CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE.
IN WHICH WE TRUST THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE ARRANGED TO THE SATISFACTIONOF OUR READERS.
The French officer who was sent to explain what had occasioned thearrival of the cutter in the port of Cherbourg, immediately set off forthe Hague, and was received by Lord Albemarle.
As soon as his credentials had been examined, he was introduced to hismajesty, King William.
"It appears," said his majesty to Lord Albemarle, after theintroduction, "that these Jacobite conspirators have saved us onetrouble by hanging this traitor, Vanslyperken."
"Yes, your majesty, he has met with his deserved punishment," repliedLord Albemarle.
Then, addressing himself to the officer, "We will return ouracknowledgments for this proof of good will on the part of the FrenchGovernment," said his majesty, bowing. "My Lord Albemarle, you will seethat this gentleman is suitably entertained."
The officer bowed and retired.
"This is an over politeness which I do not admire," observed his majestyto Lord Albemarle. "Let that person be well watched; depend upon it theletter is all a pretext, there is more plotting going on."
"I am of your majesty's opinion, and shall be careful that yourmajesty's commands are put in force," replied his lordship, as KingWilliam retired into his private apartments.
The cutter had not been half an hour at anchor, before Obadiah Coblewent on shore with the corporal. Their first object was to apply to theauthorities, that the wounded men might be sent to the hospital, whichthey were before the night; the next was to deliver the letter toMynheer Krause. They thought it advisable to go first to the widowVandersloosh, who was surprised at the sight of her dear corporal, andmuch more enraptured when she heard that Mr Vanslyperken and his curhad been hanged.
"I'll keep my word, corporal," cried the widow; "I told you I would notmarry until he was hung. I don't care if I marry you to-morrow."
"Mein Gott! yes, to-day."
"No, no, not to-day, corporal, or to-morrow either; we must wait tillthe poor fellows are out of the hospital, for I must have them all tothe wedding."
"Mein Gott! yes," replied the corporal.
The widow then proceeded to state how she had been thrown into adungeon, and how she and Mynheer Krause, the syndic, had been releasedthe next day; how Mynheer Krause's house had been burnt to the ground,and all the other particulars with which the reader is alreadyacquainted.
This reminded the corporal of the letters to Mynheer Krause, which hehad for a time forgotten, and he inquired where he was to be found; butthe widow was too prudent to allow the corporal to go himself--she sentBabette, who executed her commission without exciting any suspicion, andmade Mynheer Krause very happy. He soon made his arrangements, andjoined his daughter and Ramsay, who had not, however, awaited hisarrival, but had been married the day after they landed at Cherbourg.Mynheer Krause was not a little surprised to find that his son-in-lawwas a Jacobite but his incarceration and loss of his property had verymuch cooled his loyalty. He settled at Hamburgh, and became perfectlyindifferent whether England was ruled by King William or King James.
Ramsay's marriage made him also less warm in the good cause; he hadgained a pretty wife and a good fortune, and to be very loyal a personshould be very poor. The death of King James in the ear following,released him from his engagements, and, as he resided at Hamburgh, hewas soon forgotten, and was never called upon to embark in thesubsequent fruitless attempts on the part of the Jacobites.
As it was necessary to write to the Admiralty in England, acquaintingthem with the fate of Mr Vanslyperken, and demanding that anotherofficer should be sent out to take the command of the Yungfrau, a delayof three or four weeks took place, during which the cutter remained atAmsterdam; for Dick Short and Coble were no navigators, if they hadwished to send her back; and, moreover, she had so many of her crew atthe hospital, that she was weak-handed.
It was about a month after her arrival at Amsterdam, that every soulbelonging to the cutter had gone on shore, and she was loft to swing tothe tide and foul her hawse, or go adrift if she pleased, for she had totake care of herself. This unusual disregard to naval instructionsarose from the simple fact, that on that day was to be celebrated themarriage of widow Vandersloosh and Corporal Van Spitter.
Great, indeed, had been the preparations; all the ingenuity and talentof Jemmy Ducks, and Moggy, and Bill Spurey, for he and all the otherswere now discharged from the hospital, had been summoned to theassistance of the widow and Babette, in preparing and decorating theLust Haus for the important ceremony, which the widow declared KingWilliam himself shall hear of, cost what it might. Festoons of flowers,wreaths of laurels, garlands from the ceiling, extra chandeliers, extramusicians, all were dressed out and collected in honour of thisauspicious day.
The whole of the crew of the cutter were invited, not, however, to feastat the widow's expense; neither she nor the corporal would standtreat;--but to spend their money in honour of the occasion. And it mustbe observed, that since their arrival in port, the Yungfrau had spent agreat deal of money at the widow's; which was considered strange, asthey had not, for some time, received any pay. And it was furtherobserved, that none appeared so wealthy as Smallbones and Corporal VanSpitter. Some had asserted that it was the gold of Mr Vanslyperken,which had been appropriated by the crew to their own wants, consideringthemselves as his legitimate heirs. Whether this be true or not, it isimpossible to say; certain it is, that there was no gold found in MrVanslyperken's cabin when his successor took possession of it. Andequally certain it was, that all the Yungfraus had their pockets full ofgold, and that the major part of this gold did ultimately fall into thepossession of the widow Vandersloosh, who was heard to say, that MrVanslyperken had paid the expenses of her wedding. From these factscollected, we must leave the reader to draw what inference he mayplease.
The widow beautifully dressed--a white kersey petticoat, deep bluestockings, silver buckles in her shoes, a scarlet velvet jacket, withlong flaps before and behind, a golden cross six inches long, suspendedto a velvet ribbon, to which was attached, half-way between the crossand her neck, a large gold heart, gold earrings, and on her head anornament, which, in Holland and Germany, is called a _zitternabel_,shook and trembled as she walked along to church, hanging on the arm ofher dear corporal. Some of the bridges were too narrow to admit thehappy pair to pass abreast. The knot was tied. The name Vanderslooshwas abandoned without regret, for the sharper one of Van Spitter; andflushed with joy, and the thermometer at ninety-six, the cavalcadereturned home, and refreshed themselves with some beer of the Frau VanSpitter's own brewing.
Let it not, however, be supposed that they dined tete-a-tete; no, no--the corporal and his wife were not so churlish as that. The dinnerparty consisted of a chosen set, the most particular friends of thecorporal. Mr Short, first officer and boatswain, Mr William Spurey,Mr and Mrs Salisbury; and last, although not the least importantperson in this history, Philip Smallbones, Esquire, who having obtainedmoney somehow, was now remarkable for the neatness of his apparel. Thefair widow, assisted by Moggy and Babette, cooked the dinner, and whenit was ready came in from the kitchen as red as a fury, and announcedit: and then it was served up, and they all sat down to table in thelittle parlour. It was very close, the gentlemen took off theirjackets, and the widow and Moggy fanned themselves, and the enormousdemand by evaporation was supplied with foaming beer. None could havedone the honours of the table better than the corporal and his lady, whosat melting and stuck together on the little fubsy sofa, which had beenthe witness of so much pretended and so much real love.
But the Lust Haus is now lighted up, the company are assembling fast;Babette is waddling and trotting like an armadillo from corner tocorner: Babette here and Babette there, it is Babette everywhere. Theroom is full, and the musicians have commenced tuning their instruments;the party run from the table to join the rest. A general cheer greetsthe widow as she is led into the room by the corporal--for she had as
kedmany of her friends as well as the crew of the Yungfrau, and many otherscame who were not invited; so that the wedding day, instead ofdisbursement, produced one of large receipt to the happy pair.
"Now then, corporal, you must open the ball with your lady," cried BillSpurey.
"Mein Gott! yes."
"What shall it be, Madam Van Spitter?"
"A waltz, if you please."
The musicians struck up a waltz, and Corporal Van Spitter, who had nonotion of waltzing, further than having seen the dance performed byothers, seized his wife by the waist, who, with an amorous glance,dropped her fat arm upon the corporal's shoulder. This was the signalfor the rest--the corporal had made but one turn before a hundred couplemore were turning also--the whole room seemed turning. The corporalcould not waltz, but he could turn--he held fast on by the widow, andwith such a firm piece of resistance he kept a centrifugal balance, and,without regard to time or space, he increased his velocity at aprodigious rate. Round they went, with the dangerous force of the twoiron-balls suspended to the fly-wheel which regulate the power of somestupendous steam-engine.
The corporal would not, and his better half could not, stop. The firstcouple they came in contact with were hurled to the other side of theroom; a second and a third fell, and still the corporal wheeled on; twochairs and a table were swept away in a moment. Three young women, withbaskets of cakes and nuts, were thrown down together, and the contentsof all their baskets scattered on the floor; and, "Bravo, corporal!"resounded from the crew of the Yungfrau--Babette and two bottles ofginger beer were next demolished; Jemmy Ducks received a hoist, andSmallbones was flatted to a pancake. Every one fled from the orbit ofthese revolving spheres, and they were left to wheel by themselves. Atlast, Mrs Van Spitter, finding that nothing else would stop herhusband, who, like all heavy bodies, once put in motion, returned it inproportion to his weight, dropped down, and left him to support herwhole weight. This was more than the corporal could stand, and itbrought him up all standing--he stopped, dropped his wife, and reeled toa chair, for he was so giddy that he could not keep his legs, and so outof breath that he had lost his wind.
"Bravo, corporal!" was shouted throughout the room, while his spousehardly knew whether she should laugh, or scold him well; but, it beingthe wedding night, she deferred the scolding for that night only, andshe gained a chair, and fanned and wiped, and fanned and wiped again.The corporal, shortly afterwards, would have danced again, but Mrs VanSpitter having had quite enough for that evening, she thanked him forthe offer, was satisfied with his prowess, but declined on the score ofthe extreme sultriness of the weather; to which observation, thecorporal replied, as usual:--
"Mein Gott! yes."
The major part of the evening was passed in dancing and drinking. Thecorporal and his wife, with Babette, now attending to the wants of theircustomers, who, what with the exercise, the heat of the weather, and thefumes of tobacco, were more than usually thirsty, and as they becamesatisfied with dancing, so did they call for refreshments.
But we cannot find space to dwell upon the quantity of beer, the varietyof liquors, which were consumed at this eventful wedding, with which wewind up our eventful history; nor even to pity the breathless, flushed,and over-heated Babette, who was so ill the next day, as to be unable toquit her bed; nor can we detail the jokes, the merriment, and the songswhich went round, the peals of laughter, the loud choruses, the anticfeats performed by the company; still more impossible would it be togive an idea of the three tremendous cheers, which shook the Lust Hausto its foundations, when Corporal and Mistress Van Spitter, upon theirretiring, bade farewell to the company assembled.
The observation of Jemmy Salisbury, as he waddled out, was as correct asit was emphatic:--
"Well; Bob, this _has been_ a spree!"
"Yes," replied Bob Short.
THE END.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends