The Romany Rye
Page 38
CHAPTER XXXIII
CONVALESCENCE--THE SURGEON'S BILL--LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION--COMMENCEMENTOF THE OLD MAN'S HISTORY
Two days--three days passed away--and I still remained at the house of myhospitable entertainer: my bruised limb rapidly recovering the power ofperforming its functions. I passed my time agreeably enough, sometimesin my chamber, communing with my own thoughts; sometimes in the stable,attending to, and not unfrequently conversing with, my horse; and atmealtime--for I seldom saw him at any other--discoursing with the oldgentleman, sometimes on the Chinese vocabulary, sometimes on Chinesesyntax, and once or twice on English horseflesh; though on this lattersubject, notwithstanding his descent from a race of horse traders, he didnot enter with much alacrity. As a small requital for his kindness, Igave him one day, after dinner, unasked, a brief account of my historyand pursuits. He listened with attention; and when it was concluded,thanked me for the confidence which I had reposed in him. 'Suchconduct,' said he, 'deserves a return. I will tell you my own history:it is brief, but may perhaps not prove uninteresting to you--though therelation of it will give me some pain.' 'Pray, then, do not recite it,'said I. 'Yes,' said the old man, 'I will tell you, for I wish you toknow it.' He was about to begin when he was interrupted by the arrivalof the surgeon. The surgeon examined into the state of my bruised limb,and told me, what indeed I already well knew, that it was rapidlyimproving. 'You will not even require a sling,' said he, 'to ride toHorncastle. When do you propose going?' he demanded. 'When do you thinkI may venture?' I replied. 'I think, if you are a tolerably goodhorseman, you may mount the day after to-morrow,' answered the medicalman. 'By-the-by, are you acquainted with anybody at Horncastle?' 'Withno living soul,' I answered. 'Then you would scarcely find stable roomfor your horse. But I am happy to be able to assist you. I have afriend there who keeps a small inn, and who, during the time of the fair,keeps a stall vacant for any quadruped I may bring, until he knowswhether I am coming or not. I will give you a letter to him, and he willsee after the accommodation of your horse. To-morrow I will pay you afarewell visit, and bring you the letter.' 'Thank you,' said I; 'and donot forget to bring your bill.' The surgeon looked at the old man, whogave him a peculiar nod. 'Oh!' said he, in reply to me, 'for the littleservice I have rendered you I require no remuneration. You are in myfriend's house, and he and I understand each other.' 'I never receivesuch favours,' said I, 'as you have rendered me, without remuneratingthem; therefore I shall expect your bill.' 'Oh! just as you please,'said the surgeon; and, shaking me by the hand more warmly than he hadhitherto done, he took his leave.
On the evening of the next day, the last which I spent with my kindentertainer, I sat at tea with him in a little summer-house in hisgarden, partially shaded by the boughs of a large fig-tree. The surgeonhad shortly before paid me his farewell visit, and had brought me theletter of introduction to his friend at Horncastle, and also his bill,which I found anything but extravagant. After we had each respectivelydrank the contents of two cups--and it may not be amiss here to informthe reader that though I took cream with my tea, as I always do when Ican procure that addition, the old man, like most people bred up in thecountry drank his without it--he thus addressed me: 'I am, as I told youon the night of your accident, the son of a breeder of horses, arespectable and honest man. When I was about twenty he died, leaving me,his only child, a comfortable property, consisting of about two hundredacres of land and some fifteen hundred pounds in money. My mother haddied about three years previously. I felt the death of my mother keenly,but that of my father less than was my duty; indeed, truth compels me toacknowledge that I scarcely regretted his death. The cause of this wantof proper filial feeling was the opposition which I had experienced fromhim in an affair which deeply concerned me. I had formed an attachmentfor a young female in the neighbourhood, who, though poor, was of highlyrespectable birth, her father having been a curate of the EstablishedChurch. She was, at the time of which I am speaking, an orphan, havinglost both her parents, and supported herself by keeping a small school.My attachment was returned, and we had pledged our vows, but my father,who could not reconcile himself to her lack of fortune, forbade ourmarriage in the most positive terms. He was wrong, for she was a fortunein herself--amiable and accomplished. Oh! I cannot tell you all shewas'--and here the old man drew his hand across his eyes. 'By the deathof my father, the only obstacle to our happiness appeared to be removed.We agreed, therefore, that our marriage should take place within thecourse of a year; and I forthwith commenced enlarging my house andgetting my affairs in order. Having been left in the easy circumstanceswhich I have described, I determined to follow no business, but to passmy life in a strictly domestic manner, and to be very, very happy.Amongst other property derived from my father were several horses, whichI disposed of in this neighbourhood, with the exception of two remarkablyfine ones, which I determined to take to the next fair at Horncastle, theonly place where I expected to be able to obtain what I considered to betheir full value. At length the time arrived for the commencement of thefair, which was within three months of the period which my beloved andmyself had fixed upon for the celebration of our nuptials. To the fair Iwent, a couple of trusty men following me with the horses. I soon founda purchaser for the animals, a portly, plausible person {199} of aboutforty, dressed in a blue riding coat, brown top boots, and leatherbreeches. There was a strange-looking urchin with him, attired in nearlysimilar fashion, with a beam in one of his eyes, who called him father.The man paid me for the purchase in bank-notes--three fifty-pound notesfor the two horses. As we were about to take leave of each other, hesuddenly produced another fifty-pound note, inquiring whether I couldchange it, complaining at the same time of the difficulty of procuringchange in the fair. As I happened to have plenty of small money in mypossession, and as I felt obliged to him for having purchased my horsesat what I considered to be a good price, I informed him that I should bevery happy to accommodate him; so I changed him the note, and he, havingtaken possession of the horses, went his way, and I myself returned home.
'A month passed; during this time I paid away two of the notes which Ihad received at Horncastle from the dealer--one of them in my immediateneighbourhood, and the other at a town about fifteen miles distant, towhich I had repaired for the purpose of purchasing some furniture. Allthings seemed to be going on most prosperously, and I felt quite happy,when one morning, as I was overlooking some workmen who were employedabout my house, I was accosted by a constable, who informed me that hewas sent to request my immediate appearance before a neighbouring benchof magistrates. Concluding that I was merely summoned on someunimportant business connected with the neighbourhood, I felt nosurprise, and forthwith departed in company with the officer. Thedemeanour of the man upon the way struck me as somewhat singular. I hadfrequently spoken to him before, and had always found him civil andrespectful, but he was now reserved and sullen, and replied to two orthree questions which I put to him in anything but a courteous manner.On arriving at the place where the magistrates were sitting--an inn at asmall town about two miles distant--I found a more than usual number ofpeople assembled, who appeared to be conversing with considerableeagerness. At sight of me they became silent, but crowded after me as Ifollowed the man into the magistrates' room. There I found the tradesmanto whom I had paid the note for the furniture, at the town fifteen milesoff, in attendance, accompanied by an agent of the Bank of England; theformer, it seems, had paid the note into a provincial bank, theproprietors of which, discovering it to be a forgery, had forthwithwritten up to the Bank of England, who had sent down their agent toinvestigate the matter. A third individual stood beside them--the personin my own immediate neighbourhood to whom I had paid the second note;this, by some means or other, before the coming down of the agent, hadfound its way to the same provincial bank, and also being pronounced aforgery, it had speedily been traced to the person to whom I had paid it.It was owing to the apparition of this second note that the agent
haddetermined, without further inquiry, to cause me to be summoned beforethe rural tribunal.
'In a few words the magistrates' clerk gave me to understand the state ofthe case. I was filled with surprise and consternation. I knew myselfto be perfectly innocent of any fraudulent intention, but at the time ofwhich I am speaking it was a matter fraught with the greatest danger tobe mixed up, however innocently, with the passing of false money. Thelaw with respect to forgery was terribly severe, and the innocent as wellas the guily occasionally suffered. Of this I was not altogetherignorant; unfortunately, however, in my transactions with the stranger,the idea of false notes being offered to me, and my being brought intotrouble by means of them, never entered my mind. Recovering myself alittle, I stated that the notes in question were two of three notes whichI had received at Horncastle, for a pair of horses, which it was wellknown I had carried thither.
'Thereupon, I produced from my pocket-book the third note, which wasforthwith pronounced a forgery. I had scarcely produced the third note,when I remembered the one which I had changed for the Horncastle dealer,and with the remembrance came the almost certain conviction that it wasalso a forgery; I was tempted for a moment to produce it, and to explainthe circumstances--would to God I had done so!--but shame at the idea ofhaving been so wretchedly duped prevented me, and the opportunity waslost. I must confess that the agent of the bank behaved, upon the whole,in a very handsome manner; he said that as it was quite evident that Ihad disposed of certain horses at the fair, it was very possible that Imight have received the notes in question in exchange for them, and thathe was willing, as he had received a very excellent account of my generalconduct, to press the matter no farther--that is, provided--. And herehe stopped. Thereupon, one of the three magistrates, who were present,asked me whether I chanced to have any more of these spurious notes in mypossession. He had certainly a right to ask the question, but there wassomething peculiar in his tone--insinuating suspicion. It is certainlydifficult to judge of the motives which rule a person's conduct, but Icannot help imagining that he was somewhat influenced in his behaviour onthat occasion, which was anything but friendly, by my having refused tosell him the horses at a price less than that which I expected to get atthe fair; be this as it may, the question filled me with embarrassment,and I bitterly repented not having at first been more explicit.Thereupon the magistrate, in the same kind of tone, demanded to see mypocket-book. I knew that to demur would be useless, and produced it, andforthwith amongst two or three small country notes, appeared the fourthwhich I had received from the Horncastle dealer. The agent, took it upand examined it with attention. "Well, is it a genuine note," said themagistrate? "I am sorry to say that it is not," said the agent; "it is aforgery, like the other three." The magistrate shrugged his shoulders,as indeed did several people in the room. "A regular dealer in forgednotes," said a person close behind me; "who would have thought it?"
'Seeing matters begin to look so serious, I aroused myself, andendeavoured to speak in my own behalf, giving a candid account of themanner in which I became possessed of the notes; but my explanation didnot appear to meet much credit: the magistrate, to whom I have inparticular alluded, asked, why I had not at once stated the fact of myhaving received a fourth note; and the agent, though in a very quiettone, observed that he could not help thinking it somewhat strange that Ishould have changed a note of so much value for a perfect stranger, evensupposing that he had purchased my horses, and had paid me their value inhard cash; and I noticed that he laid a particular emphasis on the lastwords. I might have observed that I was an inexperienced young man, whomeaning no harm myself, suspected none in others, but I was confused,stunned, and my tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of my mouth. The menwho had taken my horses to Horncastle, and for whom I had sent, as theylived close at hand, now arrived, but the evidence which they could givewas anything but conclusive in my favour; they had seen me in companywith an individual at Horncastle, to whom by my orders they had deliveredcertain horses, but they had seen no part of the money transaction; thefellow, whether from design or not, having taken me aside into a retiredplace, where he had paid me the three spurious notes, and induced me tochange the fourth, which throughout the affair was what bore mostmaterially against me. How matters might have terminated I do not know,I might have been committed to prison, and I might have been--. Justthen, when I most needed a friend, and least expected to find one, forthough amongst those present there were several who were my neighbours,and who had professed friendship for me, none of them when they saw thatI needed support and encouragement came forward to yield me any, but, onthe contrary, appeared by their looks to enjoy my terror andconfusion--just then a friend entered the room in the person of thesurgeon of the neighbourhood, the father of him who has attended you; hewas not on very intimate terms with me, but he had occasionally spoken tome, and had attended my father in his dying illness, and chancing to hearthat I was in trouble, he now hastened to assist me. After a shortpreamble, in which he apologized to the bench for interfering, he beggedto be informed of the state of the case, whereupon the matter was laidbefore him in all its details. He was not slow in taking a fair view ofit, and spoke well and eloquently in my behalf--insisting on theimprobability that a person of my habits and position would be wilfullymixed up with a transaction like that of which it appeared I wassuspected--adding, that as he was fully convinced of my innocence, he wasready to enter into any surety with respect to my appearance at any timeto answer anything which might be laid to my charge. This lastobservation had particular effect, and as he was a person universallyrespected, both for his skill in his profession and his generaldemeanour, people began to think that a person in whom he took aninterest could scarcely be concerned in anything criminal, and though myfriend the magistrate--I call him so ironically--made two or threedemurs, it was at last agreed between him and his brethren of the bench,that, for the present, I should be merely called upon to enter into myown recognizance for the sum of two hundred pounds, to appear whenever itshould be deemed requisite to enter into any farther investigation of thematter.
'So I was permitted to depart from the tribunal of petty justice withouthandcuffs, and uncollared by a constable; but people looked coldly andsuspiciously upon me. The first thing I did was to hasten to the houseof my beloved, in order to inform her of every circumstance attending thetransaction. I found her, but how? A malicious female individual hadhurried to her with a distorted tale, to the effect that I had been takenup as an utterer of forged notes; that an immense number had been foundin my possession; that I was already committed, and that probably Ishould be executed. My affianced one tenderly loved me, and herconstitution was delicate; fit succeeded fit, she broke a blood-vessel,and I found her deluged in blood; the surgeon had just been sent for; hecame and afforded her every possible relief. I was distracted; he bademe have hope, but I observed he looked very grave.
'By the skill of the surgeon, the poor girl was saved in the firstinstance from the arms of death, and for a few weeks she appeared to berapidly recovering; by degrees, however, she became melancholy; a wormpreyed upon her spirit; a slow fever took possession of her frame. Isubsequently learned that the same malicious female, who had firstcarried to her an exaggerated account of the affair, and who was adistant relative of her own, frequently visited her, and did all in herpower to excite her fears with respect to its eventual termination. Timepassed on in a very wretched manner. Our friend the surgeon showing tous both every mark of kindness and attention.
'It was owing to this excellent man that my innocence was eventuallyestablished. Having been called to a town on the borders of Yorkshire toa medical consultation, he chanced to be taking a glass of wine with thelandlord of the inn at which he stopped, when the waiter brought in anote to be changed, saying, "That the Quaker gentleman who had been forsome days in the house, and was about to depart, had sent it to bechanged, in order that he might pay his bill." The landlord took thenote and looked at it. "A fif
ty-pound bill," said he; "I don't likechanging bills of that amount, lest they should prove bad ones; however,as it comes from a Quaker gentleman, I suppose it is all right." Themention of a fifty-pound note aroused the attention of my friend, and herequested to be permitted to look at it; he had scarcely seen it, when hewas convinced that it was one of the same description as those which hadbrought me into trouble, as it corresponded with them in two particularfeatures, which the agent of the bank had pointed out to him and othersas evidence of their spuriousness. My friend, without a moment'shesitation, informed the landlord that the note was a bad one, expressingat the time a great wish to see the Quaker gentleman who wanted to haveit changed. "That you can easily do," said the landlord, and forthwithconducted him into the common room, where he saw a respectable-lookingman, dressed like a Quaker, and seemingly about sixty years of age.
'My friend, after a short apology, showed him the note which he held inhis hand, stating that he had no doubt it was a spurious one, and beggedto be informed where he had taken it, adding, that a particular friend ofhis was at present in trouble, owing to his having taken similar notesfrom a stranger at Horncastle; but that he hoped that he, the Quaker,could give information, by means of which the guilty party, or parties,could be arrested. At the mention of Horncastle, it appeared to myfriend that the Quaker gave a slight start. At the conclusion of thisspeech, however, he answered, with great tranquillity, that he hadreceived it in the way of business at ---, naming one of the principaltowns in Yorkshire, from a very respectable person, whose name he wasperfectly willing to communicate, and likewise his own, which he said wasJames, and that he was a merchant residing at Liverpool; that he wouldwrite to his friend at ---, requesting him to make inquiries on thesubject; that just at that moment he was in a hurry to depart, havingsome particular business at a town about ten miles off, to go to which hehad bespoken a post-chaise of the landlord; that with respect to thenote, it was doubtless a very disagreeable thing to have a suspicious onein his possession, but that it would make little difference to him, as hehad plenty of other money, and thereupon he pulled out a purse,containing various other notes, and some gold, observing, "that his onlymotive for wishing to change the other note was a desire to be wellprovided with change;" and finally, that if they had any suspicion withrespect to him, he was perfectly willing to leave the note in theirpossession till he should return, which he intended to do in about afortnight. There was so much plausibility in the speech of the Quaker,and his appearance and behaviour were so perfectly respectable, that myfriend felt almost ashamed of the suspicion which at first he hadentertained of him, though, at the same time, he felt an unaccountableunwillingness to let the man depart without some farther interrogation.The landlord, however, who did not wish to disoblige one who had been,and might probably be again, a profitable customer, declared that he wasperfectly satisfied; that he had no wish to detain the note, which hemade no doubt the gentleman had received in the way of business, and thatas the matter concerned him alone, he would leave it to him to make thenecessary inquiries. "Just as you please, friend," said the Quaker,pocketing the suspicious note, "I will now pay my bill." Thereupon hedischarged the bill with a five-pound note, which he begged the landlordto inspect carefully, and with two pieces of gold.
'The landlord had just taken the money, receipted the bill, and wasbowing to his customer, when the door opened, and a lad, dressed in akind of grey livery, appeared, and informed the Quaker that the chaisewas ready. "Is that boy your servant?" asked the surgeon. "He is,friend," said the Quaker. "Hast thou any reason for asking me thatquestion?" "And has he been long in your service?" "Several years,"replied the Quaker. "I took him into my house out of compassion, hebeing an orphan, but as the chaise is waiting, I will bid thee farewell.""I am afraid I must stop your journey for the present," said the surgeon;"that boy has exactly the same blemish in the eye which a boy had who wasin company with the man at Horncastle, from whom my friend received theforged notes, and who there passed for his son." "I know nothing aboutthat," said the Quaker, "but I am determined to be detained here nolonger, after the satisfactory account which I have given as to thenote's coming into my possession." He then attempted to leave the room,but my friend detained him, a struggle ensued, during which a wig whichthe Quaker wore fell off, whereupon he instantly appeared to lose sometwenty years of his age. "Knock the fellow down, father," said the boy,"I'll help you."
'And, forsooth, the pretended Quaker took the boy's advice, and knockedmy friend down in a twinkling. The landlord, however, and waiter, seeinghow matters stood, instantly laid hold of him; but there can be no doubtthat he would have escaped from the whole three had not certain guestswho were in the house, hearing the noise, rushed in, and helped to securehim. The boy was true to his word, assisting him to the best of hisability, flinging himself between the legs of his father's assailants,causing several of them to stumble and fall. At length, the fellow wassecured, and led before a magistrate; the boy, to whom he was heard tosay something which nobody understood, and to whom, after the man'scapture, no one paid much attention, was no more seen.
'The rest, as far as this man was concerned, may be told in a few words;nothing to criminate him was found on his person, but on his baggagebeing examined, a quantity of spurious notes were discovered. Much ofhis hardihood now forsook him, and in the hope of saving his life he madesome very important disclosures; amongst other things, he confessed thatit was he who had given me the notes in exchange for the horses, and alsothe note to be changed. He was subsequently tried on two indictments, inthe second of which I appeared against him. He was condemned to die;but, in consideration of the disclosures he had made, his sentence wascommuted to perpetual transportation.
'My innocence was thus perfectly established before the eyes of theworld, and all my friends hastened to congratulate me. There was one whocongratulated me more than all the rest--it was my beloved one,but--but--she was dying--'
Here the old man drew his hand before his eyes and remained for some timewithout speaking; at length he removed his hand, and commenced again witha broken voice: 'You will pardon me if I hurry over this part of mystory; I am unable to dwell upon it. How dwell upon a period when I sawmy only earthly treasure pine away gradually day by day, and knew thatnothing could save her! She saw my agony, and did all she could toconsole me, saying that she was herself quite resigned. A little timebefore her death she expressed a wish that we should be united. I wastoo happy to comply with her request. We were united, I brought her tothis house, where, in less than a week, she expired in my arms.'