CHAPTER XVIII
But as the spoken word has sometimes the permanence which proverbsattach to the _Littera scripta_, and is only confirmed by bunglingessays to erase it, so it was in this case; Mr. Smith's endeavours toexplain away the fact which he had carelessly blabbed only serving toimpress it the more deeply on my memory. It would seem that he waspartly aware of this; for not only did his attempts lack the dexteritywhich I should have expected from one whose features augured muchexperience of the world, but he quickly gave up the attempt as labourin vain, and gruffly bidding me go before to the coach, followed meand took his seat beside me. We rumbled away. The night was overcast,the neighbourhood seemed to be rural; and, starting from an unknownpoint, I had less chance than before of tracing the devious lanes andstreets through which we drove; so that when the coach presentlystopped in a part of the town more frequented, I had not the leastidea where we were, or where we had been.
"You can get home from here," said he, still ruffled, and scarce ableto speak to me civilly.
Then I saw, as I went to descend, that we were near the end ofHolborn, in the Tyburn Road, where it grows to country. "I will seeyou to-morrow," he cried. "And, mind you, in the meantime, the lessyou say to Ferguson the better, my man!" With which the coach droveaway towards Kensington, leaving me standing against the wall of St.Giles's Pound.
Thus released, alone, and free to consider what had happened to me, Ifound a difficulty in tracing where I had been, but none in followingthe drift of the strange scene and stranger conversation at which Ihad been present. Even the plans of those who had conveyed me to thatplace were transparent. It needed no Solomon to discern that in theman Smith and the woman Monterey the young lord had two foes in hismother's household, as dangerous as foes could be; the woman moved, asI conjectured, by that _spretae injuria formae_, of which the greatRoman poet speaks, and the man by I know not what old wrong orjealousy. It was plain that these two, to obtain their ends, wereurging on the mother a most perilous policy: that, I mean, ofcommitting the son to the Jacobite Court, that so he might be cut offfrom St. James's; moreover, that, as he could not be induced, in_propria persona_, to such a treasonable step as would serve theirends, advantage was to be taken of some likeness that I bore to him(which Smith had observed the previous evening in Covent Garden) topersonate him in a place or company where his presence would beconclusive both for and against him.
I could believe that the mother contemplated but vaguely the powerover him which the incident would give her; and dreamed of using itonly in the last resort; rather amusing herself in the present withthe thought that short of this, and without bringing the deception tohis notice, the effect she desired would be produced--since he wouldbe held at St. Germain's to be well affected, and at St. James's thematter would not be known. So, in his own despite, and without hisknowledge, he could be reconciled to the one court, while remainingfaithful to the other!
But, as in the mass of conspiracies--and this was especially true ofthe conspiracies of that age--the acute eye can detect the existenceof an inner and outer ring of conspirators, whereof the latter arecommonly the dupes of the former, so I took it that here Smith and thewoman meditated other and more serious results than those which mylady foresaw; and, thinking less of my lord's safety in the event of aRestoration than of punishing him or obtaining a hold upon him--andmore of private revenge than of the Good Cause--had madam for theirprincipal tool. Such a consideration, while it increased my reluctanceto be mixed up with a matter so two-faced, left me to think whether Ishould not seek out the victim, and by an early information, gain hisfavour and protection.
I stood in the darkness of the street doubtful, and weighing thematter. Clearly, if I had to do the thing, now was the time, before Isaw Smith, or exposed myself to an urgency which in spite of hispoliteness might, I fancied, be of a kind difficult to resist. If bygoing straight to Lord Shrewsbury I could kill two birds with onestone--could at once free myself from the gang of plotters under whomI suffered, and secure for the future a valuable patron--here was achance in a hundred, and I should be foolish to hesitate.
Nor did I do so long. True, it stuck me a little that I knew nothingof my Lord Shrewsbury's whereabouts in London; nor whether he lived intown, or in the great house among the lanes and gardens which I hadvisited, but of the road whereto I had no more knowledge than a blindman. This, however, I could learn at the nearest coffee-house: andimpulse rather than calculation directing my steps, I hurried hot-foottowards Covent Garden, which lay conveniently to my hand.
It was not until I was in the Square and close to the Piazza that Ibethought me how imprudent I was to re-visit the scene of last night'sadventure; a place where it was common knowledge that the Jacobitesheld their assignations; and where I might be recognised. To reinforcethis late-found discretion, and blow up the spark of alarm alreadykindled, I had not stood hesitating while a man could count ten,before my eye fell on the very same soldierly gentleman, with thehandkerchief hanging out of his pocket, to whom I had been sent theevening before. He was alone, walking under the dimly-lighted Piazza,as he had walked then; but as I caught sight of him two others came upand joined him: and in terror lest these should be the two I had metbefore, I retreated hastily into the shadow of St. Paul's Church, andso back the way I had come.
I HEARD A LIGHT FOOT FOLLOWING ME]
However, I was not to get off so easily. Though the hour was late, themarket closed, and the pavement in front of the taverns deserted, orfringed only by a chair waiting for a belated gamester, I ran agreater risk of being recognised, as I passed, than I thought; and hadnot gone ten paces along King Street before I heard a light footfollowing me, and a hand caught my arm. Turning in a fright I found itwas only a girl; and, at first sight, was for wresting myself fromher, glad that it was no worse: but she muttered my name, and lookingdown I recognised to my astonishment the girl I had seen at Ferguson'searlier in the evening.
At that, I remember, a dread of the man and his power seized me andchilled my very heart. This was the third time this girl, whom I neversaw at other seasons, had arisen out of the ground to confront me andpluck me back when on the point of betraying him. I stared at her,thinking of this, with I know not what of affright and shrinking; andcould scarcely command either voice or limbs.
And yet as she stood looking at me with the dark length of the streetstretching to the market behind her, it must be confessed that therewas little in her appearance to cause terror. The night being cold,and a small rain falling, she had a shawl drawn tightly over her head,whence her face, small and pale as a child's, peered at me. I thoughtto read in it a sly and elfish triumph such as became Ferguson'sminion: instead I discerned only a weariness that went ill with heryears--and a little flicker of contempt in eye and lip. The wearinesswas also in her voice when she spoke. "Well met, Mr. Price," she said."I am in luck to light on you."
I shivered in my shoes; but without seeming to mark me, "I want thisnote taken to Mr. Watkins," she continued, rapidly pressing a scrap ofpaper into my hand. "He is in the tavern there, the Seven Stars. Askfor the Apollo Room, and you will find him."
"But, one minute," I protested, as in her eagerness she pushed me thatway with her hand, "did Mr. Ferguson----Is it from him?"
"Of course, fool," she answered, sharply. "Do you think that I havebeen standing here for the last half-hour in cold and wet for my ownpleasure?"
"But if he sent it?" I remonstrated, feebly, "perhaps he may not likeme to interfere--to----"
"Like me to?" she retorted, sharply, mocking my tone. "Who said hewould? Cannot you understand that it is I who do not like to? That Iam not going into that place at this time of night, and half in thehouse drunken brutes? It is bad enough to be here, loitering up anddown as if I were what I am not--and free to be spoken to by everyimpudent blood that passes! Go, man, and do it, and I will wait solong. What do you fear?"
"The rope," said I, "to be plain with you." And I looked withabhorrence at th
e scrap of paper she had given me. "I have taken toomany of these," I said.
"Well, you will take one more!" she answered, doggedly. "Or you are noman. See, there is the door. Ask for the Apollo Room, give it to him,and the thing is done!" And with that she set both hands to me andpushed me the way she would have me move--I mean towards the tavern."Go!" she said. "Go!"
Hate the thing as I might, and did, I could not resist persuasionsaddressed to me in such a tone; nor fail to be moved by the girl'sshrinking from the task, which had to be done, it seemed, by one ofus. After all, it was no more than I had done several times before;and my reluctance having its origin in the resolution, to which I hadjust come, to break off from the gang, yielded to the reflection thatthe design lay as yet in my own breast, and might be carried out aswell to-morrow as to-day. In a word, I complied out of pity, went tothe tavern, and walked boldly in.
I had been in the house before, and knew where I should find a waiterof whom I might enquire privately; I passed by the public room,therefore, and was for going to the place I mean. I had scarcelyadvanced three paces beyond the threshold, however, before a greatnoise of voices and laughter and beating of feet met my ears andsurprised me; the hubbub was so loud and boisterous as to be unusualeven in places of that kind. I had no more than taken this in, and setit down to an orgy beyond the ordinary, when I came on a pale-facedgroup standing at gaze at the foot of the stairs, the landlord, two orthree drawers, and as many women being among them. It was easy to seethat they were in a fever about the noise above; for while the hostwas openly wringing his hands and crying that those devils would ruinhim, a woman who seemed to be his wife was urging first one and thenanother of the drawers to ascend and caution the party. That somethingmore than disorderliness or a visit from the constable was in questionI gathered from the host's pale face; and this was confirmed when onseeing me they dispersed a little, and affected to be unconcerned.Until I asked for the Apollo Room, whereon they all came togetheragain and fell on me with complaints and entreaties.
"'Fore God, sir, I think your friends are mad!" the host cried, in aperfect fury. "Go up! Go up, and tell them that if they want to behanged, and to hang me as well, they are going the right way aboutit."
"It is well it is night," said the head waiter grimly, "or the Marketporters would have broken our windows before now."
"And got us all in the Compter!" the women wailed. And then to me, "Goup, sir, go up and tell them that if they would not have the mob pullthe house down----"
But the tumult above, waxing loud at that moment, drowned her words,and certainly took from me what little good-will to ascend I had.However, the host, having me there, a person who had enquired for theroom, would take no denial, but, delighted to have found a deputy, hefairly set me on the stairs and pushed me up. "Go up and tell them! Goup and tell them!" he kept repeating. "You asked for the room andthere it is."
In a word I had no choice, and with reluctance went up. The noise wassuch I could not fail to find the door and the room; I knocked andopened, a roar of voices poured out, and even before I entered theroom I knew what was afoot, and could swear to treason. Such cries as"Down with the Whigs and damn their King!" "The 29th of May and aglorious Restoration!" "Here's to the Hunting Party!" poured out in aconfused medley; with half-a-dozen others equally treasonable, andequally certain, were they overheard in the street, to bring down themob and the messengers on the speakers.
True, as soon as the half-muddled brains of the company took inthe fact that the door was open, and a stranger standing on thethreshold--which they were not quick to discern owing to the cloud oftobacco-smoke that filled the room--nine-tenths quavered off intosilence and gaped at me; that proportion of the company having stillthe sense to recognise the risk they were running, and to apprehendthat judgment had taken them in the act. Two men in particular, olderthan the rest--the one a fat, infirm fellow with a pallid face and theair of a rich citizen, the other a peevish, red-eyed atomy in a greenfur-lined coat--were of this party. They had not, I think, been of thehappiest before, seated in the midst of that crew; but now, sinkingback in their high-backed chairs, they stared at me as if I carrieddeath in my face. A neighbour of theirs, however, went beyond them;for, with a howl that the Secretary was on them and the officers werebelow, he kicked over his chair and dashed for a window, pausing onlywhen he had thrown it up.
But with all this the recklessness of some was evident: for while Istood, uncertain to whom to speak, one of the more drunken staggeredfrom his seat, and giving a shrill view-halloa that might have beenheard in Bedford House, made towards me with a cup in his hand.
"Drink!" he cried, with a hiccough as he forced it upon me. "Drink! Tothe squeezing of the Rotten Orange! Drink, man, or you are no friendof ours, but a snivelling, sneaking, white-faced son of a Dutchmanlike your master! So drink, and----Eh, what is it? What is thematter?"