CHAPTER V.
MY ADVENTURE AT THE "THREE CUPS."
Secure of pursuit, and full of delight in the mare's easy motion, I musthave travelled a good six miles before the moon rose. In the frostysky her rays sparkled cheerfully, and by them I saw on the holsters thesilver demi-bear that I knew to be the crest of the Killigrews, havingthe fellow to it engraved on my sword-hilt. So now I was certain 'twasMolly that I bestrode: and took occasion of the light to explore theholsters and saddle flap.
Poor Anthony's pistols were gone--filched, no doubt, by the Captain:but you may guess my satisfaction, when on thrusting my hand deeper, Itouched a heap of coins, and found them to be gold.
'Twas certainly a rare bargain I had driven with Captain Settle. Forthe five or six gold pieces I scatter'd on the road, I had won closeon thirty guineas, as I counted in the moonlight; not to speak of thisincomparable Molly. And I began to whistle gleefully, and taste the jokeover again and laugh to myself, as we cantered along with the north windat our backs.
All the same, I had no relish for riding thus till morning. For thenight was chill enough to search my very bones after the heat of thelate gallop: and, moreover, I knew nothing of the road, which at thishour was quite deserted. So that, coming at length to a tall hill with ablack ridge of pine wood standing up against the moon like a fish's fin,I was glad enough to note below it, and at some distance from the trees,a window brightly lit; and pushed forward in hope of entertainment.
The building was an inn, though a sorry one. Nor, save for the lightedwindow, did it wear any grace of hospitality, but thrust out a bareshoulder upon the road, and a sign that creaked overhead and look'd forall the world like a gallows. Round this shoulder of the house, and intothe main yard (that turn'd churlishly toward the hillside), the windhowled like a beast in pain. I climb'd off Molly, and pressing my hatdown on my head, struck a loud rat-tat on the door.
Curiously, it opened at once; and I saw a couple of men in the lightedpassage.
"Heard the mare's heels on the road, Cap--. Hillo! What in the fiend'sname is this?"
Said I: "If you are he that keeps this house, I want two things ofyou--first, a civil tongue, and next a bed."
"Ye'll get neither, then."
"Your sign says that you keep an inn."
"Aye--the 'Three Cups': but we're full."
"Your manner of speech proves that to be a lie."
I liked the fellow's voice so little that 'tis odds I would havere-mounted Molly and ridden away; but at this instant there floated downthe stairs and out through the drink-smelling passage a sound that mademe jump. 'Twas a girl's voice singing----
"Hey nonni--nonni--no! Men are fools that wish to die! Is't not fine to laugh and sing When the hells of death do ring----"
There was no doubt upon it. The voice belonged to the young gentlewomanI had met at Hungerford. I turned sharply toward the landlord, and wasmet by another surprise. The second man, that till now had stood wellback in the shadow, was peering forward, and devouring Molly with hisgaze. 'Twas hard to read his features, but then and there I would havewagered my life he was no other than Luke Settle's comrade, Black Dick.
My mind was made up. "I'll not ride a step further, to-night," said I.
"Then bide there and freeze," answer'd the landlord.
He was for slamming the door in my face, when the other caught himby the arm and, pulling him a little back, whisper'd a word or two. Iguess'd what this meant, but resolved not to draw back; and presentlythe landlord's voice began again, betwixt surly and polite----
"Have ye too high a stomach to lie on straw?"
"Oho!" thought I to myself, "then I am to be kept for the mare's sake,but not admitted to the house:" and said aloud that I could put up witha straw bed.
"Because there's the stable loft at your service. As ye hear" (and infact the singing still went on, only now I heard a man's voice joiningin the catch) "our house is full of company. But straw is clean bedding,and the mare I'll help to put in stall."
"Agreed," I said, "on one condition--that you send out a maid to me witha cup of mulled sack: for this cold eats me alive."
To this he consented: and stepping back into a side room with the otherfellow, returned in a minute alone, and carrying a lantern which, inspite of the moon, was needed to guide a stranger across that ruinousyard. The flare, as we pick'd our way along, fell for a moment onan open cart shed and, within, on the gilt panels of a coach that Irecogniz'd. In the stable, that stood at the far end of the court, Iwas surprised to find half a dozen horses standing, ready saddled, andmunching their fill of oats. They were ungroom'd, and one or two ina lather of sweat that on such a night was hard to account for. But Iasked no questions, and my companion vouchsafed no talk, though twiceI caught him regarding me curiously as I unbridled the mare in theonly vacant stall. Not a word pass'd as he took the lantern off the pegagain, and led the way up a ramshackle ladder to the loft above. He wasa fat, lumbering fellow, and made the old timbers creak. At the top heset down the light, and pointed to a heap of straw in the corner.
"Yon's your bed," he growled; and before I could answer, was picking hisway down the ladder again.
I look'd about, and shiver'd. The eaves of my bedchamber were scarce onspeaking terms with the walls, and through a score of crannies at leastthe wind poured and whistled, so that after shifting my truss of strawa dozen times I found myself still the centre of a whirl of draught. Thecandle-flame, too, was puffed this way and that inside the horn sheath.I was losing patience when I heard footsteps below; the ladder creak'd,and the red hair and broad shoulders of a chambermaid rose into view.She carried a steaming mug in her hand, and mutter'd all the while in novery choice talk.
The wench had a kind face, tho'; and a pair of eyes that did her morecredit than her tongue.
"And what's to be my reward for this, I want to know?" she panted out,resting her left palm on her hip.
"Why, a groat or two," said I, "when it comes to the reckoning."
"Lud!" she cried, "what a dull young man!"
"Dull?"
"Aye--to make me ask for a kiss in so many words:" and with the back ofher left hand she wiped her mouth for it frankly, while she held out themug in her right.
"Oh!" I said, "I beg your pardon, but my wits are frozen up, I think.There's two, for interest: and another if you tell me whom your masterentertains to-night, that I must be content with this crib."
She took the kisses with composure and said---
"Well--to begin, there's the gentlefolk that came this afternoon withtheir own carriage and heathenish French servant: a cranky old grandeeand a daughter with more airs than a peacock: Sir Something-or-otherKilligew--Lord bless the boy!"
For I had dropp'd the mug and split the hot sack all about the straw,where it trickled away with a fragrance reproachfully delicious.
"Now I beg your pardon a hundred times: but the chill is in my bonesworse than the ague;" and huddling my shoulders up, I counterfeited ashivering fit with a truthfulness that surpris'd myself.
"Poor lad!"
"--And 'tis first hot and then cold all down my spine."
"There, now!"
"-And goose flesh and flushes all over my body."
"Dear heart-and to pass the night in this grave of a place!"
"--And by morning I shall be in a high fever: and oh! I feel I shall dieof it!"
"Don't--don't!" The honest girl's eyes were full of tears. "I wonder,now--" she began: and I waited, eager for her next words. "Sure,master's at cards in the parlor, and 'll be drunk by midnight. Shaltpass the night by the kitchen fire, if only thou make no noise."
"But your mistress--what will she say?"
"Is in heaven these two years: and out of master's speaking distanceforever. So blow out the light and follow me gently."
Still feigning to shiver, I follow'd her down the ladder, and throughthe stable into the open. The wind by this time had brought up someheavy clouds, and mass'd them about the moon:
but 'twas freezing hard,nevertheless. The girl took me by the hand to guide me: for, save fromthe one bright window in the upper floor, there was no light at all inthe yard. Clearly, she was in dread of her master's anger, for we stoleacross like ghosts, and once or twice she whisper'd a warning when mytoe kick'd against a loose cobble. But just as I seem'd to be walkinginto a stone wall, she put out her hand, I heard the click of a latch,and stood in a dark, narrow passage.
The passage led to a second door that open'd on a wide, stone-pav'dkitchen, lit by a cheerful fire, whereon a kettle hissed and bubbled asthe vapor lifted the cover. Close by the chimney corner was a sort oftrap, or buttery hatch, for pushing the hot dishes conveniently into theparlor on the other side of the wall. Besides this, for furniture, theroom held a broad deal table, an oak dresser, a linen press, a rack withhams and strings of onions depending from it, a settle and a chair ortwo, with (for decoration) a dozen or so of ballad sheets stuck amongthe dish covers along the wall.
"Sit," whisper'd the girl, "and make no noise, while I brew a rack-punchfor the men-folk in the parlor." She jerked her thumb toward the butteryhatch, where I had already caught the mur-mer of voices.
I took up a chair softly, and set it down between the hatch and thefireplace, so that while warming my knees I could catch any word spokenmore than ordinary loud on the other side of the wall. The chambermaidstirr'd the fire briskly, and moved about singing as she fetch'd downbottles and glasses from the dresser----
"Lament ye maids an' darters For constant Sarah Ann, Who hang'd hersel' in her garters All for the love o' man, All for the--"
She was pausing, bottle in hand, to take the high note: but hush'dsuddenly at the sound of the voices singing in the room upstairs---
"Vivre en tout cas C'est le grand soulas Des honnetes gens!"
"That's the foreigners," said the chambermaid, and went on with herditty----
"All for the love of a souljer Who christening name was Jan."
A volley of oaths sounded through the buttery hatch.
"--And that's the true-born Englishmen, as you may tell by their speech.'Tis pretty company the master keeps, these days."
She was continuing her song, when I held up a finger for silence.In fact, through the hatch my ear had caught a sentence that set melistening for more with a still heart.
"D--n the Captain," the landlord's gruff voice was saying; "I warn'd 'nagen this fancy business when sober, cool-handed work was toward."
"Settle's way from his cradle," growl'd another; "and times enough I'vetold 'n: 'Cap'n,' says I, 'there's no sense o' proportions about ye.' Amaster mind, sirs, but 'a 'll be hang'd for a hen-roost, so sure as myname's Bill Widdicomb."
"Ugly words-what a creeping influence has that same mention o' hanging!"piped a thinner voice.
"Hold thy complaints, Old Mortification," put in a speaker that Irecogniz'd for Black Dick; "sure the pretty maid upstairs is tendergame. Hark how they sing!"
And indeed the threatened folk upstairs were singing their catch verychoicely, with a girl's clear voice to lead them---
"Comment dit papa --Margoton, ma mie?"
"Heathen language, to be sure," said the thin voice again, as the chorusceased: "thinks I to mysel' 'they be but Papisters,' an' my doubtingmind is mightily reconcil'd to manslaughter."
"I don't like beginning 'ithout the Cap'n," observed Black Dick: "thoughI doubt something has miscarried. Else, how did that young spark ride inupon the mare?"
"An' that's what thy question should ha' been, Dick, with a pistol tohis skull."
"He'll keep till the morrow."
"We'll give Settle half-an-hour more," said the landlord: "Mary!" hepush'd open the hatch, so that I had barely time to duck my head out ofview, "fetch in the punch, girl. How did'st leave the young man i' theloft?'
"Asleep, or nearly," answer'd Mary--
"Who hang'd hersel' in her gar-ters, All for the love o' man--"
"--Anon, anon, master: wait only till I get the kettle on the boil."
The hatch was slipp'd to again. I stood up and made a step toward thegirl.
"How many are they?" I ask'd, jerking a finger in the direction of theparlor.
"A dozen all but one."
"Where is the foreign guests' room?"
"Left hand, on the first landing."
"The staircase?"
"Just outside the door."
"Then sing--go on singing for your life."
"But--"
"Sing!"
"Dear heart, they'll murder thee! Oh! for pity's sake, let go mywrist---
"'Lament, ye maids an' darters--'"
I stole to the door and peep'd out. A lantern hung in the passage, andshowed the staircase directly in front of me. I stay'd for a momentto pull off my boots, and, holding them in my left hand, crept up thestairs. In the kitchen, the girl was singing and clattering the glassestogether. Behind the door, at the head of the stairs, I heard voicestalking. I slipp'd on my boots again and tapp'd on the panel.
"Come in!"
Let me try to describe that on which my eyes rested as I push'd the doorwide. 'Twas a long room, wainscoted half up the wall in some dark wood,and in daytime lit by one window only, which now was hung with redcurtains. By the fireplace, where a brisk wood fire was crackling,lean'd the young gentlewoman I had met at Hungerford, who, as she nowturn'd her eyes upon me, ceas'd fingering the guitar or mandoline thatshe held against her waist, and raised her pretty head not withoutcuriosity.
But 'twas on the table in the centre of the chamber that my gazesettled; and on two men beside it, of whom I must speak moreparticularly.
The elder, who sat in a high-back'd chair, was a little, frail, deform'dgentleman of about fifty, dress'd very richly in dark velvet and furs,and wore on his head a velvet skullcap, round which his white hair stuckup like a ferret's. But the oddest thing about him was a complexionthat any maid of sixteen would give her ears for--of a pink and whiteso transparent that it seem'd a soft light must be glowing beneath hisskin. On either cheek bone this delicate coloring centred in a deeperflush. This is as much as I need say about his appearance, except thathis eyes were very bright and sharp, and his chin stuck out like avicious mule's.
The table before him was cover'd with bottles and flasks, in the middleof which stood a silver lamp burning, and over it a silver saucepan thatsent up a rare fragrance as the liquid within it simmer'd and bubbled.So eager was the old gentleman in watching the progress of his mixture,that he merely glanc'd up at my entrance, and then, holding up a handfor silence, turn'd his eyes on the saucepan again.
The second man was the broad-shouldered lackey I had seen riding behindthe coach: and now stood over the saucepan with a twisted flask in hishand, from which he pour'd a red syrup very gingerly, drop by drop, withthe tail of his eye turn'd on his master's face, that he might know whento cease.
Now it may be that my entrance upset this experiment in strong drinks.At any rate, I had scarce come to a stand about three paces inside thedoor, when the little old gentleman bounces up in a fury, kicks over hischair, hurls the nearest bottles to right and left, and sends the silversaucepan spinning across the table to my very feet, where it scalded meclean through the boot, and made me hop for pain.
"Spoil'd--spoil'd!" he scream'd: "drench'd in filthy liquor, when itshould have breath'd but a taste!"
And, to my amazement, he sprang on the strapping servant like awild-cat, and began to beat, cuff, and belabor him with all the strengthof his puny limbs.
'Twas like a scene out of Bedlam. Yet all the while the girl lean'dquietly against the mantelshelf, and softly touched the strings of herinstrument; while the servant took the rain of blows and slaps asthough 'twere a summer shower, grinning all over his face, and making noresistance at all.
Then, as I stood dumb with perplexity, the old gentleman let go his holdof the fellow's hair, and, dropping on the floor, began to roll about ina fit of coughing, the like of
which no man can imagine. 'Twas hideous.He bark'd, and writhed, and bark'd again, till the disorder seem'd tosearch and rack every innermost inch of his small frame. And in theintervals of coughing his exclamations were terrible to listen to.
"He's dying!" I cried; and ran forward to help.
The servant pick'd up the chair, and together we set him in it. Bydegrees the violence of the cough abated, and he lay back, livid in theface, with his eyes closed, and his hands clutching the knobs of thechair. I turn'd to the girl. She had neither spoken nor stirr'd, but nowcame forward, and calmly ask'd my business.
"I think," said I, "that your name is Killigrew?"
"I am Delia Killigrew, and this is my father, Sir Deakin."
"Now on his way to visit his estates in Cornwall?"
She nodded.
"Then I have to warn you that your lives are in danger." And, gently aspossible, I told her what I had seen and heard downstairs. In the middleof my tale, the servant stepp'd to the door, and return'd quietly. Therewas no lock on the inside. After a minute he went across, and drew thered curtains. The window had a grating within, of iron bars as thick asa man's thumb, strongly clamp'd in the stonework, and not four inchesapart. Clearly, he was a man of few words; for, returning, he merelypull'd out his sword, and waited for the end of my tale.
The girl, also, did not interrupt me, but listen'd in silence. As Iceas'd, she said----
"Is this all you know?"
"No," answer'd I, "it is not. But the rest I promise to tell you if weescape from this place alive. Will this content you?"
She turn'd to the servant, who nodded. Whereupon she held out her handvery cordially.
"Sir, listen: we are travelers bound for Cornwall, as you know, andhave some small possessions, that will poorly reward the greed of theseviolent men. Nevertheless, we should be hurrying on our journey did wenot await my brother Anthony, who was to have ridden from Oxford to joinus here, but has been delayed, doubtless on the King's business----"
She broke off, as I started: for below I heard the main door open, andCaptain Settle's voice in the passage. The arch villain had return'd.
"Mistress Delia," I said hurriedly, "the twelfth man has enter'd thehouse, and unless we consider our plans at once, all's up with us."
"Tush!" said the old gentleman in the chair, who (it seems) had heardall, and now sat up brisk as ever. "I, for my part shall mix anotherglass, and leave it all to Jacques. Come, sit by me, sir, and you shallsee some pretty play. Why, Jacques is the neatest rogue with a smallsword in all France!"
"Sir," I put in, "they are a round dozen in all, and your life atpresent is not worth a penny's purchase."
"That's a lie! 'Tis worth this bowl before me, that, with or withoutyou, I mean to empty. What a fool thing is youth! Sir, you must be adying man like myself to taste life properly." And, as I am a truthfulman, he struck up quavering merrily--
"Hey, nonni--nonni--no! Men are fools that wish to die! Is't not fine to laugh and sing When the bells of death do ring? Is't not fine to drown in wine, And turn upon the toe, And sing, hey--nonni--no? Hey, nonni--nonni--"
"--Come and sit, sir, nor spoil sport. You are too raw, I'll wager, tobe of any help; and boggling I detest."
"Indeed, sir," I broke in, now thoroughly anger'd, "I can use the smallsword as well as another."
"Tush! Try him, Jacques."
Jacques, still wearing a stolid face, brought his weapon to the guard.Stung to the quick, I wheel'd round, and made a lunge or two, that heput aside as easily as though I were a babe. And then--I know not how ithappened, but my sword slipp'd like ice out of my grasp, and went flyingacross the room. Jacques, sedately as on a matter of business, stepp'dto pick it up, while the old gentleman chuckled.
I was hot and asham'd, and a score of bitter words sprang to mytongue-tip, when the Frenchman, as he rose from stooping, caught my eye,and beckon'd me across to him.
He was white as death, and pointed to the hilt of my sword and thedemi-bear engrav'd thereon.
"He is dead," I whisper'd: "hush!--turn your face aside--killed by thosesame dogs that are now below."
I heard a sob in the true fellow's throat. But on the instant it wasdrown'd by the sound of a door opening and the tramp of feet on thestairs.