XLVI
HOW OUR PIECE MISSED FIRE AT HARNDON ACRES
For a doorkeeper some one or another of the officer guests had set asergeant on guard; but though the night was yet young the man passed usinto the great entrance hall with a hiccough and a wink that spoke thusearly of an open house and freely flowing good cheer.
As we had hoped to find it, this rout at Master Harndon's was a stiflingjam, and a good half of the guests were in civilian plain clothes,neither Paris nor London having as yet reached so far into the Carolinaplantations to proscribe homespun and to prescribe the gay toggeries ofthe courts. This for the men, I hasten to add; for then, as now, ourAmerican dames and maids would put a year's cropping of a plantation ontheir backs, thinking nothing of it; and there was no lack of shimmeringsilks and stiff brocades, of high-piled _coiffures_, paint, patches andpowder at this merrymaking at Harndon Acres.
Lacking an introducer, and wanting, moreover, nothing save the leave tohave standing-room in the throng as lookers-on, we gave Mr. MarmadukeHarndon, a sleek, rotund little gentleman, smirking and bowing andtapping the lid of his silver snuff-box, a wide berth; and with anagreement to meet later for the comparing of notes, Jennifer and I wentapart at the door of the ball-room, each to lose himself in theassembled company as an otter slips into a pool, namely, withoutruffling it.
'Twas easily done. Winnsborough had by this time become a refuge campfor all the loyalists in the region roundabout, and there were many inthe present company who were strangers one to another, uneasy, shiftingfigures in the gay throng, beneath the notice alike of haughty dames andprinking dandy officers. Beneath the notice, I say; yet I would qualifythis, for more than one of the epauletted macaronis trod upon my toes orbustled me rudely in the crush till I trembled, not for my ownself-control, but for Richard's, making sure that the lad was having nomore gentlemanly welcome than I.
'Twas with some notion of finding ampler room for my feet that I edgedaway through the fringing wall-crowd in the dancing-room toward acurtained archway at the back. As yet I had overheard naught save thesilly persiflage of the belles and beaux--a word here and anotherthere--and I was beginning to fear that this was as poor a place to lookfor information as was the pothouse, when a thing befell to set mea-quiver with all the thrillings the human heart-strings can thrum to inone and the same instant of time.
I had shouldered my way out of the ball-room medley and into the lesscrowded room at the back. This proved to be a rear withdrawing-roomserving for the nonce as a refectory. There were little groups and knotsof chatterers standing about; fair maids, each with her ring ofredcoated courtiers, laughing and jesting or picking daintily at theviands on the great oaken table in the midst.
Rounding the promontory of the table's-end to come to anchor in somequiet eddy where I could listen unnoticed for the word I was thirstingfor, I must needs entangle the button of my coat-cuff in the delicatelace of a lady's sleeve in passing.
The wearer of the sleeve had her back to me, and I saw the whiteshoulders go up in a little shrug of petulance whilst I sought todisentangle the button. Then she turned to face me and the words ofapology froze on my lips. 'Twas Mistress Margery, standing at easewith--good heavens! with Richard Jennifer and Colonel Banastre Tarletonfor her company!
Here was a halter, with a double snaffle at the end of it, was thethought that flashed upon me; and I was gathering my wits to brazen itout in some such manner as to leave Jennifer unattainted, when my ladygive a little start and a shriek.
"La, Mr. Septimus; how you startled me!" she cried. Then, without atremor of the lip or a pause for breath-taking, she presented me:"Colonel Tarleton; Mr. Septimus Ireton, of Iretondene in Virginia." Andnext to Dick: "Mr. Richard; my very good friend, Mr. Ireton."
'Twas done so cleverly and with such an air that even Dick, who hadknown her from childhood, was struck dumb with admiration, as his facesufficiently advertised. And, indeed, I had much ado to play my own partwith any decent self-possession, though I did make shift to bow stiffly,and to say: "I see I should have brought the Iretondene title deeds withme to make you sure that I am not my rebel cousin John, MistressMargery. Your servant, Colonel Tarleton; and yours, Mr. Richard."
Dick's bow was an elaborate hiding of his tell-tale face; but thecolonel's was the slightest of nods, and I could feel the sloe-blackeyes of him boring into my very soul.
Had my lady given him but a moment's time I make no doubt he would havecome instantly at the truth and the little farce would have been turnedinto a tragedy on the spot. But she gave him no time. The spinet in theball-room alcove was tinkling out the overture to a minuet, and she laidthe tips of her dainty fingers on the colonel's arm.
"This will be ours to walk through, will it not, Colonel Tarleton?" shesaid, playing the sprightly minx to the very climax of perfection. Thenshe dipped us a curtsy. "_Au revoir_, gentlemen. 'Tis a thousand pitiesyou had not joined sooner and so had the red coat and small-sword tograce you here."
When they were gone, Dick laughed sardonically.
"Saw you ever such a cool-blood little jade in all your life? 'Twas withme as it was with you; I, too, stumbled upon them, and the colonelbustled me and set his heel on my foot. I daresay I should have hadmyself in irons in another moment but for Madge. She slipped in betweenand introduced us as sweetly as you please."
"Nevertheless," said I, "the colonel recognized us both."
"No! Think you so?"
"'Tis certain enough to play upon. What we do now must be done quicklyor not at all. What have you overheard?"
He swore softly. "Never a cursed word; less than nothing of any interestto Dan Morgan."
"We must try again. 'Twill surely be talked of here if the army is aboutto move. Do you take a turn in the anteroom and meet me in a quarter ofan hour at the outer door."
At the word, Dick promptly lost himself in the throng whilst I made aslow circuit of the refreshment table. Once I thought I had the cluewhen a girl hanging on the arm of an infantry lieutenant said: "Will itbe true that you will presently go out to hunt the rebels down, Mr.Thornicroft?" But the prudent lieutenant smiled and put her offcleverly, leaving his fair questioner--and me--none the wiser.
I went on, drifting aimlessly from group to group and dallying of setpurpose. If I had read Colonel Tarleton's glance aright, the momentswere growing diamond-precious; but as yet neither half of my errand wasdone. Come what might, I must see Margery again and have her tell mewhere and how to find the priest; and 'twas borne in upon me that shewould come back to seek me as soon as she could be free of her partnerin the dance.
The forecast as to my lady had its fulfilment while yet the spinetterwas striking out the final chords of the minuet. A lady dropped herkerchief, and I was before her swain in stooping to pick it up. As Ibowed low in returning the bit of lace to its owner, a voice that I hadlearned to know and love whispered in my ear.
"Make your way to the clock landing of the stair; I must have speechwith you," it said; and for a wonder I was cool enough to obey with nomore than a sidelong glance at my lady passing on the arm of anotherepauletted dangler.
She was before me at the meeting place, and there was no laughingwelcome in the deep-welled eyes. Instead, they flashed me a look thatmade me wince.
"What folly is this, sir?" she demanded. "Will you never have donetaking my honor and your own life into your reckless hands?"
I bowed my head to the storm. With the dagger of my miserable errandsticking in my heart there was no fight in me.
"I am but come to do your bidding," I said, slowly, for the words costme sorely in the coin of anguish. "I had your letter, and if you willsay how I may find Father Matthieu--"
She broke me in the midst. "_Mon Dieu!_" she cried. "Could I guess thatyou would come here, into the very noose of the gallows? Oh, how you doheap scorn on scorn upon me! Once you made me give silent consent to afalsehood you told; twice, nay, thrice, you have made me disloyal to theking; and now you come again to make me look the world in the face
andtell a smiling lie to shield you! O Holy Mother, pity me!" And with thisshe put her face in her hands and began to sob.
Now we were only measurably isolated on the stair, and some sense of thehazard we took--a hazard involving her as well as Richard andmyself--steadied me with a sudden shock.
"Control yourself," I whispered. "What is done, is done; and the miseryis not all yours to suffer. Tell me how I may find the priest, and Iwill do my errand and begone."
"You can not stay to find him now--you must not," she insisted, comingout of the fit of despair with a rebound. "He is in the town--indeed, Iknow not where he is just now. Can you not endure it a little longer,Captain Ireton?"
"No," said I, sullenly. "I have been living a lie all these months tothe friend I love best, and I will not do it more."
Could I be mistaken? Surely there was a flash not of anger in the eyesthat were lifted to mine, and a tremulous note of eagerness in thevoice that said: "Then Dick does not know?--you have not told him?"
"No; I have told no one."
"Poor Dick!" she said softly. "I thought he knew, and I--"
She paused, and in the pause it flashed upon me how she had wronged mydear lad; how she had thought he would make brazen love to her knowingshe was the wife of another. I thanked God in my heart that I had beenable to right him thus far.
After a time she said: "Why did you make me marry you, Monsieur John?Oh, I have racked my brain so for the answer to that question. I knowyou said it was to save my honor. But surely we have paid a heavierpenalty than any that could have been laid upon me had you left me as Iwas."
"I was but a short-sighted fool, and no prophet," I rejoined, strivinghard to keep the bitterness of soul out of my words. "At the moment itseemed the only way out of the pit of doubt into which my word toColonel Tarleton had plunged you. But there was another motive. You sawthe paper I signed that night, with Lieutenant Tybee and your father'sfactor for the witnesses?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what it was?"
"No."
"'Twas the last will and testament of one John Ireton, gentleman, inwhich he bequeathed to Margery, his wife, his estate of ApplebyHundred."
"Appleby Hundred?" she echoed. "But my father--"
"Your father holds but a confiscator's title, and it, with many others,has been voided by the Congress of North Carolina. Richard Jennifer ismy dear friend, and you--"
"I begin to understand--a little," she said, and now her voice was lowand she would not look at me. Then, in the same low tone: "But now--nowyou would be free again?"
"How can you ask? As matters stand, I have marred your life and Dick'smost hopelessly. Do you wonder that I have been reckless of the hangman?that I care no jot for my interfering life at this moment, save as thetaking of it may involve you and Richard?"
"No, surely," she said, still speaking softly. And now she gave me hereyes to look into, and the hardness was all melted out of them. "Did youcome here, under the shadow of the gallows, to tell me this, MonsieurJohn?"
"There shall be no more half-confidences between us, dear lady. I had myleave of General Morgan on the score of our need for better informationof Lord Cornwallis's designs; but I should have come in anycase--wanting the leave, my commission as a spy, or any other excuse."
"To tell me this?"
"To do the bidding of your letter, and to say that whilst I live I shallbe shamed for the bitter words I gave you when I was sick."
"I mind them not; I had forgotten them," she said.
"But I have not forgotten, nor ever shall. Will you say you forgive me,Margery?"
"For thinking I had poisoned you? How do you know I did not?"
"I have seen Scipio. Will you shrive me for that disloyalty, dear lady?"
"Did I not say I had forgotten it?"
"Thank you," I said, meaning it from the bottom of my heart. "Now onething more, and you shall send me to Father Matthieu. 'Tis a shamefulthing to speak of, but the thought of it rankles and will rankle till Ihave begged you to add it to the things forgotten. That morning in yourdressing-room--"
She put up her hands as if she would push the words back.
"Spare me, sir," she begged. "There are some things that must always beunspeakable between us, and that is one of them. But if it will help youto know--that I know--how--how you came there--"
She was flushing most painfully, and I was scarce more at ease. Buthaving gone thus far, I must needs let the thought consequent slip intowords.
"Your father's motives have ever been misunderstandable to me. Whatcould he hope to gain by such a thing?"
I had no sooner said it than I could have bitten my masterless tongue.For in the very voicing of the wonder I saw, or thought I saw, GilbertStair's purpose. Since I had not made good my promise to die and leavethe estate to Margery, he would at least make sure of his daughter'sdowry in it by putting it beyond us to set the marriage aside as a thingbegun but not completed. So, having this behind-time flash of after-wit,I made haste to efface the question I had asked.
"Your pardon, I pray you; I see now 'tis a thing we must both bury outof sight. But to the other--the matter which has brought me hither; willyou put me in the way of finding Father Matthieu?"
We had talked on through the measures of a cotillion, and the dancers,warm and wearied, were beginning to fill the entrance hall below. Ourpoor excuse for privacy would be gone in a minute or two, and she spokequickly.
"You shall see Father Matthieu, and I will help you. But you must notlinger here. In a few days the army will be moving northward--Oh,heavens! what have I said!"
"Nothing," I cut in swiftly; "you are speaking now to your husband--notto the spy. Go on, if you please."
"We shall return to Appleby Hundred within the fortnight. There, if youare still--if you desire it, you may meet the good _cure_, and--"
A much-bepowdered captain of cavalry was coming up the stair to claimher, and I was fain to let her go. But at my passing of her to the stepbelow, I whispered: "I shall keep the tryst--my first and last with you,dear lady. Adieu."
So soon as she was gone I made haste to find Richard, having, as Ifeared, greatly overstayed my appointment to meet him at the door. Hewas not among the promenaders in the hall, so I began to drift again,through the ball-room and so on to where the spread table stood ringedwith its groups of nibblers. I had made no more than half the round ofthe refectory when I saw Margery standing in the curtained arch, lookingthis way and that, with anxious terror written plainly in her face.
"What is it?" I asked, when she had found me out.
"'Tis the worst that could happen," she whispered. "You are discovered,both of you. Colonel Tarleton was too shrewd for us. He has let it beknown among the officers that there are two spies in the house, andnow--Hark! what is that?"
We were standing in a deep window-bay and I drew the curtain an inch ortwo. The air without was filled with the trampling of hoofbeats ongreensward. A light-horse troop was surrounding the manor house.
I drew her arm in mine and led her back to the ball-room; 'twas now cometo this, that open publicity was our best safeguard. "We must findDick," said I. "Have you seen him?"
"No."
Together we made the slow circuit of the dancing-room, but Jennifer wasnot to be found. Out of the tail of my eye I saw a soldier slipping inhere and there to stand statue-like against the wall. This brought itto a matter of minutes, of seconds, mayhap, and still we looked in vainfor Dick.
"Oh, why did you bring him here? He will surely be taken!" Her voice wastremulous with fear, and I answered as I could, being sore at heart, inspite of all, that her chief concern should be for Richard.
But by now my purpose was well taken, and though it appeared thatRichard Jennifer was more than ever my successful rival, I pledge you,my dears, I had no thought of leaving him behind. So we made anotherslow round of the rooms, and whilst we were looking for Dick I spoke inguarded whispers to warn my lady of Falconnet's return. But the warningwas not needed.
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Her shudder of loathing shook the hand on my arm. "That man! Oh,Monsieur John! I fear him day and night! If I could but run away; but weare not finding Dick--we _must_ find him quickly!"
There was no other place to look save in the entrance hall, and at thedoor one of the statue-like soldiers took two steps aside and barred theway. I faced about and we plunged once again into the throng, but notbefore I had had a glimpse of Richard in the hall beyond. When thechance offered, I bent to whisper.
"Dick is in the hall, looking for me, go you to him and warn him. I maynot pass the door, as you have seen."
"He will not escape without you," she demurred.
"Tell him he must. Tell him I say he must!"
She glanced over her shoulder with a look in her eyes that made me thinkof a wounded bird fluttering in the net of the fowler.
"Oh, 'tis hard, hard!" she murmured.
I snatched the word from her lips. "To choose between love and wifelyduty? Then I make it a command. Go, quickly!"
She went at that, and I made my way slowly to the far side of theball-room, taking post in a deep-recessed window giving upon the lawn.Though it was January and the night was chill and raw, the rooms weresummer warm with the breath of the crush, and some one had swung thecasement.
Without, I could hear the horses of the waiting troop champingrestlessly at their bits, and now and again the low gentling words ofthe riders. Why the colonel did not spring his trap at once I could notguess; though I learned later that he had magnified our two-man spyingventure into a patriot foray meant to capture the whole houseful ofBritish officers at a swoop, and was taking his measures accordingly.
'Twas while I was listening to the champing horses that I heard my namewhispered in the darkness beyond the open casement; I turned slowly, andthe nearest of the soldier watchers began to edge his way toward mywindow.
"'Tis I--Dick Jennifer," whispered the voice without. "Swing thecasement a little wider and out with you. Be swift about it, for God'ssake!"
"I am fair trapped," I whispered back. "Make off as you can."
"And leave you behind?" So much I heard; and then came sounds of astruggle; the breath-catchings of two men locked in a strangler's hold,a smothered oath or two, a fall on the turf under the window, followedby the soft thudding of fist blows. I could bear it no longer. Theedging soldier had come within arm's reach, and when I swung thecasement a little wider, he laid a hand on my shoulder.
"In the name of the king!" he said; and this was all he had time orleave to say. For at the summons I drove my fist against the point ofhis wagging jaw, to send him plunging among the dancers, and the recoilof the blow carried me clear of the window-seat with what a din andclamor of a hue and cry to speed the parting guest as you may figure foryourselves.
The alighting ground of the leap was the body of Dick's late antagonistlying prone beneath the window ledge; but the lad himself was up andready to catch me when I stumbled over the vanquished one.
"'Tis legs for it now," he cried. "Make for the avenue and the horses atthe hitch-rail!"
At rising twenty a man may run fast and far; at rising forty he maystill run far if the first hundred yards do not burst his bellows. Sowhen we had darted through the thin line of encircling horsemen and wereflying down the broad avenue with all the troopers who had caught sightof us thundering at our heels, Dick was the pace-setter, whilst I madebut a shifty second, gasping and panting and dying a thousand deaths inthe effort to catch my second wind.
"Courage!" shouted Dick, flinging the word back over his shoulder as heran. "There is help ahead if we can live to reach the gate!"
But, luckily for me, the help was nearer at hand. Half way down thebox-bordered drive, when I was at my last gasp, the shrill yell of theborder partizans rose from the shrubbery on the right, and a voice thatI shall know and welcome in another world cried out:
"Stiddy, boys! stiddy till ye can see the whites o' their eyes! Now,then; give it to 'em hot _and_ heavy!"
A haphazard banging of guns followed and the pursuit drew rein in someconfusion, giving us time to reach the great gate and the horse-rail,and to loose and mount the gray and the sorrel we had marked out.
Whilst we were about this last, Ephraim Yeates came loping down theavenue and through the gate to vault into the saddle of the first horsehe could lay hands on; and so it was that we three took the northwardroad in the silver starlight, with the pursuit now in order again and infull cry behind us.
'Twas not until we had safely run the gantlet of the vedette lines by aby-path known to the old hunter, and had shaken off the troopers thatwere following, that I found time to ask what had become of the men whohad formed the ambush in the shrubbery.
The old man gave me his dry chuckle of a laugh.
"'Twas the same old roose de geer, as the down-country Frenchers 'u'dsay. I stole the drunken sergeant's gun and two others, and let 'em offone to a time. As for the screechin', one bazoo's as good as a dozen, ifso be ye blow it fierce enough."
"'Twas cut and dried beforehand," Dick explained. "I had an inkling ofwhat was afoot from Ephraim, here, whom I stumbled on when I droppedfrom the stair window that Madge opened for me. He went to set hisone-man ambush whilst I was trying to warn you."
"So," said I. "Our skins are whole, but after all we have come off withnever a word to take back to Dan Morgan--unless you have the word."
"Not I," Dick said, ruefully.
The old man chuckled again.
"Ye ain't old enough, neither one o' ye, ez I allow. It takes a rightold person to fish out the innards of an inimy's secrets. ColonelTarleton, hoss, foot and dragoons, with the seventh rigiment and a parto' the seventy-first, will take the big road for Dan Morgan's campto-morrow at sun-up. And right soon atterwards, Gin'ral Cornwallis'llfoller on. Is that what you youngsters was trying to find out?"
The Master of Appleby Page 48