5--Through the Moonlight
The next evening the mummers were assembled in the same spot, awaitingthe entrance of the Turkish Knight.
Twenty minutes after eight by the Quiet Woman, and Charley not come.
Ten minutes past by Blooms-End.
It wants ten minutes to, by Grandfer Cantle's watch.
And 'tis five minutes past by the captain's clock.
On Egdon there was no absolute hour of the day. The time at any momentwas a number of varying doctrines professed by the different hamlets,some of them having originally grown up from a common root, and thenbecome divided by secession, some having been alien from the beginning.West Egdon believed in Blooms-End time, East Egdon in the time of theQuiet Woman Inn. Grandfer Cantle's watch had numbered many followers inyears gone by, but since he had grown older faiths were shaken. Thus,the mummers having gathered hither from scattered points each came withhis own tenets on early and late; and they waited a little longer as acompromise.
Eustacia had watched the assemblage through the hole; and seeing thatnow was the proper moment to enter, she went from the linhay andboldly pulled the bobbin of the fuelhouse door. Her grandfather was safeat the Quiet Woman.
Here's Charley at last! How late you be, Charley.
'Tis not Charley, said the Turkish Knight from within his visor. 'Tisa cousin of Miss Vye's, come to take Charley's place from curiosity. Hewas obliged to go and look for the heath-croppers that have got into themeads, and I agreed to take his place, as he knew he couldn't come backhere again tonight. I know the part as well as he.
Her graceful gait, elegant figure, and dignified manner in general wonthe mummers to the opinion that they had gained by the exchange, if thenewcomer were perfect in his part.
It don't matter--if you be not too young, said Saint George.Eustacia's voice had sounded somewhat more juvenile and fluty thanCharley's.
I know every word of it, I tell you, said Eustacia decisively. Dashbeing all that was required to carry her triumphantly through, sheadopted as much as was necessary. Go ahead, lads, with the try-over.I'll challenge any of you to find a mistake in me.
The play was hastily rehearsed, whereupon the other mummers weredelighted with the new knight. They extinguished the candles athalf-past eight, and set out upon the heath in the direction of Mrs.Yeobright's house at Bloom's-End.
There was a slight hoarfrost that night, and the moon, though notmore than half full, threw a spirited and enticing brightness upon thefantastic figures of the mumming band, whose plumes and ribbons rustledin their walk like autumn leaves. Their path was not over Rainbarrownow, but down a valley which left that ancient elevation a little tothe east. The bottom of the vale was green to a width of ten yards orthereabouts, and the shining facets of frost upon the blades of grassseemed to move on with the shadows of those they surrounded. The massesof furze and heath to the right and left were dark as ever; a merehalf-moon was powerless to silver such sable features as theirs.
Half-an-hour of walking and talking brought them to the spot in thevalley where the grass riband widened and led down to the front of thehouse. At sight of the place Eustacia who had felt a few passing doubtsduring her walk with the youths, again was glad that the adventure hadbeen undertaken. She had come out to see a man who might possibly havethe power to deliver her soul from a most deadly oppression. What wasWildeve? Interesting, but inadequate. Perhaps she would see a sufficienthero tonight.
As they drew nearer to the front of the house the mummers became awarethat music and dancing were briskly flourishing within. Every nowand then a long low note from the serpent, which was the chief windinstrument played at these times, advanced further into the heath thanthe thin treble part, and reached their ears alone; and next a morethan usual loud tread from a dancer would come the same way. With nearerapproach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were foundto be the salient points of the tune called Nancy's Fancy.
He was there, of course. Who was she that he danced with? Perhaps someunknown woman, far beneath herself in culture, was by the most subtleof lures sealing his fate this very instant. To dance with a man is toconcentrate a twelvemonth's regulation fire upon him in the fragment ofan hour. To pass to courtship without acquaintance, to pass to marriagewithout courtship, is a skipping of terms reserved for those alonewho tread this royal road. She would see how his heart lay by keenobservation of them all.
The enterprising lady followed the mumming company through the gatein the white paling, and stood before the open porch. The house wasencrusted with heavy thatchings, which dropped between the upperwindows; the front, upon which the moonbeams directly played, hadoriginally been white; but a huge pyracanth now darkened the greaterportion.
It became at once evident that the dance was proceeding immediatelywithin the surface of the door, no apartment intervening. The brushingof skirts and elbows, sometimes the bumping of shoulders, could be heardagainst the very panels. Eustacia, though living within two miles ofthe place, had never seen the interior of this quaint old habitation.Between Captain Vye and the Yeobrights there had never existed muchacquaintance, the former having come as a stranger and purchased thelong-empty house at Mistover Knap not long before the death of Mrs.Yeobright's husband; and with that event and the departure of her sonsuch friendship as had grown up became quite broken off.
Is there no passage inside the door, then? asked Eustacia as theystood within the porch.
No, said the lad who played the Saracen. The door opens right uponthe front sitting-room, where the spree's going on.
So that we cannot open the door without stopping the dance.
That's it. Here we must bide till they have done, for they always boltthe back door after dark.
They won't be much longer, said Father Christmas.
This assertion, however, was hardly borne out by the event. Again theinstruments ended the tune; again they recommenced with as much fire andpathos as if it were the first strain. The air was now that one withoutany particular beginning, middle, or end, which perhaps, among all thedances which throng an inspired fiddler's fancy, best conveys theidea of the interminable--the celebrated Devil's Dream. The fury ofpersonal movement that was kindled by the fury of the notes could beapproximately imagined by these outsiders under the moon, from theoccasional kicks of toes and heels against the door, whenever the whirlround had been of more than customary velocity.
The first five minutes of listening was interesting enough to themummers. The five minutes extended to ten minutes, and these to aquarter of an hour; but no signs of ceasing were audible in the livelyDream. The bumping against the door, the laughter, the stamping, wereall as vigorous as ever, and the pleasure in being outside lessenedconsiderably.
Why does Mrs. Yeobright give parties of this sort? Eustacia asked, alittle surprised to hear merriment so pronounced.
It is not one of her bettermost parlour-parties. She's asked the plainneighbours and workpeople without drawing any lines, just to give 'em agood supper and such like. Her son and she wait upon the folks.
I see, said Eustacia.
'Tis the last strain, I think, said Saint George, with his ear to thepanel. A young man and woman have just swung into this corner, and he'ssaying to her, 'Ah, the pity; 'tis over for us this time, my own.'
Thank God, said the Turkish Knight, stamping, and taking from the wallthe conventional lance that each of the mummers carried. Her boots beingthinner than those of the young men, the hoar had damped her feet andmade them cold.
Upon my song 'tis another ten minutes for us, said the ValiantSoldier, looking through the keyhole as the tune modulated into anotherwithout stopping. Grandfer Cantle is standing in this corner, waitinghis turn.
'Twon't be long; 'tis a six-handed reel, said the Doctor.
Why not go in, dancing or no? They sent for us, said the Saracen.
Certainly not, said Eustacia authoritatively, as she paced smartly upand down from door to gate to warm herself. We should burst into themiddle of them and stop the dance, and that would be unmannerly.
He thinks himself somebody because he has had a bit more schooling thanwe, said the Doctor.
You may go to the deuce! said Eustacia.
There was a whispered conversation between three or four of them, andone turned to her.
Will you tell us one thing? he said, not without gentleness. Be youMiss Vye? We think you must be.
You may think what you like, said Eustacia slowly. But honourablelads will not tell tales upon a lady.
We'll say nothing, miss. That's upon our honour.
Thank you, she replied.
At this moment the fiddles finished off with a screech, and theserpent emitted a last note that nearly lifted the roof. When, from thecomparative quiet within, the mummers judged that the dancers had takentheir seats, Father Christmas advanced, lifted the latch, and put hishead inside the door.
Ah, the mummers, the mummers! cried several guests at once. Clear aspace for the mummers.
Humpbacked Father Christmas then made a complete entry, swinging hishuge club, and in a general way clearing the stage for the actorsproper, while he informed the company in smart verse that he was come,welcome or welcome not; concluding his speech with
Make room, make room, my gallant boys, And give us space to rhyme; We've come to show Saint George's play, Upon this Christmas time.
The guests were now arranging themselves at one end of the room, thefiddler was mending a string, the serpent-player was emptying hismouthpiece, and the play began. First of those outside the ValiantSoldier entered, in the interest of Saint George--
Here come I, the Valiant Soldier; Slasher is my name;
and so on. This speech concluded with a challenge to the infidel, at theend of which it was Eustacia's duty to enter as the Turkish Knight.She, with the rest who were not yet on, had hitherto remained in themoonlight which streamed under the porch. With no apparent effort orbackwardness she came in, beginning--
Here come I, a Turkish Knight, Who learnt in Turkish land to fight; I'll fight this man with courage bold: If his blood's hot I'll make it cold!
During her declamation Eustacia held her head erect, and spoke asroughly as she could, feeling pretty secure from observation. But theconcentration upon her part necessary to prevent discovery, the newnessof the scene, the shine of the candles, and the confusing effect uponher vision of the ribboned visor which hid her features, left herabsolutely unable to perceive who were present as spectators. On thefurther side of a table bearing candles she could faintly discern faces,and that was all.
Meanwhile Jim Starks as the Valiant Soldier had come forward, and, witha glare upon the Turk, replied--
If, then, thou art that Turkish Knight, Draw out thy sword, and let us fight!
And fight they did; the issue of the combat being that the ValiantSoldier was slain by a preternaturally inadequate thrust from Eustacia,Jim, in his ardour for genuine histrionic art, coming down like a logupon the stone floor with force enough to dislocate his shoulder. Then,after more words from the Turkish Knight, rather too faintly delivered,and statements that he'd fight Saint George and all his crew, SaintGeorge himself magnificently entered with the well-known flourish--
Here come I, Saint George, the valiant man, With naked sword and spear in hand, Who fought the dragon and brought him to the slaughter, And by this won fair Sabra, the King of Egypt's daughter; What mortal man would dare to stand Before me with my sword in hand?
This was the lad who had first recognized Eustacia; and when she now, asthe Turk, replied with suitable defiance, and at once began the combat,the young fellow took especial care to use his sword as gently aspossible. Being wounded, the Knight fell upon one knee, according to thedirection. The Doctor now entered, restored the Knight by giving hima draught from the bottle which he carried, and the fight was againresumed, the Turk sinking by degrees until quite overcome--dying as hardin this venerable drama as he is said to do at the present day.
This gradual sinking to the earth was, in fact, one reason why Eustaciahad thought that the part of the Turkish Knight, though not theshortest, would suit her best. A direct fall from upright to horizontal,which was the end of the other fighting characters, was not an elegantor decorous part for a girl. But it was easy to die like a Turk, by adogged decline.
Eustacia was now among the number of the slain, though not on thefloor, for she had managed to sink into a sloping position againstthe clock-case, so that her head was well elevated. The play proceededbetween Saint George, the Saracen, the Doctor, and Father Christmas;and Eustacia, having no more to do, for the first time found leisure toobserve the scene round, and to search for the form that had drawn herhither.