Lord Montagu's Page: An Historical Romance

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER II.

  What an extraordinary world it is! Men in general are mere shellfish,unapproachable except at certain tender points; such as the eyes of thecrab, or the soft yellow skin under an alligator's gullet,--Achilles'heels which have been neglected by the mothers of those sapient reptileswhen they were dipped in Styx. But perhaps it is as well as it is; forif a man were tender all over, and once began to think of all the miserythat is going on around him, the faces he would make would be horribleto see. Reader, at this very moment there are thousands dying in agony,there are many starving for lack of food, there is a whole host ofgentle hearts watching the expiring lamp of life in the eyes of thosemost dearly loved, there are multitudes of noble spirits and mightyminds struggling in doubt for to-morrow's daily crust, there is crime,folly, sorrow, anguish, shame, remorse, despair, around us on everyside; and yet we are as merry as a grasshopper unless somebody snaps offone of our own legs. There is not an instant of time that does not bringwith it a thousand waves of agony over the stormy sea of humanexistence; and yet every man's light boat dances on, and the marinersings, till one of the many billows overwhelms him. It is quite as wellas it is.

  Some, however, are blessed--or cursed, as it may be--with a faculty offeeling for others; and that boy, as he took his way up from the shoretoward the little hillock of sand on which a bonfire of pine logs wasblazing,--with two heavy bags on his arms, and the rain dashed by thefierce wind in his face,--could not help thinking of the roofless headsand chilled hearts he knew were in the world.

  "Poor souls!" he thought; "in an hour I shall be warm and dry andcomfortable, and to-morrow all this will be forgotten; but for themthere is no comfort, no better to-morrow."

  Stay a minute, my lad! Do not go too fast and reckon without your host,either for yourself or others. Joy may light up the dim eye, hope fanthe aching brow; and you,--after all you have seen and undergone even inyour short life,--how dare you count upon the events of the nexthour,--nay, of the next moment?

  He climbed the hill stoutly but slowly; for it was steep, and his bagswere heavy. The wicked wind, too, fought with him all the way up, andthe rain, which had lately begun to fall, came loaded with smallparticles of hail, as if it sought to aid the wind in keeping him backtill their united force could put out the beacon-fire. But the pine wasfull of resin, and it burned on, with the flame and the smoke whirledabout by the wind but never extinguished, until at length he stood onthe windward side of the fire and looked round, as if expecting to seethe man who lighted it.

  There was no one there, however; and the youth, who, it must beacknowledged, was of a somewhat eager and impatient temper and apt tocome to hasty conclusions, fancied for a moment or two that those heshould have found there had grown weary of waiting in that boisterousnight, and had left him to enjoy its pleasures or its terrors byhimself. A moment after, however, as the flame swayed a little more tothe westward, he caught a glimpse of the ground on the other side of thehill sinking rapidly down into a little dell where some less arid soilseemed to have settled,--enough at least to bear some scanty herbage, afew low bushes, and some thin pines; and there, amongst the latter,appeared a small fixed light. It might be a candle in a cottage-window,and probably was; for it was too red for a jack-o'lantern.

  "Ah! I can at least find out where I am," thought the lad; "but I daresay the men are there, taking care of their own skins and little caringabout mine."

  Thus thinking, he began to descend, and had not proceeded far when avoice hailed him in French. The lad made no answer, but went on; for, tosay sooth, he was somewhat moody with all the events of the last threeor four days.

  "Is that you, Master Ned, I say?" repeated the voice, in English, butwith a very strong foreign accent.

  "Ay, ay!" replied the youth; "but how the devil did you expect me tofind you if you did not stay by the fire?"

  "Oh, we kept a good look-out," answered a stout man of somefive-and-thirty years of age, who was advancing to meet him. "We havewaited for you by the fire long enough these two last nights; and, as wecould see any one who came across the blaze, there was no use of ourgetting frozen, or melted, or blown away on the top of the hill. Butwhat has made you so long behind? You were to have been here on Tuesdaynight: so the letters said. What kept you?"

  "Head-winds all the way from Ushant," replied the boy. "But let us goon, Jargeau, for we must be far from the town, and time enough has beenlost already."

  "Well, come down to the cottage," said the other, in a musing sort oftone. "You want something to refresh you while the horses are beingsaddled. Here; let me carry your bags." And as he spoke he laid his handupon one of the large leather-covered cases.

  "Not that one," said the boy, sharply, pushing away his hand: "here; youmay take this." The man laughed, saying, "Ay, as sharp as ever!" andthey descended to the pines, where the light still glimmered behind oneof the few remaining panes of glass in the window of a dilapidatedcottage, on the leeward side of which stood three horses, tethered butwithout their saddles.

  The interior of the building offered no very cheerful aspect; but,seeing that the boy had not eaten any thing for the last twelve hours,that he was weary, wet, and cold, the sight of a very tolerable supplyof viands on the floor,--for there was furniture of no kind within,--anda large black bottle fitted to hold at least a gallon, was veryconsolatory.

  The only other objects which the cottage contained were the rosin candlefixed into a split log, and a lean but apparently strong man of perhapsforty, whose face had evidently had at least a ten years' intimacy withthe brandy-flask. He was stretched out at length upon the ground, butwith his head and arm within reach of the viands and bottle; and though,in answer to some observations of his comrade of the watch, he sworemanfully that he had touched neither, yet he wiped his mouth upon thesleeve of his coat, as if he felt that something might be clinging tohis lips which would contradict him.

  "Ah, Master Ned!" he exclaimed, in French, but without moving from wherehe lay, "I am right glad you have come, for my throat is as dry as anear of rye, and Jargeau there would not have the cold meat touched northe bottle broached till you came."

  "By the Lord, you have broached it, though!" exclaimed the other, whohad been stooping down: "the neck is quite wet, you vagabond; and, if wedid not need you, I would give you a touch of my knife for disobeying myorders. But come, Master Ned, sit down on the floor and eat. There isenough left in the bottle for you, at all events; and, on my soul, heshall not have another drop till both you and I have finished."

  The other man only laughed, and the boy applied himself to the food witha good will. When he had eaten silently for some ten minutes, hestretched out his hand, saying, "Give me the bottle, Jargeau: I willhave one draught of wine, and then I am ready. Pierrot, get up and putthe saddles on the horses."

  "No wine will you get here," replied Jargeau; "but this is better foryou, wet as you are,--as good eau-de-vie as ever came from TonnayCharente. Take a good drink: you will need it."

  "Get up and saddle the horses," said the boy before he drank, addressingsomewhat sharply the lean gentleman on the ground. "Have you forgottenSt. Martin's, good Pierrot?"

  "I will have my drink first," answered the other, grinning. "I broughtthe bottle here; and drop for drop all round is fair play."

  As the quickest mode of ending all dispute, the youth drank and gave thebottle to Pierrot; but it remained so long at his lips that Jargeausnatched it angrily from him, swearing he would not leave a drop. Heseemed loath to part with it, but at length raised his long limbs fromthe floor, and, lighting another rosin candle, went forth to perform histask.

  "And now, Master Ned," said Jargeau, "I have news for you which you maybe will not like. You are not going to La Rochelle to-night. There is noone there whom you want to see."

  "I must go," said the boy, thoughtfully, as if speaking to himself. "Imust go."

  "But just listen, Master Ned," said Jargeau. "I know you are somewhathard-headed; but what is the use of going to a p
lace where there is noone to deal with? Now, the Prince de Soubise and the Duc de Rohan areboth at the Chateau of Mauze; and with them are all the people you wantto see."

  The lad paused and mused for several minutes without making any answer,and Jargeau pressed him to take some more of the brandy, saying that hewould have a ride of thirty miles. But still he replied nothing, till atlength, awaking from his reverie, he asked, "Who is to guide me? I donot know the way to Mauze."

  "Oh, Pierrot is here for the very purpose," answered Jargeau: "he willguide you, and though, by one way or another, he will find means to makeall you leave of the brandy disappear, you know he is never drunk enoughnot to find his way."

  Master Ned, as they called him, again fell into thought for a moment ortwo, and then answered, "It would be better for you to go yourself. Butperhaps you are wanted in Rochelle?"

  "No," answered the other, in an indifferent tone; "I have got to go toFontenay, where some of our friends--you understand?--are to have ameeting to-morrow night."

  "Then you must be there, of course," replied Master Ned; "but, ifPierrot is to ride thirty miles with me, the poor devil had better havesome food. He has tasted nothing but the brandy."

  "That is enough for him," answered Jargeau: "he cares nothing for meatwhen he can get drink."

  "Well, then, let him have enough of what he likes best," answered thelad; "and in the mean time I will get a cloak out of the bag, for weshall have a wet ride as well as a long one." Thus saying, he rose, tookthe bags into the farther corner of the cabin, and certainly took acloak out of one of them. Whether he brought forth any thing else I donot say; but the cloak was soon over his shoulders, and a moment afterPierrot appeared at the door, saying that the beasts were saddled.

  "Here, Pierrot," exclaimed the lad; "come in and devour that chicken,and then you shall have some more of the devil's drops."

  "Take some more yourself, Ned," said Jargeau: "'tis the only way toprevent catching the fever."

  The lad assented, and, taking the bottle with both hands, put it to hislips; but whether any of its contents passed beyond them I am doubtful,seeing that the throat, which was fully exposed by his falling collar,showed no signs of deglutition. He then handed the liquor to Pierrot,who by this time had torn a large fat fowl to pieces and swallowedone-half of it. The brandy fared still worse; for, although Jargeaufrowned upon him fiercely while he drank, the bottle, whatever remainedof the contents when he put it to his mouth, left that organ quiteempty.

  "You drunken beast, you have swallowed it all!" said Jargeau.

  "True," answered Pierrot, with a watery and somewhat swimming eye: "mymouth is not large, but it is deep. I wish the Pertuis d'Antioche couldbe filled with the same stuff and my mouth be laid at the other end.There would be only one current then, Monsieur Jargeau."

  The lad and the elderman both eyed him keenly as he spoke; but, strangeto say, the sight seemed to please the former more than the latter, and,as they issued forth to mount, Jargeau drew Pierrot aside and saidsomething to him in a low but angry voice.

  The lad took not the slightest notice of this little interlude, but,advancing to where the horses stood with bent heads, not liking the rainat all, he selected the one which seemed to him the strongest and best,without asking consent of any one, placed his bags, tied together with astrong leathern thong, over the pommel of the saddle, and then spranginto his seat. "Come on, Pierrot!" he cried; "we have far to ride, itseems, and but little time." Jargeau advanced to his side and said, in awhisper, "That beast is half drunk. Take care of him. You remember it isthe Chateau of Mauze you are going to. He may turn refractory."

  "Oh, no fear," replied Master Ned. "I can drive him as well as any otherass. I have driven him before. Mauze?--that is upon the road to Niort,is it not?"

  "Yes," answered the other. "Where the road forks, keep to the right, andthen straight on: you cannot miss it. I think the moon will get thebetter of the clouds and shine out."

  "Good!" said the youth. "We want a little light."

  Thus saying, he struck the horse with his heel, and the beast startedforward. Pierrot, who by this time had contrived to mount, followed, andJargeau returned to the cottage, as he said, to put out the light.