The Cornet of Horse: A Tale of Marlborough's Wars

by G. A. Henty

  E-text prepared by Martin Robb

  THE CORNET OF HORSE:

  A Tale of Marlborough's Wars

  by

  G. A. HENTY.

  1914

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Windthorpe Chace. Chapter 2: Rupert to the Rescue. Chapter 3: A Kiss and its Consequences. Chapter 4: The Sedan Chair. Chapter 5: The Fencing School. Chapter 6: The War Of Succession. Chapter 7: Venloo. Chapter 8: The Old Mill. Chapter 9: The Duel. Chapter 10: The Battle Of The Dykes. Chapter 11: A Death Trap. Chapter 12: The Sad Side Of War. Chapter 13: Blenheim. Chapter 14: The Riot at Dort. Chapter 15: The End of a Feud. Chapter 16: Ramilies. Chapter 17: A Prisoner of War. Chapter 18: The Court of Versailles. Chapter 19: The Evasion. Chapter 20: Loches. Chapter 21: Back in Harness. Chapter 22: Oudenarde. Chapter 23: The Siege of Lille. Chapter 24: Adele. Chapter 25: Flight and Pursuit. Chapter 26: The Siege of Tournai. Chapter 27: Malplaquet, and the End of the War.

  Chapter 1: Windthorpe Chace.

  "One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four--turn to your lady;one, two, three, four--now deep reverence. Now you take her hand;no, not her whole hand--the tips of her fingers; now you lead herto her seat; now a deep bow, so. That will do. You are improving,but you must be more light, more graceful, more courtly in yourair; still you will do.

  "Now run away, Mignon, to the garden; you have madam's permissionto gather fruit.

  "Now, Monsieur Rupert, we will take our lesson in fencing."

  The above speech was in the French language, and the speaker was atall, slightly-built man of about fifty years of age. The scene wasa long low room, in a mansion situated some two miles from Derby.The month was January, 1702, and King William the Third sat uponthe throne. In the room, in addition to the dancing master, werethe lad he was teaching, an active, healthy-looking boy betweenfifteen and sixteen; his partner, a bright-faced French girl ofsome twelve years of age; and an old man, nearer eighty thanseventy, but still erect and active, who sat in a large armchair,looking on.

  By the alacrity with which the lad went to an armoire and took outthe foils, and steel caps with visors which served as fencingmasks, it was clear that he preferred the fencing lesson to thedancing. He threw off his coat, buttoned a padded guard across hischest, and handing a foil to his instructor, took his place beforehim.

  "Now let us practise that thrust in tierce after the feint anddisengage. You were not quite so close as you might have been,yesterday. Ha! ha! that is better. I think that monsieur yourgrandfather has been giving you a lesson, and poaching on my manor.Is it not so?"

  "Yes," said the old man, "I gave him ten minutes yesterday evening;but I must give it up. My sword begins to fail me, and your pupilgets more skillful, and stronger in the wrist, every day. In thedays when I was at Saint Germains with the king, when the cropheadslorded it here, I could hold my own with the best of your youngblades. But even allowing fully for the stiffness of age, I think Ican still gauge the strength of an opponent, and I think the boypromises to be of premiere force."

  "It is as you say, monsieur le colonel. My pupil is born to be afencer; he learns it with all his heart; he has had two goodteachers for three years; he has worked with all his energy at it;and he has one of those supple strong wrists that seem made for thesword. He presses me hard.

  "Now, Monsieur Rupert, open play, and do your best."

  Then began a struggle which would have done credit to any fencingschool in Europe. Rupert Holliday was as active as a cat, and wasever on the move, constantly shifting his ground, advancing andretreating with astonishing lightness and activity. At first he wastoo eager, and his instructor touched him twice over his guard.Then, rendered cautious, he fought more carefully, although with noless quickness than before; and for some minutes there was noadvantage on either side, the master's longer reach and calm steadyplay baffling every effort of his assailant.

  At last, with a quick turn of the wrist, he sent Rupert's foilflying across the room. Rupert gave an exclamation of disgust,followed by a merry laugh.

  "You always have me so, Monsieur Dessin. Do what I will, sooner orlater comes that twist, which I cannot stop."

  "You must learn how, sir. Your sword is so; as you lunge I guard,and run my foil along yours, so as to get power near my hilt. Nowif I press, your sword must go; but you must not let me press; youmust disengage quickly. Thus, you see?

  "Now let us try again. We will practise nothing else today--ortomorrow--or till you are perfect. It is your one weak point. Thenyou must practise to disarm your opponent, till you are perfect inthat also. Then, as far as I can teach you, you will be a master offencing. You know all my coups, and all those of monsieur lecolonel. These face guards, too, have worked wonders, in enablingyou to play with quickness and freedom. We are both fine blades.

  "I tell you, young sir, you need not put up with an insult in anypublic place in Europe. I tell you so, who ought to know."

  In the year 1702 fencing was far from having attained thatperfection which it reached later. Masks had not yet been invented,and in consequence play was necessarily stiff and slow, as thedanger of the loss of sight, or even of death, from a chance thrustwas very great. When Rupert first began his lessons, he was so rashand hasty that his grandfather greatly feared an accident, and itstruck him that by having visors affixed to a couple of light steelcaps, not only would all possibility of an accident be obviatedupon the part of either himself or his pupil, but the latter wouldattain a freedom and confidence of style which could otherwise beonly gained from a long practice in actual war. The result had morethan equalled his expectations; and Monsieur Dessin had, when heassumed the post of instructor, been delighted with the invention,and astonished at the freedom and boldness of the lad's play. Itwas, then, thanks to these masks, as well as to his teachers' skilland his own aptitude, that Rupert had obtained a certainty, arapidity, and a freedom of style absolutely impossible in the caseof a person, whatever his age, who had been accustomed to fencewith the face unguarded, and with the caution and stiffnessnecessary to prevent the occurrence of terrible accident.

  For another half hour the lesson went on. Then, just as the finalsalute was given, the door opened at the end of the room, and alady entered, in the stiff dress with large hoops then in fashion.Colonel Holliday advanced with a courtly air, and offered her hishand. The French gentleman, with an air to the full as courtly asthat of the colonel, brought forward a chair for her; and when shehad seated herself, Rupert advanced to kiss her hand.

  "No, Rupert, you are too hot. There, leave us; I wish to speak toColonel Holliday and monsieur."

  With a deep bow, and a manner far more respectful and distant thanthat which nowadays would be shown to a stranger who was worthy ofall honour, Rupert Holliday left his mother's presence.

  "I know what she wants," Rupert muttered to himself. "To stop myfencing lessons; just as if a gentleman could fence too well. Shewants me to be a stiff, cold, finnikin fop, like that conceitedyoung Brownlow, of the Haugh.

  "Not if I know it, madame ma mere. You will never make a courtierof me, any more than you will a whig. The colonel fought at Naseby,and was with the king in France. Papa was a tory, and so am I."

  And the lad whistled a Jacobite air as he made his way with a rapidstep to the stables.

  The terms Whig and Tory in the reign of King William had verylittle in common with the meaning which now attaches to thesewords. The principal difference between the two was in their viewsas to the succession to the throne. The Princess Anne would succeedKing William, and the whigs desired to see George, Elector ofHanover, ascend the throne when it
again became vacant; the torieslooked to the return of the Stuarts. The princess's sympathies werewith the tories, for she, as a daughter of James the Second, wouldnaturally have preferred that the throne should revert to herbrother, than that it should pass to a German prince, a stranger toher, a foreigner, and ignorant even of the language of the people.Roughly it may be said that the tories were the descendants of thecavaliers, while the whigs inherited the principles of theparliamentarians. Party feeling ran very high throughout thecountry; and as in the civil war, the towns were for the most partwhig in their predilection, the country was tory.

  Rupert Holliday had grown up in a divided house. The fortunes ofColonel Holliday were greatly impaired in the civil war. Hisestates were forfeited; and at the restoration he received hisancestral home, Windthorpe Chace, and a small portion of thesurrounding domain, but had never been able to recover the outlyingproperties from the men who had acquired them in his absence. Hehad married in France, the daughter of an exile like himself; butbefore the "king came to his own" his wife had died, and hereturned with one son, Herbert.

  Herbert had, when he arrived at manhood, restored the fortunes ofthe Chace by marrying Mistress Dorothy Maynard, the daughter andheiress of a wealthy brewer of Derby, who had taken the side ofparliament, and had thriven greatly at the expense of the royalistgentry of the neighbourhood. After the restoration he, like manyother roundheads who had grown rich by the acquisition of forfeitedestates, felt very doubtful whether he should be allowed to retainpossession, and was glad enough to secure his daughter's fortune bymarrying her to the heir of a prominent royalist. Colonel Hollidayhad at first objected strongly to the match, but the probableadvantage to the fortune of his house at last prevailed over hispolitical bias. The fortune which Mistress Dorothy brought into thefamily was eventually much smaller than had been expected, forseveral of the owners of estates of which the roundhead brewer hadbecome possessed, made good their claims to them.

  Still Herbert Holliday was a rich man at his father-in-law's death,which happened three years after the marriage. With a portion ofhis wife's dowry most of the outlying properties which had belongedto the Chace were purchased back from their holders; but HerbertHolliday, who was a weak man, cared nothing for a country life, butresided in London with his wife. There he lived for another sixyears, and was then killed in a duel over a dispute at cards,having in that time managed to run through every penny that hiswife had brought him, save that invested in the lands of the Chace.

  Dorothy Holliday then, at the Colonel's earnest invitation,returned to the Chace with her son Rupert, then five years old.There she ruled as mistress, for her disposition was a masterfulone, and she was a notable housekeeper. The colonel gladly resignedthe reins of government into her hands. The house and surroundingland were his; the estate whose rental enabled the household to bemaintained as befitted that of a county family, was hers; and bothwould in time, unless indeed Dorothy Holliday should marry again,go to Rupert. Should she marry again--and at the time of herhusband's death she wanted two or three years of thirty--she mightdivide the estate between Rupert and any other children she mighthave, she having purchased the estate with her dowry, and havingright of appointment between her children as she chose. ColonelHolliday was quite content to leave to his daughter-in-law themanagement of the Chace, while he assumed that of his grandson, onwhom he doted. The boy, young as he then was, gave every promise ofa fine and courageous disposition, and the old cavalier promisedhimself that he would train him to be a soldier and a gentleman.

  When the lad was eight years old, the old vicar of the littlechurch at the village at the gates of the Chace died, and theliving being in the colonel's gift as master of the Chace, heappointed a young man, freshly ordained, from Oxford, who wasforthwith installed as tutor to Rupert.

  Three years later, Colonel Holliday heard that a French emigre hadsettled in Derby, and gave lessons in his own language and infencing. Rupert had already made some advance in these studies, forColonel Holliday, from his long residence in France, spoke thelanguage like a native; and now, after Mistress Dorothy's objectionhaving been overcome by the assurance that French and fencing werenecessary parts of a gentleman's education if he were ever to makehis way at court, Monsieur Dessin was installed as tutor in thesebranches, coming out three times a week for the afternoon to theChace.

  A few months before our story begins, dancing had been added to thesubjects taught. This was a branch of education which MonsieurDessin did not impart to the inhabitants of Derby, where indeed hehad but few pupils, the principal portion of his scanty incomebeing derived from his payments from the Chace. He had, however,acceded willingly enough to Mistress Dorothy's request, his consentperhaps being partly due to the proposition that, as it would benecessary that the boy should have a partner, a pony with a groomshould be sent over twice a week to Derby to fetch his littledaughter Adele out to the Chace, where, when the lesson was over,she could amuse herself in the grounds until her father was free toaccompany her home.

  In those days dancing was an art to be acquired only with longstudy. It was a necessity that a gentleman should dance, and dancewell, and the stately minuet required accuracy, grace, and dignity.Dancing in those days was an art; it has fallen grievously fromthat high estate.

  Between Monsieur Dessin and the old cavalier a cordial friendshipreigned. The former had never spoken of his past history, but thecolonel never doubted that, like so many refugees who sought ourshore from France from the date of the revocation of the edict ofNantes to the close of the great revolution, he was of noble blood,an exile from his country on account of his religion or politicalopinions; and the colonel tried in every way to repay to him thehospitality and kindness which he himself had received during hislong exile in France. Very often, when lessons were over, the twowould stroll in the garden, talking over Paris and its court; andit was only the thought of his little daughter, alone in his dulllodgings in Derby, that prevented Monsieur Dessin from acceptingthe warm invitation to the evening meal which the colonel oftenpressed upon him. During the daytime he could leave her, for Adelewent to the first ladies' school in the town, where she received aneducation in return for her talking French to the younger pupils.It was on her half holidays that she came over to dance with RupertHolliday.

  Mistress Dorothy did not approve of her son's devotion to fencing,although she had no objection to his acquiring the courtlyaccomplishments of dancing and the French language; but heropposition was useless. Colonel Holliday reminded her of the termsof their agreement, that she was to be mistress of the Chace, andthat he was to superintend Rupert's education. Upon the presentoccasion, when the lad had left the room, she again protestedagainst what she termed a waste of time.

  "It is no waste of time, madam," the old cavalier said, more firmlythan he was accustomed to speak to his daughter-in-law. "Rupertwill never grow up a man thrusting himself into quarrels; andbelieve me, the reputation of being the best swordsman at the courtwill keep him out of them. In Monsieur Dessin and myself I may saythat he has had two great teachers. In my young days there was nofiner blade at the Court of France than I was; and Monsieur Dessinis, in the new style, what I was in the old. The lad may be asoldier--"

  "He shall never be a soldier," Madam Dorothy broke out.

  "That, madam," the colonel said courteously, "will be for the ladhimself and for circumstances to decide. When I was his age therewas nothing less likely than that I should be a soldier; but yousee it came about."

  "Believe me, Madam," Monsieur Dessin said deferentially, "it isgood that your son should be a master of fence. Not only may he atcourt be forced into quarrels, in which it will be necessary forhim to defend his honour, but in all ways it benefits him. Look athis figure; nature has given him health and strength, but fencinghas given him that light, active carriage, the arm of steel, and abearing which at his age is remarkable. Fencing, too, gives aquickness, a readiness, and promptness of action which in itself isan admirable training. Monsieur le colonel has been
good enough topraise my fencing, and I may say that the praise is deserved. Thereare few men in France who would willingly have crossed swords withme," and now he spoke with a hauteur characteristic of a Frenchnoble rather than a fencing master.

  Madam Holliday was silent; but just as she was about to speakagain, a sound of horses' hoofs were heard outside. The silencecontinued until a domestic entered, and said that Sir WilliamBrownlow and his son awaited madam's pleasure in the drawing room.

  A dark cloud passed over the old colonel's face as Mistress Dorothyrose and, with a sweeping courtesy, left the room.

  "Let us go into the garden, monsieur," he said abruptly, "and seehow your daughter is getting on."

  Adele was talking eagerly with Rupert, at a short distance fromwhom stood a lad some two years his senior, dressed in an attirethat showed he was of inferior rank. Hugh Parsons was in fact theson of the tenant of the home farm of the Chace, and had sinceRupert's childhood been his playmate, companion, and protector.

  "Monsieur mon pere," Adele said, dancing up to her father, andpausing for a moment to courtesy deeply to him and ColonelHolliday, "Monsieur Rupert is going out with his hawks after aheron that Hugh has seen in the pool a mile from here. He hasoffered to take me on his pony, if you will give permission for meto go."

  "Certainly, you may go, Adele. Monsieur Rupert will be careful ofyou, I am sure."

  "Yes, indeed," Rupert said. "I will be very careful.

  "Hugh, see my pony saddled, and get the hawks. I will run in for acloth to lay over the saddle."

  In five minutes the pony was brought round, a cloth was laid overthe saddle, and Rupert aided Adele to mount, with as much deferenceas if he had been assisting a princess. Then he took the reins andwalked by the pony's head, while Hugh followed, with two hoodedhawks upon his arm.

  "They are a pretty pair," Colonel Holliday said, looking afterthem.

  "Yes," Monsieur Dessin replied, but so shortly that the colonellooked at him with surprise.

  He was looking after his daughter and Rupert with a grave,thoughtful face, and had evidently answered his own thought ratherthan the old cavalier's remark.

  "Yes," he repeated, rousing himself with an effort, "they are apretty pair indeed."

  At a walking pace, Rupert Holliday, very proud of his charge, ledthe pony in the direction of the pool in which the heron had anhour before been seen by Hugh, the boy and girl chattering inFrench as they went. When they neared the spot they stopped, andAdele alighted. Then Rupert took the hawks, while Hugh went forwardalone to the edge of the pool. Just as he reached it a heron soaredup with a hoarse cry.

  Rupert slipped the hoods off the hawks, and threw them into theair. They circled for an instant, and then, as they saw theirquarry rising, darting off with the velocity of arrows. The heroninstantly perceived his danger, and soared straight upwards. Thehawks pursued him, sailing round in circles higher and higher. Sothey mounted until they were mere specks in the sky.

  At last the hawks got above the heron, and instantly prepared topounce upon him. Seeing his danger, the heron turned on his back,and, with feet and beak pointed upwards to protect himself, fellalmost like a stone towards the earth; but more quickly still thehawks darted down upon him. One the heron with a quick movementliterally impaled upon his sharp bill; but the other planted histalons in his breast, and, rending and tearing at his neck, thethree birds fell together, with a crash, to the earth.

  The flight had been so directly upwards that they fell but a shortdistance from the pool, and the lads and Adele were quickly uponthe spot. The heron was killed by the fall; and to Rupert's grief;one of his hawks was also dead, pierced through and through by theheron's beak. The other bird was with difficulty removed from thequarry, and the hood replaced.

  Rupert, after giving the heron's plumes to Adele for her hat, ledher back to the pony, Hugh following with the hawk on his wrist,and carrying the two dead birds.

  "I am so sorry your hawk is killed," Adele said.

  "Yes," Rupert answered, "it is a pity. It was a fine, bold bird,and gave us lots of trouble to train; but he was always rash, and Itold him over and over again what would happen if he was not morecareful."

  "Have you any more?" Adele asked.

  "No more falcons like this. I have gerfalcons, for pigeons andpartridges, but none for herons. But I dare say Hugh will be ableto get me two more young birds before long, and it is a pleasure totrain them."

  Colonel Holliday and Monsieur Dessin met them as they returned tothe house.

  "What, Rupert! Had bad luck?" his grandfather said.

  "Yes, sir. Cavalier was too rash, and the quarry killed him."

  "Hum!" said the old man; "just the old story. The falcon was wellnamed, Rupert. It was just our rashness that lost us all ourbattles.

  "What, Monsieur Dessin, you must be off? Will you let me have ahorse saddled for yourself; and the pony for mademoiselle? Thegroom can bring them back."

  Monsieur Dessin declined the offer; and a few minutes later startedto walk back with his daughter to Derby.