by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XVIII.
The moment comes-- It is already come--when thou must write The absolute total of thy life's vast sum. The constellations stand victorious o'er thee, The planets shoot good fortune in fair junctions, And tell thee, "Now's the time." --SCHILLER'S WALLENSTEIN, BY COLERIDGE.
When Leicester returned to his lodging, alter a day so important and soharassing, in which, after riding out more than one gale, and touchingon more than one shoal, his bark had finally gained the harbour withbanner displayed, he seemed to experience as much fatigue as a marinerafter a perilous storm. He spoke not a word while his chamberlainexchanged his rich court-mantle for a furred night-robe, and when thisofficer signified that Master Varney desired to speak with his lordship,he replied only by a sullen nod. Varney, however, entered, acceptingthis signal as a permission, and the chamberlain withdrew.
The Earl remained silent and almost motionless in his chair, his headreclined on his hand, and his elbow resting upon the table which stoodbeside him, without seeming to be conscious of the entrance or of thepresence of his confidant. Varney waited for some minutes until heshould speak, desirous to know what was the finally predominant mood ofa mind through which so many powerful emotions had that day taken theircourse. But he waited in vain, for Leicester continued still silent,and the confidant saw himself under the necessity of being the firstto speak. "May I congratulate your lordship," he said, "on the deservedsuperiority you have this day attained over your most formidable rival?"
Leicester raised his head, and answered sadly, but without anger, "Thou,Varney, whose ready invention has involved me in a web of most meanand perilous falsehood, knowest best what small reason there is forgratulation on the subject."
"Do you blame me, my lord," said Varney, "for not betraying, on thefirst push, the secret on which your fortunes depended, and whichyou have so oft and so earnestly recommended to my safe keeping? Yourlordship was present in person, and might have contradicted me andruined yourself by an avowal of the truth; but surely it was no part ofa faithful servant to have done so without your commands."
"I cannot deny it, Varney," said the Earl, rising and walking across theroom; "my own ambition has been traitor to my love."
"Say rather, my lord, that your love has been traitor to your greatness,and barred you from such a prospect of honour and power as the worldcannot offer to any other. To make my honoured lady a countess, you havemissed the chance of being yourself--"
He paused, and seemed unwilling to complete the sentence.
"Of being myself what?" demanded Leicester; "speak out thy meaning,Varney."
"Of being yourself a KING, my lord," replied Varney; "and King ofEngland to boot! It is no treason to our Queen to say so. It would havechanced by her obtaining that which all true subjects wish her--a lusty,noble, and gallant husband."
"Thou ravest, Varney," answered Leicester. "Besides, our times haveseen enough to make men loathe the Crown Matrimonial which men take fromtheir wives' lap. There was Darnley of Scotland."
"He!" said Varney; "a, gull, a fool, a thrice-sodden ass, who sufferedhimself to be fired off into the air like a rocket on a rejoicing day.Had Mary had the hap to have wedded the noble Earl ONCE destined toshare her throne, she had experienced a husband of different metal; andher husband had found in her a wife as complying and loving as the mateof the meanest squire who follows the hounds a-horseback, and holds herhusband's bridle as he mounts."
"It might have been as thou sayest, Varney," said Leicester, a briefsmile of self-satisfaction passing over his anxious countenance. "HenryDarnley knew little of women--with Mary, a man who knew her sex mighthave had some chance of holding his own. But not with Elizabeth, Varneyfor I thank God, when he gave her the heart of a woman, gave her thehead of a man to control its follies. No, I know her. She will acceptlove-tokens, ay, and requite them with the like--put sugared sonnetsin her bosom, ay, and answer them too--push gallantry to the very vergewhere it becomes exchange of affection; but she writes NIL ULTRA to allwhich is to follow, and would not barter one iota of her own supremepower for all the alphabet of both Cupid and Hymen."
"The better for you, my lord," said Varney--"that is, in the casesupposed, if such be her disposition; since you think you cannot aspireto become her husband. Her favourite you are, and may remain, if thelady at Cumnor place continues in her present obscurity."
"Poor Amy!" said Leicester, with a deep sigh; "she desires so earnestlyto be acknowledged in presence of God and man!"
"Ay, but, my lord," said Varney, "is her desire reasonable? That isthe question. Her religious scruples are solved; she is an honoured andbeloved wife, enjoying the society of her husband at such times as hisweightier duties permit him to afford her his company. What would shemore? I am right sure that a lady so gentle and so loving would consentto live her life through in a certain obscurity--which is, after all,not dimmer than when she was at Lidcote Hall--rather than diminish theleast jot of her lord's honours and greatness by a premature attempt toshare them."
"There is something in what thou sayest," said Leicester, "and herappearance here were fatal. Yet she must be seen at Kenilworth;Elizabeth will not forget that she has so appointed."
"Let me sleep on that hard point," said Varney; "I cannot else perfectthe device I have on the stithy, which I trust will satisfy the Queenand please my honoured lady, yet leave this fatal secret where it is nowburied. Has your lordship further commands for the night?"
"I would be alone," said Leicester. "Leave me, and place my steel casketon the table. Be within summons."
Varney retired, and the Earl, opening the window of his apartment,looked out long and anxiously upon the brilliant host of stars whichglimmered in the splendour of a summer firmament. The words burst fromhim as at unawares, "I had never more need that the heavenly bodiesshould befriend me, for my earthly path is darkened and confused."
It is well known that the age reposed a deep confidence in the vainpredictions of judicial astrology, and Leicester, though exempt from thegeneral control of superstition, was not in this respect superior to histime, but, on the contrary, was remarkable for the encouragement whichhe gave to the professors of this pretended science. Indeed, the wish topry into futurity, so general among the human race, is peculiarly tobe found amongst those who trade in state mysteries and the dangerousintrigues and cabals of courts. With heedful precaution to see that ithad not been opened, or its locks tampered with, Leicester applied a keyto the steel casket, and drew from it, first, a parcel of gold pieces,which he put into a silk purse; then a parchment inscribed withplanetary signs, and the lines and calculations used in framinghoroscopes, on which he gazed intently for a few moments; and, lastly,took forth a large key, which, lifting aside the tapestry, he applied toa little, concealed door in the corner of the apartment, and opening it,disclosed a stair constructed in the thickness of the wall.
"Alasco," said the Earl, with a voice raised, yet no higher raised thanto be heard by the inhabitant of the small turret to which the stairconducted--"Alasco, I say, descend."
"I come, my lord," answered a voice from above. The foot of an aged manwas heard slowly descending the narrow stair, and Alasco entered theEarl's apartment. The astrologer was a little man, and seemed muchadvanced in age, for his heard was long and white, and reached overhis black doublet down to his silken girdle. His hair was of the samevenerable hue. But his eyebrows were as dark as the keen and piercingblack eyes which they shaded, and this peculiarity gave a wild andsingular cast to the physiognomy of the old man. His cheek was stillfresh and ruddy, and the eyes we have mentioned resembled those of arat in acuteness and even fierceness of expression. His manner was notwithout a sort of dignity; and the interpreter of the stars, thoughrespectful, seemed altogether at his ease, and even assumed a toneof instruction and command in conversing with the prime favourite ofElizabeth.
"Your prognostications have failed, Alasco," said the Earl, when theyhad exchanged salutations--"he is recover
ing."
"My son," replied the astrologer, "let me remind you I warranted nothis death; nor is there any prognostication that can be derived fromthe heavenly bodies, their aspects and their conjunctions, which is notliable to be controlled by the will of Heaven. ASTRA REGUNT HOMINES, SEDREGIT ASTRA DEUS."
"Of what avail, then, is your mystery?" inquired the Earl.
"Of much, my son," replied the old man, "since it can show thenatural and probable course of events, although that course moves insubordination to an Higher Power. Thus, in reviewing the horoscope whichyour Lordship subjected to my skill, you will observe that Saturn, beingin the sixth House in opposition to Mars, retrograde in the House ofLife, cannot but denote long and dangerous sickness, the issue whereofis in the will of Heaven, though death may probably be inferred. Yet ifI knew the name of the party I would erect another scheme."
"His name is a secret," said the Earl; "yet, I must own, thyprognostication hath not been unfaithful. He has been sick, anddangerously so, not, however, to death. But hast thou again cast myhoroscope as Varney directed thee, and art thou prepared to say what thestars tell of my present fortune?"
"My art stands at your command," said the old man; "and here, my son, isthe map of thy fortunes, brilliant in aspect as ever beamed from thoseblessed signs whereby our life is influenced, yet not unchequered withfears, difficulties, and dangers."
"My lot were more than mortal were it otherwise," said the Earl."Proceed, father, and believe you speak with one ready to undergo hisdestiny in action and in passion as may beseem a noble of England."
"Thy courage to do and to suffer must be wound up yet a strain higher,"said the old man. "The stars intimate yet a prouder title, yet an higherrank. It is for thee to guess their meaning, not for me to name it."
"Name it, I conjure you--name it, I command you!" said the Earl, hiseyes brightening as he spoke.
"I may not, and I will not," replied the old man. "The ire of princes isas the wrath of the lion. But mark, and judge for thyself. Here Venus,ascendant in the House of Life, and conjoined with Sol, showers downthat flood of silver light, blent with gold, which promises power,wealth, dignity, all that the proud heart of man desires, and in suchabundance that never the future Augustus of that old and mighty Romeheard from his HARUSPICES such a tale of glory, as from this rich textmy lore might read to my favourite son."
"Thou dost but jest with me, father," said the Earl, astonished at thestrain of enthusiasm in which the astrologer delivered his prediction.
"Is it for him to jest who hath his eye on heaven, who hath his foot inthe grave?" returned the old man solemnly.
The Earl made two or three strides through the apartment, with his handoutstretched, as one who follows the beckoning signal of some phantom,waving him on to deeds of high import. As he turned, however, he caughtthe eye of the astrologer fixed on him, while an observing glance ofthe most shrewd penetration shot from under the penthouse of his shaggy,dark eyebrows. Leicester's haughty and suspicious soul at once caughtfire. He darted towards the old man from the farther end of the loftyapartment, only standing still when his extended hand was within a footof the astrologer's body.
"Wretch!" he said, "if you dare to palter with me, I will have your skinstripped from your living flesh! Confess thou hast been hired to deceiveand to betray me--that thou art a cheat, and I thy silly prey andbooty!"
The old man exhibited some symptoms of emotion, but not more than thefurious deportment of his patron might have extorted from innocenceitself.
"What means this violence, my lord?" he answered, "or in what can I havedeserved it at your hand?"
"Give me proof," said the Earl vehemently, "that you have not tamperedwith mine enemies."
"My lord," replied the old man, with dignity, "you can have no betterproof than that which you yourself elected. In that turret I have spentthe last twenty-four hours under the key which has been in your owncustody. The hours of darkness I have spent in gazing on the heavenlybodies with these dim eyes, and during those of light I have toiled thisaged brain to complete the calculation arising from their combinations.Earthly food I have not tasted--earthly voice I have not heard. You areyourself aware I had no means of doing so; and yet I tell you--Iwho have been thus shut up in solitude and study--that within thesetwenty-four hours your star has become predominant in the horizon, andeither the bright book of heaven speaks false, or there must have beena proportionate revolution in your fortunes upon earth. If nothing hashappened within that space to secure your power, or advance your favour,then am I indeed a cheat, and the divine art, which was first devised inthe plains of Chaldea, is a foul imposture."
"It is true," said Leicester, after a moment's reflection, "thou wertclosely immured; and it is also true that the change has taken place inmy situation which thou sayest the horoscope indicates."
"Wherefore this distrust then, my son?" said the astrologer, assuming atone of admonition; "the celestial intelligences brook not diffidence,even in their favourites."
"Peace, father," answered Leicester, "I have erred in doubting thee.Not to mortal man, nor to celestial intelligence--under that which issupreme--will Dudley's lips say more in condescension or apology. Speakrather to the present purpose. Amid these bright promises thou hast saidthere was a threatening aspect. Can thy skill tell whence, or by whosemeans, such danger seems to impend?"
"Thus far only," answered the astrologer, "does my art enable me toanswer your query. The infortune is threatened by the malignant andadverse aspect, through means of a youth, and, as I think, a rival; butwhether in love or in prince's favour, I know not nor can I give furtherindication respecting him, save that he comes from the western quarter."
"The western--ha!" replied Leicester, "it is enough--the tempestdoes indeed brew in that quarter! Cornwall and Devon--Raleigh andTressilian--one of them is indicated-I must beware of both. Father, if Ihave done thy skill injustice, I will make thee a lordly recompense."
He took a purse of gold from the strong casket which stood before him."Have thou double the recompense which Varney promised. Be faithful--besecret--obey the directions thou shalt receive from my master of thehorse, and grudge not a little seclusion or restraint in my cause--itshall be richly considered.--Here, Varney--conduct this venerable manto thine own lodging; tend him heedfully in all things, but see that heholds communication with no one."
Varney bowed, and the astrologer kissed the Earl's hand in token ofadieu, and followed the master of the horse to another apartment, inwhich were placed wine and refreshments for his use.
The astrologer sat down to his repast, while Varney shut two doors withgreat precaution, examined the tapestry, lest any listener lurked behindit, and then sitting down opposite to the sage, began to question him.
"Saw you my signal from the court beneath?"
"I did," said Alasco, for by such name he was at present called, "andshaped the horoscope accordingly."
"And it passed upon the patron without challenge?" continued Varney.
"Not without challenge," replied the old man, "but it did pass; and Iadded, as before agreed, danger from a discovered secret, and a westernyouth."
"My lord's fear will stand sponsor to the one, and his conscience to theother, of these prognostications," replied Varney. "Sure never man choseto run such a race as his, yet continued to retain those silly scruples!I am fain to cheat him to his own profit. But touching your matters,sage interpreter of the stars, I can tell you more of your own fortunethan plan or figure can show. You must be gone from hence forthwith."
"I will not," said Alasco peevishly. "I have been too much hurriedup and down of late--immured for day and night in a desolateturret-chamber. I must enjoy my liberty, and pursue my studies, whichare of more import than the fate of fifty statesmen and favourites thatrise and burst like bubbles in the atmosphere of a court."
"At your pleasure," said Varney, with a sneer that habit had renderedfamiliar to his features, and which forms the principal characteristicwhich painters
have assigned to that of Satan--"at your pleasure," hesaid; "you may enjoy your liberty and your studies until the daggersof Sussex's followers are clashing within your doublet and against yourribs." The old man turned pale, and Varney proceeded. "Wot you not hehath offered a reward for the arch-quack and poison-vender, Demetrius,who sold certain precious spices to his lordship's cook? What! turn youpale, old friend? Does Hali already see an infortune in the House ofLife? Why, hark thee, we will have thee down to an old house of minein the country, where thou shalt live with a hobnailed slave, whom thyalchemy may convert into ducats, for to such conversion alone is thy artserviceable."
"It is false, thou foul-mouthed railer," said Alasco, shaking withimpotent anger; "it is well known that I have approached more nearlyto projection than any hermetic artist who now lives. There are not sixchemists in the world who possess so near an approximation to the grandarcanum--"
"Come, come," said Varney, interrupting him, "what means this, in thename of Heaven? Do we not know one another? I believe thee to be soperfect--so very perfect--in the mystery of cheating, that, havingimposed upon all mankind, thou hast at length in some measure imposedupon thyself, and without ceasing to dupe others, hast become a speciesof dupe to thine own imagination. Blush not for it, man--thou artlearned, and shalt have classical comfort:
'Ne quisquam Ajacem possit superare nisi Ajax.'
No one but thyself could have gulled thee; and thou hast gulled thewhole brotherhood of the Rosy Cross besides--none so deep in the mysteryas thou. But hark thee in thine ear: had the seasoning which spicedSussex's broth wrought more surely, I would have thought better of thechemical science thou dost boast so highly."
"Thou art an hardened villain, Varney," replied Alasco; "many will dothose things who dare not speak of them."
"And many speak of them who dare not do them," answered Varney. "But benot wroth--I will not quarrel with thee. If I did, I were fain to liveon eggs for a month, that I might feed without fear. Tell me at once,how came thine art to fail thee at this great emergency?"
"The Earl of Sussex's horoscope intimates," replied the astrologer,"that the sign of the ascendant being in combustion--"
"Away with your gibberish," replied Varney; "thinkest thou it is thepatron thou speakest with?"
"I crave your pardon," replied the old man, "and swear to you I know butone medicine that could have saved the Earl's life; and as no manliving in England knows that antidote save myself--moreover, as theingredients, one of them in particular, are scarce possible to be comeby, I must needs suppose his escape was owing to such a constitution oflungs and vital parts as was never before bound up in a body of clay."
"There was some talk of a quack who waited on him," said Varney, aftera moment's reflection. "Are you sure there is no one in England who hasthis secret of thine?"
"One man there was," said the doctor, "once my servant, who might havestolen this of me, with one or two other secrets of art. But contentyou, Master Varney, it is no part of my policy to suffer suchinterlopers to interfere in my trade. He pries into no mysteries more,I warrant you, for, as I well believe, he hath been wafted to heaven onthe wing of a fiery dragon--peace be with him! But in this retreat ofmine shall I have the use of mine elaboratory?"
"Of a whole workshop, man," said Varney; "for a reverend father abbot,who was fain to give place to bluff King Hal and some of his courtiers,a score of years since, had a chemist's complete apparatus, which he wasobliged to leave behind him to his successors. Thou shalt there occupy,and melt, and puff, and blaze, and multiply, until the Green Dragonbecome a golden goose, or whatever the newer phrase of the brotherhoodmay testify."
"Thou art right, Master Varney," said the alchemist setting his teethclose and grinding them together--"thou art right even in thy verycontempt of right and reason. For what thou sayest in mockery may insober verity chance to happen ere we meet again. If the most venerablesages of ancient days have spoken the truth--if the most learned ofour own have rightly received it; if I have been accepted wherever Itravelled in Germany, in Poland, in Italy, and in the farther Tartary,as one to whom nature has unveiled her darkest secrets; if I haveacquired the most secret signs and passwords of the Jewish Cabala, sothat the greyest beard in the synagogue would brush the steps to makethem clean for me;--if all this is so, and if there remains but onestep--one little step--betwixt my long, deep, and dark, and subterraneanprogress, and that blaze of light which shall show Nature watching herrichest and her most glorious productions in the very cradle--onestep betwixt dependence and the power of sovereignty--one step betwixtpoverty and such a sum of wealth as earth, without that noble secret,cannot minister from all her mines in the old or the new-found world; ifthis be all so, is it not reasonable that to this I dedicate my futurelife, secure, for a brief period of studious patience, to rise above themean dependence upon favourites, and THEIR favourites, by which I am nowenthralled!"
"Now, bravo! bravo! my good father," said Varney, with the usualsardonic expression of ridicule on his countenance; "yet all thisapproximation to the philosopher's stone wringeth not one single crownout of my Lord Leicester's pouch, and far less out of Richard Varney's.WE must have earthly and substantial services, man, and care not whomelse thou canst delude with thy philosophical charlatanry."
"My son Varney," said the alchemist, "the unbelief, gathered around theelike a frost-fog, hath dimmed thine acute perception to that which is astumbling-block to the wise, and which yet, to him who seeketh knowledgewith humility, extends a lesson so clear that he who runs may read.Hath not Art, thinkest thou, the means of completing Nature's imperfectconcoctions in her attempts to form the precious metals, even as byart we can perfect those other operations of incubation, distillation,fermentation, and similar processes of an ordinary description, bywhich we extract life itself out of a senseless egg, summon purity andvitality out of muddy dregs, or call into vivacity the inert substanceof a sluggish liquid?"
"I have heard all this before," said Varney, "and my heart is proofagainst such cant ever since I sent twenty good gold pieces (marry,it was in the nonage of my wit) to advance the grand magisterium, allwhich, God help the while, vanished IN FUMO. Since that moment, when Ipaid for my freedom, I defy chemistry, astrology, palmistry, and everyother occult art, were it as secret as hell itself, to unloose thestricture of my purse-strings. Marry, I neither defy the manna of SaintNicholas, nor can I dispense with it. The first task must be to preparesome when thou gett'st down to my little sequestered retreat yonder, andthen make as much gold as thou wilt."
"I will make no more of that dose," said the alchemist, resolutely.
"Then," said the master of the horse, "thou shalt be hanged for whatthou hast made already, and so were the great secret for ever lost tomankind. Do not humanity this injustice, good father, but e'en bendto thy destiny, and make us an ounce or two of this same stuff; whichcannot prejudice above one or two individuals, in order to gain lifetimeto discover the universal medicine, which shall clear away all mortaldiseases at once. But cheer up, thou grave, learned, and most melancholyjackanape! Hast thou not told me that a moderate portion of thy drughath mild effects, no ways ultimately dangerous to the human frame, butwhich produces depression of spirits, nausea, headache, an unwillingnessto change of place--even such a state of temper as would keep a birdfrom flying out of a cage were the door left open?"
"I have said so, and it is true," said the alchemist. "This effect willit produce, and the bird who partakes of it in such proportion shall sitfor a season drooping on her perch, without thinking either of the freeblue sky, or of the fair greenwood, though the one be lighted by therays of the rising sun, and the other ringing with the newly-awakenedsong of all the feathered inhabitants of the forest."
"And this without danger to life?" said Varney, somewhat anxiously.
"Ay, so that proportion and measure be not exceeded; and so that one whoknows the nature of the manna be ever near to watch the symptoms, andsuccour in case of need."
"Thou shalt reg
ulate the whole," said Varney. "Thy reward shall beprincely, if thou keepest time and touch, and exceedest not the dueproportion, to the prejudice of her health; otherwise thy punishmentshall be as signal."
"The prejudice of HER health!" repeated Alasco; "it is, then, a woman Iam to use my skill upon?"
"No, thou fool," replied Varney, "said I not it was a bird--a reclaimedlinnet, whose pipe might soothe a hawk when in mid stoop? I see thineeye sparkle, and I know thy beard is not altogether so white as art hasmade it--THAT, at least, thou hast been able to transmute to silver. Butmark me, this is no mate for thee. This caged bird is dear to one whobrooks no rivalry, and far less such rivalry as thine, and her healthmust over all things be cared for. But she is in the case ofbeing commanded down to yonder Kenilworth revels, and it is mostexpedient--most needful--most necessary that she fly not thither. Ofthese necessities and their causes, it is not needful that she shouldknow aught; and it is to be thought that her own wish may lead herto combat all ordinary reasons which can be urged for her remaining ahousekeeper."
"That is but natural," said the alchemist with a strange smile,which yet bore a greater reference to the human character than theuninterested and abstracted gaze which his physiognomy had hithertoexpressed, where all seemed to refer to some world distant from thatwhich was existing around him.
"It is so," answered Varney; "you understand women well, though it mayhave been long since you were conversant amongst them. Well, then, sheis not to be contradicted; yet she is not to be humoured. Understandme--a slight illness, sufficient to take away the desire of removingfrom thence, and to make such of your wise fraternity as may be calledin to aid, recommend a quiet residence at home, will, in one word, beesteemed good service, and remunerated as such."
"I am not to be asked to affect the House of Life?" said the chemist.
"On the contrary, we will have thee hanged if thou dost," repliedVarney.
"And I must," added Alasco, "have opportunity to do my turn, and allfacilities for concealment or escape, should there be detection?"
"All, all, and everything, thou infidel in all but the impossibilitiesof alchemy. Why, man, for what dost thou take me?"
The old man rose, and taking a light walked towards the end of theapartment, where was a door that led to the small sleeping-room destinedfor his reception during the night. At the door he turned round, andslowly repeated Varney's question ere he answered it. "For what doI take thee, Richard Varney? Why, for a worse devil than I have beenmyself. But I am in your toils, and I must serve you till my term beout."
"Well, well," answered Varney hastily, "be stirring with grey light.It may be we shall not need thy medicine--do nought till I myselfcome down. Michael Lambourne shall guide you to the place of yourdestination." [See Note 7. Dr. Julio.]
When Varney heard the adept's door shut and carefully bolted within, hestepped towards it, and with similar precaution carefully locked iton the outside, and took the key from the lock, muttering to himself,"Worse than THEE, thou poisoning quacksalver and witch-monger, who,if thou art not a bounden slave to the devil, it is only because hedisdains such an apprentice! I am a mortal man, and seek by mortal meansthe gratification of my passions and advancement of my prospects; thouart a vassal of hell itself--So ho, Lambourne!" he called at anotherdoor, and Michael made his appearance with a flushed cheek and anunsteady step.
"Thou art drunk, thou villain!" said Varney to him.
"Doubtless, noble sir," replied the unabashed Michael; "We have beendrinking all even to the glories of the day, and to my noble Lord ofLeicester and his valiant master of the horse. Drunk! odds blades andponiards, he that would refuse to swallow a dozen healths on such anevening is a base besognio, and a puckfoist, and shall swallow sixinches of my dagger!"
"Hark ye, scoundrel," said Varney, "be sober on the instant--I commandthee. I know thou canst throw off thy drunken folly, like a fool's coat,at pleasure; and if not, it were the worse for thee."
Lambourne drooped his head, left the apartment, and returned in two orthree minutes with his face composed, his hair adjusted, his dress inorder, and exhibiting as great a difference from his former self as ifthe whole man had been changed.
"Art thou sober now, and dost thou comprehend me?" said Varney sternly.
Lambourne bowed in acquiescence.
"Thou must presently down to Cumnor Place with the reverend man of artwho sleeps yonder in the little vaulted chamber. Here is the key, thatthou mayest call him by times. Take another trusty fellow with you. Usehim well on the journey, but let him not escape you--pistol him if heattempt it, and I will be your warrant. I will give thee letters toFoster. The doctor is to occupy the lower apartments of the easternquadrangle, with freedom to use the old elaboratory and its implements.He is to have no access to the lady, but such as I shall point out--onlyshe may be amused to see his philosophical jugglery. Thou wilt awaitat Cumnor Place my further orders; and, as thou livest, beware of theale-bench and the aqua vitae flask. Each breath drawn in Cumnor Placemust be kept severed from common air."
"Enough, my lord--I mean my worshipful master, soon, I trust, to be myworshipful knightly master. You have given me my lesson and my license;I will execute the one, and not abuse the other. I will be in the saddleby daybreak."
"Do so, and deserve favour. Stay--ere thou goest fill me a cup ofwine--not out of that flask, sirrah," as Lambourne was pouring out fromthat which Alasco had left half finished, "fetch me a fresh one."
Lambourne obeyed, and Varney, after rinsing his mouth with the liquor,drank a full cup, and said, as he took up a lamp to retreat to hissleeping apartment, "It is strange--I am as little the slave of fancyas any one, yet I never speak for a few minutes with this fellow Alasco,but my mouth and lungs feel as if soiled with the fumes of calcinedarsenic--pah!"
So saying, he left the apartment. Lambourne lingered, to drink a cup ofthe freshly-opened flask. "It is from Saint John's-Berg," he said, as hepaused on the draught to enjoy its flavour, "and has the true relish ofthe violet. But I must forbear it now, that I may one day drink it at myown pleasure." And he quaffed a goblet of water to quench the fumes ofthe Rhenish wine, retired slowly towards the door, made a pause, andthen, finding the temptation irresistible, walked hastily back, and tookanother long pull at the wine flask, without the formality of a cup.
"Were it not for this accursed custom," he said, "I might climb as highas Varney himself. But who can climb when the room turns round withhim like a parish-top? I would the distance were greater, or the roadrougher, betwixt my hand and mouth! But I will drink nothing to-morrowsave water--nothing save fair water."