CHAPTER XXIV
This is the time--Heaven's maiden sentinel Hath quitted her high watch--the lesser spangles Are paling one by one; give me the ladder And the short lever--bid Anthony Keep with his carabine the wicket-gate; And do thou bare thy knife and follow me, For we will in and do it--darkness like this Is dawning of our fortunes. _Old Play._
When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse was anirresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who would have thusconnected him with age, ugliness, and ill-temper; but his next thoughtwas pity for the unfortunate father and daughter, who, being the onlypersons possessed of wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like awreck on the sea-shore of a barbarous country, only secured from plunderfor the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among whom it had beencast. Neither could he help being conscious that his own residence herewas upon conditions equally precarious, and that he was considered bythe Alsatians in the same light of a godsend on the Cornish coast, or asickly but wealthy caravan travelling through the wilds of Africa, andemphatically termed by the nations of despoilers through whose regionsit passes _Dummalafong_, which signifies a thing given to be devoured--acommon prey to all men.
Nigel had already formed his own plan to extricate himself, at whateverrisk, from his perilous and degrading situation; and, in order that hemight carry it into instant execution, he only awaited the return ofLowestoffe's messenger. He expected him, however, in vain, and couldonly amuse himself by looking through such parts of his baggage as hadbeen sent to him from his former lodgings, in order to select a smallpacket of the most necessary articles to take with him, in the event ofhis quitting his lodgings secretly and suddenly, as speed and privacywould, he foresaw, be particularly necessary, if he meant to obtainan interview with the king, which was the course his spirit and hisinterest alike determined him to pursue.
While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly to his satisfaction, thatMaster Lowestoffe had transmitted not only his rapier and poniard, but apair of pistols, which he had used in travelling; of a smaller and moreconvenient size than the large petronels, or horse pistols, which werethen in common use, as being made for wearing at the girdle or in thepockets. Next to having stout and friendly comrades, a man is chieflyemboldened by finding himself well armed in case of need, and Nigel,who had thought with some anxiety on the hazard of trusting his life, ifattacked, to the protection of the clumsy weapon with which Lowestoffehad equipped him, in order to complete his disguise, felt an emotionof confidence approaching to triumph, as, drawing his own good andwell-tried rapier, he wiped it with his handkerchief, examined itspoint, bent it once or twice against the ground to prove its well-knownmetal, and finally replaced it in the scabbard, the more hastily, thathe heard a tap at the door of his chamber, and had no mind to be foundvapouring in the apartment with his sword drawn.
It was his old host who entered, to tell him with many cringes that theprice of his apartment was to be a crown per diem; and that, accordingto the custom of Whitefriars, the rent was always payable per advance,although he never scrupled to let the money lie till a week orfortnight, or even a month, in the hands of any honourable guest likeMaster Grahame, always upon some reasonable consideration for the use.Nigel got rid of the old dotard's intrusion, by throwing down two piecesof gold, and requesting the accommodation of his present apartment foreight days, adding, however, he did not think he should tarry so long.
The miser, with a sparkling eye and a trembling hand, clutched fast theproffered coin, and, having balanced the pieces with exquisite pleasureon the extremity of his withered finger, began almost instantly toshow that not even the possession of gold can gratify for more than aninstant the very heart that is most eager in the pursuit of it. First,the pieces might be light--with hasty hand he drew a small pairof scales from his bosom, and weighed them, first together, thenseparately, and smiled with glee as he saw them attain the duedepression in the balance--a circumstance which might add to hisprofits, if it were true, as was currently reported, that little of thegold coinage was current in Alsatia in a perfect state, and that noneever left the Sanctuary in that condition.
Another fear then occurred to trouble the old miser's pleasure. He hadbeen just able to comprehend that Nigel intended to leave the Friarssooner than the arrival of the term for which he had deposited the rent.This might imply an expectation of refunding, which, as a Scotch wagsaid, of all species of funding, jumped least with the old gentleman'shumour. He was beginning to enter a hypothetical caveat on this subject,and to quote several reasons why no part of the money once consigned asroom-rent, could be repaid back on any pretence, without great hardshipto the landlord, when Nigel, growing impatient, told him that the moneywas his absolutely, and without any intention on his part of resumingany of it--all he asked in return was the liberty of enjoying in privatethe apartment he had paid for. Old Trapbois, who had still at histongue's end much of the smooth language, by which, in his time, he hadhastened the ruin of many a young spendthrift, began to launch outupon the noble and generous disposition of his new guest, until Nigel,growing impatient, took the old gentleman by the hand, and gently, yetirresistibly, leading him to the door of the chamber, put him out, butwith such decent and moderate exertion of his superior strength, as torender the action in no shape indecorous, and, fastening the door, beganto do that for his pistols which he had done for his favourite sword,examining with care the flints and locks, and reviewing the state of hissmall provision of ammunition.
In this operation he was a second time interrupted by a knocking at thedoor--he called upon the person to enter, having no doubt that itwas Lowestoffe's messenger at length arrived. It was, however, theungracious daughter of old Trapbois, who, muttering something about herfather's mistake, laid down upon the table one of the pieces of goldwhich Nigel had just given to him, saying, that what she retained wasthe full rent for the term he had specified. Nigel replied, he had paidthe money, and had no desire to receive it again.
"Do as you will with it, then," replied his hostess, "for there it lies,and shall lie for me. If you are fool enough to pay more than is reason,my father shall not be knave enough to take it."
"But your father, mistress," said Nigel, "your father told me--"
"Oh, my father, my father," said she, interrupting him,--"my fathermanaged these affairs while he was able--I manage them now, and that mayin the long run be as well for both of us."
She then looked on the table, and observed the weapons.
"You have arms, I see," she said; "do you know how to use them?"
"I should do so mistress," replied Nigel, "for it has been myoccupation."
"You are a soldier, then?" she demanded.
"No farther as yet, than as every gentleman of my country is a soldier."
"Ay, that is your point of honour--to cut the throats of the poor--aproper gentlemanlike occupation for those who should protect them!"
"I do not deal in cutting throats, mistress," replied Nigel; "but Icarry arms to defend myself, and my country if it needs me."
"Ay," replied Martha, "it is fairly worded; but men say you are asprompt as others in petty brawls, where neither your safety nor yourcountry is in hazard; and that had it not been so, you would not havebeen in the Sanctuary to-day."
"Mistress," returned Nigel, "I should labour in vain to make youunderstand that a man's honour, which is, or should be, dearer to himthan his life, may often call on and compel us to hazard our ownlives, or those of others, on what would otherwise seem triflingcontingencies."
"God's law says nought of that," said the female; "I have only readthere, that thou shall not kill. But I have neither time nor inclinationto preach to you--you will find enough of fighting here if you likeit, and well if it come not to seek you when you are least prepared.Farewell for the present--the char-woman will execute your commands foryour meals."
She left the room, just as Nigel, provoked at her assuming a superiortone of judgment and of censure, was abou
t to be so superfluous as toenter into a dispute with an old pawnbroker's daughter on the subject ofthe point of honour. He smiled at himself for the folly into which thespirit of self-vindication had so nearly hurried him.
Lord Glenvarloch then applied to old Deborah the char-woman, by whoseintermediation he was provided with a tolerably decent dinner; and theonly embarrassment which he experienced, was from the almost forcibleentry of the old dotard his landlord, who insisted upon giving hisassistance at laying the cloth. Nigel had some difficulty to preventhim from displacing his arms and some papers which were lying on a smalltable at which he had been sitting; and nothing short of a stern andpositive injunction to the contrary could compel him to use anotherboard (though there were two in the room) for the purpose of laying thecloth.
Having at length obliged him to relinquish his purpose, he could nothelp observing that the eyes of the old dotard seemed still anxiouslyfixed upon the small table on which lay his sword and pistols; and that,amidst all the little duties which he seemed officiously anxious torender to his guest, he took every opportunity of looking towards andapproaching these objects of his attention. At length, when Trapboisthought he had completely avoided the notice of his guest, Nigel,through the observation of one of the cracked mirrors, oh which channelof communication the old man had not calculated, beheld him actuallyextend his hand towards the table in question. He thought it unnecessaryto use further ceremony, but telling his landlord, in a stern voice,that he permitted no one to touch his arms, he commanded him to leavethe apartment. The old usurer commenced a maundering sort of apology, inwhich all that Nigel distinctly apprehended, was a frequent repetitionof the word _consideration_, and which did not seem to him to requireany other answer than a reiteration of his command to him to leave theapartment, upon pain of worse consequences.
The ancient Hebe who acted as Lord Glenvarloch's cup-bearer, took hispart against the intrusion of the still more antiquated Ganymede, andinsisted on old Trapbois leaving the room instantly, menacing him atthe same time with her mistress's displeasure if he remained there anylonger. The old man seemed more under petticoat government than anyother, for the threat of the char-woman produced greater effect upon himthan the more formidable displeasure of Nigel. He withdrew grumbling andmuttering, and Lord Glenvarloch heard him bar a large door at the nearerend of the gallery, which served as a division betwixt the other partsof the extensive mansion, and the apartment occupied by his guest,which, as the reader is aware, had its access from the landing-place atthe head of the grand staircase.
Nigel accepted the careful sound of the bolts and bars as they wereseverally drawn by the trembling hand of old Trapbois, as an omenthat the senior did not mean again to revisit him in the course ofthe evening, and heartily rejoiced that he was at length to be left touninterrupted solitude.
The old woman asked if there was aught else to be done for hisaccommodation; and, indeed, it had hitherto seemed as if the pleasure ofserving him, or more properly the reward which she expected, had renewedher youth and activity. Nigel desired to have candles, to have a firelighted in his apartment, and a few fagots placed beside it, that hemight feed it from time to time, as he began to feel the chilly effectsof the damp and low situation of the house, close as it was to theThames. But while the old woman was absent upon his errand, he began tothink in what way he should pass the long solitary evening with which hewas threatened.
His own reflections promised to Nigel little amusement, and lessapplause. He had considered his own perilous situation in every lightin which it could be viewed, and foresaw as little utility as comfort inresuming the survey. To divert the current of his ideas, books were, ofcourse, the readiest resource; and although, like most of us, Nigel had,in his time, sauntered through large libraries, and even spent a longtime there without greatly disturbing their learned contents, he was nowin a situation where the possession of a volume, even of very inferiormerit, becomes a real treasure. The old housewife returned shortlyafterwards with fagots, and some pieces of half-burnt wax-candles, theperquisites, probably, real or usurped, of some experienced groom ofthe chambers, two of which she placed in large brass candlesticks, ofdifferent shapes and patterns, and laid the others on the table, thatNigel might renew them from time to time as they burnt to the socket.She heard with interest Lord Glenvarloch's request to have a book--anysort of book--to pass away the night withal, and returned for answer,that she knew of no other books in the house than her young mistress's(as she always denominated Mistress Martha Trapbois) Bible, which theowner would not lend; and her master's Whetstone of Witte, being thesecond part of Arithmetic, by Robert Record, with the Cossike Practiceand Rule of Equation; which promising volume Nigel declined to borrow.She offered, however, to bring him some books from Duke Hildebrod--"whosometimes, good gentleman, gave a glance at a book when the Stateaffairs of Alsatia left him as much leisure."
Nigfil embraced the proposal, and his unwearied Iris scuttled away onthis second embassy. She returned in a short time with a tattered quartovolume under her arm, and a bottle of sack in her hand; for the Duke,judging that mere reading was dry work, had sent the wine by way ofsauce to help it down, not forgetting to add the price to the morning'sscore, which he had already run up against the stranger in theSanctuary.
Nigel seized on the book, and did not refuse the wine, thinking that aglass or two, as it really proved to be of good quality, would be nobad interlude to his studies. He dismissed, with thanks and assuranceof reward, the poor old drudge who had been so zealous in his service;trimmed his fire and candles, and placed the easiest of the oldarm-chairs in a convenient posture betwixt the fire and the table atwhich he had dined, and which now supported the measure of sack and thelights; and thus accompanying his studies with such luxurious appliancesas were in his power, he began to examine the only volume with which theducal library of Alsatia had been able to supply him.
The contents, though of a kind generally interesting, were not wellcalculated to dispel the gloom by which he was surrounded. The book wasentitled "God's Revenge against Murther;" not, as the bibliomaniacalreader may easily conjecture, the work which Reynolds published underthat imposing name, but one of a much earlier date, printed and soldby old Wolfe; and which, could a copy now be found, would sell for muchmore than its weight in gold.[Footnote: Only three copies are knownto exist; one in the library at Kennaquhair, and two--one foxed andcropped, the other tall and in good condition--both in the possessionof an eminent member of the Roxburghe Club.--_Note by_ CAPTAINCLUTTERBUCK.] Nigel had soon enough of the doleful tales which the bookcontains, and attempted one or two other modes of killing the evening.He looked out at window, but the night was rainy, with gusts of wind;he tried to coax the fire, but the fagots were green, and smoked withoutburning; and as he was naturally temperate, he felt his blood somewhatheated by the canary sack which he had already drank, and had no fartherinclination to that pastime. He next attempted to compose a memorialaddressed to the king, in which he set forth his case and hisgrievances; but, speedily stung with the idea that his supplicationwould be treated with scorn, he flung the scroll into the fire, and, ina sort of desperation, resumed the book which he had laid aside.
Nigel became more interested in the volume at the second than at thefirst attempt which he made to peruse it. The narratives, strange andshocking as they were to human feeling, possessed yet the interest ofsorcery or of fascination, which rivets the attention by its awakeninghorrors. Much was told of the strange and horrible acts of blood bywhich men, setting nature and humanity alike at defiance, had, forthe thirst of revenge, the lust of gold, or the cravings of irregularambition, broken into the tabernacle of life. Yet more surprising andmysterious tales were recounted of the mode in which such deeds of bloodhad come to be discovered and revenged. Animals, irrational animals,had told the secret, and birds of the air had carried the matter. Theelements had seemed to betray the deed which had polluted them--earthhad ceased to support the murderer's steps, fire to warm his frozenlimbs, water to
refresh his parched lips, air to relieve his gaspinglungs. All, in short, bore evidence to the homicide's guilt. In othercircumstances, the criminal's own awakened conscience pursued andbrought him to justice; and in some narratives the grave was said tohave yawned, that the ghost of the sufferer might call for revenge.
It was now wearing late in the night, and the book was still in Nigel'shands, when the tapestry which hung behind him flapped against the wall,and the wind produced by its motion waved the flame of the candles bywhich he was reading. Nigel started and turned round, in that excitedand irritated state of mind which arose from the nature of his studies,especially at a period when a certain degree of superstition wasinculcated as a point of religious faith. It was not without emotionthat he saw the bloodless countenance, meagre form, and ghastly aspectof old Trapbois, once more in the very act of extending his witheredhand towards the table which supported his arms. Convinced by thisuntimely apparition that something evil was meditated towards him, Nigelsprung up, seized his sword, drew it, and placing it at the old man'sbreast, demanded of him what he did in his apartment at so untimely anhour. Trapbois showed neither fear nor surprise, and only answeredby some imperfect expressions, intimating he would part with hislife rather than with his property; and Lord Glenvarloch, strangelyembarrassed, knew not what to think of the intruder's motives, and stillless how to get rid of him. As he again tried the means of intimidation,he was surprised by a second apparition from behind the tapestry, in theperson of the daughter of Trapbois, bearing a lamp in her hand. Shealso seemed to possess her father's insensibility to danger, for, comingclose to Nigel, she pushed aside impetuously his naked sword, and evenattempted to take it out of his hand.
"For shame," she said, "your sword on a man of eighty years andmore!-=this the honour of a Scottish gentleman!--give it to me to make aspindle of!"
"Stand back," said Nigel; "I mean your father no injury--but I _will_know what has caused him to prowl this whole day, and even at this latehour of night, around my arms."
"Your arms!" repeated she; "alas! young man, the whole arms in the Towerof London are of little value to him, in comparison of this miserablepiece of gold which I left this morning on the table of a youngspendthrift, too careless to put what belonged to him into his ownpurse."
So saying, she showed the piece of gold, which, still remaining on thetable, where she left it, had been the bait that attracted old Trapboisso frequently to the spot; and which, even in the silence of the night,had so dwelt on his imagination, that he had made use of a privatepassage long disused, to enter his guest's apartment, in order topossess himself of the treasure during his slumbers. He now exclaimed,at the highest tones of his cracked and feeble voice--
"It is mine--it is mine!--he gave it to me for a consideration--I willdie ere I part with my property!"
"It is indeed his own, mistress," said Nigel, "and I do entreat you torestore it to the person on whom I have bestowed it, and let me have myapartment in quiet."
"I will account with you for it, then,"--said the maiden, reluctantlygiving to her father the morsel of Mammon, on which he darted as if hisbony fingers had been the talons of a hawk seizing its prey; and thenmaking a contented muttering and mumbling, like an old dog after hehas been fed, and just when he is wheeling himself thrice round for thepurpose of lying down, he followed his daughter behind the tapestry,through a little sliding-door, which was perceived when the hangingswere drawn apart.
"This shall be properly fastened to-morrow," said the daughter to Nigel,speaking in such a tone that her father, deaf, and engrossed by hisacquisition, could not hear her; "to-night I will continue to watch himclosely.--I wish you good repose."
These few words, pronounced in a tone of more civility than she had yetmade use of towards her lodger, contained a wish which was not to beaccomplished, although her guest, presently after her departure, retiredto bed.
There was a slight fever in Nigel's blood, occasioned by the variousevents of the evening, which put him, as the phrase is, beside hisrest. Perplexing and painful thoughts rolled on his mind like a troubledstream, and the more he laboured to lull himself to slumber, the fartherhe seemed from attaining his object. He tried all the resources commonin such cases; kept counting from one to a thousand, until his headwas giddy--he watched the embers of the wood fire till his eyes weredazzled--he listened to the dull moaning of the wind, the swinging andcreaking of signs which projected from the houses, and the baying ofhere and there a homeless dog, till his very ear was weary.
Suddenly, however, amid this monotony, came a sound which startled himat once. It was a female shriek. He sat up in his bed to listen, thenremembered he was in Alsatia, where brawls of every sort were currentamong the unruly inhabitants. But another scream, and another, andanother, succeeded so close, that he was certain, though the noise wasremote and sounded stifled, it must be in the same house with himself.
Nigel jumped up hastily, put on a part of his clothes, seized his swordand pistols, and ran to the door of his chamber. Here he plainly heardthe screams redoubled, and, as he thought, the sounds came from theusurer's apartment. All access to the gallery was effectually excludedby the intermediate door, which the brave young lord shook with eager,but vain impatience. But the secret passage occurred suddenly to hisrecollection. He hastened back to his room, and succeeded with somedifficulty in lighting a candle, powerfully agitated by hearing thecries repeated, yet still more afraid lest they should sink intosilence.
He rushed along the narrow and winding entrance, guided by the noise,which now burst more wildly on his ear; and, while he descended a narrowstaircase which terminated the passage, he heard the stifled voicesof men, encouraging, as it seemed, each other. "D--n her, strikeher down--silence her--beat her brains out!"--while the voice of hishostess, though now almost exhausted, was repeating the cry of "murder,"and "help." At the bottom of the staircase was a small door, which gaveway before Nigel as he precipitated himself upon the scene of action,--acocked pistol in one hand, a candle in the other, and his naked swordunder his arm.
Two ruffians had, with great difficulty, overpowered, or, rather, wereon the point of overpowering, the daughter of Trapbois, whose resistanceappeared to have been most desperate, for the floor was covered withfragments of her clothes, and handfuls of her hair. It appeared that herlife was about to be the price of her defence, for one villain had drawna long clasp-knife, when they were surprised by the entrance of Nigel,who, as they turned towards him, shot the fellow with the knife dead onthe spot, and when the other advanced to him, hurled the candlestick athis head, and then attacked him with his sword. It was dark, save somepale moonlight from the window; and the ruffian, after firing a pistolwithout effect, and fighting a traverse or two with his sword, lostheart, made for the window, leaped over it, and escaped. Nigel fired hisremaining pistol after him at a venture, and then called for light.
"There is light in the kitchen," answered Martha Trapbois, with morepresence of mind than could have been expected. "Stay, you know not theway; I will fetch it myself.--Oh! my father--my poor father!--I knewit would come to this--and all along of the accursed gold!--They have_murdered_ him!"