Richard Carvel — Complete

by Winston Churchill

  CHAPTER XXVI. THE PART HORATIO PLAYED

  The bailiff's business was quickly settled. I heard the heavy doorsclose at our backs, and drew a deep draught of the air God has made forall His creatures alike. Both the captain and I turned to the windowsto wave a farewell to the sad ones we were leaving behind, who gatheredabout the bars for a last view of us, for strange as it may seem, themere sight of happiness is often a pleasure for those who are sad. Acoach in private arms and livery was in waiting, surrounded by a crowd.They made a lane for us to pass, and stared at the young lady of queenlybeauty coming out of the sponging-house until the coachman snapped hiswhip in their faces and the footman jostled them back. When we weregot in, Dolly and I on the back seat, Comyn told the man to go to Mr.Manners's.

  "Oh, no!" I cried, scarce knowing what I said; "no, not there!" For thethought of entering the house in Arlington Street was unbearable.

  Both Comyn and Dorothy gazed at me in astonishment.

  "And pray, Richard, why not'?" she asked. "Have not your old friends theright to receive you."

  It was my Lord who saved me, for I was in agony what to say.

  "He is still proud, and won't go to Arlington Street dressed like abargeman. He must needs plume, Miss Manners."

  I glanced anxiously at Dorothy, and saw that she was neither satisfiednor appeased. Well I remembered every turn of her head, and every curveof her lip! In the meantime we were off through Cursitor Street at agallop, nearly causing the death of a ragged urchin at the corner ofChancery Lane. I had forgotten my eagerness to know whence they hadheard of my plight, when some words from Comyn aroused me.

  "The carriage is Mr. Horace Walpole's, Richard. He has taken a greatfancy to you."

  "But I have never so much as clapped eyes upon him!" I exclaimed inperplexity.

  "How about his honour with whom you supped at Windsor? how about thelandlord you spun by the neck? You should have heard the company laughwhen Horry told us that! And Miss Dolly cried out that she was sure itmust be Richard, and none other. Is it not so, Miss Manners?"

  "Really, my Lord, I can't remember," replied Dolly, looking out of thecoach window. "Who put those frightful skulls upon Temple Bar?"

  Then the mystery of their coming was clear to me, and the superiorgentleman at the Castle Inn had been the fashionable dabbler in arts andletters and architecture of Strawberry Hill, of whom I rememberedhaving heard Dr. Courtenay speak, Horace Walpole. But I was then fartoo concerned about Dorothy to listen to more. Her face was still turnedaway from me, and she was silent. I could have cut out my tongue for myblunder. Presently, when we were nearly out of the Strand, she turnedupon me abruptly.

  "We have not yet heard, Richard," she said, "how you got into such apredicament."

  "Indeed, I don't know myself, Dolly. Some scoundrel bribed the captainof the slaver. For I take it Mr. Walpole has told you I was carried offon a slaver, if he recalled that much of the story."

  "I don't mean that," answered Dolly, impatiently. "There is somethingstrange about all this. How is it that you were in prison?"

  "Mr. Dix, my grandfather's agent, took me for an impostor and wouldadvance me no money," I answered, hard pushed.

  But Dorothy had a woman's instinct, which is often the best ofunderstanding. And I was beginning to think that a suspicion was at thebottom of her questions. She gave her head an impatient fling, and, as Ifeared, appealed to John Paul.

  "Perhaps you can tell me, captain, why he did not come to his friends inhis trouble."

  And despite my signals to him he replied: "In truth, my dear lady, hehaunted the place for a sight of you, from the moment he set foot inLondon."

  Comyn laughed, and I felt the blood rise to my face, and kicked JohnPaul viciously. Dolly retained her self-possession.

  "Pho!" says she; "for a sight of me! You seamen are all alike. Fora sight of me! And had you not strength enough to lift a knocker,sir,--you who can raise a man from the ground with one hand?"

  "'Twas before his tailor had prepared him, madam, and he feared todisgrace you," the captain gravely continued, and I perceived how futileit were to attempt to stop him. "And afterward--"

  "And afterward?" repeated Dorothy, leaning forward.

  "And afterward he went to Arlington Street with Mr. Dix to seekMr. Manners, that he might be identified before that gentleman. Heencountered Mr. Manners and his Grace of Something."

  "Chartersea," put in Comyn, who had been listening eagerly. "Getting outof a coach," said the captain.

  "When was this?" demanded Dorothy of me, interrupting him. Her voice wassteady, but the colour had left her face.

  "About three weeks ago."

  "Please be exact, Richard."

  "Well, if you must," said I, "the day was Tuesday, and the time abouthalf an hour after two."

  She said nothing for a while, trying to put down an agitation which wasbeginning to show itself in spite of her effort. As for me, I was almostwishing myself back in the sponginghouse.

  "Are you sure my father saw you?" she asked presently.

  "As clearly as you do now, Dolly," I said.

  "But your clothes? He might have gone by you in such."

  "I pray that he did, Dorothy," I replied. But I was wholly convincedthat Mr. Manners had recognized me.

  "And--and what did he say?" she asked.

  For she had the rare courage that never shrinks from the truth. I thinkI have never admired and pitied her as at that moment.

  "He said to the footman," I answered, resolved to go through with itnow, "'Give the man a shilling.' That was his Grace's suggestion."

  My Lord uttered something very near an oath. And she spoke not a wordmore until I handed her out in Arlington Street. The rest of us weresilent, too, Comyn now and again giving me eloquent glances expressiveof what he would say if she were not present; the captain watching herwith a furtive praise, and he vowed to me afterward she was never sobeautiful as when angry, that he loved her as an avenging Diana. But Iwas uneasy, and when I stood alone with her before the house I beggedher not to speak to her father of the episode.

  "Nay, he must be cleared of such an imputation, Richard," she answeredproudly. "He may have made mistakes, but I feel sure he would never turnyou away when you came to him in trouble--you, the grandson of his oldfriend, Lionel Carvel."

  "Why bother over matters that are past and gone? I would have borne anhundred such trials to have you come to me as you came to-day, Dorothy.And I shall surely see you again," I said, trying to speak lightly; "andyour mother, to whom you will present my respects, before I sail forAmerica."

  She looked up at me, startled.

  "Before you sail for America!" she exclaimed, in a tone that made methrill at once with joy and sadness. "And are you not, then, to seeLondon now you are here?"

  "Are you never coming back, Dolly?" I whispered; for I feared Mr.Marmaduke might appear at any moment; "or do you wish to remain inEngland always?"

  For an instant I felt her pressure on my hand, and then she had fledinto the house, leaving me standing by the steps looking after her.Comyn's voice aroused me.

  "To the Star and Garter!" I heard him command, and on the way to PallMall he ceased not to rate Mr. Manners with more vigour than propriety."I never liked the little cur, d--n him! No one likes him, Richard," hedeclared. "All the town knows how Chartersea threw a bottle at him, andwere it not for his daughter he had long since been put out of White's.Were it not for Miss Dolly I would call him out for this cowardly trick,and then publish him."

  "Nay, my Lord, I had held that as my privilege," interrupted thecaptain, "were it not, as you say, for Miss Manners."

  His Lordship shot a glance at John Paul somewhat divided betweensurprise, resentment, and amusement.

  "Now you have seen the daughter, captain, you perceive it isimpossible," I hastened to interpose.

  "How in the name of lineage did she come to have such a father?" Comynwent on. "I thank Heaven he's not mine. He's not fit to be her lackey. Iwould sooner t
wenty times have a profligate like my Lord Sandwich fora parent than a milk and water sop like Manners, who will risk nothingover a crown piece at play or a guinea at Newmarket. By G--, Richard,"said his Lordship, bringing his fist against the glass with near forceenough to break the pane, "I have a notion why he did not choose to seeyou that day. Why, he has no more blood than a louse!"

  I had come to the guess as soon as he, but I dared not give it voice,nor anything but ridicule. And so we came to the hotel, the red ofdeparting day fading in the sky above the ragged house-line in St.James's Street.

  It was a very different reception we got than when we had first comethere. You, my dears, who live in this Republic can have no notion ofthe stir and bustle caused by the arrival of Horace Walpole's carriageat a fashionable hotel, at a time when every innkeeper was versed inthe arms of every family of note in the three kingdoms. Our friend thechamberlain was now humility itself, and fairly ran in his eagerness toanticipate Comyn's demands. It was "Yes, my Lord," and "To be sure, yourLordship," every other second, and he seized the first occasion to makeme an elaborate apology for his former cold conduct, assuring me thathad our honours been pleased to divulge the fact that we had friendsin London, such friends as my Lord Comyn and Mr. Walpole, whose greatfather he had once had the distinction to serve as linkman, all wouldhave been well. And he was desiring me particularly to comprehend thathe had been acting under most disagreeable orders when he sent for thebailiff, before I cut him short.

  We were soon comfortably installed in our old rooms; Comyn had sentpost-haste for Davenport, who chanced to be his own tailor, and for thewhole army of auxiliaries indispensable to a gentleman's make-up; andMr. Dix was notified that his Lordship would receive him at eleven onthe following morning, in my rooms. I remembered the faithful Banks witha twinge of gratitude, and sent for him. And John Paul and I, havingbeen duly installed in the clothes made for us, all three of us sat downmerrily to such a supper as only the cook of the Star and Garter, whohad been chef to the Comte de Maurepas, could prepare. Then I beggedComyn to relate the story of our rescue, which I burned to hear.

  "Why, Richard," said he, filling his glass, "had you run afoul anyother man in London, save perchance Selwyn, you'd have been drinking thebailiff's triple-diluted for a month to come. I never knew such a braceof fools as he and Horry for getting hold of strange yarns and makingthem stranger; the wonder was that Horry told this as straight as hedid. He has written it to all his friends on the Continent, and had henot been in dock with the gout ever since he reached town, he wouldhave told it at the opera, and at a dozen routs and suppers. Beg pardon,captain," said he, turning to John Paul, "but I think 'twas your peacockcoat that saved you both, for it caught Horry's eye through the window,as you got out of the chaise, and down he came as fast as he couldhobble.

  "Horry had a little dinner to-day in Arlington Street, where he lives,and Miss Dorothy was there. I have told you, Richard, there has beenno sensation in town equal to that of your Maryland beauty, since LadySarah Lennox. You may have some notion of the old beau Horry can be whenhe tries, and he is over-fond of Miss Dolly--she puts him in mind ofsome canvas or other of Sir Peter's. He vowed he had been saving thispiece de resistance, as he was pleased to call it, expressly for her,since it had to do somewhat with Maryland. 'What d'ye think I met atWindsor, Miss Manners?' he cries, before we had begun the second course.

  "'Perhaps a repulse from his Majesty,' says Dolly, promptly.

  "'Nay,' says Mr. Walpole, making a face, for he hates a laugh at hiscost; nothing less than a young American giant, with the attire of Dr.Benjamin Franklin and the manner of the Fauxbourg Saint Germain. But hehad a whiff of deer leather about him, and shoulders and back and legsto make his fortune at Hockley in the Hole, had he lived two generationssince. And he had with him a strange, Scotch sea-captain, who hadrescued him from pirates, bless you, no less. That is, he said he wasa sea-captain; but he talked French like a Parisian, and quotedShakespeare like Mr. Burke or Dr. Johnson. He may have been M. Caron deBeaumarchais, for I never saw him, or a soothsayer, or Cagliostro themagician, for he guessed my name.'

  "'Guessed your name!' we cried, for the story was out of the ordinary.

  "'Just that,' answered he, and repeated some damned verse I never heard,with Horatio in it, and made them all laugh."

  John Paul and I looked at each other in astonishment, and we, too,laughed heartily. It was indeed an odd coincidence.

  His Lordship continued: "'Well, be that as it may,' said Horry, 'he wasan able man of sagacity, this sea-captain, and, like many another, hada penchant for being a gentleman. But he was more of an oddity thanHertford's beast of Gevaudan, and was dressed like Salvinio, the monkeymy Lord Holland brought back from his last Italian tour.'"

  I have laughed over this description since, my dears, and so has JohnPaul. But at that time I saw nothing funny in it, and winced with himwhen Comyn repeated it with such brutal unconsciousness. However, youngEnglishmen of birth and wealth of that day were not apt to consider thefeelings of those they deemed below them.

  "Come to your story. Comyn," I cut in testily.

  But his Lordship missed entirely the cause of my displeasure.

  "Listen to him!" he exclaimed good-naturedly. "He will hear of nothingbut Miss Dolly. Well, Richard, my lad, you should have seen her as Horrywent on to tell that you had been taken from Maryland, with her headforward and her lips parted, and a light in those eyes of hers to makea man fall down and worship. For Mr. Lloyd, or some one in your Colony,had written of your disappearance, and I vow bliss Dorothy has not beenthe same since. Nor have I been the only one to remark it," said he,waving off my natural protest at such extravagance. "We have talked ofyou more than once, she and I, and mourned you for dead. But I am offmy course again, as we sailors say, captain. Horry was describing howRichard lifted little Goble by one hand and spun all the dignity outof him, when Miss Manners broke in, being able to contain herself nolonger.

  "'An American, Mr. Walpole, and from Maryland?' she demanded. And theway she said it made them all look at her.

  "'Assurement, mademoiselle,' replied Horry, in his cursed French;and perhaps you know him. He would gladden the heart of Frederick ofPrussia, for he stands six and three if an inch. I took such a fancy tothe lad that I invited him to sup with me, and he gave me back a messagefit for Mr. Wilkes to send to his Majesty, as haughty as you choose,that if I desired him I must have his friend in the bargain. YouAmericans are the very devil for independence, Miss Manners! 'Odsfish, I liked his spirit so much I had his friend, Captain something orother--'and there he stopped, caught by Miss Manners's appearance, forshe was very white.

  "'The name is Richard Carvel!' she cried.

  "'I'll lay a thousand it was!' I shouted, rising in my chair. And thecompany stared, and Lady Pembroke vowed I had gone mad.

  "'Bless me, bless me, here's a romance for certain!' cried Horry; 'itthrows my "Castle of Otranto" in the shade' ("that's some damned book hehas written," Comyn interjected).

  "You may not believe me, Richard, when I say that Miss Dolly ate butlittle after that, and her colour came and went like the red of a stormysunset at sea. 'Here's this dog Richard come to spill all our chances,'I swore to myself. The company had been prodigiously entertained by thetale, and clamoured for more, and when Horry had done I told how you hadfought me at Annapolis, and had saved my life. But Miss Manners sat verystill, biting her lip, and I knew she was sadly vexed that you had notgone to her in Arlington Street. For a woman will reason thus," said hisLordship, winking wisely. "But I more than suspected something to havehappened, so I asked Horry to send his fellow Favre over to the Star andGarter to see if you were there, tho' I was of three minds to let yougo to the devil. You should have seen her face when he came back to saythat you had been for three weeks in a Castle Yard sponging-house! ThenHorry said he would lend me his coach, and when it was brought aroundMiss Manners took our breaths by walking downstairs and into it, norwould she listen to a word of the objections crie
d by my Lady Pembrokeand the rest. You must know there is no stopping the beauty when she hasmade her mind. And while they were all chattering on the steps I jumpedin, and off we drove, and you will be the most talked-of man in Londonto-morrow. I give you Miss Manners!" cried his Lordship, as he ended.

  We all stood to the toast, I with my blood a-tingle and my brain awhirl,so that I scarce knew what I did.