Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER XXIII

  A ROYAL INVITATION

  Although I had, for the most part, so very stout an appetite, that nonebut mother saw any need of encouraging me to eat, I could only manageone true good meal in a day, at the time I speak of. Mother was indespair at this, and tempted me with the whole of the rack, and eventalked of sending to Porlock for a druggist who came there twice ina week; and Annie spent all her time in cooking, and even Lizzie sangsongs to me; for she could sing very sweetly. But my conscience told methat Betty Muxworthy had some reason upon her side.

  'Latt the young ozebird aloun, zay I. Makk zuch ado about un, wi'hogs'-puddens, and hock-bits, and lambs'-mate, and whaten bradd indade,and brewers' ale avore dinner-time, and her not to zit wi' no winderaupen--draive me mad 'e doo, the ov'ee, zuch a passel of voouls. Do 'ungood to starve a bit; and takk zome on's wackedness out ov un.'

  But mother did not see it so; and she even sent for Nicholas Snoweto bring his three daughters with him, and have ale and cake in theparlour, and advise about what the bees were doing, and when a swarmmight be looked for. Being vexed about this and having to stop at homenearly half the evening, I lost good manners so much as to ask him (evenin our own house!) what he meant by not mending the swing-hurdle wherethe Lynn stream flows from our land into his, and which he is bound tomaintain. But he looked at me in a superior manner, and said, 'Business,young man, in business time.'

  I had other reason for being vexed with Farmer Nicholas just now, viz.that I had heard a rumour, after church one Sunday--when most of all wesorrow over the sins of one another--that Master Nicholas Snowe hadbeen seen to gaze tenderly at my mother, during a passage of the sermon,wherein the parson spoke well and warmly about the duty of Christianlove. Now, putting one thing with another, about the bees, and aboutsome ducks, and a bullock with a broken knee-cap, I more than suspectedthat Farmer Nicholas was casting sheep's eyes at my mother; not only tosave all further trouble in the matter of the hurdle, but to override mealtogether upon the difficult question of damming. And I knew quite wellthat John Fry's wife never came to help at the washing without declaringthat it was a sin for a well-looking woman like mother, with plentyto live on, and only three children, to keep all the farmers for milesaround so unsettled in their minds about her. Mother used to answer 'Ohfie, Mistress Fry! be good enough to mind your own business.' But wealways saw that she smoothed her apron, and did her hair up afterwards,and that Mistress Fry went home at night with a cold pig's foot or abowl of dripping.

  Therefore, on that very night, as I could not well speak to motherabout it, without seeming undutiful, after lighting the three youngladies--for so in sooth they called themselves--all the way home withour stable-lanthorn, I begged good leave of Farmer Nicholas (who hadhung some way behind us) to say a word in private to him, before heentered his own house.

  'Wi' all the plaisure in laife, my zon,' he answered very graciously,thinking perhaps that I was prepared to speak concerning Sally.

  'Now, Farmer Nicholas Snowe,' I said, scarce knowing how to begin it,'you must promise not to be vexed with me, for what I am going to say toyou.'

  'Vaxed wi' thee! Noo, noo, my lad. I 'ave a knowed thee too long forthat. And thy veyther were my best friend, afore thee. Never wronged hisneighbours, never spak an unkind word, never had no maneness in him.Tuk a vancy to a nice young 'ooman, and never kep her in doubt about it,though there wadn't mooch to zettle on her. Spak his maind laike a man,he did, and right happy he were wi' her. Ah, well a day! Ah, God knowethbest. I never shall zee his laike again. And he were the best judge of adung-heap anywhere in this county.'

  'Well, Master Snowe,' I answered him, 'it is very handsome of you tosay so. And now I am going to be like my father, I am going to speak mymind.'

  'Raight there, lad; raight enough, I reckon. Us has had enough ofpralimbinary.'

  'Then what I want to say is this--I won't have any one courting mymother.'

  'Coortin' of thy mother, lad?' cried Farmer Snowe, with as muchamazement as if the thing were impossible; 'why, who ever hath beendooin' of it?'

  'Yes, courting of my mother, sir. And you know best who comes doing it.'

  'Wull, wull! What will boys be up to next? Zhud a' thought herzelf worthe proper judge. No thank 'ee, lad, no need of thy light. Know the waito my own door, at laste; and have a raight to goo there.' And he shutme out without so much as offering me a drink of cider.

  The next afternoon, when work was over, I had seen to the horses, fornow it was foolish to trust John Fry, because he had so many children,and his wife had taken to scolding; and just as I was saying to myselfthat in five days more my month would be done, and myself free to seekLorna, a man came riding up from the ford where the road goes throughthe Lynn stream. As soon as I saw that it was not Tom Faggus, I went nofarther to meet him, counting that it must be some traveller boundfor Brendon or Cheriton, and likely enough he would come and beg for adraught of milk or cider; and then on again, after asking the way.

  But instead of that, he stopped at our gate, and stood up from hissaddle, and halloed as if he were somebody; and all the time he wasflourishing a white thing in the air, like the bands our parson weareth.So I crossed the court-yard to speak with him.

  'Service of the King!' he saith; 'service of our lord the King! Comehither, thou great yokel, at risk of fine and imprisonment.'

  Although not pleased with this, I went to him, as became a loyal man;quite at my leisure, however, for there is no man born who can hurry me,though I hasten for any woman.

  'Plover Barrows farm!' said he; 'God only knows how tired I be. Is thereany where in this cursed county a cursed place called Plover Barrowsfarm? For last twenty mile at least they told me 'twere only half a milefarther, or only just round corner. Now tell me that, and I fain wouldthwack thee if thou wert not thrice my size.'

  'Sir,' I replied, 'you shall not have the trouble. This is Plover'sBarrows farm, and you are kindly welcome. Sheep's kidneys is for supper,and the ale got bright from the tapping. But why do you think ill of us?We like not to be cursed so.'

  'Nay, I think no ill,' he said; 'sheep's kidneys is good, uncommon good,if they do them without burning. But I be so galled in the saddle tendays, and never a comely meal of it. And when they hear "King's service"cried, they give me the worst of everything. All the way down fromLondon, I had a rogue of a fellow in front of me, eating the fat ofthe land before me, and every one bowing down to him. He could go threemiles to my one though he never changed his horse. He might have robbedme at any minute, if I had been worth the trouble. A red mare he rideth,strong in the loins, and pointed quite small in the head. I shall liveto see him hanged yet.'

  All this time he was riding across the straw of our courtyard, gettinghis weary legs out of the leathers, and almost afraid to stand yet. Acoarse-grained, hard-faced man he was, some forty years of age or so,and of middle height and stature. He was dressed in a dark brown ridingsuit, none the better for Exmoor mud, but fitting him very differentlyfrom the fashion of our tailors. Across the holsters lay his cloak,made of some red skin, and shining from the sweating of the horse. As Ilooked down on his stiff bright head-piece, small quick eyes and blackneedly beard, he seemed to despise me (too much, as I thought) for amere ignoramus and country bumpkin.

  'Annie, have down the cut ham,' I shouted, for my sister was come to thedoor by chance, or because of the sound of a horse in the road, 'andcut a few rashers of hung deer's meat. There is a gentleman come to sup,Annie. And fetch the hops out of the tap with a skewer that it may runmore sparkling.'

  'I wish I may go to a place never meant for me,' said my new friend, nowwiping his mouth with the sleeve of his brown riding coat, 'if ever Ifell among such good folk. You are the right sort, and no error therein.All this shall go in your favour greatly, when I make deposition. Atleast, I mean, if it be as good in the eating as in the hearing. 'Tisa supper quite fit for Tom Faggus himself, the man who hath stolenmy victuals so. And that hung deer's meat, now is it of the red deerrunning w
ild in these parts?'

  'To be sure it is, sir,' I answered; 'where should we get any other?'

  'Right, right, you are right, my son. I have heard that the flavouris marvellous. Some of them came and scared me so, in the fog of themorning, that I hungered for them ever since. Ha, ha, I saw theirhaunches. But the young lady will not forget--art sure she will notforget it?'

  'You may trust her to forget nothing, sir, that may tempt a guest to hiscomfort.'

  'In faith, then, I will leave my horse in your hands, and be off forit. Half the pleasure of the mouth is in the nose beforehand. But stay,almost I forgot my business, in the hurry which thy tongue hath spreadthrough my lately despairing belly. Hungry I am, and sore of body, frommy heels right upward, and sorest in front of my doublet, yet may I notrest nor bite barley-bread, until I have seen and touched John Ridd. Godgrant that he be not far away; I must eat my saddle, if it be so.'

  'Have no fear, good sir,' I answered; 'you have seen and touched JohnRidd. I am he, and not one likely to go beneath a bushel.'

  'It would take a large bushel to hold thee, John Ridd. In the name ofthe King, His Majesty, Charles the Second, these presents!'

  He touched me with the white thing which I had first seen him waving,and which I now beheld to be sheepskin, such as they call parchment.It was tied across with cord, and fastened down in every cornerwith unsightly dabs of wax. By order of the messenger (for I wasover-frightened now to think of doing anything), I broke enough of sealsto keep an Easter ghost from rising; and there I saw my name in large;God grant such another shock may never befall me in my old age.

  'Read, my son read, thou great fool, if indeed thou canst read,' saidthe officer to encourage me; 'there is nothing to kill thee, boy, andmy supper will be spoiling. Stare not at me so, thou fool; thou art bigenough to eat me; read, read, read.'

  'If you please, sir, what is your name?' I asked; though why I asked himI know not, except from fear of witchcraft.

  'Jeremy Stickles is my name, lad, nothing more than a poor apparitor ofthe worshipful Court of King's Bench. And at this moment a starving one,and no supper for me unless thou wilt read.'

  Being compelled in this way, I read pretty nigh as follows; not that Igive the whole of it, but only the gist and the emphasis,--

  'To our good subject, John Ridd, etc.'--describing me ever so muchbetter than I knew myself--'by these presents, greeting. These are torequire thee, in the name of our lord the King, to appear in personbefore the Right Worshipful, the Justices of His Majesty's Bench atWestminster, laying aside all thine own business, and there to deliversuch evidence as is within thy cognisance, touching certain matterswhereby the peace of our said lord the King, and the well-being of thisrealm, is, are, or otherwise may be impeached, impugned, imperilled, orotherwise detrimented. As witness these presents.' And then there werefour seals, and then a signature I could not make out, only that itbegan with a J, and ended with some other writing, done almost in acircle. Underneath was added in a different handwriting 'Charges will beborne. The matter is full urgent.'

  The messenger watched me, while I read so much as I could read of it;and he seemed well pleased with my surprise, because he had expected it.Then, not knowing what else to do, I looked again at the cover, andon the top of it I saw, 'Ride, Ride, Ride! On His Gracious Majesty'sbusiness; spur and spare not.'

  It may be supposed by all who know me, that I was taken hereupon withsuch a giddiness in my head and noisiness in my ears, that I was forcedto hold by the crook driven in below the thatch for holding of thehay-rakes. There was scarcely any sense left in me, only that the thingwas come by power of Mother Melldrum, because I despised her warning,and had again sought Lorna. But the officer was grieved for me, and thedanger to his supper.

  'My son, be not afraid,' he said; 'we are not going to skin thee. Onlythou tell all the truth, and it shall be--but never mind, I will tellthee all about it, and how to come out harmless, if I find thy victualsgood, and no delay in serving them.'

  'We do our best, sir, without bargain,' said I, 'to please ourvisitors.'

  But when my mother saw that parchment (for we could not keep it fromher) she fell away into her favourite bed of stock gilly-flowers, whichshe had been tending; and when we brought her round again, did nothingbut exclaim against the wickedness of the age and people. 'It wasuseless to tell her; she knew what it was, and so should all the parishknow. The King had heard what her son was, how sober, and quiet, anddiligent, and the strongest young man in England; and being himself sucha reprobate--God forgive her for saying so--he could never rest tillhe got poor Johnny, and made him as dissolute as himself. And if he didthat'--here mother went off into a fit of crying; and Annie minded herface, while Lizzie saw that her gown was in comely order.

  But the character of the King improved, when Master Jeremy Stickles(being really moved by the look of it, and no bad man after all) laid itclearly before my mother that the King on his throne was unhappy, untilhe had seen John Ridd. That the fame of John had gone so far, and hissize, and all his virtues--that verily by the God who made him, the Kingwas overcome with it.

  Then mother lay back in her garden chair, and smiled upon the whole ofus, and most of all on Jeremy; looking only shyly on me, and speakingthrough some break of tears. 'His Majesty shall have my John; HisMajesty is very good: but only for a fortnight. I want no titles forhim. Johnny is enough for me; and Master John for the working men.'

  Now though my mother was so willing that I should go to London,expecting great promotion and high glory for me, I myself was deeplygone into the pit of sorrow. For what would Lorna think of me? Here wasthe long month just expired, after worlds of waiting; there would be herlovely self, peeping softly down the glen, and fearing to encourage me;yet there would be nobody else, and what an insult to her! Dwelling uponthis, and seeing no chance of escape from it, I could not find one winkof sleep; though Jeremy Stickles (who slept close by) snored loud enoughto spare me some. For I felt myself to be, as it were, in a place ofsome importance; in a situation of trust, I may say; and bound not todepart from it. For who could tell what the King might have to say tome about the Doones--and I felt that they were at the bottom of thisstrange appearance--or what His Majesty might think, if after receivinga message from him (trusty under so many seals) I were to violatehis faith in me as a churchwarden's son, and falsely spread his wordsabroad?

  Perhaps I was not wise in building such a wall of scruples.Nevertheless, all that was there, and weighed upon me heavily. And atlast I made up my mind to this, that even Lorna must not know the reasonof my going, neither anything about it; but that she might know I wasgone a long way from home, and perhaps be sorry for it. Now how was I tolet her know even that much of the matter, without breaking compact?

  Puzzling on this, I fell asleep, after the proper time to get up; norwas I to be seen at breakfast time; and mother (being quite strange tothat) was very uneasy about it. But Master Stickles assured her that theKing's writ often had that effect, and the symptom was a good one.

  'Now, Master Stickles, when must we start?' I asked him, as he loungedin the yard gazing at our turkey poults picking and running in the sunto the tune of their father's gobble. 'Your horse was greatly foundered,sir, and is hardly fit for the road to-day; and Smiler was sleddingyesterday all up the higher Cleve; and none of the rest can carry me.'

  'In a few more years,' replied the King's officer, contemplating me withmuch satisfaction ''twill be a cruelty to any horse to put thee on hisback, John.'

  Master Stickles, by this time, was quite familiar with us, callingme 'Jack,' and Eliza 'Lizzie,' and what I liked the least of all, ourpretty Annie 'Nancy.'

  'That will be as God pleases, sir,' I answered him, rather sharply; 'andthe horse that suffers will not be thine. But I wish to know when wemust start upon our long travel to London town. I perceive that thematter is of great despatch and urgency.'

  'To be sure, so it is, my son. But I see a yearling turkey there, himI mean with the hop in his walk,
who (if I know aught of fowls) wouldroast well to-morrow. Thy mother must have preparation: it is no morethan reasonable. Now, have that turkey killed to-night (for his fatnessmakes me long for him), and we will have him for dinner to-morrow, with,perhaps, one of his brethren; and a few more collops of red deer's fleshfor supper, and then on the Friday morning, with the grace of God, wewill set our faces to the road, upon His Majesty's business.'

  'Nay, but good sir,' I asked with some trembling, so eager was I to seeLorna; 'if His Majesty's business will keep till Friday, may it not keepuntil Monday? We have a litter of sucking-pigs, excellently choice andwhite, six weeks old, come Friday. There be too many for the sow, andone of them needeth roasting. Think you not it would be a pity to leavethe women to carve it?'

  'My son Jack,' replied Master Stickles, 'never was I in such quartersyet: and God forbid that I should be so unthankful to Him as to hurryaway. And now I think on it, Friday is not a day upon which pious peoplelove to commence an enterprise. I will choose the young pig to-morrow atnoon, at which time they are wont to gambol; and we will celebrate hisbirthday by carving him on Friday. After that we will gird our loins,and set forth early on Saturday.'

  Now this was little better to me than if we had set forth at once.Sunday being the very first day upon which it would be honourable for meto enter Glen Doone. But though I tried every possible means with MasterJeremy Stickles, offering him the choice for dinner of every beastthat was on the farm, he durst not put off our departure later than theSaturday. And nothing else but love of us and of our hospitality wouldhave so persuaded him to remain with us till then. Therefore now my onlychance of seeing Lorna, before I went, lay in watching from the cliffand espying her, or a signal from her.

  This, however, I did in vain, until my eyes were weary and often woulddelude themselves with hope of what they ached for. But though I layhidden behind the trees upon the crest of the stony fall, and waitedso quiet that the rabbits and squirrels played around me, and even thekeen-eyed weasel took me for a trunk of wood--it was all as one; no castof colour changed the white stone, whose whiteness now was hateful tome; nor did wreath or skirt of maiden break the loneliness of the vale.