Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER LXVI

  SUITABLE DEVOTION

  Now Kickums was not like Winnie, any more than a man is like a woman;and so he had not followed my fortunes, except at his own distance. Nodoubt but what he felt a certain interest in me; but his interest wasnot devotion and man might go his way and be hanged, rather than horsewould meet hardship. Therefore, seeing things to be bad, and his masterinvolved in trouble, what did this horse do but start for the ease andcomfort of Plover's Barrows, and the plentiful ration of oats abidingin his own manger. For this I do not blame him. It is the manner ofmankind.

  But I could not help being very uneasy at the thought of my mother'sdiscomfort and worry, when she should spy this good horse coming home,without any master, or rider, and I almost hoped that he might be caught(although he was worth at least twenty pounds) by some of the King'stroopers, rather than find his way home, and spread distress amongour people. Yet, knowing his nature, I doubted if any could catch, orcatching would keep him.

  Jeremy Stickles assured me, as we took the road to Bridgwater, that theonly chance for my life (if I still refused to fly) was to obtainan order forthwith, for my despatch to London, as a suspected personindeed, but not found in open rebellion, and believed to be under thepatronage of the great Lord Jeffreys. 'For,' said he, 'in a few hourstime you would fall into the hands of Lord Feversham, who has won thisfight, without seeing it, and who has returned to bed again, to have hisbreakfast more comfortably. Now he may not be quite so savage perhapsas Colonel Kirke, nor find so much sport in gibbeting; but he is equallypitiless, and his price no doubt would be higher.'

  'I will pay no price whatever,' I answered, 'neither will I fly. An houragone I would have fled for the sake of my mother, and the farm. Butnow that I have been taken prisoner, and my name is known, if I fly,the farm is forfeited; and my mother and sister must starve. Moreover, Ihave done no harm; I have borne no weapons against the King, nor desiredthe success of his enemies. I like not that the son of a bona-robashould be King of England; neither do I count the Papists any worse thanwe are. If they have aught to try me for, I will stand my trial.'

  'Then to London thou must go, my son. There is no such thing as trialhere: we hang the good folk without it, which saves them much anxiety.But quicken thy step, good John; I have influence with Lord Churchill,and we must contrive to see him, ere the foreigner falls to work again.Lord Churchill is a man of sense, and imprisons nothing but his money.'

  We were lucky enough to find this nobleman, who has since become sofamous by his foreign victories. He received us with great civility;and looked at me with much interest, being a tall and fine youngman himself, but not to compare with me in size, although far betterfavoured. I liked his face well enough, but thought there was somethingfalse about it. He put me a few keen questions, such as a man notassured of honesty might have found hard to answer; and he stood in avery upright attitude, making the most of his figure.

  I saw nothing to be proud of, at the moment, in this interview; butsince the great Duke of Marlborough rose to the top of glory, I havetried to remember more about him than my conscience quite backs up.How should I know that this man would be foremost of our kingdom infive-and-twenty years or so; and not knowing, why should I heedhim, except for my own pocket? Nevertheless, I have been socross-questioned--far worse than by young Lord Churchill--about HisGrace the Duke of Marlborough, and what he said to me, and what I saidthen, and how His Grace replied to that, and whether he smiled likeanother man, or screwed up his lips like a button (as our parish tailorsaid of him), and whether I knew from the turn of his nose that noFrenchman could stand before him: all these inquiries have worried meso, ever since the Battle of Blenheim, that if tailors would only printupon waistcoats, I would give double price for a vest bearingthis inscription, 'No information can be given about the Duke ofMarlborough.'

  Now this good Lord Churchill--for one might call him good, by comparisonwith the very bad people around him--granted without any long hesitationthe order for my safe deliverance to the Court of King's Bench atWestminster; and Stickles, who had to report in London, was empowered toconvey me, and made answerable for producing me. This arrangement wouldhave been entirely to my liking, although the time of year was bad forleaving Plover's Barrows so; but no man may quite choose his times,and on the while I would have been quite content to visit London, if mymother could be warned that nothing was amiss with me, only a mild, andas one might say, nominal captivity. And to prevent her anxiety, I didmy best to send a letter through good Sergeant Bloxham, of whom I heardas quartered with Dumbarton's regiment at Chedzuy. But that regiment wasaway in pursuit; and I was forced to entrust my letter to a man who saidthat he knew him, and accepted a shilling to see to it.

  For fear of any unpleasant change, we set forth at once for London andtruly thankful may I be that God in His mercy spared me the sight ofthe cruel and bloody work with which the whole country reeked and howledduring the next fortnight. I have heard things that set my hair on end,and made me loathe good meat for days; but I make a point of settingdown only the things which I saw done; and in this particular case, notmany will quarrel with my decision. Enough, therefore, that we rode on(for Stickles had found me a horse at last) as far as Wells, where weslept that night; and being joined in the morning by several troopersand orderlies, we made a slow but safe journey to London, by way of Bathand Reading.

  The sight of London warmed my heart with various emotions, such as acordial man must draw from the heart of all humanity. Here there arequick ways and manners, and the rapid sense of knowledge, and the powerof understanding, ere a word be spoken. Whereas at Oare, you must say athing three times, very slowly, before it gets inside the skull of thegood man you are addressing. And yet we are far more clever there thanin any parish for fifteen miles.

  But what moved me most, when I saw again the noble oil and tallow of theLondon lights, and the dripping torches at almost every corner, andthe handsome signboards, was the thought that here my Lorna lived, andwalked, and took the air, and perhaps thought now and then of the olddays in the good farm-house. Although I would make no approach to her,any more than she had done to me (upon which grief I have not dwelt, forfear of seeming selfish), yet there must be some large chance, or thelittle chance might be enlarged, of falling in with the maiden somehow,and learning how her mind was set. If against me, all should be over. Iwas not the man to sigh and cry for love, like a Romeo: none should evenguess my grief, except my sister Annie.

  But if Lorna loved me still--as in my heart of hearts I hoped--thenwould I for no one care, except her own delicious self. Rank and title,wealth and grandeur, all should go to the winds, before they scared mefrom my own true love.

  Thinking thus, I went to bed in the centre of London town, and wasbitten so grievously by creatures whose name is 'legion,' mad with thedelight of getting a wholesome farmer among them, that verily I wasashamed to walk in the courtly parts of the town next day, having lumpsupon my face of the size of a pickling walnut. The landlord said thatthis was nothing; and that he expected, in two days at the utmost,a very fresh young Irishman, for whom they would all forsake me.Nevertheless, I declined to wait, unless he could find me a hayrick tosleep in; for the insects of grass only tickle. He assured me that nohayrick could now be found in London upon which I was forced to leavehim, and with mutual esteem we parted.

  The next night I had better luck, being introduced to a decent widow, ofvery high Scotch origin. That house was swept and garnished so, thatnot a bit was left to eat, for either man or insect. The change of airhaving made me hungry, I wanted something after supper; being quiteready to pay for it, and showing my purse as a symptom. But the face ofWidow MacAlister, when I proposed to have some more food, was a thing tobe drawn (if it could be drawn further) by our new caricaturist.

  Therefore I left her also; for liefer would I be eaten myself than havenothing to eat; and so I came back to my old furrier; the which wasa thoroughly hearty man, and welcomed me to my room again, with twosh
illings added to the rent, in the joy of his heart at seeing me. Beingunder parole to Master Stickles, I only went out betwixt certain hours;because I was accounted as liable to be called upon for what purposeI knew not, but hoped it might be a good one. I felt it a loss, anda hindrance to me, that I was so bound to remain at home during thesession of the courts of law; for thereby the chance of ever beholdingLorna was very greatly contracted, if not altogether annihilated. Forthese were the very hours in which the people of fashion, and the highworld, were wont to appear to the rest of mankind, so as to encouragethem. And of course by this time, the Lady Lorna was high among peopleof fashion, and was not likely to be seen out of fashionable hours. Itis true that there were some places of expensive entertainment, at whichthe better sort of mankind might be seen and studied, in their hours ofrelaxation, by those of the lower order, who could pay sufficiently. Butalas, my money was getting low; and the privilege of seeing my betterswas more and more denied to me, as my cash drew shorter. For a man musthave a good coat at least, and the pockets not wholly empty, before hecan look at those whom God has created for his ensample.

  Hence, and from many other causes--part of which was my own pride--ithappened that I abode in London betwixt a month and five weeks' time,ere ever I saw Lorna. It seemed unfit that I should go, and waylayher, and spy on her, and say (or mean to say), 'Lo, here is your poorfaithful farmer, a man who is unworthy of you, by means of his commonbirth; and yet who dares to crawl across your path, that you may pityhim. For God's sake show a little pity, though you may not feel it.'Such behaviour might be comely in a love-lorn boy, a page to some grandprincess; but I, John Ridd, would never stoop to the lowering of loveso.

  Nevertheless I heard of Lorna, from my worthy furrier, almost every day,and with a fine exaggeration. This honest man was one of those who invirtue of their trade, and nicety of behaviour, are admitted into noblelife, to take measurements, and show patterns. And while so doing,they contrive to acquire what is to the English mind at once the mostimportant and most interesting of all knowledge,--the science of beingable to talk about the titled people. So my furrier (whose name wasRamsack), having to make robes for peers, and cloaks for their wives andotherwise, knew the great folk, sham or real, as well as he knew a foxor skunk from a wolverine skin.

  And when, with some fencing and foils of inquiry, I hinted about LadyLorna Dugal, the old man's face became so pleasant that I knew her birthmust be wondrous high. At this my own countenance fell, I suppose,--forthe better she was born, the harder she would be to marry--and mistakingmy object, he took me up:--

  'Perhaps you think, Master Ridd, that because her ladyship, Lady LornaDugal, is of Scottish origin, therefore her birth is not as high as ofour English nobility. If you think so you are wrong, sir. She comesnot of the sandy Scotch race, with high cheek-bones, and rawshoulder-blades, who set up pillars in their courtyards. But she comesof the very best Scotch blood, descended from the Norsemen. Her motherwas of the very noblest race, the Lords of Lorne; higher even than thegreat Argyle, who has lately made a sad mistake, and paid for it mostsadly. And her father was descended from the King Dugal, who foughtagainst Alexander the Great. No, no, Master Ridd; none of yourpromiscuous blood, such as runs in the veins of half our modernpeerage.'

  'Why should you trouble yourself about it, Master Ramsack?' I replied:'let them all go their own ways: and let us all look up to them, whetherthey come by hook or crook.'

  'Not at all, not at all, my lad. That is not the way to regard it. Welook up at the well-born men, and side-ways at the base-born.'

  'Then we are all base-born ourselves. I will look up to no man, exceptfor what himself has done.'

  'Come, Master Ridd, you might be lashed from New-gate to Tyburn and backagain, once a week, for a twelvemonth, if some people heard you. Keepyour tongue more close, young man; or here you lodge no longer; albeitI love your company, which smells to me of the hayfield. Ah, I have notseen a hayfield for nine-and-twenty years, John Ridd. The cursed mothskeep me at home, every day of the summer.'

  'Spread your furs on the haycocks,' I answered very boldly: 'the indoormoth cannot abide the presence of the outdoor ones.'

  'Is it so?' he answered: 'I never thought of that before. And yet Ihave known such strange things happen in the way of fur, that I canwell believe it. If you only knew, John, the way in which they lay theireggs, and how they work tail-foremost--'

  'Tell me nothing of the kind,' I replied, with equal confidence: 'theycannot work tail-foremost; and they have no tails to work with.' For Iknew a little about grubs, and the ignorance concerning them, whichwe have no right to put up with. However, not to go into that (for theargument lasted a fortnight; and then was only come so far as to beginagain), Master Ramsack soon convinced me of the things I knew already;the excellence of Lorna's birth, as well as her lofty place at Court,and beauty, and wealth, and elegance. But all these only made me sigh,and wish that I were born to them.

  From Master Ramsack I discovered that the nobleman to whose charge LadyLorna had been committed, by the Court of Chancery, was Earl Brandirof Lochawe, her poor mother's uncle. For the Countess of Dugal wasdaughter, and only child, of the last Lord Lorne, whose sister hadmarried Sir Ensor Doone; while he himself had married the sister ofEarl Brandir. This nobleman had a country house near the village ofKensington and here his niece dwelled with him, when she was not inattendance on Her Majesty the Queen, who had taken a liking to her.Now since the King had begun to attend the celebration of mass, in thechapel at Whitehall--and not at Westminster Abbey, as our gossips hadaverred--he had given order that the doors should be thrown open, sothat all who could make interest to get into the antechamber, might seethis form of worship. Master Ramsack told me that Lorna was there almostevery Sunday; their Majesties being most anxious to have the presenceof all the nobility of the Catholic persuasion, so as to make a goodlyshow. And the worthy furrier, having influence with the door-keepers,kindly obtained admittance for me, one Sunday, into the antechamber.

  Here I took care to be in waiting, before the Royal procession entered;but being unknown, and of no high rank, I was not allowed to standforward among the better people, but ordered back into a corner verydark and dismal; the verger remarking, with a grin, that I could seeover all other heads, and must not set my own so high. Being frightenedto find myself among so many people of great rank and gorgeous apparel,I blushed at the notice drawn upon me by this uncourteous fellow; andsilently fell back into the corner by the hangings.

  You may suppose that my heart beat high, when the King and Queenappeared, and entered, followed by the Duke of Norfolk, bearing thesword of state, and by several other noblemen, and people of repute.Then the doors of the chapel were thrown wide open; and though Icould only see a little, being in the corner so, I thought that it wasbeautiful. Bowers of rich silk were there, and plenty of metal shining,and polished wood with lovely carving; flowers too of the noblest kind,and candles made by somebody who had learned how to clarify tallow. Thislast thing amazed me more than all, for our dips never will come clear,melt the mutton-fat how you will. And methought that this hanging offlowers about was a pretty thing; for if a man can worship God best ofall beneath a tree, as the natural instinct is, surely when by fault ofclimate the tree would be too apt to drip, the very best make-believe isto have enough and to spare of flowers; which to the dwellers in Londonseem to have grown on the tree denied them.

  Be that as it may, when the King and Queen crossed the threshold, amighty flourish of trumpets arose, and a waving of banners. The Knightsof the Garter (whoever they be) were to attend that day in state;and some went in, and some stayed out, and it made me think of thedifference betwixt the ewes and the wethers. For the ewes will gowherever you lead them; but the wethers will not, having strongopinions, and meaning to abide by them. And one man I noticed was of thewethers, to wit the Duke of Norfolk; who stopped outside with the swordof state, like a beadle with a rapping-rod. This has taken more to tellthan the time it happened in. For after all t
he men were gone, someto this side, some to that, according to their feelings, a number ofladies, beautifully dressed, being of the Queen's retinue, began toenter, and were stared at three times as much as the men had been. Andindeed they were worth looking at (which men never are to my ideas,when they trick themselves with gewgaws), but none was so well wortheye-service as my own beloved Lorna. She entered modestly and shyly,with her eyes upon the ground, knowing the rudeness of the gallants, andthe large sum she was priced at. Her dress was of the purest white, verysweet and simple, without a line of ornament, for she herself adornedit. The way she walked, and touched her skirt (rather than seemed tohold it up) with a white hand beaming one red rose, this and her statelysupple neck, and the flowing of her hair would show, at a distance of ahundred yards, that she could be none but Lorna Doone. Lorna Doone ofmy early love; in the days when she blushed for her name before meby reason of dishonesty; but now the Lady Lorna Dugal as far beyondreproach as above my poor affection. All my heart, and all my mind,gathered themselves upon her. Would she see me, or would she pass? Wasthere instinct in our love?

  By some strange chance she saw me. Or was it through our destiny? Whilewith eyes kept sedulously on the marble floor, to shun the weight ofadmiration thrust too boldly on them, while with shy quick steps shepassed, some one (perhaps with purpose) trod on the skirt of her clearwhite dress,--with the quickness taught her by many a scene of danger,she looked up, and her eyes met mine.

  As I gazed upon her, steadfastly, yearningly, yet with some reproach,and more of pride than humility, she made me one of the courtly bowswhich I do so much detest; yet even that was sweet and graceful, when myLorna did it. But the colour of her pure clear cheeks was nearly asdeep as that of my own, when she went on for the religious work. And theshining of her eyes was owing to an unpaid debt of tears.

  Upon the whole I was satisfied. Lorna had seen me, and had not(according to the phrase of the high world then) even tried to 'cut' me.Whether this low phrase is born of their own stupid meanness, or whetherit comes of necessity exercised on a man without money, I know not, andI care not. But one thing I know right well; any man who 'cuts' a man(except for vice or meanness) should be quartered without quarter.

  All these proud thoughts rose within me as the lovely form of Lorna wentinside, and was no more seen. And then I felt how coarse I was; how aptto think strong thoughts, and so on without brains to bear me out: evenas a hen's egg, laid without enough of lime, and looking only a poorjelly.

  Nevertheless, I waited on as my usual manner is. For to be beaten,while running away, is ten times worse than to face it out, and takeit, and have done with it. So at least I have always found, because ofreproach of conscience: and all the things those clever people carriedon inside, at large, made me long for our Parson Bowden that he mightknow how to act.

  While I stored up, in my memory, enough to keep our parson going throughsix pipes on a Saturday night--to have it as right as could be nextday--a lean man with a yellow beard, too thin for a good Catholic (whichreligion always fattens), came up to me, working sideways, in the mannerof a female crab.

  'This is not to my liking,' I said: 'if aught thou hast, speak plainly;while they make that horrible noise inside.'

  Nothing had this man to say; but with many sighs, because I was not ofthe proper faith, he took my reprobate hand to save me: and with severalreligious tears, looked up at me, and winked with one eye. Although theskin of my palms was thick, I felt a little suggestion there, as of agentle leaf in spring, fearing to seem too forward. I paid the man, andhe went happy; for the standard of heretical silver is purer than thatof the Catholics.

  Then I lifted up my little billet; and in that dark corner read it, witha strong rainbow of colours coming from the angled light. And in mineeyes there was enough to make rainbow of strongest sun, as my angerclouded off.

  Not that it began so well; but that in my heart I knew (ere three lineswere through me) that I was with all heart loved--and beyond that, whomay need? The darling of my life went on, as if I were of her own rank,or even better than she was; and she dotted her 'i's,' and crossedher 't's,' as if I were at least a schoolmaster. All of it was done inpencil; but as plain as plain could be. In my coffin it shall lie, withmy ring and something else. Therefore will I not expose it to every manwho buys this book, and haply thinks that he has bought me to the bottomof my heart. Enough for men of gentle birth (who never are inquisitive)that my love told me, in her letter, just to come and see her.

  I ran away, and could not stop. To behold even her, at the moment, wouldhave dashed my fancy's joy. Yet my brain was so amiss, that I must dosomething. Therefore to the river Thames, with all speed, I hurried;and keeping all my best clothes on (indued for sake of Lorna), into thequiet stream I leaped, and swam as far as London Bridge, and ate noblerdinner afterwards.