XXV. FESTUS SHOWS HIS LOVE
Festus Derriman had remained in the Royal watering-place all that day,his horse being sick at stables; but, wishing to coax or bully from hisuncle a remount for the coming summer, he set off on foot for Oxwellearly in the evening. When he drew near to the village, or rather to thehall, which was a mile from the village, he overtook a slim, quick-eyedwoman, sauntering along at a leisurely pace. She was fashionably dressedin a green spencer, with 'Mameluke' sleeves, and wore a velvet Spanishhat and feather.
'Good afternoon t'ye, ma'am,' said Festus, throwing a sword-and-pistolair into his greeting. 'You are out for a walk?'
'I _am_ out for a walk, captain,' said the lady, who had criticized himfrom the crevice of her eye, without seeming to do much more thancontinue her demure look forward, and gave the title as a sop to hisapparent character.
'From the town?--I'd swear it, ma'am; 'pon my honour I would!'
'Yes, I am from the town, sir,' said she.
'Ah, you are a visitor! I know every one of the regular inhabitants; wesoldiers are in and out there continually. Festus Derriman, YeomanryCavalry, you know. The fact is, the watering-place is under our charge;the folks will be quite dependent upon us for their deliverance in thecoming struggle. We hold our lives in our hands, and theirs, I may say,in our pockets. What made you come here, ma'am, at such a criticaltime?'
'I don't see that it is such a critical time?'
'But it is, though; and so you'd say if you was as much mixed up with themilitary affairs of the nation as some of us.'
The lady smiled. 'The King is coming this year, anyhow,' said she.
'Never!' said Festus firmly. 'Ah, you are one of the attendants at courtperhaps, come on ahead to get the King's chambers ready, in case Boneyshould not land?'
'No,' she said; 'I am connected with the theatre, though not just at thepresent moment. I have been out of luck for the last year or two; but Ihave fetched up again. I join the company when they arrive for theseason.'
Festus surveyed her with interest. 'Faith! and is it so? Well, ma'am,what part do you play?'
'I am mostly the leading lady--the heroine,' she said, drawing herself upwith dignity.
'I'll come and have a look at ye if all's well, and the landing is putoff--hang me if I don't!--Hullo, hullo, what do I see?'
His eyes were stretched towards a distant field, which Anne Garland wasat that moment hastily crossing, on her way from the hall to Overcombe.
'I must be off. Good-day to ye, dear creature!' he exclaimed, hurryingforward.
The lady said, 'O, you droll monster!' as she smiled and watched himstride ahead.
Festus bounded on over the hedge, across the intervening patch of green,and into the field which Anne was still crossing. In a moment or two shelooked back, and seeing the well-known Herculean figure of the yeomanbehind her felt rather alarmed, though she determined to show nodifference in her outward carriage. But to maintain her natural gait wasbeyond her powers. She spasmodically quickened her pace; fruitlessly,however, for he gained upon her, and when within a few strides of herexclaimed, 'Well, my darling!' Anne started off at a run.
Festus was already out of breath, and soon found that he was not likelyto overtake her. On she went, without turning her head, till an unusualnoise behind compelled her to look round. His face was in the act offalling back; he swerved on one side, and dropped like a log upon aconvenient hedgerow-bank which bordered the path. There he lay quitestill.
Anne was somewhat alarmed; and after standing at gaze for two or threeminutes, drew nearer to him, a step and a half at a time, wondering anddoubting, as a meek ewe draws near to some strolling vagabond who flingshimself on the grass near the flock.
'He is in a swoon!' she murmured.
Her heart beat quickly, and she looked around. Nobody was in sight; sheadvanced a step nearer still and observed him again. Apparently his facewas turning to a livid hue, and his breathing had become obstructed.
''Tis not a swoon; 'tis apoplexy!' she said, in deep distress. 'I oughtto untie his neck.' But she was afraid to do this, and only drew alittle closer still.
Miss Garland was now within three feet of him, whereupon the senselessman, who could hold his breath no longer, sprang to his feet and dartedat her, saying, 'Ha! ha! a scheme for a kiss!'
She felt his arm slipping round her neck; but, twirling about withamazing dexterity, she wriggled from his embrace and ran away along thefield. The force with which she had extricated herself was sufficient tothrow Festus upon the grass, and by the time that he got upon his legsagain she was many yards off. Uttering a word which was not exactly ablessing, he immediately gave chase; and thus they ran till Anne entereda meadow divided down the middle by a brook about six feet wide. Anarrow plank was thrown loosely across at the point where the pathtraversed this stream, and when Anne reached it she at once scamperedover. At the other side she turned her head to gather the probabilitiesof the situation, which were that Festus Derriman would overtake her evennow. By a sudden forethought she stooped, seized the end of the plank,and endeavoured to drag it away from the opposite bank. But the weightwas too great for her to do more than slightly move it, and with adesperate sigh she ran on again, having lost many valuable seconds.
But her attempt, though ineffectual in dragging it down, had been enoughto unsettle the little bridge; and when Derriman reached the middle,which he did half a minute later, the plank turned over on its edge,tilting him bodily into the river. The water was not remarkably deep,but as the yeoman fell flat on his stomach he was completely immersed;and it was some time before he could drag himself out. When he arose,dripping on the bank, and looked around, Anne had vanished from the mead.Then Festus's eyes glowed like carbuncles, and he gave voice to fearfulimprecations, shaking his fist in the soft summer air towards Anne, in away that was terrible for any maiden to behold. Wading back through thestream, he walked along its bank with a heavy tread, the water runningfrom his coat-tails, wrists, and the tips of his ears, in silverydribbles, that sparkled pleasantly in the sun. Thus he hastened away,and went round by a by-path to the hall.
Meanwhile the author of his troubles was rapidly drawing nearer to themill, and soon, to her inexpressible delight, she saw Bob coming to meether. She had heard the flounce, and, feeling more secure from herpursuer, had dropped her pace to a quick walk. No sooner did she reachBob than, overcome by the excitement of the moment, she flung herselfinto his arms. Bob instantly enclosed her in an embrace so very thoroughthat there was no possible danger of her falling, whatever degree ofexhaustion might have given rise to her somewhat unexpected action; andin this attitude they silently remained, till it was borne in upon Annethat the present was the first time in her life that she had ever been insuch a position. Her face then burnt like a sunset, and she did not knowhow to look up at him. Feeling at length quite safe, she suddenlyresolved not to give way to her first impulse to tell him the whole ofwhat had happened, lest there should be a dreadful quarrel and fightbetween Bob and the yeoman, and great difficulties caused in the Lovedayfamily on her account, the miller having important wheat transactionswith the Derrimans.
'You seem frightened, dearest Anne,' said Bob tenderly.
'Yes,' she replied. 'I saw a man I did not like the look of, and he wasinclined to follow me. But, worse than that, I am troubled about theFrench. O Bob! I am afraid you will be killed, and my mother, and John,and your father, and all of us hunted down!'
'Now I have told you, dear little heart, that it cannot be. We shalldrive 'em into the sea after a battle or two, even if they land, which Idon't believe they will. We've got ninety sail of the line, and thoughit is rather unfortunate that we should have declared war against Spainat this ticklish time, there's enough for all.' And Bob went intoelaborate statistics of the navy, army, militia, and volunteers, toprolong the time of holding her. When he had done speaking he drewrather a heavy sigh.
'What's the matter, Bob?'
> 'I haven't been yet to offer myself as a sea-fencible, and I ought tohave done it long ago.'
'You are only one. Surely they can do without you?'
Bob shook his head. She arose from her restful position, her eyecatching his with a shamefaced expression of having given way at last.Loveday drew from his pocket a paper, and said, as they slowly walked on,'Here's something to make us brave and patriotic. I bought it inBudmouth. Isn't it a stirring picture?'
It was a hieroglyphic profile of Napoleon. The hat represented a maimedFrench eagle; the face was ingeniously made up of human carcases, knottedand writhing together in such directions as to form a physiognomy; aband, or stock, shaped to resemble the English Channel, encircled histhroat, and seemed to choke him; his epaulette was a hand tearing acobweb that represented the treaty of peace with England; and his ear wasa woman crouching over a dying child. {225}
'It is dreadful!' said Anne. 'I don't like to see it.'
She had recovered from her emotion, and walked along beside him with agrave, subdued face. Bob did not like to assume the privileges of anaccepted lover and draw her hand through his arm; for, conscious that shenaturally belonged to a politer grade than his own, he feared lest herexhibition of tenderness were an impulse which cooler moments mightregret. A perfect Paul-and-Virginia life had not absolutely set in forhim as yet, and it was not to be hastened by force. When they had passedover the bridge into the mill-front they saw the miller standing at thedoor with a face of concern.
'Since you have been gone,' he said, 'a Government man has been here, andto all the houses, taking down the numbers of the women and children, andtheir ages and the number of horses and waggons that can be mustered, incase they have to retreat inland, out of the way of the invading army.'
The little family gathered themselves together, all feeling the crisismore seriously than they liked to express. Mrs. Loveday thought howridiculous a thing social ambition was in such a conjuncture as this, andvowed that she would leave Anne to love where she would. Anne, too,forgot the little peculiarities of speech and manner in Bob and hisfather, which sometimes jarred for a moment upon her more refined sense,and was thankful for their love and protection in this looming trouble.
On going upstairs she remembered the paper which Farmer Derriman hadgiven her, and searched in her bosom for it. She could not find itthere. 'I must have left it on the table,' she said to herself. It didnot matter; she remembered every word. She took a pen and wrote aduplicate, which she put safely away.
But Anne was wrong. She had, after all, placed the paper where shesupposed, and there it ought to have been. But in escaping from Festus,when he feigned apoplexy, it had fallen out upon the grass. Five minutesafter that event, when pursuer and pursued were two or three fieldsahead, the gaily-dressed woman whom the yeoman had overtaken, peepedcautiously through the stile into the corner of the field which had beenthe scene of the scramble; and seeing the paper she climbed over, securedit, loosened the wafer without tearing the sheet, and read the memorandumwithin. Unable to make anything of its meaning, the saunterer put it inher pocket, and, dismissing the matter from her mind, went on by the by-path which led to the back of the mill. Here, behind the hedge, shestood and surveyed the old building for some time, after which shemeditatively turned, and retraced her steps towards the Royal watering-place.