CHAPTER XX.
BY GOOD HAP I DISCOVER A FRESH PIECE OF VILLAINY.
I say I fell asleep the happiest of men, with sweet, delightful thoughtsof that dear creature who lay separated from me but by the thickness ofa few paneled boards; yet were my senses not so completely lulled toforgetfulness but that they were quick to take alarm at that whichmenaced her security, for suddenly I awoke, hearing a sound at that doorwhich opened to the deck which I had, as aforesaid, made fast on theinner side.
Sitting bolt upright I could see naught, for the darkness wasimpenetrable; but it was enough that I had ears to know some one wastrying the door. Slowly I heard the latch grating as it was lifted inthe catch, and then the door creak as it was pressed from without; but,thanks be to God, the bolt held firm. There was no light on the deck, orI should have caught some glimmer through the silk blinds of thewindows; I could see no more than if I had been stone blind. And theonly other sound I heard was a sweeping down of rain upon the deckoverhead. Presently the latch fell again, as my strained hearing couldwell perceive, and then there was a pause of some minutes, when againthe latch was lifted slowly, and the door gave a smart crack under thepressure against it.
At the first sound I had started to my feet and opened my jack-knife;and thus I stood all the while this attempt was making, with my hair onend and my tongue cleaving to my gullet in a terrible fear, not of themischief that might befall me, but that in such darkness I might fail tokill him who would harm Lady Biddy.
The latch fell for the second time, and there was no further attempt toopen the door, but for a long while I stood there with my knife clenchedin my hand.
When I came to reason on this attempt, I concluded that Rodrigues had nohand in it, for it was not his manner to go that way to work, but rathersome villain of his crew; whosoever it was, that bolt saved his life forthe time, for I do believe that had he been powerful as Hercules, Ishould have rent him to pieces before he set foot in the chamber whereLady Biddy lay.
I slept no more that night, you may be sure, nor did I deem it safe toput up my knife until the windows in the gallery becoming faintlyvisible showed that day was at hand. And now, feeling there was nofurther danger for the present, I opened the little gallery door, andcreeping out into the rain, made a shift to cleanse myself somewhat, andset my hair in order, using my fingers for a comb.
By the time this was done, and I had gone back into the cabin, and gotmy coat, etc., our common safety demanded that I should arouse LadyBiddy, which I did by scratching gently against the partition as we hadarranged overnight, and she replied by scratching the wainscot on herside. When she was dressed she came out from her room, and I saw theupper part of her graceful figure and her small head, revealed againstthe light, now pretty well advanced, on the gallery windows. Thenstooping low that I might not likewise be revealed to any one peeringthrough the fore windows, I crept into the cabin she had left, which, tomy senses, was like any flower-garden with the fresh perfume of herbreath.
Anon she came back to that chamber, and giving me her hand told me (tomy questioning) that she had slept well; and I told her nothing of whathad happened in the night, that no trouble should disturb her repose ifit pleased Providence to keep us prisoners there another night.
Then we fell to discoursing (very low) as to our conduct during the day.With reluctance I advised her to keep in the outer chamber, thatRodrigues might suspect nothing, owning that for our deliverance I sawno better help than to be guided by circumstances as they arose.
She made no objection to this counsel. "But," says she, "What shall I doif that villain comes to me?" (meaning Rodrigues.)
To this I replied (though it went against the grain), that whilst hebehaved civilly she would do well to tolerate his visits and listen towhat he said. "For," says I, "though you hold the door, and exclude himfor a minute, he can, if he will, burst it open, and by thus bringingabout one act of violence may you lead to another. To force we can onlyoppose force, and his power is out of all proportion to ours; whereforeit behoves us to use such strategy as we may, for only thus can we liveto take advantage of a better opportunity."
"You are right," says she, with such submissiveness in her voice as Ihad never expected to hear. "I will do as you bid me. But should heoverstep the bounds of civility?"
"Then," says I, grinding my teeth, "be sure that, whatever mayafterwards befall, he shall die."
Soon after this the boy raps at the outer door, and brings in LadyBiddy's breakfast. Having set it on the table and placed a chair for hervery orderly, he moves as if he would go into the inner cabin, when LadyBiddy, catching him quickly by the arm, cries:
"Where are you going, child? What do you want in there?"
"Why, madam," says he, "I am but going to make your bed, and set yourcabin in order, as my master bade me."
"Nay," says she, "I can do all there is to be done myself."
With that she leads the boy to the door and sends him away; so was Iagain saved from discovery.
To make sure that no one was watching her, Lady Biddy pulled up theblinds in the fore windows, and finding she was unobserved, this kindsoul, even before she tasted a morsel herself, whips a portion of hervictuals into a dish and brings it to me for my comfort, and sure nofood was ever so seasoned to excite the appetite as this to which herkindness gave its savor.
As she brought the dish to me, so she took it away, and at the same timea book from the store of her goods which Rodrigues had caused to bebrought into the cabin.
Seating herself on the sofett, she disposed herself to read, yet withlittle ability to distract her thoughts, for every moment she expectedto see Rodrigues; and while she was thus employed, the boy comes to takeaway the dishes, etc., and this being done and the crumbs swept up, heagain crosses towards the inner cabin. Whereupon, in a terrible taking,Lady Biddy, starting up once more, checks him--
"Why will you persever in entering my chamber?" cries she, "when I tellyou I will do all that is necessary there?"
"'Tis no fault of mine," says the child. "My master told me to fetchsome clothes of his from the chest, and I must do his bidding."
"Tell me what you need and I will get it," says Lady Biddy, going to thebetwixt door; and then seeing at a glance that I had concealed myself,she adds, in a tone of indifference, "Nay, fetch them yourself," and sogoes back with her book to the sofett.
I had crept to my old hiding-place under the cot when the boy first cameinto the next cabin, for fear of accident, and now, as I lay there, Icould see all that he did. First of all, he went to the chest and dulylaid out a suit of clothes; then taking a quick glance through thehalf-open door to make sure Lady Biddy was not observing him, he turnsabout, and going to one corner of the cabin, strips up the carpet, doessomething to the boards (which I could not see for my position), andthen as swiftly turns back the carpet to its place. This done, thelittle villain shuts to the drawer of the chest with a bang, and goesout of the room with the clothes in his arms, as if that had been allhis errand.
I lost no time in creeping out and crossing to that corner of the cabinto see what that boy had been about; and, at a glance, I perceived thewhole business as I turned back the carpet. Here, in the boards, was ahinged hatch or trap door with a ring whereby to raise it, and a bolt tomake it secure--ring, bolt, and hinge being sunk in the boards, flush,and neatly done as any joiner's work. The bolt was slipped back so thatthe trap could be opened from below, and I doubted not that this hadbeen the work of that little villain boy. Moreover, as I had concludedthat he who tried the door in the night was not Rodrigues, so I surmisedthat this undoing of the hatch was not of his ordering (since there wasno reason for his going about in this fashion), but rather theindependent measures of the boy to get into the cabin for pilferingpurposes, or of some one of the crew who had won over the boy to hiswill for more villainous purpose. For the present I contented myselfwith shooting back the bolt, returning the carpet to its place, andgetting back to my hiding-place under the cot.
The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane Page 20