming to derive the utmost satisfactionfrom his manners and appearance. Considering himself silently appealedto by this action, Mr Dennis shook his head thrice, as if to say ofGashford, 'No. He don't know anything at all about it. I know he don't.I'll take my oath he don't;' and hiding his profile from Hugh with onelong end of his frowzy neckerchief, nodded and chuckled behind thisscreen in extreme approval of the secretary's proceedings.
'It tells the man that finds it, to come here, don't it?' asked Hugh.'I'm no scholar, myself, but I showed it to a friend, and he said itdid.'
'It certainly does,' said Gashford, opening his eyes to their utmostwidth; 'really this is the most remarkable circumstance I have everknown. How did you come by this piece of paper, my good friend?'
'Muster Gashford,' wheezed the hangman under his breath, 'agin' allNewgate!'
Whether Hugh heard him, or saw by his manner that he was being playedupon, or perceived the secretary's drift of himself, he came in hisblunt way to the point at once.
'Here!' he said, stretching out his hand and taking it back; 'never mindthe bill, or what it says, or what it don't say. You don't know anythingabout it, master,--no more do I,--no more does he,' glancing at Dennis.'None of us know what it means, or where it comes from: there's an endof that. Now I want to make one against the Catholics, I'm a No-Poperyman, and ready to be sworn in. That's what I've come here for.'
'Put him down on the roll, Muster Gashford,' said Dennis approvingly.'That's the way to go to work--right to the end at once, and nopalaver.'
'What's the use of shooting wide of the mark, eh, old boy!' cried Hugh.
'My sentiments all over!' rejoined the hangman. 'This is the sort ofchap for my division, Muster Gashford. Down with him, sir. Put him onthe roll. I'd stand godfather to him, if he was to be christened in abonfire, made of the ruins of the Bank of England.'
With these and other expressions of confidence of the like flatteringkind, Mr Dennis gave him a hearty slap on the back, which Hugh was notslow to return.
'No Popery, brother!' cried the hangman.
'No Property, brother!' responded Hugh.
'Popery, Popery,' said the secretary with his usual mildness.
'It's all the same!' cried Dennis. 'It's all right. Down with him,Muster Gashford. Down with everybody, down with everything! Hurrah forthe Protestant religion! That's the time of day, Muster Gashford!'
The secretary regarded them both with a very favourable expression ofcountenance, while they gave loose to these and other demonstrations oftheir patriotic purpose; and was about to make some remark aloud, whenDennis, stepping up to him, and shading his mouth with his hand, said,in a hoarse whisper, as he nudged him with his elbow:
'Don't split upon a constitutional officer's profession, MusterGashford. There are popular prejudices, you know, and he mightn't likeit. Wait till he comes to be more intimate with me. He's a fine-builtchap, an't he?'
'A powerful fellow indeed!'
'Did you ever, Muster Gashford,' whispered Dennis, with a horriblekind of admiration, such as that with which a cannibal might regard hisintimate friend, when hungry,--'did you ever--and here he drew stillcloser to his ear, and fenced his mouth with both his open bands--'seesuch a throat as his? Do but cast your eye upon it. There's a neck forstretching, Muster Gashford!'
The secretary assented to this proposition with the best grace he couldassume--it is difficult to feign a true professional relish: which iseccentric sometimes--and after asking the candidate a few unimportantquestions, proceeded to enrol him a member of the Great ProtestantAssociation of England. If anything could have exceeded Mr Dennis's joyon the happy conclusion of this ceremony, it would have been the rapturewith which he received the announcement that the new member couldneither read nor write: those two arts being (as Mr Dennis swore) thegreatest possible curse a civilised community could know, and militatingmore against the professional emoluments and usefulness of the greatconstitutional office he had the honour to hold, than any adversecircumstances that could present themselves to his imagination.
The enrolment being completed, and Hugh having been informed byGashford, in his peculiar manner, of the peaceful and strictly lawfulobjects contemplated by the body to which he now belonged--during whichrecital Mr Dennis nudged him very much with his elbow, and made diversremarkable faces--the secretary gave them both to understand that hedesired to be alone. Therefore they took their leaves without delay, andcame out of the house together.
'Are you walking, brother?' said Dennis.
'Ay!' returned Hugh. 'Where you will.'
'That's social,' said his new friend. 'Which way shall we take? Shall wego and have a look at doors that we shall make a pretty good clatteringat, before long--eh, brother?'
Hugh answering in the affirmative, they went slowly down to Westminster,where both houses of Parliament were then sitting. Mingling in the crowdof carriages, horses, servants, chairmen, link-boys, porters, and idlersof all kinds, they lounged about; while Hugh's new friend pointed out tohim significantly the weak parts of the building, how easy it was to getinto the lobby, and so to the very door of the House of Commons; and howplainly, when they marched down there in grand array, their roars andshouts would be heard by the members inside; with a great deal more tothe same purpose, all of which Hugh received with manifest delight.
He told him, too, who some of the Lords and Commons were, by name,as they came in and out; whether they were friendly to the Papists orotherwise; and bade him take notice of their liveries and equipages,that he might be sure of them, in case of need. Sometimes he drewhim close to the windows of a passing carriage, that he might see itsmaster's face by the light of the lamps; and, both in respect of peopleand localities, he showed so much acquaintance with everything around,that it was plain he had often studied there before; as indeed, whenthey grew a little more confidential, he confessed he had.
Perhaps the most striking part of all this was, the number ofpeople--never in groups of more than two or three together--who seemedto be skulking about the crowd for the same purpose. To the greater partof these, a slight nod or a look from Hugh's companion was sufficientgreeting; but, now and then, some man would come and stand beside himin the throng, and, without turning his head or appearing to communicatewith him, would say a word or two in a low voice, which he would answerin the same cautious manner. Then they would part, like strangers. Someof these men often reappeared again unexpectedly in the crowd close toHugh, and, as they passed by, pressed his hand, or looked him sternly inthe face; but they never spoke to him, nor he to them; no, not a word.
It was remarkable, too, that whenever they happened to stand where therewas any press of people, and Hugh chanced t
o be looking downward, hewas sure to see an arm stretched out--under his own perhaps, or perhapsacross him--which thrust some paper into the hand or pocket of abystander, and was so suddenly withdrawn that it was impossible to tellfrom whom it came; nor could he see in any face, on glancing quicklyround, the least confusion or surprise. They often trod upon a paperlike the one he carried in his breast, but his companion whispered himnot to touch it or to take it up,--not even to look towards it,--sothere they let them lie, and passed on.
When they had paraded the street and all the avenues of the building inthis manner for near two hours, they turned away, and his friend askedhim what he thought of what he had seen, and whether he was preparedfor a good hot piece of work if it should come to that. 'The hotter thebetter,' said Hugh, 'I'm prepared for anything.'--'So am I,' said hisfriend, 'and so are many of us; and they shook hands upon it with agreat oath, and with many terrible imprecations on the Papists.
As they were thirsty by this time, Dennis proposed that they shouldrepair together to The Boot, where there was good company and strongliquor. Hugh yielding a ready assent, they bent their steps that waywith no loss of time.
This Boot was a lone house of public entertainment, situated in thefields at the back of the Foundling Hospital; a very solitary spot atthat period, and quite deserted after dark. The tavern stood at somedistance from any high road, and was approachable only by a dark andnarrow lane; so that Hugh was much surprised to find several peopledrinking there, and great merriment going on. He was still moresurprised to find among them almost every face that had caught hisattention in the crowd; but his companion having whispered him outsidethe door, that it was not considered good manners at The Boot to appearat all curious about the company, he kept his own counsel, and made noshow of recognition.
Before putting his lips to the liquor which was brought for them, Dennisdrank in a loud voice the health of Lord George Gordon, President of theGreat Protestant Association; which toast Hugh pledged likewise, withcorresponding enthusiasm. A fiddler who was present, and who appearedto act as the appointed minstrel of the company, forthwith struck up aScotch reel; and that in tones so invigorating, that Hugh and his friend(who had both been drinking before) rose from their seats as by previousconcert, and, to the great admiration of the assembled guests, performedan extemporaneous No-Popery Dance.