XXXV
IN WHICH I FIGHT THE DEVIL WITH FIRE
With the house guard for a guide I found my host in a box-like den belowstairs; a room with a writing-table, two chairs and a great ironstrong-box for its scanty furnishings.
The old man was sitting at the table when I looked in, his long noseburied in a musty parchment deed. The light from the single small windowwas none too good, but it sufficed to help him recognize me at a glance,despite the hussar uniform. In a twinkling he put the breadth of theoaken table between us, hurled the parchment deed into the openstrong-box, slammed to the cover and gave a shrill alarm.
"Ho! you devils without, there! Here he is--I have him! Help! Murder!"
The guard, a burly, bearded Darmstaedter, turned on his heel and stood atattention in the doorway, looking stolidly for his orders, not to theshrilling master of the house, but to the man who wore a uniform.
"'Tis naught," I said, speaking in German. "He mistakes me for a_rittmeister_ of the rebels. _Verstehen Sie?_"
The soldier saluted, wheeled and vanished; and I sat down to wait tillthe old man's outcry should pause for lack of breath. When my chancecame, I said:
"Calm yourself, Mr. Stair. You are in no present danger greater thanthat which you may bring upon yourself. Blot out all the past, if youplease, and consider me now as a member of Lord Cornwallis's militaryfamily seeking quarters in your house by my Lord's express command."
"Quarters in my house?--ye're a damned rebel spy!" he cried. "I'lldenounce ye to my Lord for what ye are. Ho! ye rascals, I say!"
"Peace!" I commanded, sternly; "this is but child's folly. No man in theBritish army would arrest me at your behest. Ring the bell and summonyour factor lawyer. I would have a word or two in private with both ofyou."
He dropped into a chair, and I could see the sweat standing in greatbeads on his wrinkled forehead.
"D' ye--d' ye mean to kill us both?" he gasped.
"Not if I can help it. But some better understanding is needful, and wewill have it here and now, once for all. Will you ring, or shall I?"
He made no move to reach the bell-cord, and I rang for him. A grinningblack boy came to the door, and seeing that Mr. Gilbert Stair was beyondgiving the order, I gave it myself.
"Find Master Pengarvin and send him here quickly. Tell him Mr. Stairwants him."
There was a short interval of waiting and then the lawyer came. Beingbut a little wisp of a man, all malignance and no courage, he would havefled when he saw me. But I caught him by the collar and sent himscurrying around the table to keep his master company.
"Now, then; how much or how little have you two blabbed of the doings atAppleby Hundred some weeks since?" I demanded. "Speak out, and quickly."
'Twas the lawyer who obeyed, and now he was the trapped rat to snapblindly in despair.
"You will hang higher than Haman when the dragoons find you," he grittedout.
"On your information?"
"On mine and Mr. Stair's."
"Ye lie!" shrieked the miser. "I tell't ye to keep hands off, yebletherin' little deevil, ye!"
"Never mind," said I; "what's done is done. But it must be undone, andthat swiftly and thoroughly. Lie out of it to Colonel Tarleton and theothers as you will; Captain John Stuart and the baronet are not here tocontradict you, and you are the only witnesses. Knock together somestory that will hold water and lose no time about it. Do youunderstand?"
Seeing he was not to be put to the wall and spitted on the spot, thelawyer recovered himself.
"'Tis not the criminal at the bar who dictates terms, Captain Ireton,"he said, with his hateful smirk. "You are under sentence of death, andthat by a court lawful enough in war time."
"You refuse?" I said.
He shrugged.
"Speaking for myself, I shall leave no stone unturned to bring you tobook, Captain,--when it suits my purpose."
I was loath to go to extremities with either of them; but my bridge ofglass must be defended at all hazards.
"You would best reconsider, Mr. Pengarvin. At this present moment I amof my Lord Cornwallis's military family and I have his confidence. Aword from me will put you both in arrest as persons whose loyalty intimes past has been somewhat more than blown upon."
"Bah!" said the pettifogger. "Bluster is a good dog, but Holdfast is thebetter. You can prove nothing, as you well know. Moreover, with your ownneck in a noose you dare not mess and meddle with other men's affairs."
"Dare not, you say? I'll tell you what I may dare, Master Attorney. Ifyou are not disposed to meet me half way in this matter, I shall go tomy Lord, tell him how I have been cheated out of my estate, declare themarriage with Mistress Margery, and see that you get your just deserts.And you may rest assured that this soldier-earl will right me, come whatmay."
'Twas a bold stroke, the boldest of any I had made that morning; but Iwas wholly unprepared for its effect upon the lawyer. His rage was likethat of some venomous little animal, a thing to make an onlooker shudderand draw back.
"Never!" he hissed; "never, I say! I'll kill her first--I'll--" Hechoked in the very exuberance of his malignance, and his face was likethe face of a man in a fit.
'Twas then that I saw the pointing of his villainy and knew what Margeryhad meant when she said that for reasons of his own he was holding mybetrayal in abeyance. He was Falconnet's successor and my rival. Thislittle reptile aspired to be the master of my father's acres and thehusband of my dear lady! And his holding off from denouncing me at oncewas also explained. Taking it for granted that the wife would bargainfor the husband's life, he had made a whip of his leniency to flogMargery into subjection.
My determination was taken upon the instant. There was no safety forMargery whilst this plotting pettifogger was at large, and I stepped tothe door and called the sentry. The Darmstaedter came back and I pointedto the lawyer. Then, indeed, the furious little madman found his tongueand shrilled out his defiance.
"Curse you!" he yelled. "I'll be quits with you for this, Master Spy!'Tis your hearing now, but mine will come, and you shall hang like adog! I'll follow you to the ends of the earth--I'll--"
I made a sign and the soldier brought his musket into play and prickedhis prisoner with the bayonet in token that time pressed. So we were ridof the lawyer in bodily presence, though I could hear his snarlings andspittings as the big Darmstaedter ran him out at the bayonet's point.
During this tilt between his factor and me, Mr. Gilbert Stair had stoodapart, watchful but trembling. When we were alone I said:
"Now, Mr. Stair, I shall trouble you to billet me somewhere in yourhouse, as a member of my Lord's family. Lead on, if you please, and I'llfollow."
He went before me without a word, out of the little den and up the broadstair, doddering like a man grown ten years older in a breath, andcatching at the balustrade to steady himself as we ascended. The room hegave me was at an angle in one of the crookings of the corridor, andpointing me to the door he went pottering away, still without a word ora look behind him.
The door was on the latch, but it gave reluctantly, letting me insuddenly when I set my shoulder to it. There was a quick little cry,half of anger, half of affright, from within. I drew back hastily, witha muttered curse upon the old man's spite, and in the act my spur caughtthe door and slammed it shut behind me.
For reasons known only to Omniscience and to himself, Gilbert Stair hadshown me to my lady's chamber; she was standing, with her bodice off,before the oval mirror on the high dressing case.
The Master of Appleby Page 37