CHAPTER XLVIII. MULTUM IN PARVO
I lost no time after getting to Annapolis in confiding to Mr. Swain theconversation I had had with my cousin Philip. And I noticed, as he satlistening to my account in the library in Gloucester Street, that thebarrister looked very worn. He had never been a strong man, andthe severe strain he had been under with the patriots' business wasbeginning to tell.
He was very thoughtful when I had finished, and then told me brieflythat I had done well not to take the offer. "Tucker would have madebut short work of such evidence, my lad," said he, "and I think MasterPhilip would have lied himself in and out a dozen times. I cannot thinkwhat witness he would have introduced save Mr. Allen. And there isscarcely a doubt that your uncle pays him for his silence, for I am toldhe is living in Frederick in a manner far above what he gets from theparish. However, Philip has given us something more to work on. It maybe that he can put hands on the messenger."
I rose to go.
"We shall bring them to earth yet, Richard, and I live," he added. "AndI have always meant to ask you whether you ever regretted your decisionin taking Gordon's Pride."
"And you live, sir!" I exclaimed, not heeding the question.
He smiled somewhat sadly.
"Of one thing I am sure, my lad," he continued, "which is that I havehad no regrets about taking you. Mr. Bordley has just been here, andtells me you are the ablest young man in the province. You see that moreeyes than mine are upon you. You have proved yourself a man, Richard,and there are very few macaronies would have done as you did. I amresolved to add another little mite to your salary."
The "little mite" was of such a substantial nature that I protestedstrongly against it. I thought of Tom's demands upon him.
"I could afford to give you double for what you have made off theplace," he interrupted. "But I do not believe in young men having toomuch." He sighed, and turned to his work.
I hesitated. "You have spent time and labour upon my case, sir, and haveasked no fee."
"I shall speak of the fee when I win it," he said dryly, "and notbefore. How would you like to be clerk this winter to the Committee ofCorrespondence?"
I suppose my pleasure was expressed in my face.
"Well," said he, "I have got you the appointment without muchdifficulty. There are many ways in which you can be useful to the partywhen not helping me with my affairs."
This conversation gave me food for reflection during a week. I wastroubled about Mr. Swain, and what he had said as to not living keptrunning in my head as I wrote or figured. For I had enough to hold mebusy.
In the meantime, the clouds fast gathering on both sides of the Atlanticgrew blacker, and blacker still. I saw a great change in Annapolis. Menof affairs went about with grave faces, while gay and sober alike weretouched by the spell. The Tory gentry, to be sure, rattled about intheir gilded mahogany coaches, in spite of jeers and sour looks. My AuntCaroline wore jewelled stomachers to the assemblies,--now become dry andshrivelled entertainments. She kept her hairdresser, had three men inlivery to her chair, and a little negro in Turk's costume to wait onher. I often met her in the streets, and took a fierce joy in staringher, in the eye. And Grafton! By a sort of fate I was continuallyrunning against him. He was a very busy man, was my uncle, and had akind of dignified run, which he used between Marlboro' Street and theCouncil Chamber in the Stadt House, or the Governor's mansion. Henever did me the honour to glance at me. The Rev. Mr. Allen, too, camea-visiting from Frederick, where he had grown stout as an alderman uponthe living and its perquisites and Grafton's additional bounty. Thegossips were busy with his doings, for he had his travelling-coach andservant now. He went to the Tory balls with my aunt. Once I all butencountered him on the Circle, but he ran into Northeast Street to avoidme.
Yes, that was the winter when the wise foresaw the inevitable, and thefirst sharp split occurred between men who had been brothers. The oldorder of things had plainly passed, and I was truly thankful that mygrandfather had not lived to witness those scenes. The greater part ofour gentry stood firm for America's rights, and they had behind them thebest lawyers in America. After the lawyers came the small plantersand most of the mechanics. The shopkeepers formed the backbone of KingGeorge's adherents; the Tory gentry, the clergy, and those holdingoffice under the proprietor made the rest.
And it was all about tea, a word which, since '67, had been steadilybecoming the most vexed in the language. The East India Company had putforth a complaint. They had Heaven knows how many tons getting stalein London warehouses, all by reason of our stubbornness, and so it wasenacted that all tea paying the small American tax should have a rebateof the English duties. That was truly a master-stroke, for Parliament togive it us cheaper than it could be had at home! To cause his Majesty'sgovernment to lose revenues for the sake of being able to say they hadcaught and taxed us at last! The happy result is now history, my dears.And this is not a history, tho' I wish it were. What occurred at Boston,at Philadelphia, and Charleston, has since caused Englishmen, as wellas Americans, to feel proud. The chief incident in Annapolis I shallmention in another chapter.
When it became known with us that several cargoes were on their wayto the colonies, excitement and indignation gained a pitch not reachedsince the Stamp Act. Business came to a standstill, plantations layidle, and gentry and farmers flocked to Annapolis, and held meetings andmade resolutions anew. On my way of a morning from Mr. Swain's houseto his chambers in the Circle I would meet as many as a dozen knots ofpeople. Mr. Claude was one of the few patriots who reaped reward out ofthe disturbance, for his inn was crowded. The Assembly met, appointedcommittees to correspond with the other colonies, and was proroguedonce and again. Many a night I sat up until the small hours copyingout letters to the committees of Virginia, and Pennsylvania, andMassachusetts. The gentlemen were wont to dine at the Coffee House, andI would sit near the foot of the table, taking notes of their plans.'Twas so I met many men of distinction from the other colonies. ColonelWashington came once. He was grown a greater man than ever, and Ithought him graver than when I had last seen him. I believe a trait ofthis gentleman was never to forget a face.
"How do you, Richard?" said he. How I reddened when he called me sobefore all the committee. "I have heard your story, and it does you vastcredit. And the gentlemen tell me you are earning laurels, sir."
That first winter of the tea troubles was cold and wet with us, and thesun, as if in sympathy with the times, rarely showed his face. Early inFebruary our apprehensions concerning Mr. Swain's health were realized.One day, without a word to any one, he went to his bed, where Pattyfound him. And I ran all the way to Dr. Leiden's. The doctor looked athim, felt his pulse and his chest, and said nothing. But he did not restthat night, nor did Patty or I.
Thus I came to have to do with the good barrister's private affairs. Iknew that he was a rich man, as riches went in our province, but I hadnever tried to guess at his estate. I confess the sums he had paid outin Tom's behalf frightened me. With the advice of Mr. Bordley andMr. Lloyd I managed his money as best I could, but by reason ofthe non-importation resolutions there was little chance for goodinvestments,--no cargoes coming and few going. I saw, indeed, thatbuying the Talbot estate had been a fortunate step, since the quantitiesof wheat we grew there might be disposed of in America.
When Dr. Leiden was still coming twice a day to Gloucester Street, Mr.Tom must needs get into a scrape with one of the ladies of the theatre,and come to me in the Circle chambers for one hundred pounds. I toldhim, in despair, that I had no authority to pay out his father's money."And so you have become master, sure enough!" he cried, in a passion.For he was desperate. "You have worked your way in vastly well, egad,with your Whig committee meetings and speeches. And now he is on hisback, and you have possession, you choose to cut me off. 'Slife, I knowwhat will be coming next!"
I pulled him into Mr. Swain's private room, where we would be free ofthe clerks. "Yes, I am master here," I replied, sadly enough, as hestood sullenly before me. "
I should think you would be ashamed to ownit. When I came to your father I was content to be overseer in Talbot,and thankful for his bounty. 'Tis no fault of mine, but your disgrace,that his son is not managing his business, and supporting him in therights of his country. I am not very old, Tom. A year older than you, Ibelieve. But I have seen enough of life to prophesy your end and you donot reform."
"We are turned preacher," he says, with a sneer.
"God forbid! But I have been in a sponging-house, and tasted the lowestdregs. And if this country becomes free, as I think it will some day,such as you will be driven to England, and die in the Fleet."
"Not while my father lives," retorts he, and throws aside the oiledsilk cape with a London name upon it. The day was rainy. I groaned. Myresponsibility lay heavy upon me. And this was not my first scene withhim. He continued doggedly:--"You have no right to deny me what is notyours. 'Twill be mine one day."
"You have no right to accuse me of thoughts that do not occur to men ofhonour," I replied. "I am slower to anger than I once was, but I giveyou warning now. Do you know that you will ruin your father in anotheryear and you continue?"
He gave me no answer. I reached for the ledger, and turning the pages,called off to him the sums he had spent.
"Oh, have done, d--n it!" he cried, when I was not a third through. "Areyou or are you not to give me the money?"
"And you are to spend it upon an actress?" I should have called her by aworse name.
"Actress!" he shouted. "Have you seen her in The Orphan? My soul, sheis a divinity!" Then he shifted suddenly to whining and cringing. "I amruined outright, Richard, if I do not get it."
Abjectly he confessed the situation, which had in it enough materialfor a scandal to set the town wagging for a month. And the weight of itwould fall; as I well knew, upon those who deserved it least.
"I will lend you the money, or, rather, will pay it for you," I said, atlast. For I was not so foolish as to put it into his hands. "You shallhave the sum under certain conditions."
He agreed to them before they were out of my mouth, and swore in a dozenways that he would repay me every farthing. He was heartily tired of thecreature, and, true to his nature, afraid of her. That night when theplay was over I went to her lodging, and after a scene too distressingto dwell upon, bought her off.
I sat with Mr. Swain many an hour that spring, with Patty sewing at thewindow open to the garden. Often, as we talked, unnoticed by her fathershe would drop her work and the tears glisten in her eyes. For thebarrister's voice was not as strong as it once was, and the cold wouldnot seem to lift from his chest. So this able man, who might have satin the seats of Maryland's high reward, was stricken when he was neededmost.
He was permitted two visitors a day: now 'twas Mr. Carroll and ColonelLloyd, again Colonel Tilghman and Captain Clapsaddle, or Mr. Yaca andMr. Bordley. The gentlemen took turns, and never was their business sopressing that they missed their hour. Mr. Swain read all the prints, andin his easier days would dictate to me his views for the committee, ora letter signed Brutes for Mr. Green to put in the Gazette. So I becamehis mouthpiece at the meetings, and learned to formulate my thoughts andto speak clearly.
For fear of confusing this narrative, my dears, I have referred butlittle to her who was in my thoughts night and day, and whose locket Iwore, throughout all those years, next my heart. I used to sit out underthe stars at Gordon's Pride, with the river lapping at my feet, andpicture her the shining centre of all the brilliant scenes I had left,and wonder if she still thought of me.
Nor have I mentioned that faithful correspondent, and more faithfulfriend, Lord Comyn. As soon as ever I had obtained from Captain Danielmy mother's little inheritance, I sent off the debt I owed his Lordship.'Twas a year before I got him to receive it; he despatched the moneyback once, saying that I had more need of it than he. I smiled at this,for my Lord was never within his income, and I made no doubt he hadsigned a note to cover my indebtedness.
Every letter Comyn writ me was nine parts Dolly, and the rest of hissheet usually taken up with Mr. Fox and his calamities: these had fallenupon him very thick of late. Lord Holland had been forced to pay out ahundred thousand pounds for Charles, and even this enormous sum did notentirely free Mr. Fox from the discounters and the hounds. The reasonfor this sudden onslaught was the birth of a boy to his brother Stephen,who was heir to the title. "When they told Charles of it," Comyn wrote,"said he, coolly: 'My brother Ste's son is a second Messiah, born forthe destruction of the Jews.'"
I saw no definite signs, as yet, of the conversion of this prodigy,which I so earnestly hoped for. He had quarrelled with North, lost hisplace on the Admiralty, and presently the King had made him a Lord ofthe Treasury, tho' more out of fear than love. Once in a while, when hesaw Comyn at Almack's, he would desire to be remembered to me, and healways spoke of me with affection. But he could be got to write to noone, said my Lord, with kind exaggeration; nor will he receive letters,for fear he may get a dun.
Alas, I got no message from Dorothy! Nor had she ever mentioned my nameto Comyn. He had not seen her for eight months after I left England,as she had been taken to the Continent for her health. She came back toLondon more ravishing than before, and (I use his Lordship's somewhatextravagant language) her suffering had stamped upon her face even moreof character and power. She had lost much of her levity, likewise. Inshort, my Lord declared, she was more of the queen than ever, and themystery which hung over the Vauxhall duel had served only to add to herfame.
Dorothy having become cognizant of Mr. Marmaduke's trickery, Charterseaseemed to have dropped out of the race. He now spent his time veryevenly between Spa and Derresley and Paris. Hence I had so much tobe thankful for,--that with all my blunders, I had saved her from hisGrace. My Lord the Marquis of Wells was now most conspicuous amongst hersuitors. Comyn had nothing particular against this nobleman, saying thathe was a good fellow, with a pretty fortune. And here is a letter,my dears, in which he figures, that I brought to Cordon's Pride thatspring:
"10 SOUTH PARADE, BATH, "March 12, 1774.
"DEAR RICHARD:--Miss Manners has come to Bath, with a train behind her longer than that which followed good Queen Anne hither, when she made this Gehenna the fashion. Her triumphal entry last Wednesday was announced by such a peal of the abbey bells as must have cracked the metal (for they have not rung since) and started Beau Nash a-cursing where he lies under the floor. Next came her serenade by the band. Mr. Marmaduke swore they would never have done, and squirmed and grinned like Punch when he thought of the fee, for he had hoped to get off with a crown, I warrant you. You should have seen his face when they would accept no fee at all for the beauty! Some wag has writ a verse about it, which was printed, and has set the whole pump-room laughing this morning.
"She was led out by Wells in the Seasons last night. As Spring she is too bewildering for my pen,--all primrose and white, with the flowers in her blue-black hair. Had Sir Joshua seen her, he would never rest content till he should have another portrait. The Duc de Lauzun, who contrived to get two dances, might give you a description in a more suitable language than English. And there was a prodigious deal of jealousy among the fair ones on the benches, you may be sure, and much jaundiced comment.
"Some half dozen of us adorers have a mess at the Bear, and have offered up a prize for the most appropriate toast on the beauty. This is in competition with Mrs. Miller. Have you not heard of her among your tobacco-hills? Horry calls her Mrs. 'Calliope' Miller. At her place near here, Bath Easton Villa, she has set up a Roman vase bedecked with myrtle, and into this we drop our bouts-rimes. Mrs. Calliope has a ball every Thursday, when the victors are crowned. T'other day the theme was 'A Buttered Muffin,' and her Grace of Northumberland was graciously awarded the prize. In faith, that theme taxed our wits at the Bear,--how to weave Miss Dolly's charms into a verse on a buttered muffin. I shall not tire you with mine. Storer's deserve
d to win, and we whisper that Mrs. Calliope ruled it out through spite. 'When Phyllis eats,' so it began, and I vow 'twas devilish ingenious.
"We do nothing but play lasquenet and tennis, and go to the assembly, and follow Miss Dolly into Gill's, the pastry-cook's, where she goes every morning to take a jelly. The ubiquitous Wells does not give us much chance. He writes 'vers de societe' with the rest, is high in Mr. Marmaduke's favour, which alone is enough to damn his progress. I think she is ill of the sight of him.
"Albeit she does not mourn herself into a tree, I'll take oath your Phyllis is true to you, Richard, and would live with you gladly in a thatched hut and you asked her. Write me more news of yourself.
"Your ever affectionate "COMYN
"P.S. I have had news of you through Mr. Worthington, of your colony, who is just arrived here. He tells me that you have gained a vast reputation for your plantation, and likewise that you are thought much of by the Whig wiseacres, and that you hold many seditious offices. He does not call them so. Since your modesty will not permit you to write me any of these things, I have been imagining you driving slaves with a rawhide, and seeding runaway convicts to the mines. Mr. W. is even now paying his respects to Miss Manners, and I doubt not trumpeting your praises there, for he seems to like you. So I have asked him to join the Bear mess. One more unfortunate!
"P.S. I was near forgetting the news about Charles Fox. He sends you his love, and tells me to let you know that he has been turned out of North's house for good and all. He is sure you will be cursed happy over it, and says that you predicted he would go over to the Whigs. I can scarce believe that he will. North took a whole week to screw up His courage, h-s M-j-sty pricking him every day. And then he wrote this:
"'Sir, his Majesty has thought proper to order a new Commission of the Treasury to be made out, in which I do not see your name.' Poor Charles! He is now without money or place, but as usual appears to worry least of all of us, and still reads his damned Tasso for amusement. "C."
Perchance he was to be the Saint Paul of English politics, after all.