by John Buchan
CHAPTER X.
I HEAR AN OLD SONG.
When we sailed at daybreak next morning I had the glow of satisfactionwith my own doings which is a safe precursor of misfortunes. I hadsettled my business with the Free Companions, and need look for no moretrouble on that score. But what tickled my vanity was my talk withRingan and Lawrence at the Monacan lodge and the momentous trust theyhad laid on me. With a young man's vanity, I saw myself the saviour ofVirginia, and hailed as such by the proud folk who now scorned me. Myonly merits, as I was to learn in time, are a certain grasp of simpletruths that elude cleverer men, and a desperate obstinacy which isreluctant to admit defeat. But it is the fashion of youth to glory inwhat it lacks, and I flattered myself that I had a natural gift forfinesse and subtlety, and was a born deviser of wars. Again and again Itold myself how I and Lawrence's Virginians--grown under my hand to apotent army--should roll back the invaders to the hills and beyond,while the Sioux of the Carolinas guarded one flank and the streams ofthe Potomac the other. In those days the star of the great Marlboroughhad not risen; but John Churchill, the victor of Blenheim, did notesteem himself a wiser strategist than the raw lad Andrew Garvald, nowsailing north in the long wash of the Atlantic seas.
The weather grew spiteful, and we were much buffeted about by thecontrary spring winds, so that it was late in the afternoon of thethird day that we turned Cape Henry and came into the Bay ofChesapeake. Here a perfect hurricane fell upon us, and we sought refugein a creek on the shore of Norfolk county. The place was marshy, and itwas hard to find dry land for our night's lodging. Our provisions hadrun low, and there seemed little enough for two hungry men who had allday been striving with salt winds. So, knowing that this was aneighbourhood studded with great manors, and remembering thehospitality I had so often found, I left Shalah by the fire with suchfood as remained, and set out with our lantern through the woods tolook for a human habitation.
I found one quicker than I had hoped. Almost at once I came on a trackwhich led me into a carriage-road and out of the thickets to a bigclearing. The daylight had not yet wholly gone, and it guided me to twogate-posts, from which an avenue of chestnut trees led up to a greathouse. There were lights glimmering in the windows, and when I reachedthe yard and saw the size of the barns and outbuildings, I wished I hadhappened on a place of less pretensions. But hunger made me bold, and Itramped over the mown grass of the yard, which in the dusk I could seeto be set with flower-beds, till I stood before the door of as fine amansion as I had found in the dominion. From within came a sound ofspeech and laughter, and I was in half a mind to turn back to my coldquarters by the shore. I had no sooner struck the knocker than I wantedto run away.
The door was opened instantly by a tall negro in a scarlet livery. Heasked no questions, but motioned me to enter as if I had been aninvited guest. I followed him, wondering dolefully what sort of figureI must cut in my plain clothes soaked and stained by travel; for it wasclear that I had lighted on the mansion of some rich planter, who waseven now entertaining his friends. The servant led me through an outerhall into a great room full of people. A few candles in tallcandlesticks burned down the length of a table, round which sat a scoreof gentlemen. The scarlet negro went to the tablehead, and saidsomething to the master, who rose and came to meet me.
"I am storm-stayed," I said humbly, "and I left my boat on the shoreand came inland to look for a supper."
"You shall get it," he said heartily. "Sit down, and my servants willbring you what you need."
"But I am not fit to intrude, sir. A weary traveller is no guest forsuch a table."
"Tush, man," he cried, "when did a Virginian think the worse of a manfor his clothes? Sit down and say no more. You are heartily welcome."
He pushed me into a vacant chair at the bottom of the table, and gavesome orders to the negro. Now I knew where I was, for I had seen beforethe noble figure of my host. This was Colonel Beverley, who in hisyouth had ridden with Prince Rupert, and had come to Virginia long agoin the Commonwealth time. He sat on the Council, and was the mostrespected of all the magnates of the dominion, for he had restrainedthe folly of successive Governors, and had ever teen ready to standforth alike on behalf of the liberties of the settlers and their dutiesto the Crown. His name was highly esteemed at Whitehall, and more thanonce he had occupied the Governor's place when His Majesty was slow infilling it. His riches were large, but he was above all things a greatgentleman, who had grafted on an old proud stock the tolerance andvigour of a new land.
The company had finished dining, for the table was covered with fruitsand comfits, and wine in silver goblets. There was sack and madeira,and French claret, and white Rhenish, and ale and cider for those withhomelier palates. I saw dimly around me the faces of the guests, forthe few candles scarcely illumined the dusk of the great panelled hallhung with dark portraits. One man gave me good-evening, but as I sat atthe extreme end of the table I was out of the circle of the company.They talked and laughed, and it seemed to me that I could hear women'svoices at the other end. Meantime I was busy with my viands, and no manever punished a venison pie more heartily. As I ate and drank, I smiledat the strangeness of my fortunes--to come thus straight from the wildseas and the company of outlaws into a place of silver and damask andsatin coats and lace cravats and orderly wigs. The soft hum ofgentlefolks' speech was all around me, those smooth Virginian voicescompared with which my Scots tongue was as strident as a raven's. Butas I listened, I remembered Ringan and Lawrence, and, "Ah, my silkenfriends," thought I, "little you know the judgment that is preparing.Some day soon, unless God is kind, there will be blood on the lace andthe war-whoop in these pleasant chambers."
Then a voice said louder than the rest, "Dulcinea will sing to us. Shepromised this morning in the garden."
At this there was a ripple of "Bravas," and presently I heard thetuning of a lute. The low twanging went on for a little, and suddenly Iwas seized with a presentiment. I set down my tankard, and waited withmy heart in my mouth.
Very clear and pure the voice rose, as fresh as the morning song ofbirds. There was youth in it and joy and pride--joy of the fairness ofthe earth, pride of beauty and race and strength, "_My dear and onlylove_" it sang, as it had sung before; but then it had been a girl'shope, and now it was a woman's certainty. At the first note, the pastcame back to me like yesterday. I saw the moorland gables in the rain,I heard the swirl of the tempest, I saw the elfin face in the hoodwhich had cheered the traveller on his way. In that dim light I couldnot see the singer, but I needed no vision. The strangeness of thething clutched at my heart, for here was the voice which had never beenout of my ears singing again in a land far from the wet heather and thedriving mists of home.
As I sat dazed and dreaming, I knew that a great thing had befallen me.For me, Andrew Garvald, the prosaic trader, coming out of the darknessinto this strange company, the foundations of the world had been upset.All my cares and hopes, my gains and losses, seemed in that moment nobetter than dust. Love had come to me like a hurricane. From now I hadbut the one ambition, to hear that voice say to me and to mean ittruly, "My dear and only love." I knew it was folly and a madman'sdream, for I felt most deeply my common clay. What had I to offer forthe heart of that proud lady? A dingy and battered merchant might aswell enter a court of steel-clad heroes and contend for the love of aqueen. But I was not downcast. I do not think I even wanted to hope. Itwas enough to know that so bright a thing was in the world, for at onestroke my drab horizon seemed to have broadened into the infiniteheavens.
The song ended in another chorus of "Bravas." "Bring twenty candles,Pompey," my host called out, "and the great punch-bowl. We will pledgemy lady in the old Beverley brew."
Servants set on the table a massive silver dish, into which sundrybottles of wine and spirits were poured. A mass of cut fruit and sugarwas added, and the whole was set alight, and leaped almost to theceiling in a blue flame. Colonel Beverley, with a long ladle, filledthe array of glasses on a salver, which the servants carrie
d round tothe guests. Large branching candelabra had meantime been placed on thetable, and in a glow of light we stood to our feet and honoured thetoast.
As I stood up and looked to the table's end, I saw the dark, restlesseyes and the heavy blue jowl of Governor Nicholson. He saw me, for Iwas alone at the bottom end, and when we were seated, he cried out tome,--
"What news of trade, Mr. Garvald? You're an active packman, for theytell me you're never off the road."
At the mention of my name every eye turned towards me, and I felt,rather than saw, the disfavour of the looks. No doubt they resented astorekeeper's intrusion into well-bred company, and some were there whohad publicly cursed me for a meddlesome upstart. But I was not lookingtheir way, but at the girl who sat on my host's right hand, and inwhose dark eyes I thought I saw a spark of recognition.
She was clad in white satin, and in her hair and bosom spring flowershad been set. Her little hand played with the slim glass, and her eyeshad all the happy freedom of childhood. But now she was a grown woman,with a woman's pride and knowledge of power. Her exquisite slimnessand grace, amid the glow of silks and silver, gave her the air of afairy-tale princess. There was a grave man in black sat next her, towhom she bent to speak. Then she looked towards me again, and smiledwith that witching mockery which had pricked my temper in the CanongateTolbooth.
The Governor's voice recalled me from my dream.
"How goes the Indian menace, Mr. Garvald?" he cried. "You must know,"and he turned to the company, "that our friend combines commerce withhigh policy, and shares my apprehensions as to the safety of thedominion."
I could not tell whether he was mocking at me or not. I think he was,for Francis Nicholson's moods were as mutable as the tides. In everyword of his there lurked some sour irony.
The company took the speech for satire, and many laughed. One younggentleman, who wore a purple coat and a splendid brocaded vest, laughedvery loud.
"A merchant's nerves are delicate things," he said, as he fingered hiscravat. "I would have said 'like a woman's,' had I not seen this veryday Miss Elspeth's horsemanship." And he bowed to her very neatly.
Now I was never fond of being quizzed, and in that company I could notendure it.
"We have a saying, sir," I said, "that the farmyard fowl does not fearthe eagle. The men who look grave just now are not those who livesnugly in coast manors, but the outland folk who have to keep theirdoors with their own hands."
It was a rude speech, and my hard voice and common clothes made itruder. The gentleman fired in a second, and with blazing eyes asked meif I intended an insult. I was about to say that he could take whatmeaning he pleased, when an older man broke in with, "Tush, Charles,let the fellow alone. You cannot quarrel with a shopman."
"I thank you, George, for a timely reminder," said my gentleman, and heturned away his head with a motion of sovereign contempt.
"Come, come, sirs," Colonel Beverley cried, "remember the sacred law ofhospitality. You are all my guests, and you have a lady here, whosebright eyes should be a balm for controversies."
The Governor had sat with his lips closed and his eyes roving thetable. He dearly loved a quarrel, and was minded to use me to baitthose whom he liked little.
"What is all this talk about gentility?" he said. "A man is as good ashis brains and his right arm, and no better. I am of the creed of theLevellers, who would have a man stand stark before his Maker."
He could not have spoken words better calculated to set the companyagainst me. My host looked glum and disapproving, and all the silkengentlemen murmured. The Virginian cavalier had as pretty a notion ofthe worth of descent as any Highland land-louper. Indeed, to be honest,I would have controverted the Governor myself, for I have ever heldthat good blood is a mighty advantage to its possessor.
Suddenly the grave man who sat by Miss Elspeth's side spoke up. By thistime I had remembered that he was Doctor James Blair, the lately comecommissary of the diocese of London, who represented all that Virginiahad in the way of a bishop. He had a shrewd, kind face, like a Scotsdominie, and a mouth that shut as tight as the Governor's.
"Your tongue proclaims you my countryman, sir," he said. "Did I hearright that your name was Garvald?"
"Of Auchencairn?" he asked, when I had assented.
"Of Auchencairn, or what is left of it," I said.
"Then, gentlemen," he said, addressing the company, "I can settle thedispute on the facts, without questioning his Excellency's dogma. Mr.Garvald is of as good blood as any in Scotland. And that," said hefirmly, "means that in the matter of birth he can hold up his head inany company in any Christian land."
I do not think this speech made any man there look on me with greaterfavour, but it enormously increased my own comfort. I have never feltsuch a glow of gratitude as then filled my heart to the staid cleric.That he was of near kin to Miss Elspeth made it tenfold sweeter. Iforgot my old clothes and my uncouth looks; I forgot, too, myirritation with the brocaded gentleman. If her kin thought me worthy, Icared not a bodle for the rest of mankind.
Presently we rose from table, and Colonel Beverley summoned us to theGreen Parlour, where Miss Elspeth was brewing a dish of chocolate, thena newfangled luxury in the dominion. I would fain have made my escape,for if my appearance was unfit for a dining-hall, it was an outrage ina lady's withdrawing-room. But Doctor Blair came forward to me andshook me warmly by the hand, and was full of gossip about Clydesdale,from which apparently he had been absent these twenty years. "My niecebade me bring you to her," he said. "She, poor child, is a happy exile,but she has now and then an exile's longings. A Scots tongue ispleasant in her ear."
So I perforce had to follow him into a fine room with an oaken floor,whereon lay rich Smyrna rugs and the skins of wild beasts from thewood. There was a prodigious number of soft couches of flowered damask,and little tables inlaid with foreign woods and jeweller's work. 'Twaswell enough for your fine gentleman in his buckled shoes and silkstockings to enter such a place, but for myself, in my coarse boots, Iseemed like a colt in a flower garden. The girl sat by a brazier ofcharcoal, with the scarlet-coated negro at hand doing her commands. Shewas so busy at the chocolate making that when her uncle said, "Elspeth,I have brought you Mr. Garvald," she had no hand to give me. She lookedup and smiled, and went on with the business, while I stood awkwardlyby, the scorn of the assured gentlemen around me.
By and by she spoke: "You and I seem fated to meet in odd places. Firstit was at Carnwath in the rain, and then at the Cauldstaneslap in amotley company. Then I think it was in the Tolbooth, Mr. Garvald, whenyou were very gruff to your deliverer. And now we are both exiles, andonce more you step in like a bogle out of the night. Will you taste mychocolate?"
She served me first, and I could see how little the favour was to theliking of her little retinue of courtiers. My silken gentleman, whosename was Grey, broke in on us abruptly.
"What is this story, sir, of Indian dangers? You are new to thecountry, or you would know that it is the old cry of the landless andthe lawless. Every out-at-elbows republican makes it a stick to beatHis Majesty."
"Are you a republican, Mr. Garvald?" she asked. "Now that I remember, Ihave seen you in Whiggamore company."
"Why, no," I said. "I do not meddle with politics. I am a merchant, andam well content with any Government that will protect my trade and myperson."
A sudden perversity had taken me to show myself at my most prosaic andunromantic. I think it was the contrast with the glamour of those finegentlemen. I had neither claim nor desire to be of their company, andto her I could make no pretence.
He laughed scornfully. "Yours is a noble cause," he said. "But you maysleep peacefully in your bed, sir. Be assured that there are a thousandgentlemen of Virginia whose swords will leap from their scabbards at abreath of peril, on behalf of their women and their homes. And these,"he added, taking snuff from a gold box, "are perhaps as potent spurs toaction as the whims of a busybody or the gains of a house-keepingtrader."
I was deter
mined not to be provoked, so I answered nothing. But MissElspeth opened her eyes and smiled sweetly upon the speaker.
"La, Mr. Grey, I protest you are too severe. Busybody--well, it may be.I have found Mr. Garvald very busy in other folks' affairs. But I doassure you he is no house-keeper, I have seen him in desperate conflictwith savage men, and even with His Majesty's redcoats. If trouble evercomes to Virginia, you will find him, I doubt not, a very boldmoss-trooper."
It was the, light, laughing tone I remembered well, but now it did notvex me. Nothing that she could say or do could break the spell thathad fallen on my heart, "I pray it may be so," said Mr. Grey as heturned aside.
By this time the Governor had come forward, and I saw that my presencewas no longer desired. I wanted to get back to Shalah and solitude. Thecold bed on the shore would be warmed for me by happy dreams. So Ifound my host, and thanked him for my entertainment. He gave megood-evening hastily, as if he were glad to be rid of me.
At the hall door some one tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned tofind my silken cavalier.
"It seems you are a gentleman, sir," he said, "so I desire a word withyou. Your manners at table deserved a whipping, but I will condescendto forget them. But a second offence shall be duly punished." He spokein a high, lisping voice, which was the latest London importation.
I looked him square in the eyes. He was maybe an inch taller than me, ahandsome fellow, with a flushed, petulant face and an overweening pridein his arched brows.
"By all means let us understand each other," I said. "I have no wish toquarrel with you. Go your way and I will go mine, and there need be notrouble."
"That is precisely the point," said he. "I do not choose that your wayshould take you again to the side of Miss Elspeth Blair. If it does, weshall quarrel."
It was the height of flattery. At last I had found a fine gentleman whodid me the honour to regard me with jealous eyes. I laughed loudly withdelight.
He turned and strolled back to the company. Still laughing, I passedfrom the house, lit my lantern, and plunged into the sombre woods.