Shrewsbury: A Romance

by Stanley John Weyman

  CHAPTER XIV

  Alas, the secret subjection into which I fell from that day onwards,to a man who knew neither pity nor scruple--and wielded his power withthe greater enjoyment and the less remorse for the piquant contrast itafforded to his position, as a proscribed and hunted traitor, inhiding for his life--exceeded all the anticipations of it which I hadentertained. Having his favourite lodging in the rooms opposite mine,he was ready, when the cruel humour seized him, to sally forth andmock and torment me; while the privacy of his movements and the numberof his disguises (whence it arose that I never knew until I saw himwhether he was there or not) kept me in a state of suspense and miserywell nigh intolerable. Yet such was the spell of fear under which hehad contrived to lay me--he being a violent and dangerous man and I nosoldier--and so crafty were the means, no less than the art, by whichhe gradually wound a chain about me, that in spite of my hatred Ifound resistance vain; and for a long time, and until a _deus exmachina_, as the ancients say, appeared on the scene, saw no resourcebut to bear the yoke and do his bidding.

  He had one principal mode of strengthening his hold upon me; whichstood the higher in his favour, as besides effecting that object andrendering me serviceable, it amused him with the spectacle of myalarms. This consisted in the employing me in his treasonable designs:as by sending me with letters and messages to Sam's Coffeehouse, or tothe Dog in Drury Lane, or to more private places where the Jacobitescongregated; by making me a go-between to arrange meetings with thoseof his kidney who dared not stir abroad in daylight, and came and wentbetween London and the coast of France under cover of night; orlastly, by using me to drop treasonable papers in the streets, orfetch the same from the secret press, in a court off St. James's,where they were printed.

  He took especial delight in imposing this last task upon me, and indepicting, when I returned fresh from performing it, the penalties towhich I had rendered myself liable. It may occur to some that when Ipassed through the streets with such papers in my hands I had an easyway out of my troubles; and could at any moment by conveying theletters to the Secretary's office procure the tyrant's arrest, and myown freedom. But besides the fact that his frequent change of lodging,his excellent information, and the legion of spies who served him,rendered it doubtful whether with the best will in the world themessengers would find him where I had left him, he frequentlyboasted--and the boast, if unfounded, added to my distrust of all withwhom I came into contact--that the very tipsters and officers were inhis pay, and that Cutts himself dared not arrest him! Besides, I morethan suspected that often the letters he gave me were blank, and theerrands harmless: and that the one and the other were feigned only forthe purpose of trying me, or out of pure cruelty--to the end that whenI returned he might describe with gusto the process of hanging,drawing, and quartering, and gloat over the horror with which Ilistened to his relation; a practice which he carried to such anextent as more than once to reduce me to tears of rage and anguish.

  Such was my life at home, where if my tyrant was not always at myelbow I was every hour obnoxious to his appearance; for early in ourconnection he forbade me to lock my door. Abroad I was scarcely moreeasy, seeing that, besides an impression I had that wherever I went Iwas dogged, there was scarcely an item of news which it fell to my lotto record that did not throw me into a panic. One day it would be Mr.Bear arrested on a charge of high treason, and in possession of I knewnot what compromising letters: another, the suicide in the Temple of agentleman to whom I myself had a week earlier taken a letter, and whohad in my presence let fall expressions which led me to think him inthe same evil case with me. Another day it would be an announcementthat the Government had discovered a new Conspiracy; or that lettersgoing for France had been seized in Romney Marshes; or that theLancashire witnesses were speaking more candidly; or that Dr. Oateshad been taken up and held to bail for a misdemeanour. All these andmany other rumours punished me in turn; and filling my mind with thekeenest apprehensions, must in a short time have rendered my lifeintolerable.

  As it was, Mr. Brome, within a month, saw so great a change in me thathe would have me take a holiday; advising me to go afield either to myrelations, or to some village on the Lea, to which neighbourhood Mr.Izaak Walton's book had given a reputation exceeding its deserts. Hereinforced the advice with a gift of two guineas, that I might spendthe month royally; then in a great hurry added an injunction that Ishould not waste the money. But I did worse; for I had the simplefolly to tell the whole by way of protest and bitter complaint to myother master; who first with a grin took from me the two guineas, andthen made himself merry over the increased time I could now place athis disposal.

  "And it is timely, Dick, it is timely," he said with ugly pleasantry."For, the good cause, the cause you love so dearly, Dick, isprospering. Another month and you and I know what will happen. Ha! ha!we know. In the meantime, work while it is day, Dick. Put your hand tothe plough and look not back. If all were as forward as you, our neckswould be in little peril, and we might see a rope without thinking ofa cart."

  "Curse you!" I cried, almost beside myself between disappointment, andthe rage into which his fiendish teasing threw me. "Cannot you keepyour tongue off that? Is it not enough that you----"

  "Have taught me to limp!" quoth he winking hideously. "Here's toLouis, James, Mary, and the Prince--L. I. M. P., my lad! Oh, we cantalk the deealect. We have had good teachers."

  I could have burst into tears. "Some day you'll be caught!" I cried.

  "Well?" he said with a grin. "And what then?"

  "You'll be hanged! Hanged!" I cried furiously. "And God grant I may bethere to see."

  "You will that," he answered with composure. "Make your mind easy, myman, for, trust me, if I am in the first cart, you'll be in thesecond. That is my security, friend Dick. If I go, you go. Who carriedto Mr. Warmaky's chambers the letters from France, I would like toknow? And who---- But the cause!" he continued, breaking off, "thecause! To business, and no more havers. Here's work for you. You shallgo, do you hear me, Richard, to Covent Garden to the Piazza there, inhalf an hour's time. It will be full dark then. You will see there afine gentleman walking up and down, taking his tobacco, with a whitehandkerchief hanging from his pocket. You will give him that note, andsay 'Roberts and Guiney are good men'--d'ye take it? 'Roberts andGuiney are good men,' say that, and no more, and come back to me."

  I answered at first, being in a rage, and not liking this errandbetter than others I had done for him, that I would not--I would not,though he killed me. But he had a way with him that I could not longresist; and he presently cowed me, and sent me off.

  I had so far fallen into his sneaking habits that though it was darknight when I started, I went the farthest way round by Holborn, andthe new fashionable quarter, Soho; and passing through King's Squareitself, and before the late Duke of Monmouth's house--the sight ofwhich did not lessen my distaste for my errand--I entered CoventGarden by James Street, which comes into the square between the twoPiazzas. At the corner, I had to turn into the roadway to avoida party of roisterers who had just issued from the Nag's Headcoffee-house and were roaring for a coach; and being in the kennel,and observing under the Piazza and before the taverns more lights andlink-boys than I liked, I continued along the gutter, dirty as it was(and always is in the neighbourhood of the market), until I washalf-way across the square, where I could turn and reconnoitre at myleisure. Here for a moment, running my eye along the Piazza, which hadits usual fringe of flower girls and mumpers, swearing porters andhackney coaches, I thought my man with the white handkerchief had notcome; but shifting my gaze to the Little Piazza, which was darker andless frequented, I presently espied him walking to and fro undercover, with a cane in his hand and the air of a gentleman who hadsupped and was looking out for a pretty girl. He was a tall, stoutman, wearing a large black peruke and a lace cravat and ruffles; andhe carried a steel-hilted sword, and had somehow the bearing of onewho had seen service abroad.

  Satisfied that he w
as the person I wanted, I went to him; but steppingup to him a little hastily, I gave him a start, I suppose, for hebacked from me and laid his hand on his hilt, rapping out an oath.However, a clearer view reassured him, and he cocked his hat, andswore at me again but in a different tone. "Sir," said he very rudely,"another time give a gentleman a wider berth, unless you want his caneabout your shoulders!"

  For answer I merely pulled out the note I had and held it towards him,being accustomed to such errands and anxious only to do this one, andbegone; the more as under the Great Piazza a number of persons wereloitering, and among them link-boys and chairmen and the like whonotice everything.

  However he made no movement to take the letter, but only said, "Forme?"

  "Yes," I answered.

  "From whom?" said he, roughly.

  "You will learn that inside," I said. "I was bidden only to say thatRoberts and Guiney are good men."

  "Ha!" he exclaimed, "why did you not say that before?" and at thattook the letter. On which, having done my part and not liking theneighbourhood, I was for going, and had actually made a half turn,when a man slighter than the first and taller, came out of the shadowbehind him, and standing by his side, touched his hat to me. Istopped.

  "Good evening, my lord," he said, addressing me with ceremony, and asort of dignity. "I little thought to see you here on this business.It is the best news I have had myself or have had to give to othersthis many a day. It shall be well represented, and the risk yourun. And whatever be thought on this side, believe me, at St.Germain's----"

  "Hush!" cried the first man, interrupting him at that, and rathersharply. I think he had been too much surprised to speak before. "Youare too hasty, sir," he continued. "There must be a mistake here. Thegentleman to whom you are speaking----"

  "There is no mistake. This gentleman and I are well acquainted," theother responded coolly, and in the tone of a man who knows what he isdoing. And then to me, and with a different air, "My lord, you may notwish to say your name aloud; that I can understand, and this is novery safe place for either of us. But if we could meet somewhere, sayat----"

  "Hush, sir," the man with the handkerchief cried, and this time almostangrily. "There _is_ a mistake here, and in a moment you will say toomuch, if you have not said it already. This gentleman--if he is agentleman--brings a letter from R. F., and is no more of a lord, I'llbe sworn, than I am!"

  "From R. F.?"

  "Yes; and therefore if he is the person you think him---- But come,sir," he continued, eyeing me angrily, "what _is_ your name? Endthis."

  I did not wish to tell him, yet liked less to refuse. So I lied, andon the spur of the moment said, "Charles Taylor," that being the nameof a man who lived below me.

  The taller man struck one hand into the other. "There! Charles!" hecried, and looked at me smiling. "I have an eye for faces, and if youare not----"

  "Nay, sir, I pray, be quiet," the man with the white handkerchiefremonstrated. "Or if you are so certain----" and then he looked hardat me and frowned as if he began to feel a doubt. "Step this way andtell me what you think. This gentleman will doubtless excuse us, andwait a moment, whether he be whom you think him or not."

  I was as uneasy and as unwilling to stay as could be; but the man'stone was resolute, and I saw that he was not a man to cross; so withan ill grace I consented, and the two drawing aside together into thedeeper shadow under the Piazza, began to confer. This left me to kickmy heels impatiently, and watch out of the corner of my eye theloiterers under the other Piazza, to learn if any observed us.Fortunately they were taken up with a quarrel which had just brokenout between two hackney coachmen, and though a man came near me,bringing a woman, he had no eyes for me, and, calling a sedan-chair,went away again almost immediately.

  I was so engrossed with watching on that side and taking everyone wholooked towards me for an informer, that it was with a kind of shockthat I found my two friends had grown in the course of theirconference to three; nor had I more than discovered this before thenew comer left the other two and sauntered up to me. "Oh, ah," he saidcarelessly, "and who do you say that you----" and there he stopped,staring in my face. And then, "By heavens, it is!" he cried.

  By this time I was something astonished, and more amazed; and answeredwith spirit--though he was a hard-bitten man, with the look of asoldier or gamester, to whom ordinarily I should have given thewall--that I was merely a messenger, and knew nothing of the matter onwhich I was there, nor for whom they took me.

  His face, which for a second or more had blazed with excitement, fellsuddenly; and when I had done speaking, he laughed.

  "Don't you?" he said.

  "No," said I. "Not a groat!"

  "So it seems," he said again, as if that settled the matter. "Well,then what is your name?"

  "Charles Taylor," I answered.

  "And you come from that old rogue Ferg--R. F., I mean?"

  "Yes."

  "Well then you can go back to him," he said, dismissing me with a nod."Or wait. Did you know that gentleman, my friend?"

  "Which?" said I.

  "The tall one."

  "Not from Adam," I said.

  "Good! Then there is no need you should know him," he answered coolly."So, go. And do you tell that old fox to lie close. He was never inanything yet but he spoiled it. Tell him to lie close, and keep hisbragging tongue quiet if he can. And now be off. I will explain to thegentlemen."

  I needed no second bidding, but before the words were well out of hismouth, had crossed the square, to the market side, where there were nolights; thence skirting the garden of Bedford House, I made my wayinto the Strand, and home by a pretty direct route. The farther I leftthe men behind me, however, the higher rose my curiosity; so that bythe time I reached Bride Lane, and had climbed the stairs to mygarret, I was agape to know more, and for once in my life, was glad tofind the old plotter in my room. Nor was it without satisfaction, thatto his eager question, "You gave the note to the gentleman?" Ianswered shortly that I had given it to three.

  "To three?" he exclaimed, starting up in a sudden fury. "You d----dcur, if you have betrayed me! What do you mean?"

  "Only that I did what you told me," I answered sullenly; at which hesat down again. "I gave it to the gentleman; but he had two withhim----"

  "The more to hang him," he sneered, quickly recovering himself. "Andwhat did he say?"

  "Very little. Nothing that I remember. But the two with him----"

  "Ay?"

  "One of them said, 'Tell the old fox'--or the rogue, for he calledyou both--'to lie close!' And he added," I continued, spite giving mecourage, "that you had hitherto spoiled everything you had been in,Mr. Ferguson."

  At that I do not think that I ever saw a man in such a rage.Fortunately he did not turn it on me; but for two or three minutes hecursed and swore, bit things and foamed at the mouth, trampled on hiswig and raged up and down, like nothing so much as a madman; while theimprecations he uttered against his enemies were so horrible I fearedto stay with him. At length it seemed to occur to him that the man whocould send such a message to him, Ferguson, the great Ferguson, theFerguson with a thousand guineas on his head, must be a very great manindeed: which while it consoled him in some measure, excited hiscuriosity in another and inordinate degree. He hastened to put to me anumber of questions, as, what were the two like? And did the one paythe other respect? And how were they dressed? And had either a ribbonor a star? And though in answer I could tell him no more than that theyoungest was extremely tall and slight, under thirty, and of an easycarriage and bearing, and in appearance the leader, it was enough forhim; he presently cried out that he had it, and slapped his thigh."Gad! It is Jamie Churchill!" he cried. "It's Berwick, stop my vitals!He had a villainous French accent, had he not?"

  "Something of the kind," I answered. Adding with as much of a sneer asI dared, "If it was not a Scotch one, sir."

  He took the gibe and scowled at me--he spoke always like a Sawney, andcould never pass for English; but in his pleasure a
t the discovery hehad made he let the word pass. "See, man!" he said, "there are finetimes coming! It is like Monmouth's day over again. I'll warrantHunt's, down in the Marshes, is like a penny ferry with their comingover. The fat is fairly in the fire now, and if we do not singe littleHooknose's wig for him, I'll hang for it! He is a better man thanhis father, is Jamie; ay, the very same figure of a man that hiscold-blooded, grease-your-boots, and sell-you-for-a-groat uncle, JohnChurchill, was at his age! So Jamie is over! Well, well: and if weknew precisely where he was and where he lies nights--there are twoways about it! Ye-es! Ye-es!" And the old rogue, falling first into adrawl and then into silence, looked at me slyly, and, unless I wasmistaken, began to ruminate on a new treason; rubbing now one calf andnow the other, and now dressing his ragged wig with his fingers, as hecontinued to smile at his wicked thoughts; so that, as he sat there,one leg over the other knee, he was the veriest baldheaded Judas to beconceived. In the meantime I watched him and hated him, and, Ithought, read him.

  Whatever the scheme in his mind, however, and whether he was, as Iexpected, as ready to sell the Duke of Berwick as to plot with him, hesaid no more to me on the subject; but presently went to his own room.Thus left, I thought it high time to consider where I stood, being allof a tremble and twitter with what I had heard and seen; and I tossedthrough the night, fearfully sounding the depths in which I foundmyself, and striving to gain strength to battle with the stream thatday by day was forcing me farther and farther from the land. I was noboy or fool, unaware of the danger of being mixed up with great menand great names; rather the ten years during which I had followedpublic affairs had presented me with only too many examples of theiron pot and clay pitcher. When, therefore, I slept at last, late inthe evening, it was to dream of the sledge and Tyburn road and theOrdinary--who bore in my dream a marvellous likeness to Mr. Brome--anda wall of faces that lined the way and never ceased from St. Giles'sPound to the Edgeware Road.

  Such a dream, taken with my night's thoughts, left me eager to put inexecution a plan I had more than once considered; which was to give upall, to fly from London, and hiding myself in some quiet place underanother name, to live as I best might until Ferguson's capture, or achange in the state of affairs freed me from danger. At a distancefrom him I might even gain courage to inform against him; but this Ileft for future decision, the main thing now being to pack my clothes,secure about me the money I had saved, which amounted to thirtyguineas, and escape from the town on foot or in a stage-wagon withoutany of his myrmidons being the wiser.

  To adopt this course was to lose Mr. Brome's friendship and thelivelihood which his employment provided; but such was the fear I hadconceived of Ferguson's schemes and the perils they involved that Iscarcely hesitated. Before noon, an hour which I thought least open tosuspicion, I had engaged a porter and bidden him wait below, had madeall my other arrangements, and in five minutes I should have been safein the streets with my face set towards Kensington--when, at the lastmoment, there came a tap at my door and a voice asked if I was in.

  It was not an hour at which Ferguson had ever troubled me, andtrusting to this I had not been careful to hide the signs of removalwhich my room presented. For a moment I hung over my trunk,panic-stricken; then the door opened, and admitted the girl whohad intervened once before--I mean at the door of the Secretary'soffice--and whom I had since noticed, but not often, going in at theopposite rooms.

  She curtseyed demurely, standing in the doorway, and said that Mr.Smith--which was one of the names by which Ferguson went--had sent herto me with a message.

  "Yes," I said, forcing myself to speak.

  "Would you please to wait on him this evening at eight," she answered."He wishes to speak with you."

  "Yes," I said again, helplessly assenting; and there was an end of myfine evasion. I took it for a warning, and my clothes from my mail;and going down paid the porter a groat, and received in return a dozenporter's oaths. And so dismissed him and my plan together.