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diff --git a/2864.txt b/2864.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2aadbe --- /dev/null +++ b/2864.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13444 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Trumpet-Major, by Thomas Hardy + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Trumpet-Major + + +Author: Thomas Hardy + + + +Release Date: October 18, 2007 [eBook #2864] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUMPET-MAJOR*** + + + +This etext was prepared by Les Bowler. + + + + + +THE TRUMPET-MAJOR +JOHN LOVEDAY + + +A SOLDIER IN THE WAR WITH BUONAPARTE +AND +ROBERT HIS BROTHER +FIRST MATE IN THE MERCHANT SERVICE + +A TALE + +BY +THOMAS HARDY + +WITH A MAP OF WESSEX + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1920 + +COPYRIGHT + +_First Edition_ (3 _vols._) 1880. _New Edition_ (1 _vol._) _and +reprints_ 1881-1893 +_New Edition and reprints_ 1896-1900 +_First published by Macmillan and Co._, _Crown_ 8_vo_, 1903. _Reprinted_ +1906, 1910, 1914 +_Pocket Edition_ 1907. _Reprinted_ 1909, 1912, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1920 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The present tale is founded more largely on testimony--oral and +written--than any other in this series. The external incidents which +direct its course are mostly an unexaggerated reproduction of the +recollections of old persons well known to the author in childhood, but +now long dead, who were eye-witnesses of those scenes. If wholly +transcribed their recollections would have filled a volume thrice the +length of 'The Trumpet-Major.' + +Down to the middle of this century, and later, there were not wanting, in +the neighbourhood of the places more or less clearly indicated herein, +casual relics of the circumstances amid which the action moves--our +preparations for defence against the threatened invasion of England by +Buonaparte. An outhouse door riddled with bullet-holes, which had been +extemporized by a solitary man as a target for firelock practice when the +landing was hourly expected, a heap of bricks and clods on a beacon-hill, +which had formed the chimney and walls of the hut occupied by the beacon- +keeper, worm-eaten shafts and iron heads of pikes for the use of those +who had no better weapons, ridges on the down thrown up during the +encampment, fragments of volunteer uniform, and other such lingering +remains, brought to my imagination in early childhood the state of +affairs at the date of the war more vividly than volumes of history could +have done. + +Those who have attempted to construct a coherent narrative of past times +from the fragmentary information furnished by survivors, are aware of the +difficulty of ascertaining the true sequence of events indiscriminately +recalled. For this purpose the newspapers of the date were +indispensable. Of other documents consulted I may mention, for the +satisfaction of those who love a true story, that the 'Address to all +Ranks and Descriptions of Englishmen' was transcribed from an original +copy in a local museum; that the hieroglyphic portrait of Napoleon +existed as a print down to the present day in an old woman's cottage near +'Overcombe;' that the particulars of the King's doings at his favourite +watering-place were augmented by details from records of the time. The +drilling scene of the local militia received some additions from an +account given in so grave a work as Gifford's 'History of the Wars of the +French Revolution' (London, 1817). But on reference to the History I +find I was mistaken in supposing the account to be advanced as authentic, +or to refer to rural England. However, it does in a large degree accord +with the local traditions of such scenes that I have heard recounted, +times without number, and the system of drill was tested by reference to +the Army Regulations of 1801, and other military handbooks. Almost the +whole narrative of the supposed landing of the French in the Bay is from +oral relation as aforesaid. Other proofs of the veracity of this +chronicle have escaped my recollection. + +T. H. + +_October_ 1895. + + + + +I. WHAT WAS SEEN FROM THE WINDOW OVERLOOKING THE DOWN + + +In the days of high-waisted and muslin-gowned women, when the vast amount +of soldiering going on in the country was a cause of much trembling to +the sex, there lived in a village near the Wessex coast two ladies of +good report, though unfortunately of limited means. The elder was a Mrs. +Martha Garland, a landscape-painter's widow, and the other was her only +daughter Anne. + +Anne was fair, very fair, in a poetical sense; but in complexion she was +of that particular tint between blonde and brunette which is +inconveniently left without a name. Her eyes were honest and inquiring, +her mouth cleanly cut and yet not classical, the middle point of her +upper lip scarcely descending so far as it should have done by rights, so +that at the merest pleasant thought, not to mention a smile, portions of +two or three white teeth were uncovered whether she would or not. Some +people said that this was very attractive. She was graceful and slender, +and, though but little above five feet in height, could draw herself up +to look tall. In her manner, in her comings and goings, in her 'I'll do +this,' or 'I'll do that,' she combined dignity with sweetness as no other +girl could do; and any impressionable stranger youths who passed by were +led to yearn for a windfall of speech from her, and to see at the same +time that they would not get it. In short, beneath all that was charming +and simple in this young woman there lurked a real firmness, unperceived +at first, as the speck of colour lurks unperceived in the heart of the +palest parsley flower. + +She wore a white handkerchief to cover her white neck, and a cap on her +head with a pink ribbon round it, tied in a bow at the front. She had a +great variety of these cap-ribbons, the young men being fond of sending +them to her as presents until they fell definitely in love with a special +sweetheart elsewhere, when they left off doing so. Between the border of +her cap and her forehead were ranged a row of round brown curls, like +swallows' nests under eaves. + +She lived with her widowed mother in a portion of an ancient building +formerly a manor-house, but now a mill, which, being too large for his +own requirements, the miller had found it convenient to divide and +appropriate in part to these highly respectable tenants. In this +dwelling Mrs. Garland's and Anne's ears were soothed morning, noon, and +night by the music of the mill, the wheels and cogs of which, being of +wood, produced notes that might have borne in their minds a remote +resemblance to the wooden tones of the stopped diapason in an organ. +Occasionally, when the miller was bolting, there was added to these +continuous sounds the cheerful clicking of the hopper, which did not +deprive them of rest except when it was kept going all night; and over +and above all this they had the pleasure of knowing that there crept in +through every crevice, door, and window of their dwelling, however +tightly closed, a subtle mist of superfine flour from the grinding room, +quite invisible, but making its presence known in the course of time by +giving a pallid and ghostly look to the best furniture. The miller +frequently apologized to his tenants for the intrusion of this insidious +dry fog; but the widow was of a friendly and thankful nature, and she +said that she did not mind it at all, being as it was, not nasty dirt, +but the blessed staff of life. + +By good-humour of this sort, and in other ways, Mrs. Garland acknowledged +her friendship for her neighbour, with whom Anne and herself associated +to an extent which she never could have anticipated when, tempted by the +lowness of the rent, they first removed thither after her husband's death +from a larger house at the other end of the village. Those who have +lived in remote places where there is what is called no society will +comprehend the gradual levelling of distinctions that went on in this +case at some sacrifice of gentility on the part of one household. The +widow was sometimes sorry to find with what readiness Anne caught up some +dialect-word or accent from the miller and his friends; but he was so +good and true-hearted a man, and she so easy-minded, unambitious a woman, +that she would not make life a solitude for fastidious reasons. More +than all, she had good ground for thinking that the miller secretly +admired her, and this added a piquancy to the situation. + +* * * * * + +On a fine summer morning, when the leaves were warm under the sun, and +the more industrious bees abroad, diving into every blue and red cup that +could possibly be considered a flower, Anne was sitting at the back +window of her mother's portion of the house, measuring out lengths of +worsted for a fringed rug that she was making, which lay, about three- +quarters finished, beside her. The work, though chromatically brilliant, +was tedious: a hearth-rug was a thing which nobody worked at from morning +to night; it was taken up and put down; it was in the chair, on the +floor, across the hand-rail, under the bed, kicked here, kicked there, +rolled away in the closet, brought out again, and so on more capriciously +perhaps than any other home-made article. Nobody was expected to finish +a rug within a calculable period, and the wools of the beginning became +faded and historical before the end was reached. A sense of this +inherent nature of worsted-work rather than idleness led Anne to look +rather frequently from the open casement. + +Immediately before her was the large, smooth millpond, over-full, and +intruding into the hedge and into the road. The water, with its flowing +leaves and spots of froth, was stealing away, like Time, under the dark +arch, to tumble over the great slimy wheel within. On the other side of +the mill-pond was an open place called the Cross, because it was three- +quarters of one, two lanes and a cattle-drive meeting there. It was the +general rendezvous and arena of the surrounding village. Behind this a +steep slope rose high into the sky, merging in a wide and open down, now +littered with sheep newly shorn. The upland by its height completely +sheltered the mill and village from north winds, making summers of +springs, reducing winters to autumn temperatures, and permitting myrtle +to flourish in the open air. + +The heaviness of noon pervaded the scene, and under its influence the +sheep had ceased to feed. Nobody was standing at the Cross, the few +inhabitants being indoors at their dinner. No human being was on the +down, and no human eye or interest but Anne's seemed to be concerned with +it. The bees still worked on, and the butterflies did not rest from +roving, their smallness seeming to shield them from the stagnating effect +that this turning moment of day had on larger creatures. Otherwise all +was still. + +The girl glanced at the down and the sheep for no particular reason; the +steep margin of turf and daisies rising above the roofs, chimneys, apple- +trees, and church tower of the hamlet around her, bounded the view from +her position, and it was necessary to look somewhere when she raised her +head. While thus engaged in working and stopping her attention was +attracted by the sudden rising and running away of the sheep squatted on +the down; and there succeeded sounds of a heavy tramping over the hard +sod which the sheep had quitted, the tramp being accompanied by a +metallic jingle. Turning her eyes further she beheld two cavalry +soldiers on bulky grey chargers, armed and accoutred throughout, +ascending the down at a point to the left where the incline was +comparatively easy. The burnished chains, buckles, and plates of their +trappings shone like little looking-glasses, and the blue, red, and white +about them was unsubdued by weather or wear. + +The two troopers rode proudly on, as if nothing less than crowns and +empires ever concerned their magnificent minds. They reached that part +of the down which lay just in front of her, where they came to a halt. In +another minute there appeared behind them a group containing some half- +dozen more of the same sort. These came on, halted, and dismounted +likewise. + +Two of the soldiers then walked some distance onward together, when one +stood still, the other advancing further, and stretching a white line of +tape between them. Two more of the men marched to another outlying +point, where they made marks in the ground. Thus they walked about and +took distances, obviously according to some preconcerted scheme. + +At the end of this systematic proceeding one solitary horseman--a +commissioned officer, if his uniform could be judged rightly at that +distance--rode up the down, went over the ground, looked at what the +others had done, and seemed to think that it was good. And then the girl +heard yet louder tramps and clankings, and she beheld rising from where +the others had risen a whole column of cavalry in marching order. At a +distance behind these came a cloud of dust enveloping more and more +troops, their arms and accoutrements reflecting the sun through the haze +in faint flashes, stars, and streaks of light. The whole body approached +slowly towards the plateau at the top of the down. + +Anne threw down her work, and letting her eyes remain on the nearing +masses of cavalry, the worsteds getting entangled as they would, said, +'Mother, mother; come here! Here's such a fine sight! What does it +mean? What can they be going to do up there?' + +The mother thus invoked ran upstairs and came forward to the window. She +was a woman of sanguine mouth and eye, unheroic manner, and pleasant +general appearance; a little more tarnished as to surface, but not much +worse in contour than the girl herself. + +Widow Garland's thoughts were those of the period. 'Can it be the +French,' she said, arranging herself for the extremest form of +consternation. 'Can that arch-enemy of mankind have landed at last?' It +should be stated that at this time there were two arch-enemies of +mankind--Satan as usual, and Buonaparte, who had sprung up and eclipsed +his elder rival altogether. Mrs. Garland alluded, of course, to the +junior gentleman. + +'It cannot be he,' said Anne. 'Ah! there's Simon Burden, the man who +watches at the beacon. He'll know!' + +She waved her hand to an aged form of the same colour as the road, who +had just appeared beyond the mill-pond, and who, though active, was bowed +to that degree which almost reproaches a feeling observer for standing +upright. The arrival of the soldiery had drawn him out from his drop of +drink at the 'Duke of York' as it had attracted Anne. At her call he +crossed the mill-bridge, and came towards the window. + +Anne inquired of him what it all meant; but Simon Burden, without +answering, continued to move on with parted gums, staring at the cavalry +on his own private account with a concern that people often show about +temporal phenomena when such matters can affect them but a short time +longer. 'You'll walk into the millpond!' said Anne. 'What are they +doing? You were a soldier many years ago, and ought to know.' + +'Don't ask me, Mis'ess Anne,' said the military relic, depositing his +body against the wall one limb at a time. 'I were only in the foot, ye +know, and never had a clear understanding of horses. Ay, I be a old man, +and of no judgment now.' Some additional pressure, however, caused him +to search further in his worm-eaten magazine of ideas, and he found that +he did know in a dim irresponsible way. The soldiers must have come +there to camp: those men they had seen first were the markers: they had +come on before the rest to measure out the ground. He who had +accompanied them was the quartermaster. 'And so you see they have got +all the lines marked out by the time the regiment have come up,' he +added. 'And then they will--well-a-deary! who'd ha' supposed that +Overcombe would see such a day as this!' + +'And then they will--' + +'Then-- Ah, it's gone from me again!' said Simon. 'O, and then they will +raise their tents, you know, and picket their horses. That was it; so it +was.' + +By this time the column of horse had ascended into full view, and they +formed a lively spectacle as they rode along the high ground in marching +order, backed by the pale blue sky, and lit by the southerly sun. Their +uniform was bright and attractive; white buckskin pantaloons, +three-quarter boots, scarlet shakos set off with lace, mustachios waxed +to a needle point; and above all, those richly ornamented blue jackets +mantled with the historic pelisse--that fascination to women, and +encumbrance to the wearers themselves. + +''Tis the York Hussars!' said Simon Burden, brightening like a dying +ember fanned. 'Foreigners to a man, and enrolled long since my time. But +as good hearty comrades, they say, as you'll find in the King's service.' + +'Here are more and different ones,' said Mrs. Garland. + +Other troops had, during the last few minutes, been ascending the down at +a remoter point, and now drew near. These were of different weight and +build from the others; lighter men, in helmet hats, with white plumes. + +'I don't know which I like best,' said Anne. 'These, I think, after +all.' + +Simon, who had been looking hard at the latter, now said that they were +the --th Dragoons. + +'All Englishmen they,' said the old man. 'They lay at Budmouth barracks +a few years ago.' + +'They did. I remember it,' said Mrs. Garland. + +'And lots of the chaps about here 'listed at the time,' said Simon. 'I +can call to mind that there was--ah, 'tis gone from me again! However, +all that's of little account now.' + +The dragoons passed in front of the lookers-on as the others had done, +and their gay plumes, which had hung lazily during the ascent, swung to +northward as they reached the top, showing that on the summit a fresh +breeze blew. 'But look across there,' said Anne. There had entered upon +the down from another direction several battalions of foot, in white +kerseymere breeches and cloth gaiters. They seemed to be weary from a +long march, the original black of their gaiters and boots being whity- +brown with dust. Presently came regimental waggons, and the private +canteen carts which followed at the end of a convoy. + +The space in front of the mill-pond was now occupied by nearly all the +inhabitants of the village, who had turned out in alarm, and remained for +pleasure, their eyes lighted up with interest in what they saw; for +trappings and regimentals, war horses and men, in towns an attraction, +were here almost a sublimity. + +The troops filed to their lines, dismounted, and in quick time took off +their accoutrements, rolled up their sheep-skins, picketed and unbitted +their horses, and made ready to erect the tents as soon as they could be +taken from the waggons and brought forward. When this was done, at a +given signal the canvases flew up from the sod; and thenceforth every man +had a place in which to lay his head. + +Though nobody seemed to be looking on but the few at the window and in +the village street, there were, as a matter of fact, many eyes converging +upon that military arrival in its high and conspicuous position, not to +mention the glances of birds and other wild creatures. Men in distant +gardens, women in orchards and at cottage-doors, shepherds on remote +hills, turnip-hoers in blue-green enclosures miles away, captains with +spy-glasses out at sea, were regarding the picture keenly. Those three +or four thousand men of one machine-like movement, some of them +swashbucklers by nature; others, doubtless, of a quiet shop-keeping +disposition who had inadvertently got into uniform--all of them had +arrived from nobody knew where, and hence were matter of great curiosity. +They seemed to the mere eye to belong to a different order of beings from +those who inhabited the valleys below. Apparently unconscious and +careless of what all the world was doing elsewhere, they remained +picturesquely engrossed in the business of making themselves a habitation +on the isolated spot which they had chosen. + +Mrs. Garland was of a festive and sanguine turn of mind, a woman soon set +up and soon set down, and the coming of the regiments quite excited her. +She thought there was reason for putting on her best cap, thought that +perhaps there was not; that she would hurry on the dinner and go out in +the afternoon; then that she would, after all, do nothing unusual, nor +show any silly excitements whatever, since they were unbecoming in a +mother and a widow. Thus circumscribing her intentions till she was +toned down to an ordinary person of forty, Mrs. Garland accompanied her +daughter downstairs to dine, saying, 'Presently we will call on Miller +Loveday, and hear what he thinks of it all.' + + + + +II. SOMEBODY KNOCKS AND COMES IN + + +Miller Loveday was the representative of an ancient family of +corn-grinders whose history is lost in the mists of antiquity. His +ancestral line was contemporaneous with that of De Ros, Howard, and De La +Zouche; but, owing to some trifling deficiency in the possessions of the +house of Loveday, the individual names and intermarriages of its members +were not recorded during the Middle Ages, and thus their private lives in +any given century were uncertain. But it was known that the family had +formed matrimonial alliances with farmers not so very small, and once +with a gentleman-tanner, who had for many years purchased after their +death the horses of the most aristocratic persons in the county--fiery +steeds that earlier in their career had been valued at many hundred +guineas. + +It was also ascertained that Mr. Loveday's great-grandparents had been +eight in number, and his great-great-grandparents sixteen, every one of +whom reached to years of discretion: at every stage backwards his sires +and gammers thus doubled and doubled till they became a vast body of +Gothic ladies and gentlemen of the rank known as ceorls or villeins, full +of importance to the country at large, and ramifying throughout the +unwritten history of England. His immediate father had greatly improved +the value of their residence by building a new chimney, and setting up an +additional pair of millstones. + +Overcombe Mill presented at one end the appearance of a hard-worked house +slipping into the river, and at the other of an idle, genteel place, half- +cloaked with creepers at this time of the year, and having no visible +connexion with flour. It had hips instead of gables, giving it a round- +shouldered look, four chimneys with no smoke coming out of them, two +zigzag cracks in the wall, several open windows, with a looking-glass +here and there inside, showing its warped back to the passer-by; snowy +dimity curtains waving in the draught; two mill doors, one above the +other, the upper enabling a person to step out upon nothing at a height +of ten feet from the ground; a gaping arch vomiting the river, and a +lean, long-nosed fellow looking out from the mill doorway, who was the +hired grinder, except when a bulging fifteen stone man occupied the same +place, namely, the miller himself. + +Behind the mill door, and invisible to the mere wayfarer who did not +visit the family, were chalked addition and subtraction sums, many of +them originally done wrong, and the figures half rubbed out and +corrected, noughts being turned into nines, and ones into twos. These +were the miller's private calculations. There were also chalked in the +same place rows and rows of strokes like open palings, representing the +calculations of the grinder, who in his youthful ciphering studies had +not gone so far as Arabic figures. + +In the court in front were two worn-out millstones, made useful again by +being let in level with the ground. Here people stood to smoke and +consider things in muddy weather; and cats slept on the clean surfaces +when it was hot. In the large stubbard-tree at the corner of the garden +was erected a pole of larch fir, which the miller had bought with others +at a sale of small timber in Damer's Wood one Christmas week. It rose +from the upper boughs of the tree to about the height of a fisherman's +mast, and on the top was a vane in the form of a sailor with his arm +stretched out. When the sun shone upon this figure it could be seen that +the greater part of his countenance was gone, and the paint washed from +his body so far as to reveal that he had been a soldier in red before he +became a sailor in blue. The image had, in fact, been John, one of our +coming characters, and was then turned into Robert, another of them. This +revolving piece of statuary could not, however, be relied on as a vane, +owing to the neighbouring hill, which formed variable currents in the +wind. + +The leafy and quieter wing of the mill-house was the part occupied by +Mrs. Garland and her daughter, who made up in summer-time for the +narrowness of their quarters by overflowing into the garden on stools and +chairs. The parlour or dining-room had a stone floor--a fact which the +widow sought to disguise by double carpeting, lest the standing of Anne +and herself should be lowered in the public eye. Here now the mid-day +meal went lightly and mincingly on, as it does where there is no greedy +carnivorous man to keep the dishes about, and was hanging on the close +when somebody entered the passage as far as the chink of the parlour +door, and tapped. This proceeding was probably adopted to kindly avoid +giving trouble to Susan, the neighbour's pink daughter, who helped at +Mrs. Garland's in the mornings, but was at that moment particularly +occupied in standing on the water-butt and gazing at the soldiers, with +an inhaling position of the mouth and circular eyes. + +There was a flutter in the little dining-room--the sensitiveness of +habitual solitude makes hearts beat for preternaturally small reasons--and +a guessing as to who the visitor might be. It was some military +gentleman from the camp perhaps? No; that was impossible. It was the +parson? No; he would not come at dinner-time. It was the well-informed +man who travelled with drapery and the best Birmingham earrings? Not at +all; his time was not till Thursday at three. Before they could think +further the visitor moved forward another step, and the diners got a +glimpse of him through the same friendly chink that had afforded him a +view of the Garland dinner-table. + +'O! It is only Loveday.' + +This approximation to nobody was the miller above mentioned, a hale man +of fifty-five or sixty--hale all through, as many were in those days, and +not merely veneered with purple by exhilarating victuals and drinks, +though the latter were not at all despised by him. His face was indeed +rather pale than otherwise, for he had just come from the mill. It was +capable of immense changes of expression: mobility was its essence, a +roll of flesh forming a buttress to his nose on each side, and a deep +ravine lying between his lower lip and the tumulus represented by his +chin. These fleshy lumps moved stealthily, as if of their own accord, +whenever his fancy was tickled. + +His eyes having lighted on the table-cloth, plates, and viands, he found +himself in a position which had a sensible awkwardness for a modest man +who always liked to enter only at seasonable times the presence of a girl +of such pleasantly soft ways as Anne Garland, she who could make apples +seem like peaches, and throw over her shillings the glamour of guineas +when she paid him for flour. + +'Dinner is over, neighbour Loveday; please come in,' said the widow, +seeing his case. The miller said something about coming in presently; +but Anne pressed him to stay, with a tender motion of her lip as it +played on the verge of a solicitous smile without quite lapsing into +one--her habitual manner when speaking. + +Loveday took off his low-crowned hat and advanced. He had not come about +pigs or fowls this time. 'You have been looking out, like the rest o' +us, no doubt, Mrs. Garland, at the mampus of soldiers that have come upon +the down? Well, one of the horse regiments is the --th Dragoons, my son +John's regiment, you know.' + +The announcement, though it interested them, did not create such an +effect as the father of John had seemed to anticipate; but Anne, who +liked to say pleasant things, replied, 'The dragoons looked nicer than +the foot, or the German cavalry either.' + +'They are a handsome body of men,' said the miller in a disinterested +voice. 'Faith! I didn't know they were coming, though it may be in the +newspaper all the time. But old Derriman keeps it so long that we never +know things till they be in everybody's mouth.' + +This Derriman was a squireen living near, who was chiefly distinguished +in the present warlike time by having a nephew in the yeomanry. + +'We were told that the yeomanry went along the turnpike road yesterday,' +said Anne; 'and they say that they were a pretty sight, and quite +soldierly.' + +'Ah! well--they be not regulars,' said Miller Loveday, keeping back +harsher criticism as uncalled for. But inflamed by the arrival of the +dragoons, which had been the exciting cause of his call, his mind would +not go to yeomanry. 'John has not been home these five years,' he said. + +'And what rank does he hold now?' said the widow. + +'He's trumpet-major, ma'am; and a good musician.' The miller, who was a +good father, went on to explain that John had seen some service, too. He +had enlisted when the regiment was lying in this neighbourhood, more than +eleven years before, which put his father out of temper with him, as he +had wished him to follow on at the mill. But as the lad had enlisted +seriously, and as he had often said that he would be a soldier, the +miller had thought that he would let Jack take his chance in the +profession of his choice. + +Loveday had two sons, and the second was now brought into the +conversation by a remark of Anne's that neither of them seemed to care +for the miller's business. + +'No,' said Loveday in a less buoyant tone. 'Robert, you see, must needs +go to sea.' + +'He is much younger than his brother?' said Mrs. Garland. + +About four years, the miller told her. His soldier son was +two-and-thirty, and Bob was twenty-eight. When Bob returned from his +present voyage, he was to be persuaded to stay and assist as grinder in +the mill, and go to sea no more. + +'A sailor-miller!' said Anne. + +'O, he knows as much about mill business as I do,' said Loveday; 'he was +intended for it, you know, like John. But, bless me!' he continued, 'I +am before my story. I'm come more particularly to ask you, ma'am, and +you, Anne my honey, if you will join me and a few friends at a leetle +homely supper that I shall gi'e to please the chap now he's come? I can +do no less than have a bit of a randy, as the saying is, now that he's +here safe and sound.' + +Mrs. Garland wanted to catch her daughter's eye; she was in some doubt +about her answer. But Anne's eye was not to be caught, for she hated +hints, nods, and calculations of any kind in matters which should be +regulated by impulse; and the matron replied, 'If so be 'tis possible, +we'll be there. You will tell us the day?' + +He would, as soon as he had seen son John. ''Twill be rather untidy, you +know, owing to my having no womenfolks in the house; and my man David is +a poor dunder-headed feller for getting up a feast. Poor chap! his sight +is bad, that's true, and he's very good at making the beds, and oiling +the legs of the chairs and other furniture, or I should have got rid of +him years ago.' + +'You should have a woman to attend to the house, Loveday,' said the +widow. + +'Yes, I should, but--. Well, 'tis a fine day, neighbours. Hark! I +fancy I hear the noise of pots and pans up at the camp, or my ears +deceive me. Poor fellows, they must be hungry! Good day t'ye, ma'am.' +And the miller went away. + +All that afternoon Overcombe continued in a ferment of interest in the +military investment, which brought the excitement of an invasion without +the strife. There were great discussions on the merits and appearance of +the soldiery. The event opened up, to the girls unbounded possibilities +of adoring and being adored, and to the young men an embarrassment of +dashing acquaintances which quite superseded falling in love. Thirteen +of these lads incontinently stated within the space of a quarter of an +hour that there was nothing in the world like going for a soldier. The +young women stated little, but perhaps thought the more; though, in +justice, they glanced round towards the encampment from the corners of +their blue and brown eyes in the most demure and modest manner that could +be desired. + +In the evening the village was lively with soldiers' wives; a tree full +of starlings would not have rivalled the chatter that was going on. These +ladies were very brilliantly dressed, with more regard for colour than +for material. Purple, red, and blue bonnets were numerous, with bunches +of cocks' feathers; and one had on an Arcadian hat of green sarcenet, +turned up in front to show her cap underneath. It had once belonged to +an officer's lady, and was not so much stained, except where the +occasional storms of rain, incidental to a military life, had caused the +green to run and stagnate in curious watermarks like peninsulas and +islands. Some of the prettiest of these butterfly wives had been +fortunate enough to get lodgings in the cottages, and were thus spared +the necessity of living in huts and tents on the down. Those who had not +been so fortunate were not rendered more amiable by the success of their +sisters-in-arms, and called them names which brought forth retorts and +rejoinders; till the end of these alternative remarks seemed dependent +upon the close of the day. + +One of these new arrivals, who had a rosy nose and a slight thickness of +voice, which, as Anne said, she couldn't help, poor thing, seemed to have +seen so much of the world, and to have been in so many campaigns, that +Anne would have liked to take her into their own house, so as to acquire +some of that practical knowledge of the history of England which the lady +possessed, and which could not be got from books. But the narrowness of +Mrs. Garland's rooms absolutely forbade this, and the houseless treasury +of experience was obliged to look for quarters elsewhere. + +That night Anne retired early to bed. The events of the day, cheerful as +they were in themselves, had been unusual enough to give her a slight +headache. Before getting into bed she went to the window, and lifted the +white curtains that hung across it. The moon was shining, though not as +yet into the valley, but just peeping above the ridge of the down, where +the white cones of the encampment were softly touched by its light. The +quarter-guard and foremost tents showed themselves prominently; but the +body of the camp, the officers' tents, kitchens, canteen, and +appurtenances in the rear were blotted out by the ground, because of its +height above her. She could discern the forms of one or two sentries +moving to and fro across the disc of the moon at intervals. She could +hear the frequent shuffling and tossing of the horses tied to the +pickets; and in the other direction the miles-long voice of the sea, +whispering a louder note at those points of its length where hampered in +its ebb and flow by some jutting promontory or group of boulders. Louder +sounds suddenly broke this approach to silence; they came from the camp +of dragoons, were taken up further to the right by the camp of the +Hanoverians, and further on still by the body of infantry. It was +tattoo. Feeling no desire to sleep, she listened yet longer, looked at +Charles's Wain swinging over the church tower, and the moon ascending +higher and higher over the right-hand streets of tents, where, instead of +parade and bustle, there was nothing going on but snores and dreams, the +tired soldiers lying by this time under their proper canvases, radiating +like spokes from the pole of each tent. + +At last Anne gave up thinking, and retired like the rest. The night wore +on, and, except the occasional 'All's well' of the sentries, no voice was +heard in the camp or in the village below. + + + + +III. THE MILL BECOMES AN IMPORTANT CENTRE OF OPERATIONS + + +The next morning Miss Garland awoke with an impression that something +more than usual was going on, and she recognized as soon as she could +clearly reason that the proceedings, whatever they might be, lay not far +away from her bedroom window. The sounds were chiefly those of pickaxes +and shovels. Anne got up, and, lifting the corner of the curtain about +an inch, peeped out. + +A number of soldiers were busily engaged in making a zigzag path down the +incline from the camp to the river-head at the back of the house, and +judging from the quantity of work already got through they must have +begun very early. Squads of men were working at several equidistant +points in the proposed pathway, and by the time that Anne had dressed +herself each section of the length had been connected with those above +and below it, so that a continuous and easy track was formed from the +crest of the down to the bottom of the steep. + +The down rested on a bed of solid chalk, and the surface exposed by the +roadmakers formed a white ribbon, serpenting from top to bottom. + +Then the relays of working soldiers all disappeared, and, not long after, +a troop of dragoons in watering order rode forward at the top and began +to wind down the new path. They came lower and closer, and at last were +immediately beneath her window, gathering themselves up on the space by +the mill-pond. A number of the horses entered it at the shallow part, +drinking and splashing and tossing about. Perhaps as many as thirty, +half of them with riders on their backs, were in the water at one time; +the thirsty animals drank, stamped, flounced, and drank again, letting +the clear, cool water dribble luxuriously from their mouths. Miller +Loveday was looking on from over his garden hedge, and many admiring +villagers were gathered around. + +Gazing up higher, Anne saw other troops descending by the new road from +the camp, those which had already been to the pond making room for these +by withdrawing along the village lane and returning to the top by a +circuitous route. + +Suddenly the miller exclaimed, as in fulfilment of expectation, 'Ah, +John, my boy; good morning!' And the reply of 'Morning, father,' came +from a well-mounted soldier near him, who did not, however, form one of +the watering party. Anne could not see his face very clearly, but she +had no doubt that this was John Loveday. + +There were tones in the voice which reminded her of old times, those of +her very infancy, when Johnny Loveday had been top boy in the village +school, and had wanted to learn painting of her father. The deeps and +shallows of the mill-pond being better known to him than to any other man +in the camp, he had apparently come down on that account, and was +cautioning some of the horsemen against riding too far in towards the +mill-head. + +Since her childhood and his enlistment Anne had seen him only once, and +then but casually, when he was home on a short furlough. His figure was +not much changed from what it had been; but the many sunrises and sunsets +which had passed since that day, developing her from a comparative child +to womanhood, had abstracted some of his angularities, reddened his skin, +and given him a foreign look. It was interesting to see what years of +training and service had done for this man. Few would have supposed that +the white and the blue coats of miller and soldier covered the forms of +father and son. + +Before the last troop of dragoons rode off they were welcomed in a body +by Miller Loveday, who still stood in his outer garden, this being a plot +lying below the mill-tail, and stretching to the water-side. It was just +the time of year when cherries are ripe, and hang in clusters under their +dark leaves. While the troopers loitered on their horses, and chatted to +the miller across the stream, he gathered bunches of the fruit, and held +them up over the garden hedge for the acceptance of anybody who would +have them; whereupon the soldiers rode into the water to where it had +washed holes in the garden bank, and, reining their horses there, caught +the cherries in their forage-caps, or received bunches of them on the +ends of their switches, with the dignified laugh that became martial men +when stooping to slightly boyish amusement. It was a cheerful, careless, +unpremeditated half-hour, which returned like the scent of a flower to +the memories of some of those who enjoyed it, even at a distance of many +years after, when they lay wounded and weak in foreign lands. + +Then dragoons and horses wheeled off as the others had done; and troops +of the German Legion next came down and entered in panoramic procession +the space below Anne's eyes, as if on purpose to gratify her. These were +notable by their mustachios, and queues wound tightly with brown ribbon +to the level of their broad shoulder-blades. They were charmed, as the +others had been, by the head and neck of Miss Garland in the little +square window overlooking the scene of operations, and saluted her with +devoted foreign civility, and in such overwhelming numbers that the +modest girl suddenly withdrew herself into the room, and had a private +blush between the chest of drawers and the washing-stand. + +When she came downstairs her mother said, 'I have been thinking what I +ought to wear to Miller Loveday's to-night.' + +'To Miller Loveday's?' said Anne. + +'Yes. The party is to-night. He has been in here this morning to tell +me that he has seen his son, and they have fixed this evening.' + +'Do you think we ought to go, mother?' said Anne slowly, and looking at +the smaller features of the window-flowers. + +'Why not?' said Mrs. Garland. + +'He will only have men there except ourselves, will he? And shall we be +right to go alone among 'em?' + +Anne had not recovered from the ardent gaze of the gallant York Hussars, +whose voices reached her even now in converse with Loveday. + +'La, Anne, how proud you are!' said Widow Garland. 'Why, isn't he our +nearest neighbour and our landlord? and don't he always fetch our faggots +from the wood, and keep us in vegetables for next to nothing?' + +'That's true,' said Anne. + +'Well, we can't be distant with the man. And if the enemy land next +autumn, as everybody says they will, we shall have quite to depend upon +the miller's waggon and horses. He's our only friend.' + +'Yes, so he is,' said Anne. 'And you had better go, mother; and I'll +stay at home. They will be all men; and I don't like going.' + +Mrs. Garland reflected. 'Well, if you don't want to go, I don't,' she +said. 'Perhaps, as you are growing up, it would be better to stay at +home this time. Your father was a professional man, certainly.' Having +spoken as a mother, she sighed as a woman. + +'Why do you sigh, mother?' + +'You are so prim and stiff about everything.' + +'Very well--we'll go.' + +'O no--I am not sure that we ought. I did not promise, and there will be +no trouble in keeping away.' + +Anne apparently did not feel certain of her own opinion, and, instead of +supporting or contradicting, looked thoughtfully down, and abstractedly +brought her hands together on her bosom, till her fingers met tip to tip. + +As the day advanced the young woman and her mother became aware that +great preparations were in progress in the miller's wing of the house. +The partitioning between the Lovedays and the Garlands was not very +thorough, consisting in many cases of a simple screwing up of the doors +in the dividing walls; and thus when the mill began any new performances +they proclaimed themselves at once in the more private dwelling. The +smell of Miller Loveday's pipe came down Mrs. Garland's chimney of an +evening with the greatest regularity. Every time that he poked his fire +they knew from the vehemence or deliberateness of the blows the precise +state of his mind; and when he wound his clock on Sunday nights the whirr +of that monitor reminded the widow to wind hers. This transit of noises +was most perfect where Loveday's lobby adjoined Mrs. Garland's pantry; +and Anne, who was occupied for some time in the latter apartment, enjoyed +the privilege of hearing the visitors arrive and of catching stray sounds +and words without the connecting phrases that made them entertaining, to +judge from the laughter they evoked. The arrivals passed through the +house and went into the garden, where they had tea in a large +summer-house, an occasional blink of bright colour, through the foliage, +being all that was visible of the assembly from Mrs. Garland's windows. +When it grew dusk they all could be heard coming indoors to finish the +evening in the parlour. + +Then there was an intensified continuation of the above-mentioned signs +of enjoyment, talkings and haw-haws, runnings upstairs and runnings down, +a slamming of doors and a clinking of cups and glasses; till the proudest +adjoining tenant without friends on his own side of the partition might +have been tempted to wish for entrance to that merry dwelling, if only to +know the cause of these fluctuations of hilarity, and to see if the +guests were really so numerous, and the observations so very amusing as +they seemed. + +The stagnation of life on the Garland side of the party-wall began to +have a very gloomy effect by the contrast. When, about half-past nine +o'clock, one of these tantalizing bursts of gaiety had resounded for a +longer time than usual, Anne said, 'I believe, mother, that you are +wishing you had gone.' + +'I own to feeling that it would have been very cheerful if we had joined +in,' said Mrs. Garland, in a hankering tone. 'I was rather too nice in +listening to you and not going. The parson never calls upon us except in +his spiritual capacity. Old Derriman is hardly genteel; and there's +nobody left to speak to. Lonely people must accept what company they can +get.' + +'Or do without it altogether.' + +'That's not natural, Anne; and I am surprised to hear a young woman like +you say such a thing. Nature will not be stifled in that way. . . .' +(Song and powerful chorus heard through partition.) 'I declare the room +on the other side of the wall seems quite a paradise compared with this.' + +'Mother, you are quite a girl,' said Anne in slightly superior accents. +'Go in and join them by all means.' + +'O no--not now,' said her mother, resignedly shaking her head. 'It is +too late now. We ought to have taken advantage of the invitation. They +would look hard at me as a poor mortal who had no real business there, +and the miller would say, with his broad smile, "Ah, you be obliged to +come round."' + +While the sociable and unaspiring Mrs. Garland continued thus to pass the +evening in two places, her body in her own house and her mind in the +miller's, somebody knocked at the door, and directly after the elder +Loveday himself was admitted to the room. He was dressed in a suit +between grand and gay, which he used for such occasions as the present, +and his blue coat, yellow and red waistcoat with the three lower buttons +unfastened, steel-buckled shoes and speckled stockings, became him very +well in Mrs. Martha Garland's eyes. + +'Your servant, ma'am,' said the miller, adopting as a matter of propriety +the raised standard of politeness required by his higher costume. 'Now, +begging your pardon, I can't hae this. 'Tis unnatural that you two +ladies should be biding here and we under the same roof making merry +without ye. Your husband, poor man--lovely picters that a' would make to +be sure--would have been in with us long ago if he had been in your +place. I can take no nay from ye, upon my honour. You and maidy Anne +must come in, if it be only for half-an-hour. John and his friends have +got passes till twelve o'clock to-night, and, saving a few of our own +village folk, the lowest visitor present is a very genteel German +corporal. If you should hae any misgivings on the score of +respectability, ma'am, we'll pack off the underbred ones into the back +kitchen.' + +Widow Garland and Anne looked yes at each other after this appeal. + +'We'll follow you in a few minutes,' said the elder, smiling; and she +rose with Anne to go upstairs. + +'No, I'll wait for ye,' said the miller doggedly; 'or perhaps you'll +alter your mind again.' + +While the mother and daughter were upstairs dressing, and saying +laughingly to each other, 'Well, we must go now,' as if they hadn't +wished to go all the evening, other steps were heard in the passage; and +the miller cried from below, 'Your pardon, Mrs. Garland; but my son John +has come to help fetch ye. Shall I ask him in till ye be ready?' + +'Certainly; I shall be down in a minute,' screamed Anne's mother in a +slanting voice towards the staircase. + +When she descended, the outline of the trumpet-major appeared half-way +down the passage. 'This is John,' said the miller simply. 'John, you +can mind Mrs. Martha Garland very well?' + +'Very well, indeed,' said the dragoon, coming in a little further. 'I +should have called to see her last time, but I was only home a week. How +is your little girl, ma'am?' + +Mrs. Garland said Anne was quite well. 'She is grown-up now. She will +be down in a moment.' + +There was a slight noise of military heels without the door, at which the +trumpet-major went and put his head outside, and said, 'All right--coming +in a minute,' when voices in the darkness replied, 'No hurry.' + +'More friends?' said Mrs. Garland. + +'O, it is only Buck and Jones come to fetch me,' said the soldier. 'Shall +I ask 'em in a minute, Mrs Garland, ma'am?' + +'O yes,' said the lady; and the two interesting forms of Trumpeter Buck +and Saddler-sergeant Jones then came forward in the most friendly manner; +whereupon other steps were heard without, and it was discovered that +Sergeant-master-tailor Brett and Farrier-extraordinary Johnson were +outside, having come to fetch Messrs. Buck and Jones, as Buck and Jones +had come to fetch the trumpet-major. + +As there seemed a possibility of Mrs. Garland's small passage being +choked up with human figures personally unknown to her, she was relieved +to hear Anne coming downstairs. + +'Here's my little girl,' said Mrs. Garland, and the trumpet-major looked +with a sort of awe upon the muslin apparition who came forward, and stood +quite dumb before her. Anne recognized him as the trooper she had seen +from her window, and welcomed him kindly. There was something in his +honest face which made her feel instantly at home with him. + +At this frankness of manner Loveday--who was not a ladies' man--blushed, +and made some alteration in his bodily posture, began a sentence which +had no end, and showed quite a boy's embarrassment. Recovering himself, +he politely offered his arm, which Anne took with a very pretty grace. He +conducted her through his comrades, who glued themselves perpendicularly +to the wall to let her pass, and then they went out of the door, her +mother following with the miller, and supported by the body of troopers, +the latter walking with the usual cavalry gait, as if their thighs were +rather too long for them. Thus they crossed the threshold of the mill- +house and up the passage, the paving of which was worn into a gutter by +the ebb and flow of feet that had been going on there ever since Tudor +times. + + + + +IV. WHO WERE PRESENT AT THE MILLER'S LITTLE ENTERTAINMENT + + +When the group entered the presence of the company a lull in the +conversation was caused by the sight of new visitors, and (of course) by +the charm of Anne's appearance; until the old men, who had daughters of +their own, perceiving that she was only a half-formed girl, resumed their +tales and toss-potting with unconcern. + +Miller Loveday had fraternized with half the soldiers in the camp since +their arrival, and the effect of this upon his party was striking--both +chromatically and otherwise. Those among the guests who first attracted +the eye were the sergeants and sergeant-majors of Loveday's regiment, +fine hearty men, who sat facing the candles, entirely resigned to +physical comfort. Then there were other non-commissioned officers, a +German, two Hungarians, and a Swede, from the foreign hussars--young men +with a look of sadness on their faces, as if they did not much like +serving so far from home. All of them spoke English fairly well. Old +age was represented by Simon Burden the pensioner, and the shady side of +fifty by Corporal Tullidge, his friend and neighbour, who was hard of +hearing, and sat with his hat on over a red cotton handkerchief that was +wound several times round his head. These two veterans were employed as +watchers at the neighbouring beacon, which had lately been erected by the +Lord-Lieutenant for firing whenever the descent on the coast should be +made. They lived in a little hut on the hill, close by the heap of +faggots; but to-night they had found deputies to watch in their stead. + +On a lower plane of experience and qualifications came neighbour James +Comfort, of the Volunteers, a soldier by courtesy, but a blacksmith by +rights; also William Tremlett and Anthony Cripplestraw, of the local +forces. The two latter men of war were dressed merely as villagers, and +looked upon the regulars from a humble position in the background. The +remainder of the party was made up of a neighbouring dairyman or two, and +their wives, invited by the miller, as Anne was glad to see, that she and +her mother should not be the only women there. + +The elder Loveday apologized in a whisper to Mrs. Garland for the +presence of the inferior villagers. 'But as they are learning to be +brave defenders of their home and country, ma'am, as fast as they can +master the drill, and have worked for me off and on these many years, +I've asked 'em in, and thought you'd excuse it.' + +'Certainly, Miller Loveday,' said the widow. + +'And the same of old Burden and Tullidge. They have served well and long +in the Foot, and even now have a hard time of it up at the beacon in wet +weather. So after giving them a meal in the kitchen I just asked 'em in +to hear the singing. They faithfully promise that as soon as ever the +gunboats appear in view, and they have fired the beacon, to run down here +first, in case we shouldn't see it. 'Tis worth while to be friendly with +'em, you see, though their tempers be queer.' + +'Quite worth while, miller,' said she. + +Anne was rather embarrassed by the presence of the regular military in +such force, and at first confined her words to the dairymen's wives she +was acquainted with, and to the two old soldiers of the parish. + +'Why didn't ye speak to me afore, chiel?' said one of these, Corporal +Tullidge, the elderly man with the hat, while she was talking to old +Simon Burden. 'I met ye in the lane yesterday,' he added reproachfully, +'but ye didn't notice me at all.' + +'I am very sorry for it,' she said; but, being afraid to shout in such a +company, the effect of her remark upon the corporal was as if she had not +spoken at all. + +'You was coming along with yer head full of some high notions or other no +doubt,' continued the uncompromising corporal in the same loud voice. +'Ah, 'tis the young bucks that get all the notice nowadays, and old folks +are quite forgot! I can mind well enough how young Bob Loveday used to +lie in wait for ye.' + +Anne blushed deeply, and stopped his too excursive discourse by hastily +saying that she always respected old folks like him. The corporal +thought she inquired why he always kept his hat on, and answered that it +was because his head was injured at Valenciennes, in July, Ninety-three. +'We were trying to bomb down the tower, and a piece of the shell struck +me. I was no more nor less than a dead man for two days. If it hadn't a +been for that and my smashed arm I should have come home none the worse +for my five-and-twenty years' service.' + +'You have got a silver plate let into yer head, haven't ye, corpel?' said +Anthony Cripplestraw, who had drawn near. 'I have heard that the way +they morticed yer skull was a beautiful piece of workmanship. Perhaps +the young woman would like to see the place? 'Tis a curious sight, +Mis'ess Anne; you don't see such a wownd every day.' + +'No, thank you,' said Anne hurriedly, dreading, as did all the young +people of Overcombe, the spectacle of the corporal uncovered. He had +never been seen in public without the hat and the handkerchief since his +return in Ninety-four; and strange stories were told of the ghastliness +of his appearance bare-headed, a little boy who had accidentally beheld +him going to bed in that state having been frightened into fits. + +'Well, if the young woman don't want to see yer head, maybe she'd like to +hear yer arm?' continued Cripplestraw, earnest to please her. + +'Hey?' said the corporal. + +'Your arm hurt too?' cried Anne. + +'Knocked to a pummy at the same time as my head,' said Tullidge +dispassionately. + +'Rattle yer arm, corpel, and show her,' said Cripplestraw. + +'Yes, sure,' said the corporal, raising the limb slowly, as if the glory +of exhibition had lost some of its novelty, though he was willing to +oblige. Twisting it mercilessly about with his right hand he produced a +crunching among the bones at every motion, Cripplestraw seeming to derive +great satisfaction from the ghastly sound. + +'How very shocking!' said Anne, painfully anxious for him to leave off. + +'O, it don't hurt him, bless ye. Do it, corpel?' said Cripplestraw. + +'Not a bit,' said the corporal, still working his arm with great energy. + +'There's no life in the bones at all. No life in 'em, I tell her, +corpel!' + +'None at all.' + +'They be as loose as a bag of ninepins,' explained Cripplestraw in +continuation. 'You can feel 'em quite plain, Mis'ess Anne. If ye would +like to, he'll undo his sleeve in a minute to oblege ye?' + +'O no, no, please not! I quite understand,' said the young woman. + +'Do she want to hear or see any more, or don't she?' the corporal +inquired, with a sense that his time was getting wasted. + +Anne explained that she did not on any account; and managed to escape +from the corner. + + + + +V. THE SONG AND THE STRANGER + + +The trumpet-major now contrived to place himself near her, Anne's +presence having evidently been a great pleasure to him since the moment +of his first seeing her. She was quite at her ease with him, and asked +him if he thought that Buonaparte would really come during the summer, +and many other questions which the gallant dragoon could not answer, but +which he nevertheless liked to be asked. William Tremlett, who had not +enjoyed a sound night's rest since the First Consul's menace had become +known, pricked up his ears at sound of this subject, and inquired if +anybody had seen the terrible flat-bottomed boats that the enemy were to +cross in. + +'My brother Robert saw several of them paddling about the shore the last +time he passed the Straits of Dover,' said the trumpet-major; and he +further startled the company by informing them that there were supposed +to be more than fifteen hundred of these boats, and that they would carry +a hundred men apiece. So that a descent of one hundred and fifty +thousand men might be expected any day as soon as Boney had brought his +plans to bear. + +'Lord ha' mercy upon us!' said William Tremlett. + +'The night-time is when they will try it, if they try it at all,' said +old Tullidge, in the tone of one whose watch at the beacon must, in the +nature of things, have given him comprehensive views of the situation. +'It is my belief that the point they will choose for making the shore is +just over there,' and he nodded with indifference towards a section of +the coast at a hideous nearness to the house in which they were +assembled, whereupon Fencible Tremlett, and Cripplestraw of the Locals, +tried to show no signs of trepidation. + +'When d'ye think 'twill be?' said Volunteer Comfort, the blacksmith. + +'I can't answer to a day,' said the corporal, 'but it will certainly be +in a down-channel tide; and instead of pulling hard against it, he'll let +his boats drift, and that will bring 'em right into Budmouth Bay. 'Twill +be a beautiful stroke of war, if so be 'tis quietly done!' + +'Beautiful,' said Cripplestraw, moving inside his clothes. 'But how if +we should be all abed, corpel? You can't expect a man to be brave in his +shirt, especially we Locals, that have only got so far as shoulder fire- +locks.' + +'He's not coming this summer. He'll never come at all,' said a tall +sergeant-major decisively. + +Loveday the soldier was too much engaged in attending upon Anne and her +mother to join in these surmises, bestirring himself to get the ladies +some of the best liquor the house afforded, which had, as a matter of +fact, crossed the Channel as privately as Buonaparte wished his army to +do, and had been landed on a dark night over the cliff. After this he +asked Anne to sing, but though she had a very pretty voice in private +performances of that nature, she declined to oblige him; turning the +subject by making a hesitating inquiry about his brother Robert, whom he +had mentioned just before. + +'Robert is as well as ever, thank you, Miss Garland,' he said. 'He is +now mate of the brig Pewit--rather young for such a command; but the +owner puts great trust in him.' The trumpet-major added, deepening his +thoughts to a profounder view of the person discussed, 'Bob is in love.' + +Anne looked conscious, and listened attentively; but Loveday did not go +on. + +'Much?' she asked. + +'I can't exactly say. And the strange part of it is that he never tells +us who the woman is. Nobody knows at all.' + +'He will tell, of course?' said Anne, in the remote tone of a person with +whose sex such matters had no connexion whatever. + +Loveday shook his head, and the tete-a-tete was put an end to by a burst +of singing from one of the sergeants, who was followed at the end of his +song by others, each giving a ditty in his turn; the singer standing up +in front of the table, stretching his chin well into the air, as though +to abstract every possible wrinkle from his throat, and then plunging +into the melody. When this was over one of the foreign hussars--the +genteel German of Miller Loveday's description, who called himself a +Hungarian, and in reality belonged to no definite country--performed at +Trumpet-major Loveday's request the series of wild motions that he +denominated his national dance, that Anne might see what it was like. +Miss Garland was the flower of the whole company; the soldiers one and +all, foreign and English, seemed to be quite charmed by her presence, as +indeed they well might be, considering how seldom they came into the +society of such as she. + +Anne and her mother were just thinking of retiring to their own dwelling +when Sergeant Stanner of the --th Foot, who was recruiting at Budmouth, +began a satirical song:-- + + When law'-yers strive' to heal' a breach', + And par-sons prac'-tise what' they preach'; + Then lit'-tle Bo-ney he'll pounce down', + And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'! + + Chorus.--Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay. + + When jus'-ti-ces' hold e'qual scales', + And rogues' are on'-ly found' in jails'; + Then lit'tle Bo'-ney he'll pounce down', + And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'! + + Chorus.--Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay. + + When rich' men find' their wealth' a curse', + And fill' there-with' the poor' man's purse'; + Then lit'-tle Bo'-ney he'll pounce down', + And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'! + + Chorus.--Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay. + +Poor Stanner! In spite of his satire, he fell at the bloody battle of +Albuera a few years after this pleasantly spent summer at the Georgian +watering-place, being mortally wounded and trampled down by a French +hussar when the brigade was deploying into line under Beresford. + +While Miller Loveday was saying 'Well done, Mr. Stanner!' at the close of +the thirteenth stanza, which seemed to be the last, and Mr. Stanner was +modestly expressing his regret that he could do no better, a stentorian +voice was heard outside the window shutter repeating, + + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay. + +The company was silent in a moment at this reinforcement, and only the +military tried not to look surprised. While all wondered who the singer +could be somebody entered the porch; the door opened, and in came a young +man, about the size and weight of the Farnese Hercules, in the uniform of +the yeomanry cavalry. + +''Tis young Squire Derriman, old Mr. Derriman's nephew,' murmured voices +in the background. + +Without waiting to address anybody, or apparently seeing who were +gathered there, the colossal man waved his cap above his head and went on +in tones that shook the window-panes:-- + + When hus'-bands with' their wives' agree'. + And maids' won't wed' from mod'-es-ty', + Then lit'-tle Bo'-ney he'll pounce down', + And march' his men' on Lon'-don town'! + + Chorus.--Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lo'-rum, + Rol'-li-cum ro'-rum, tol'-lol-lay. + +It was a verse which had been omitted by the gallant Stanner, out of +respect to the ladies. + +The new-comer was red-haired and of florid complexion, and seemed full of +a conviction that his whim of entering must be their pleasure, which for +the moment it was. + +'No ceremony, good men all,' he said; 'I was passing by, and my ear was +caught by the singing. I like singing; 'tis warming and cheering, and +shall not be put down. I should like to hear anybody say otherwise.' + +'Welcome, Master Derriman,' said the miller, filling a glass and handing +it to the yeoman. 'Come all the way from quarters, then? I hardly +knowed ye in your soldier's clothes. You'd look more natural with a spud +in your hand, sir. I shouldn't ha' known ye at all if I hadn't heard +that you were called out.' + +'More natural with a spud!--have a care, miller,' said the young giant, +the fire of his complexion increasing to scarlet. 'I don't mean anger, +but--but--a soldier's honour, you know!' + +The military in the background laughed a little, and the yeoman then for +the first time discovered that there were more regulars present than one. +He looked momentarily disconcerted, but expanded again to full assurance. + +'Right, right, Master Derriman, no offence--'twas only my joke,' said the +genial miller. 'Everybody's a soldier nowadays. Drink a drap o' this +cordial, and don't mind words.' + +The young man drank without the least reluctance, and said, 'Yes, miller, +I am called out. 'Tis ticklish times for us soldiers now; we hold our +lives in our hands--What are those fellows grinning at behind the +table?--I say, we do!' + +'Staying with your uncle at the farm for a day or two, Mr. Derriman?' + +'No, no; as I told you, six mile off. Billeted at Casterbridge. But I +have to call and see the old, old--' + +'Gentleman?' + +'Gentleman!--no, skinflint. He lives upon the sweepings of the barton; +ha, ha!' And the speaker's regular white teeth showed themselves like +snow in a Dutch cabbage. 'Well, well, the profession of arms makes a man +proof against all that. I take things as I find 'em.' + +'Quite right, Master Derriman. Another drop?' + +'No, no. I'll take no more than is good for me--no man should; so don't +tempt me.' + +The yeoman then saw Anne, and by an unconscious gravitation went towards +her and the other women, flinging a remark to John Loveday in passing. +'Ah, Loveday! I heard you were come; in short, I come o' purpose to see +you. Glad to see you enjoying yourself at home again.' + +The trumpet-major replied civilly, though not without grimness, for he +seemed hardly to like Derriman's motion towards Anne. + +'Widow Garland's daughter!--yes, 'tis! surely. You remember me? I have +been here before. Festus Derriman, Yeomanry Cavalry.' + +Anne gave a little curtsey. 'I know your name is Festus--that's all.' + +'Yes, 'tis well known--especially latterly.' He dropped his voice to +confidence pitch. 'I suppose your friends here are disturbed by my +coming in, as they don't seem to talk much? I don't mean to interrupt +the party; but I often find that people are put out by my coming among +'em, especially when I've got my regimentals on.' + +'La! and are they?' + +'Yes; 'tis the way I have.' He further lowered his tone, as if they had +been old friends, though in reality he had only seen her three or four +times. 'And how did you come to be here? Dash my wig, I don't like to +see a nice young lady like you in this company. You should come to some +of our yeomanry sprees in Casterbridge or Shottsford-Forum. O, but the +girls do come! The yeomanry are respected men, men of good substantial +families, many farming their own land; and every one among us rides his +own charger, which is more than these cussed fellows do.' He nodded +towards the dragoons. + +'Hush, hush! Why, these are friends and neighbours of Miller Loveday, +and he is a great friend of ours--our best friend,' said Anne with great +emphasis, and reddening at the sense of injustice to their host. 'What +are you thinking of, talking like that? It is ungenerous in you.' + +'Ha, ha! I've affronted you. Isn't that it, fair angel, fair--what do +you call it?--fair vestal? Ah, well! would you was safe in my own house! +But honour must be minded now, not courting. Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol- +lorum. Pardon me, my sweet, I like ye! It may be a come down for me, +owning land; but I do like ye.' + +'Sir, please be quiet,' said Anne, distressed. + +'I will, I will. Well, Corporal Tullidge, how's your head?' he said, +going towards the other end of the room, and leaving Anne to herself. + +The company had again recovered its liveliness, and it was a long time +before the bouncing Rufus who had joined them could find heart to tear +himself away from their society and good liquors, although he had had +quite enough of the latter before he entered. The natives received him +at his own valuation, and the soldiers of the camp, who sat beyond the +table, smiled behind their pipes at his remarks, with a pleasant twinkle +of the eye which approached the satirical, John Loveday being not the +least conspicuous in this bearing. But he and his friends were too +courteous on such an occasion as the present to challenge the young man's +large remarks, and readily permitted him to set them right on the details +of camping and other military routine, about which the troopers seemed +willing to let persons hold any opinion whatever, provided that they +themselves were not obliged to give attention to it; showing, strangely +enough, that if there was one subject more than another which never +interested their minds, it was the art of war. To them the art of +enjoying good company in Overcombe Mill, the details of the miller's +household, the swarming of his bees, the number of his chickens, and the +fatness of his pigs, were matters of infinitely greater concern. + +The present writer, to whom this party has been described times out of +number by members of the Loveday family and other aged people now passed +away, can never enter the old living-room of Overcombe Mill without +beholding the genial scene through the mists of the seventy or eighty +years that intervene between then and now. First and brightest to the +eye are the dozen candles, scattered about regardless of expense, and +kept well snuffed by the miller, who walks round the room at intervals of +five minutes, snuffers in hand, and nips each wick with great precision, +and with something of an executioner's grim look upon his face as he +closes the snuffers upon the neck of the candle. Next to the +candle-light show the red and blue coats and white breeches of the +soldiers--nearly twenty of them in all besides the ponderous Derriman--the +head of the latter, and, indeed, the heads of all who are standing up, +being in dangerous proximity to the black beams of the ceiling. There is +not one among them who would attach any meaning to 'Vittoria,' or gather +from the syllables 'Waterloo' the remotest idea of his own glory or +death. Next appears the correct and innocent Anne, little thinking what +things Time has in store for her at no great distance off. She looks at +Derriman with a half-uneasy smile as he clanks hither and thither, and +hopes he will not single her out again to hold a private dialogue +with--which, however, he does, irresistibly attracted by the white muslin +figure. She must, of course, look a little gracious again now, lest his +mood should turn from sentimental to quarrelsome--no impossible +contingency with the yeoman-soldier, as her quick perception had noted. + +'Well, well; this idling won't do for me, folks,' he at last said, to +Anne's relief. 'I ought not to have come in, by rights; but I heard you +enjoying yourselves, and thought it might be worth while to see what you +were up to; I have several miles to go before bedtime;' and stretching +his arms, lifting his chin, and shaking his head, to eradicate any +unseemly curve or wrinkle from his person, the yeoman wished them an off- +hand good-night, and departed. + +'You should have teased him a little more, father,' said the +trumpet-major drily. 'You could soon have made him as crabbed as a +bear.' + +'I didn't want to provoke the chap--'twasn't worth while. He came in +friendly enough,' said the gentle miller without looking up. + +'I don't think he was overmuch friendly,' said John. + +''Tis as well to be neighbourly with folks, if they be not quite +onbearable,' his father genially replied, as he took off his coat to go +and draw more ale--this periodical stripping to the shirt-sleeves being +necessitated by the narrowness of the cellar and the smeary effect of its +numerous cobwebs upon best clothes. + +Some of the guests then spoke of Fess Derriman as not such a bad young +man if you took him right and humoured him; others said that he was +nobody's enemy but his own; and the elder ladies mentioned in a tone of +interest that he was likely to come into a deal of money at his uncle's +death. The person who did not praise was the one who knew him best, who +had known him as a boy years ago, when he had lived nearer to Overcombe +than he did at present. This unappreciative person was the +trumpet-major. + + + + +VI. OLD MR. DERRIMAN OF OXWELL HALL + + +At this time in the history of Overcombe one solitary newspaper +occasionally found its way into the village. It was lent by the +postmaster at Budmouth (who, in some mysterious way, got it for nothing +through his connexion with the mail) to Mr. Derriman at the Hall, by whom +it was handed on to Mrs. Garland when it was not more than a fortnight +old. Whoever remembers anything about the old farmer-squire will, of +course, know well enough that this delightful privilege of reading +history in long columns was not accorded to the Widow Garland for +nothing. It was by such ingenuous means that he paid her for her +daughter's occasional services in reading aloud to him and making out his +accounts, in which matters the farmer, whose guineas were reported to +touch five figures--some said more--was not expert. + +Mrs. Martha Garland, as a respectable widow, occupied a twilight rank +between the benighted villagers and the well-informed gentry, and kindly +made herself useful to the former as letter-writer and reader, and +general translator from the printing tongue. It was not without +satisfaction that she stood at her door of an evening, newspaper in hand, +with three or four cottagers standing round, and poured down their open +throats any paragraph that she might choose to select from the stirring +ones of the period. When she had done with the sheet Mrs. Garland passed +it on to the miller, the miller to the grinder, and the grinder to the +grinder's boy, in whose hands it became subdivided into half pages, +quarter pages, and irregular triangles, and ended its career as a paper +cap, a flagon bung, or a wrapper for his bread and cheese. + +Notwithstanding his compact with Mrs. Garland, old Mr. Derriman kept the +paper so long, and was so chary of wasting his man's time on a merely +intellectual errand, that unless she sent for the journal it seldom +reached her hands. Anne was always her messenger. The arrival of the +soldiers led Mrs. Garland to despatch her daughter for it the day after +the party; and away she went in her hat and pelisse, in a direction at +right angles to that of the encampment on the hill. + +Walking across the fields for the distance of a mile or two, she came out +upon the high-road by a wicket-gate. On the other side of the way was +the entrance to what at first sight looked like a neglected meadow, the +gate being a rotten one, without a bottom rail, and broken-down palings +lying on each side. The dry hard mud of the opening was marked with +several horse and cow tracks, that had been half obliterated by fifty +score sheep tracks, surcharged with the tracks of a man and a dog. Beyond +this geological record appeared a carriage-road, nearly grown over with +grass, which Anne followed. It descended by a gentle slope, dived under +dark-rinded elm and chestnut trees, and conducted her on till the hiss of +a waterfall and the sound of the sea became audible, when it took a bend +round a swamp of fresh watercress and brooklime that had once been a fish +pond. Here the grey, weather-worn front of a building edged from behind +the trees. It was Oxwell Hall, once the seat of a family now extinct, +and of late years used as a farmhouse. + +Benjamin Derriman, who owned the crumbling place, had originally been +only the occupier and tenant-farmer of the fields around. His wife had +brought him a small fortune, and during the growth of their only son +there had been a partition of the Oxwell estate, giving the farmer, now a +widower, the opportunity of acquiring the building and a small portion of +the land attached on exceptionally low terms. But two years after the +purchase the boy died, and Derriman's existence was paralyzed forthwith. +It was said that since that event he had devised the house and fields to +a distant female relative, to keep them out of the hands of his detested +nephew; but this was not certainly known. + +The hall was as interesting as mansions in a state of declension usually +are, as the excellent county history showed. That popular work in folio +contained an old plate dedicated to the last scion of the original +owners, from which drawing it appeared that in 1750, the date of +publication, the windows were covered with little scratches like black +flashes of lightning; that a horn of hard smoke came out of each of the +twelve chimneys; that a lady and a lap-dog stood on the lawn in a +strenuously walking position; and a substantial cloud and nine flying +birds of no known species hung over the trees to the north-east. + +The rambling and neglected dwelling had all the romantic excellencies and +practical drawbacks which such mildewed places share in common with +caves, mountains, wildernesses, glens, and other homes of poesy that +people of taste wish to live and die in. Mustard and cress could have +been raised on the inner plaster of the dewy walls at any height not +exceeding three feet from the floor; and mushrooms of the most refined +and thin-stemmed kinds grew up through the chinks of the larder paving. +As for the outside, Nature, in the ample time that had been given her, +had so mingled her filings and effacements with the marks of human wear +and tear upon the house, that it was often hard to say in which of the +two or if in both, any particular obliteration had its origin. The +keenness was gone from the mouldings of the doorways, but whether worn +out by the rubbing past of innumerable people's shoulders, and the moving +of their heavy furniture, or by Time in a grander and more abstract form, +did not appear. The iron stanchions inside the window-panes were eaten +away to the size of wires at the bottom where they entered the stone, the +condensed breathings of generations having settled there in pools and +rusted them. The panes themselves had either lost their shine altogether +or become iridescent as a peacock's tail. In the middle of the porch was +a vertical sun-dial, whose gnomon swayed loosely about when the wind +blew, and cast its shadow hither and thither, as much as to say, 'Here's +your fine model dial; here's any time for any man; I am an old dial; and +shiftiness is the best policy.' + +Anne passed under the arched gateway which screened the main front; over +it was the porter's lodge, reached by a spiral staircase. Across the +archway was fixed a row of wooden hurdles, one of which Anne opened and +closed behind her. Their necessity was apparent as soon as she got +inside. The quadrangle of the ancient pile was a bed of mud and manure, +inhabited by calves, geese, ducks, and sow pigs surprisingly large, with +young ones surprisingly small. In the groined porch some heifers were +amusing themselves by stretching up their necks and licking the carved +stone capitals that supported the vaulting. Anne went on to a second and +open door, across which was another hurdle to keep the live stock from +absolute community with the inmates. There being no knocker, she knocked +by means of a short stick which was laid against the post for that +purpose; but nobody attending, she entered the passage, and tried an +inner door. + +A slight noise was heard inside, the door opened about an inch, and a +strip of decayed face, including the eye and some forehead wrinkles, +appeared within the crevice. + +'Please I have come for the paper,' said Anne. + +'O, is it you, dear Anne?' whined the inmate, opening the door a little +further. 'I could hardly get to the door to open it, I am so weak.' + +The speaker was a wizened old gentleman, in a coat the colour of his +farmyard, breeches of the same hue, unbuttoned at the knees, revealing a +bit of leg above his stocking and a dazzlingly white shirt-frill to +compensate for this untidiness below. The edge of his skull round his +eye-sockets was visible through the skin, and he had a mouth whose +corners made towards the back of his head on the slightest provocation. +He walked with great apparent difficulty back into the room, Anne +following him. + +'Well, you can have the paper if you want it; but you never give me much +time to see what's in en! Here's the paper.' He held it out, but before +she could take it he drew it back again, saying, 'I have not had my share +o' the paper by a good deal, what with my weak sight, and people coming +so soon for en. I am a poor put-upon soul; but my "Duty of Man" will be +left to me when the newspaper is gone.' And he sank into his chair with +an air of exhaustion. + +Anne said that she did not wish to take the paper if he had not done with +it, and that she was really later in the week than usual, owing to the +soldiers. + +'Soldiers, yes--rot the soldiers! And now hedges will be broke, and +hens' nests robbed, and sucking-pigs stole, and I don't know what all. +Who's to pay for't, sure? I reckon that because the soldiers be come you +don't mean to be kind enough to read to me what I hadn't time to read +myself.' + +She would read if he wished, she said; she was in no hurry. And sitting +herself down she unfolded the paper. + +'"Dinner at Carlton House"?' + +'No, faith. 'Tis nothing to I.' + +'"Defence of the country"?' + +'Ye may read that if ye will. I hope there will be no billeting in this +parish, or any wild work of that sort; for what would a poor old lamiger +like myself do with soldiers in his house, and nothing to feed 'em with?' + +Anne began reading, and continued at her task nearly ten minutes, when +she was interrupted by the appearance in the quadrangular slough without +of a large figure in the uniform of the yeomanry cavalry. + +'What do you see out there?' said the farmer with a start, as she paused +and slowly blushed. + +'A soldier--one of the yeomanry,' said Anne, not quite at her ease. + +'Scrounch it all--'tis my nephew!' exclaimed the old man, his face +turning to a phosphoric pallor, and his body twitching with innumerable +alarms as he formed upon his face a gasping smile of joy, with which to +welcome the new-coming relative. 'Read on, prithee, Miss Garland.' + +Before she had read far the visitor straddled over the door-hurdle into +the passage and entered the room. + +'Well, nunc, how do you feel?' said the giant, shaking hands with the +farmer in the manner of one violently ringing a hand-bell. 'Glad to see +you.' + +'Bad and weakish, Festus,' replied the other, his person responding +passively to the rapid vibrations imparted. 'O, be tender, please--a +little softer, there's a dear nephew! My arm is no more than a cobweb.' + +'Ah, poor soul!' + +'Yes, I am not much more than a skeleton, and can't bear rough usage.' + +'Sorry to hear that; but I'll bear your affliction in mind. Why, you are +all in a tremble, Uncle Benjy!' + +''Tis because I am so gratified,' said the old man. 'I always get all in +a tremble when I am taken by surprise by a beloved relation.' + +'Ah, that's it!' said the yeoman, bringing his hand down on the back of +his uncle's chair with a loud smack, at which Uncle Benjy nervously +sprang three inches from his seat and dropped into it again. 'Ask your +pardon for frightening ye, uncle. 'Tis how we do in the army, and I +forgot your nerves. You have scarcely expected to see me, I dare say, +but here I am.' + +'I am glad to see ye. You are not going to stay long, perhaps?' + +'Quite the contrary. I am going to stay ever so long!' + +'O I see! I am so glad, dear Festus. Ever so long, did ye say?' + +'Yes, _ever_ so long,' said the young gentleman, sitting on the slope of +the bureau and stretching out his legs as props. 'I am going to make +this quite my own home whenever I am off duty, as long as we stay out. +And after that, when the campaign is over in the autumn, I shall come +here, and live with you like your own son, and help manage your land and +your farm, you know, and make you a comfortable old man.' + +'Ah! How you do please me!' said the farmer, with a horrified smile, and +grasping the arms of his chair to sustain himself. + +'Yes; I have been meaning to come a long time, as I knew you'd like to +have me, Uncle Benjy; and 'tisn't in my heart to refuse you.' + +'You always was kind that way!' + +'Yes; I always was. But I ought to tell you at once, not to disappoint +you, that I shan't be here always--all day, that is, because of my +military duties as a cavalry man.' + +'O, not always? That's a pity!' exclaimed the farmer with a cheerful +eye. + +'I knew you'd say so. And I shan't be able to sleep here at night +sometimes, for the same reason.' + +'Not sleep here o' nights?' said the old gentleman, still more relieved. +'You ought to sleep here--you certainly ought; in short, you must. But +you can't!' + +'Not while we are with the colours. But directly that's over--the very +next day--I'll stay here all day, and all night too, to oblige you, since +you ask me so very kindly.' + +'Th-thank ye, that will be very nice!' said Uncle Benjy. + +'Yes, I knew 'twould relieve ye.' And he kindly stroked his uncle's +head, the old man expressing his enjoyment at the affectionate token by a +death's-head grimace. 'I should have called to see you the other night +when I passed through here,' Festus continued; 'but it was so late that I +couldn't come so far out of my way. You won't think it unkind?' + +'Not at all, if you _couldn't_. I never shall think it unkind if you +really _can't_ come, you know, Festy.' There was a few minutes' pause, +and as the nephew said nothing Uncle Benjy went on: 'I wish I had a +little present for ye. But as ill-luck would have it we have lost a deal +of stock this year, and I have had to pay away so much.' + +'Poor old man--I know you have. Shall I lend you a seven-shilling piece, +Uncle Benjy?' + +'Ha, ha!--you must have your joke; well, I'll think o' that. And so they +expect Buonaparty to choose this very part of the coast for his landing, +hey? And that the yeomanry be to stand in front as the forlorn hope?' + +'Who says so?' asked the florid son of Mars, losing a little redness. + +'The newspaper-man.' + +'O, there's nothing in that,' said Festus bravely. 'The gover'ment +thought it possible at one time; but they don't know.' + +Festus turned himself as he talked, and now said abruptly: 'Ah, who's +this? Why, 'tis our little Anne!' He had not noticed her till this +moment, the young woman having at his entry kept her face over the +newspaper, and then got away to the back part of the room. 'And are you +and your mother always going to stay down there in the mill-house +watching the little fishes, Miss Anne?' + +She said that it was uncertain, in a tone of truthful precision which the +question was hardly worth, looking forcedly at him as she spoke. But she +blushed fitfully, in her arms and hands as much as in her face. Not that +she was overpowered by the great boots, formidable spurs, and other +fierce appliances of his person, as he imagined; simply she had not been +prepared to meet him there. + +'I hope you will, I am sure, for my own good,' said he, letting his eyes +linger on the round of her cheek. + +Anne became a little more dignified, and her look showed reserve. But +the yeoman on perceiving this went on talking to her in so civil a way +that he irresistibly amused her, though she tried to conceal all feeling. +At a brighter remark of his than usual her mouth moved, her upper lip +playing uncertainly over her white teeth; it would stay still--no, it +would withdraw a little way in a smile; then it would flutter down again; +and so it wavered like a butterfly in a tender desire to be pleased and +smiling, and yet to be also sedate and composed; to show him that she did +not want compliments, and yet that she was not so cold as to wish to +repress any genuine feeling he might be anxious to utter. + +'Shall you want any more reading, Mr. Derriman?' said she, interrupting +the younger man in his remarks. 'If not, I'll go homeward.' + +'Don't let me hinder you longer,' said Festus. 'I'm off in a minute or +two, when your man has cleaned my boots.' + +'Ye don't hinder us, nephew. She must have the paper: 'tis the day for +her to have 'n. She might read a little more, as I have had so little +profit out o' en hitherto. Well, why don't ye speak? Will ye, or won't +ye, my dear?' + +'Not to two,' she said. + +'Ho, ho! damn it, I must go then, I suppose,' said Festus, laughing; and +unable to get a further glance from her he left the room and clanked into +the back yard, where he saw a man; holding up his hand he cried, 'Anthony +Cripplestraw!' + +Cripplestraw came up in a trot, moved a lock of his hair and replaced it, +and said, 'Yes, Maister Derriman.' He was old Mr. Derriman's odd hand in +the yard and garden, and like his employer had no great pretensions to +manly beauty, owing to a limpness of backbone and speciality of mouth, +which opened on one side only, giving him a triangular smile. + +'Well, Cripplestraw, how is it to-day?' said Festus, with +socially-superior heartiness. + +'Middlin', considering, Maister Derriman. And how's yerself?' + +'Fairish. Well, now, see and clean these military boots of mine. I'll +cock my foot up on this bench. This pigsty of my uncle's is not fit for +a soldier to come into.' + +'Yes, Maister Derriman, I will. No, 'tis not fit, Maister Derriman.' + +'What stock has uncle lost this year, Cripplestraw?' + +'Well, let's see, sir. I can call to mind that we've lost three +chickens, a tom-pigeon, and a weakly sucking-pig, one of a fare of ten. I +can't think of no more, Maister Derriman.' + +'H'm, not a large quantity of cattle. The old rascal!' + +'No, 'tis not a large quantity. Old what did you say, sir?' + +'O nothing. He's within there.' Festus flung his forehead in the +direction of a right line towards the inner apartment. 'He's a regular +sniche one.' + +'Hee, hee; fie, fie, Master Derriman!' said Cripplestraw, shaking his +head in delighted censure. 'Gentlefolks shouldn't talk so. And an +officer, Mr. Derriman! 'Tis the duty of all cavalry gentlemen to bear in +mind that their blood is a knowed thing in the country, and not to speak +ill o't.' + +'He's close-fisted.' + +'Well, maister, he is--I own he is a little. 'Tis the nater of some old +venerable gentlemen to be so. We'll hope he'll treat ye well in yer +fortune, sir.' + +'Hope he will. Do people talk about me here, Cripplestraw?' asked the +yeoman, as the other continued busy with his boots. + +'Well, yes, sir; they do off and on, you know. They says you be as fine +a piece of calvery flesh and bones as was ever growed on fallow-ground; +in short, all owns that you be a fine fellow, sir. I wish I wasn't no +more afraid of the French than you be; but being in the Locals, Maister +Derriman, I assure ye I dream of having to defend my country every night; +and I don't like the dream at all.' + +'You should take it careless, Cripplestraw, as I do; and 'twould soon +come natural to you not to mind it at all. Well, a fine fellow is not +everything, you know. O no. There's as good as I in the army, and even +better.' + +'And they say that when you fall this summer, you'll die like a man.' + +'When I fall?' + +'Yes, sure, Maister Derriman. Poor soul o' thee! I shan't forget 'ee as +you lie mouldering in yer soldier's grave.' + +'Hey?' said the warrior uneasily. 'What makes 'em think I am going to +fall?' + +'Well, sir, by all accounts the yeomanry will be put in front.' + +'Front! That's what my uncle has been saying.' + +'Yes, and by all accounts 'tis true. And naterelly they'll be mowed down +like grass; and you among 'em, poor young galliant officer!' + +'Look here, Cripplestraw. This is a reg'lar foolish report. How can +yeomanry be put in front? Nobody's put in front. We yeomanry have +nothing to do with Buonaparte's landing. We shall be away in a safe +place, guarding the possessions and jewels. Now, can you see, +Cripplestraw, any way at all that the yeomanry can be put in front? Do +you think they really can?' + +'Well, maister, I am afraid I do,' said the cheering Cripplestraw. 'And +I know a great warrior like you is only too glad o' the chance. 'Twill +be a great thing for ye, death and glory! In short, I hope from my heart +you will be, and I say so very often to folk--in fact, I pray at night +for't.' + +'O! cuss you! you needn't pray about it.' + +'No, Maister Derriman, I won't.' + +'Of course my sword will do its duty. That's enough. And now be off +with ye.' + +Festus gloomily returned to his uncle's room and found that Anne was just +leaving. He was inclined to follow her at once, but as she gave him no +opportunity for doing this he went to the window, and remained tapping +his fingers against the shutter while she crossed the yard. + +'Well, nephy, you are not gone yet?' said the farmer, looking dubiously +at Festus from under one eyelid. 'You see how I am. Not by any means +better, you see; so I can't entertain 'ee as well as I would.' + +'You can't, nunc, you can't. I don't think you are worse--if I do, dash +my wig. But you'll have plenty of opportunities to make me welcome when +you are better. If you are not so brisk inwardly as you was, why not try +change of air? This is a dull, damp hole.' + +''Tis, Festus; and I am thinking of moving.' + +'Ah, where to?' said Festus, with surprise and interest. + +'Up into the garret in the north corner. There is no fireplace in the +room; but I shan't want that, poor soul o' me.' + +''Tis not moving far.' + +''Tis not. But I have not a soul belonging to me within ten mile; and +you know very well that I couldn't afford to go to lodgings that I had to +pay for.' + +'I know it--I know it, Uncle Benjy! Well, don't be disturbed. I'll come +and manage for you as soon as ever this Boney alarm is over; but when a +man's country calls he must obey, if he is a man.' + +'A splendid spirit!' said Uncle Benjy, with much admiration on the +surface of his countenance. 'I never had it. How could it have got into +the boy?' + +'From my mother's side, perhaps.' + +'Perhaps so. Well, take care of yourself, nephy,' said the farmer, +waving his hand impressively. 'Take care! In these warlike times your +spirit may carry ye into the arms of the enemy; and you are the last of +the family. You should think of this, and not let your bravery carry ye +away.' + +'Don't be disturbed, uncle; I'll control myself,' said Festus, betrayed +into self-complacency against his will. 'At least I'll do what I can, +but nature will out sometimes. Well, I'm off.' He began humming +'Brighton Camp,' and, promising to come again soon, retired with +assurance, each yard of his retreat adding private joyousness to his +uncle's form. + +When the bulky young man had disappeared through the porter's lodge, +Uncle Benjy showed preternatural activity for one in his invalid state, +jumping up quickly without his stick, at the same time opening and +shutting his mouth quite silently like a thirsty frog, which was his way +of expressing mirth. He ran upstairs as quick as an old squirrel, and +went to a dormer window which commanded a view of the grounds beyond the +gate, and the footpath that stretched across them to the village. + +'Yes, yes!' he said in a suppressed scream, dancing up and down, 'he's +after her: she've hit en!' For there appeared upon the path the figure +of Anne Garland, and, hastening on at some little distance behind her, +the swaggering shape of Festus. She became conscious of his approach, +and moved more quickly. He moved more quickly still, and overtook her. +She turned as if in answer to a call from him, and he walked on beside +her, till they were out of sight. The old man then played upon an +imaginary fiddle for about half a minute; and, suddenly discontinuing +these signs of pleasure, went downstairs again. + + + + +VII. HOW THEY TALKED IN THE PASTURES + + +'You often come this way?' said Festus to Anne rather before he had +overtaken her. + +'I come for the newspaper and other things,' she said, perplexed by a +doubt whether he were there by accident or design. + +They moved on in silence, Festus beating the grass with his switch in a +masterful way. 'Did you speak, Mis'ess Anne?' he asked. + +'No,' said Anne. + +'Ten thousand pardons. I thought you did. Now don't let me drive you +out of the path. I can walk among the high grass and giltycups--they +will not yellow my stockings as they will yours. Well, what do you think +of a lot of soldiers coming to the neighbourhood in this way?' + +'I think it is very lively, and a great change,' she said with demure +seriousness. + +'Perhaps you don't like us warriors as a body?' + +Anne smiled without replying. + +'Why, you are laughing!' said the yeoman, looking searchingly at her and +blushing like a little fire. 'What do you see to laugh at?' + +'Did I laugh?' said Anne, a little scared at his sudden mortification. + +'Why, yes; you know you did, you young sneerer,' he said like a cross +baby. 'You are laughing at me--that's who you are laughing at! I should +like to know what you would do without such as me if the French were to +drop in upon ye any night?' + +'Would you help to beat them off?' said she. + +'Can you ask such a question? What are we for? But you don't think +anything of soldiers.' + +O yes, she liked soldiers, she said, especially when they came home from +the wars, covered with glory; though when she thought what doings had won +them that glory she did not like them quite so well. The gallant and +appeased yeoman said he supposed her to mean chopping off heads, blowing +out brains, and that kind of business, and thought it quite right that a +tender-hearted thing like her should feel a little horrified. But as for +him, he should not mind such another Blenheim this summer as the army had +fought a hundred years ago, or whenever it was--dash his wig if he should +mind it at all. 'Hullo! now you are laughing again; yes, I saw you!' And +the choleric Festus turned his blue eyes and flushed face upon her as +though he would read her through. Anne strove valiantly to look calmly +back; but her eyes could not face his, and they fell. 'You did laugh!' +he repeated. + +'It was only a tiny little one,' she murmured. + +'Ah--I knew you did!' thundered he. 'Now what was it you laughed at?' + +'I only--thought that you were--merely in the yeomanry,' she murmured +slily. + +'And what of that?' + +'And the yeomanry only seem farmers that have lost their senses.' + +'Yes, yes! I knew you meant some jeering o' that sort, Mistress Anne. +But I suppose 'tis the way of women, and I take no notice. I'll confess +that some of us are no great things: but I know how to draw a sword, +don't I?--say I don't just to provoke me.' + +'I am sure you do,' said Anne sweetly. 'If a Frenchman came up to you, +Mr. Derriman, would you take him on the hip, or on the thigh?' + +'Now you are flattering!' he said, his white teeth uncovering themselves +in a smile. 'Well, of course I should draw my sword--no, I mean my sword +would be already drawn; and I should put spurs to my horse--charger, as +we call it in the army; and I should ride up to him and say--no, I +shouldn't say anything, of course--men never waste words in battle; I +should take him with the third guard, low point, and then coming back to +the second guard--' + +'But that would be taking care of yourself--not hitting at him.' + +'How can you say that!' he cried, the beams upon his face turning to a +lurid cloud in a moment. 'How can you understand military terms who've +never had a sword in your life? I shouldn't take him with the sword at +all.' He went on with eager sulkiness, 'I should take him with my +pistol. I should pull off my right glove, and throw back my goat-skin; +then I should open my priming-pan, prime, and cast about--no, I +shouldn't, that's wrong; I should draw my right pistol, and as soon as +loaded, seize the weapon by the butt; then at the word "Cock your pistol" +I should--' + +'Then there is plenty of time to give such words of command in the heat +of battle?' said Anne innocently. + +'No!' said the yeoman, his face again in flames. 'Why, of course I am +only telling you what _would_ be the word of command _if_--there now! you +la--' + +'I didn't; 'pon my word I didn't!' + +'No, I don't think you did; it was my mistake. Well, then I come smartly +to Present, looking well along the barrel--along the barrel--and fire. Of +course I know well enough how to engage the enemy! But I expect my old +uncle has been setting you against me.' + +'He has not said a word,' replied Anne; 'though I have heard of you, of +course.' + +'What have you heard? Nothing good, I dare say. It makes my blood boil +within me!' + +'O, nothing bad,' said she assuringly. 'Just a word now and then.' + +'Now, come, tell me, there's a dear. I don't like to be crossed. It +shall be a sacred secret between us. Come, now!' + +Anne was embarrassed, and her smile was uncomfortable. 'I shall not tell +you,' she said at last. + +'There it is again!' said the yeoman, throwing himself into a despair. 'I +shall soon begin to believe that my name is not worth sixpence about +here!' + +'I tell you 'twas nothing against you,' repeated Anne. + +'That means it might have been for me,' said Festus, in a mollified tone. +'Well, though, to speak the truth, I have a good many faults, some people +will praise me, I suppose. 'Twas praise?' + +'It was.' + +'Well, I am not much at farming, and I am not much in company, and I am +not much at figures, but perhaps I must own, since it is forced upon me, +that I can show as fine a soldier's figure on the Esplanade as any man of +the cavalry.' + +'You can,' said Anne; for though her flesh crept in mortal terror of his +irascibility, she could not resist the fearful pleasure of leading him +on. 'You look very well; and some say, you are--' + +'What? Well, they say I am good-looking. I don't make myself, so 'tis +no praise. Hullo! what are you looking across there for?' + +'Only at a bird that I saw fly out of that tree,' said Anne. + +'What? Only at a bird, do you say?' he heaved out in a voice of thunder. +'I see your shoulders a-shaking, young madam. Now don't you provoke me +with that laughing! By God, it won't do!' + +'Then go away!' said Anne, changed from mirthfulness to irritation by his +rough manner. 'I don't want your company, you great bragging thing! You +are so touchy there's no bearing with you. Go away!' + +'No, no, Anne; I am wrong to speak to you so. I give you free liberty to +say what you will to me. Say I am not a bit of a soldier, or anything! +Abuse me--do now, there's a dear. I'm scum, I'm froth, I'm dirt before +the besom--yes!' + +'I have nothing to say, sir. Stay where you are till I am out of this +field.' + +'Well, there's such command in your looks that I ha'n't heart to go +against you. You will come this way to-morrow at the same time? Now, +don't be uncivil.' + +She was too generous not to forgive him, but the short little lip +murmured that she did not think it at all likely she should come that way +to-morrow. + +'Then Sunday?' he said. + +'Not Sunday,' said she. + +'Then Monday--Tuesday--Wednesday, surely?' he went on experimentally. + +She answered that she should probably not see him on either day, and, +cutting short the argument, went through the wicket into the other field. +Festus paused, looking after her; and when he could no longer see her +slight figure he swept away his deliberations, began singing, and turned +off in the other direction. + + + + +VIII. ANNE MAKES A CIRCUIT OF THE CAMP + + +When Anne was crossing the last field, she saw approaching her an old +woman with wrinkled cheeks, who surveyed the earth and its inhabitants +through the medium of brass-rimmed spectacles. Shaking her head at Anne +till the glasses shone like two moons, she said, 'Ah, ah; I zeed ye! If +I had only kept on my short ones that I use for reading the Collect and +Gospel I shouldn't have zeed ye; but thinks I, I be going out o' doors, +and I'll put on my long ones, little thinking what they'd show me. Ay, I +can tell folk at any distance with these--'tis a beautiful pair for out +o' doors; though my short ones be best for close work, such as darning, +and catching fleas, that's true.' + +'What have you seen, Granny Seamore?' said Anne. + +'Fie, fie, Miss Nancy! you know,' said Granny Seamore, shaking her head +still. 'But he's a fine young feller, and will have all his uncle's +money when 'a's gone.' Anne said nothing to this, and looking ahead with +a smile passed Granny Seamore by. + +Festus, the subject of the remark, was at this time about +three-and-twenty, a fine fellow as to feet and inches, and of a +remarkably warm tone in skin and hair. Symptoms of beard and whiskers +had appeared upon him at a very early age, owing to his persistent use of +the razor before there was any necessity for its operation. The brave +boy had scraped unseen in the out-house, in the cellar, in the wood-shed, +in the stable, in the unused parlour, in the cow-stalls, in the barn, and +wherever he could set up his triangular bit of looking-glass without +observation, or extemporize a mirror by sticking up his hat on the +outside of a window-pane. The result now was that, did he neglect to use +the instrument he once had trifled with, a fine rust broke out upon his +countenance on the first day, a golden lichen on the second, and a fiery +stubble on the third to a degree which admitted of no further +postponement. + +His disposition divided naturally into two, the boastful and the +cantankerous. When Festus put on the big pot, as it is classically +called, he was quite blinded ipso facto to the diverting effect of that +mood and manner upon others; but when disposed to be envious or +quarrelsome he was rather shrewd than otherwise, and could do some pretty +strokes of satire. He was both liked and abused by the girls who knew +him, and though they were pleased by his attentions, they never failed to +ridicule him behind his back. In his cups (he knew those vessels, though +only twenty-three) he first became noisy, then excessively friendly, and +then invariably nagging. During childhood he had made himself renowned +for his pleasant habit of pouncing down upon boys smaller and poorer than +himself, and knocking their birds' nests out of their hands, or +overturning their little carts of apples, or pouring water down their +backs; but his conduct became singularly the reverse of aggressive the +moment the little boys' mothers ran out to him, brandishing brooms, +frying-pans, skimmers, and whatever else they could lay hands on by way +of weapons. He then fled and hid behind bushes, under faggots, or in +pits till they had gone away; and on one such occasion was known to creep +into a badger's hole quite out of sight, maintaining that post with great +firmness and resolution for two or three hours. He had brought more +vulgar exclamations upon the tongues of respectable parents in his native +parish than any other boy of his time. When other youngsters snowballed +him he ran into a place of shelter, where he kneaded snowballs of his +own, with a stone inside, and used these formidable missiles in returning +their pleasantry. Sometimes he got fearfully beaten by boys his own age, +when he would roar most lustily, but fight on in the midst of his tears, +blood, and cries. + +He was early in love, and had at the time of the story suffered from the +ravages of that passion thirteen distinct times. He could not love +lightly and gaily; his love was earnest, cross-tempered, and even savage. +It was a positive agony to him to be ridiculed by the object of his +affections, and such conduct drove him into a frenzy if persisted in. He +was a torment to those who behaved humbly towards him, cynical with those +who denied his superiority, and a very nice fellow towards those who had +the courage to ill-use him. + +This stalwart gentleman and Anne Garland did not cross each other's paths +again for a week. Then her mother began as before about the newspaper, +and, though Anne did not much like the errand, she agreed to go for it on +Mrs. Garland pressing her with unusual anxiety. Why her mother was so +persistent on so small a matter quite puzzled the girl; but she put on +her hat and started. + +As she had expected, Festus appeared at a stile over which she sometimes +went for shortness' sake, and showed by his manner that he awaited her. +When she saw this she kept straight on, as if she would not enter the +park at all. + +'Surely this is your way?' said Festus. + +'I was thinking of going round by the road,' she said. + +'Why is that?' + +She paused, as if she were not inclined to say. 'I go that way when the +grass is wet,' she returned at last. + +'It is not wet now,' he persisted; 'the sun has been shining on it these +nine hours.' The fact was that the way by the path was less open than by +the road, and Festus wished to walk with her uninterrupted. 'But, of +course, it is nothing to me what you do.' He flung himself from the +stile and walked away towards the house. + +Anne, supposing him really indifferent, took the same way, upon which he +turned his head and waited for her with a proud smile. + +'I cannot go with you,' she said decisively. + +'Nonsense, you foolish girl! I must walk along with you down to the +corner.' + +'No, please, Mr. Derriman; we might be seen.' + +'Now, now--that's shyness!' he said jocosely. + +'No; you know I cannot let you.' + +'But I must.' + +'But I do not allow it.' + +'Allow it or not, I will.' + +'Then you are unkind, and I must submit,' she said, her eyes brimming +with tears. + +'Ho, ho; what a shame of me! My wig, I won't do any such thing for the +world,' said the repentant yeoman. 'Haw, haw; why, I thought your "go +away" meant "come on," as it does with so many of the women I meet, +especially in these clothes. Who was to know you were so confoundedly +serious?' + +As he did not go Anne stood still and said nothing. + +'I see you have a deal more caution and a deal less good-nature than I +ever thought you had,' he continued emphatically. + +'No, sir; it is not any planned manner of mine at all,' she said +earnestly. 'But you will see, I am sure, that I could not go down to the +hall with you without putting myself in a wrong light.' + +'Yes; that's it, that's it. I am only a fellow in the yeomanry cavalry--a +plain soldier, I may say; and we know what women think of such: that they +are a bad lot--men you mustn't speak to for fear of losing your +character--chaps you avoid in the roads--chaps that come into a house +like oxen, daub the stairs wi' their boots, stain the furniture wi' their +drink, talk rubbish to the servants, abuse all that's holy and righteous, +and are only saved from being carried off by Old Nick because they are +wanted for Boney.' + +'Indeed, I didn't know you were thought so bad of as that,' said she +simply. + +'What! don't my uncle complain to you of me? You are a favourite of that +handsome, nice old gaffer's, I know.' + +'Never.' + +'Well, what do we think of our nice trumpet-major, hey?' + +Anne closed her mouth up tight, built it up, in fact, to show that no +answer was coming to that question. + +'O now, come, seriously, Loveday is a good fellow, and so is his father.' + +'I don't know.' + +'What a close little rogue you are! There is no getting anything out of +you. I believe you would say "I don't know," to every mortal question, +so very discreet as you are. Upon my heart, there are some women who +would say "I don't know," to "Will ye marry me?"' + +The brightness upon Anne's cheek and in her eyes during this remark +showed that there was a fair quantity of life and warmth beneath the +discretion he complained of. Having spoken thus, he drew aside that she +might pass, and bowed very low. Anne formally inclined herself and went +on. + +She had been at vexation point all the time that he was present, from a +haunting sense that he would not have spoken to her so freely had she +been a young woman with thriving male relatives to keep forward admirers +in check. But she had been struck, now as at their previous meeting, +with the power she possessed of working him up either to irritation or to +complacency at will; and this consciousness of being able to play upon +him as upon an instrument disposed her to a humorous considerateness, and +made her tolerate even while she rebuffed him. + +When Anne got to the hall the farmer, as usual, insisted upon her reading +what he had been unable to get through, and held the paper tightly in his +skinny hand till she had agreed. He sent her to a hard chair that she +could not possibly injure to the extent of a pennyworth by sitting in it +a twelvemonth, and watched her from the outer angle of his near eye while +she bent over the paper. His look might have been suggested by the sight +that he had witnessed from his window on the last occasion of her visit, +for it partook of the nature of concern. The old man was afraid of his +nephew, physically and morally, and he began to regard Anne as a fellow- +sufferer under the same despot. After this sly and curious gaze at her +he withdrew his eye again, so that when she casually lifted her own there +was nothing visible but his keen bluish profile as before. + +When the reading was about half-way through, the door behind them opened, +and footsteps crossed the threshold. The farmer diminished perceptibly +in his chair, and looked fearful, but pretended to be absorbed in the +reading, and quite unconscious of an intruder. Anne felt the presence of +the swashing Festus, and stopped her reading. + +'Please go on, Miss Anne,' he said, 'I am not going to speak a word.' He +withdrew to the mantelpiece and leaned against it at his ease. + +'Go on, do ye, maidy Anne,' said Uncle Benjy, keeping down his tremblings +by a great effort to half their natural extent. + +Anne's voice became much lower now that there were two listeners, and her +modesty shrank somewhat from exposing to Festus the appreciative +modulations which an intelligent interest in the subject drew from her +when unembarrassed. But she still went on that he might not suppose her +to be disconcerted, though the ensuing ten minutes was one of +disquietude. She knew that the bothering yeoman's eyes were travelling +over her from his position behind, creeping over her shoulders, up to her +head, and across her arms and hands. Old Benjy on his part knew the same +thing, and after sundry endeavours to peep at his nephew from the corner +of his eye, he could bear the situation no longer. + +'Do ye want to say anything to me, nephew?' he quaked. + +'No, uncle, thank ye,' said Festus heartily. 'I like to stay here, +thinking of you and looking at your back hair.' + +The nervous old man writhed under this vivisection, and Anne read on; +till, to the relief of both, the gallant fellow grew tired of his +amusement and went out of the room. Anne soon finished her paragraph and +rose to go, determined never to come again as long as Festus haunted the +precincts. Her face grew warmer as she thought that he would be sure to +waylay her on her journey home to-day. + +On this account, when she left the house, instead of going in the +customary direction, she bolted round to the further side, through the +bushes, along under the kitchen-garden wall, and through a door leading +into a rutted cart-track, which had been a pleasant gravelled drive when +the fine old hall was in its prosperity. Once out of sight of the +windows she ran with all her might till she had quitted the park by a +route directly opposite to that towards her home. Why she was so +seriously bent upon doing this she could hardly tell but the instinct to +run was irresistible. + +It was necessary now to clamber over the down to the left of the camp, +and make a complete circuit round the latter--infantry, cavalry, sutlers, +and all--descending to her house on the other side. This tremendous walk +she performed at a rapid rate, never once turning her head, and avoiding +every beaten track to keep clear of the knots of soldiers taking a walk. +When she at last got down to the levels again she paused to fetch breath, +and murmured, 'Why did I take so much trouble? He would not, after all, +have hurt me.' + +As she neared the mill an erect figure with a blue body and white thighs +descended before her from the down towards the village, and went past the +mill to a stile beyond, over which she usually returned to her house. +Here he lingered. On coming nearer Anne discovered this person to be +Trumpet-major Loveday; and not wishing to meet anybody just now Anne +passed quickly on, and entered the house by the garden door. + +'My dear Anne, what a time you have been gone!' said her mother. + +'Yes, I have been round by another road.' + +'Why did you do that?' + +Anne looked thoughtful and reticent, for her reason was almost too silly +a one to confess. 'Well, I wanted to avoid a person who is very busy +trying to meet me--that's all,' she said. + +Her mother glanced out of the window. 'And there he is, I suppose,' she +said, as John Loveday, tired of looking for Anne at the stile, passed the +house on his way to his father's door. He could not help casting his +eyes towards their window, and, seeing them, he smiled. + +Anne's reluctance to mention Festus was such that she did not correct her +mother's error, and the dame went on: 'Well, you are quite right, my +dear. Be friendly with him, but no more at present. I have heard of +your other affair, and think it is a very wise choice. I am sure you +have my best wishes in it, and I only hope it will come to a point.' + +'What's that?' said the astonished Anne. + +'You and Mr. Festus Derriman, dear. You need not mind me; I have known +it for several days. Old Granny Seamore called here Saturday, and told +me she saw him coming home with you across Park Close last week, when you +went for the newspaper; so I thought I'd send you again to-day, and give +you another chance.' + +'Then you didn't want the paper--and it was only for that!' + +'He's a very fine young fellow; he looks a thorough woman's protector.' + +'He may look it,' said Anne. + +'He has given up the freehold farm his father held at Pitstock, and lives +in independence on what the land brings him. And when Farmer Derriman +dies, he'll have all the old man's, for certain. He'll be worth ten +thousand pounds, if a penny, in money, besides sixteen horses, cart and +hack, a fifty-cow dairy, and at least five hundred sheep.' + +Anne turned away, and instead of informing her mother that she had been +running like a doe to escape the interesting heir-presumptive alluded to, +merely said 'Mother, I don't like this at all.' + + + + +IX. ANNE IS KINDLY FETCHED BY THE TRUMPET-MAJOR + + +After this, Anne would on no account walk in the direction of the hall +for fear of another encounter with young Derriman. In the course of a +few days it was told in the village that the old farmer had actually gone +for a week's holiday and change of air to the Royal watering-place near +at hand, at the instance of his nephew Festus. This was a wonderful +thing to hear of Uncle Benjy, who had not slept outside the walls of +Oxwell Hall for many a long year before; and Anne well imagined what +extraordinary pressure must have been put upon him to induce him to take +such a step. She pictured his unhappiness at the bustling +watering-place, and hoped no harm would come to him. + +She spent much of her time indoors or in the garden, hearing little of +the camp movements beyond the periodical Ta-ta-ta-taa of the trumpeters +sounding their various ingenious calls for watch-setting, stables, feed, +boot-and-saddle, parade, and so on, which made her think how clever her +friend the trumpet-major must be to teach his pupils to play those pretty +little tunes so well. + +On the third morning after Uncle Benjy's departure, she was disturbed as +usual while dressing by the tramp of the troops down the slope to the +mill-pond, and during the now familiar stamping and splashing which +followed there sounded upon the glass of the window a slight smack, which +might have been caused by a whip or switch. She listened more +particularly, and it was repeated. + +As John Loveday was the only dragoon likely to be aware that she slept in +that particular apartment, she imagined the signal to come from him, +though wondering that he should venture upon such a freak of familiarity. + +Wrapping herself up in a red cloak, she went to the window, gently drew +up a corner of the curtain, and peeped out, as she had done many times +before. Nobody who was not quite close beneath her window could see her +face; but as it happened, somebody was close. The soldiers whose +floundering Anne had heard were not Loveday's dragoons, but a troop of +the York Hussars, quite oblivious of her existence. They had passed on +out of the water, and instead of them there sat Festus Derriman alone on +his horse, and in plain clothes, the water reaching up to the animal's +belly, and Festus' heels elevated over the saddle to keep them out of the +stream, which threatened to wash rider and horse into the deep mill-head +just below. It was plainly he who had struck her lattice, for in a +moment he looked up, and their eyes met. Festus laughed loudly, and +slapped her window again; and just at that moment the dragoons began +prancing down the slope in review order. She could not but wait a minute +or two to see them pass. While doing so she was suddenly led to draw +back, drop the corner of the curtain, and blush privately in her room. +She had not only been seen by Festus Derriman, but by John Loveday, who, +riding along with his trumpet slung up behind him, had looked over his +shoulder at the phenomenon of Derriman beneath Anne's bedroom window and +seemed quite astounded at the sight. + +She was quite vexed at the conjunction of incidents, and went no more to +the window till the dragoons had ridden far away and she had heard +Festus's horse laboriously wade on to dry land. When she looked out +there was nobody left but Miller Loveday, who usually stood in the garden +at this time of the morning to say a word or two to the soldiers, of whom +he already knew so many, and was in a fair way of knowing many more, from +the liberality with which he handed round mugs of cheering liquor +whenever parties of them walked that way. + +In the afternoon of this day Anne walked to a christening party at a +neighbour's in the adjoining parish of Springham, intending to walk home +again before it got dark; but there was a slight fall of rain towards +evening, and she was pressed by the people of the house to stay over the +night. With some hesitation she accepted their hospitality; but at ten +o'clock, when they were thinking of going to bed, they were startled by a +smart rap at the door, and on it being unbolted a man's form was seen in +the shadows outside. + +'Is Miss Garland here?' the visitor inquired, at which Anne suspended her +breath. + +'Yes,' said Anne's entertainer, warily. + +'Her mother is very anxious to know what's become of her. She promised +to come home.' To her great relief Anne recognized the voice as John +Loveday's, and not Festus Derriman's. + +'Yes, I did, Mr. Loveday,' said she, coming forward; 'but it rained, and +I thought my mother would guess where I was.' + +Loveday said with diffidence that it had not rained anything to speak of +at the camp, or at the mill, so that her mother was rather alarmed. + +'And she asked you to come for me?' Anne inquired. + +This was a question which the trumpet-major had been dreading during the +whole of his walk thither. 'Well, she didn't exactly ask me,' he said +rather lamely, but still in a manner to show that Mrs. Garland had +indirectly signified such to be her wish. In reality Mrs. Garland had +not addressed him at all on the subject. She had merely spoken to his +father on finding that her daughter did not return, and received an +assurance from the miller that the precious girl was doubtless quite +safe. John heard of this inquiry, and, having a pass that evening, +resolved to relieve Mrs. Garland's mind on his own responsibility. Ever +since his morning view of Festus under her window he had been on thorns +of anxiety, and his thrilling hope now was that she would walk back with +him. + +He shifted his foot nervously as he made the bold request. Anne felt at +once that she would go. There was nobody in the world whose care she +would more readily be under than the trumpet-major's in a case like the +present. He was their nearest neighbour's son, and she had liked his +single-minded ingenuousness from the first moment of his return home. + +When they had started on their walk, Anne said in a practical way, to +show that there was no sentiment whatever in her acceptance of his +company, 'Mother was much alarmed about me, perhaps?' + +'Yes; she was uneasy,' he said; and then was compelled by conscience to +make a clean breast of it. 'I know she was uneasy, because my father +said so. But I did not see her myself. The truth is, she doesn't know I +am come.' + +Anne now saw how the matter stood; but she was not offended with him. +What woman could have been? They walked on in silence, the respectful +trumpet-major keeping a yard off on her right as precisely as if that +measure had been fixed between them. She had a great feeling of civility +toward him this evening, and spoke again. 'I often hear your trumpeters +blowing the calls. They do it beautifully, I think.' + +'Pretty fair; they might do better,' said he, as one too well-mannered to +make much of an accomplishment in which he had a hand. + +'And you taught them how to do it?' + +'Yes, I taught them.' + +'It must require wonderful practice to get them into the way of beginning +and finishing so exactly at one time. It is like one throat doing it +all. How came you to be a trumpeter, Mr. Loveday?' + +'Well, I took to it naturally when I was a little boy,' said he, betrayed +into quite a gushing state by her delightful interest. 'I used to make +trumpets of paper, eldersticks, eltrot stems, and even stinging-nettle +stalks, you know. Then father set me to keep the birds off that little +barley-ground of his, and gave me an old horn to frighten 'em with. I +learnt to blow that horn so that you could hear me for miles and miles. +Then he bought me a clarionet, and when I could play that I borrowed a +serpent, and I learned to play a tolerable bass. So when I 'listed I was +picked out for training as trumpeter at once.' + +'Of course you were.' + +'Sometimes, however, I wish I had never joined the army. My father gave +me a very fair education, and your father showed me how to draw horses--on +a slate, I mean. Yes, I ought to have done more than I have.' + +'What, did you know my father?' she asked with new interest. + +'O yes, for years. You were a little mite of a thing then; and you used +to cry when we big boys looked at you, and made pig's eyes at you, which +we did sometimes. Many and many a time have I stood by your poor father +while he worked. Ah, you don't remember much about him; but I do!' + +Anne remained thoughtful; and the moon broke from behind the clouds, +lighting up the wet foliage with a twinkling brightness, and lending to +each of the trumpet-major's buttons and spurs a little ray of its own. +They had come to Oxwell park gate, and he said, 'Do you like going +across, or round by the lane?' + +'We may as well go by the nearest road,' said Anne. + +They entered the park, following the half-obliterated drive till they +came almost opposite the hall, when they entered a footpath leading on to +the village. While hereabout they heard a shout, or chorus of +exclamation, apparently from within the walls of the dark buildings near +them. + +'What was that?' said Anne. + +'I don't know,' said her companion. 'I'll go and see.' + +He went round the intervening swamp of watercress and brooklime which had +once been the fish-pond, crossed by a culvert the trickling brook that +still flowed that way, and advanced to the wall of the house. Boisterous +noises were resounding from within, and he was tempted to go round the +corner, where the low windows were, and look through a chink into the +room whence the sounds proceeded. + +It was the room in which the owner dined--traditionally called the great +parlour--and within it sat about a dozen young men of the yeomanry +cavalry, one of them being Festus. They were drinking, laughing, +singing, thumping their fists on the tables, and enjoying themselves in +the very perfection of confusion. The candles, blown by the breeze from +the partly opened window, had guttered into coffin handles and shrouds, +and, choked by their long black wicks for want of snuffing, gave out a +smoky yellow light. One of the young men might possibly have been in a +maudlin state, for he had his arm round the neck of his next neighbour. +Another was making an incoherent speech to which nobody was listening. +Some of their faces were red, some were sallow; some were sleepy, some +wide awake. The only one among them who appeared in his usual frame of +mind was Festus, whose huge, burly form rose at the head of the table, +enjoying with a serene and triumphant aspect the difference between his +own condition and that of his neighbours. While the trumpet-major +looked, a young woman, niece of Anthony Cripplestraw, and one of Uncle +Benjy's servants, was called in by one of the crew, and much against her +will a fiddle was placed in her hands, from which they made her produce +discordant screeches. + +The absence of Uncle Benjy had, in fact, been contrived by young Derriman +that he might make use of the hall on his own account. Cripplestraw had +been left in charge, and Festus had found no difficulty in forcing from +that dependent the keys of whatever he required. John Loveday turned his +eyes from the scene to the neighbouring moonlit path, where Anne still +stood waiting. Then he looked into the room, then at Anne again. It was +an opportunity of advancing his own cause with her by exposing Festus, +for whom he began to entertain hostile feelings of no mean force. + +'No; I can't do it,' he said. ''Tis underhand. Let things take their +chance.' + +He moved away, and then perceived that Anne, tired of waiting, had +crossed the stream, and almost come up with him. + +'What is the noise about?' she said. + +'There's company in the house,' said Loveday. + +'Company? Farmer Derriman is not at home,' said Anne, and went on to the +window whence the rays of light leaked out, the trumpet-major standing +where he was. He saw her face enter the beam of candlelight, stay there +for a moment, and quickly withdraw. She came back to him at once. 'Let +us go on,' she said. + +Loveday imagined from her tone that she must have an interest in +Derriman, and said sadly, 'You blame me for going across to the window, +and leading you to follow me.' + +'Not a bit,' said Anne, seeing his mistake as to the state of her heart, +and being rather angry with him for it. 'I think it was most natural, +considering the noise.' + +Silence again. 'Derriman is sober as a judge,' said Loveday, as they +turned to go. 'It was only the others who were noisy.' + +'Whether he is sober or not is nothing whatever to me,' said Anne. + +'Of course not. I know it,' said the trumpet-major, in accents +expressing unhappiness at her somewhat curt tone, and some doubt of her +assurance. + +Before they had emerged from the shadow of the hall some persons were +seen moving along the road. Loveday was for going on just the same; but +Anne, from a shy feeling that it was as well not to be seen walking alone +with a man who was not her lover, said-- + +'Mr. Loveday, let us wait here a minute till they have passed.' + +On nearer view the group was seen to comprise a man on a piebald horse, +and another man walking beside him. When they were opposite the house +they halted, and the rider dismounted, whereupon a dispute between him +and the other man ensued, apparently on a question of money. + +''Tis old Mr. Derriman come home!' said Anne. 'He has hired that horse +from the bathing-machine to bring him. Only fancy!' + +Before they had gone many steps further the farmer and his companion had +ended their dispute, and the latter mounted the horse and cantered away, +Uncle Benjy coming on to the house at a nimble pace. As soon as he +observed Loveday and Anne, he fell into a feebler gait; when they came up +he recognized Anne. + +'And you have torn yourself away from King George's Esplanade so soon, +Farmer Derriman?' said she. + +'Yes, faith! I couldn't bide at such a ruination place,' said the +farmer. 'Your hand in your pocket every minute of the day. 'Tis a +shilling for this, half-a-crown for that; if you only eat one egg, or +even a poor windfall of an apple, you've got to pay; and a bunch o' +radishes is a halfpenny, and a quart o' cider a good tuppence +three-farthings at lowest reckoning. Nothing without paying! I couldn't +even get a ride homeward upon that screw without the man wanting a +shilling for it, when my weight didn't take a penny out of the beast. +I've saved a penn'orth or so of shoeleather to be sure; but the saddle +was so rough wi' patches that 'a took twopence out of the seat of my best +breeches. King George hev' ruined the town for other folks. More than +that, my nephew promised to come there to-morrow to see me, and if I had +stayed I must have treated en. Hey--what's that?' + +It was a shout from within the walls of the building, and Loveday said-- + +'Your nephew is here, and has company.' + +'My nephew _here_?' gasped the old man. 'Good folks, will you come up to +the door with me? I mean--hee--hee--just for company! Dear me, I +thought my house was as quiet as a church?' + +They went back to the window, and the farmer looked in, his mouth falling +apart to a greater width at the corners than in the middle, and his +fingers assuming a state of radiation. + +''Tis my best silver tankards they've got, that I've never used! O! 'tis +my strong beer! 'Tis eight candles guttering away, when I've used +nothing but twenties myself for the last half-year!' + +'You didn't know he was here, then?' said Loveday. + +'O no!' said the farmer, shaking his head half-way. 'Nothing's known to +poor I! There's my best rummers jingling as careless as if 'twas tin +cups; and my table scratched, and my chairs wrenched out of joint. See +how they tilt 'em on the two back legs--and that's ruin to a chair! Ah! +when I be gone he won't find another old man to make such work with, and +provide goods for his breaking, and house-room and drink for his tear- +brass set!' + +'Comrades and fellow-soldiers,' said Festus to the hot farmers and yeomen +he entertained within, 'as we have vowed to brave danger and death +together, so we'll share the couch of peace. You shall sleep here to- +night, for it is getting late. My scram blue-vinnied gallicrow of an +uncle takes care that there shan't be much comfort in the house, but you +can curl up on the furniture if beds run short. As for my sleep, it +won't be much. I'm melancholy! A woman has, I may say, got my heart in +her pocket, and I have hers in mine. She's not much--to other folk, I +mean--but she is to me. The little thing came in my way, and conquered +me. I fancy that simple girl! I ought to have looked higher--I know it; +what of that? 'Tis a fate that may happen to the greatest men.' + +'Whash her name?' said one of the warriors, whose head occasionally +drooped upon his epaulettes, and whose eyes fell together in the casual +manner characteristic of the tired soldier. (It was really Farmer Stubb, +of Duddle Hole.) + +'Her name? Well, 'tis spelt, A, N--but, by gad, I won't give ye her name +here in company. She don't live a hundred miles off, however, and she +wears the prettiest cap-ribbons you ever saw. Well, well, 'tis weakness! +She has little, and I have much; but I do adore that girl, in spite of +myself!' + +'Let's go on,' said Anne. + +'Prithee stand by an old man till he's got into his house!' implored +Uncle Benjy. 'I only ask ye to bide within call. Stand back under the +trees, and I'll do my poor best to give no trouble.' + +'I'll stand by you for half-an-hour, sir,' said Loveday. 'After that I +must bolt to camp.' + +'Very well; bide back there under the trees,' said Uncle Benjy. 'I don't +want to spite 'em?' + +'You'll wait a few minutes, just to see if he gets in?' said the trumpet- +major to Anne as they retired from the old man. + +'I want to get home,' said Anne anxiously. + +When they had quite receded behind the tree-trunks and he stood alone, +Uncle Benjy, to their surprise, set up a loud shout, altogether beyond +the imagined power of his lungs. + +'Man a-lost! man a-lost!' he cried, repeating the exclamation several +times; and then ran and hid himself behind a corner of the building. Soon +the door opened, and Festus and his guests came tumbling out upon the +green. + +''Tis our duty to help folks in distress,' said Festus. 'Man a-lost, +where are you?' + +''Twas across there,' said one of his friends. + +'No! 'twas here,' said another. + +Meanwhile Uncle Benjy, coming from his hiding-place, had scampered with +the quickness of a boy up to the door they had quitted, and slipped in. +In a moment the door flew together, and Anne heard him bolting and +barring it inside. The revellers, however, did not notice this, and came +on towards the spot where the trumpet-major and Anne were standing. + +'Here's succour at hand, friends,' said Festus. 'We are all king's men; +do not fear us.' + +'Thank you,' said Loveday; 'so are we.' He explained in two words that +they were not the distressed traveller who had cried out, and turned to +go on. + +''Tis she! my life, 'tis she said Festus, now first recognizing Anne. +'Fair Anne, I will not part from you till I see you safe at your own dear +door.' + +'She's in my hands,' said Loveday civilly, though not without firmness, +'so it is not required, thank you.' + +'Man, had I but my sword--' + +'Come,' said Loveday, 'I don't want to quarrel. Let's put it to her. +Whichever of us she likes best, he shall take her home. Miss Anne, +which?' + +Anne would much rather have gone home alone, but seeing the remainder of +the yeomanry party staggering up she thought it best to secure a +protector of some kind. How to choose one without offending the other +and provoking a quarrel was the difficulty. + +'You must both walk home with me,' she adroitly said, 'one on one side, +and one on the other. And if you are not quite civil to one another all +the time, I'll never speak to either of you again.' + +They agreed to the terms, and the other yeomen arriving at this time said +they would go also as rearguard. + +'Very well,' said Anne. 'Now go and get your hats, and don't be long.' + +'Ah, yes; our hats,' said the yeomanry, whose heads were so hot that they +had forgotten their nakedness till then. + +'You'll wait till we've got 'em--we won't be a moment,' said Festus +eagerly. + +Anne and Loveday said yes, and Festus ran back to the house, followed by +all his band. + +'Now let's run and leave 'em,' said Anne, when they were out of hearing. + +'But we've promised to wait!' said the trumpet-major in surprise. + +'Promised to wait!' said Anne indignantly. 'As if one ought to keep such +a promise to drunken men as that. You can do as you like, I shall go.' + +'It is hardly fair to leave the chaps,' said Loveday reluctantly, and +looking back at them. But she heard no more, and flitting off under the +trees, was soon lost to his sight. + +Festus and the rest had by this time reached Uncle Benjy's door, which +they were discomfited and astonished to find closed. They began to +knock, and then to kick at the venerable timber, till the old man's head, +crowned with a tasselled nightcap, appeared at an upper window, followed +by his shoulders, with apparently nothing on but his shirt, though it was +in truth a sheet thrown over his coat. + +'Fie, fie upon ye all for making such a hullaballoo at a weak old man's +door,' he said, yawning. 'What's in ye to rouse honest folks at this +time o' night?' + +'Hang me--why--it's Uncle Benjy! Haw--haw--haw?' said Festus. 'Nunc, +why how the devil's this? 'Tis I--Festus--wanting to come in.' + +'O no, no, my clever man, whoever you be!' said Uncle Benjy in a tone of +incredulous integrity. 'My nephew, dear boy, is miles away at quarters, +and sound asleep by this time, as becomes a good soldier. That story +won't do to-night, my man, not at all.' + +'Upon my soul 'tis I,' said Festus. + +'Not to-night, my man; not to-night! Anthony, bring my blunderbuss,' +said the farmer, turning and addressing nobody inside the room. + +'Let's break in the window-shutters,' said one of the others. + +'My wig, and we will!' said Festus. 'What a trick of the old man!' + +'Get some big stones,' said the yeomen, searching under the wall. + +'No; forbear, forbear,' said Festus, beginning to be frightened at the +spirit he had raised. 'I forget; we should drive him into fits, for he's +subject to 'em, and then perhaps 'twould be manslaughter. Comrades, we +must march! No, we'll lie in the barn. I'll see into this, take my word +for 't. Our honour is at stake. Now let's back to see my beauty home.' + +'We can't, as we hav'n't got our hats,' said one of his +fellow-troopers--in domestic life Jacob Noakes, of Muckleford Farm. + +'No more we can,' said Festus, in a melancholy tone. 'But I must go to +her and tell her the reason. She pulls me in spite of all.' + +'She's gone. I saw her flee across park while we were knocking at the +door,' said another of the yeomanry. + +'Gone!' said Festus, grinding his teeth and putting himself into a rigid +shape. 'Then 'tis my enemy--he has tempted her away with him! But I am +a rich man, and he's poor, and rides the King's horse while I ride my +own. Could I but find that fellow, that regular, that common man, I +would--' + +'Yes?' said the trumpet-major, coming up behind him. + +'I,'--said Festus, starting round,--'I would seize him by the hand and +say, "Guard her; if you are my friend, guard her from all harm!"' + +'A good speech. And I will, too,' said Loveday heartily. + +'And now for shelter,' said Festus to his companions. + +They then unceremoniously left Loveday, without wishing him good-night, +and proceeded towards the barn. He crossed the park and ascended the +down to the camp, grieved that he had given Anne cause of complaint, and +fancying that she held him of slight account beside his wealthier rival. + + + + +X. THE MATCH-MAKING VIRTUES OF A DOUBLE GARDEN + + +Anne was so flurried by the military incidents attending her return home +that she was almost afraid to venture alone outside her mother's +premises. Moreover, the numerous soldiers, regular and otherwise, that +haunted Overcombe and its neighbourhood, were getting better acquainted +with the villagers, and the result was that they were always standing at +garden gates, walking in the orchards, or sitting gossiping just within +cottage doors, with the bowls of their tobacco-pipes thrust outside for +politeness' sake, that they might not defile the air of the household. +Being gentlemen of a gallant and most affectionate nature, they naturally +turned their heads and smiled if a pretty girl passed by, which was +rather disconcerting to the latter if she were unused to society. Every +belle in the village soon had a lover, and when the belles were all +allotted those who scarcely deserved that title had their turn, many of +the soldiers being not at all particular about half-an-inch of nose more +or less, a trifling deficiency of teeth, or a larger crop of freckles +than is customary in the Saxon race. Thus, with one and another, +courtship began to be practised in Overcombe on rather a large scale, and +the dispossessed young men who had been born in the place were left to +take their walks alone, where, instead of studying the works of nature, +they meditated gross outrages on the brave men who had been so good as to +visit their village. + +Anne watched these romantic proceedings from her window with much +interest, and when she saw how triumphantly other handsome girls of the +neighbourhood walked by on the gorgeous arms of Lieutenant Knockheelmann, +Cornet Flitzenhart, and Captain Klaspenkissen, of the thrilling York +Hussars, who swore the most picturesque foreign oaths, and had a +wonderful sort of estate or property called the Vaterland in their +country across the sea, she was filled with a sense of her own +loneliness. It made her think of things which she tried to forget, and +to look into a little drawer at something soft and brown that lay in a +curl there, wrapped in paper. At last she could bear it no longer, and +went downstairs. + +'Where are you going?' said Mrs. Garland. + +'To see the folks, because I am so gloomy!' + +'Certainly not at present, Anne.' + +'Why not, mother?' said Anne, blushing with an indefinite sense of being +very wicked. + +'Because you must not. I have been going to tell you several times not +to go into the street at this time of day. Why not walk in the morning? +There's young Mr. Derriman would be glad to--' + +'Don't mention him, mother, don't!' + +'Well then, dear, walk in the garden.' + +So poor Anne, who really had not the slightest wish to throw her heart +away upon a soldier, but merely wanted to displace old thoughts by new, +turned into the inner garden from day to day, and passed a good many +hours there, the pleasant birds singing to her, and the delightful +butterflies alighting on her hat, and the horrid ants running up her +stockings. + +This garden was undivided from Loveday's, the two having originally been +the single garden of the whole house. It was a quaint old place, +enclosed by a thorn hedge so shapely and dense from incessant clipping +that the mill-boy could walk along the top without sinking in--a feat +which he often performed as a means of filling out his day's work. The +soil within was of that intense fat blackness which is only seen after a +century of constant cultivation. The paths were grassed over, so that +people came and went upon them without being heard. The grass harboured +slugs, and on this account the miller was going to replace it by gravel +as soon as he had time; but as he had said this for thirty years without +doing it, the grass and the slugs seemed likely to remain. + +The miller's man attended to Mrs. Garland's piece of the garden as well +as to the larger portion, digging, planting, and weeding indifferently in +both, the miller observing with reason that it was not worth while for a +helpless widow lady to hire a man for her little plot when his man, +working alongside, could tend it without much addition to his labour. The +two households were on this account even more closely united in the +garden than within the mill. Out there they were almost one family, and +they talked from plot to plot with a zest and animation which Mrs. +Garland could never have anticipated when she first removed thither after +her husband's death. + +The lower half of the garden, farthest from the road, was the most snug +and sheltered part of this snug and sheltered enclosure, and it was well +watered as the land of Lot. Three small brooks, about a yard wide, ran +with a tinkling sound from side to side between the plots, crossing the +path under wood slabs laid as bridges, and passing out of the garden +through little tunnels in the hedge. The brooks were so far overhung at +their brinks by grass and garden produce that, had it not been for their +perpetual babbling, few would have noticed that they were there. This +was where Anne liked best to linger when her excursions became restricted +to her own premises; and in a spot of the garden not far removed the +trumpet-major loved to linger also. + +Having by virtue of his office no stable duty to perform, he came down +from the camp to the mill almost every day; and Anne, finding that he +adroitly walked and sat in his father's portion of the garden whenever +she did so in the other half, could not help smiling and speaking to him. +So his epaulettes and blue jacket, and Anne's yellow gipsy hat, were +often seen in different parts of the garden at the same time; but he +never intruded into her part of the enclosure, nor did she into +Loveday's. She always spoke to him when she saw him there, and he +replied in deep, firm accents across the gooseberry bushes, or through +the tall rows of flowering peas, as the case might be. He thus gave her +accounts at fifteen paces of his experiences in camp, in quarters, in +Flanders, and elsewhere; of the difference between line and column, of +forced marches, billeting, and such-like, together with his hopes of +promotion. Anne listened at first indifferently; but knowing no one else +so good-natured and experienced, she grew interested in him as in a +brother. By degrees his gold lace, buckles, and spurs lost all their +strangeness and were as familiar to her as her own clothes. + +At last Mrs. Garland noticed this growing friendship, and began to +despair of her motherly scheme of uniting Anne to the moneyed Festus. Why +she could not take prompt steps to check interference with her plans +arose partly from her nature, which was the reverse of managing, and +partly from a new emotional circumstance with which she found it +difficult to reckon. The near neighbourhood that had produced the +friendship of Anne for John Loveday was slowly effecting a warmer liking +between her mother and his father. + +Thus the month of July passed. The troop horses came with the regularity +of clockwork twice a day down to drink under her window, and, as the +weather grew hotter, kicked up their heels and shook their heads +furiously under the maddening sting of the dun-fly. The green leaves in +the garden became of a darker dye, the gooseberries ripened, and the +three brooks were reduced to half their winter volume. + +At length the earnest trumpet-major obtained Mrs. Garland's consent to +take her and her daughter to the camp, which they had not yet viewed from +any closer point than their own windows. So one afternoon they went, the +miller being one of the party. The villagers were by this time driving a +roaring trade with the soldiers, who purchased of them every description +of garden produce, milk, butter, and eggs at liberal prices. The figures +of these rural sutlers could be seen creeping up the slopes, laden like +bees, to a spot in the rear of the camp, where there was a kind of market- +place on the greensward. + +Mrs. Garland, Anne, and the miller were conducted from one place to +another, and on to the quarter where the soldiers' wives lived who had +not been able to get lodgings in the cottages near. The most sheltered +place had been chosen for them, and snug huts had been built for their +use by their husbands, of clods, hurdles, a little thatch, or whatever +they could lay hands on. The trumpet-major conducted his friends thence +to the large barn which had been appropriated as a hospital, and to the +cottage with its windows bricked up, that was used as the magazine; then +they inspected the lines of shining dark horses (each representing the +then high figure of two-and-twenty guineas purchase money), standing +patiently at the ropes which stretched from one picket-post to another, a +bank being thrown up in front of them as a protection at night. + +They passed on to the tents of the German Legion, a well-grown and rather +dandy set of men, with a poetical look about their faces which rendered +them interesting to feminine eyes. Hanoverians, Saxons, Prussians, +Swedes, Hungarians, and other foreigners were numbered in their ranks. +They were cleaning arms, which they leant carefully against a rail when +the work was complete. + +On their return they passed the mess-house, a temporary wooden building +with a brick chimney. As Anne and her companions went by, a group of +three or four of the hussars were standing at the door talking to a +dashing young man, who was expatiating on the qualities of a horse that +one was inclined to buy. Anne recognized Festus Derriman in the seller, +and Cripplestraw was trotting the animal up and down. As soon as she +caught the yeoman's eye he came forward, making some friendly remark to +the miller, and then turning to Miss Garland, who kept her eyes steadily +fixed on the distant landscape till he got so near that it was impossible +to do so longer. Festus looked from Anne to the trumpet-major, and from +the trumpet-major back to Anne, with a dark expression of face, as if he +suspected that there might be a tender understanding between them. + +'Are you offended with me?' he said to her in a low voice of repressed +resentment. + +'No,' said Anne. + +'When are you coming to the hall again?' + +'Never, perhaps.' + +'Nonsense, Anne,' said Mrs. Garland, who had come near, and smiled +pleasantly on Festus. 'You can go at any time, as usual.' + +'Let her come with me now, Mrs. Garland; I should be pleased to walk +along with her. My man can lead home the horse.' + +'Thank you, but I shall not come,' said Miss Anne coldly. + +The widow looked unhappily in her daughter's face, distressed between her +desire that Anne should encourage Festus, and her wish to consult Anne's +own feelings. + +'Leave her alone, leave her alone,' said Festus, his gaze blackening. +'Now I think of it I am glad she can't come with me, for I am engaged;' +and he stalked away. + +Anne moved on with her mother, young Loveday silently following, and they +began to descend the hill. + +'Well, where's Mr. Loveday?' asked Mrs. Garland. + +'Father's behind,' said John. + +Mrs. Garland looked behind her solicitously; and the miller, who had been +waiting for the event, beckoned to her. + +'I'll overtake you in a minute,' she said to the younger pair, and went +back, her colour, for some unaccountable reason, rising as she did so. +The miller and she then came on slowly together, conversing in very low +tones, and when they got to the bottom they stood still. Loveday and +Anne waited for them, saying but little to each other, for the rencounter +with Festus had damped the spirits of both. At last the widow's private +talk with Miller Loveday came to an end, and she hastened onward, the +miller going in another direction to meet a man on business. When she +reached the trumpet-major and Anne she was looking very bright and rather +flurried, and seemed sorry when Loveday said that he must leave them and +return to the camp. They parted in their usual friendly manner, and Anne +and her mother were left to walk the few remaining yards alone. + +'There, I've settled it,' said Mrs. Garland. 'Anne, what are you +thinking about? I have settled in my mind that it is all right.' + +'What's all right?' said Anne. + +'That you do not care for Derriman, and mean to encourage John Loveday. +What's all the world so long as folks are happy! Child, don't take any +notice of what I have said about Festus, and don't meet him any more.' + +'What a weathercock you are, mother! Why should you say that just now?' + +'It is easy to call me a weathercock,' said the matron, putting on the +look of a good woman; 'but I have reasoned it out, and at last, thank +God, I have got over my ambition. The Lovedays are our true and only +friends, and Mr. Festus Derriman, with all his money, is nothing to us at +all.' + +'But,' said Anne, 'what has made you change all of a sudden from what you +have said before?' + +'My feelings and my reason, which I am thankful for!' + +Anne knew that her mother's sentiments were naturally so versatile that +they could not be depended on for two days together; but it did not occur +to her for the moment that a change had been helped on in the present +case by a romantic talk between Mrs. Garland and the miller. But Mrs. +Garland could not keep the secret long. She chatted gaily as she walked, +and before they had entered the house she said, 'What do you think Mr +Loveday has been saying to me, dear Anne?' + +Anne did not know at all. + +'Why, he has asked me to marry him.' + + + + +XI. OUR PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED BY THE PRESENCE OF ROYALTY + + +To explain the miller's sudden proposal it is only necessary to go back +to that moment when Anne, Festus, and Mrs. Garland were talking together +on the down. John Loveday had fallen behind so as not to interfere with +a meeting in which he was decidedly superfluous; and his father, who +guessed the trumpet-major's secret, watched his face as he stood. John's +face was sad, and his eyes followed Mrs. Garland's encouraging manner to +Festus in a way which plainly said that every parting of her lips was +tribulation to him. The miller loved his son as much as any miller or +private gentleman could do, and he was pained to see John's gloom at such +a trivial circumstance. So what did he resolve but to help John there +and then by precipitating a matter which, had he himself been the only +person concerned, he would have delayed for another six months. + +He had long liked the society of his impulsive, tractable neighbour, Mrs. +Garland; had mentally taken her up and pondered her in connexion with the +question whether it would not be for the happiness of both if she were to +share his home, even though she was a little his superior in antecedents +and knowledge. In fact he loved her; not tragically, but to a very +creditable extent for his years; that is, next to his sons, Bob and John, +though he knew very well of that ploughed-ground appearance near the +corners of her once handsome eyes, and that the little depression in her +right cheek was not the lingering dimple it was poetically assumed to be, +but a result of the abstraction of some worn-out nether millstones within +the cheek by Rootle, the Budmouth man, who lived by such practices on the +heads of the elderly. But what of that, when he had lost two to each one +of hers, and exceeded her in age by some eight years! To do John a +service, then, he quickened his designs, and put the question to her +while they were standing under the eyes of the younger pair. + +Mrs. Garland, though she had been interested in the miller for a long +time, and had for a moment now and then thought on this question as far +as, 'Suppose he should, 'If he were to,' and so on, had never thought +much further; and she was really taken by surprise when the question +came. She answered without affectation that she would think over the +proposal; and thus they parted. + +Her mother's infirmity of purpose set Anne thinking, and she was suddenly +filled with a conviction that in such a case she ought to have some +purpose herself. Mrs. Garland's complacency at the miller's offer had, +in truth, amazed her. While her mother had held up her head, and +recommended Festus, it had seemed a very pretty thing to rebel; but the +pressure being removed an awful sense of her own responsibility took +possession of her mind. As there was no longer anybody to be wise or +ambitious for her, surely she should be wise and ambitious for herself, +discountenance her mother's attachment, and encourage Festus in his +addresses, for her own and her mother's good. There had been a time when +a Loveday thrilled her own heart; but that was long ago, before she had +thought of position or differences. To wake into cold daylight like +this, when and because her mother had gone into the land of romance, was +dreadful and new to her, and like an increase of years without living +them. + +But it was easier to think that she ought to marry the yeoman than to +take steps for doing it; and she went on living just as before, only with +a little more thoughtfulness in her eyes. + +Two days after the visit to the camp, when she was again in the garden, +Soldier Loveday said to her, at a distance of five rows of beans and a +parsley-bed-- + +'You have heard the news, Miss Garland?' + +'No,' said Anne, without looking up from a book she was reading. + +'The King is coming to-morrow.' + +'The King?' She looked up then. + +'Yes; to Gloucester Lodge; and he will pass this way. He can't arrive +till long past the middle of the night, if what they say is true, that he +is timed to change horses at Woodyates Inn--between Mid and South +Wessex--at twelve o'clock,' continued Loveday, encouraged by her interest +to cut off the parsley-bed from the distance between them. + +Miller Loveday came round the corner of the house. + +'Have ye heard about the King coming, Miss Maidy Anne?' he said. + +Anne said that she had just heard of it; and the trumpet-major, who +hardly welcomed his father at such a moment, explained what he knew of +the matter. + +'And you will go with your regiment to meet 'en, I suppose?' said old +Loveday. + +Young Loveday said that the men of the German Legion were to perform that +duty. And turning half from his father, and half towards Anne, he added, +in a tentative tone, that he thought he might get leave for the night, if +anybody would like to be taken to the top of the Ridgeway over which the +royal party must pass. + +Anne, knowing by this time of the budding hope in the gallant dragoon's +mind, and not wishing to encourage it, said, 'I don't want to go.' + +The miller looked disappointed as well as John. + +'Your mother might like to?' + +'Yes, I am going indoors, and I'll ask her if you wish me to,' said she. + +She went indoors and rather coldly told her mother of the proposal. Mrs. +Garland, though she had determined not to answer the miller's question on +matrimony just yet, was quite ready for this jaunt, and in spite of Anne +she sailed off at once to the garden to hear more about it. When she re- +entered, she said-- + +'Anne, I have not seen the King or the King's horses for these many +years; and I am going.' + +'Ah, it is well to be you, mother,' said Anne, in an elderly tone. + +'Then you won't come with us?' said Mrs. Garland, rather rebuffed. + +'I have very different things to think of,' said her daughter with +virtuous emphasis, 'than going to see sights at that time of night.' + +Mrs. Garland was sorry, but resolved to adhere to the arrangement. The +night came on; and it having gone abroad that the King would pass by the +road, many of the villagers went out to see the procession. When the two +Lovedays and Mrs. Garland were gone, Anne bolted the door for security, +and sat down to think again on her grave responsibilities in the choice +of a husband, now that her natural guardian could no longer be trusted. + +A knock came to the door. + +Anne's instinct was at once to be silent, that the comer might think the +family had retired. + +The knocking person, however, was not to be easily persuaded. He had in +fact seen rays of light over the top of the shutter, and, unable to get +an answer, went on to the door of the mill, which was still going, the +miller sometimes grinding all night when busy. The grinder accompanied +the stranger to Mrs. Garland's door. + +'The daughter is certainly at home, sir,' said the grinder. 'I'll go +round to t'other side, and see if she's there, Master Derriman.' + +'I want to take her out to see the King,' said Festus. + +Anne had started at the sound of the voice. No opportunity could have +been better for carrying out her new convictions on the disposal of her +hand. But in her mortal dislike of Festus, Anne forgot her principles, +and her idea of keeping herself above the Lovedays. Tossing on her hat +and blowing out the candle, she slipped out at the back door, and hastily +followed in the direction that her mother and the rest had taken. She +overtook them as they were beginning to climb the hill. + +'What! you have altered your mind after all?' said the widow. 'How came +you to do that, my dear?' + +'I thought I might as well come,' said Anne. + +'To be sure you did,' said the miller heartily. 'A good deal better than +biding at home there.' + +John said nothing, though she could almost see through the gloom how glad +he was that she had altered her mind. When they reached the ridge over +which the highway stretched they found many of their neighbours who had +got there before them idling on the grass border between the roadway and +the hedge, enjoying a sort of midnight picnic, which it was easy to do, +the air being still and dry. Some carriages were also standing near, +though most people of the district who possessed four wheels, or even +two, had driven into the town to await the King there. From this height +could be seen in the distance the position of the watering-place, an +additional number of lanterns, lamps, and candles having been lighted to- +night by the loyal burghers to grace the royal entry, if it should occur +before dawn. + +Mrs. Garland touched Anne's elbow several times as they walked, and the +young woman at last understood that this was meant as a hint to her to +take the trumpet-major's arm, which its owner was rather suggesting than +offering to her. Anne wondered what infatuation was possessing her +mother, declined to take the arm, and contrived to get in front with the +miller, who mostly kept in the van to guide the others' footsteps. The +trumpet-major was left with Mrs. Garland, and Anne's encouraging pursuit +of them induced him to say a few words to the former. + +'By your leave, ma'am, I'll speak to you on something that concerns my +mind very much indeed?' + +'Certainly.' + +'It is my wish to be allowed to pay my addresses to your daughter.' + +'I thought you meant that,' said Mrs. Garland simply. + +'And you'll not object?' + +'I shall leave it to her. I don't think she will agree, even if I do.' + +The soldier sighed, and seemed helpless. 'Well, I can but ask her,' he +said. + +The spot on which they had finally chosen to wait for the King was by a +field gate, whence the white road could be seen for a long distance +northwards by day, and some little distance now. They lingered and +lingered, but no King came to break the silence of that beautiful summer +night. As half-hour after half-hour glided by, and nobody came, Anne +began to get weary; she knew why her mother did not propose to go back, +and regretted the reason. She would have proposed it herself, but that +Mrs. Garland seemed so cheerful, and as wide awake as at noonday, so that +it was almost a cruelty to disturb her. + +The trumpet-major at last made up his mind, and tried to draw Anne into a +private conversation. The feeling which a week ago had been a vague and +piquant aspiration, was to-day altogether too lively for the reasoning of +this warm-hearted soldier to regulate. So he persevered in his intention +to catch her alone, and at last, in spite of her manoeuvres to the +contrary, he succeeded. The miller and Mrs. Garland had walked about +fifty yards further on, and Anne and himself were left standing by the +gate. + +But the gallant musician's soul was so much disturbed by tender +vibrations and by the sense of his presumption that he could not begin; +and it may be questioned if he would ever have broached the subject at +all, had not a distant church clock opportunely assisted him by striking +the hour of three. The trumpet-major heaved a breath of relief. + +'That clock strikes in G sharp,' he said. + +'Indeed--G sharp?' said Anne civilly. + +'Yes. 'Tis a fine-toned bell. I used to notice that note when I was a +boy.' + +'Did you--the very same?' + +'Yes; and since then I had a wager about that bell with the bandmaster of +the North Wessex Militia. He said the note was G; I said it wasn't. When +we found it G sharp we didn't know how to settle it.' + +'It is not a deep note for a clock.' + +'O no! The finest tenor bell about here is the bell of Peter's, +Casterbridge--in E flat. Tum-m-m-m--that's the note--tum-m-m-m.' The +trumpet-major sounded from far down his throat what he considered to be E +flat, with a parenthetic sense of luxury unquenchable even by his present +distraction. + +'Shall we go on to where my mother is?' said Anne, less impressed by the +beauty of the note than the trumpet-major himself was. + +'In one minute,' he said tremulously. 'Talking of music--I fear you +don't think the rank of a trumpet-major much to compare with your own?' + +'I do. I think a trumpet-major a very respectable man.' + +'I am glad to hear you say that. It is given out by the King's command +that trumpet-majors are to be considered respectable.' + +'Indeed! Then I am, by chance, more loyal than I thought for.' + +'I get a good deal a year extra to the trumpeters, because of my +position.' + +'That's very nice.' + +'And I am not supposed ever to drink with the trumpeters who serve +beneath me.' + +'Naturally.' + +'And, by the orders of the War Office, I am to exert over them (that's +the government word) exert over them full authority; and if any one +behaves towards me with the least impropriety, or neglects my orders, he +is to be confined and reported.' + +'It is really a dignified post,' she said, with, however, a reserve of +enthusiasm which was not altogether encouraging. + +'And of course some day I shall,' stammered the dragoon--'shall be in +rather a better position than I am at present.' + +'I am glad to hear it, Mr. Loveday.' + +'And in short, Mistress Anne,' continued John Loveday bravely and +desperately, 'may I pay court to you in the hope that--no, no, don't go +away!--you haven't heard yet--that you may make me the happiest of men; +not yet, but when peace is proclaimed and all is smooth and easy again? I +can't put it any better, though there's more to be explained.' + +'This is most awkward,' said Anne, evidently with pain. 'I cannot +possibly agree; believe me, Mr. Loveday, I cannot.' + +'But there's more than this. You would be surprised to see what snug +rooms the married trumpet- and sergeant-majors have in quarters.' + +'Barracks are not all; consider camp and war.' + +'That brings me to my strong point!' exclaimed the soldier hopefully. 'My +father is better off than most non-commissioned officers' fathers; and +there's always a home for you at his house in any emergency. I can tell +you privately that he has enough to keep us both, and if you wouldn't +hear of barracks, well, peace once established, I'd live at home as a +miller and farmer--next door to your own mother.' + +'My mother would be sure to object,' expostulated Anne. + +'No; she leaves it all to you.' + +'What! you have asked her?' said Anne, with surprise. + +'Yes. I thought it would not be honourable to act otherwise.' + +'That's very good of you,' said Anne, her face warming with a generous +sense of his straightforwardness. 'But my mother is so entirely ignorant +of a soldier's life, and the life of a soldier's wife--she is so simple +in all such matters, that I cannot listen to you any more readily for +what she may say.' + +'Then it is all over for me,' said the poor trumpet-major, wiping his +face and putting away his handkerchief with an air of finality. + +Anne was silent. Any woman who has ever tried will know without +explanation what an unpalatable task it is to dismiss, even when she does +not love him, a man who has all the natural and moral qualities she would +desire, and only fails in the social. Would-be lovers are not so +numerous, even with the best women, that the sacrifice of one can be felt +as other than a good thing wasted, in a world where there are few good +things. + +'You are not angry, Miss Garland?' said he, finding that she did not +speak. + +'O no. Don't let us say anything more about this now.' And she moved +on. + +When she drew near to the miller and her mother she perceived that they +were engaged in a conversation of that peculiar kind which is all the +more full and communicative from the fact of definitive words being few. +In short, here the game was succeeding which with herself had failed. It +was pretty clear from the symptoms, marks, tokens, telegraphs, and +general byplay between widower and widow, that Miller Loveday must have +again said to Mrs. Garland some such thing as he had said before, with +what result this time she did not know. + +As the situation was delicate, Anne halted awhile apart from them. The +trumpet-major, quite ignorant of how his cause was entered into by the +white-coated man in the distance (for his father had not yet told him of +his designs upon Mrs. Garland), did not advance, but stood still by the +gate, as though he were attending a princess, waiting till he should be +called up. Thus they lingered, and the day began to break. Mrs. Garland +and the miller took no heed of the time, and what it was bringing to +earth and sky, so occupied were they with themselves; but Anne in her +place and the trumpet-major in his, each in private thought of no bright +kind, watched the gradual glory of the east through all its tones and +changes. The world of birds and insects got lively, the blue and the +yellow and the gold of Loveday's uniform again became distinct; the sun +bored its way upward, the fields, the trees, and the distant landscape +kindled to flame, and the trumpet-major, backed by a lilac shadow as tall +as a steeple, blazed in the rays like a very god of war. + +It was half-past three o'clock. A short time after, a rattle of horses +and wheels reached their ears from the quarter in which they gazed, and +there appeared upon the white line of road a moving mass, which presently +ascended the hill and drew near. + +Then there arose a huzza from the few knots of watchers gathered there, +and they cried, 'Long live King Jarge!' The cortege passed abreast. It +consisted of three travelling-carriages, escorted by a detachment of the +German Legion. Anne was told to look in the first carriage--a +post-chariot drawn by four horses--for the King and Queen, and was +rewarded by seeing a profile reminding her of the current coin of the +realm; but as the party had been travelling all night, and the spectators +here gathered were few, none of the royal family looked out of the +carriage windows. It was said that the two elder princesses were in the +same carriage, but they remained invisible. The next vehicle, a coach +and four, contained more princesses, and the third some of their +attendants. + +'Thank God, I have seen my King!' said Mrs. Garland, when they had all +gone by. + +Nobody else expressed any thankfulness, for most of them had expected a +more pompous procession than the bucolic tastes of the King cared to +indulge in; and one old man said grimly that that sight of dusty old +leather coaches was not worth waiting for. Anne looked hither and +thither in the bright rays of the day, each of her eyes having a little +sun in it, which gave her glance a peculiar golden fire, and kindled the +brown curls grouped over her forehead to a yellow brilliancy, and made +single hairs, blown astray by the night, look like lacquered wires. She +was wondering if Festus were anywhere near, but she could not see him. + +Before they left the ridge they turned their attention towards the Royal +watering-place, which was visible at this place only as a portion of the +sea-shore, from which the night-mist was rolling slowly back. The sea +beyond was still wrapped in summer fog, the ships in the roads showing +through it as black spiders suspended in the air. While they looked and +walked a white jet of smoke burst from a spot which the miller knew to be +the battery in front of the King's residence, and then the report of guns +reached their ears. This announcement was answered by a salute from the +Castle of the adjoining Isle, and the ships in the neighbouring +anchorage. All the bells in the town began ringing. The King and his +family had arrived. + + + + +XII. HOW EVERYBODY GREAT AND SMALL CLIMBED TO THE TOP OF THE DOWNS + + +As the days went on, echoes of the life and bustle of the town reached +the ears of the quiet people in Overcombe hollow--exciting and moving +those unimportant natives as a ground-swell moves the weeds in a cave. +Travelling-carriages of all kinds and colours climbed and descended the +road that led towards the seaside borough. Some contained those +personages of the King's suite who had not kept pace with him in his +journey from Windsor; others were the coaches of aristocracy, big and +little, whom news of the King's arrival drew thither for their own +pleasure: so that the highway, as seen from the hills about Overcombe, +appeared like an ant-walk--a constant succession of dark spots creeping +along its surface at nearly uniform rates of progress, and all in one +direction. + +The traffic and intelligence between camp and town passed in a measure +over the villagers' heads. It being summer time the miller was much +occupied with business, and the trumpet-major was too constantly engaged +in marching between the camp and Gloucester Lodge with the rest of the +dragoons to bring his friends any news for some days. + +At last he sent a message that there was to be a review on the downs by +the King, and that it was fixed for the day following. This information +soon spread through the village and country round, and next morning the +whole population of Overcombe--except two or three very old men and +women, a few babies and their nurses, a cripple, and Corporal +Tullidge--ascended the slope with the crowds from afar, and awaited the +events of the day. + +The miller wore his best coat on this occasion, which meant a good deal. +An Overcombe man in those days would have a best coat, and keep it as a +best coat half his life. The miller's had seen five and twenty summers +chiefly through the chinks of a clothes-box, and was not at all shabby as +yet, though getting singular. But that could not be helped; common coats +and best coats were distinct species, and never interchangeable. Living +so near the scene of the review he walked up the hill, accompanied by +Mrs. Garland and Anne as usual. + +It was a clear day, with little wind stirring, and the view from the +downs, one of the most extensive in the county, was unclouded. The eye +of any observer who cared for such things swept over the wave-washed +town, and the bay beyond, and the Isle, with its pebble bank, lying on +the sea to the left of these, like a great crouching animal tethered to +the mainland. On the extreme east of the marine horizon, St. Aldhelm's +Head closed the scene, the sea to the southward of that point glaring +like a mirror under the sun. Inland could be seen Badbury Rings, where a +beacon had been recently erected; and nearer, Rainbarrow, on Egdon Heath, +where another stood: farther to the left Bulbarrow, where there was yet +another. Not far from this came Nettlecombe Tout; to the west, Dogberry +Hill, and Black'on near to the foreground, the beacon thereon being built +of furze faggots thatched with straw, and standing on the spot where the +monument now raises its head. + +At nine o'clock the troops marched upon the ground--some from the camps +in the vicinity, and some from quarters in the different towns round +about. The approaches to the down were blocked with carriages of all +descriptions, ages, and colours, and with pedestrians of every class. At +ten the royal personages were said to be drawing near, and soon after the +King, accompanied by the Dukes of Cambridge and Cumberland, and a couple +of generals, appeared on horseback, wearing a round hat turned up at the +side, with a cockade and military feather. (Sensation among the crowd.) +Then the Queen and three of the princesses entered the field in a great +coach drawn by six beautiful cream-coloured horses. Another coach, with +four horses of the same sort, brought the two remaining princesses. +(Confused acclamations, 'There's King Jarge!' 'That's Queen Sharlett!' +'Princess 'Lizabeth!' 'Princesses Sophiar and Meelyer!' etc., from the +surrounding spectators.) + +Anne and her party were fortunate enough to secure a position on the top +of one of the barrows which rose here and there on the down; and the +miller having gallantly constructed a little cairn of flints, he placed +the two women thereon, by which means they were enabled to see over the +heads, horses, and coaches of the multitudes below and around. At the +march-past the miller's eye, which had been wandering about for the +purpose, discovered his son in his place by the trumpeters, who had moved +forwards in two ranks, and were sounding the march. + +'That's John!' he cried to the widow. 'His trumpet-sling is of two +colours, d'ye see; and the others be plain.' + +Mrs. Garland too saw him now, and enthusiastically admired him from her +hands upwards, and Anne silently did the same. But before the young +woman's eyes had quite left the trumpet-major they fell upon the figure +of Yeoman Festus riding with his troop, and keeping his face at a medium +between haughtiness and mere bravery. He certainly looked as soldierly +as any of his own corps, and felt more soldierly than half-a-dozen, as +anybody could see by observing him. Anne got behind the miller, in case +Festus should discover her, and, regardless of his monarch, rush upon her +in a rage with, 'Why the devil did you run away from me that night--hey, +madam?' But she resolved to think no more of him just now, and to stick +to Loveday, who was her mother's friend. In this she was helped by the +stirring tones which burst from the latter gentleman and his subordinates +from time to time. + +'Well,' said the miller complacently, 'there's few of more consequence in +a regiment than a trumpeter. He's the chap that tells 'em what to do, +after all. Hey, Mrs. Garland?' + +'So he is, miller,' said she. + +'They could no more do without Jack and his men than they could without +generals.' + +'Indeed they could not,' said Mrs. Garland again, in a tone of pleasant +agreement with any one in Great Britain or Ireland. + +It was said that the line that day was three miles long, reaching from +the high ground on the right of where the people stood to the turnpike +road on the left. After the review came a sham fight, during which +action the crowd dispersed more widely over the downs, enabling Widow +Garland to get still clearer glimpses of the King, and his handsome +charger, and the head of the Queen, and the elbows and shoulders of the +princesses in the carriages, and fractional parts of General Garth and +the Duke of Cumberland; which sights gave her great gratification. She +tugged at her daughter at every opportunity, exclaiming, 'Now you can see +his feather!' 'There's her hat!' 'There's her Majesty's India muslin +shawl!' in a minor form of ecstasy, that made the miller think her more +girlish and animated than her daughter Anne. + +In those military manoeuvres the miller followed the fortunes of one man; +Anne Garland of two. The spectators, who, unlike our party, had no +personal interest in the soldiery, saw only troops and battalions in the +concrete, straight lines of red, straight lines of blue, white lines +formed of innumerable knee-breeches, black lines formed of many gaiters, +coming and going in kaleidoscopic change. Who thought of every point in +the line as an isolated man, each dwelling all to himself in the +hermitage of his own mind? One person did, a young man far removed from +the barrow where the Garlands and Miller Loveday stood. The natural +expression of his face was somewhat obscured by the bronzing effects of +rough weather, but the lines of his mouth showed that affectionate +impulses were strong within him--perhaps stronger than judgment well +could regulate. He wore a blue jacket with little brass buttons, and was +plainly a seafaring man. + +Meanwhile, in the part of the plain where rose the tumulus on which the +miller had established himself, a broad-brimmed tradesman was elbowing +his way along. He saw Mr. Loveday from the base of the barrow, and +beckoned to attract his attention. Loveday went halfway down, and the +other came up as near as he could. + +'Miller,' said the man, 'a letter has been lying at the post-office for +you for the last three days. If I had known that I should see ye here +I'd have brought it along with me.' + +The miller thanked him for the news, and they parted, Loveday returning +to the summit. 'What a very strange thing!' he said to Mrs. Garland, who +had looked inquiringly at his face, now very grave. 'That was Budmouth +postmaster, and he says there's a letter for me. Ah, I now call to mind +that there _was_ a letter in the candle three days ago this very night--a +large red one; but foolish-like I thought nothing o't. Who _can_ that +letter be from?' + +A letter at this time was such an event for hamleteers, even of the +miller's respectable standing, that Loveday thenceforward was thrown into +a fit of abstraction which prevented his seeing any more of the sham +fight, or the people, or the King. Mrs. Garland imbibed some of his +concern, and suggested that the letter might come from his son Robert. + +'I should naturally have thought that,' said Miller Loveday; 'but he +wrote to me only two months ago, and his brother John heard from him +within the last four weeks, when he was just about starting on another +voyage. If you'll pardon me, Mrs. Garland, ma'am, I'll see if there's +any Overcombe man here who is going to Budmouth to-day, so that I may get +the letter by night-time. I cannot possibly go myself.' + +So Mr. Loveday left them for awhile; and as they were so near home Mrs. +Garland did not wait on the barrow for him to come back, but walked about +with Anne a little time, until they should be disposed to trot down the +slope to their own door. They listened to a man who was offering one +guinea to receive ten in case Buonaparte should be killed in three +months, and to other entertainments of that nature, which at this time +were not rare. Once during their peregrination the eyes of the sailor +before-mentioned fell upon Anne; but he glanced over her and passed her +unheedingly by. Loveday the elder was at this time on the other side of +the line, looking for a messenger to the town. At twelve o'clock the +review was over, and the King and his family left the hill. The troops +then cleared off the field, the spectators followed, and by one o'clock +the downs were again bare. + +They still spread their grassy surface to the sun as on that beautiful +morning not, historically speaking, so very long ago; but the King and +his fifteen thousand armed men, the horses, the bands of music, the +princesses, the cream-coloured teams--the gorgeous centre-piece, in +short, to which the downs were but the mere mount or margin--how entirely +have they all passed and gone!--lying scattered about the world as +military and other dust, some at Talavera, Albuera, Salamanca, Vittoria, +Toulouse, and Waterloo; some in home churchyards; and a few small +handfuls in royal vaults. + +In the afternoon John Loveday, lightened of his trumpet and trappings, +appeared at the old mill-house door, and beheld Anne standing at hers. + +'I saw you, Miss Garland,' said the soldier gaily. + +'Where was I?' said she, smiling. + +'On the top of the big mound--to the right of the King.' + +'And I saw you; lots of times,' she rejoined. + +Loveday seemed pleased. 'Did you really take the trouble to find me? +That was very good of you.' + +'Her eyes followed you everywhere,' said Mrs. Garland from an upper +window. + +'Of course I looked at the dragoons most,' said Anne, disconcerted. 'And +when I looked at them my eyes naturally fell upon the trumpets. I looked +at the dragoons generally, no more.' + +She did not mean to show any vexation to the trumpet-major, but he +fancied otherwise, and stood repressed. The situation was relieved by +the arrival of the miller, still looking serious. + +'I am very much concerned, John; I did not go to the review for nothing. +There's a letter a-waiting for me at Budmouth, and I must get it before +bedtime, or I shan't sleep a wink.' + +'I'll go, of course,' said John; 'and perhaps Miss Garland would like to +see what's doing there to-day? Everybody is gone or going; the road is +like a fair.' + +He spoke pleadingly, but Anne was not won to assent. + +'You can drive in the gig; 'twill do Blossom good,' said the miller. + +'Let David drive Miss Garland,' said the trumpet-major, not wishing to +coerce her; 'I would just as soon walk.' + +Anne joyfully welcomed this arrangement, and a time was fixed for the +start. + + + + +XIII. THE CONVERSATION IN THE CROWD + + +In the afternoon they drove off, John Loveday being nowhere visible. All +along the road they passed and were overtaken by vehicles of all +descriptions going in the same direction; among them the extraordinary +machines which had been invented for the conveyance of troops to any +point of the coast on which the enemy should land; they consisted of four +boards placed across a sort of trolly, thirty men of the volunteer +companies riding on each. + +The popular Georgian watering-place was in a paroxysm of gaiety. The +town was quite overpowered by the country round, much to the town's +delight and profit. The fear of invasion was such that six frigates lay +in the roads to ensure the safety of the royal family, and from the +regiments of horse and foot quartered at the barracks, or encamped on the +hills round about, a picket of a thousand men mounted guard every day in +front of Gloucester Lodge, where the King resided. When Anne and her +attendant reached this point, which they did on foot, stabling the horse +on the outskirts of the town, it was about six o'clock. The King was on +the Esplanade, and the soldiers were just marching past to mount guard. +The band formed in front of the King, and all the officers saluted as +they went by. + +Anne now felt herself close to and looking into the stream of recorded +history, within whose banks the littlest things are great, and outside +which she and the general bulk of the human race were content to live on +as an unreckoned, unheeded superfluity. + +When she turned from her interested gaze at this scene, there stood John +Loveday. She had had a presentiment that he would turn up in this +mysterious way. It was marvellous that he could have got there so +quickly; but there he was--not looking at the King, or at the crowd, but +waiting for the turn of her head. + +'Trumpet-major, I didn't see you,' said Anne demurely. 'How is it that +your regiment is not marching past?' + +'We take it by turns, and it is not our turn,' said Loveday. + +She wanted to know then if they were afraid that the King would be +carried off by the First Consul. Yes, Loveday told her; and his Majesty +was rather venturesome. A day or two before he had gone so far to sea +that he was nearly caught by some of the enemy's cruisers. 'He is +anxious to fight Boney single-handed,' he said. + +'What a good, brave King!' said Anne. + +Loveday seemed anxious to come to more personal matters. 'Will you let +me take you round to the other side, where you can see better?' he asked. +'The Queen and the princesses are at the window.' + +Anne passively assented. 'David, wait here for me,' she said; 'I shall +be back again in a few minutes.' + +The trumpet-major then led her off triumphantly, and they skirted the +crowd and came round on the side towards the sands. He told her +everything he could think of, military and civil, to which Anne returned +pretty syllables and parenthetic words about the colour of the sea and +the curl of the foam--a way of speaking that moved the soldier's heart +even more than long and direct speeches would have done. + +'And that other thing I asked you?' he ventured to say at last. + +'We won't speak of it.' + +'You don't dislike me?' + +'O no!' she said, gazing at the bathing-machines, digging children, and +other common objects of the seashore, as if her interest lay there rather +than with him. + +'But I am not worthy of the daughter of a genteel professional man--that's +what you mean?' + +'There's something more than worthiness required in such cases, you +know,' she said, still without calling her mind away from surrounding +scenes. 'Ah, there are the Queen and princesses at the window!' + +'Something more?' + +'Well, since you will make me speak, I mean the woman ought to love the +man.' + +The trumpet-major seemed to be less concerned about this than about her +supposed superiority. 'If it were all right on that point, would you +mind the other?' he asked, like a man who knows he is too persistent, yet +who cannot be still. + +'How can I say, when I don't know? What a pretty chip hat the elder +princess wears?' + +Her companion's general disappointment extended over him almost to his +lace and his plume. 'Your mother said, you know, Miss Anne--' + +'Yes, that's the worst of it,' she said. 'Let us go back to David; I +have seen all I want to see, Mr. Loveday.' + +The mass of the people had by this time noticed the Queen and princesses +at the window, and raised a cheer, to which the ladies waved their +embroidered handkerchiefs. Anne went back towards the pavement with her +trumpet-major, whom all the girls envied her, so fine-looking a soldier +was he; and not only for that, but because it was well known that he was +not a soldier from necessity, but from patriotism, his father having +repeatedly offered to set him up in business: his artistic taste in +preferring a horse and uniform to a dirty, rumbling flour-mill was +admired by all. She, too, had a very nice appearance in her best clothes +as she walked along--the sarcenet hat, muslin shawl, and tight-sleeved +gown being of the newest Overcombe fashion, that was only about a year +old in the adjoining town, and in London three or four. She could not be +harsh to Loveday and dismiss him curtly, for his musical pursuits had +refined him, educated him, and made him quite poetical. To-day he had +been particularly well-mannered and tender; so, instead of answering, +'Never speak to me like this again,' she merely put him off with a 'Let +us go back to David.' + +When they reached the place where they had left him David was gone. + +Anne was now positively vexed. 'What _shall_ I do?' she said. + +'He's only gone to drink the King's health,' said Loveday, who had +privately given David the money for performing that operation. 'Depend +upon it, he'll be back soon.' + +'Will you go and find him?' said she, with intense propriety in her looks +and tone. + +'I will,' said Loveday reluctantly; and he went. + +Anne stood still. She could now escape her gallant friend, for, although +the distance was long, it was not impossible to walk home. On the other +hand, Loveday was a good and sincere fellow, for whom she had almost a +brotherly feeling, and she shrank from such a trick. While she stood and +mused, scarcely heeding the music, the marching of the soldiers, the +King, the dukes, the brilliant staff, the attendants, and the happy +groups of people, her eyes fell upon the ground. + +Before her she saw a flower lying--a crimson sweet-william--fresh and +uninjured. An instinctive wish to save it from destruction by the +passengers' feet led her to pick it up; and then, moved by a sudden self- +consciousness, she looked around. She was standing before an inn, and +from an upper window Festus Derriman was leaning with two or three +kindred spirits of his cut and kind. He nodded eagerly, and signified to +her that he had thrown the flower. + +What should she do? To throw it away would seem stupid, and to keep it +was awkward. She held it between her finger and thumb, twirled it round +on its axis and twirled it back again, regarding and yet not examining +it. Just then she saw the trumpet-major coming back. + +'I can't find David anywhere,' he said; and his heart was not sorry as he +said it. + +Anne was still holding out the sweet-william as if about to drop it, and, +scarcely knowing what she did under the distressing sense that she was +watched, she offered the flower to Loveday. + +His face brightened with pleasure as he took it. 'Thank you, indeed,' he +said. + +Then Anne saw what a misleading blunder she had committed towards Loveday +in playing to the yeoman. Perhaps she had sown the seeds of a quarrel. + +'It was not my sweet-william,' she said hastily; 'it was lying on the +ground. I don't mean anything by giving it to you.' + +'But I'll keep it all the same,' said the innocent soldier, as if he knew +a good deal about womankind; and he put the flower carefully inside his +jacket, between his white waistcoat and his heart. + +Festus, seeing this, enlarged himself wrathfully, got hot in the face, +rose to his feet, and glared down upon them like a turnip-lantern. + +'Let us go away,' said Anne timorously. + +'I'll see you safe to your own door, depend upon me,' said Loveday. +'But--I had near forgot--there's father's letter, that he's so anxiously +waiting for! Will you come with me to the post-office? Then I'll take +you straight home.' + +Anne, expecting Festus to pounce down every minute, was glad to be off +anywhere; so she accepted the suggestion, and they went along the parade +together. + +Loveday set this down as a proof of Anne's relenting. Thus in joyful +spirits he entered the office, paid the postage, and received the letter. + +'It is from Bob, after all!' he said. 'Father told me to read it at +once, in case of bad news. Ask your pardon for keeping you a moment.' He +broke the seal and read, Anne standing silently by. + +'He is coming home _to be married_,' said the trumpet-major, without +looking up. + +Anne did not answer. The blood swept impetuously up her face at his +words, and as suddenly went away again, leaving her rather paler than +before. She disguised her agitation and then overcame it, Loveday +observing nothing of this emotional performance. + +'As far as I can understand he will be here Saturday,' he said. + +'Indeed!' said Anne quite calmly. 'And who is he going to marry?' + +'That I don't know,' said John, turning the letter about. 'The woman is +a stranger.' + +At this moment the miller entered the office hastily. + +'Come, John,' he cried, 'I have been waiting and waiting for that there +letter till I was nigh crazy!' + +John briefly explained the news, and when his father had recovered from +his astonishment, taken off his hat, and wiped the exact line where his +forehead joined his hair, he walked with Anne up the street, leaving John +to return alone. The miller was so absorbed in his mental perspective of +Bob's marriage, that he saw nothing of the gaieties they passed through; +and Anne seemed also so much impressed by the same intelligence, that she +crossed before the inn occupied by Festus without showing a recollection +of his presence there. + + + + +XIV. LATER IN THE EVENING OF THE SAME DAY + + +When they reached home the sun was going down. It had already been +noised abroad that miller Loveday had received a letter, and, his cart +having been heard coming up the lane, the population of Overcombe drew +down towards the mill as soon as he had gone indoors--a sudden flash of +brightness from the window showing that he had struck such an early light +as nothing but the immediate deciphering of literature could require. +Letters were matters of public moment, and everybody in the parish had an +interest in the reading of those rare documents; so that when the miller +had placed the candle, slanted himself, and called in Mrs. Garland to +have her opinion on the meaning of any hieroglyphics that he might +encounter in his course, he found that he was to be additionally assisted +by the opinions of the other neighbours, whose persons appeared in the +doorway, partly covering each other like a hand of cards, yet each +showing a large enough piece of himself for identification. To pass the +time while they were arranging themselves, the miller adopted his usual +way of filling up casual intervals, that of snuffing the candle. + +'We heard you had got a letter, Maister Loveday,' they said. + +'Yes; "Southampton, the twelfth of August, dear father,"' said Loveday; +and they were as silent as relations at the reading of a will. Anne, for +whom the letter had a singular fascination, came in with her mother and +sat down. + +Bob stated in his own way that having, since landing, taken into +consideration his father's wish that he should renounce a seafaring life +and become a partner in the mill, he had decided to agree to the +proposal; and with that object in view he would return to Overcombe in +three days from the time of writing. + +He then said incidentally that since his voyage he had been in lodgings +at Southampton, and during that time had become acquainted with a lovely +and virtuous young maiden, in whom he found the exact qualities necessary +to his happiness. Having known this lady for the full space of a +fortnight he had had ample opportunities of studying her character, and, +being struck with the recollection that, if there was one thing more than +another necessary in a mill which had no mistress, it was somebody who +could play that part with grace and dignity, he had asked Miss Matilda +Johnson to be his wife. In her kindness she, though sacrificing far +better prospects, had agreed; and he could not but regard it as a happy +chance that he should have found at the nick of time such a woman to +adorn his home, whose innocence was as stunning as her beauty. Without +much ado, therefore, he and she had arranged to be married at once, and +at Overcombe, that his father might not be deprived of the pleasures of +the wedding feast. She had kindly consented to follow him by land in the +course of a few days, and to live in the house as their guest for the +week or so previous to the ceremony. + +''Tis a proper good letter,' said Mrs. Comfort from the background. 'I +never heerd true love better put out of hand in my life; and they seem +'nation fond of one another.' + +'He haven't knowed her such a very long time,' said Job Mitchell +dubiously. + +'That's nothing,' said Esther Beach. 'Nater will find her way, very +rapid when the time's come for't. Well, 'tis good news for ye, miller.' + +'Yes, sure, I hope 'tis,' said Loveday, without, however, showing any +great hurry to burst into the frantic form of fatherly joy which the +event should naturally have produced, seeming more disposed to let off +his feelings by examining thoroughly into the fibres of the letter-paper. + +'I was five years a-courting my wife,' he presently remarked. 'But folks +were slower about everything in them days. Well, since she's coming we +must make her welcome. Did any of ye catch by my reading which day it is +he means? What with making out the penmanship, my mind was drawn off +from the sense here and there.' + +'He says in three days,' said Mrs. Garland. 'The date of the letter will +fix it.' + +On examination it was found that the day appointed was the one nearly +expired; at which the miller jumped up and said, 'Then he'll be here +before bedtime. I didn't gather till now that he was coming afore +Saturday. Why, he may drop in this very minute!' + +He had scarcely spoken when footsteps were heard coming along the front, +and they presently halted at the door. Loveday pushed through the +neighbours and rushed out; and, seeing in the passage a form which +obscured the declining light, the miller seized hold of him, saying, 'O +my dear Bob; then you are come!' + +'Scrounch it all, miller, don't quite pull my poor shoulder out of joint! +Whatever is the matter?' said the new-comer, trying to release himself +from Loveday's grasp of affection. It was Uncle Benjy. + +'Thought 'twas my son!' faltered the miller, sinking back upon the toes +of the neighbours who had closely followed him into the entry. 'Well, +come in, Mr. Derriman, and make yerself at home. Why, you haven't been +here for years! Whatever has made you come now, sir, of all times in the +world?' + +'Is he in there with ye?' whispered the farmer with misgiving. + +'Who?' + +'My nephew, after that maid that he's so mighty smit with?' + +'O no; he never calls here.' + +Farmer Derriman breathed a breath of relief. 'Well, I've called to tell +ye,' he said, 'that there's more news of the French. We shall have 'em +here this month as sure as a gun. The gunboats be all ready--near two +thousand of 'em--and the whole army is at Boulogne. And, miller, I know +ye to be an honest man.' + +Loveday did not say nay. + +'Neighbour Loveday, I know ye to be an honest man,' repeated the old +squireen. 'Can I speak to ye alone?' + +As the house was full, Loveday took him into the garden, all the while +upon tenter-hooks, not lest Buonaparte should appear in their midst, but +lest Bob should come whilst he was not there to receive him. When they +had got into a corner Uncle Benjy said, 'Miller, what with the French, +and what with my nephew Festus, I assure ye my life is nothing but +wherrit from morning to night. Miller Loveday, you are an honest man.' + +Loveday nodded. + +'Well, I've come to ask a favour--to ask if you will take charge of my +few poor title-deeds and documents and suchlike, while I am away from +home next week, lest anything should befall me, and they should be stole +away by Boney or Festus, and I should have nothing left in the wide +world? I can trust neither banks nor lawyers in these terrible times; +and I am come to you.' + +Loveday after some hesitation agreed to take care of anything that +Derriman should bring, whereupon the farmer said he would call with the +parchments and papers alluded to in the course of a week. Derriman then +went away by the garden gate, mounted his pony, which had been tethered +outside, and rode on till his form was lost in the shades. + +The miller rejoined his friends, and found that in the meantime John had +arrived. John informed the company that after parting from his father +and Anne he had rambled to the harbour, and discovered the Pewit by the +quay. On inquiry he had learnt that she came in at eleven o'clock, and +that Bob had gone ashore. + +'We'll go and meet him,' said the miller. ''Tis still light out of +doors.' + +So, as the dew rose from the meads and formed fleeces in the hollows, +Loveday and his friends and neighbours strolled out, and loitered by the +stiles which hampered the footpath from Overcombe to the high road at +intervals of a hundred yards. John Loveday, being obliged to return to +camp, was unable to accompany them, but Widow Garland thought proper to +fall in with the procession. When she had put on her bonnet she called +to her daughter. Anne said from upstairs that she was coming in a +minute; and her mother walked on without her. + +What was Anne doing? Having hastily unlocked a receptacle for emotional +objects of small size, she took thence the little folded paper with which +we have already become acquainted, and, striking a light from her private +tinder-box, she held the paper, and curl of hair it contained, in the +candle till they were burnt. Then she put on her hat and followed her +mother and the rest of them across the moist grey fields, cheerfully +singing in an undertone as she went, to assure herself of her +indifference to circumstances. + + + + +XV. 'CAPTAIN' BOB LOVEDAY OF THE MERCHANT SERVICE + + +While Loveday and his neighbours were thus rambling forth, full of +expectancy, some of them, including Anne in the rear, heard the crackling +of light wheels along the curved lane to which the path was the chord. At +once Anne thought, 'Perhaps that's he, and we are missing him.' But +recent events were not of a kind to induce her to say anything; and the +others of the company did not reflect on the sound. + +Had they gone across to the hedge which hid the lane, and looked through +it, they would have seen a light cart driven by a boy, beside whom was +seated a seafaring man, apparently of good standing in the merchant +service, with his feet outside on the shaft. The vehicle went over the +main bridge, turned in upon the other bridge at the tail of the mill, and +halted by the door. The sailor alighted, showing himself to be a well- +shaped, active, and fine young man, with a bright eye, an anonymous nose, +and of such a rich complexion by exposure to ripening suns that he might +have been some connexion of the foreigner who calls his likeness the +Portrait of a Gentleman in galleries of the Old Masters. Yet in spite of +this, and though Bob Loveday had been all over the world from Cape Horn +to Pekin, and from India's coral strand to the White Sea, the most +conspicuous of all the marks that he had brought back with him was an +increased resemblance to his mother, who had lain all the time beneath +Overcombe church wall. + +Captain Loveday tried the house door; finding this locked he went to the +mill door: this was locked also, the mill being stopped for the night. + +'They are not at home,' he said to the boy. 'But never mind that. Just +help to unload the things and then I'll pay you, and you can drive off +home.' + +The cart was unloaded, and the boy was dismissed, thanking the sailor +profusely for the payment rendered. Then Bob Loveday, finding that he +had still some leisure on his hands, looked musingly east, west, north, +south, and nadir; after which he bestirred himself by carrying his goods, +article by article, round to the back door, out of the way of casual +passers. This done, he walked round the mill in a more regardful +attitude, and surveyed its familiar features one by one--the panes of the +grinding-room, now as heretofore clouded with flour as with stale hoar- +frost; the meal lodged in the corners of the window-sills, forming a soil +in which lichens grew without ever getting any bigger, as they had done +since his smallest infancy; the mosses on the plinth towards the river, +reaching as high as the capillary power of the walls would fetch up +moisture for their nourishment, and the penned mill-pond, now as ever on +the point of overflowing into the garden. Everything was the same. + +When he had had enough of this it occurred to Loveday that he might get +into the house in spite of the locked doors; and by entering the garden, +placing a pole from the fork of an apple-tree to the window-sill of a +bedroom on that side, and climbing across like a Barbary ape, he entered +the window and stepped down inside. There was something anomalous in +being close to the familiar furniture without having first seen his +father, and its silent, impassive shine was not cheering; it was as if +his relations were all dead, and only their tables and chests of drawers +left to greet him. He went downstairs and seated himself in the dark +parlour. Finding this place, too, rather solitary, and the tick of the +invisible clock preternaturally loud, he unearthed the tinder-box, +obtained a light, and set about making the house comfortable for his +father's return, divining that the miller had gone out to meet him by the +wrong road. + +Robert's interest in this work increased as he proceeded, and he bustled +round and round the kitchen as lightly as a girl. David, the indoor +factotum, having lost himself among the quart pots of Budmouth, there had +been nobody left here to prepare supper, and Bob had it all to himself. +In a short time a fire blazed up the chimney, a tablecloth was found, the +plates were clapped down, and a search made for what provisions the house +afforded, which, in addition to various meats, included some fresh eggs +of the elongated shape that produces cockerels when hatched, and had been +set aside on that account for putting under the next broody hen. + +A more reckless cracking of eggs than that which now went on had never +been known in Overcombe since the last large christening; and as Loveday +gashed one on the side, another at the end, another longways, and another +diagonally, he acquired adroitness by practice, and at last made every +son of a hen of them fall into two hemispheres as neatly as if it opened +by a hinge. From eggs he proceeded to ham, and from ham to kidneys, the +result being a brilliant fry. + +Not to be tempted to fall to before his father came back, the returned +navigator emptied the whole into a dish, laid a plate over the top, his +coat over the plate, and his hat over his coat. Thus completely stopping +in the appetizing smell, he sat down to await events. He was relieved +from the tediousness of doing this by hearing voices outside; and in a +minute his father entered. + +'Glad to welcome ye home, father,' said Bob. 'And supper is just ready.' + +'Lard, lard--why, Captain Bob's here!' said Mrs. Garland. + +'And we've been out waiting to meet thee!' said the miller, as he entered +the room, followed by representatives of the houses of Cripplestraw, +Comfort, Mitchell, Beach, and Snooks, together with some small beginnings +of Fencible Tremlett's posterity. In the rear came David, and quite in +the vanishing-point of the composition, Anne the fair. + +'I drove over; and so was forced to come by the road,' said Bob. + +'And we went across the fields, thinking you'd walk,' said his father. + +'I should have been here this morning; but not so much as a wheelbarrow +could I get for my traps; everything was gone to the review. So I went +too, thinking I might meet you there. I was then obliged to return to +the harbour for the luggage.' + +Then there was a welcoming of Captain Bob by pulling out his arms like +drawers and shutting them again, smacking him on the back as if he were +choking, holding him at arm's length as if he were of too large type to +read close. All which persecution Bob bore with a wide, genial smile +that was shaken into fragments and scattered promiscuously among the +spectators. + +'Get a chair for 'n!' said the miller to David, whom they had met in the +fields and found to have got nothing worse by his absence than a slight +slant in his walk. + +'Never mind--I am not tired--I have been here ever so long,' said Bob. +'And I--' But the chair having been placed behind him, and a smart touch +in the hollow of a person's knee by the edge of that piece of furniture +having a tendency to make the person sit without further argument, Bob +sank down dumb, and the others drew up other chairs at a convenient +nearness for easy analytic vision and the subtler forms of good +fellowship. The miller went about saying, 'David, the nine best glasses +from the corner cupboard!'--'David, the corkscrew!'--'David, whisk the +tail of thy smock-frock round the inside of these quart pots afore you +draw drink in 'em--they be an inch thick in dust!'--'David, lower that +chimney-crook a couple of notches that the flame may touch the bottom of +the kettle, and light three more of the largest candles!'--'If you can't +get the cork out of the jar, David, bore a hole in the tub of Hollands +that's buried under the scroff in the fuel-house; d'ye hear?--Dan Brown +left en there yesterday as a return for the little porker I gied en.' + +When they had all had a thimbleful round, and the superfluous neighbours +had reluctantly departed, one by one, the inmates gave their minds to the +supper, which David had begun to serve up. + +'What be you rolling back the tablecloth for, David?' said the miller. + +'Maister Bob have put down one of the under sheets by mistake, and I +thought you might not like it, sir, as there's ladies present!' + +'Faith, 'twas the first thing that came to hand,' said Robert. 'It +seemed a tablecloth to me.' + +'Never mind--don't pull off the things now he's laid 'em down--let it +bide,' said the miller. 'But where's Widow Garland and Maidy Anne?' + +'They were here but a minute ago,' said David. 'Depend upon it they have +slinked off 'cause they be shy.' + +The miller at once went round to ask them to come back and sup with him; +and while he was gone David told Bob in confidence what an excellent +place he had for an old man. + +'Yes, Cap'n Bob, as I suppose I must call ye; I've worked for yer father +these eight-and-thirty years, and we have always got on very well +together. Trusts me with all the keys, lends me his sleeve-waistcoat, +and leaves the house entirely to me. Widow Garland next door, too, is +just the same with me, and treats me as if I was her own child.' + +'She must have married young to make you that, David.' + +'Yes, yes--I'm years older than she. 'Tis only my common way of +speaking.' + +Mrs. Garland would not come in to supper, and the meal proceeded without +her, Bob recommending to his father the dish he had cooked, in the manner +of a householder to a stranger just come. The miller was anxious to know +more about his son's plans for the future, but would not for the present +interrupt his eating, looking up from his own plate to appreciate Bob's +travelled way of putting English victuals out of sight, as he would have +looked at a mill on improved principles. + +David had only just got the table clear, and set the plates in a row +under the bakehouse table for the cats to lick, when the door was hastily +opened, and Mrs. Garland came in, looking concerned. + +'I have been waiting to hear the plates removed to tell you how +frightened we are at something we hear at the back-door. It seems like +robbers muttering; but when I look out there's nobody there!' + +'This must be seen to,' said the miller, rising promptly. 'David, light +the middle-sized lantern. I'll go and search the garden.' + +'And I'll go too,' said his son, taking up a cudgel. 'Lucky I've come +home just in time!' + +They went out stealthily, followed by the widow and Anne, who had been +afraid to stay alone in the house under the circumstances. No sooner +were they beyond the door when, sure enough, there was the muttering +almost close at hand, and low upon the ground, as from persons lying down +in hiding. + +'Bless my heart!' said Bob, striking his head as though it were some +enemy's: 'why, 'tis my luggage. I'd quite forgot it!' + +'What!' asked his father. + +'My luggage. Really, if it hadn't been for Mrs. Garland it would have +stayed there all night, and they, poor things! would have been starved. +I've got all sorts of articles for ye. You go inside, and I'll bring 'em +in. 'Tis parrots that you hear a muttering, Mrs. Garland. You needn't +be afraid any more.' + +'Parrots?' said the miller. 'Well, I'm glad 'tis no worse. But how +couldst forget so, Bob?' + +The packages were taken in by David and Bob, and the first unfastened +were three, wrapped in cloths, which being stripped off revealed three +cages, with a gorgeous parrot in each. + +'This one is for you, father, to hang up outside the door, and amuse us,' +said Bob. 'He'll talk very well, but he's sleepy to-night. This other +one I brought along for any neighbour that would like to have him. His +colours are not so bright; but 'tis a good bird. If you would like to +have him you are welcome to him,' he said, turning to Anne, who had been +tempted forward by the birds. 'You have hardly spoken yet, Miss Anne, +but I recollect you very well. How much taller you have got, to be +sure!' + +Anne said she was much obliged, but did not know what she could do with +such a present. Mrs. Garland accepted it for her, and the sailor went +on--'Now this other bird I hardly know what to do with; but I dare say +he'll come in for something or other.' + +'He is by far the prettiest,' said the widow. 'I would rather have it +than the other, if you don't mind.' + +'Yes,' said Bob, with embarrassment. 'But the fact is, that bird will +hardly do for ye, ma'am. He's a hard swearer, to tell the truth; and I +am afraid he's too old to be broken of it.' + +'How dreadful!' said Mrs. Garland. + +'We could keep him in the mill,' suggested the miller. 'It won't matter +about the grinder hearing him, for he can't learn to cuss worse than he +do already!' + +'The grinder shall have him, then,' said Bob. 'The one I have given you, +ma'am, has no harm in him at all. You might take him to church o' +Sundays as far as that goes.' + +The sailor now untied a small wooden box about a foot square, perforated +with holes. 'Here are two marmosets,' he continued. 'You can't see them +to-night; but they are beauties--the tufted sort.' + +'What's a marmoset?' said the miller. + +'O, a little kind of monkey. They bite strangers rather hard, but you'll +soon get used to 'em.' + +'They are wrapped up in something, I declare,' said Mrs. Garland, peeping +in through a chink. + +'Yes, that's my flannel shirt,' said Bob apologetically. 'They suffer +terribly from cold in this climate, poor things! and I had nothing better +to give them. Well, now, in this next box I've got things of different +sorts.' + +The latter was a regular seaman's chest, and out of it he produced shells +of many sizes and colours, carved ivories, queer little caskets, gorgeous +feathers, and several silk handkerchiefs, which articles were spread out +upon all the available tables and chairs till the house began to look +like a bazaar. + +'What a lovely shawl!' exclaimed Widow Garland, in her interest +forestalling the regular exhibition by looking into the box at what was +coming. + +'O yes,' said the mate, pulling out a couple of the most bewitching +shawls that eyes ever saw. 'One of these I am going to give to that +young lady I am shortly to be married to, you know, Mrs. Garland. Has +father told you about it? Matilda Johnson, of Southampton, that's her +name.' + +'Yes, we know all about it,' said the widow. + +'Well, I shall give one of these shawls to her--because, of course, I +ought to.' + +'Of course,' said she. + +'But the other one I've got no use for at all; and,' he continued, +looking round, 'will you have it, Miss Anne? You refused the parrot, and +you ought not to refuse this.' + +'Thank you,' said Anne calmly, but much distressed; 'but really I don't +want it, and couldn't take it.' + +'But do have it!' said Bob in hurt tones, Mrs. Garland being all the +while on tenter-hooks lest Anne should persist in her absurd refusal. + +'Why, there's another reason why you ought to!' said he, his face +lighting up with recollections. 'It never came into my head till this +moment that I used to be your beau in a humble sort of way. Faith, so I +did, and we used to meet at places sometimes, didn't we--that is, when +you were not too proud; and once I gave you, or somebody else, a bit of +my hair in fun.' + +'It was somebody else,' said Anne quickly. + +'Ah, perhaps it was,' said Bob innocently. 'But it was you I used to +meet, or try to, I am sure. Well, I've never thought of that boyish time +for years till this minute! I am sure you ought to accept some one gift, +dear, out of compliment to those old times!' + +Anne drew back and shook her head, for she would not trust her voice. + +'Well, Mrs. Garland, then you shall have it,' said Bob, tossing the shawl +to that ready receiver. 'If you don't, upon my life I will throw it out +to the first beggar I see. Now, here's a parcel of cap ribbons of the +splendidest sort I could get. Have these--do, Anne!' + +'Yes, do,' said Mrs. Garland. + +'I promised them to Matilda,' continued Bob; 'but I am sure she won't +want 'em, as she has got some of her own: and I would as soon see them +upon your head, my dear, as upon hers.' + +'I think you had better keep them for your bride if you have promised +them to her,' said Mrs. Garland mildly. + +'It wasn't exactly a promise. I just said, "Til, there's some cap +ribbons in my box, if you would like to have them." But she's got enough +things already for any bride in creation. Anne, now you shall have +'em--upon my soul you shall--or I'll fling them down the mill-tail!' + +Anne had meant to be perfectly firm in refusing everything, for reasons +obvious even to that poor waif, the meanest capacity; but when it came to +this point she was absolutely compelled to give in, and reluctantly +received the cap ribbons in her arms, blushing fitfully, and with her lip +trembling in a motion which she tried to exhibit as a smile. + +'What would Tilly say if she knew!' said the miller slily. + +'Yes, indeed--and it is wrong of him!' Anne instantly cried, tears +running down her face as she threw the parcel of ribbons on the floor. +'You'd better bestow your gifts where you bestow your l--l--love, Mr. +Loveday--that's what I say!' And Anne turned her back and went away. + +'I'll take them for her,' said Mrs. Garland, quickly picking up the +parcel. + +'Now that's a pity,' said Bob, looking regretfully after Anne. 'I didn't +remember that she was a quick-tempered sort of girl at all. Tell her, +Mrs. Garland, that I ask her pardon. But of course I didn't know she was +too proud to accept a little present--how should I? Upon my life if it +wasn't for Matilda I'd--Well, that can't be, of course.' + +'What's this?' said Mrs. Garland, touching with her foot a large package +that had been laid down by Bob unseen. + +'That's a bit of baccy for myself,' said Robert meekly. + +The examination of presents at last ended, and the two families parted +for the night. When they were alone, Mrs. Garland said to Anne, 'What a +close girl you are! I am sure I never knew that Bob Loveday and you had +walked together: you must have been mere children.' + +'O yes--so we were,' said Anne, now quite recovered. 'It was when we +first came here, about a year after father died. We did not walk +together in any regular way. You know I have never thought the Lovedays +high enough for me. It was only just--nothing at all, and I had almost +forgotten it.' + +It is to be hoped that somebody's sins were forgiven her that night +before she went to bed. + +When Bob and his father were left alone, the miller said, 'Well, Robert, +about this young woman of thine--Matilda what's her name?' + +'Yes, father--Matilda Johnson. I was just going to tell ye about her.' + +The miller nodded, and sipped his mug. + +'Well, she is an excellent body,' continued Bob; 'that can truly be +said--a real charmer, you know--a nice good comely young woman, a miracle +of genteel breeding, you know, and all that. She can throw her hair into +the nicest curls, and she's got splendid gowns and headclothes. In +short, you might call her a land mermaid. She'll make such a first-rate +wife as there never was.' + +'No doubt she will,' said the miller; 'for I have never known thee +wanting in sense in a jineral way.' He turned his cup round on its axis +till the handle had travelled a complete circle. 'How long did you say +in your letter that you had known her?' + +'A fortnight.' + +'Not _very_ long.' + +'It don't sound long, 'tis true; and 'twas really longer--'twas fifteen +days and a quarter. But hang it, father, I could see in the twinkling of +an eye that the girl would do. I know a woman well enough when I see +her--I ought to, indeed, having been so much about the world. Now, for +instance, there's Widow Garland and her daughter. The girl is a nice +little thing; but the old woman--O no!' Bob shook his head. + +'What of her?' said his father, slightly shifting in his chair. + +'Well, she's, she's--I mean, I should never have chose her, you know. +She's of a nice disposition, and young for a widow with a grown-up +daughter; but if all the men had been like me she would never have had a +husband. I like her in some respects; but she's a style of beauty I +don't care for.' + +'O, if 'tis only looks you are thinking of,' said the miller, much +relieved, 'there's nothing to be said, of course. Though there's many a +duchess worse-looking, if it comes to argument, as you would find, my +son,' he added, with a sense of having been mollified too soon. + +The mate's thoughts were elsewhere by this time. + +'As to my marrying Matilda, thinks I, here's one of the very genteelest +sort, and I may as well do the job at once. So I chose her. She's a +dear girl; there's nobody like her, search where you will.' + +'How many did you choose her out from?' inquired his father. + +'Well, she was the only young woman I happened to know in Southampton, +that's true. But what of that? It would have been all the same if I had +known a hundred.' + +'Her father is in business near the docks, I suppose?' + +'Well, no. In short, I didn't see her father.' + +'Her mother?' + +'Her mother? No, I didn't. I think her mother is dead; but she has got +a very rich aunt living at Melchester. I didn't see her aunt, because +there wasn't time to go; but of course we shall know her when we are +married.' + +'Yes, yes, of course,' said the miller, trying to feel quite satisfied. +'And she will soon be here?' + +'Ay, she's coming soon,' said Bob. 'She has gone to this aunt's at +Melchester to get her things packed, and suchlike, or she would have come +with me. I am going to meet the coach at the King's Arms, Casterbridge, +on Sunday, at one o'clock. To show what a capital sort of wife she'll +be, I may tell you that she wanted to come by the Mercury, because 'tis a +little cheaper than the other. But I said, "For once in your life do it +well, and come by the Royal Mail, and I'll pay." I can have the pony and +trap to fetch her, I suppose, as 'tis too far for her to walk?' + +'Of course you can, Bob, or anything else. And I'll do all I can to give +you a good wedding feast.' + + + + +XVI. THEY MAKE READY FOR THE ILLUSTRIOUS STRANGER + + +Preparations for Matilda's welcome, and for the event which was to +follow, at once occupied the attention of the mill. The miller and his +man had but dim notions of housewifery on any large scale; so the great +wedding cleaning was kindly supervised by Mrs. Garland, Bob being mostly +away during the day with his brother, the trumpet-major, on various +errands, one of which was to buy paint and varnish for the gig that +Matilda was to be fetched in, which he had determined to decorate with +his own hands. + +By the widow's direction the old familiar incrustation of shining dirt, +imprinted along the back of the settle by the heads of countless jolly +sitters, was scrubbed and scraped away; the brown circle round the nail +whereon the miller hung his hat, stained by the brim in wet weather, was +whitened over; the tawny smudges of bygone shoulders in the passage were +removed without regard to a certain genial and historical value which +they had acquired. The face of the clock, coated with verdigris as thick +as a diachylon plaister, was rubbed till the figures emerged into day; +while, inside the case of the same chronometer, the cobwebs that formed +triangular hammocks, which the pendulum could hardly wade through, were +cleared away at one swoop. + +Mrs. Garland also assisted at the invasion of worm-eaten cupboards, where +layers of ancient smells lingered on in the stagnant air, and recalled to +the reflective nose the many good things that had been kept there. The +upper floors were scrubbed with such abundance of water that the +old-established death-watches, wood-lice, and flour-worms were all +drowned, the suds trickling down into the room below in so lively and +novel a manner as to convey the romantic notion that the miller lived in +a cave with dripping stalactites. + +They moved what had never been moved before--the oak coffer, containing +the miller's wardrobe--a tremendous weight, what with its locks, hinges, +nails, dirt, framework, and the hard stratification of old jackets, +waistcoats, and knee-breeches at the bottom, never disturbed since the +miller's wife died, and half pulverized by the moths, whose flattened +skeletons lay amid the mass in thousands. + +'It fairly makes my back open and shut!' said Loveday, as, in obedience +to Mrs. Garland's direction, he lifted one corner, the grinder and David +assisting at the others. 'All together: speak when ye be going to heave. +Now!' + +The pot covers and skimmers were brought to such a state that, on +examining them, the beholder was not conscious of utensils, but of his +own face in a condition of hideous elasticity. The broken clock-line was +mended, the kettles rocked, the creeper nailed up, and a new handle put +to the warming-pan. The large household lantern was cleaned out, after +three years of uninterrupted accumulation, the operation yielding a +conglomerate of candle-snuffs, candle-ends, remains of matches, +lamp-black, and eleven ounces and a half of good grease--invaluable as +dubbing for skitty boots and ointment for cart-wheels. + +Everybody said that the mill residence had not been so thoroughly scoured +for twenty years. The miller and David looked on with a sort of awe +tempered by gratitude, tacitly admitting by their gaze that this was +beyond what they had ever thought of. Mrs. Garland supervised all with +disinterested benevolence. It would never have done, she said, for his +future daughter-in-law to see the house in its original state. She would +have taken a dislike to him, and perhaps to Bob likewise. + +'Why don't ye come and live here with me, and then you would be able to +see to it at all times?' said the miller as she bustled about again. To +which she answered that she was considering the matter, and might in good +time. He had previously informed her that his plan was to put Bob and +his wife in the part of the house that she, Mrs. Garland, occupied, as +soon as she chose to enter his, which relieved her of any fear of being +incommoded by Matilda. + +The cooking for the wedding festivities was on a proportionate scale of +thoroughness. They killed the four supernumerary chickens that had just +begun to crow, and the little curly-tailed barrow pig, in preference to +the sow; not having been put up fattening for more than five weeks it was +excellent small meat, and therefore more delicate and likely to suit a +town-bred lady's taste than the large one, which, having reached the +weight of fourteen score, might have been a little gross to a cultured +palate. There were also provided a cold chine, stuffed veal, and two +pigeon pies. Also thirty rings of black-pot, a dozen of white-pot, and +ten knots of tender and well-washed chitterlings, cooked plain in case +she should like a change. + +As additional reserves there were sweetbreads, and five milts, sewed up +at one side in the form of a chrysalis, and stuffed with thyme, sage, +parsley, mint, groats, rice, milk, chopped egg, and other ingredients. +They were afterwards roasted before a slow fire, and eaten hot. + +The business of chopping so many herbs for the various stuffings was +found to be aching work for women; and David, the miller, the grinder, +and the grinder's boy being fully occupied in their proper branches, and +Bob being very busy painting the gig and touching up the harness, Loveday +called in a friendly dragoon of John's regiment who was passing by, and +he, being a muscular man, willingly chopped all the afternoon for a quart +of strong, judiciously administered, and all other victuals found, taking +off his jacket and gloves, rolling up his shirt-sleeves and unfastening +his collar in an honourable and energetic way. + +All windfalls and maggot-cored codlins were excluded from the apple pies; +and as there was no known dish large enough for the purpose, the puddings +were stirred up in the milking-pail, and boiled in the three-legged bell- +metal crock, of great weight and antiquity, which every travelling tinker +for the previous thirty years had tapped with his stick, coveted, made a +bid for, and often attempted to steal. + +In the liquor line Loveday laid in an ample barrel of Casterbridge +'strong beer.' This renowned drink--now almost as much a thing of the +past as Falstaff's favourite beverage--was not only well calculated to +win the hearts of soldiers blown dry and dusty by residence in tents on a +hill-top, but of any wayfarer whatever in that land. It was of the most +beautiful colour that the eye of an artist in beer could desire; full in +body, yet brisk as a volcano; piquant, yet without a twang; luminous as +an autumn sunset; free from streakiness of taste; but, finally, rather +heady. The masses worshipped it, the minor gentry loved it more than +wine, and by the most illustrious county families it was not despised. +Anybody brought up for being drunk and disorderly in the streets of its +natal borough, had only to prove that he was a stranger to the place and +its liquor to be honourably dismissed by the magistrates, as one +overtaken in a fault that no man could guard against who entered the town +unawares. + +In addition, Mr. Loveday also tapped a hogshead of fine cider that he had +had mellowing in the house for several months, having bought it of an +honest down-country man, who did not colour, for any special occasion +like the present. It had been pressed from fruit judiciously chosen by +an old hand--Horner and Cleeves apple for the body, a few Tom-Putts for +colour, and just a dash of Old Five-corners for sparkle--a selection +originally made to please the palate of a well-known temperate earl who +was a regular cider-drinker, and lived to be eighty-eight. + +On the morning of the Sunday appointed for her coming Captain Bob Loveday +set out to meet his bride. He had been all the week engaged in painting +the gig, assisted by his brother at odd times, and it now appeared of a +gorgeous yellow, with blue streaks, and tassels at the corners, and red +wheels outlined with a darker shade. He put in the pony at half-past +eleven, Anne looking at him from the door as he packed himself into the +vehicle and drove off. There may be young women who look out at young +men driving to meet their brides as Anne looked at Captain Bob, and yet +are quite indifferent to the circumstances; but they are not often met +with. + +So much dust had been raised on the highway by traffic resulting from the +presence of the Court at the town further on, that brambles hanging from +the fence, and giving a friendly scratch to the wanderer's face, were +dingy as church cobwebs; and the grass on the margin had assumed a paper- +shaving hue. Bob's father had wished him to take David, lest, from want +of recent experience at the whip, he should meet with any mishap; but, +picturing to himself the awkwardness of three in such circumstances, Bob +would not hear of this; and nothing more serious happened to his driving +than that the wheel-marks formed two serpentine lines along the road +during the first mile or two, before he had got his hand in, and that the +horse shied at a milestone, a piece of paper, a sleeping tramp, and a +wheelbarrow, just to make use of the opportunity of being in bad hands. + +He entered Casterbridge between twelve and one, and, putting up at the +Old Greyhound, walked on to the Bow. Here, rather dusty on the ledges of +his clothes, he stood and waited while the people in their best summer +dresses poured out of the three churches round him. When they had all +gone, and a smell of cinders and gravy had spread down the ancient high- +street, and the pie-dishes from adjacent bakehouses had all travelled +past, he saw the mail coach rise above the arch of Grey's Bridge, a +quarter of a mile distant, surmounted by swaying knobs, which proved to +be the heads of the outside travellers. + +'That's the way for a man's bride to come to him,' said Robert to himself +with a feeling of poetry; and as the horn sounded and the horses +clattered up the street he walked down to the inn. The knot of hostlers +and inn-servants had gathered, the horses were dragged from the vehicle, +and the passengers for Casterbridge began to descend. Captain Bob eyed +them over, looked inside, looked outside again; to his disappointment +Matilda was not there, nor her boxes, nor anything that was hers. Neither +coachman nor guard had seen or heard of such a person at Melchester; and +Bob walked slowly away. + +Depressed by forebodings to an extent which took away nearly a third of +his appetite, he sat down in the parlour of the Old Greyhound to a slice +from the family joint of the landlord. This gentleman, who dined in his +shirt-sleeves, partly because it was August, and partly from a sense that +they would not be so fit for public view further on in the week, +suggested that Bob should wait till three or four that afternoon, when +the road-waggon would arrive, as the lost lady might have preferred that +mode of conveyance; and when Bob appeared rather hurt at the suggestion, +the landlord's wife assured him, as a woman who knew good life, that many +genteel persons travelled in that way during the present high price of +provisions. Loveday, who knew little of travelling by land, readily +accepted her assurance and resolved to wait. + +Wandering up and down the pavement, or leaning against some hot wall +between the waggon-office and the corner of the street above, he passed +the time away. It was a still, sunny, drowsy afternoon, and scarcely a +soul was visible in the length and breadth of the street. The office was +not far from All Saints' Church, and the church-windows being open, he +could hear the afternoon service from where he lingered as distinctly as +if he had been one of the congregation. Thus he was mentally conducted +through the Psalms, through the first and second lessons, through the +burst of fiddles and clarionets which announced the evening-hymn, and +well into the sermon, before any signs of the waggon could be seen upon +the London road. + +The afternoon sermons at this church being of a dry and metaphysical +nature at that date, it was by a special providence that the +waggon-office was placed near the ancient fabric, so that whenever the +Sunday waggon was late, which it always was in hot weather, in cold +weather, in wet weather, and in weather of almost every other sort, the +rattle, dismounting, and swearing outside completely drowned the parson's +voice within, and sustained the flagging interest of the congregation at +precisely the right moment. No sooner did the charity children begin to +writhe on their benches, and adult snores grow audible, than the waggon +arrived. + +Captain Loveday felt a kind of sinking in his poetry at the possibility +of her for whom they had made such preparations being in the slow, +unwieldy vehicle which crunched its way towards him; but he would not +give in to the weakness. Neither would he walk down the street to meet +the waggon, lest she should not be there. At last the broad wheels drew +up against the kerb, the waggoner with his white smock-frock, and whip as +long as a fishing-line, descended from the pony on which he rode +alongside, and the six broad-chested horses backed from their collars and +shook themselves. In another moment something showed forth, and he knew +that Matilda was there. + +Bob felt three cheers rise within him as she stepped down; but it being +Sunday he did not utter them. In dress, Miss Johnson passed his +expectations--a green and white gown, with long, tight sleeves, a green +silk handkerchief round her neck and crossed in front, a green parasol, +and green gloves. It was strange enough to see this verdant caterpillar +turn out of a road-waggon, and gracefully shake herself free from the +bits of straw and fluff which would usually gather on the raiment of the +grandest travellers by that vehicle. + +'But, my dear Matilda,' said Bob, when he had kissed her three times with +much publicity--the practical step he had determined on seeming to demand +that these things should no longer be done in a corner--'my dear Matilda, +why didn't you come by the coach, having the money for't and all?' + +'That's my scrimping!' said Matilda in a delightful gush. 'I know you +won't be offended when you know I did it to save against a rainy day!' + +Bob, of course, was not offended, though the glory of meeting her had +been less; and even if vexation were possible, it would have been out of +place to say so. Still, he would have experienced no little surprise had +he learnt the real reason of his Matilda's change of plan. That angel +had, in short, so wildly spent Bob's and her own money in the adornment +of her person before setting out, that she found herself without a +sufficient margin for her fare by coach, and had scrimped from sheer +necessity. + +'Well, I have got the trap out at the Greyhound,' said Bob. 'I don't +know whether it will hold your luggage and us too; but it looked more +respectable than the waggon on a Sunday, and if there's not room for the +boxes I can walk alongside.' + +'I think there will be room,' said Miss Johnson mildly. And it was soon +very evident that she spoke the truth; for when her property was +deposited on the pavement, it consisted of a trunk about eighteen inches +long, and nothing more. + +'O--that's all!' said Captain Loveday, surprised. + +'That's all,' said the young woman assuringly. 'I didn't want to give +trouble, you know, and what I have besides I have left at my aunt's.' + +'Yes, of course,' he answered readily. 'And as it's no bigger, I can +carry it in my hand to the inn, and so it will be no trouble at all.' + +He caught up the little box, and they went side by side to the Greyhound; +and in ten minutes they were trotting up the Southern Road. + +Bob did not hurry the horse, there being many things to say and hear, for +which the present situation was admirably suited. The sun shone +occasionally into Matilda's face as they drove on, its rays picking out +all her features to a great nicety. Her eyes would have been called +brown, but they were really eel-colour, like many other nice brown eyes; +they were well-shaped and rather bright, though they had more of a broad +shine than a sparkle. She had a firm, sufficient nose, which seemed to +say of itself that it was good as noses go. She had rather a picturesque +way of wrapping her upper in her lower lip, so that the red of the latter +showed strongly. Whenever she gazed against the sun towards the distant +hills, she brought into her forehead, without knowing it, three short +vertical lines--not there at other times--giving her for the moment +rather a hard look. And in turning her head round to a far angle, to +stare at something or other that he pointed out, the drawn flesh of her +neck became a mass of lines. But Bob did not look at these things, +which, of course, were of no significance; for had she not told him, when +they compared ages, that she was a little over two-and-twenty? + +As Nature was hardly invented at this early point of the century, Bob's +Matilda could not say much about the glamour of the hills, or the +shimmering of the foliage, or the wealth of glory in the distant sea, as +she would doubtless have done had she lived later on; but she did her +best to be interesting, asking Bob about matters of social interest in +the neighbourhood, to which she seemed quite a stranger. + +'Is your watering-place a large city?' she inquired when they mounted the +hill where the Overcombe folk had waited for the King. + +'Bless you, my dear--no! 'Twould be nothing if it wasn't for the Royal +Family, and the lords and ladies, and the regiments of soldiers, and the +frigates, and the King's messengers, and the actors and actresses, and +the games that go on.' + +At the words 'actors and actresses,' the innocent young thing pricked up +her ears. + +'Does Elliston pay as good salaries this summer as in--?' + +'O, you know about it then? I thought--' + +'O no, no! I have heard of Budmouth--read in the papers, you know, dear +Robert, about the doings there, and the actors and actresses, you know.' + +'Yes, yes, I see. Well, I have been away from England a long time, and +don't know much about the theatre in the town; but I'll take you there +some day. Would it be a treat to you?' + +'O, an amazing treat!' said Miss Johnson, with an ecstasy in which a +close observer might have discovered a tinge of ghastliness. + +'You've never been into one perhaps, dear?' + +'N--never,' said Matilda flatly. 'Whatever do I see yonder--a row of +white things on the down?' + +'Yes, that's a part of the encampment above Overcombe. Lots of soldiers +are encamped about here; those are the white tops of their tents.' + +He pointed to a wing of the camp that had become visible. Matilda was +much interested. + +'It will make it very lively for us,' he added, 'especially as John is +there.' + +She thought so too, and thus they chatted on. + + + + +XVII. TWO FAINTING FITS AND A BEWILDERMENT + + +Meanwhile Miller Loveday was expecting the pair with interest; and about +five o'clock, after repeated outlooks, he saw two specks the size of +caraway seeds on the far line of ridge where the sunlit white of the road +met the blue of the sky. Then the remainder parts of Bob and his lady +became visible, and then the whole vehicle, end on, and he heard the dry +rattle of the wheels on the dusty road. Miller Loveday's plan, as far as +he had formed any, was that Robert and his wife should live with him in +the millhouse until Mrs. Garland made up her mind to join him there; in +which event her present house would be made over to the young couple. +Upon all grounds, he wished to welcome becomingly the woman of his son's +choice, and came forward promptly as they drew up at the door. + +'What a lovely place you've got here!' said Miss Johnson, when the miller +had received her from the captain. 'A real stream of water, a real mill- +wheel, and real fowls, and everything!' + +'Yes, 'tis real enough,' said Loveday, looking at the river with balanced +sentiments; 'and so you will say when you've lived here a bit as mis'ess, +and had the trouble of claning the furniture.' + +At this Miss Johnson looked modest, and continued to do so till Anne, not +knowing they were there, came round the corner of the house, with her +prayer-book in her hand, having just arrived from church. Bob turned and +smiled to her, at which Miss Johnson looked glum. How long she would +have remained in that phase is unknown, for just then her ears were +assailed by a loud bass note from the other side, causing her to jump +round. + +'O la! what dreadful thing is it?' she exclaimed, and beheld a cow of +Loveday's, of the name of Crumpler, standing close to her shoulder. It +being about milking-time, she had come to look up David and hasten on the +operation. + +'O, what a horrid bull!--it did frighten me so. I hope I shan't faint,' +said Matilda. + +The miller immediately used the formula which has been uttered by the +proprietors of live stock ever since Noah's time. 'She won't hurt ye. +Hoosh, Crumpler! She's as timid as a mouse, ma'am.' + +But as Crumpler persisted in making another terrific inquiry for David, +Matilda could not help closing her eyes and saying, 'O, I shall be gored +to death!' her head falling back upon Bob's shoulder, which--seeing the +urgent circumstances, and knowing her delicate nature--he had +providentially placed in a position to catch her. Anne Garland, who had +been standing at the corner of the house, not knowing whether to go back +or come on, at this felt her womanly sympathies aroused. She ran and +dipped her handkerchief into the splashing mill-tail, and with it damped +Matilda's face. But as her eyes still remained closed, Bob, to increase +the effect, took the handkerchief from Anne and wrung it out on the +bridge of Matilda's nose, whence it ran over the rest of her face in a +stream. + +'O, Captain Loveday!' said Anne, 'the water is running over her green +silk handkerchief, and into her pretty reticule!' + +'There--if I didn't think so!' exclaimed Matilda, opening her eyes, +starting up, and promptly pulling out her own handkerchief, with which +she wiped away the drops, and an unimportant trifle of her complexion, +assisted by Anne, who, in spite of her background of antagonistic +emotions, could not help being interested. + +'That's right!' said the miller, his spirits reviving with the revival of +Matilda. 'The lady is not used to country life; are you, ma'am?' + +'I am not,' replied the sufferer. 'All is so strange about here!' + +Suddenly there spread into the firmament, from the direction of the +down:-- + + 'Ra, ta, ta! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Ra, ta, ta!' + +'O dear, dear! more hideous country sounds, I suppose?' she inquired, +with another start. + +'O no,' said the miller cheerfully. ''Tis only my son John's trumpeter +chaps at the camp of dragoons just above us, a-blowing Mess, or Feed, or +Picket, or some other of their vagaries. John will be much pleased to +tell you the meaning on't when he comes down. He's trumpet-major, as you +may know, ma'am.' + +'O yes; you mean Captain Loveday's brother. Dear Bob has mentioned him.' + +'If you come round to Widow Garland's side of the house, you can see the +camp,' said the miller. + +'Don't force her; she's tired with her long journey,' said Mrs. Garland +humanely, the widow having come out in the general wish to see Captain +Bob's choice. Indeed, they all behaved towards her as if she were a +tender exotic, which their crude country manners might seriously injure. + +She went into the house, accompanied by Mrs. Garland and her daughter; +though before leaving Bob she managed to whisper in his ear, 'Don't tell +them I came by waggon, will you, dear?'--a request which was quite +needless, for Bob had long ago determined to keep that a dead secret; not +because it was an uncommon mode of travel, but simply that it was hardly +the usual conveyance for a gorgeous lady to her bridal. + +As the men had a feeling that they would be superfluous indoors just at +present, the miller assisted David in taking the horse round to the +stables, Bob following, and leaving Matilda to the women. Indoors, Miss +Johnson admired everything: the new parrots and marmosets, the black +beams of the ceiling, the double-corner cupboard with the glass doors, +through which gleamed the remainders of sundry china sets acquired by +Bob's mother in her housekeeping--two-handled sugar-basins, no-handled +tea-cups, a tea-pot like a pagoda, and a cream-jug in the form of a +spotted cow. This sociability in their visitor was returned by Mrs. +Garland and Anne; and Miss Johnson's pleasing habit of partly dying +whenever she heard any unusual bark or bellow added to her piquancy in +their eyes. But conversation, as such, was naturally at first of a +nervous, tentative kind, in which, as in the works of some minor poets, +the sense was considerably led by the sound. + +'You get the sea-breezes here, no doubt?' + +'O yes, dear; when the wind is that way.' + +'Do you like windy weather?' + +'Yes; though not now, for it blows down the young apples.' + +'Apples are plentiful, it seems. You country-folk call St. Swithin's +their christening day, if it rains?' + +'Yes, dear. Ah me! I have not been to a christening for these many +years; the baby's name was George, I remember--after the King.' + +'I hear that King George is still staying at the town here. I _hope_ +he'll stay till I have seen him!' + +'He'll wait till the corn turns yellow; he always does.' + +'How _very_ fashionable yellow is getting for gloves just now!' + +'Yes. Some persons wear them to the elbow, I hear.' + +'Do they? I was not aware of that. I struck my elbow last week so hard +against the door of my aunt's mansion that I feel the ache now.' + +Before they were quite overwhelmed by the interest of this discourse, the +miller and Bob came in. In truth, Mrs. Garland found the office in which +he had placed her--that of introducing a strange woman to a house which +was not the widow's own--a rather awkward one, and yet almost a +necessity. There was no woman belonging to the house except that +wondrous compendium of usefulness, the intermittent maid-servant, whom +Loveday had, for appearances, borrowed from Mrs. Garland, and Mrs. +Garland was in the habit of borrowing from the girl's mother. And as for +the demi-woman David, he had been informed as peremptorily as Pharaoh's +baker that the office of housemaid and bedmaker was taken from him, and +would be given to this girl till the wedding was over, and Bob's wife +took the management into her own hands. + +They all sat down to high tea, Anne and her mother included, and the +captain sitting next to Miss Johnson. Anne had put a brave face upon the +matter--outwardly, at least--and seemed in a fair way of subduing any +lingering sentiment which Bob's return had revived. During the evening, +and while they still sat over the meal, John came down on a hurried +visit, as he had promised, ostensibly on purpose to be introduced to his +intended sister-in-law, but much more to get a word and a smile from his +beloved Anne. Before they saw him, they heard the trumpet-major's smart +step coming round the corner of the house, and in a moment his form +darkened the door. As it was Sunday, he appeared in his full-dress laced +coat, white waistcoat and breeches, and towering plume, the latter of +which he instantly lowered, as much from necessity as good manners, the +beam in the mill-house ceiling having a tendency to smash and ruin all +such head-gear without warning. + +'John, we've been hoping you would come down,' said the miller, 'and so +we have kept the tay about on purpose. Draw up, and speak to Mrs. +Matilda Johnson. . . . Ma'am, this is Robert's brother.' + +'Your humble servant, ma'am,' said the trumpet-major gallantly. + +As it was getting dusk in the low, small-paned room, he instinctively +moved towards Miss Johnson as he spoke, who sat with her back to the +window. He had no sooner noticed her features than his helmet nearly +fell from his hand; his face became suddenly fixed, and his natural +complexion took itself off, leaving a greenish yellow in its stead. The +young person, on her part, had no sooner looked closely at him than she +said weakly, 'Robert's brother!' and changed colour yet more rapidly than +the soldier had done. The faintness, previously half counterfeit, seized +on her now in real earnest. + +'I don't feel well,' she said, suddenly rising by an effort. 'This warm +day has quite upset me!' + +There was a regular collapse of the tea-party, like that of the Hamlet +play scene. Bob seized his sweetheart and carried her upstairs, the +miller exclaiming, 'Ah, she's terribly worn by the journey! I thought +she was when I saw her nearly go off at the blare of the cow. No woman +would have been frightened at that if she'd been up to her natural +strength.' + +'That, and being so very shy of men, too, must have made John's handsome +regimentals quite overpowering to her, poor thing,' added Mrs. Garland, +following the catastrophic young lady upstairs, whose indisposition was +this time beyond question. And yet, by some perversity of the heart, she +was as eager now to make light of her faintness as she had been to make +much of it two or three hours ago. + +The miller and John stood like straight sticks in the room the others had +quitted, John's face being hastily turned towards a caricature of +Buonaparte on the wall that he had not seen more than a hundred and fifty +times before. + +'Come, sit down and have a dish of tea, anyhow,' said his father at last. +'She'll soon be right again, no doubt.' + +'Thanks; I don't want any tea,' said John quickly. And, indeed, he did +not, for he was in one gigantic ache from head to foot. + +The light had been too dim for anybody to notice his amazement; and not +knowing where to vent it, the trumpet-major said he was going out for a +minute. He hastened to the bakehouse; but David being there, he went to +the pantry; but the maid being there, he went to the cart-shed; but a +couple of tramps being there, he went behind a row of French beans in the +garden, where he let off an ejaculation the most pious that he had +uttered that Sabbath day: 'Heaven! what's to be done!' + +And then he walked wildly about the paths of the dusky garden, where the +trickling of the brooks seemed loud by comparison with the stillness +around; treading recklessly on the cracking snails that had come forth to +feed, and entangling his spurs in the long grass till the rowels were +choked with its blades. Presently he heard another person approaching, +and his brother's shape appeared between the stubbard tree and the hedge. + +'O, is it you?' said the mate. + +'Yes. I am--taking a little air.' + +'She is getting round nicely again; and as I am not wanted indoors just +now, I am going into the village to call upon a friend or two I have not +been able to speak to as yet.' + +John took his brother Bob's hand. Bob rather wondered why. + +'All right, old boy,' he said. 'Going into the village? You'll be back +again, I suppose, before it gets very late?' + +'O yes,' said Captain Bob cheerfully, and passed out of the garden. + +John allowed his eyes to follow his brother till his shape could not be +seen, and then he turned and again walked up and down. + + + + +XVIII. THE NIGHT AFTER THE ARRIVAL + + +John continued his sad and heavy pace till walking seemed too old and +worn-out a way of showing sorrow so new, and he leant himself against the +fork of an apple-tree like a log. There the trumpet-major remained for a +considerable time, his face turned towards the house, whose ancient, many- +chimneyed outline rose against the darkened sky, and just shut out from +his view the camp above. But faint noises coming thence from horses +restless at the pickets, and from visitors taking their leave, recalled +its existence, and reminded him that, in consequence of Matilda's +arrival, he had obtained leave for the night--a fact which, owing to the +startling emotions that followed his entry, he had not yet mentioned to +his friends. + +While abstractedly considering how he could best use that privilege under +the new circumstances which had arisen, he heard Farmer Derriman drive up +to the front door and hold a conversation with his father. The old man +had at last apparently brought the tin box of private papers that he +wished the miller to take charge of during Derriman's absence; and it +being a calm night, John could hear, though he little heeded, Uncle +Benjy's reiterated supplications to Loveday to keep it safe from fire and +thieves. Then Uncle Benjy left, and John's father went upstairs to +deposit the box in a place of security, the whole proceeding reaching +John's preoccupied comprehension merely as voices during sleep. + +The next thing was the appearance of a light in the bedroom which had +been assigned to Matilda Johnson. This effectually aroused the trumpet- +major, and with a stealthiness unusual in him he went indoors. No light +was in the lower rooms, his father, Mrs. Garland, and Anne having gone +out on the bridge to look at the new moon. John went upstairs on tip- +toe, and along the uneven passage till he came to her door. It was +standing ajar, a band of candlelight shining across the passage and up +the opposite wall. As soon as he entered the radiance he saw her. She +was standing before the looking-glass, apparently lost in thought, her +fingers being clasped behind her head in abstraction, and the light +falling full upon her face. + +'I must speak to you,' said the trumpet-major. + +She started, turned and grew paler than before; and then, as if moved by +a sudden impulse, she swung the door wide open, and, coming out, said +quite collectedly and with apparent pleasantness, 'O yes; you are my +Bob's brother! I didn't, for a moment, recognize you.' + +'But you do now?' + +'As Bob's brother.' + +'You have not seen me before?' + +'I have not,' she answered, with a face as impassible as Talleyrand's. + +'Good God!' + +'I have not!' she repeated. + +'Nor any of the --th Dragoons? Captain Jolly, for instance?' + +'No.' + +'You mistake. I'll remind you of particulars,' he said drily. And he +did remind her at some length. + +'Never!' she said desperately. + +But she had miscalculated her staying powers, and her adversary's +character. Five minutes after that she was in tears, and the +conversation had resolved itself into words, which, on the soldier's +part, were of the nature of commands, tempered by pity, and were a mere +series of entreaties on hers. + +The whole scene did not last ten minutes. When it was over, the trumpet- +major walked from the doorway where they had been standing, and brushed +moisture from his eyes. Reaching a dark lumber-room, he stood still +there to calm himself, and then descended by a Flemish-ladder to the +bakehouse, instead of by the front stairs. He found that the others, +including Bob, had gathered in the parlour during his absence and lighted +the candles. + +Miss Johnson, having sent down some time before John re-entered the house +to say that she would prefer to keep her room that evening, was not +expected to join them, and on this account Bob showed less than his +customary liveliness. The miller wishing to keep up his son's spirits, +expressed his regret that, it being Sunday night, they could have no +songs to make the evening cheerful; when Mrs. Garland proposed that they +should sing psalms which, by choosing lively tunes and not thinking of +the words, would be almost as good as ballads. + +This they did, the trumpet-major appearing to join in with the rest; but +as a matter of fact no sound came from his moving lips. His mind was in +such a state that he derived no pleasure even from Anne Garland's +presence, though he held a corner of the same book with her, and was +treated in a winsome way which it was not her usual practice to indulge +in. She saw that his mind was clouded, and, far from guessing the reason +why, was doing her best to clear it. + +At length the Garlands found that it was the hour for them to leave, and +John Loveday at the same time wished his father and Bob good-night, and +went as far as Mrs. Garland's door with her. + +He had said not a word to show that he was free to remain out of camp, +for the reason that there was painful work to be done, which it would be +best to do in secret and alone. He lingered near the house till its +reflected window-lights ceased to glimmer upon the mill-pond, and all +within the dwelling was dark and still. Then he entered the garden and +waited there till the back door opened, and a woman's figure timorously +came forward. John Loveday at once went up to her, and they began to +talk in low yet dissentient tones. + +They had conversed about ten minutes, and were parting as if they had +come to some painful arrangement, Miss Johnson sobbing bitterly, when a +head stealthily arose above the dense hedgerow, and in a moment a shout +burst from its owner. + +'Thieves! thieves!--my tin box!--thieves! thieves!' + +Matilda vanished into the house, and John Loveday hastened to the hedge. +'For heaven's sake, hold your tongue, Mr. Derriman!' he exclaimed. + +'My tin box!' said Uncle Benjy. 'O, only the trumpet-major!' + +'Your box is safe enough, I assure you. It was only'--here the trumpet- +major gave vent to an artificial laugh--'only a sly bit of courting, you +know.' + +'Ha, ha, I see!' said the relieved old squireen. 'Courting Miss Anne! +Then you've ousted my nephew, trumpet-major! Well, so much the better. +As for myself, the truth on't is that I haven't been able to go to bed +easy, for thinking that possibly your father might not take care of what +I put under his charge; and at last I thought I would just step over and +see if all was safe here before I turned in. And when I saw your two +shapes my poor nerves magnified ye to housebreakers, and Boneys, and I +don't know what all.' + +'You have alarmed the house,' said the trumpet-major, hearing the +clicking of flint and steel in his father's bedroom, followed in a moment +by the rise of a light in the window of the same apartment. 'You have +got me into difficulty,' he added gloomily, as his father opened the +casement. + +'I am sorry for that,' said Uncle Benjy. 'But step back; I'll put it all +right again.' + +'What, for heaven's sake, is the matter?' said the miller, his tasselled +nightcap appearing in the opening. + +'Nothing, nothing!' said the farmer. 'I was uneasy about my few bonds +and documents, and I walked this way, miller, before going to bed, as I +start from home to-morrow morning. When I came down by your +garden-hedge, I thought I saw thieves, but it turned out to be--to be--' + +Here a lump of earth from the trumpet-major's hand struck Uncle Benjy in +the back as a reminder. + +'To be--the bough of a cherry-tree a-waving in the wind. Good-night.' + +'No thieves are like to try my house,' said Miller Loveday. 'Now don't +you come alarming us like this again, farmer, or you shall keep your box +yourself, begging your pardon for saying so. Good-night t' ye!' + +'Miller, will ye just look, since I am here--just look and see if the box +is all right? there's a good man! I am old, you know, and my poor +remains are not what my original self was. Look and see if it is where +you put it, there's a good, kind man.' + +'Very well,' said the miller good-humouredly. + +'Neighbour Loveday! on second thoughts I will take my box home again, +after all, if you don't mind. You won't deem it ill of me? I have no +suspicion, of course; but now I think on't there's rivalry between my +nephew and your son; and if Festus should take it into his head to set +your house on fire in his enmity, 'twould be bad for my deeds and +documents. No offence, miller, but I'll take the box, if you don't +mind.' + +'Faith! I don't mind,' said Loveday. 'But your nephew had better think +twice before he lets his enmity take that colour.' Receding from the +window, he took the candle to a back part of the room and soon reappeared +with the tin box. + +'I won't trouble ye to dress,' said Derriman considerately; 'let en down +by anything you have at hand.' + +The box was lowered by a cord, and the old man clasped it in his arms. +'Thank ye!' he said with heartfelt gratitude. 'Good-night!' + +The miller replied and closed the window, and the light went out. + +'There, now I hope you are satisfied, sir?' said the trumpet-major. + +'Quite, quite!' said Derriman; and, leaning on his walking-stick, he +pursued his lonely way. + +That night Anne lay awake in her bed, musing on the traits of the new +friend who had come to her neighbour's house. She would not be critical, +it was ungenerous and wrong; but she could not help thinking of what +interested her. And were there, she silently asked, in Miss Johnson's +mind and person such rare qualities as placed that lady altogether beyond +comparison with herself? O yes, there must be; for had not Captain Bob +singled out Matilda from among all other women, herself included? Of +course, with his world-wide experience, he knew best. + +When the moon had set, and only the summer stars threw their light into +the great damp garden, she fancied that she heard voices in that +direction. Perhaps they were the voices of Bob and Matilda taking a +lover's walk before retiring. If so, how sleepy they would be next day, +and how absurd it was of Matilda to pretend she was tired! Ruminating in +this way, and saying to herself that she hoped they would be happy, Anne +fell asleep. + + + + +XIX. MISS JOHNSON'S BEHAVIOUR CAUSES NO LITTLE SURPRISE + + +Partly from the excitement of having his Matilda under the paternal roof, +Bob rose next morning as early as his father and the grinder, and, when +the big wheel began to patter and the little ones to mumble in response, +went to sun himself outside the mill-front, among the fowls of brown and +speckled kinds which haunted that spot, and the ducks that came up from +the mill-tail. + +Standing on the worn-out mill-stone inlaid in the gravel, he talked with +his father on various improvements of the premises, and on the proposed +arrangements for his permanent residence there, with an enjoyment that +was half based upon this prospect of the future, and half on the +penetrating warmth of the sun to his back and shoulders. Then the +different troops of horses began their morning scramble down to the mill- +pond, and, after making it very muddy round the edge, ascended the slope +again. The bustle of the camp grew more and more audible, and presently +David came to say that breakfast was ready. + +'Is Miss Johnson downstairs?' said the miller; and Bob listened for the +answer, looking at a blue sentinel aloft on the down. + +'Not yet, maister,' said the excellent David. + +'We'll wait till she's down,' said Loveday. 'When she is, let us know.' + +David went indoors again, and Loveday and Bob continued their morning +survey by ascending into the mysterious quivering recesses of the mill, +and holding a discussion over a second pair of burr-stones, which had to +be re-dressed before they could be used again. This and similar things +occupied nearly twenty minutes, and, looking from the window, the elder +of the two was reminded of the time of day by seeing Mrs. Garland's table- +cloth fluttering from her back door over the heads of a flock of pigeons +that had alighted for the crumbs. + +'I suppose David can't find us,' he said, with a sense of hunger that was +not altogether strange to Bob. He put out his head and shouted. + +'The lady is not down yet,' said his man in reply. + +'No hurry, no hurry,' said the miller, with cheerful emptiness. 'Bob, to +pass the time we'll look into the garden.' + +'She'll get up sooner than this, you know, when she's signed articles and +got a berth here,' Bob observed apologetically. + +'Yes, yes,' said Loveday; and they descended into the garden. + +Here they turned over sundry flat stones and killed the slugs sheltered +beneath them from the coming heat of the day, talking of slugs in all +their branches--of the brown and the black, of the tough and the tender, +of the reason why there were so many in the garden that year, of the +coming time when the grass-walks harbouring them were to be taken up and +gravel laid, and of the relatively exterminatory merits of a pair of +scissors and the heel of the shoe. At last the miller said, 'Well, +really, Bob, I'm hungry; we must begin without her.' + +They were about to go in, when David appeared with haste in his motions, +his eyes wider vertically than crosswise, and his cheeks nearly all gone. + +'Maister, I've been to call her; and as 'a didn't speak I rapped, and as +'a didn't answer I kicked, and not being latched the door opened, +and--she's gone!' + +Bob went off like a swallow towards the house, and the miller followed +like the rather heavy man that he was. That Miss Matilda was not in her +room, or a scrap of anything belonging to her, was soon apparent. They +searched every place in which she could possibly hide or squeeze herself, +every place in which she could not, but found nothing at all. + +Captain Bob was quite wild with astonishment and grief. When he was +quite sure that she was nowhere in his father's house, he ran into Mrs. +Garland's, and telling them the story so hastily that they hardly +understood the particulars, he went on towards Comfort's house, intending +to raise the alarm there, and also at Mitchell's, Beach's, +Cripplestraw's, the parson's, the clerk's, the camp of dragoons, of +hussars, and so on through the whole county. But he paused, and thought +it would be hardly expedient to publish his discomfiture in such a way. +If Matilda had left the house for any freakish reason he would not care +to look for her, and if her deed had a tragic intent she would keep aloof +from camp and village. + +In his trouble he thought of Anne. She was a nice girl and could be +trusted. To her he went, and found her in a state of excitement and +anxiety which equalled his own. + +''Tis so lonely to cruise for her all by myself!' said Bob +disconsolately, his forehead all in wrinkles, 'and I've thought you would +come with me and cheer the way?' + +'Where shall we search?' said Anne. + +'O, in the holes of rivers, you know, and down wells, and in quarries, +and over cliffs, and like that. Your eyes might catch the loom of any +bit of a shawl or bonnet that I should overlook, and it would do me a +real service. Please do come!' + +So Anne took pity upon him, and put on her hat and went, the miller and +David having gone off in another direction. They examined the ditches of +fields, Bob going round by one fence and Anne by the other, till they met +at the opposite side. Then they peeped under culverts, into outhouses, +and down old wells and quarries, till the theory of a tragical end had +nearly spent its force in Bob's mind, and he began to think that Matilda +had simply run away. However, they still walked on, though by this time +the sun was hot and Anne would gladly have sat down. + +'Now, didn't you think highly of her, Miss Garland?' he inquired, as the +search began to languish. + +'O yes,' said Anne, 'very highly.' + +'She was really beautiful; no nonsense about her looks, was there?' + +'None. Her beauty was thoroughly ripe--not too young. We should all +have got to love her. What can have possessed her to go away?' + +'I don't know, and, upon my life, I shall soon be drove to say I don't +care!' replied the mate despairingly. 'Let me pilot ye down over those +stones,' he added, as Anne began to descend a rugged quarry. He stepped +forward, leapt down, and turned to her. + +She gave him her hand and sprang down. Before he relinquished his hold, +Captain Bob raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them. + +'O, Captain Loveday!' cried Anne, snatching away her hand in genuine +dismay, while a tear rose unexpectedly to each eye. 'I never heard of +such a thing! I won't go an inch further with you, sir; it is too +barefaced!' And she turned and ran off. + +'Upon my life I didn't mean it!' said the repentant captain, hastening +after. 'I do love her best--indeed I do--and I don't love you at all! I +am not so fickle as that! I merely just for the moment admired you as a +sweet little craft, and that's how I came to do it. You know, Miss +Garland,' he continued earnestly, and still running after, ''tis like +this: when you come ashore after having been shut up in a ship for +eighteen months, women-folks seem so new and nice that you can't help +liking them, one and all in a body; and so your heart is apt to get +scattered and to yaw a bit; but of course I think of poor Matilda most, +and shall always stick to her.' He heaved a sigh of tremendous +magnitude, to show beyond the possibility of doubt that his heart was +still in the place that honour required. + +'I am glad to hear that--of course I am very glad!' said she, with quick +petulance, keeping her face turned from him. 'And I hope we shall find +her, and that the wedding will not be put off, and that you'll both be +happy. But I won't look for her any more! No; I don't care to look for +her--and my head aches. I am going home!' + +'And so am I,' said Robert promptly. + +'No, no; go on looking for her, of course--all the afternoon, and all +night. I am sure you will, if you love her.' + +'O yes; I mean to. Still, I ought to convoy you home first?' + +'No, you ought not; and I shall not accept your company. Good-morning, +sir!' And she went off over one of the stone stiles with which the spot +abounded, leaving the friendly sailor standing in the field. + +He sighed again, and, observing the camp not far off, thought he would go +to his brother John and ask him his opinion on the sorrowful case. On +reaching the tents he found that John was not at liberty just at that +time, being engaged in practising the trumpeters; and leaving word that +he wished the trumpet-major to come down to the mill as soon as possible, +Bob went back again. + +''Tis no good looking for her,' he said gloomily. 'She liked me well +enough, but when she came here and saw the house, and the place, and the +old horse, and the plain furniture, she was disappointed to find us all +so homely, and felt she didn't care to marry into such a family!' + +His father and David had returned with no news. + +'Yes, 'tis as I've been thinking, father,' Bob said. 'We weren't good +enough for her, and she went away in scorn!' + +'Well, that can't be helped,' said the miller. 'What we be, we be, and +have been for generations. To my mind she seemed glad enough to get hold +of us!' + +'Yes, yes--for the moment--because of the flowers, and birds, and what's +pretty in the place,' said Bob tragically. 'But you don't know, +father--how should you know, who have hardly been out of Overcombe in +your life?--you don't know what delicate feelings are in a real refined +woman's mind. Any little vulgar action unreaves their nerves like a +marline-spike. Now I wonder if you did anything to disgust her?' + +'Faith! not that I know of,' said Loveday, reflecting. 'I didn't say a +single thing that I should naturally have said, on purpose to give no +offence.' + +'You was always very homely, you know, father.' + +'Yes; so I was,' said the miller meekly. + +'I wonder what it could have been,' Bob continued, wandering about +restlessly. 'You didn't go drinking out of the big mug with your mouth +full, or wipe your lips with your sleeve?' + +'That I'll swear I didn't!' said the miller firmly. 'Thinks I, there's +no knowing what I may do to shock her, so I'll take my solid victuals in +the bakehouse, and only a crumb and a drop in her company for manners.' + +'You could do no more than that, certainly,' said Bob gently. + +'If my manners be good enough for well-brought-up people like the +Garlands, they be good enough for her,' continued the miller, with a +sense of injustice. + +'That's true. Then it must have been David. David, come here! How did +you behave before that lady? Now, mind you speak the truth!' + +'Yes, Mr. Captain Robert,' said David earnestly. 'I assure ye she was +served like a royal queen. The best silver spoons wez put down, and yer +poor grandfer's silver tanket, as you seed, and the feather cushion for +her to sit on--' + +'Now I've got it!' said Bob decisively, bringing down his hand upon the +window-sill. 'Her bed was hard!--and there's nothing shocks a true lady +like that. The bed in that room always was as hard as the Rock of +Gibraltar!' + +'No, Captain Bob! The beds were changed--wasn't they maister? We put +the goose bed in her room, and the flock one, that used to be there, in +yours.' + +'Yes, we did,' corroborated the miller. 'David and I changed 'em with +our own hands, because they were too heavy for the women to move.' + +'Sure I didn't know I had the flock bed,' murmured Bob. 'I slept on, +little thinking what I was going to wake to. Well, well, she's gone; and +search as I will I shall never find another like her! She was too good +for me. She must have carried her box with her own hands, poor girl. As +far as that goes, I could overtake her even now, I dare say; but I won't +entreat her against her will--not I.' + +Miller Loveday and David, feeling themselves to be rather a desecration +in the presence of Bob's sacred emotions, managed to edge off by degrees, +the former burying himself in the most floury recesses of the mill, his +invariable resource when perturbed, the rumbling having a soothing effect +upon the nerves of those properly trained to its music. + +Bob was so impatient that, after going up to her room to assure himself +once more that she had not undressed, but had only lain down on the +outside of the bed, he went out of the house to meet John, and waited on +the sunny slope of the down till his brother appeared. John looked so +brave and shapely and warlike that, even in Bob's present distress, he +could not but feel an honest and affectionate pride at owning such a +relative. Yet he fancied that John did not come along with the same +swinging step he had shown yesterday; and when the trumpet-major got +nearer he looked anxiously at the mate and waited for him to speak first. + +'You know our great trouble, John?' said Robert, gazing stoically into +his brother's eyes. + +'Come and sit down, and tell me all about it,' answered the +trumpet-major, showing no surprise. + +They went towards a slight ravine, where it was easier to sit down than +on the flat ground, and here John reclined among the grasshoppers, +pointing to his brother to do the same. + +'But do you know what it is?' said Robert. 'Has anybody told ye?' + +'I do know,' said John. 'She's gone; and I am thankful!' + +'What!' said Bob, rising to his knees in amazement. + +'I'm at the bottom of it,' said the trumpet-major slowly. + +'You, John?' + +'Yes; and if you will listen I'll tell you all. Do you remember what +happened when I came into the room last night? Why, she turned colour +and nearly fainted away. That was because she knew me.' + +Bob stared at his brother with a face of pain and distrust. + +'For once, Bob, I must say something that will hurt thee a good deal,' +continued John. 'She was not a woman who could possibly be your wife--and +so she's gone.' + +'You sent her off?' + +'Well, I did.' + +'John!--Tell me right through--tell me!' + +'Perhaps I had better,' said the trumpet-major, his blue eyes resting on +the far distant sea, that seemed to rise like a wall as high as the hill +they sat upon. + +And then he told a tale of Miss Johnson and the --th Dragoons which wrung +his heart as much in the telling as it did Bob's to hear, and which +showed that John had been temporarily cruel to be ultimately kind. Even +Bob, excited as he was, could discern from John's manner of speaking what +a terrible undertaking that night's business had been for him. To +justify the course he had adopted the dictates of duty must have been +imperative; but the trumpet-major, with a becoming reticence which his +brother at the time was naturally unable to appreciate, scarcely dwelt +distinctly enough upon the compelling cause of his conduct. It would, +indeed, have been hard for any man, much less so modest a one as John, to +do himself justice in that remarkable relation, when the listener was the +lady's lover; and it is no wonder that Robert rose to his feet and put a +greater distance between himself and John. + +'And what time was it?' he asked in a hard, suppressed voice. + +'It was just before one o'clock.' + +'How could you help her to go away?' + +'I had a pass. I carried her box to the coach-office. She was to follow +at dawn.' + +'But she had no money.' + +'Yes, she had; I took particular care of that.' John did not add, as he +might have done, that he had given her, in his pity, all the money he +possessed, and at present had only eighteen-pence in the world. 'Well, +it is over, Bob; so sit ye down, and talk with me of old times,' he +added. + +'Ah, Jack, it is well enough for you to speak like that,' said the +disquieted sailor; 'but I can't help feeling that it is a cruel thing you +have done. After all, she would have been snug enough for me. Would I +had never found out this about her! John, why did you interfere? You +had no right to overhaul my affairs like this. Why didn't you tell me +fairly all you knew, and let me do as I chose? You have turned her out +of the house, and it's a shame! If she had only come to me! Why didn't +she?' + +'Because she knew it was best to do otherwise.' + +'Well, I shall go after her,' said Bob firmly. + +'You can do as you like,' said John; 'but I would advise you strongly to +leave matters where they are.' + +'I won't leave matters where they are,' said Bob impetuously. 'You have +made me miserable, and all for nothing. I tell you she was good enough +for me; and as long as I knew nothing about what you say of her history, +what difference would it have made to me? Never was there a young woman +who was better company; and she loved a merry song as I do myself. Yes, +I'll follow her.' + +'O, Bob,' said John; 'I hardly expected this!' + +'That's because you didn't know your man. Can I ask you to do me one +kindness? I don't suppose I can. Can I ask you not to say a word +against her to any of them at home?' + +'Certainly. The very reason why I got her to go off silently, as she has +done, was because nothing should be said against her here, and no scandal +should be heard of.' + +'That may be; but I'm off after her. Marry that girl I will.' + +'You'll be sorry.' + +'That we shall see,' replied Robert with determination; and he went away +rapidly towards the mill. The trumpet-major had no heart to follow--no +good could possibly come of further opposition; and there on the down he +remained like a graven image till Bob had vanished from his sight into +the mill. + +Bob entered his father's only to leave word that he was going on a +renewed search for Matilda, and to pack up a few necessaries for his +journey. Ten minutes later he came out again with a bundle in his hand, +and John saw him go diagonally across the lower fields towards the high- +road. + +'And this is all the good I have done!' said John, musingly readjusting +his stock where it cut his neck, and descending towards the mill. + + + + +XX. HOW THEY LESSENED THE EFFECT OF THE CALAMITY + + +Meanwhile Anne Garland had gone home, and, being weary with her ramble in +search of Matilda, sat silent in a corner of the room. Her mother was +passing the time in giving utterance to every conceivable surmise on the +cause of Miss Johnson's disappearance that the human mind could frame, to +which Anne returned monosyllabic answers, the result, not of +indifference, but of intense preoccupation. Presently Loveday, the +father, came to the door; her mother vanished with him, and they remained +closeted together a long time. Anne went into the garden and seated +herself beneath the branching tree whose boughs had sheltered her during +so many hours of her residence here. Her attention was fixed more upon +the miller's wing of the irregular building before her than upon that +occupied by her mother, for she could not help expecting every moment to +see some one run out with a wild face and announce some awful clearing up +of the mystery. + +Every sound set her on the alert, and hearing the tread of a horse in the +lane she looked round eagerly. Gazing at her over the hedge was Festus +Derriman, mounted on such an incredibly tall animal that he could see to +her very feet over the thick and broad thorn fence. She no sooner +recognized him than she withdrew her glance; but as his eyes were fixed +steadily upon her this was a futile manoeuvre. + +'I saw you look round!' he exclaimed crossly. 'What have I done to make +you behave like that? Come, Miss Garland, be fair. 'Tis no use to turn +your back upon me.' As she did not turn he went on--'Well, now, this is +enough to provoke a saint. Now I tell you what, Miss Garland; here I'll +stay till you do turn round, if 'tis all the afternoon. You know my +temper--what I say I mean.' He seated himself firmly in the saddle, +plucked some leaves from the hedge, and began humming a song, to show how +absolutely indifferent he was to the flight of time. + +'What have you come for, that you are so anxious to see me?' inquired +Anne, when at last he had wearied her patience, rising and facing him +with the added independence which came from a sense of the hedge between +them. + +'There, I knew you would turn round!' he said, his hot angry face invaded +by a smile in which his teeth showed like white hemmed in by red at +chess. + +'What do you want, Mr. Derriman?' said she. + +'"What do you want, Mr. Derriman?"--now listen to that! Is that my +encouragement?' + +Anne bowed superciliously, and moved away. + +'I have just heard news that explains all that,' said the giant, eyeing +her movements with somnolent irascibility. 'My uncle has been letting +things out. He was here late last night, and he saw you.' + +'Indeed he didn't,' said Anne. + +'O, now! He saw Trumpet-major Loveday courting somebody like you in that +garden walk; and when he came you ran indoors.' + +'It is not true, and I wish to hear no more.' + +'Upon my life, he said so! How can you do it, Miss Garland, when I, who +have enough money to buy up all the Lovedays, would gladly come to terms +with ye? What a simpleton you must be, to pass me over for him! There, +now you are angry because I said simpleton!--I didn't mean simpleton, I +meant misguided--misguided rosebud! That's it--run off,' he continued in +a raised voice, as Anne made towards the garden door. 'But I'll have you +yet. Much reason you have to be too proud to stay with me. But it won't +last long; I shall marry you, madam, if I choose, as you'll see.' + +When he was quite gone, and Anne had calmed down from the not altogether +unrelished fear and excitement that he always caused her, she returned to +her seat under the tree, and began to wonder what Festus Derriman's story +meant, which, from the earnestness of his tone, did not seem like a pure +invention. It suddenly flashed upon her mind that she herself had heard +voices in the garden, and that the persons seen by Farmer Derriman, of +whose visit and reclamation of his box the miller had told her, might +have been Matilda and John Loveday. She further recalled the strange +agitation of Miss Johnson on the preceding evening, and that it occurred +just at the entry of the dragoon, till by degrees suspicion amounted to +conviction that he knew more than any one else supposed of that lady's +disappearance. + +It was just at this time that the trumpet-major descended to the mill +after his talk with his brother on the down. As fate would have it, +instead of entering the house he turned aside to the garden and walked +down that pleasant enclosure, to learn if he were likely to find in the +other half of it the woman he loved so well. + +Yes, there she was, sitting on the seat of logs that he had repaired for +her, under the apple-tree; but she was not facing in his direction. He +walked with a noisier tread, he coughed, he shook a bough, he did +everything, in short, but the one thing that Festus did in the same +circumstances--call out to her. He would not have ventured on that for +the world. Any of his signs would have been sufficient to attract her a +day or two earlier; now she would not turn. At last, in his fond +anxiety, he did what he had never done before without an invitation, and +crossed over into Mrs. Garland's half of the garden, till he stood before +her. + +When she could not escape him she arose, and, saying 'Good afternoon, +trumpet-major,' in a glacial manner unusual with her, walked away to +another part of the garden. + +Loveday, quite at a loss, had not the strength of mind to persevere +further. He had a vague apprehension that some imperfect knowledge of +the previous night's unhappy business had reached her; and, unable to +remedy the evil without telling more than he dared, he went into the +mill, where his father still was, looking doleful enough, what with his +concern at events and the extra quantity of flour upon his face through +sticking so closely to business that day. + +'Well, John; Bob has told you all, of course? A queer, strange, +perplexing thing, isn't it? I can't make it out at all. There must be +something wrong in the woman, or it couldn't have happened. I haven't +been so upset for years.' + +'Nor have I. I wouldn't it should have happened for all I own in the +world,' said the dragoon. 'Have you spoke to Anne Garland to-day--or has +anybody been talking to her?' + +'Festus Derriman rode by half-an-hour ago, and talked to her over the +hedge.' + +John guessed the rest, and, after standing on the threshold in silence +awhile, walked away towards the camp. + +All this time his brother Robert had been hastening along in pursuit of +the woman who had withdrawn from the scene to avoid the exposure and +complete overthrow which would have resulted had she remained. As the +distance lengthened between himself and the mill, Bob was conscious of +some cooling down of the excitement that had prompted him to set out; but +he did not pause in his walk till he had reached the head of the river +which fed the mill-stream. Here, for some indefinite reason, he allowed +his eyes to be attracted by the bubbling spring whose waters never failed +or lessened, and he stopped as if to look longer at the scene; it was +really because his mind was so absorbed by John's story. + +The sun was warm, the spot was a pleasant one, and he deposited his +bundle and sat down. By degrees, as he reflected, first on John's view +and then on his own, his convictions became unsettled; till at length he +was so balanced between the impulse to go on and the impulse to go back, +that a puff of wind either way would have been well-nigh sufficient to +decide for him. When he allowed John's story to repeat itself in his +ears, the reasonableness and good sense of his advice seemed beyond +question. When, on the other hand, he thought of his poor Matilda's +eyes, and her, to him, pleasant ways, their charming arrangements to +marry, and her probable willingness still, he could hardly bring himself +to do otherwise than follow on the road at the top of his speed. + +This strife of thought was so well maintained that sitting and standing, +he remained on the borders of the spring till the shadows had stretched +out eastwards, and the chance of overtaking Matilda had grown +considerably less. Still he did not positively go towards home. At last +he took a guinea from his pocket, and resolved to put the question to the +hazard. 'Heads I go; tails I don't.' The piece of gold spun in the air +and came down heads. + +'No, I won't go, after all,' he said. 'I won't be steered by accidents +any more.' + +He picked up his bundle and switch, and retraced his steps towards +Overcombe Mill, knocking down the brambles and nettles as he went with +gloomy and indifferent blows. When he got within sight of the house he +beheld David in the road. + +'All right--all right again, captain!', shouted that retainer. 'A +wedding after all! Hurrah!' + +'Ah--she's back again?' cried Bob, seizing David, ecstatically, and +dancing round with him. + +'No--but it's all the same! it is of no consequence at all, and no harm +will be done! Maister and Mrs. Garland have made up a match, and mean to +marry at once, that the wedding victuals may not be wasted! They felt +'twould be a thousand pities to let such good things get blue-vinnied for +want of a ceremony to use 'em upon, and at last they have thought of +this.' + +'Victuals--I don't care for the victuals!' bitterly cried Bob, in a tone +of far higher thought. 'How you disappoint me!' and he went slowly +towards the house. + +His father appeared in the opening of the mill-door, looking more +cheerful than when they had parted. 'What, Robert, you've been after +her?' he said. 'Faith, then, I wouldn't have followed her if I had been +as sure as you were that she went away in scorn of us. Since you told me +that, I have not looked for her at all.' + +'I was wrong, father,' Bob replied gravely, throwing down his bundle and +stick. 'Matilda, I find, has not gone away in scorn of us; she has gone +away for other reasons. I followed her some way; but I have come back +again. She may go.' + +'Why is she gone?' said the astonished miller. + +Bob had intended, for Matilda's sake, to give no reason to a living soul +for her departure. But he could not treat his father thus reservedly; +and he told. + +'She has made great fools of us,' said the miller deliberately; 'and she +might have made us greater ones. Bob, I thought th' hadst more sense.' + +'Well, don't say anything against her, father,' implored Bob. ''Twas a +sorry haul, and there's an end on't. Let her down quietly, and keep the +secret. You promise that?' + +'I do.' Loveday the elder remained thinking awhile, and then went +on--'Well, what I was going to say is this: I've hit upon a plan to get +out of the awkward corner she has put us in. What you'll think of it I +can't say.' + +'David has just given me the heads.' + +'And do it hurt your feelings, my son, at such a time?' + +'No--I'll bring myself to bear it, anyhow! Why should I object to other +people's happiness because I have lost my own?' said Bob, with saintly +self-sacrifice in his air. + +'Well said!' answered the miller heartily. 'But you may be sure that +there will be no unseemly rejoicing, to disturb ye in your present frame +of mind. All the morning I felt more ashamed than I cared to own at the +thought of how the neighbours, great and small, would laugh at what they +would call your folly, when they knew what had happened; so I resolved to +take this step to stave it off, if so be 'twas possible. And when I saw +Mrs. Garland I knew I had done right. She pitied me so much for having +had the house cleaned in vain, and laid in provisions to waste, that it +put her into the humour to agree. We mean to do it right off at once, +afore the pies and cakes get mouldy and the blackpot stale. 'Twas a good +thought of mine and hers, and I am glad 'tis settled,' he concluded +cheerfully. + +'Poor Matilda!' murmured Bob. + +'There--I was afraid 'twould hurt thy feelings,' said the miller, with +self-reproach: 'making preparations for thy wedding, and using them for +my own!' + +'No,' said Bob heroically; 'it shall not. It will be a great comfort in +my sorrow to feel that the splendid grub, and the ale, and your stunning +new suit of clothes, and the great table-cloths you've bought, will be +just as useful now as if I had married myself. Poor Matilda! But you +won't expect me to join in--you hardly can. I can sheer off that day +very easily, you know.' + +'Nonsense, Bob!' said the miller reproachfully. + +'I couldn't stand it--I should break down.' + +'Deuce take me if I would have asked her, then, if I had known 'twas +going to drive thee out of the house! Now, come, Bob, I'll find a way of +arranging it and sobering it down, so that it shall be as melancholy as +you can require--in short, just like a funeral, if thou'lt promise to +stay?' + +'Very well,' said the afflicted one. 'On that condition I'll stay.' + + + + +XXI. 'UPON THE HILL HE TURNED' + + +Having entered into this solemn compact with his son, the elder Loveday's +next action was to go to Mrs. Garland, and ask her how the toning down of +the wedding had best be done. 'It is plain enough that to make merry +just now would be slighting Bob's feelings, as if we didn't care who was +not married, so long as we were,' he said. 'But then, what's to be done +about the victuals?' + +'Give a dinner to the poor folk,' she suggested. 'We can get everything +used up that way.' + +'That's true' said the miller. 'There's enough of 'em in these times to +carry off any extras whatsoever.' + +'And it will save Bob's feelings wonderfully. And they won't know that +the dinner was got for another sort of wedding and another sort of +guests; so you'll have their good-will for nothing.' + +The miller smiled at the subtlety of the view. 'That can hardly be +called fair,' he said. 'Still, I did mean some of it for them, for the +friends we meant to ask would not have cleared all.' + +Upon the whole the idea pleased him well, particularly when he noticed +the forlorn look of his sailor son as he walked about the place, and +pictured the inevitably jarring effect of fiddles and tambourines upon +Bob's shattered nerves at such a crisis, even if the notes of the former +were dulled by the application of a mute, and Bob shut up in a distant +bedroom--a plan which had at first occurred to him. He therefore told +Bob that the surcharged larder was to be emptied by the charitable +process above alluded to, and hoped he would not mind making himself +useful in such a good and gloomy work. Bob readily fell in with the +scheme, and it was at once put in hand and the tables spread. + +The alacrity with which the substituted wedding was carried out, seemed +to show that the worthy pair of neighbours would have joined themselves +into one long ago, had there previously occurred any domestic incident +dictating such a step as an apposite expedient, apart from their personal +wish to marry. + +The appointed morning came, and the service quietly took place at the +cheerful hour of ten, in the face of a triangular congregation, of which +the base was the front pew, and the apex the west door. Mrs. Garland +dressed herself in the muslin shawl like Queen Charlotte's, that Bob had +brought home, and her best plum-coloured gown, beneath which peeped out +her shoes with red rosettes. Anne was present, but she considerately +toned herself down, so as not to too seriously damage her mother's +appearance. At moments during the ceremony she had a distressing sense +that she ought not to be born, and was glad to get home again. + +The interest excited in the village, though real, was hardly enough to +bring a serious blush to the face of coyness. Neighbours' minds had +become so saturated by the abundance of showy military and regal incident +lately vouchsafed to them, that the wedding of middle-aged civilians was +of small account, excepting in so far that it solved the question whether +or not Mrs. Garland would consider herself too genteel to mate with a +grinder of corn. + +In the evening, Loveday's heart was made glad by seeing the baked and +boiled in rapid process of consumption by the kitchenful of people +assembled for that purpose. Three-quarters of an hour were sufficient to +banish for ever his fears as to spoilt food. The provisions being the +cause of the assembly, and not its consequence, it had been determined to +get all that would not keep consumed on that day, even if highways and +hedges had to be searched for operators. And, in addition to the poor +and needy, every cottager's daughter known to the miller was invited, and +told to bring her lover from camp--an expedient which, for letting +daylight into the inside of full platters, was among the most happy ever +known. + +While Mr. and Mrs. Loveday, Anne, and Bob were standing in the parlour, +discussing the progress of the entertainment in the next room, John, who +had not been down all day, entered the house and looked in upon them +through the open door. + +'How's this, John? Why didn't you come before?' + +'Had to see the captain, and--other duties,' said the trumpet-major, in a +tone which showed no great zeal for explanations. + +'Well, come in, however,' continued the miller, as his son remained with +his hand on the door-post, surveying them reflectively. + +'I cannot stay long,' said John, advancing. 'The Route is come, and we +are going away.' + +'Going away! Where to?' + +'To Exonbury.' + +'When?' + +'Friday morning.' + +'All of you?' + +'Yes; some to-morrow and some next day. The King goes next week.' + +'I am sorry for this,' said the miller, not expressing half his sorrow by +the simple utterance. 'I wish you could have been here to-day, since +this is the case,' he added, looking at the horizon through the window. + +Mrs. Loveday also expressed her regret, which seemed to remind the +trumpet-major of the event of the day, and he went to her and tried to +say something befitting the occasion. Anne had not said that she was +either sorry or glad, but John Loveday fancied that she had looked rather +relieved than otherwise when she heard his news. His conversation with +Bob on the down made Bob's manner, too, remarkably cool, notwithstanding +that he had after all followed his brother's advice, which it was as yet +too soon after the event for him to rightly value. John did not know why +the sailor had come back, never supposing that it was because he had +thought better of going, and said to him privately, 'You didn't overtake +her?' + +'I didn't try to,' said Bob. + +'And you are not going to?' + +'No; I shall let her drift.' + +'I am glad indeed, Bob; you have been wise,' said John heartily. + +Bob, however, still loved Matilda too well to be other than dissatisfied +with John and the event that he had precipitated, which the elder brother +only too promptly perceived; and it made his stay that evening of short +duration. Before leaving he said with some hesitation to his father, +including Anne and her mother by his glance, 'Do you think to come up and +see us off?' + +The miller answered for them all, and said that of course they would +come. 'But you'll step down again between now and then?' he inquired. + +'I'll try to.' He added after a pause, 'In case I should not, remember +that Revalley will sound at half past five; we shall leave about eight. +Next summer, perhaps, we shall come and camp here again.' + +'I hope so,' said his father and Mrs. Loveday. + +There was something in John's manner which indicated to Anne that he +scarcely intended to come down again; but the others did not notice it, +and she said nothing. He departed a few minutes later, in the dusk of +the August evening, leaving Anne still in doubt as to the meaning of his +private meeting with Miss Johnson. + +John Loveday had been going to tell them that on the last night, by an +especial privilege, it would be in his power to come and stay with them +until eleven o'clock, but at the moment of leaving he abandoned the +intention. Anne's attitude had chilled him, and made him anxious to be +off. He utilized the spare hours of that last night in another way. + +This was by coming down from the outskirts of the camp in the evening, +and seating himself near the brink of the mill-pond as soon as it was +quite dark; where he watched the lights in the different windows till one +appeared in Anne's bedroom, and she herself came forward to shut the +casement, with the candle in her hand. The light shone out upon the +broad and deep mill-head, illuminating to a distinct individuality every +moth and gnat that entered the quivering chain of radiance stretching +across the water towards him, and every bubble or atom of froth that +floated into its width. She stood for some time looking out, little +thinking what the darkness concealed on the other side of that wide +stream; till at length she closed the casement, drew the curtains, and +retreated into the room. Presently the light went out, upon which John +Loveday returned to camp and lay down in his tent. + +The next morning was dull and windy, and the trumpets of the --th sounded +Reveille for the last time on Overcombe Down. Knowing that the Dragoons +were going away, Anne had slept heedfully, and was at once awakened by +the smart notes. She looked out of the window, to find that the miller +was already astir, his white form being visible at the end of his garden, +where he stood motionless, watching the preparations. Anne also looked +on as well as she could through the dim grey gloom, and soon she saw the +blue smoke from the cooks' fires creeping fitfully along the ground, +instead of rising in vertical columns, as it had done during the fine +weather season. Then the men began to carry their bedding to the +waggons, and others to throw all refuse into the trenches, till the down +was lively as an ant-hill. Anne did not want to see John Loveday again, +but hearing the household astir, she began to dress at leisure, looking +out at the camp the while. + +When the soldiers had breakfasted, she saw them selling and giving away +their superfluous crockery to the natives who had clustered round; and +then they pulled down and cleared away the temporary kitchens which they +had constructed when they came. A tapping of tent-pegs and wriggling of +picket-posts followed, and soon the cones of white canvas, now almost +become a component part of the landscape, fell to the ground. At this +moment the miller came indoors and asked at the foot of the stairs if +anybody was going up the hill with him. + +Anne felt that, in spite of the cloud hanging over John in her mind, it +would ill become the present moment not to see him off, and she went +downstairs to her mother, who was already there, though Bob was nowhere +to be seen. Each took an arm of the miller, and thus climbed to the top +of the hill. By this time the men and horses were at the place of +assembly, and, shortly after the mill-party reached level ground, the +troops slowly began to move forward. When the trumpet-major, half buried +in his uniform, arms, and horse-furniture, drew near to the spot where +the Lovedays were waiting to see him pass, his father turned anxiously to +Anne and said, 'You will shake hands with John?' + +Anne faintly replied 'Yes,' and allowed the miller to take her forward on +his arm to the trackway, so as to be close to the flank of the +approaching column. It came up, many people on each side grasping the +hands of the troopers in bidding them farewell; and as soon as John +Loveday saw the members of his father's household, he stretched down his +hand across his right pistol for the same performance. The miller gave +his, then Mrs. Loveday gave hers, and then the hand of the trumpet-major +was extended towards Anne. But as the horse did not absolutely stop, it +was a somewhat awkward performance for a young woman to undertake, and, +more on that account than on any other, Anne drew back, and the gallant +trooper passed by without receiving her adieu. Anne's heart reproached +her for a moment; and then she thought that, after all, he was not going +off to immediate battle, and that she would in all probability see him +again at no distant date, when she hoped that the mystery of his conduct +would be explained. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice at her +elbow: 'Thank heaven, he's gone! Now there's a chance for me.' + +She turned, and Festus Derriman was standing by her. + +'There's no chance for you,' she said indignantly. + +'Why not?' + +'Because there's another left!' + +The words had slipped out quite unintentionally, and she blushed quickly. +She would have given anything to be able to recall them; but he had +heard, and said, 'Who?' + +Anne went forward to the miller to avoid replying, and Festus caught her +no more. + +'Has anybody been hanging about Overcombe Mill except Loveday's son the +soldier?' he asked of a comrade. + +'His son the sailor,' was the reply. + +'O--his son the sailor,' said Festus slowly. 'Damn his son the sailor!' + + + + +XXII. THE TWO HOUSEHOLDS UNITED + + +At this particular moment the object of Festus Derriman's fulmination was +assuredly not dangerous as a rival. Bob, after abstractedly watching the +soldiers from the front of the house till they were out of sight, had +gone within doors and seated himself in the mill-parlour, where his +father found him, his elbows resting on the table and his forehead on his +hands, his eyes being fixed upon a document that lay open before him. + +'What art perusing, Bob, with such a long face?' + +Bob sighed, and then Mrs. Loveday and Anne entered. ''Tis only a state- +paper that I fondly thought I should have a use for,' he said gloomily. +And, looking down as before, he cleared his voice, as if moved inwardly +to go on, and began to read in feeling tones from what proved to be his +nullified marriage licence:-- + +'"Timothy Titus Philemon, by permission Bishop of Bristol: To our well- +beloved Robert Loveday, of the parish of Overcombe, Bachelor; and Matilda +Johnson, of the same parish, Spinster. Greeting."' + +Here Anne sighed, but contrived to keep down her sigh to a mere nothing. + +'Beautiful language, isn't it!' said Bob. 'I was never greeted like that +afore!' + +'Yes; I have often thought it very excellent language myself,' said Mrs. +Loveday. + +'Come to that, the old gentleman will greet thee like it again any day +for a couple of guineas,' said the miller. + +'That's not the point, father! You never could see the real meaning of +these things. . . . Well, then he goes on: "Whereas ye are, as it is +alleged, determined to enter into the holy estate of matrimony--" But +why should I read on? It all means nothing now--nothing, and the +splendid words are all wasted upon air. It seems as if I had been hailed +by some venerable hoary prophet, and had turned away, put the helm hard +up, and wouldn't hear.' + +Nobody replied, feeling probably that sympathy could not meet the case, +and Bob went on reading the rest of it to himself, occasionally heaving a +breath like the wind in a ship's shrouds. + +'I wouldn't set my mind so much upon her, if I was thee,' said his father +at last. + +'Why not?' + +'Well, folk might call thee a fool, and say thy brains were turning to +water.' + +Bob was apparently much struck by this thought, and, instead of +continuing the discourse further, he carefully folded up the licence, +went out, and walked up and down the garden. It was startlingly apt what +his father had said; and, worse than that, what people would call him +might be true, and the liquefaction of his brains turn out to be no +fable. By degrees he became much concerned, and the more he examined +himself by this new light the more clearly did he perceive that he was in +a very bad way. + +On reflection he remembered that since Miss Johnson's departure his +appetite had decreased amazingly. He had eaten in meat no more than +fourteen or fifteen ounces a day, but one-third of a quartern pudding on +an average, in vegetables only a small heap of potatoes and half a York +cabbage, and no gravy whatever; which, considering the usual appetite of +a seaman for fresh food at the end of a long voyage, was no small index +of the depression of his mind. Then he had waked once every night, and +on one occasion twice. While dressing each morning since the gloomy day +he had not whistled more than seven bars of a hornpipe without stopping +and falling into thought of a most painful kind; and he had told none but +absolutely true stories of foreign parts to the neighbouring villagers +when they saluted and clustered about him, as usual, for anything he +chose to pour forth--except that story of the whale whose eye was about +as large as the round pond in Derriman's ewe-lease--which was like +tempting fate to set a seal for ever upon his tongue as a traveller. All +this enervation, mental and physical, had been produced by Matilda's +departure. + +He also considered what he had lost of the rational amusements of manhood +during these unfortunate days. He might have gone to the neighbouring +fashionable resort every afternoon, stood before Gloucester Lodge till +the King and Queen came out, held his hat in his hand, and enjoyed their +Majesties' smiles at his homage all for nothing--watched the +picket-mounting, heard the different bands strike up, observed the staff; +and, above all, have seen the pretty town girls go trip-trip-trip along +the esplanade, deliberately fixing their innocent eyes on the distant +sea, the grey cliffs, and the sky, and accidentally on the soldiers and +himself. + +'I'll raze out her image,' he said. 'She shall make a fool of me no +more.' And his resolve resulted in conduct which had elements of real +greatness. + +He went back to his father, whom he found in the mill-loft. ''Tis true, +father, what you say,' he observed: 'my brains will turn to bilge-water +if I think of her much longer. By the oath of a--navigator, I wish I +could sigh less and laugh more! She's gone--why can't I let her go, and +be happy? But how begin?' + +'Take it careless, my son,' said the miller, 'and lay yourself out to +enjoy snacks and cordials.' + +'Ah--that's a thought!' said Bob. + +'Baccy is good for't. So is sperrits. Though I don't advise thee to +drink neat.' + +'Baccy--I'd almost forgot it!' said Captain Loveday. + +He went to his room, hastily untied the package of tobacco that he had +brought home, and began to make use of it in his own way, calling to +David for a bottle of the old household mead that had lain in the cellar +these eleven years. He was discovered by his father three-quarters of an +hour later as a half-invisible object behind a cloud of smoke. + +The miller drew a breath of relief. 'Why, Bob,' he said, 'I thought the +house was a-fire!' + +'I'm smoking rather fast to drown my reflections, father. 'Tis no use to +chaw.' + +To tempt his attenuated appetite the unhappy mate made David cook an +omelet and bake a seed-cake, the latter so richly compounded that it +opened to the knife like a freckled buttercup. With the same object he +stuck night-lines into the banks of the mill-pond, and drew up next +morning a family of fat eels, some of which were skinned and prepared for +his breakfast. They were his favourite fish, but such had been his +condition that, until the moment of making this effort, he had quite +forgotten their existence at his father's back-door. + +In a few days Bob Loveday had considerably improved in tone and vigour. +One other obvious remedy for his dejection was to indulge in the society +of Miss Garland, love being so much more effectually got rid of by +displacement than by attempted annihilation. But Loveday's belief that +he had offended her beyond forgiveness, and his ever-present sense of her +as a woman who by education and antecedents was fitted to adorn a higher +sphere than his own, effectually kept him from going near her for a long +time, notwithstanding that they were inmates of one house. The reserve +was, however, in some degree broken by the appearance one morning, later +in the season, of the point of a saw through the partition which divided +Anne's room from the Loveday half of the house. Though she dined and +supped with her mother and the Loveday family, Miss Garland had still +continued to occupy her old apartments, because she found it more +convenient there to pursue her hobbies of wool-work and of copying her +father's old pictures. The division wall had not as yet been broken +down. + +As the saw worked its way downwards under her astonished gaze Anne jumped +up from her drawing; and presently the temporary canvasing and papering +which had sealed up the old door of communication was cut completely +through. The door burst open, and Bob stood revealed on the other side, +with the saw in his hand. + +'I beg your ladyship's pardon,' he said, taking off the hat he had been +working in, as his handsome face expanded into a smile. 'I didn't know +this door opened into your private room.' + +'Indeed, Captain Loveday!' + +'I am pulling down the division on principle, as we are now one family. +But I really thought the door opened into your passage.' + +'It don't matter; I can get another room.' + +'Not at all. Father wouldn't let me turn you out. I'll close it up +again.' + +But Anne was so interested in the novelty of a new doorway that she +walked through it, and found herself in a dark low passage which she had +never seen before. + +'It leads to the mill,' said Bob. 'Would you like to go in and see it at +work? But perhaps you have already.' + +'Only into the ground floor.' + +'Come all over it. I am practising as grinder, you know, to help my +father.' + +She followed him along the dark passage, in the side of which he opened a +little trap, when she saw a great slimy cavern, where the long arms of +the mill-wheel flung themselves slowly and distractedly round, and +splashing water-drops caught the little light that strayed into the +gloomy place, turning it into stars and flashes. A cold mist-laden puff +of air came into their faces, and the roar from within made it necessary +for Anne to shout as she said, 'It is dismal! let us go on.' + +Bob shut the trap, the roar ceased, and they went on to the inner part of +the mill, where the air was warm and nutty, and pervaded by a fog of +flour. Then they ascended the stairs, and saw the stones lumbering round +and round, and the yellow corn running down through the hopper. They +climbed yet further to the top stage, where the wheat lay in bins, and +where long rays like feelers stretched in from the sun through the little +window, got nearly lost among cobwebs and timber, and completed their +course by marking the opposite wall with a glowing patch of gold. + +In his earnestness as an exhibitor Bob opened the bolter, which was +spinning rapidly round, the result being that a dense cloud of flour +rolled out in their faces, reminding Anne that her complexion was +probably much paler by this time than when she had entered the mill. She +thanked her companion for his trouble, and said she would now go down. He +followed her with the same deference as hitherto, and with a sudden and +increasing sense that of all cures for his former unhappy passion this +would have been the nicest, the easiest, and the most effectual, if he +had only been fortunate enough to keep her upon easy terms. But Miss +Garland showed no disposition to go further than accept his services as a +guide; she descended to the open air, shook the flour from her like a +bird, and went on into the garden amid the September sunshine, whose rays +lay level across the blue haze which the earth gave forth. The gnats +were dancing up and down in airy companies, the nasturtium flowers shone +out in groups from the dark hedge over which they climbed, and the mellow +smell of the decline of summer was exhaled by everything. Bob followed +her as far as the gate, looked after her, thought of her as the same girl +who had half encouraged him years ago, when she seemed so superior to +him; though now they were almost equal she apparently thought him beneath +her. It was with a new sense of pleasure that his mind flew to the fact +that she was now an inmate of his father's house. + +His obsequious bearing was continued during the next week. In the busy +hours of the day they seldom met, but they regularly encountered each +other at meals, and these cheerful occasions began to have an interest +for him quite irrespective of dishes and cups. When Anne entered and +took her seat she was always loudly hailed by Miller Loveday as he +whetted his knife; but from Bob she condescended to accept no such +familiar greeting, and they often sat down together as if each had a +blind eye in the direction of the other. Bob sometimes told serious and +correct stories about sea-captains, pilots, boatswains, mates, able +seamen, and other curious fauna of the marine world; but these were +directly addressed to his father and Mrs. Loveday, Anne being included at +the clinching-point by a glance only. He sometimes opened bottles of +sweet cider for her, and then she thanked him; but even this did not lead +to her encouraging his chat. + +One day when Anne was paring an apple she was left at table with the +young man. 'I have made something for you,' he said. + +She looked all over the table; nothing was there save the ordinary +remnants. + +'O I don't mean that it is here; it is out by the bridge at the +mill-head.' + +He arose, and Anne followed with curiosity in her eyes, and with her firm +little mouth pouted up to a puzzled shape. On reaching the mossy mill- +head she found that he had fixed in the keen damp draught which always +prevailed over the wheel an AEolian harp of large size. At present the +strings were partly covered with a cloth. He lifted it, and the wires +began to emit a weird harmony which mingled curiously with the plashing +of the wheel. + +'I made it on purpose for you, Miss Garland,' he said. + +She thanked him very warmly, for she had never seen anything like such an +instrument before, and it interested her. 'It was very thoughtful of you +to make it,' she added. 'How came you to think of such a thing?' + +'O I don't know exactly,' he replied, as if he did not care to be +questioned on the point. 'I have never made one in my life till now.' + +Every night after this, during the mournful gales of autumn, the strange +mixed music of water, wind, and strings met her ear, swelling and sinking +with an almost supernatural cadence. The character of the instrument was +far enough removed from anything she had hitherto seen of Bob's hobbies; +so that she marvelled pleasantly at the new depths of poetry this +contrivance revealed as existent in that young seaman's nature, and +allowed her emotions to flow out yet a little further in the old +direction, notwithstanding her late severe resolve to bar them back. + +One breezy night, when the mill was kept going into the small hours, and +the wind was exactly in the direction of the water-current, the music so +mingled with her dreams as to wake her: it seemed to rhythmically set +itself to the words, 'Remember me! think of me!' She was much impressed; +the sounds were almost too touching; and she spoke to Bob the next +morning on the subject. + +'How strange it is that you should have thought of fixing that harp where +the water gushes!' she gently observed. 'It affects me almost painfully +at night. You are poetical, Captain Bob. But it is too--too sad!' + +'I will take it away,' said Captain Bob promptly. 'It certainly is too +sad; I thought so myself. I myself was kept awake by it one night.' + +'How came you to think of making such a peculiar thing?' + +'Well,' said Bob, 'it is hardly worth saying why. It is not a good place +for such a queer noisy machine; and I'll take it away.' + +'On second thoughts,' said Anne, 'I should like it to remain a little +longer, because it sets me thinking.' + +'Of me?' he asked with earnest frankness. + +Anne's colour rose fast. + +'Well, yes,' she said, trying to infuse much plain matter-of-fact into +her voice. 'Of course I am led to think of the person who invented it.' + +Bob seemed unaccountably embarrassed, and the subject was not pursued. +About half-an-hour later he came to her again, with something of an +uneasy look. + +'There was a little matter I didn't tell you just now, Miss Garland,' he +said. 'About that harp thing, I mean. I did make it, certainly, but it +was my brother John who asked me to do it, just before he went away. John +is very musical, as you know, and he said it would interest you; but as +he didn't ask me to tell, I did not. Perhaps I ought to have, and not +have taken the credit to myself.' + +'O, it is nothing!' said Anne quickly. 'It is a very incomplete +instrument after all, and it will be just as well for you to take it away +as you first proposed.' + +He said that he would, but he forgot to do it that day; and the following +night there was a high wind, and the harp cried and moaned so movingly +that Anne, whose window was quite near, could hardly bear the sound with +its new associations. John Loveday was present to her mind all night as +an ill-used man; and yet she could not own that she had ill-used him. + +The harp was removed next day. Bob, feeling that his credit for +originality was damaged in her eyes, by way of recovering it set himself +to paint the summer-house which Anne frequented, and when he came out he +assured her that it was quite his own idea. + +'It wanted doing, certainly,' she said, in a neutral tone. + +'It is just about troublesome.' + +'Yes; you can't quite reach up. That's because you are not very tall; is +it not, Captain Loveday?' + +'You never used to say things like that.' + +'O, I don't mean that you are much less than tall! Shall I hold the +paint for you, to save your stepping down?' + +'Thank you, if you would.' + +She took the paint-pot, and stood looking at the brush as it moved up and +down in his hand. + +'I hope I shall not sprinkle your fingers,' he observed as he dipped. + +'O, that would not matter! You do it very well.' + +'I am glad to hear that you think so.' + +'But perhaps not quite so much art is demanded to paint a summer-house as +to paint a picture?' + +Thinking that, as a painter's daughter, and a person of education +superior to his own, she spoke with a flavour of sarcasm, he felt humbled +and said-- + +'You did not use to talk like that to me.' + +'I was perhaps too young then to take any pleasure in giving pain,' she +observed daringly. + +'Does it give you pleasure?' + +Anne nodded. + +'I like to give pain to people who have given pain to me,' she said +smartly, without removing her eyes from the green liquid in her hand. + +'I ask your pardon for that.' + +'I didn't say I meant you--though I did mean you.' + +Bob looked and looked at her side face till he was bewitched into putting +down his brush. + +'It was that stupid forgetting of 'ee for a time!' he exclaimed. 'Well, +I hadn't seen you for so very long--consider how many years! O, dear +Anne!' he said, advancing to take her hand, 'how well we knew one another +when we were children! You was a queen to me then; and so you are now, +and always.' + +Possibly Anne was thrilled pleasantly enough at having brought the truant +village lad to her feet again; but he was not to find the situation so +easy as he imagined, and her hand was not to be taken yet. + +'Very pretty!' she said, laughing. 'And only six weeks since Miss +Johnson left.' + +'Zounds, don't say anything about that!' implored Bob. 'I swear that I +never--never deliberately loved her--for a long time together, that is; +it was a sudden sort of thing, you know. But towards you--I have more or +less honoured and respectfully loved you, off and on, all my life. There, +that's true.' + +Anne retorted quickly-- + +'I am willing, off and on, to believe you, Captain Robert. But I don't +see any good in your making these solemn declarations.' + +'Give me leave to explain, dear Miss Garland. It is to get you to be +pleased to renew an old promise--made years ago--that you'll think o' +me.' + +'Not a word of any promise will I repeat.' + +'Well, well, I won't urge 'ee to-day. Only let me beg of you to get over +the quite wrong notion you have of me; and it shall be my whole endeavour +to fetch your gracious favour.' + +Anne turned away from him and entered the house, whither in the course of +a quarter of an hour he followed her, knocking at her door, and asking to +be let in. She said she was busy; whereupon he went away, to come back +again in a short time and receive the same answer. + +'I have finished painting the summer-house for you,' he said through the +door. + +'I cannot come to see it. I shall be engaged till supper-time.' + +She heard him breathe a heavy sigh and withdraw, murmuring something +about his bad luck in being cut away from the starn like this. But it +was not over yet. When supper-time came and they sat down together, she +took upon herself to reprove him for what he had said to her in the +garden. + +Bob made his forehead express despair. + +'Now, I beg you this one thing,' he said. 'Just let me know your whole +mind. Then I shall have a chance to confess my faults and mend them, or +clear my conduct to your satisfaction.' + +She answered with quickness, but not loud enough to be heard by the old +people at the other end of the table--'Then, Captain Loveday, I will tell +you one thing, one fault, that perhaps would have been more proper to my +character than to yours. You are too easily impressed by new faces, and +that gives me a _bad opinion_ of you--yes, a _bad opinion_.' + +'O, that's it!' said Bob slowly, looking at her with the intense respect +of a pupil for a master, her words being spoken in a manner so precisely +between jest and earnest that he was in some doubt how they were to be +received. 'Impressed by new faces. It is wrong, certainly, of me.' + +The popping of a cork, and the pouring out of strong beer by the miller +with a view to giving it a head, were apparently distractions sufficient +to excuse her in not attending further to him; and during the remainder +of the sitting her gentle chiding seemed to be sinking seriously into his +mind. Perhaps her own heart ached to see how silent he was; but she had +always meant to punish him. Day after day for two or three weeks she +preserved the same demeanour, with a self-control which did justice to +her character. And, on his part, considering what he had to put up +with--how she eluded him, snapped him off, refused to come out when he +called her, refused to see him when he wanted to enter the little parlour +which she had now appropriated to her private use, his patience testified +strongly to his good-humour. + + + + +XXIII. MILITARY PREPARATIONS ON AN EXTENDED SCALE + + +Christmas had passed. Dreary winter with dark evenings had given place +to more dreary winter with light evenings. Rapid thaws had ended in +rain, rain in wind, wind in dust. Showery days had come--the season of +pink dawns and white sunsets; and people hoped that the March weather was +over. + +The chief incident that concerned the household at the mill was that the +miller, following the example of all his neighbours, had become a +volunteer, and duly appeared twice a week in a red, long-tailed military +coat, pipe-clayed breeches, black cloth gaiters, a heel-balled helmet- +hat, with a tuft of green wool, and epaulettes of the same colour and +material. Bob still remained neutral. Not being able to decide whether +to enrol himself as a sea-fencible, a local militia-man, or a volunteer, +he simply went on dancing attendance upon Anne. Mrs. Loveday had become +awake to the fact that the pair of young people stood in a curious +attitude towards each other; but as they were never seen with their heads +together, and scarcely ever sat even in the same room, she could not be +sure what their movements meant. + +Strangely enough (or perhaps naturally enough), since entering the +Loveday family herself, she had gradually grown to think less favourably +of Anne doing the same thing, and reverted to her original idea of +encouraging Festus; this more particularly because he had of late shown +such perseverance in haunting the precincts of the mill, presumably with +the intention of lighting upon the young girl. But the weather had kept +her mostly indoors. + +One afternoon it was raining in torrents. Such leaves as there were on +trees at this time of year--those of the laurel and other +evergreens--staggered beneath the hard blows of the drops which fell upon +them, and afterwards could be seen trickling down the stems beneath and +silently entering the ground. The surface of the mill-pond leapt up in a +thousand spirts under the same downfall, and clucked like a hen in the +rat-holes along the banks as it undulated under the wind. The only dry +spot visible from the front windows of the mill-house was the inside of a +small shed, on the opposite side of the courtyard. While Mrs. Loveday +was noticing the threads of rain descending across its interior shade, +Festus Derriman walked up and entered it for shelter, which, owing to the +lumber within, it but scantily afforded to a man who would have been a +match for one of Frederick William's Patagonians. + +It was an excellent opportunity for helping on her scheme. Anne was in +the back room, and by asking him in till the rain was over she would +bring him face to face with her daughter, whom, as the days went on, she +increasingly wished to marry other than a Loveday, now that the romance +of her own alliance with the millet had in some respects worn off. She +was better provided for than before; she was not unhappy; but the plain +fact was that she had married beneath her. She beckoned to Festus +through the window-pane; he instantly complied with her signal, having in +fact placed himself there on purpose to be noticed; for he knew that Miss +Garland would not be out-of-doors on such a day. + +'Good afternoon, Mrs. Loveday,' said Festus on entering. 'There now--if +I didn't think that's how it would be!' His voice had suddenly warmed to +anger, for he had seen a door close in the back part of the room, a lithe +figure having previously slipped through. + +Mrs. Loveday turned, observed that Anne was gone, and said, 'What is it?' +as if she did not know. + +'O, nothing, nothing!' said Festus crossly. 'You know well enough what +it is, ma'am; only you make pretence otherwise. But I'll bring her to +book yet. You shall drop your haughty airs, my charmer! She little +thinks I have kept an account of 'em all.' + +'But you must treat her politely, sir,' said Mrs. Loveday, secretly +pleased at these signs of uncontrollable affection. + +'Don't tell me of politeness or generosity, ma'am! She is more than a +match for me. She regularly gets over me. I have passed by this house +five-and-fifty times since last Martinmas, and this is all my reward +for't!' + +'But you will stay till the rain is over, sir?' + +'No. I don't mind rain. I'm off again. She's got somebody else in her +eye!' And the yeoman went out, slamming the door. + +Meanwhile the slippery object of his hopes had gone along the dark +passage, passed the trap which opened on the wheel, and through the door +into the mill, where she was met by Bob, who looked up from the flour- +shoot inquiringly and said, 'You want me, Miss Garland?' + +'O no,' said she. 'I only want to be allowed to stand here a few +minutes.' + +He looked at her to know if she meant it, and finding that she did, +returned to his post. When the mill had rumbled on a little longer he +came back. + +'Bob,' she said, when she saw him move, 'remember that you are at work, +and have no time to stand close to me.' + +He bowed and went to his original post again, Anne watching from the +window till Festus should leave. The mill rumbled on as before, and at +last Bob came to her for the third time. 'Now, Bob--' she began. + +'On my honour, 'tis only to ask a question. Will you walk with me to +church next Sunday afternoon?' + +'Perhaps I will,' she said. But at this moment the yeoman left the +house, and Anne, to escape further parley, returned to the dwelling by +the way she had come. + +Sunday afternoon arrived, and the family was standing at the door waiting +for the church bells to begin. From that side of the house they could +see southward across a paddock to the rising ground further ahead, where +there grew a large elm-tree, beneath whose boughs footpaths crossed in +different directions, like meridians at the pole. The tree was old, and +in summer the grass beneath it was quite trodden away by the feet of the +many trysters and idlers who haunted the spot. The tree formed a +conspicuous object in the surrounding landscape. + +While they looked, a foot soldier in red uniform and white breeches came +along one of the paths, and stopping beneath the elm, took from his +pocket a paper, which he proceeded to nail up by the four corners to the +trunk. He drew back, looked at it, and went on his way. Bob got his +glass from indoors and levelled it at the placard, but after looking for +a long time he could make out nothing but a lion and a unicorn at the +top. Anne, who was ready for church, moved away from the door, though it +was yet early, and showed her intention of going by way of the elm. The +paper had been so impressively nailed up that she was curious to read it +even at this theological time. Bob took the opportunity of following, +and reminded her of her promise. + +'Then walk behind me not at all close,' she said. + +'Yes,' he replied, immediately dropping behind. + +The ludicrous humility of his manner led her to add playfully over her +shoulder, 'It serves you right, you know.' + +'I deserve anything, but I must take the liberty to say that I hope my +behaviour about Matil--, in forgetting you awhile, will not make ye wish +to keep me _always_ behind?' + +She replied confidentially, 'Why I am so earnest not to be seen with you +is that I may appear to people to be independent of you. Knowing what I +do of your weaknesses I can do no otherwise. You must be schooled into--' + +'O, Anne,' sighed Bob, 'you hit me hard--too hard! If ever I do win you +I am sure I shall have fairly earned you.' + +'You are not what you once seemed to be,' she returned softly. 'I don't +quite like to let myself love you.' The last words were not very +audible, and as Bob was behind he caught nothing of them, nor did he see +how sentimental she had become all of a sudden. They walked the rest of +the way in silence, and coming to the tree read as follows:-- + + ADDRESS TO ALL RANKS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF ENGLISHMEN. + + FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN,--The French are now assembling the largest + force that ever was prepared to invade this Kingdom, with the + professed purpose of effecting our complete Ruin and Destruction. They + do not disguise their intentions, as they have often done to other + Countries; but openly boast that they will come over in such Numbers + as cannot be resisted. + + Wherever the French have lately appeared they have spared neither Rich + nor Poor, Old nor Young; but like a Destructive Pestilence have laid + waste and destroyed every Thing that before was fair and flourishing. + + On this occasion no man's service is compelled, but you are invited + voluntarily to come forward in defence of everything that is dear to + you, by entering your Names on the Lists which are sent to the Tything- + man of every Parish, and engaging to act either as _Associated + Volunteers bearing Arms_, _as Pioneers and Labourers_, or as _Drivers + of Waggons_. + + As Associated Volunteers you will be called out only once a week, + unless the actual Landing of the Enemy should render your further + Services necessary. + + As Pioneers or Labourers you will be employed in Breaking up Roads to + hinder the Enemy's advance. + + Those who have Pickaxes, Spades, Shovels, Bill-hooks, or other Working + Implements, are desired to mention them to the Constable or Tything- + man of their Parish, in order that they may be entered on the Lists + opposite their Homes, to be used if necessary. . . . + + It is thought desirable to give you this Explanation, that you may not + be ignorant of the Duties to which you may be called. But if the love + of true Liberty and honest Fame has not ceased to animate the Hearts + of Englishmen, Pay, though necessary, will be the least Part of your + Reward. You will find your best Recompense in having done your Duty + to your King and Country by driving back or destroying your old and + implacable Enemy, envious of your Freedom and Happiness, and therefore + seeking to destroy them; in having protected your Wives and Children + from Death, or worse than Death, which will follow the Success of such + Inveterate Foes. + + ROUSE, therefore, and unite as one man in the best of Causes! United + we may defy the World to conquer us; but Victory will never belong to + those who are slothful and unprepared. {207} + +'I must go and join at once!' said Bob. + +Anne turned to him, all the playfulness gone from her face. 'I wish we +lived in the north of England, Bob, so as to be further away from where +he'll land!' she murmured uneasily. + +'Where we are would be Paradise to me, if you would only make it so.' + +'It is not right to talk so lightly at such a serious time,' she +thoughtfully returned, going on towards the church. + +On drawing near, they saw through the boughs of a clump of intervening +trees, still leafless, but bursting into buds of amber hue, a glittering +which seemed to be reflected from points of steel. In a few moments they +heard above the tender chiming of the church bells the loud voice of a +man giving words of command, at which all the metallic points suddenly +shifted like the bristles of a porcupine, and glistened anew. + +''Tis the drilling,' said Loveday. 'They drill now between the services, +you know, because they can't get the men together so readily in the week. +It makes me feel that I ought to be doing more than I am!' + +When they had passed round the belt of trees, the company of recruits +became visible, consisting of the able-bodied inhabitants of the hamlets +thereabout, more or less known to Bob and Anne. They were assembled on +the green plot outside the churchyard-gate, dressed in their common +clothes, and the sergeant who had been putting them through their drill +was the man who nailed up the proclamation. He was now engaged in +untying a canvas money-bag, from which he drew forth a handful of +shillings, giving one to each man in payment for his attendance. + +'Men, I dismissed ye too soon--parade, parade again, I say,' he cried. +'My watch is fast, I find. There's another twenty minutes afore the +worship of God commences. Now all of you that ha'n't got firelocks, fall +in at the lower end. Eyes right and dress!' + +As every man was anxious to see how the rest stood, those at the end of +the line pressed forward for that purpose, till the line assumed the form +of a bow. + +'Look at ye now! Why, you are all a crooking in! Dress, dress!' + +They dressed forthwith; but impelled by the same motive they soon resumed +their former figure, and so they were despairingly permitted to remain. + +'Now, I hope you'll have a little patience,' said the sergeant, as he +stood in the centre of the arc, 'and pay strict attention to the word of +command, just exactly as I give it out to ye; and if I should go wrong, I +shall be much obliged to any friend who'll put me right again, for I have +only been in the army three weeks myself, and we are all liable to +mistakes.' + +'So we be, so we be,' said the line heartily. + +''Tention, the whole, then. Poise fawlocks! Very well done!' + +'Please, what must we do that haven't got no firelocks!' said the lower +end of the line in a helpless voice. + +'Now, was ever such a question! Why, you must do nothing at all, but +think _how_ you'd poise 'em _if_ you had 'em. You middle men, that are +armed with hurdle-sticks and cabbage-stumps just to make-believe, must of +course use 'em as if they were the real thing. Now then, cock fawlocks! +Present! Fire! (Pretend to, I mean, and the same time throw yer +imagination into the field o' battle.) Very good--very good indeed; +except that some of you were a _little_ too soon, and the rest a _little_ +too late.' + +'Please, sergeant, can I fall out, as I am master-player in the choir, +and my bass-viol strings won't stand at this time o' year, unless they be +screwed up a little before the passon comes in?' + +'How can you think of such trifles as churchgoing at such a time as this, +when your own native country is on the point of invasion?' said the +sergeant sternly. 'And, as you know, the drill ends three minutes afore +church begins, and that's the law, and it wants a quarter of an hour yet. +Now, at the word _Prime_, shake the powder (supposing you've got it) into +the priming-pan, three last fingers behind the rammer; then shut your +pans, drawing your right arm nimble-like towards your body. I ought to +have told ye before this, that at _Hand your katridge_, seize it and +bring it with a quick motion to your mouth, bite the top well off, and +don't swaller so much of the powder as to make ye hawk and spet instead +of attending to your drill. What's that man a-saying of in the rear +rank?' + +'Please, sir, 'tis Anthony Cripplestraw, wanting to know how he's to bite +off his katridge, when he haven't a tooth left in 's head?' + +'Man! Why, what's your genius for war? Hold it up to your right-hand +man's mouth, to be sure, and let him nip it off for ye. Well, what have +you to say, Private Tremlett? Don't ye understand English?' + +'Ask yer pardon, sergeant; but what must we infantry of the awkward squad +do if Boney comes afore we get our firelocks?' + +'Take a pike, like the rest of the incapables. You'll find a store of +them ready in the corner of the church tower. Now then--Shoulder--r--r--r--' + +'There, they be tinging in the passon!' exclaimed David, Miller Loveday's +man, who also formed one of the company, as the bells changed from +chiming all three together to a quick beating of one. The whole line +drew a breath of relief, threw down their arms, and began running off. + +'Well, then, I must dismiss ye,' said the sergeant. 'Come back--come +back! Next drill is Tuesday afternoon at four. And, mind, if your +masters won't let ye leave work soon enough, tell me, and I'll write a +line to Gover'ment! 'Tention! To the right--left wheel, I mean--no, +no--right wheel. Mar--r--r--rch!' + +Some wheeled to the right and some to the left, and some obliging men, +including Cripplestraw, tried to wheel both ways. + +'Stop, stop; try again! 'Cruits and comrades, unfortunately when I'm in +a hurry I can never remember my right hand from my left, and never could +as a boy. You must excuse me, please. Practice makes perfect, as the +saying is; and, much as I've learnt since I 'listed, we always find +something new. Now then, right wheel! march! halt! Stand at ease! +dismiss! I think that's the order o't, but I'll look in the Gover'ment +book afore Tuesday.' {211} + +Many of the company who had been drilled preferred to go off and spend +their shillings instead of entering the church; but Anne and Captain Bob +passed in. Even the interior of the sacred edifice was affected by the +agitation of the times. The religion of the country had, in fact, +changed from love of God to hatred of Napoleon Buonaparte; and, as if to +remind the devout of this alteration, the pikes for the pikemen (all +those accepted men who were not otherwise armed) were kept in the church +of each parish. There, against the wall, they always stood--a whole +sheaf of them, formed of new ash stems, with a spike driven in at one +end, the stick being preserved from splitting by a ferule. And there +they remained, year after year, in the corner of the aisle, till they +were removed and placed under the gallery stairs, and thence ultimately +to the belfry, where they grew black, rusty, and worm-eaten, and were +gradually stolen and carried off by sextons, parish clerks, whitewashers, +window-menders, and other church servants for use at home as rake-stems, +benefit-club staves, and pick-handles, in which degraded situations they +may still occasionally be found. + +But in their new and shining state they had a terror for Anne, whose eyes +were involuntarily drawn towards them as she sat at Bob's side during the +service, filling her with bloody visions of their possible use not far +from the very spot on which they were now assembled. The sermon, too, +was on the subject of patriotism; so that when they came out she began to +harp uneasily upon the probability of their all being driven from their +homes. + +Bob assured her that with the sixty thousand regulars, the militia +reserve of a hundred and twenty thousand, and the three hundred thousand +volunteers, there was not much to fear. + +'But I sometimes have a fear that poor John will be killed,' he continued +after a pause. 'He is sure to be among the first that will have to face +the invaders, and the trumpeters get picked off.' + +'There is the same chance for him as for the others,' said Anne. + +'Yes--yes--the same chance, such as it is. You have never liked John +since that affair of Matilda Johnson, have you?' + +'Why?' she quickly asked. + +'Well,' said Bob timidly, 'as it is a ticklish time for him, would it not +be worth while to make up any differences before the crash comes?' + +'I have nothing to make up,' said Anne, with some distress. She still +fully believed the trumpet-major to have smuggled away Miss Johnson +because of his own interest in that lady, which must have made his +professions to herself a mere pastime; but that very conduct had in it +the curious advantage to herself of setting Bob free. + +'Since John has been gone,' continued her companion, 'I have found out +more of his meaning, and of what he really had to do with that woman's +flight. Did you know that he had anything to do with it?' + +'Yes.' + +'That he got her to go away?' + +She looked at Bob with surprise. He was not exasperated with John, and +yet he knew so much as this. + +'Yes,' she said; 'what did it mean?' + +He did not explain to her then; but the possibility of John's death, +which had been newly brought home to him by the military events of the +day, determined him to get poor John's character cleared. Reproaching +himself for letting her remain so long with a mistaken idea of him, Bob +went to his father as soon as they got home, and begged him to get Mrs. +Loveday to tell Anne the true reason of John's objection to Miss Johnson +as a sister-in-law. + +'She thinks it is because they were old lovers new met, and that he wants +to marry her,' he exclaimed to his father in conclusion. + +'Then _that's_ the meaning of the split between Miss Nancy and Jack,' +said the miller. + +'What, were they any more than common friends?' asked Bob uneasily. + +'Not on her side, perhaps.' + +'Well, we must do it,' replied Bob, painfully conscious that common +justice to John might bring them into hazardous rivalry, yet determined +to be fair. 'Tell it all to Mrs. Loveday, and get her to tell Anne.' + + + + +XXIV. A LETTER, A VISITOR, AND A TIN BOX + + +The result of the explanation upon Anne was bitter self-reproach. She +was so sorry at having wronged the kindly soldier that next morning she +went by herself to the down, and stood exactly where his tent had covered +the sod on which he had lain so many nights, thinking what sadness he +must have suffered because of her at the time of packing up and going +away. After that she wiped from her eyes the tears of pity which had +come there, descended to the house, and wrote an impulsive letter to him, +in which occurred the following passages, indiscreet enough under the +circumstances:-- + + 'I find all justice, all rectitude, on your side, John; and all + impertinence, all inconsiderateness, on mine. I am so much convinced + of your honour in the whole transaction, that I shall for the future + mistrust myself in everything. And if it be possible, whenever I + differ from you on any point I shall take an hour's time for + consideration before I say that I differ. If I have lost your + friendship, I have only myself to thank for it; but I sincerely hope + that you can forgive.' + +After writing this she went to the garden, where Bob was shearing the +spring grass from the paths. 'What is John's direction?' she said, +holding the sealed letter in her hand. + +'Exonbury Barracks,' Bob faltered, his countenance sinking. + +She thanked him and went indoors. When he came in, later in the day, he +passed the door of her empty sitting-room and saw the letter on the +mantelpiece. He disliked the sight of it. Hearing voices in the other +room, he entered and found Anne and her mother there, talking to +Cripplestraw, who had just come in with a message from Squire Derriman, +requesting Miss Garland, as she valued the peace of mind of an old and +troubled man, to go at once and see him. + +'I cannot go,' she said, not liking the risk that such a visit involved. + +An hour later Cripplestraw shambled again into the passage, on the same +errand. + +'Maister's very poorly, and he hopes that you'll come, Mis'ess Anne. He +wants to see 'ee very particular about the French.' + +Anne would have gone in a moment, but for the fear that some one besides +the farmer might encounter her, and she answered as before. + +Another hour passed, and the wheels of a vehicle were heard. Cripplestraw +had come for the third time, with a horse and gig; he was dressed in his +best clothes, and brought with him on this occasion a basket containing +raisins, almonds, oranges, and sweet cakes. Offering them to her as a +gift from the old farmer, he repeated his request for her to accompany +him, the gig and best mare having been sent as an additional inducement. + +'I believe the old gentleman is in love with you, Anne,' said her mother. + +'Why couldn't he drive down himself to see me?' Anne inquired of +Cripplestraw. + +'He wants you at the house, please.' + +'Is Mr. Festus with him?' + +'No; he's away to Budmouth.' + +'I'll go,' said she. + +'And I may come and meet you?' said Bob. + +'There's my letter--what shall I do about that?' she said, instead of +answering him. 'Take my letter to the post-office, and you may come,' +she added. + +He said yes and went out, Cripplestraw retreating to the door till she +should be ready. + +'What letter is it?' said her mother. + +'Only one to John,' said Anne. 'I have asked him to forgive my +suspicions. I could do no less.' + +'Do you want to marry _him_?' asked Mrs. Loveday bluntly. + +'Mother!' + +'Well; he will take that letter as an encouragement. Can't you see that +he will, you foolish girl?' + +Anne did see instantly. 'Of course!' she said. 'Tell Robert that he +need not go.' + +She went to her room to secure the letter. It was gone from the +mantelpiece, and on inquiry it was found that the miller, seeing it +there, had sent David with it to Budmouth hours ago. Anne said nothing, +and set out for Oxwell Hall with Cripplestraw. + +'William,' said Mrs. Loveday to the miller when Anne was gone and Bob had +resumed his work in the garden, 'did you get that letter sent off on +purpose?' + +'Well, I did. I wanted to make sure of it. John likes her, and now +'twill be made up; and why shouldn't he marry her? I'll start him in +business, if so be she'll have him.' + +'But she is likely to marry Festus Derriman.' + +'I don't want her to marry anybody but John,' said the miller doggedly. + +'Not if she is in love with Bob, and has been for years, and he with +her?' asked his wife triumphantly. + +'In love with Bob, and he with her?' repeated Loveday. + +'Certainly,' said she, going off and leaving him to his reflections. + +When Anne reached the hall she found old Mr. Derriman in his customary +chair. His complexion was more ashen, but his movement in rising at her +entrance, putting a chair and shutting the door behind her, were much the +same as usual. + +'Thank God you've come, my dear girl,' he said earnestly. 'Ah, you don't +trip across to read to me now! Why did ye cost me so much to fetch you? +Fie! A horse and gig, and a man's time in going three times. And what I +sent ye cost a good deal in Budmouth market, now everything is so dear +there, and 'twould have cost more if I hadn't bought the raisins and +oranges some months ago, when they were cheaper. I tell you this because +we are old friends, and I have nobody else to tell my troubles to. But I +don't begrudge anything to ye since you've come.' + +'I am not much pleased to come, even now,' said she. 'What can make you +so seriously anxious to see me?' + +'Well, you be a good girl and true; and I've been thinking that of all +people of the next generation that I can trust, you are the best. 'Tis +my bonds and my title-deeds, such as they be, and the leases, you know, +and a few guineas in packets, and more than these, my will, that I have +to speak about. Now do ye come this way.' + +'O, such things as those!' she returned, with surprise. 'I don't +understand those things at all.' + +'There's nothing to understand. 'Tis just this. The French will be here +within two months; that's certain. I have it on the best authority, that +the army at Boulogne is ready, the boats equipped, the plans laid, and +the First Consul only waits for a tide. Heaven knows what will become o' +the men o' these parts! But most likely the women will he spared. Now +I'll show 'ee.' + +He led her across the hall to a stone staircase of semi-circular plan, +which conducted to the cellars. + +'Down here?' she said. + +'Yes; I must trouble ye to come down here. I have thought and thought +who is the woman that can best keep a secret for six months, and I say, +"Anne Garland." You won't be married before then?' + +'O no!' murmured the young woman. + +'I wouldn't expect ye to keep a close tongue after such a thing as that. +But it will not be necessary.' + +When they reached the bottom of the steps he struck a light from a tinder- +box, and unlocked the middle one of three doors which appeared in the +whitewashed wall opposite. The rays of the candle fell upon the vault +and sides of a long low cellar, littered with decayed woodwork from other +parts of the hall, among the rest stair-balusters, carved finials, +tracery panels, and wainscoting. But what most attracted her eye was a +small flagstone turned up in the middle of the floor, a heap of earth +beside it, and a measuring-tape. Derriman went to the corner of the +cellar, and pulled out a clamped box from under the straw. 'You be +rather heavy, my dear, eh?' he said, affectionately addressing the box as +he lifted it. 'But you are going to be put in a safe place, you know, or +that rascal will get hold of ye, and carry ye off and ruin me.' He then +with some difficulty lowered the box into the hole, raked in the earth +upon it, and lowered the flagstone, which he was a long time in fixing to +his satisfaction. Miss Garland, who was romantically interested, helped +him to brush away the fragments of loose earth; and when he had scattered +over the floor a little of the straw that lay about, they again ascended +to upper air. + +'Is this all, sir?' said Anne. + +'Just a moment longer, honey. Will you come into the great parlour?' + +She followed him thither. + +'If anything happens to me while the fighting is going on--it may be on +these very fields--you will know what to do,' he resumed. 'But first +please sit down again, there's a dear, whilst I write what's in my head. +See, there's the best paper, and a new quill that I've afforded myself +for't.' + +'What a strange business! I don't think I much like it, Mr. Derriman,' +she said, seating herself. + +He had by this time begun to write, and murmured as he wrote-- + +'"Twenty-three and a half from N.W. Sixteen and three-quarters from +N.E."--There, that's all. Now I seal it up and give it to you to keep +safe till I ask ye for it, or you hear of my being trampled down by the +enemy.' + +'What does it mean?' she asked, as she received the paper. + +'Clk! Ha! ha! Why, that's the distance of the box from the two corners +of the cellar. I measured it before you came. And, my honey, to make +all sure, if the French soldiery are after ye, tell your mother the +meaning on't, or any other friend, in case they should put ye to death, +and the secret be lost. But that I am sure I hope they won't do, though +your pretty face will be a sad bait to the soldiers. I often have wished +you was my daughter, honey; and yet in these times the less cares a man +has the better, so I am glad you bain't. Shall my man drive you home?' + +'No, no,' she said, much depressed by the words he had uttered. 'I can +find my way. You need not trouble to come down.' + +'Then take care of the paper. And if you outlive me, you'll find I have +not forgot you.' + + + + +XXV. FESTUS SHOWS HIS LOVE + + +Festus Derriman had remained in the Royal watering-place all that day, +his horse being sick at stables; but, wishing to coax or bully from his +uncle a remount for the coming summer, he set off on foot for Oxwell +early in the evening. When he drew near to the village, or rather to the +hall, which was a mile from the village, he overtook a slim, quick-eyed +woman, sauntering along at a leisurely pace. She was fashionably dressed +in a green spencer, with 'Mameluke' sleeves, and wore a velvet Spanish +hat and feather. + +'Good afternoon t'ye, ma'am,' said Festus, throwing a sword-and-pistol +air into his greeting. 'You are out for a walk?' + +'I _am_ out for a walk, captain,' said the lady, who had criticized him +from the crevice of her eye, without seeming to do much more than +continue her demure look forward, and gave the title as a sop to his +apparent character. + +'From the town?--I'd swear it, ma'am; 'pon my honour I would!' + +'Yes, I am from the town, sir,' said she. + +'Ah, you are a visitor! I know every one of the regular inhabitants; we +soldiers are in and out there continually. Festus Derriman, Yeomanry +Cavalry, you know. The fact is, the watering-place is under our charge; +the folks will be quite dependent upon us for their deliverance in the +coming struggle. We hold our lives in our hands, and theirs, I may say, +in our pockets. What made you come here, ma'am, at such a critical +time?' + +'I don't see that it is such a critical time?' + +'But it is, though; and so you'd say if you was as much mixed up with the +military affairs of the nation as some of us.' + +The lady smiled. 'The King is coming this year, anyhow,' said she. + +'Never!' said Festus firmly. 'Ah, you are one of the attendants at court +perhaps, come on ahead to get the King's chambers ready, in case Boney +should not land?' + +'No,' she said; 'I am connected with the theatre, though not just at the +present moment. I have been out of luck for the last year or two; but I +have fetched up again. I join the company when they arrive for the +season.' + +Festus surveyed her with interest. 'Faith! and is it so? Well, ma'am, +what part do you play?' + +'I am mostly the leading lady--the heroine,' she said, drawing herself up +with dignity. + +'I'll come and have a look at ye if all's well, and the landing is put +off--hang me if I don't!--Hullo, hullo, what do I see?' + +His eyes were stretched towards a distant field, which Anne Garland was +at that moment hastily crossing, on her way from the hall to Overcombe. + +'I must be off. Good-day to ye, dear creature!' he exclaimed, hurrying +forward. + +The lady said, 'O, you droll monster!' as she smiled and watched him +stride ahead. + +Festus bounded on over the hedge, across the intervening patch of green, +and into the field which Anne was still crossing. In a moment or two she +looked back, and seeing the well-known Herculean figure of the yeoman +behind her felt rather alarmed, though she determined to show no +difference in her outward carriage. But to maintain her natural gait was +beyond her powers. She spasmodically quickened her pace; fruitlessly, +however, for he gained upon her, and when within a few strides of her +exclaimed, 'Well, my darling!' Anne started off at a run. + +Festus was already out of breath, and soon found that he was not likely +to overtake her. On she went, without turning her head, till an unusual +noise behind compelled her to look round. His face was in the act of +falling back; he swerved on one side, and dropped like a log upon a +convenient hedgerow-bank which bordered the path. There he lay quite +still. + +Anne was somewhat alarmed; and after standing at gaze for two or three +minutes, drew nearer to him, a step and a half at a time, wondering and +doubting, as a meek ewe draws near to some strolling vagabond who flings +himself on the grass near the flock. + +'He is in a swoon!' she murmured. + +Her heart beat quickly, and she looked around. Nobody was in sight; she +advanced a step nearer still and observed him again. Apparently his face +was turning to a livid hue, and his breathing had become obstructed. + +''Tis not a swoon; 'tis apoplexy!' she said, in deep distress. 'I ought +to untie his neck.' But she was afraid to do this, and only drew a +little closer still. + +Miss Garland was now within three feet of him, whereupon the senseless +man, who could hold his breath no longer, sprang to his feet and darted +at her, saying, 'Ha! ha! a scheme for a kiss!' + +She felt his arm slipping round her neck; but, twirling about with +amazing dexterity, she wriggled from his embrace and ran away along the +field. The force with which she had extricated herself was sufficient to +throw Festus upon the grass, and by the time that he got upon his legs +again she was many yards off. Uttering a word which was not exactly a +blessing, he immediately gave chase; and thus they ran till Anne entered +a meadow divided down the middle by a brook about six feet wide. A +narrow plank was thrown loosely across at the point where the path +traversed this stream, and when Anne reached it she at once scampered +over. At the other side she turned her head to gather the probabilities +of the situation, which were that Festus Derriman would overtake her even +now. By a sudden forethought she stooped, seized the end of the plank, +and endeavoured to drag it away from the opposite bank. But the weight +was too great for her to do more than slightly move it, and with a +desperate sigh she ran on again, having lost many valuable seconds. + +But her attempt, though ineffectual in dragging it down, had been enough +to unsettle the little bridge; and when Derriman reached the middle, +which he did half a minute later, the plank turned over on its edge, +tilting him bodily into the river. The water was not remarkably deep, +but as the yeoman fell flat on his stomach he was completely immersed; +and it was some time before he could drag himself out. When he arose, +dripping on the bank, and looked around, Anne had vanished from the mead. +Then Festus's eyes glowed like carbuncles, and he gave voice to fearful +imprecations, shaking his fist in the soft summer air towards Anne, in a +way that was terrible for any maiden to behold. Wading back through the +stream, he walked along its bank with a heavy tread, the water running +from his coat-tails, wrists, and the tips of his ears, in silvery +dribbles, that sparkled pleasantly in the sun. Thus he hastened away, +and went round by a by-path to the hall. + +Meanwhile the author of his troubles was rapidly drawing nearer to the +mill, and soon, to her inexpressible delight, she saw Bob coming to meet +her. She had heard the flounce, and, feeling more secure from her +pursuer, had dropped her pace to a quick walk. No sooner did she reach +Bob than, overcome by the excitement of the moment, she flung herself +into his arms. Bob instantly enclosed her in an embrace so very thorough +that there was no possible danger of her falling, whatever degree of +exhaustion might have given rise to her somewhat unexpected action; and +in this attitude they silently remained, till it was borne in upon Anne +that the present was the first time in her life that she had ever been in +such a position. Her face then burnt like a sunset, and she did not know +how to look up at him. Feeling at length quite safe, she suddenly +resolved not to give way to her first impulse to tell him the whole of +what had happened, lest there should be a dreadful quarrel and fight +between Bob and the yeoman, and great difficulties caused in the Loveday +family on her account, the miller having important wheat transactions +with the Derrimans. + +'You seem frightened, dearest Anne,' said Bob tenderly. + +'Yes,' she replied. 'I saw a man I did not like the look of, and he was +inclined to follow me. But, worse than that, I am troubled about the +French. O Bob! I am afraid you will be killed, and my mother, and John, +and your father, and all of us hunted down!' + +'Now I have told you, dear little heart, that it cannot be. We shall +drive 'em into the sea after a battle or two, even if they land, which I +don't believe they will. We've got ninety sail of the line, and though +it is rather unfortunate that we should have declared war against Spain +at this ticklish time, there's enough for all.' And Bob went into +elaborate statistics of the navy, army, militia, and volunteers, to +prolong the time of holding her. When he had done speaking he drew +rather a heavy sigh. + +'What's the matter, Bob?' + +'I haven't been yet to offer myself as a sea-fencible, and I ought to +have done it long ago.' + +'You are only one. Surely they can do without you?' + +Bob shook his head. She arose from her restful position, her eye +catching his with a shamefaced expression of having given way at last. +Loveday drew from his pocket a paper, and said, as they slowly walked on, +'Here's something to make us brave and patriotic. I bought it in +Budmouth. Isn't it a stirring picture?' + +It was a hieroglyphic profile of Napoleon. The hat represented a maimed +French eagle; the face was ingeniously made up of human carcases, knotted +and writhing together in such directions as to form a physiognomy; a +band, or stock, shaped to resemble the English Channel, encircled his +throat, and seemed to choke him; his epaulette was a hand tearing a +cobweb that represented the treaty of peace with England; and his ear was +a woman crouching over a dying child. {225} + +'It is dreadful!' said Anne. 'I don't like to see it.' + +She had recovered from her emotion, and walked along beside him with a +grave, subdued face. Bob did not like to assume the privileges of an +accepted lover and draw her hand through his arm; for, conscious that she +naturally belonged to a politer grade than his own, he feared lest her +exhibition of tenderness were an impulse which cooler moments might +regret. A perfect Paul-and-Virginia life had not absolutely set in for +him as yet, and it was not to be hastened by force. When they had passed +over the bridge into the mill-front they saw the miller standing at the +door with a face of concern. + +'Since you have been gone,' he said, 'a Government man has been here, and +to all the houses, taking down the numbers of the women and children, and +their ages and the number of horses and waggons that can be mustered, in +case they have to retreat inland, out of the way of the invading army.' + +The little family gathered themselves together, all feeling the crisis +more seriously than they liked to express. Mrs. Loveday thought how +ridiculous a thing social ambition was in such a conjuncture as this, and +vowed that she would leave Anne to love where she would. Anne, too, +forgot the little peculiarities of speech and manner in Bob and his +father, which sometimes jarred for a moment upon her more refined sense, +and was thankful for their love and protection in this looming trouble. + +On going upstairs she remembered the paper which Farmer Derriman had +given her, and searched in her bosom for it. She could not find it +there. 'I must have left it on the table,' she said to herself. It did +not matter; she remembered every word. She took a pen and wrote a +duplicate, which she put safely away. + +But Anne was wrong. She had, after all, placed the paper where she +supposed, and there it ought to have been. But in escaping from Festus, +when he feigned apoplexy, it had fallen out upon the grass. Five minutes +after that event, when pursuer and pursued were two or three fields +ahead, the gaily-dressed woman whom the yeoman had overtaken, peeped +cautiously through the stile into the corner of the field which had been +the scene of the scramble; and seeing the paper she climbed over, secured +it, loosened the wafer without tearing the sheet, and read the memorandum +within. Unable to make anything of its meaning, the saunterer put it in +her pocket, and, dismissing the matter from her mind, went on by the by- +path which led to the back of the mill. Here, behind the hedge, she +stood and surveyed the old building for some time, after which she +meditatively turned, and retraced her steps towards the Royal watering- +place. + + + + +XXVI. THE ALARM + + +The night which followed was historic and memorable. Mrs. Loveday was +awakened by the boom of a distant gun: she told the miller, and they +listened awhile. The sound was not repeated, but such was the state of +their feelings that Mr. Loveday went to Bob's room and asked if he had +heard it. Bob was wide awake, looking out of the window; he had heard +the ominous sound, and was inclined to investigate the matter. While the +father and son were dressing they fancied that a glare seemed to be +rising in the sky in the direction of the beacon hill. Not wishing to +alarm Anne and her mother, the miller assured them that Bob and himself +were merely going out of doors to inquire into the cause of the report, +after which they plunged into the gloom together. A few steps' progress +opened up more of the sky, which, as they had thought, was indeed +irradiated by a lurid light; but whether it came from the beacon or from +a more distant point they were unable to clearly tell. They pushed on +rapidly towards higher ground. + +Their excitement was merely of a piece with that of all men at this +critical juncture. Everywhere expectation was at fever heat. For the +last year or two only five-and-twenty miles of shallow water had divided +quiet English homesteads from an enemy's army of a hundred and fifty +thousand men. We had taken the matter lightly enough, eating and +drinking as in the days of Noe, and singing satires without end. We +punned on Buonaparte and his gunboats, chalked his effigy on +stage-coaches, and published the same in prints. Still, between these +bursts of hilarity, it was sometimes recollected that England was the +only European country which had not succumbed to the mighty little man +who was less than human in feeling, and more than human in will; that our +spirit for resistance was greater than our strength; and that the Channel +was often calm. Boats built of wood which was greenly growing in its +native forest three days before it was bent as wales to their sides, were +ridiculous enough; but they might be, after all, sufficient for a single +trip between two visible shores. + +The English watched Buonaparte in these preparations, and Buonaparte +watched the English. At the distance of Boulogne details were lost, but +we were impressed on fine days by the novel sight of a huge army moving +and twinkling like a school of mackerel under the rays of the sun. The +regular way of passing an afternoon in the coast towns was to stroll up +to the signal posts and chat with the lieutenant on duty there about the +latest inimical object seen at sea. About once a week there appeared in +the newspapers either a paragraph concerning some adventurous English +gentleman who had sailed out in a pleasure-boat till he lay near enough +to Boulogne to see Buonaparte standing on the heights among his marshals; +or else some lines about a mysterious stranger with a foreign accent, +who, after collecting a vast deal of information on our resources, had +hired a boat at a southern port, and vanished with it towards France +before his intention could be divined. + +In forecasting his grand venture, Buonaparte postulated the help of +Providence to a remarkable degree. Just at the hour when his troops were +on board the flat-bottomed boats and ready to sail, there was to be a +great fog, that should spread a vast obscurity over the length and +breadth of the Channel, and keep the English blind to events on the other +side. The fog was to last twenty-four hours, after which it might clear +away. A dead calm was to prevail simultaneously with the fog, with the +twofold object of affording the boats easy transit and dooming our ships +to lie motionless. Thirdly, there was to be a spring tide, which should +combine its manoeuvres with those of the fog and calm. + +Among the many thousands of minor Englishmen whose lives were affected by +these tremendous designs may be numbered our old acquaintance Corporal +Tullidge, who sported the crushed arm, and poor old Simon Burden, the +dazed veteran who had fought at Minden. Instead of sitting snugly in the +settle of the Old Ship, in the village adjoining Overcombe, they were +obliged to keep watch on the hill. They made themselves as comfortable +as was possible in the circumstances, dwelling in a hut of clods and +turf, with a brick chimney for cooking. Here they observed the nightly +progress of the moon and stars, grew familiar with the heaving of moles, +the dancing of rabbits on the hillocks, the distant hoot of owls, the +bark of foxes from woods further inland; but saw not a sign of the enemy. +As, night after night, they walked round the two ricks which it was their +duty to fire at a signal--one being of furze for a quick flame, the other +of turf, for a long, slow radiance--they thought and talked of old times, +and drank patriotically from a large wood flagon that was filled every +day. + +Bob and his father soon became aware that the light was from the beacon. +By the time that they reached the top it was one mass of towering flame, +from which the sparks fell on the green herbage like a fiery dew; the +forms of the two old men being seen passing and repassing in the midst of +it. The Lovedays, who came up on the smoky side, regarded the scene for +a moment, and then emerged into the light. + +'Who goes there?' said Corporal Tullidge, shouldering a pike with his +sound arm. 'O, 'tis neighbour Loveday!' + +'Did you get your signal to fire it from the east?' said the miller +hastily. + +'No; from Abbotsea Beach.' + +'But you are not to go by a coast signal!' + +'Chok' it all, wasn't the Lord-Lieutenant's direction, whenever you see +Rainbarrow's Beacon burn to the nor'east'ard, or Haggardon to the +nor'west'ard, or the actual presence of the enemy on the shore?' + +'But is he here?' + +'No doubt o't! The beach light is only just gone down, and Simon heard +the guns even better than I.' + +'Hark, hark! I hear 'em!' said Bob. + +They listened with parted lips, the night wind blowing through Simon +Burden's few teeth as through the ruins of Stonehenge. From far down on +the lower levels came the noise of wheels and the tramp of horses upon +the turnpike road. + +'Well, there must be something in it,' said Miller Loveday gravely. 'Bob, +we'll go home and make the women-folk safe, and then I'll don my +soldier's clothes and be off. God knows where our company will +assemble!' + +They hastened down the hill, and on getting into the road waited and +listened again. Travellers began to come up and pass them in vehicles of +all descriptions. It was difficult to attract their attention in the dim +light, but by standing on the top of a wall which fenced the road Bob was +at last seen. + +'What's the matter?' he cried to a butcher who was flying past in his +cart, his wife sitting behind him without a bonnet. + +'The French have landed!' said the man, without drawing rein. + +'Where?' shouted Bob. + +'In West Bay; and all Budmouth is in uproar!' replied the voice, now +faint in the distance. + +Bob and his father hastened on till they reached their own house. As +they had expected, Anne and her mother, in common with most of the +people, were both dressed, and stood at the door bonneted and shawled, +listening to the traffic on the neighbouring highway, Mrs. Loveday having +secured what money and small valuables they possessed in a huge pocket +which extended all round her waist, and added considerably to her weight +and diameter. + +''Tis true enough,' said the miller: 'he's come! You and Anne and the +maid must be off to Cousin Jim's at King's-Bere, and when you get there +you must do as they do. I must assemble with the company.' + +'And I?' said Bob. + +'Thou'st better run to the church, and take a pike before they be all +gone.' + +The horse was put into the gig, and Mrs. Loveday, Anne, and the servant- +maid were hastily packed into the vehicle, the latter taking the reins; +David's duties as a fighting-man forbidding all thought of his domestic +offices now. Then the silver tankard, teapot, pair of candlesticks like +Ionic columns, and other articles too large to be pocketed were thrown +into a basket and put up behind. Then came the leave-taking, which was +as sad as it was hurried. Bob kissed Anne, and there was no affectation +in her receiving that mark of affection as she said through her tears, +'God bless you!' At last they moved off in the dim light of dawn, +neither of the three women knowing which road they were to take, but +trusting to chance to find it. + +As soon as they were out of sight Bob went off for a pike, and his +father, first new-flinting his firelock, proceeded to don his uniform, +pipe-claying his breeches with such cursory haste as to bespatter his +black gaiters with the same ornamental compound. Finding when he was +ready that no bugle had as yet sounded, he went with David to the cart- +house, dragged out the waggon, and put therein some of the most useful +and easily-handled goods, in case there might be an opportunity for +conveying them away. By the time this was done and the waggon pushed +back and locked in, Bob had returned with his weapon, somewhat mortified +at being doomed to this low form of defence. The miller gave his son a +parting grasp of the hand, and arranged to meet him at King's-Bere at the +first opportunity if the news were true; if happily false, here at their +own house. + +'Bother it all!' he exclaimed, looking at his stock of flints. + +'What?' said Bob. + +'I've got no ammunition: not a blessed round!' + +'Then what's the use of going?' asked his son. + +The miller paused. 'O, I'll go,' he said. 'Perhaps somebody will lend +me a little if I get into a hot corner?' + +'Lend ye a little! Father, you was always so simple!' said Bob +reproachfully. + +'Well--I can bagnet a few, anyhow,' said the miller. + +The bugle had been blown ere this, and Loveday the father disappeared +towards the place of assembly, his empty cartridge-box behind him. Bob +seized a brace of loaded pistols which he had brought home from the ship, +and, armed with these and a pike, he locked the door and sallied out +again towards the turnpike road. + +By this time the yeomanry of the district were also on the move, and +among them Festus Derriman, who was sleeping at his uncle's, and had been +awakened by Cripplestraw. About the time when Bob and his father were +descending from the beacon the stalwart yeoman was standing in the stable- +yard adjusting his straps, while Cripplestraw saddled the horse. Festus +clanked up and down, looked gloomily at the beacon, heard the retreating +carts and carriages, and called Cripplestraw to him, who came from the +stable leading the horse at the same moment that Uncle Benjy peeped +unobserved from a mullioned window above their heads, the distant light +of the beacon fire touching up his features to the complexion of an old +brass clock-face. + +'I think that before I start, Cripplestraw,' said Festus, whose lurid +visage was undergoing a bleaching process curious to look upon, 'you +shall go on to Budmouth, and make a bold inquiry whether the cowardly +enemy is on shore as yet, or only looming in the bay.' + +'I'd go in a moment, sir,' said the other, 'if I hadn't my bad leg again. +I should have joined my company afore this; but they said at last drill +that I was too old. So I shall wait up in the hay-loft for tidings as +soon as I have packed you off, poor gentleman!' + +'Do such alarms as these, Cripplestraw, ever happen without foundation? +Buonaparte is a wretch, a miserable wretch, and this may be only a false +alarm to disappoint such as me?' + +'O no, sir; O no!' + +'But sometimes there are false alarms?' + +'Well, sir, yes. There was a pretended sally o' gunboats last year.' + +'And was there nothing else pretended--something more like this, for +instance?' + +Cripplestraw shook his head. 'I notice yer modesty, Mr. Festus, in +making light of things. But there never was, sir. You may depend upon +it he's come. Thank God, my duty as a Local don't require me to go to +the front, but only the valiant men like my master. Ah, if Boney could +only see 'ee now, sir, he'd know too well there is nothing to be got from +such a determined skilful officer but blows and musket-balls!' + +'Yes, yes. Cripplestraw, if I ride off to Budmouth and meet 'em, all my +training will be lost. No skill is required as a forlorn hope.' + +'True; that's a point, sir. You would outshine 'em all, and be picked +off at the very beginning as a too-dangerous brave man.' + +'But if I stay here and urge on the faint-hearted ones, or get up into +the turret-stair by that gateway, and pop at the invaders through the +loophole, I shouldn't be so completely wasted, should I?' + +'You would not, Mr. Derriman. But, as you was going to say next, the +fire in yer veins won't let ye do that. You are valiant; very good: you +don't want to husband yer valiance at home. The arg'ment is plain.' + +'If my birth had been more obscure,' murmured the yeoman, 'and I had only +been in the militia, for instance, or among the humble pikemen, so much +wouldn't have been expected of me--of my fiery nature. Cripplestraw, is +there a drop of brandy to be got at in the house? I don't feel very +well.' + +'Dear nephew,' said the old gentleman from above, whom neither of the +others had as yet noticed, 'I haven't any spirits opened--so unfortunate! +But there's a beautiful barrel of crab-apple cider in draught; and +there's some cold tea from last night.' + +'What, is he listening?' said Festus, staring up. 'Now I warrant how +glad he is to see me forced to go--called out of bed without breakfast, +and he quite safe, and sure to escape because he's an old +man!--Cripplestraw, I like being in the yeomanry cavalry; but I wish I +hadn't been in the ranks; I wish I had been only the surgeon, to stay in +the rear while the bodies are brought back to him--I mean, I should have +thrown my heart at such a time as this more into the labour of restoring +wounded men and joining their shattered limbs together--u-u-ugh!--more +than I can into causing the wounds--I am too humane, Cripplestraw, for +the ranks!' + +'Yes, yes,' said his companion, depressing his spirits to a kindred +level. 'And yet, such is fate, that, instead of joining men's limbs +together, you'll have to get your own joined--poor young sojer!--all +through having such a warlike soul.' + +'Yes,' murmured Festus, and paused. 'You can't think how strange I feel +here, Cripplestraw,' he continued, laying his hand upon the centre +buttons of his waistcoat. 'How I do wish I was only the surgeon!' + +He slowly mounted, and Uncle Benjy, in the meantime, sang to himself as +he looked on, '_Twen-ty-three and half from N.W._ _Six-teen and three- +quar-ters from N.E._' + +'What's that old mummy singing?' said Festus savagely. + +'Only a hymn for preservation from our enemies, dear nephew,' meekly +replied the farmer, who had heard the remark. '_Twen-ty-three and half +from N.W_.' + +Festus allowed his horse to move on a few paces, and then turned again, +as if struck by a happy invention. 'Cripplestraw,' he began, with an +artificial laugh, 'I am obliged to confess, after all--I must see her! +'Tisn't nature that makes me draw back--'tis love. I must go and look +for her.' + +'A woman, sir?' + +'I didn't want to confess it; but 'tis a woman. Strange that I should be +drawn so entirely against my natural wish to rush at 'em!' + +Cripplestraw, seeing which way the wind blew, found it advisable to blow +in harmony. 'Ah, now at last I see, sir! Spite that few men live that +be worthy to command ye; spite that you could rush on, marshal the troops +to victory, as I may say; but then--what of it? there's the unhappy fate +of being smit with the eyes of a woman, and you are unmanned! Maister +Derriman, who is himself, when he's got a woman round his neck like a +millstone?' + +'It is something like that.' + +'I feel the case. Be you valiant?--I know, of course, the words being a +matter of form--be you valiant, I ask? Yes, of course. Then don't you +waste it in the open field. Hoard it up, I say, sir, for a higher class +of war--the defence of yer adorable lady. Think what you owe her at this +terrible time! Now, Maister Derriman, once more I ask ye to cast off +that first haughty wish to rush to Budmouth, and to go where your mis'ess +is defenceless and alone.' + +'I will, Cripplestraw, now you put it like that!' + +'Thank ye, thank ye heartily, Maister Derriman. Go now and hide with +her.' + +'But can I? Now, hang flattery!--can a man hide without a stain? Of +course I would not hide in any mean sense; no, not I!' + +'If you be in love, 'tis plain you may, since it is not your own life, +but another's, that you are concerned for, and you only save your own +because it can't be helped.' + +''Tis true, Cripplestraw, in a sense. But will it be understood that +way? Will they see it as a brave hiding?' + +'Now, sir, if you had not been in love I own to ye that hiding would look +queer, but being to save the tears, groans, fits, swowndings, and perhaps +death of a comely young woman, yer principle is good; you honourably +retreat because you be too gallant to advance. This sounds strange, ye +may say, sir; but it is plain enough to less fiery minds.' + +Festus did for a moment try to uncover his teeth in a natural smile, but +it died away. 'Cripplestraw, you flatter me; or do you mean it? Well, +there's truth in it. I am more gallant in going to her than in marching +to the shore. But we cannot be too careful about our good names, we +soldiers. I must not be seen. I'm off.' + +Cripplestraw opened the hurdle which closed the arch under the portico +gateway, and Festus passed under, Uncle Benjamin singing, _Twen-ty-three +and a half from N.W._ with a sort of sublime ecstasy, feeling, as Festus +had observed, that his money was safe, and that the French would not +personally molest an old man in such a ragged, mildewed coat as that he +wore, which he had taken the precaution to borrow from a scarecrow in one +of his fields for the purpose. + +Festus rode on full of his intention to seek out Anne, and under cover of +protecting her retreat accompany her to King's-Bere, where he knew the +Lovedays had relatives. In the lane he met Granny Seamore, who, having +packed up all her possessions in a small basket, was placidly retreating +to the mountains till all should be over. + +'Well, granny, have ye seen the French?' asked Festus. + +'No,' she said, looking up at him through her brazen spectacles. 'If I +had I shouldn't ha' seed thee!' + +'Faugh!' replied the yeoman, and rode on. Just as he reached the old +road, which he had intended merely to cross and avoid, his countenance +fell. Some troops of regulars, who appeared to be dragoons, were +rattling along the road. Festus hastened towards an opposite gate, so as +to get within the field before they should see him; but, as ill-luck +would have it, as soon as he got inside, a party of six or seven of his +own yeomanry troop were straggling across the same field and making for +the spot where he was. The dragoons passed without seeing him; but when +he turned out into the road again it was impossible to retreat towards +Overcombe village because of the yeomen. So he rode straight on, and +heard them coming at his heels. There was no other gate, and the highway +soon became as straight as a bowstring. Unable thus to turn without +meeting them, and caught like an eel in a water-pipe, Festus drew nearer +and nearer to the fateful shore. But he did not relinquish hope. Just +ahead there were cross-roads, and he might have a chance of slipping down +one of them without being seen. On reaching the spot he found that he +was not alone. A horseman had come up the right-hand lane and drawn +rein. It was an officer of the German legion, and seeing Festus he held +up his hand. Festus rode up to him and saluted. + +'It ist false report!' said the officer. + +Festus was a man again. He felt that nothing was too much for him. The +officer, after some explanation of the cause of alarm, said that he was +going across to the road which led by the moor, to stop the troops and +volunteers converging from that direction, upon which Festus offered to +give information along the Casterbridge road. The German crossed over, +and was soon out of sight in the lane, while Festus turned back upon the +way by which he had come. The party of yeomanry cavalry was rapidly +drawing near, and he soon recognized among them the excited voices of +Stubb of Duddle Hole, Noakes of Muckleford, and other comrades of his +orgies at the hall. It was a magnificent opportunity, and Festus drew +his sword. When they were within speaking distance he reined round his +charger's head to Budmouth and shouted, 'On, comrades, on! I am waiting +for you. You have been a long time getting up with me, seeing the +glorious nature of our deeds to-day!' + +'Well said, Derriman, well said!' replied the foremost of the riders. +'Have you heard anything new?' + +'Only that he's here with his tens of thousands, and that we are to ride +to meet him sword in hand as soon as we have assembled in the town ahead +here.' + +'O Lord!' said Noakes, with a slight falling of the lower jaw. + +'The man who quails now is unworthy of the name of yeoman,' said Festus, +still keeping ahead of the other troopers and holding up his sword to the +sun. 'O Noakes, fie, fie! You begin to look pale, man.' + +'Faith, perhaps you'd look pale,' said Noakes, with an envious glance +upon Festus's daring manner, 'if you had a wife and family depending upon +ye!' + +'I'll take three frog-eating Frenchmen single-handed!' rejoined Derriman, +still flourishing his sword. + +'They have as good swords as you; as you will soon find,' said another of +the yeomen. + +'If they were three times armed,' said Festus--'ay, thrice three times--I +would attempt 'em three to one. How do you feel now, my old friend +Stubb?' (turning to another of the warriors.) 'O, friend Stubb! no +bouncing health to our lady-loves in Oxwell Hall this summer as last. Eh, +Brownjohn?' + +'I am afraid not,' said Brownjohn gloomily. + +'No rattling dinners at Stacie's Hotel, and the King below with his +staff. No wrenching off door-knockers and sending 'em to the bakehouse +in a pie that nobody calls for. Weeks of cut-and-thrust work rather!' + +'I suppose so.' + +'Fight how we may we shan't get rid of the cursed tyrant before autumn, +and many thousand brave men will lie low before it's done,' remarked a +young yeoman with a calm face, who meant to do his duty without much +talking. + +'No grinning matches at Mai-dun Castle this summer,' Festus resumed; 'no +thread-the-needle at Greenhill Fair, and going into shows and driving the +showman crazy with cock-a-doodle-doo!' + +'I suppose not.' + +'Does it make you seem just a trifle uncomfortable, Noakes? Keep up your +spirits, old comrade. Come, forward! we are only ambling on like so many +donkey-women. We have to get into Budmouth, join the rest of the troop, +and then march along the coast west'ard, as I imagine. At this rate we +shan't be well into the thick of battle before twelve o'clock. Spur on, +comrades. No dancing on the green, Lockham, this year in the moonlight! +You was tender upon that girl; gad, what will become o' her in the +struggle?' + +'Come, come, Derriman,' expostulated Lockham--'this is all very well, but +I don't care for 't. I am as ready to fight as any man, but--' + +'Perhaps when you get into battle, Derriman, and see what it's like, your +courage will cool down a little,' added Noakes on the same side, but with +secret admiration of Festus's reckless bravery. + +'I shall be bayoneted first,' said Festus. 'Now let's rally, and on!' + +Since Festus was determined to spur on wildly, the rest of the yeomen did +not like to seem behindhand, and they rapidly approached the town. Had +they been calm enough to reflect, they might have observed that for the +last half-hour no carts or carriages had met them on the way, as they had +done further back. It was not till the troopers reached the turnpike +that they learnt what Festus had known a quarter of an hour before. At +the intelligence Derriman sheathed his sword with a sigh; and the party +soon fell in with comrades who had arrived there before them, whereupon +the source and details of the alarm were boisterously discussed. + +'What, didn't you know of the mistake till now?' asked one of these of +the new-comers. 'Why, when I was dropping over the hill by the cross- +roads I looked back and saw that man talking to the messenger, and he +must have told him the truth.' The speaker pointed to Festus. They +turned their indignant eyes full upon him. That he had sported with +their deepest feelings, while knowing the rumour to be baseless, was soon +apparent to all. + +'Beat him black and blue with the flat of our blades!' shouted two or +three, turning their horses' heads to drop back upon Derriman, in which +move they were followed by most of the party. + +But Festus, foreseeing danger from the unexpected revelation, had already +judiciously placed a few intervening yards between himself and his fellow- +yeomen, and now, clapping spurs to his horse, rattled like thunder and +lightning up the road homeward. His ready flight added hotness to their +pursuit, and as he rode and looked fearfully over his shoulder he could +see them following with enraged faces and drawn swords, a position which +they kept up for a distance of more than a mile. Then he had the +satisfaction of seeing them drop off one by one, and soon he and his +panting charger remained alone on the highway. + + + + +XXVII. DANGER TO ANNE + + +He stopped and reflected how to turn this rebuff to advantage. Baulked +in his project of entering the watering-place and enjoying +congratulations upon his patriotic bearing during the advance, he sulkily +considered that he might be able to make some use of his enforced +retirement by riding to Overcombe and glorifying himself in the eyes of +Miss Garland before the truth should have reached that hamlet. Having +thus decided he spurred on in a better mood. + +By this time the volunteers were on the march, and as Derriman ascended +the road he met the Overcombe company, in which trudged Miller Loveday +shoulder to shoulder with the other substantial householders of the place +and its neighbourhood, duly equipped with pouches, cross-belts, +firelocks, flint-boxes, pickers, worms, magazines, priming-horns, heel- +ball, and pomatum. There was nothing to be gained by further suppression +of the truth, and briefly informing them that the danger was not so +immediate as had been supposed, Festus galloped on. At the end of +another mile he met a large number of pikemen, including Bob Loveday, +whom the yeoman resolved to sound upon the whereabouts of Anne. The +circumstances were such as to lead Bob to speak more frankly than he +might have done on reflection, and he told Festus the direction in which +the women had been sent. Then Festus informed the group that the report +of invasion was false, upon which they all turned to go homeward with +greatly relieved spirits. + +Bob walked beside Derriman's horse for some distance. Loveday had +instantly made up his mind to go and look for the women, and ease their +anxiety by letting them know the good news as soon as possible. But he +said nothing of this to Festus during their return together; nor did +Festus tell Bob that he also had resolved to seek them out, and by +anticipating every one else in that enterprise, make of it a glorious +opportunity for bringing Miss Garland to her senses about him. He still +resented the ducking that he had received at her hands, and was not +disposed to let that insult pass without obtaining some sort of sweet +revenge. + +As soon as they had parted Festus cantered on over the hill, meeting on +his way the Longpuddle volunteers, sixty rank and file, under Captain +Cunningham; the Casterbridge company, ninety strong (known as the +'Consideration Company' in those days), under Captain Strickland; and +others--all with anxious faces and covered with dust. Just passing the +word to them and leaving them at halt, he proceeded rapidly onward in the +direction of King's-Bere. Nobody appeared on the road for some time, +till after a ride of several miles he met a stray corporal of volunteers, +who told Festus in answer to his inquiry that he had certainly passed no +gig full of women of the kind described. Believing that he had missed +them by following the highway, Derriman turned back into a lane along +which they might have chosen to journey for privacy's sake, +notwithstanding the badness and uncertainty of its track. Arriving again +within five miles of Overcombe, he at length heard tidings of the +wandering vehicle and its precious burden, which, like the Ark when sent +away from the country of the Philistines, had apparently been left to the +instincts of the beast that drew it. A labouring man, just at daybreak, +had seen the helpless party going slowly up a distant drive, which he +pointed out. + +No sooner had Festus parted from this informant than he beheld Bob +approaching, mounted on the miller's second and heavier horse. Bob +looked rather surprised, and Festus felt his coming glory in danger. + +'They went down that lane,' he said, signifying precisely the opposite +direction to the true one. 'I, too, have been on the look-out for +missing friends.' + +As Festus was riding back there was no reason to doubt his information, +and Loveday rode on as misdirected. Immediately that he was out of sight +Festus reversed his course, and followed the track which Anne and her +companions were last seen to pursue. + +This road had been ascended by the gig in question nearly two hours +before the present moment. Molly, the servant, held the reins, Mrs. +Loveday sat beside her, and Anne behind. Their progress was but slow, +owing partly to Molly's want of skill, and partly to the steepness of the +road, which here passed over downs of some extent, and was rarely or +never mended. It was an anxious morning for them all, and the beauties +of the early summer day fell upon unheeding eyes. They were too anxious +even for conjecture, and each sat thinking her own thoughts, occasionally +glancing westward, or stopping the horse to listen to sounds from more +frequented roads along which other parties were retreating. Once, while +they listened and gazed thus, they saw a glittering in the distance, and +heard the tramp of many horses. It was a large body of cavalry going in +the direction of the King's watering-place, the same regiment of +dragoons, in fact, which Festus had seen further on in its course. The +women in the gig had no doubt that these men were marching at once to +engage the enemy. By way of varying the monotony of the journey Molly +occasionally burst into tears of horror, believing Buonaparte to be in +countenance and habits precisely what the caricatures represented him. +Mrs. Loveday endeavoured to establish cheerfulness by assuring her +companions of the natural civility of the French nation, with whom +unprotected women were safe from injury, unless through the casual +excesses of soldiery beyond control. This was poor consolation to Anne, +whose mind was more occupied with Bob than with herself, and a miserable +fear that she would never again see him alive so paled her face and +saddened her gaze forward, that at last her mother said, 'Who was you +thinking of, my dear?' Anne's only reply was a look at her mother, with +which a tear mingled. + +Molly whipped the horse, by which she quickened his pace for five yards, +when he again fell into the perverse slowness that showed how fully +conscious he was of being the master-mind and chief personage of the +four. Whenever there was a pool of water by the road he turned aside to +drink a mouthful, and remained there his own time in spite of Molly's tug +at the reins and futile fly-flapping on his rump. They were now in the +chalk district, where there were no hedges, and a rough attempt at +mending the way had been made by throwing down huge lumps of that glaring +material in heaps, without troubling to spread it or break them abroad. +The jolting here was most distressing, and seemed about to snap the +springs. + +'How that wheel do wamble,' said Molly at last. She had scarcely spoken +when the wheel came off, and all three were precipitated over it into the +road. + +Fortunately the horse stood still, and they began to gather themselves +up. The only one of the three who had suffered in the least from the +fall was Anne, and she was only conscious of a severe shaking which had +half stupefied her for the time. The wheel lay flat in the road, so that +there was no possibility of driving further in their present plight. They +looked around for help. The only friendly object near was a lonely +cottage, from its situation evidently the home of a shepherd. + +The horse was unharnessed and tied to the back of the gig, and the three +women went across to the house. On getting close they found that the +shutters of all the lower windows were closed, but on trying the door it +opened to the hand. Nobody was within; the house appeared to have been +abandoned in some confusion, and the probability was that the shepherd +had fled on hearing the alarm. Anne now said that she felt the effects +of her fall too severely to be able to go any further just then, and it +was agreed that she should be left there while Mrs. Loveday and Molly +went on for assistance, the elder lady deeming Molly too young and vacant- +minded to be trusted to go alone. Molly suggested taking the horse, as +the distance might be great, each of them sitting alternately on his back +while the other led him by the head. This they did, Anne watching them +vanish down the white and lumpy road. + +She then looked round the room, as well as she could do so by the light +from the open door. It was plain, from the shutters being closed, that +the shepherd had left his house before daylight, the candle and +extinguisher on the table pointing to the same conclusion. Here she +remained, her eyes occasionally sweeping the bare, sunny expanse of down, +that was only relieved from absolute emptiness by the overturned gig hard +by. The sheep seemed to have gone away, and scarcely a bird flew across +to disturb the solitude. Anne had risen early that morning, and leaning +back in the withy chair, which she had placed by the door, she soon fell +into an uneasy doze, from which she was awakened by the distant tramp of +a horse. Feeling much recovered from the effects of the overturn, she +eagerly rose and looked out. The horse was not Miller Loveday's, but a +powerful bay, bearing a man in full yeomanry uniform. + +Anne did not wait to recognize further; instantly re-entering the house, +she shut the door and bolted it. In the dark she sat and listened: not a +sound. At the end of ten minutes, thinking that the rider if he were not +Festus had carelessly passed by, or that if he were Festus he had not +seen her, she crept softly upstairs and peeped out of the window. +Excepting the spot of shade, formed by the gig as before, the down was +quite bare. She then opened the casement and stretched out her neck. + +'Ha, young madam! There you are! I knew 'ee! Now you are caught!' came +like a clap of thunder from a point three or four feet beneath her, and +turning down her frightened eyes she beheld Festus Derriman lurking close +to the wall. His attention had first been attracted by her shutting the +door of the cottage; then by the overturned gig; and after making sure, +by examining the vehicle, that he was not mistaken in her identity, he +had dismounted, led his horse round to the side, and crept up to entrap +her. + +Anne started back into the room, and remained still as a stone. Festus +went on--'Come, you must trust to me. The French have landed. I have +been trying to meet with you every hour since that confounded trick you +played me. You threw me into the water. Faith, it was well for you I +didn't catch ye then! I should have taken a revenge in a better way than +I shall now. I mean to have that kiss of ye. Come, Miss Nancy; do you +hear?--'Tis no use for you to lurk inside there. You'll have to turn out +as soon as Boney comes over the hill--Are you going to open the door, I +say, and speak to me in a civil way? What do you think I am, then, that +you should barricade yourself against me as if I was a wild beast or +Frenchman? Open the door, or put out your head, or do something; or 'pon +my soul I'll break in the door!' + +It occurred to Anne at this point of the tirade that the best policy +would be to temporize till somebody should return, and she put out her +head and face, now grown somewhat pale. + +'That's better,' said Festus. 'Now I can talk to you. Come, my dear, +will you open the door? Why should you be afraid of me?' + +'I am not altogether afraid of you; I am safe from the French here,' said +Anne, not very truthfully, and anxiously casting her eyes over the vacant +down. + +'Then let me tell you that the alarm is false, and that no landing has +been attempted. Now will you open the door and let me in? I am tired. I +have been on horseback ever since daylight, and have come to bring you +the good tidings.' + +Anne looked as if she doubted the news. + +'Come,' said Festus. + +'No, I cannot let you in,' she murmured, after a pause. + +'Dash my wig, then,' he cried, his face flaming up, 'I'll find a way to +get in! Now, don't you provoke me! You don't know what I am capable of. +I ask you again, will you open the door?' + +'Why do you wish it?' she said faintly. + +'I have told you I want to sit down; and I want to ask you a question.' + +'You can ask me from where you are.' + +'I cannot ask you properly. It is about a serious matter: whether you +will accept my heart and hand. I am not going to throw myself at your +feet; but I ask you to do your duty as a woman, namely, give your solemn +word to take my name as soon as the war is over and I have time to attend +to you. I scorn to ask it of a haughty hussy who will only speak to me +through a window; however, I put it to you for the last time, madam.' + +There was no sign on the down of anybody's return, and she said, 'I'll +think of it, sir.' + +'You have thought of it long enough; I want to know. Will you or won't +you?' + +'Very well; I think I will.' And then she felt that she might be buying +personal safety too dearly by shuffling thus, since he would spread the +report that she had accepted him, and cause endless complication. 'No,' +she said, 'I have changed my mind. I cannot accept you, Mr. Derriman.' + +'That's how you play with me!' he exclaimed, stamping. '"Yes," one +moment; "No," the next. Come, you don't know what you refuse. That old +hall is my uncle's own, and he has nobody else to leave it to. As soon +as he's dead I shall throw up farming and start as a squire. And now,' +he added with a bitter sneer, 'what a fool you are to hang back from such +a chance!' + +'Thank you, I don't value it,' said Anne. + +'Because you hate him who would make it yours?' + +'It may not lie in your power to do that.' + +'What--has the old fellow been telling you his affairs?' + +'No.' + +'Then why do you mistrust me? Now, after this will you open the door, +and show that you treat me as a friend if you won't accept me as a lover? +I only want to sit and talk to you.' + +Anne thought she would trust him; it seemed almost impossible that he +could harm her. She retired from the window and went downstairs. When +her hand was upon the bolt of the door, her mind misgave her. Instead of +withdrawing it she remained in silence where she was, and he began again-- + +'Are you going to unfasten it?' + +Anne did not speak. + +'Now, dash my wig, I will get at you! You've tried me beyond endurance. +One kiss would have been enough that day in the mead; now I'll have +forty, whether you will or no!' + +He flung himself against the door; but as it was bolted, and had in +addition a great wooden bar across it, this produced no effect. He was +silent for a moment, and then the terrified girl heard him attempt the +shuttered window. She ran upstairs and again scanned the down. The +yellow gig still lay in the blazing sunshine, and the horse of Festus +stood by the corner of the garden--nothing else was to be seen. At this +moment there came to her ear the noise of a sword drawn from its +scabbard; and, peeping over the window-sill, she saw her tormentor drive +his sword between the joints of the shutters, in an attempt to rip them +open. The sword snapped off in his hand. With an imprecation he pulled +out the piece, and returned the two halves to the scabbard. + +'Ha! ha!' he cried, catching sight of the top of her head. ''Tis only a +joke, you know; but I'll get in all the same. All for a kiss! But never +mind, we'll do it yet!' He spoke in an affectedly light tone, as if +ashamed of his previous resentful temper; but she could see by the livid +back of his neck that he was brimful of suppressed passion. 'Only a +jest, you know,' he went on. 'How are we going to do it now? Why, in +this way. I go and get a ladder, and enter at the upper window where my +love is. And there's the ladder lying under that corn-rick in the first +enclosed field. Back in two minutes, dear!' + +He ran off, and was lost to her view. + + + + +XXVIII. ANNE DOES WONDERS + + +Anne fearfully surveyed her position. The upper windows of the cottage +were of flimsiest lead-work, and to keep him out would be hopeless. She +felt that not a moment was to be lost in getting away. Running +downstairs she opened the door, and then it occurred to her terrified +understanding that there would be no chance of escaping him by flight +afoot across such an extensive down, since he might mount his horse and +easily ride after her. The animal still remained tethered at the corner +of the garden; if she could release him and frighten him away before +Festus returned, there would not be quite such odds against her. She +accordingly unhooked the horse by reaching over the bank, and then, +pulling off her muslin neckerchief, flapped it in his eyes to startle +him. But the gallant steed did not move or flinch; she tried again, and +he seemed rather pleased than otherwise. At this moment she heard a cry +from the cottage, and turning, beheld her adversary approaching round the +corner of the building. + +'I thought I should tole out the mouse by that trick!' cried Festus +exultingly. Instead of going for a ladder, he had simply hidden himself +at the back to tempt her down. + +Poor Anne was now desperate. The bank on which she stood was level with +the horse's back, and the creature seemed quiet as a lamb. With a +determination of which she was capable in emergencies, she seized the +rein, flung herself upon the sheepskin, and held on by the mane. The +amazed charger lifted his head, sniffed, wrenched his ears hither and +thither, and started off at a frightful speed across the down. + +'O, my heart and limbs!' said Festus under his breath, as, thoroughly +alarmed, he gazed after her. 'She on Champion! She'll break her neck, +and I shall be tried for manslaughter, and disgrace will be brought upon +the name of Derriman!' + +Champion continued to go at a stretch-gallop, but he did nothing worse. +Had he plunged or reared, Derriman's fears might have been verified, and +Anne have come with deadly force to the ground. But the course was good, +and in the horse's speed lay a comparative security. She was scarcely +shaken in her precarious half-horizontal position, though she was awed to +see the grass, loose stones, and other objects pass her eyes like strokes +whenever she opened them, which was only just for a second at intervals +of half a minute; and to feel how wildly the stirrups swung, and that +what struck her knee was the bucket of the carbine, and that it was a +pistol-holster which hurt her arm. + +They quickly cleared the down, and Anne became conscious that the course +of the horse was homeward. As soon as the ground began to rise towards +the outer belt of upland which lay between her and the coast, Champion, +now panting and reeking with moisture, lessened his speed in sheer +weariness, and proceeded at a rapid jolting trot. Anne felt that she +could not hold on half so well; the gallop had been child's play compared +with this. They were in a lane, ascending to a ridge, and she made up +her mind for a fall. Over the ridge rose an animated spot, higher and +higher; it turned out to be the upper part of a man, and the man to be a +soldier. Such was Anne's attitude that she only got an occasional +glimpse of him; and, though she feared that he might be a Frenchman, she +feared the horse more than the enemy, as she had feared Festus more than +the horse. Anne had energy enough left to cry, 'Stop him; stop him!' as +the soldier drew near. + +He, astonished at the sight of a military horse with a bundle of drapery +across his back, had already placed himself in the middle of the lane, +and he now held out his arms till his figure assumed the form of a Latin +cross planted in the roadway. Champion drew near, swerved, and stood +still almost suddenly, a check sufficient to send Anne slipping down his +flank to the ground. The timely friend stepped forward and helped her to +her feet, when she saw that he was John Loveday. + +'Are you hurt?' he said hastily, having turned quite pale at seeing her +fall. + +'O no; not a bit,' said Anne, gathering herself up with forced briskness, +to make light of the misadventure. + +'But how did you get in such a place?' + +'There, he's gone!' she exclaimed, instead of replying, as Champion swept +round John Loveday and cantered off triumphantly in the direction of +Oxwell, a performance which she followed with her eyes. + +'But how did you come upon his back, and whose horse is it?' + +'I will tell you.' + +'Well?' + +'I--cannot tell you.' + +John looked steadily at her, saying nothing. + +'How did you come here?' she asked. 'Is it true that the French have not +landed at all?' + +'Quite true; the alarm was groundless. I'll tell you all about it. You +look very tired. You had better sit down a few minutes. Let us sit on +this bank.' + +He helped her to the slope indicated, and continued, still as if his +thoughts were more occupied with the mystery of her recent situation than +with what he was saying: 'We arrived at Budmouth Barracks this morning, +and are to lie there all the summer. I could not write to tell father we +were coming. It was not because of any rumour of the French, for we knew +nothing of that till we met the people on the road, and the colonel said +in a moment the news was false. Buonaparte is not even at Boulogne just +now. I was anxious to know how you had borne the fright, so I hastened +to Overcombe at once, as soon as I could get out of barracks.' + +Anne, who had not been at all responsive to his discourse, now swayed +heavily against him, and looking quickly down he found that she had +silently fainted. To support her in his arms was of course the impulse +of a moment. There was no water to be had, and he could think of nothing +else but to hold her tenderly till she came round again. Certainly he +desired nothing more. + +Again he asked himself, what did it all mean? + +He waited, looking down upon her tired eyelids, and at the row of lashes +lying upon each cheek, whose natural roundness showed itself in singular +perfection now that the customary pink had given place to a pale +luminousness caught from the surrounding atmosphere. The dumpy ringlets +about her forehead and behind her poll, which were usually as tight as +springs, had been partially uncoiled by the wildness of her ride, and +hung in split locks over her forehead and neck. John, who, during the +long months of his absence, had lived only to meet her again, was in a +state of ecstatic reverence, and bending down he gently kissed her. + +Anne was just becoming conscious. + +'O, Mr. Derriman, never, never!' she murmured, sweeping her face with her +hand. + +'I thought he was at the bottom of it,' said John. + +Anne opened her eyes, and started back from him. 'What is it?' she said +wildly. + +'You are ill, my dear Miss Garland,' replied John in trembling anxiety, +and taking her hand. + +'I am not ill, I am wearied out!' she said. 'Can't we walk on? How far +are we from Overcombe?' + +'About a mile. But tell me, somebody has been hurting you--frightening +you. I know who it was; it was Derriman, and that was his horse. Now do +you tell me all.' + +Anne reflected. 'Then if I tell you,' she said, 'will you discuss with +me what I had better do, and not for the present let my mother and your +father know? I don't want to alarm them, and I must not let my affairs +interrupt the business connexion between the mill and the hall that has +gone on for so many years.' + +The trumpet-major promised, and Anne told the adventure. His brow +reddened as she went on, and when she had done she said, 'Now you are +angry. Don't do anything dreadful, will you? Remember that this Festus +will most likely succeed his uncle at Oxwell, in spite of present +appearances, and if Bob succeeds at the mill there should be no enmity +between them.' + +'That's true. I won't tell Bob. Leave him to me. Where is Derriman +now? On his way home, I suppose. When I have seen you into the house I +will deal with him--quite quietly, so that he shall say nothing about +it.' + +'Yes, appeal to him, do! Perhaps he will be better then.' + +They walked on together, Loveday seeming to experience much quiet bliss. + +'I came to look for you,' he said, 'because of that dear, sweet letter +you wrote.' + +'Yes, I did write you a letter,' she admitted, with misgiving, now +beginning to see her mistake. 'It was because I was sorry I had blamed +you.' + +'I am almost glad you did blame me,' said John cheerfully, 'since, if you +had not, the letter would not have come. I have read it fifty times a +day.' + +This put Anne into an unhappy mood, and they proceeded without much +further talk till the mill chimneys were visible below them. John then +said that he would leave her to go in by herself. + +'Ah, you are going back to get into some danger on my account?' + +'I can't get into much danger with such a fellow as he, can I?' said +John, smiling. + +'Well, no,' she answered, with a sudden carelessness of tone. It was +indispensable that he should be undeceived, and to begin the process by +taking an affectedly light view of his personal risks was perhaps as good +a way to do it as any. Where friendliness was construed as love, an +assumed indifference was the necessary expression for friendliness. + +So she let him go; and, bidding him hasten back as soon as he could, went +down the hill, while John's feet retraced the upland. + +The trumpet-major spent the whole afternoon and evening in that long and +difficult search for Festus Derriman. Crossing the down at the end of +the second hour he met Molly and Mrs. Loveday. The gig had been +repaired, they had learnt the groundlessness of the alarm, and they would +have been proceeding happily enough but for their anxiety about Anne. +John told them shortly that she had got a lift home, and proceeded on his +way. + +The worthy object of his search had in the meantime been plodding +homeward on foot, sulky at the loss of his charger, encumbered with his +sword, belts, high boots, and uniform, and in his own discomfiture +careless whether Anne Garland's life had been endangered or not. + +At length Derriman reached a place where the road ran between high banks, +one of which he mounted and paced along as a change from the hard +trackway. Ahead of him he saw an old man sitting down, with eyes fixed +on the dust of the road, as if resting and meditating at one and the same +time. Being pretty sure that he recognized his uncle in that venerable +figure, Festus came forward stealthily, till he was immediately above the +old man's back. The latter was clothed in faded nankeen breeches, +speckled stockings, a drab hat, and a coat which had once been light +blue, but from exposure as a scarecrow had assumed the complexion and +fibre of a dried pudding-cloth. The farmer was, in fact, returning to +the hall, which he had left in the morning some time later than his +nephew, to seek an asylum in a hollow tree about two miles off. The tree +was so situated as to command a view of the building, and Uncle Benjy had +managed to clamber up inside this natural fortification high enough to +watch his residence through a hole in the bark, till, gathering from the +words of occasional passers-by that the alarm was at least premature, he +had ventured into daylight again. + +He was now engaged in abstractedly tracing a diagram in the dust with his +walking-stick, and muttered words to himself aloud. Presently he arose +and went on his way without turning round. Festus was curious enough to +descend and look at the marks. They represented an oblong, with two semi- +diagonals, and a little square in the middle. Upon the diagonals were +the figures 20 and 17, and on each side of the parallelogram stood a +letter signifying the point of the compass. + +'What crazy thing is running in his head now?' said Festus to himself, +with supercilious pity, recollecting that the farmer had been singing +those very numbers earlier in the morning. Being able to make nothing of +it, he lengthened his strides, and treading on tiptoe overtook his +relative, saluting him by scratching his back like a hen. The startled +old farmer danced round like a top, and gasping, said, as he perceived +his nephew, 'What, Festy! not thrown from your horse and killed, then, +after all!' + +'No, nunc. What made ye think that?' + +'Champion passed me about an hour ago, when I was in hiding--poor timid +soul of me, for I had nothing to lose by the French coming--and he looked +awful with the stirrups dangling and the saddle empty. 'Tis a gloomy +sight, Festy, to see a horse cantering without a rider, and I thought you +had been--feared you had been thrown off and killed as dead as a nit.' + +'Bless your dear old heart for being so anxious! And what pretty picture +were you drawing just now with your walking-stick!' + +'O, that! That is only a way I have of amusing myself. It showed how +the French might have advanced to the attack, you know. Such trifles +fill the head of a weak old man like me.' + +'Or the place where something is hid away--money, for instance?' + +'Festy,' said the farmer reproachfully, 'you always know I use the old +glove in the bedroom cupboard for any guinea or two I possess.' + +'Of course I do,' said Festus ironically. + +They had now reached a lonely inn about a mile and a half from the hall, +and, the farmer not responding to his nephew's kind invitation to come in +and treat him, Festus entered alone. He was dusty, draggled, and weary, +and he remained at the tavern long. The trumpet-major, in the meantime, +having searched the roads in vain, heard in the course of the evening of +the yeoman's arrival at this place, and that he would probably be found +there still. He accordingly approached the door, reaching it just as the +dusk of evening changed to darkness. + +There was no light in the passage, but John pushed on at hazard, inquired +for Derriman, and was told that he would be found in the back parlour +alone. When Loveday first entered the apartment he was unable to see +anything, but following the guidance of a vigorous snoring, he came to +the settle, upon which Festus lay asleep, his position being faintly +signified by the shine of his buttons and other parts of his uniform. +John laid his hand upon the reclining figure and shook him, and by +degrees Derriman stopped his snore and sat up. + +'Who are you?' he said, in the accents of a man who has been drinking +hard. 'Is it you, dear Anne? Let me kiss you; yes, I will.' + +'Shut your mouth, you pitiful blockhead; I'll teach you genteeler manners +than to persecute a young woman in that way!' and taking Festus by the +ear, he gave it a good pull. Festus broke out with an oath, and struck a +vague blow in the air with his fist; whereupon the trumpet-major dealt +him a box on the right ear, and a similar one on the left to artistically +balance the first. Festus jumped up and used his fists wildly, but +without any definite result. + +'Want to fight, do ye, eh?' said John. 'Nonsense! you can't fight, you +great baby, and never could. You are only fit to be smacked!' and he +dealt Festus a specimen of the same on the cheek with the palm of his +hand. + +'No, sir, no! O, you are Loveday, the young man she's going to be +married to, I suppose? Dash me, I didn't want to hurt her, sir.' + +'Yes, my name is Loveday; and you'll know where to find me, since we +can't finish this to-night. Pistols or swords, whichever you like, my +boy. Take that, and that, so that you may not forget to call upon me!' +and again he smacked the yeoman's ears and cheeks. 'Do you know what it +is for, eh?' + +'No, Mr. Loveday, sir--yes, I mean, I do.' + +'What is it for, then? I shall keep smacking until you tell me. Gad! if +you weren't drunk, I'd half kill you here to-night.' + +'It is because I served her badly. Damned if I care! I'll do it again, +and be hanged to 'ee! Where's my horse Champion? Tell me that,' and he +hit at the trumpet-major. + +John parried this attack, and taking him firmly by the collar, pushed him +down into the seat, saying, 'Here I hold 'ee till you beg pardon for your +doings to-day. Do you want any more of it, do you?' And he shook the +yeoman to a sort of jelly. + +'I do beg pardon--no, I don't. I say this, that you shall not take such +liberties with old Squire Derriman's nephew, you dirty miller's son, you +flour-worm, you smut in the corn! I'll call you out to-morrow morning, +and have my revenge.' + +'Of course you will; that's what I came for.' And pushing him back into +the corner of the settle, Loveday went out of the house, feeling +considerable satisfaction at having got himself into the beginning of as +nice a quarrel about Anne Garland as the most jealous lover could desire. + +But of one feature in this curious adventure he had not the least +notion--that Festus Derriman, misled by the darkness, the fumes of his +potations, and the constant sight of Anne and Bob together, never once +supposed his assailant to be any other man than Bob, believing the +trumpet-major miles away. + +There was a moon during the early part of John's walk home, but when he +had arrived within a mile of Overcombe the sky clouded over, and rain +suddenly began to fall with some violence. Near him was a wooden granary +on tall stone staddles, and perceiving that the rain was only a +thunderstorm which would soon pass away, he ascended the steps and +entered the doorway, where he stood watching the half-obscured moon +through the streaming rain. Presently, to his surprise, he beheld a +female figure running forward with great rapidity, not towards the +granary for shelter, but towards open ground. What could she be running +for in that direction? The answer came in the appearance of his brother +Bob from that quarter, seated on the back of his father's heavy horse. As +soon as the woman met him, Bob dismounted and caught her in his arms. +They stood locked together, the rain beating into their unconscious +forms, and the horse looking on. + +The trumpet-major fell back inside the granary, and threw himself on a +heap of empty sacks which lay in the corner: he had recognized the woman +to be Anne. Here he reclined in a stupor till he was aroused by the +sound of voices under him, the voices of Anne and his brother, who, +having at last discovered that they were getting wet, had taken shelter +under the granary floor. + +'I have been home,' said she. 'Mother and Molly have both got back long +ago. We were all anxious about you, and I came out to look for you. O, +Bob, I am so glad to see you again!' + +John might have heard every word of the conversation, which was continued +in the same strain for a long time; but he stopped his ears, and would +not. Still they remained, and still was he determined that they should +not see him. With the conserved hope of more than half a year dashed +away in a moment, he could yet feel that the cruelty of a protest would +be even greater than its inutility. It was absolutely by his own +contrivance that the situation had been shaped. Bob, left to himself, +would long ere this have been the husband of another woman. + +The rain decreased, and the lovers went on. John looked after them as +they strolled, aqua-tinted by the weak moon and mist. Bob had thrust one +of his arms through the rein of the horse, and the other was round Anne's +waist. When they were lost behind the declivity the trumpet-major came +out, and walked homeward even more slowly than they. As he went on, his +face put off its complexion of despair for one of serene resolve. For +the first time in his dealings with friends he entered upon a course of +counterfeiting, set his features to conceal his thought, and instructed +his tongue to do likewise. He threw fictitiousness into his very gait, +even now, when there was nobody to see him, and struck at stems of wild +parsley with his regimental switch as he had used to do when soldiering +was new to him, and life in general a charming experience. + +Thus cloaking his sickly thought, he descended to the mill as the others +had done before him, occasionally looking down upon the wet road to +notice how close Anne's little tracks were to Bob's all the way along, +and how precisely a curve in his course was followed by a curve in hers. +But after this he erected his head and walked so smartly up to the front +door that his spurs rang through the court. + +They had all reached home, but before any of them could speak he cried +gaily, 'Ah, Bob, I have been thinking of you! By God, how are you, my +boy? No French cut-throats after all, you see. Here we are, well and +happy together again.' + +'A good Providence has watched over us,' said Mrs. Loveday cheerfully. +'Yes, in all times and places we are in God's hand.' + +'So we be, so we be!' said the miller, who still shone in all the +fierceness of uniform. 'Well, now we'll ha'e a drop o' drink.' + +'There's none,' said David, coming forward with a drawn face. + +'What!' said the miller. + +'Afore I went to church for a pike to defend my native country from +Boney, I pulled out the spigots of all the barrels, maister; for, thinks +I--damn him!--since we can't drink it ourselves, he shan't have it, nor +none of his men.' + +'But you shouldn't have done it till you was sure he'd come!' said the +miller, aghast. + +'Chok' it all, I was sure!' said David. 'I'd sooner see churches fall +than good drink wasted; but how was I to know better?' + +'Well, well; what with one thing and another this day will cost me a +pretty penny!' said Loveday, bustling off to the cellar, which he found +to be several inches deep in stagnant liquor. 'John, how can I welcome +'ee?' he continued hopelessly, on his return to the room. 'Only go and +see what he's done!' + +'I've ladled up a drap wi' a spoon, trumpet-major,' said David. ''Tisn't +bad drinking, though it do taste a little of the floor, that's true.' + +John said that he did not require anything at all; and then they all sat +down to supper, and were very temperately gay with a drop of mild elder- +wine which Mrs. Loveday found in the bottom of a jar. The trumpet-major, +adhering to the part he meant to play, gave humorous accounts of his +adventures since he had last sat there. He told them that the season was +to be a very lively one--that the royal family was coming, as usual, and +many other interesting things; so that when he left them to return to +barracks few would have supposed the British army to contain a lighter- +hearted man. + +Anne was the only one who doubted the reality of this behaviour. When +she had gone up to her bedroom she stood for some time looking at the +wick of the candle as if it were a painful object, the expression of her +face being shaped by the conviction that John's afternoon words when he +helped her out of the way of Champion were not in accordance with his +words to-night, and that the dimly-realized kiss during her faintness was +no imaginary one. But in the blissful circumstances of having Bob at +hand again she took optimist views, and persuaded herself that John would +soon begin to see her in the light of a sister. + + + + +XXIX. A DISSEMBLER + + +To cursory view, John Loveday seemed to accomplish this with amazing +ease. Whenever he came from barracks to Overcombe, which was once or +twice a week, he related news of all sorts to her and Bob with infinite +zest, and made the time as happy a one as had ever been known at the +mill, save for himself alone. He said nothing of Festus, except so far +as to inform Anne that he had expected to see him and been disappointed. +On the evening after the King's arrival at his seaside residence John +appeared again, staying to supper and describing the royal entry, the +many tasteful illuminations and transparencies which had been exhibited, +the quantities of tallow candles burnt for that purpose, and the swarms +of aristocracy who had followed the King thither. + +When supper was over Bob went outside the house to shut the shutters, +which had, as was often the case, been left open some time after lights +were kindled within. John still sat at the table when his brother +approached the window, though the others had risen and retired. Bob was +struck by seeing through the pane how John's face had changed. Throughout +the supper-time he had been talking to Anne in the gay tone habitual with +him now, which gave greater strangeness to the gloom of his present +appearance. He remained in thought for a moment, took a letter from his +breast-pocket, opened it, and, with a tender smile at his weakness, +kissed the writing before restoring it to its place. The letter was one +that Anne had written to him at Exonbury. + +Bob stood perplexed; and then a suspicion crossed his mind that John, +from brotherly goodness, might be feigning a satisfaction with recent +events which he did not feel. Bob now made a noise with the shutters, at +which the trumpet-major rose and went out, Bob at once following him. + +'Jack,' said the sailor ingenuously, 'I'm terribly sorry that I've done +wrong.' + +'How?' asked his brother. + +'In courting our little Anne. Well, you see, John, she was in the same +house with me, and somehow or other I made myself her beau. But I have +been thinking that perhaps you had the first claim on her, and if so, +Jack, I'll make way for 'ee. I--I don't care for her much, you know--not +so very much, and can give her up very well. It is nothing serious +between us at all. Yes, John, you try to get her; I can look elsewhere.' +Bob never knew how much he loved Anne till he found himself making this +speech of renunciation. + +'O Bob, you are mistaken!' said the trumpet-major, who was not deceived. +'When I first saw her I admired her, and I admire her now, and like her. +I like her so well that I shall be glad to see you marry her.' + +'But,' replied Bob, with hesitation, 'I thought I saw you looking very +sad, as if you were in love; I saw you take out a letter, in short. +That's what it was disturbed me and made me come to you.' + +'O, I see your mistake!' said John, laughing forcedly. + +At this minute Mrs. Loveday and the miller, who were taking a twilight +walk in the garden, strolled round near to where the brothers stood. She +talked volubly on events in Budmouth, as most people did at this time. +'And they tell me that the theatre has been painted up afresh,' she was +saying, 'and that the actors have come for the season, with the most +lovely actresses that ever were seen.' + +When they had passed by John continued, 'I _am_ in love, Bob; but--not +with Anne.' + +'Ah! who is it then?' said the mate hopefully. + +'One of the actresses at the theatre,' John replied, with a concoctive +look at the vanishing forms of Mr. and Mrs. Loveday. 'She is a very +lovely woman, you know. But we won't say anything more about it--it +dashes a man so.' + +'O, one of the actresses!' said Bob, with open mouth. + +'But don't you say anything about it!' continued the trumpet-major +heartily. 'I don't want it known.' + +'No, no--I won't, of course. May I not know her name?' + +'No, not now, Bob. I cannot tell 'ee,' John answered, and with truth, +for Loveday did not know the name of any actress in the world. + +When his brother had gone, Captain Bob hastened off in a state of great +animation to Anne, whom he found on the top of a neighbouring hillock +which the daylight had scarcely as yet deserted. + +'You have been a long time coming, sir,' said she, in sprightly tones of +reproach. + +'Yes, dearest; and you'll be glad to hear why. I've found out the whole +mystery--yes--why he's queer, and everything.' + +Anne looked startled. + +'He's up to the gunnel in love! We must try to help him on in it, or I +fear he'll go melancholy-mad like.' + +'We help him?' she asked faintly. + +'He's lost his heart to one of the play-actresses at Budmouth, and I +think she slights him.' + +'O, I am so glad!' she exclaimed. + +'Glad that his venture don't prosper?' + +'O no; glad he's so sensible. How long is it since that alarm of the +French?' + +'Six weeks, honey. Why do you ask?' + +'Men can forget in six weeks, can't they, Bob?' + +The impression that John had really kissed her still remained. + +'Well, some men might,' observed Bob judicially. '_I_ couldn't. Perhaps +John might. I couldn't forget _you_ in twenty times as long. Do you +know, Anne, I half thought it was you John cared about; and it was a +weight off my heart when he said he didn't.' + +'Did he say he didn't?' + +'Yes. He assured me himself that the only person in the hold of his +heart was this lovely play-actress, and nobody else.' + +'How I should like to see her!' + +'Yes. So should I.' + +'I would rather it had been one of our own neighbours' girls, whose birth +and breeding we know of; but still, if that is his taste, I hope it will +end well for him. How very quick he has been! I certainly wish we could +see her.' + +'I don't know so much as her name. He is very close, and wouldn't tell a +thing about her.' + +'Couldn't we get him to go to the theatre with us? and then we could +watch him, and easily find out the right one. Then we would learn if she +is a good young woman; and if she is, could we not ask her here, and so +make it smoother for him? He has been very gay lately; that means +budding love: and sometimes between his gaieties he has had melancholy +moments; that means there's difficulty.' + +Bob thought her plan a good one, and resolved to put it in practice on +the first available evening. Anne was very curious as to whether John +did really cherish a new passion, the story having quite surprised her. +Possibly it was true; six weeks had passed since John had shown a single +symptom of the old attachment, and what could not that space of time +effect in the heart of a soldier whose very profession it was to leave +girls behind him? + +After this John Loveday did not come to see them for nearly a month, a +neglect which was set down by Bob as an additional proof that his +brother's affections were no longer exclusively centred in his old home. +When at last he did arrive, and the theatre-going was mentioned to him, +the flush of consciousness which Anne expected to see upon his face was +unaccountably absent. + +'Yes, Bob; I should very well like to go to the theatre,' he replied +heartily. 'Who is going besides?' + +'Only Anne,' Bob told him, and then it seemed to occur to the trumpet- +major that something had been expected of him. He rose and said +privately to Bob with some confusion, 'O yes, of course we'll go. As I +am connected with one of the--in short I can get you in for nothing, you +know. At least let me manage everything.' + +'Yes, yes. I wonder you didn't propose to take us before, Jack, and let +us have a good look at her.' + +'I ought to have. You shall go on a King's night. You won't want me to +point her out, Bob; I have my reasons at present for asking it?' + +'We'll be content with guessing,' said his brother. + +When the gallant John was gone, Anne observed, 'Bob, how he is changed! I +watched him. He showed no feeling, even when you burst upon him suddenly +with the subject nearest his heart.' + +'It must be because his suit don't fay,' said Captain Bob. + + + + +XXX. AT THE THEATRE ROYAL + + +In two or three days a message arrived asking them to attend at the +theatre on the coming evening, with the added request that they would +dress in their gayest clothes, to do justice to the places taken. +Accordingly, in the course of the afternoon they drove off, Bob having +clothed himself in a splendid suit, recently purchased as an attempt to +bring himself nearer to Anne's style when they appeared in public +together. As finished off by this dashing and really fashionable attire, +he was the perfection of a beau in the dog-days; pantaloons and boots of +the newest make; yards and yards of muslin wound round his neck, forming +a sort of asylum for the lower part of his face; two fancy waistcoats, +and coat-buttons like circular shaving glasses. The absurd extreme of +female fashion, which was to wear muslin dresses in January, was at this +time equalled by that of the men, who wore clothes enough in August to +melt them. Nobody would have guessed from Bob's presentation now that he +had ever been aloft on a dark night in the Atlantic, or knew the hundred +ingenuities that could be performed with a rope's end and a marline-spike +as well as his mother tongue. + +It was a day of days. Anne wore her celebrated celestial blue pelisse, +her Leghorn hat, and her muslin dress with the waist under the arms; the +latter being decorated with excellent Honiton lace bought of the woman +who travelled from that place to Overcombe and its neighbourhood with a +basketful of her own manufacture, and a cushion on which she worked by +the wayside. John met the lovers at the inn outside the town, and after +stabling the horse they entered the town together, the trumpet-major +informing them that the watering-place had never been so full before, +that the Court, the Prince of Wales, and everybody of consequence was +there, and that an attic could scarcely be got for money. The King had +gone for a cruise in his yacht, and they would be in time to see him +land. + +Then drums and fifes were heard, and in a minute or two they saw Sergeant +Stanner advancing along the street with a firm countenance, fiery poll, +and rigid staring eyes, in front of his recruiting-party. The sergeant's +sword was drawn, and at intervals of two or three inches along its +shining blade were impaled fluttering one-pound notes, to express the +lavish bounty that was offered. He gave a stern, suppressed nod of +friendship to our people, and passed by. Next they came up to a waggon, +bowered over with leaves and flowers, so that the men inside could hardly +be seen. + +'Come to see the King, hip-hip hurrah!' cried a voice within, and turning +they saw through the leaves the nose and face of Cripplestraw. The +waggon contained all Derriman's workpeople. + +'Is your master here?' said John. + +'No, trumpet-major, sir. But young maister is coming to fetch us at nine +o'clock, in case we should be too blind to drive home.' + +'O! where is he now?' + +'Never mind,' said Anne impatiently, at which the trumpet-major +obediently moved on. + +By the time they reached the pier it was six o'clock; the royal yacht was +returning; a fact announced by the ships in the harbour firing a salute. +The King came ashore with his hat in his hand, and returned the +salutations of the well-dressed crowd in his old indiscriminate fashion. +While this cheering and waving of handkerchiefs was going on Anne stood +between the two brothers, who protectingly joined their hands behind her +back, as if she were a delicate piece of statuary that a push might +damage. Soon the King had passed, and receiving the military salutes of +the piquet, joined the Queen and princesses at Gloucester Lodge, the +homely house of red brick in which he unostentatiously resided. + +As there was yet some little time before the theatre would open, they +strayed upon the velvet sands, and listened to the songs of the sailors, +one of whom extemporized for the occasion:-- + + 'Portland Road the King aboard, the King aboard! + Portland Road the King aboard, + We weighed and sailed from Portland Road!' {272} + +When they had looked on awhile at the combats at single-stick which were +in progress hard by, and seen the sum of five guineas handed over to the +modest gentleman who had broken most heads, they returned to Gloucester +Lodge, whence the King and other members of his family now reappeared, +and drove, at a slow trot, round to the theatre in carriages drawn by the +Hanoverian white horses that were so well known in the town at this date. + +When Anne and Bob entered the theatre they found that John had taken +excellent places, and concluded that he had got them for nothing through +the influence of the lady of his choice. As a matter of fact he had paid +full prices for those two seats, like any other outsider, and even then +had a difficulty in getting them, it being a King's night. When they +were settled he himself retired to an obscure part of the pit, from which +the stage was scarcely visible. + +'We can see beautifully,' said Bob, in an aristocratic voice, as he took +a delicate pinch of snuff, and drew out the magnificent +pocket-handkerchief brought home from the East for such occasions. 'But +I am afraid poor John can't see at all.' + +'But we can see him,' replied Anne, 'and notice by his face which of them +it is he is so charmed with. The light of that corner candle falls right +upon his cheek.' + +By this time the King had appeared in his place, which was overhung by a +canopy of crimson satin fringed with gold. About twenty places were +occupied by the royal family and suite; and beyond them was a crowd of +powdered and glittering personages of fashion, completely filling the +centre of the little building; though the King so frequently patronized +the local stage during these years that the crush was not inconvenient. + +The curtain rose and the play began. To-night it was one of Colman's, +who at this time enjoyed great popularity, and Mr. Bannister supported +the leading character. Anne, with her hand privately clasped in Bob's, +and looking as if she did not know it, partly watched the piece and +partly the face of the impressionable John who had so soon transferred +his affections elsewhere. She had not long to wait. When a certain one +of the subordinate ladies of the comedy entered on the stage the trumpet- +major in his corner not only looked conscious, but started and gazed with +parted lips. + +'This must be the one,' whispered Anne quickly. 'See, he is agitated!' + +She turned to Bob, but at the same moment his hand convulsively closed +upon hers as he, too, strangely fixed his eyes upon the newly-entered +lady. + +'What is it?' + +Anne looked from one to the other without regarding the stage at all. Her +answer came in the voice of the actress who now spoke for the first time. +The accents were those of Miss Matilda Johnson. + +One thought rushed into both their minds on the instant, and Bob was the +first to utter it. + +'What--is she the woman of his choice after all?' + +'If so, it is a dreadful thing!' murmured Anne. + +But, as may be imagined, the unfortunate John was as much surprised by +this rencounter as the other two. Until this moment he had been in utter +ignorance of the theatrical company and all that pertained to it. +Moreover, much as he knew of Miss Johnson, he was not aware that she had +ever been trained in her youth as an actress, and that after lapsing into +straits and difficulties for a couple of years she had been so fortunate +as to again procure an engagement here. + +The trumpet-major, though not prominently seated, had been seen by +Matilda already, who had observed still more plainly her old betrothed +and Anne in the other part of the house. John was not concerned on his +own account at being face to face with her, but at the extraordinary +suspicion that this conjuncture must revive in the minds of his best +beloved friends. After some moments of pained reflection he tapped his +knee. + +'Gad, I won't explain; it shall go as it is!' he said. 'Let them think +her mine. Better that than the truth, after all.' + +Had personal prominence in the scene been at this moment proportioned to +intentness of feeling, the whole audience, regal and otherwise, would +have faded into an indistinct mist of background, leaving as the sole +emergent and telling figures Bob and Anne at one point, the trumpet-major +on the left hand, and Matilda at the opposite corner of the stage. But +fortunately the deadlock of awkward suspense into which all four had +fallen was terminated by an accident. A messenger entered the King's box +with despatches. There was an instant pause in the performance. The +despatch-box being opened the King read for a few moments with great +interest, the eyes of the whole house, including those of Anne Garland, +being anxiously fixed upon his face; for terrible events fell as +unexpectedly as thunderbolts at this critical time of our history. The +King at length beckoned to Lord ---, who was immediately behind him, the +play was again stopped, and the contents of the despatch were publicly +communicated to the audience. + +Sir Robert Calder, cruising off Finisterre, had come in sight of +Villeneuve, and made the signal for action, which, though checked by the +weather, had resulted in the capture of two Spanish line-of-battle ships, +and the retreat of Villeneuve into Ferrol. + +The news was received with truly national feeling, if noise might be +taken as an index of patriotism. 'Rule Britannia' was called for and +sung by the whole house. But the importance of the event was far from +being recognized at this time; and Bob Loveday, as he sat there and heard +it, had very little conception how it would bear upon his destiny. + +This parenthetic excitement diverted for a few minutes the eyes of Bob +and Anne from the trumpet-major; and when the play proceeded, and they +looked back to his corner, he was gone. + +'He's just slipped round to talk to her behind the scenes,' said Bob +knowingly. 'Shall we go too, and tease him for a sly dog?' + +'No, I would rather not.' + +'Shall we go home, then?' + +'Not unless her presence is too much for you?' + +'O--not at all. We'll stay here. Ah, there she is again.' + +They sat on, and listened to Matilda's speeches which she delivered with +such delightful coolness that they soon began to considerably interest +one of the party. + +'Well, what a nerve the young woman has!' he said at last in tones of +admiration, and gazing at Miss Johnson with all his might. 'After all, +Jack's taste is not so bad. She's really deuced clever.' + +'Bob, I'll go home if you wish to,' said Anne quickly. + +'O no--let us see how she fleets herself off that bit of a scrape she's +playing at now. Well, what a hand she is at it, to be sure!' + +Anne said no more, but waited on, supremely uncomfortable, and almost +tearful. She began to feel that she did not like life particularly well; +it was too complicated: she saw nothing of the scene, and only longed to +get away, and to get Bob away with her. At last the curtain fell on the +final act, and then began the farce of 'No Song no Supper.' Matilda did +not appear in this piece, and Anne again inquired if they should go home. +This time Bob agreed, and taking her under his care with redoubled +affection, to make up for the species of coma which had seized upon his +heart for a time, he quietly accompanied her out of the house. + +When they emerged upon the esplanade, the August moon was shining across +the sea from the direction of St. Aldhelm's Head. Bob unconsciously +loitered, and turned towards the pier. Reaching the end of the promenade +they surveyed the quivering waters in silence for some time, until a long +dark line shot from behind the promontory of the Nothe, and swept forward +into the harbour. + +'What boat is that?' said Anne. + +'It seems to be some frigate lying in the Roads,' said Bob carelessly, as +he brought Anne round with a gentle pressure of his arm and bent his +steps towards the homeward end of the town. + +Meanwhile, Miss Johnson, having finished her duties for that evening, +rapidly changed her dress, and went out likewise. The prominent position +which Anne and Captain Bob had occupied side by side in the theatre, left +her no alternative but to suppose that the situation was arranged by Bob +as a species of defiance to herself; and her heart, such as it was, +became proportionately embittered against him. In spite of the rise in +her fortunes, Miss Johnson still remembered--and always would +remember--her humiliating departure from Overcombe; and it had been to +her even a more grievous thing that Bob had acquiesced in his brother's +ruling than that John had determined it. At the time of setting out she +was sustained by a firm faith that Bob would follow her, and nullify his +brother's scheme; but though she waited Bob never came. + +She passed along by the houses facing the sea, and scanned the shore, the +footway, and the open road close to her, which, illuminated by the +slanting moon to a great brightness, sparkled with minute facets of +crystallized salts from the water sprinkled there during the day. The +promenaders at the further edge appeared in dark profiles; and beyond +them was the grey sea, parted into two masses by the tapering braid of +moonlight across the waves. + +Two forms crossed this line at a startling nearness to her; she marked +them at once as Anne and Bob Loveday. They were walking slowly, and in +the earnestness of their discourse were oblivious of the presence of any +human beings save themselves. Matilda stood motionless till they had +passed. + +'How I love them!' she said, treading the initial step of her walk +onwards with a vehemence that walking did not demand. + +'So do I--especially one,' said a voice at her elbow; and a man wheeled +round her, and looked in her face, which had been fully exposed to the +moon. + +'You--who are you?' she asked. + +'Don't you remember, ma'am? We walked some way together towards +Overcombe earlier in the summer.' Matilda looked more closely, and +perceived that the speaker was Derriman, in plain clothes. He continued, +'You are one of the ladies of the theatre, I know. May I ask why you +said in such a queer way that you loved that couple?' + +'In a queer way?' + +'Well, as if you hated them.' + +'I don't mind your knowing that I have good reason to hate them. You do +too, it seems?' + +'That man,' said Festus savagely, 'came to me one night about that very +woman; insulted me before I could put myself on my guard, and ran away +before I could come up with him and avenge myself. The woman tricks me +at every turn! I want to part 'em.' + +'Then why don't you? There's a splendid opportunity. Do you see that +soldier walking along? He's a marine; he looks into the gallery of the +theatre every night: and he's in connexion with the press-gang that came +ashore just now from the frigate lying in Portland Roads. They are often +here for men.' + +'Yes. Our boatmen dread 'em.' + +'Well, we have only to tell him that Loveday is a seaman to be clear of +him this very night.' + +'Done!' said Festus. 'Take my arm and come this way.' They walked +across to the footway. 'Fine night, sergeant.' + +'It is, sir.' + +'Looking for hands, I suppose?' + +'It is not to be known, sir. We don't begin till half past ten.' + +'It is a pity you don't begin now. I could show 'ee excellent game.' + +'What, that little nest of fellows at the "Old Rooms" in Cove Row? I +have just heard of 'em.' + +'No--come here.' Festus, with Miss Johnson on his arm, led the sergeant +quickly along the parade, and by the time they reached the Narrows the +lovers, who walked but slowly, were visible in front of them. 'There's +your man,' he said. + +'That buck in pantaloons and half-boots--a looking like a squire?' + +'Twelve months ago he was mate of the brig Pewit; but his father has made +money, and keeps him at home.' + +'Faith, now you tell of it, there's a hint of sea legs about him. What's +the young beau's name?' + +'Don't tell!' whispered Matilda, impulsively clutching Festus's arm. + +But Festus had already said, 'Robert Loveday, son of the miller at +Overcombe. You may find several likely fellows in that neighbourhood.' + +The marine said that he would bear it in mind, and they left him. + +'I wish you had not told,' said Matilda tearfully. 'She's the worst!' + +'Dash my eyes now; listen to that! Why, you chicken-hearted old stager, +you was as well agreed as I. Come now; hasn't he used you badly?' + +Matilda's acrimony returned. 'I was down on my luck, or he wouldn't have +had the chance!' she said. + +'Well, then, let things be.' + + + + +XXXI. MIDNIGHT VISITORS + + +Miss Garland and Loveday walked leisurely to the inn and called for horse- +and-gig. While the hostler was bringing it round, the landlord, who knew +Bob and his family well, spoke to him quietly in the passage. + +'Is this then because you want to throw dust in the eyes of the Black +Diamond chaps?' (with an admiring glance at Bob's costume). + +'The Black Diamond?' said Bob; and Anne turned pale. + +'She hove in sight just after dark, and at nine o'clock a boat having +more than a dozen marines on board, with cloaks on, rowed into harbour.' + +Bob reflected. 'Then there'll be a press to-night; depend upon it,' he +said. + +'They won't know you, will they, Bob?' said Anne anxiously. + +'They certainly won't know him for a seaman now,' remarked the landlord, +laughing, and again surveying Bob up and down. 'But if I was you two, I +should drive home-along straight and quiet; and be very busy in the mill +all to-morrow, Mr. Loveday.' + +They drove away; and when they had got onward out of the town, Anne +strained her eyes wistfully towards Portland. Its dark contour, lying +like a whale on the sea, was just perceptible in the gloom as the +background to half-a-dozen ships' lights nearer at hand. + +'They can't make you go, now you are a gentleman tradesman, can they?' +she asked. + +'If they want me they can have me, dearest. I have often said I ought to +volunteer.' + +'And not care about me at all?' + +'It is just that that keeps me at home. I won't leave you if I can help +it.' + +'It cannot make such a vast difference to the country whether one man +goes or stays! But if you want to go you had better, and not mind us at +all!' + +Bob put a period to her speech by a mark of affection to which history +affords many parallels in every age. She said no more about the Black +Diamond; but whenever they ascended a hill she turned her head to look at +the lights in Portland Roads, and the grey expanse of intervening sea. + +Though Captain Bob had stated that he did not wish to volunteer, and +would not leave her if he could help it, the remark required some +qualification. That Anne was charming and loving enough to chain him +anywhere was true; but he had begun to find the mill-work terribly +irksome at times. Often during the last month, when standing among the +rumbling cogs in his new miller's suit, which ill became him, he had +yawned, thought wistfully of the old pea-jacket, and the waters of the +deep blue sea. His dread of displeasing his father by showing anything +of this change of sentiment was great; yet he might have braved it but +for knowing that his marriage with Anne, which he hoped might take place +the next year, was dependent entirely upon his adherence to the mill +business. Even were his father indifferent, Mrs. Loveday would never +intrust her only daughter to the hands of a husband who would be away +from home five-sixths of his time. + +But though, apart from Anne, he was not averse to seafaring in itself, to +be smuggled thither by the machinery of a press-gang was intolerable; and +the process of seizing, stunning, pinioning, and carrying off unwilling +hands was one which Bob as a man had always determined to hold out +against to the utmost of his power. Hence, as they went towards home, he +frequently listened for sounds behind him, but hearing none he assured +his sweetheart that they were safe for that night at least. The mill was +still going when they arrived, though old Mr. Loveday was not to be seen; +he had retired as soon as he heard the horse's hoofs in the lane, leaving +Bob to watch the grinding till three o'clock; when the elder would rise, +and Bob withdraw to bed--a frequent arrangement between them since Bob +had taken the place of grinder. + +Having reached the privacy of her own room, Anne threw open the window, +for she had not the slightest intention of going to bed just yet. The +tale of the Black Diamond had disturbed her by a slow, insidious process +that was worse than sudden fright. Her window looked into the court +before the house, now wrapped in the shadow of the trees and the hill; +and she leaned upon its sill listening intently. She could have heard +any strange sound distinctly enough in one direction; but in the other +all low noises were absorbed in the patter of the mill, and the rush of +water down the race. + +However, what she heard came from the hitherto silent side, and was +intelligible in a moment as being the footsteps of men. She tried to +think they were some late stragglers from Budmouth. Alas! no; the tramp +was too regular for that of villagers. She hastily turned, extinguished +the candle, and listened again. As they were on the main road there was, +after all, every probability that the party would pass the bridge which +gave access to the mill court without turning in upon it, or even +noticing that such an entrance existed. In this again she was +disappointed: they crossed into the front without a pause. The +pulsations of her heart became a turmoil now, for why should these men, +if they were the press-gang, and strangers to the locality, have supposed +that a sailor was to be found here, the younger of the two millers +Loveday being never seen now in any garb which could suggest that he was +other than a miller pure, like his father? One of the men spoke. + +'I am not sure that we are in the right place,' he said. + +'This is a mill, anyhow,' said another. + +'There's lots about here.' + +'Then come this way a moment with your light.' + +Two of the group went towards the cart-house on the opposite side of the +yard, and when they reached it a dark lantern was opened, the rays being +directed upon the front of the miller's waggon. + +'"Loveday and Son, Overcombe Mill,"' continued the man, reading from the +waggon. '"Son," you see, is lately painted in. That's our man.' + +He moved to turn off the light, but before he had done so it flashed over +the forms of the speakers, and revealed a sergeant, a naval officer, and +a file of marines. + +Anne waited to see no more. When Bob stayed up to grind, as he was doing +to-night, he often sat in his room instead of remaining all the time in +the mill; and this room was an isolated chamber over the bakehouse, which +could not be reached without going downstairs and ascending the +step-ladder that served for his staircase. Anne descended in the dark, +clambered up the ladder, and saw that light strayed through the chink +below the door. His window faced towards the garden, and hence the light +could not as yet have been seen by the press-gang. + +'Bob, dear Bob!' she said, through the keyhole. 'Put out your light, and +run out of the back-door!' + +'Why?' said Bob, leisurely knocking the ashes from the pipe he had been +smoking. + +'The press-gang!' + +'They have come? By God! who can have blown upon me? All right, +dearest. I'm game.' + +Anne, scarcely knowing what she did, descended the ladder and ran to the +back-door, hastily unbolting it to save Bob's time, and gently opening it +in readiness for him. She had no sooner done this than she felt hands +laid upon her shoulder from without, and a voice exclaiming, 'That's how +we doos it--quite an obleeging young man!' + +Though the hands held her rather roughly, Anne did not mind for herself, +and turning she cried desperately, in tones intended to reach Bob's ears: +'They are at the back-door; try the front!' + +But inexperienced Miss Garland little knew the shrewd habits of the +gentlemen she had to deal with, who, well used to this sort of pastime, +had already posted themselves at every outlet from the premises. + +'Bring the lantern,' shouted the fellow who held her. 'Why--'tis a girl! +I half thought so--Here is a way in,' he continued to his comrades, +hastening to the foot of the ladder which led to Bob's room. + +'What d'ye want?' said Bob, quietly opening the door, and showing himself +still radiant in the full dress that he had worn with such effect at the +Theatre Royal, which he had been about to change for his mill suit when +Anne gave the alarm. + +'This gentleman can't be the right one,' observed a marine, rather +impressed by Bob's appearance. + +'Yes, yes; that's the man,' said the sergeant. 'Now take it quietly, my +young cock-o'-wax. You look as if you meant to, and 'tis wise of ye.' + +'Where are you going to take me?' said Bob. + +'Only aboard the Black Diamond. If you choose to take the bounty and +come voluntarily, you'll be allowed to go ashore whenever your ship's in +port. If you don't, and we've got to pinion ye, you will not have your +liberty at all. As you must come, willy-nilly, you'll do the first if +you've any brains whatever.' + +Bob's temper began to rise. 'Don't you talk so large, about your +pinioning, my man. When I've settled--' + +'Now or never, young blow-hard,' interrupted his informant. + +'Come, what jabber is this going on?' said the lieutenant, stepping +forward. 'Bring your man.' + +One of the marines set foot on the ladder, but at the same moment a shoe +from Bob's hand hit the lantern with well-aimed directness, knocking it +clean out of the grasp of the man who held it. In spite of the darkness +they began to scramble up the ladder. Bob thereupon shut the door, which +being but of slight construction, was as he knew only a momentary +defence. But it gained him time enough to open the window, gather up his +legs upon the sill, and spring across into the apple-tree growing +without. He alighted without much hurt beyond a few scratches from the +boughs, a shower of falling apples testifying to the force of his leap. + +'Here he is!' shouted several below who had seen Bob's figure flying like +a raven's across the sky. + +There was stillness for a moment in the tree. Then the fugitive made +haste to climb out upon a low-hanging branch towards the garden, at which +the men beneath all rushed in that direction to catch him as he dropped, +saying, 'You may as well come down, old boy. 'Twas a spry jump, and we +give ye credit for 't.' + +The latter movement of Loveday had been a mere feint. Partly hidden by +the leaves he glided back to the other part of the tree, from whence it +was easy to jump upon a thatch-covered out-house. This intention they +did not appear to suspect, which gave him the opportunity of sliding down +the slope and entering the back door of the mill. + +'He's here, he's here!' the men exclaimed, running back from the tree. + +By this time they had obtained another light, and pursued him closely +along the back quarters of the mill. Bob had entered the lower room, +seized hold of the chain by which the flour-sacks were hoisted from story +to story by connexion with the mill-wheel, and pulled the rope that hung +alongside for the purpose of throwing it into gear. The foremost +pursuers arrived just in time to see Captain Bob's legs and shoe-buckles +vanishing through the trap-door in the joists overhead, his person having +been whirled up by the machinery like any bag of flour, and the trap +falling to behind him. + +'He's gone up by the hoist!' said the sergeant, running up the ladder in +the corner to the next floor, and elevating the light just in time to see +Bob's suspended figure ascending in the same way through the same sort of +trap into the second floor. The second trap also fell together behind +him, and he was lost to view as before. + +It was more difficult to follow now; there was only a flimsy little +ladder, and the men ascended cautiously. When they stepped out upon the +loft it was empty. + +'He must ha' let go here,' said one of the marines, who knew more about +mills than the others. 'If he had held fast a moment longer, he would +have been dashed against that beam.' + +They looked up. The hook by which Bob had held on had ascended to the +roof, and was winding round the cylinder. Nothing was visible elsewhere +but boarded divisions like the stalls of a stable, on each side of the +stage they stood upon, these compartments being more or less heaped up +with wheat and barley in the grain. + +'Perhaps he's buried himself in the corn.' + +The whole crew jumped into the corn-bins, and stirred about their yellow +contents; but neither arm, leg, nor coat-tail was uncovered. They +removed sacks, peeped among the rafters of the roof, but to no purpose. +The lieutenant began to fume at the loss of time. + +'What cursed fools to let the man go! Why, look here, what's this?' He +had opened the door by which sacks were taken in from waggons without, +and dangling from the cat-head projecting above it was the rope used in +lifting them. 'There's the way he went down,' the officer continued. +'The man's gone.' + +Amidst mumblings and curses the gang descended the pair of ladders and +came into the open air; but Captain Bob was nowhere to be seen. When +they reached the front door of the house the miller was standing on the +threshold, half dressed. + +'Your son is a clever fellow, miller,' said the lieutenant; 'but it would +have been much better for him if he had come quiet.' + +'That's a matter of opinion,' said Loveday. + +'I have no doubt that he's in the house.' + +'He may be; and he may not.' + +'Do you know where he is?' + +'I do not; and if I did I shouldn't tell.' + +'Naturally.' + +'I heard steps beating up the road, sir,' said the sergeant. + +They turned from the door, and leaving four of the marines to keep watch +round the house, the remainder of the party marched into the lane as far +as where the other road branched off. While they were pausing to decide +which course to take, one of the soldiers held up the light. A black +object was discernible upon the ground before them, and they found it to +be a hat--the hat of Bob Loveday. + +'We are on the track,' cried the sergeant, deciding for this direction. + +They tore on rapidly, and the footsteps previously heard became audible +again, increasing in clearness, which told that they gained upon the +fugitive, who in another five minutes stopped and turned. The rays of +the candle fell upon Anne. + +'What do you want?' she said, showing her frightened face. + +They made no reply, but wheeled round and left her. She sank down on the +bank to rest, having done all she could. It was she who had taken down +Bob's hat from a nail, and dropped it at the turning with the view of +misleading them till he should have got clear off. + + + + +XXXII. DELIVERANCE + + +But Anne Garland was too anxious to remain long away from the centre of +operations. When she got back she found that the press-gang were +standing in the court discussing their next move. + +'Waste no more time here,' the lieutenant said. 'Two more villages to +visit to-night, and the nearest three miles off. There's nobody else in +this place, and we can't come back again.' + +When they were moving away, one of the private marines, who had kept his +eye on Anne, and noticed her distress, contrived to say in a whisper as +he passed her, 'We are coming back again as soon as it begins to get +light; that's only said to deceive 'ee. Keep your young man out of the +way.' + +They went as they had come; and the little household then met together, +Mrs. Loveday having by this time dressed herself and come down. A long +and anxious discussion followed. + +'Somebody must have told upon the chap,' Loveday remarked. 'How should +they have found him out else, now he's been home from sea this +twelvemonth?' + +Anne then mentioned what the friendly marine had told her; and fearing +lest Bob was in the house, and would be discovered there when daylight +came, they searched and called for him everywhere. + +'What clothes has he got on?' said the miller. + +'His lovely new suit,' said his wife. 'I warrant it is quite spoiled!' + +'He's got no hat,' said Anne. + +'Well,' said Loveday, 'you two go and lie down now and I'll bide up; and +as soon as he comes in, which he'll do most likely in the course of the +night, I'll let him know that they are coming again.' + +Anne and Mrs. Loveday went to their bedrooms, and the miller entered the +mill as if he were simply staying up to grind. But he continually left +the flour-shoot to go outside and walk round; each time he could see no +living being near the spot. Anne meanwhile had lain down dressed upon +her bed, the window still open, her ears intent upon the sound of +footsteps and dreading the reappearance of daylight and the gang's +return. Three or four times during the night she descended to the mill +to inquire of her stepfather if Bob had shown himself; but the answer was +always in the negative. + +At length the curtains of her bed began to reveal their pattern, the +brass handles of the drawers gleamed forth, and day dawned. While the +light was yet no more than a suffusion of pallor, she arose, put on her +hat, and determined to explore the surrounding premises before the men +arrived. Emerging into the raw loneliness of the daybreak, she went upon +the bridge and looked up and down the road. It was as she had left it, +empty, and the solitude was rendered yet more insistent by the silence of +the mill-wheel, which was now stopped, the miller having given up +expecting Bob and retired to bed about three o'clock. The footprints of +the marines still remained in the dust on the bridge, all the heel-marks +towards the house, showing that the party had not as yet returned. + +While she lingered she heard a slight noise in the other direction, and, +turning, saw a woman approaching. The woman came up quickly, and, to her +amazement, Anne recognized Matilda. Her walk was convulsive, face pale, +almost haggard, and the cold light of the morning invested it with all +the ghostliness of death. She had plainly walked all the way from +Budmouth, for her shoes were covered with dust. + +'Has the press-gang been here?' she gasped. 'If not they are coming!' + +'They have been.' + +'And got him--I am too late!' + +'No; they are coming back again. Why did you--' + +'I came to try to save him. Can we save him? Where is he?' + +Anne looked the woman in the face, and it was impossible to doubt that +she was in earnest. + +'I don't know,' she answered. 'I am trying to find him before they +come.' + +'Will you not let me help you?' cried the repentant Matilda. + +Without either objecting or assenting Anne turned and led the way to the +back part of the homestead. + +Matilda, too, had suffered that night. From the moment of parting with +Festus Derriman a sentiment of revulsion from the act to which she had +been a party set in and increased, till at length it reached an intensity +of remorse which she could not passively bear. She had risen before day +and hastened thitherward to know the worst, and if possible hinder +consequences that she had been the first to set in train. + +After going hither and thither in the adjoining field, Anne entered the +garden. The walks were bathed in grey dew, and as she passed observantly +along them it appeared as if they had been brushed by some foot at a much +earlier hour. At the end of the garden, bushes of broom, laurel, and yew +formed a constantly encroaching shrubbery, that had come there almost by +chance, and was never trimmed. Behind these bushes was a garden-seat, +and upon it lay Bob sound asleep. + +The ends of his hair were clotted with damp, and there was a foggy film +upon the mirror-like buttons of his coat, and upon the buckles of his +shoes. His bunch of new gold seals was dimmed by the same insidious +dampness; his shirt-frill and muslin neckcloth were limp as seaweed. It +was plain that he had been there a long time. Anne shook him, but he did +not awake, his breathing being slow and stertorous. + +'Bob, wake; 'tis your own Anne!' she said, with innocent earnestness; and +then, fearfully turning her head, she saw that Matilda was close behind +her. + +'You needn't mind me,' said Matilda bitterly. 'I am on your side now. +Shake him again.' + +Anne shook him again, but he slept on. Then she noticed that his +forehead bore the mark of a heavy wound. + +'I fancy I hear something!' said her companion, starting forward and +endeavouring to wake Bob herself. 'He is stunned, or drugged!' she said; +'there is no rousing him.' + +Anne raised her head and listened. From the direction of the eastern +road came the sound of a steady tramp. 'They are coming back!' she said, +clasping her hands. 'They will take him, ill as he is! He won't open +his eyes--no, it is no use! O, what shall we do?' + +Matilda did not reply, but running to the end of the seat on which Bob +lay, tried its weight in her arms. + +'It is not too heavy,' she said. 'You take that end, and I'll take this. +We'll carry him away to some place of hiding.' + +Anne instantly seized the other end, and they proceeded with their burden +at a slow pace to the lower garden-gate, which they reached as the tread +of the press-gang resounded over the bridge that gave access to the mill +court, now hidden from view by the hedge and the trees of the garden. + +'We will go down inside this field,' said Anne faintly. + +'No!' said the other; 'they will see our foot-tracks in the dew. We must +go into the road.' + +'It is the very road they will come down when they leave the mill.' + +'It cannot be helped; it is neck or nothing with us now.' + +So they emerged upon the road, and staggered along without speaking, +occasionally resting for a moment to ease their arms; then shaking him to +arouse him, and finding it useless, seizing the seat again. When they +had gone about two hundred yards Matilda betrayed signs of exhaustion, +and she asked, 'Is there no shelter near?' + +'When we get to that little field of corn,' said Anne. + +'It is so very far. Surely there is some place near?' + +She pointed to a few scrubby bushes overhanging a little stream, which +passed under the road near this point. + +'They are not thick enough,' said Anne. + +'Let us take him under the bridge,' said Matilda. 'I can go no further.' + +Entering the opening by which cattle descended to drink, they waded into +the weedy water, which here rose a few inches above their ankles. To +ascend the stream, stoop under the arch, and reach the centre of the +roadway, was the work of a few minutes. + +'If they look under the arch we are lost,' murmured Anne. + +'There is no parapet to the bridge, and they may pass over without +heeding.' + +They waited, their heads almost in contact with the reeking arch, and +their feet encircled by the stream, which was at its summer lowness now. +For some minutes they could hear nothing but the babble of the water over +their ankles, and round the legs of the seat on which Bob slumbered, the +sounds being reflected in a musical tinkle from the hollow sides of the +arch. Anne's anxiety now was lest he should not continue sleeping till +the search was over, but start up with his habitual imprudence, and +scorning such means of safety, rush out into their arms. + +A quarter of an hour dragged by, and then indications reached their ears +that the re-examination of the mill had begun and ended. The well-known +tramp drew nearer, and reverberated through the ground over their heads, +where its volume signified to the listeners that the party had been +largely augmented by pressed men since the night preceding. The gang +passed the arch, and the noise regularly diminished, as if no man among +them had thought of looking aside for a moment. + +Matilda broke the silence. 'I wonder if they have left a watch behind?' +she said doubtfully. + +'I will go and see,' said Anne. 'Wait till I return.' + +'No; I can do no more. When you come back I shall be gone. I ask one +thing of you. If all goes well with you and him, and he marries +you--don't be alarmed; my plans lie elsewhere--when you are his wife tell +him who helped to carry him away. But don't mention my name to the rest +of your family, either now or at any time.' + +Anne regarded the speaker for a moment, and promised; after which she +waded out from the archway. + +Matilda stood looking at Bob for a moment, as if preparing to go, till +moved by some impulse she bent and lightly kissed him once. + +'How can you!' cried Anne reproachfully. When leaving the mouth of the +arch she had bent back and seen the act. + +Matilda flushed. 'You jealous baby!' she said scornfully. + +Anne hesitated for a moment, then went out from the water, and hastened +towards the mill. + +She entered by the garden, and, seeing no one, advanced and peeped in at +the window. Her mother and Mr. Loveday were sitting within as usual. + +'Are they all gone?' said Anne softly. + +'Yes. They did not trouble us much, beyond going into every room, and +searching about the garden, where they saw steps. They have been lucky +to-night; they have caught fifteen or twenty men at places further on; so +the loss of Bob was no hurt to their feelings. I wonder where in the +world the poor fellow is!' + +'I will show you,' said Anne. And explaining in a few words what had +happened, she was promptly followed by David and Loveday along the road. +She lifted her dress and entered the arch with some anxiety on account of +Matilda; but the actress was gone, and Bob lay on the seat as she had +left him. + +Bob was brought out, and water thrown upon his face; but though he moved +he did not rouse himself until some time after he had been borne into the +house. Here he opened his eyes, and saw them standing round, and +gathered a little consciousness. + +'You are all right, my boy!' said his father. 'What hev happened to ye? +Where did ye get that terrible blow?' + +'Ah--I can mind now,' murmured Bob, with a stupefied gaze around. 'I +fell in slipping down the topsail halyard--the rope, that is, was too +short--and I fell upon my head. And then I went away. When I came back +I thought I wouldn't disturb ye: so I lay down out there, to sleep out +the watch; but the pain in my head was so great that I couldn't get to +sleep; so I picked some of the poppy-heads in the border, which I once +heard was a good thing for sending folks to sleep when they are in pain. +So I munched up all I could find, and dropped off quite nicely.' + +'I wondered who had picked 'em!' said Molly. 'I noticed they were gone.' + +'Why, you might never have woke again!' said Mrs. Loveday, holding up her +hands. 'How is your head now?' + +'I hardly know,' replied the young man, putting his hand to his forehead +and beginning to doze again. 'Where be those fellows that boarded us? +With this--smooth water and--fine breeze we ought to get away from 'em. +Haul in--the larboard braces, and--bring her to the wind.' + +'You are at home, dear Bob,' said Anne, bending over him, 'and the men +are gone.' + +'Come along upstairs: th' beest hardly awake now,' said his father and +Bob was assisted to bed. + + + + +XXXIII. A DISCOVERY TURNS THE SCALE + + +In four-and-twenty hours Bob had recovered. But though physically +himself again, he was not at all sure of his position as a patriot. He +had that practical knowledge of seamanship of which the country stood +much in need, and it was humiliating to find that impressment seemed to +be necessary to teach him to use it for her advantage. Many neighbouring +young men, less fortunate than himself, had been pressed and taken; and +their absence seemed a reproach to him. He went away by himself into the +mill-roof, and, surrounded by the corn-heaps, gave vent to +self-condemnation. + +'Certainly, I am no man to lie here so long for the pleasure of sighting +that young girl forty times a day, and letting her sight me--bless her +eyes!--till I must needs want a press-gang to teach me what I've forgot. +And is it then all over with me as a British sailor? We'll see.' + +When he was thrown under the influence of Anne's eyes again, which were +more tantalizingly beautiful than ever just now (so it seemed to him), +his intention of offering his services to the Government would wax +weaker, and he would put off his final decision till the next day. Anne +saw these fluctuations of his mind between love and patriotism, and being +terrified by what she had heard of sea-fights, used the utmost art of +which she was capable to seduce him from his forming purpose. She came +to him in the mill, wearing the very prettiest of her morning jackets--the +one that only just passed the waist, and was laced so tastefully round +the collar and bosom. Then she would appear in her new hat, with a +bouquet of primroses on one side; and on the following Sunday she walked +before him in lemon-coloured boots, so that her feet looked like a pair +of yellow-hammers flitting under her dress. + +But dress was the least of the means she adopted for chaining him down. +She talked more tenderly than ever; asked him to begin small undertakings +in the garden on her account; she sang about the house, that the place +might seem cheerful when he came in. This singing for a purpose required +great effort on her part, leaving her afterwards very sad. When Bob +asked her what was the matter, she would say, 'Nothing; only I am +thinking how you will grieve your father, and cross his purposes, if you +carry out your unkind notion of going to sea, and forsaking your place in +the mill.' + +'Yes,' Bob would say uneasily. 'It will trouble him, I know.' + +Being also quite aware how it would trouble her, he would again postpone, +and thus another week passed away. + +All this time John had not come once to the mill. It appeared as if Miss +Johnson absorbed all his time and thoughts. Bob was often seen chuckling +over the circumstance. 'A sly rascal!' he said. 'Pretending on the day +she came to be married that she was not good enough for me, when it was +only that he wanted her for himself. How he could have persuaded her to +go away is beyond me to say!' + +Anne could not contest this belief of her lover's, and remained silent; +but there had more than once occurred to her mind a doubt of its +probability. Yet she had only abandoned her opinion that John had +schemed for Matilda, to embrace the opposite error; that, finding he had +wronged the young lady, he had pitied and grown to love her. + +'And yet Jack, when he was a boy, was the simplest fellow alive,' resumed +Bob. 'By George, though, I should have been hot against him for such a +trick, if in losing her I hadn't found a better! But she'll never come +down to him in the world: she has high notions now. I am afraid he's +doomed to sigh in vain!' + +Though Bob regretted this possibility, the feeling was not reciprocated +by Anne. It was true that she knew nothing of Matilda's temporary +treachery, and that she disbelieved the story of her lack of virtue; but +she did not like the woman. 'Perhaps it will not matter if he is doomed +to sigh in vain,' she said. 'But I owe him no ill-will. I have profited +by his doings, incomprehensible as they are.' And she bent her fair eyes +on Bob and smiled. + +Bob looked dubious. 'He thinks he has affronted me, now I have seen +through him, and that I shall be against meeting him. But, of course, I +am not so touchy. I can stand a practical joke, as can any man who has +been afloat. I'll call and see him, and tell him so.' + +Before he started, Bob bethought him of something which would still +further prove to the misapprehending John that he was entirely forgiven. +He went to his room, and took from his chest a packet containing a lock +of Miss Johnson's hair, which she had given him during their brief +acquaintance, and which till now he had quite forgotten. When, at +starting, he wished Anne goodbye, it was accompanied by such a beaming +face, that she knew he was full of an idea, and asked what it might be +that pleased him so. + +'Why, this,' he said, smacking his breast-pocket. 'A lock of hair that +Matilda gave me.' + +Anne sank back with parted lips. + +'I am going to give it to Jack--he'll jump for joy to get it! And it +will show him how willing I am to give her up to him, fine piece as she +is.' + +'Will you see her to-day, Bob?' Anne asked with an uncertain smile. + +'O no--unless it is by accident.' + +On reaching the outskirts of the town he went straight to the barracks, +and was lucky enough to find John in his room, at the left-hand corner of +the quadrangle. John was glad to see him; but to Bob's surprise he +showed no immediate contrition, and thus afforded no room for the +brotherly speech of forgiveness which Bob had been going to deliver. As +the trumpet-major did not open the subject, Bob felt it desirable to +begin himself. + +'I have brought ye something that you will value, Jack,' he said, as they +sat at the window, overlooking the large square barrack-yard. 'I have +got no further use for it, and you should have had it before if it had +entered my head.' + +'Thank you, Bob; what is it?' said John, looking absently at an awkward +squad of young men who were drilling in the enclosure. + +''Tis a young woman's lock of hair.' + +'Ah!' said John, quite recovering from his abstraction, and slightly +flushing. Could Bob and Anne have quarrelled? Bob drew the paper from +his pocket, and opened it. + +'Black!' said John. + +'Yes--black enough.' + +'Whose?' + +'Why, Matilda's.' + +'O, Matilda's!' + +'Whose did you think then?' + +Instead of replying, the trumpet-major's face became as red as sunset, +and he turned to the window to hide his confusion. + +Bob was silent, and then he, too, looked into the court. At length he +arose, walked to his brother, and laid his hand upon his shoulder. +'Jack,' he said, in an altered voice, 'you are a good fellow. Now I see +it all.' + +'O no--that's nothing,' said John hastily. + +'You've been pretending that you care for this woman that I mightn't +blame myself for heaving you out from the other--which is what I've done +without knowing it.' + +'What does it matter?' + +'But it does matter! I've been making you unhappy all these weeks and +weeks through my thoughtlessness. They seemed to think at home, you +know, John, that you had grown not to care for her; or I wouldn't have +done it for all the world!' + +'You stick to her, Bob, and never mind me. She belongs to you. She +loves you. I have no claim upon her, and she thinks nothing about me.' + +'She likes you, John, thoroughly well; so does everybody; and if I hadn't +come home, putting my foot in it-- That coming home of mine has been a +regular blight upon the family! I ought never to have stayed. The sea +is my home, and why couldn't I bide there?' + +The trumpet-major drew Bob's discourse off the subject as soon as he +could, and Bob, after some unconsidered replies and remarks, seemed +willing to avoid it for the present. He did not ask John to accompany +him home, as he had intended; and on leaving the barracks turned +southward and entered the town to wander about till he could decide what +to do. + +It was the 3rd of September, but the King's watering-place still retained +its summer aspect. The royal bathing-machine had been drawn out just as +Bob reached Gloucester Buildings, and he waited a minute, in the lack of +other distraction, to look on. Immediately that the King's machine had +entered the water a group of florid men with fiddles, violoncellos, a +trombone, and a drum, came forward, packed themselves into another +machine that was in waiting, and were drawn out into the waves in the +King's rear. All that was to be heard for a few minutes were the slow +pulsations of the sea; and then a deafening noise burst from the interior +of the second machine with power enough to split the boards asunder; it +was the condensed mass of musicians inside, striking up the strains of +'God save the King,' as his Majesty's head rose from the water. Bob took +off his hat and waited till the end of the performance, which, intended +as a pleasant surprise to George III. by the loyal burghers, was possibly +in the watery circumstances tolerated rather than desired by that +dripping monarch. {303} + +Loveday then passed on to the harbour, where he remained awhile, looking +at the busy scene of loading and unloading craft and swabbing the decks +of yachts; at the boats and barges rubbing against the quay wall, and at +the houses of the merchants, some ancient structures of solid stone, +others green-shuttered with heavy wooden bow-windows which appeared as if +about to drop into the harbour by their own weight. All these things he +gazed upon, and thought of one thing--that he had caused great misery to +his brother John. + +The town clock struck, and Bob retraced his steps till he again +approached the Esplanade and Gloucester Lodge, where the morning sun +blazed in upon the house fronts, and not a spot of shade seemed to be +attainable. A huzzaing attracted his attention, and he observed that a +number of people had gathered before the King's residence, where a brown +curricle had stopped, out of which stepped a hale man in the prime of +life, wearing a blue uniform, gilt epaulettes, cocked hat, and sword, who +crossed the pavement and went in. Bob went up and joined the group. +'What's going on?' he said. + +'Captain Hardy,' replied a bystander. + +'What of him?' + +'Just gone in--waiting to see the King.' + +'But the captain is in the West Indies?' + +'No. The fleet is come home; they can't find the French anywhere.' + +'Will they go and look for them again?' asked Bob. + +'O yes. Nelson is determined to find 'em. As soon as he's refitted +he'll put to sea again. Ah, here's the King coming in.' + +Bob was so interested in what he had just heard that he scarcely noticed +the arrival of the King, and a body of attendant gentlemen. He went on +thinking of his new knowledge; Captain Hardy was come. He was doubtless +staying with his family at their small manor-house at Pos'ham, a few +miles from Overcombe, where he usually spent the intervals between his +different cruises. + +Loveday returned to the mill without further delay; and shortly +explaining that John was very well, and would come soon, went on to talk +of the arrival of Nelson's captain. + +'And is he come at last?' said the miller, throwing his thoughts years +backward. 'Well can I mind when he first left home to go on board the +Helena as midshipman!' + +'That's not much to remember. I can remember it too,' said Mrs. Loveday. + +''Tis more than twenty years ago anyhow. And more than that, I can mind +when he was born; I was a lad, serving my 'prenticeship at the time. He +has been in this house often and often when 'a was young. When he came +home after his first voyage he stayed about here a long time, and used to +look in at the mill whenever he went past. "What will you be next, sir?" +said mother to him one day as he stood with his back to the doorpost. "A +lieutenant, Dame Loveday," says he. "And what next?" says she. "A +commander." "And next?" "Next, post-captain." "And then?" "Then it +will be almost time to die." I'd warrant that he'd mind it to this very +day if you were to ask him.' + +Bob heard all this with a manner of preoccupation, and soon retired to +the mill. Thence he went to his room by the back passage, and taking his +old seafaring garments from a dark closet in the wall conveyed them to +the loft at the top of the mill, where he occupied the remaining spare +moments of the day in brushing the mildew from their folds, and hanging +each article by the window to get aired. In the evening he returned to +the loft, and dressing himself in the old salt suit, went out of the +house unobserved by anybody, and ascended the road towards Captain +Hardy's native village and present temporary home. + +The shadeless downs were now brown with the droughts of the passing +summer, and few living things met his view, the natural rotundity of the +elevation being only occasionally disturbed by the presence of a barrow, +a thorn-bush, or a piece of dry wall which remained from some attempted +enclosure. By the time that he reached the village it was dark, and the +larger stars had begun to shine when he walked up to the door of the old- +fashioned house which was the family residence of this branch of the +South-Wessex Hardys. + +'Will the captain allow me to wait on him to-night?' inquired Loveday, +explaining who and what he was. + +The servant went away for a few minutes, and then told Bob that he might +see the captain in the morning. + +'If that's the case, I'll come again,' replied Bob, quite cheerful that +failure was not absolute. + +He had left the door but a few steps when he was called back and asked if +he had walked all the way from Overcombe Mill on purpose. + +Loveday replied modestly that he had done so. + +'Then will you come in?' He followed the speaker into a small study or +office, and in a minute or two Captain Hardy entered. + +The captain at this time was a bachelor of thirty-five, rather stout in +build, with light eyes, bushy eyebrows, a square broad face, plenty of +chin, and a mouth whose corners played between humour and grimness. He +surveyed Loveday from top to toe. + +'Robert Loveday, sir, son of the miller at Overcombe,' said Bob, making a +low bow. + +'Ah! I remember your father, Loveday,' the gallant seaman replied. +'Well, what do you want to say to me?' Seeing that Bob found it rather +difficult to begin, he leant leisurely against the mantelpiece, and went +on, 'Is your father well and hearty? I have not seen him for many, many +years.' + +'Quite well, thank 'ee.' + +'You used to have a brother in the army, I think? What was his +name--John? A very fine fellow, if I recollect.' + +'Yes, cap'n; he's there still.' + +'And you are in the merchant-service?' + +'Late first mate of the brig Pewit.' + +'How is it you're not on board a man-of-war?' + +'Ay, sir, that's the thing I've come about,' said Bob, recovering +confidence. 'I should have been, but 'tis womankind has hampered me. +I've waited and waited on at home because of a young woman--lady, I might +have said, for she's sprung from a higher class of society than I. Her +father was a landscape painter--maybe you've heard of him, sir? The name +is Garland.' + +'He painted that view of our village here,' said Captain Hardy, looking +towards a dark little picture in the corner of the room. + +Bob looked, and went on, as if to the picture, 'Well, sir, I have found +that-- However, the press-gang came a week or two ago, and didn't get +hold of me. I didn't care to go aboard as a pressed man.' + +'There has been a severe impressment. It is of course a disagreeable +necessity, but it can't be helped.' + +'Since then, sir, something has happened that makes me wish they had +found me, and I have come to-night to ask if I could enter on board your +ship the Victory.' + +The captain shook his head severely, and presently observed: 'I am glad +to find that you think of entering the service, Loveday; smart men are +badly wanted. But it will not be in your power to choose your ship.' + +'Well, well, sir; then I must take my chance elsewhere,' said Bob, his +face indicating the disappointment he would not fully express. ''Twas +only that I felt I would much rather serve under you than anybody else, +my father and all of us being known to ye, Captain Hardy, and our +families belonging to the same parts.' + +Captain Hardy took Bob's altitude more carefully. 'Are you a good +practical seaman?' he asked musingly. + +'Ay, sir; I believe I am.' + +'Active? Fond of skylarking?' + +'Well, I don't know about the last. I think I can say I am active +enough. I could walk the yard-arm, if required, cross from mast to mast +by the stays, and do what most fellows do who call themselves spry.' + +The captain then put some questions about the details of navigation, +which Loveday, having luckily been used to square rigs, answered +satisfactorily. 'As to reefing topsails,' he added, 'if I don't do it +like a flash of lightning, I can do it so that they will stand blowing +weather. The Pewit was not a dull vessel, and when we were convoyed home +from Lisbon, she could keep well in sight of the frigate scudding at a +distance, by putting on full sail. We had enough hands aboard to reef +topsails man-o'-war fashion, which is a rare thing in these days, sir, +now that able seamen are so scarce on trading craft. And I hear that men +from square-rigged vessels are liked much the best in the navy, as being +more ready for use? So that I shouldn't be altogether so raw,' said Bob +earnestly, 'if I could enter on your ship, sir. Still, if I can't, I +can't.' + +'I might ask for you, Loveday,' said the captain thoughtfully, 'and so +get you there that way. In short, I think I may say I will ask for you. +So consider it settled.' + +'My thanks to you, sir,' said Loveday. + +'You are aware that the Victory is a smart ship, and that cleanliness and +order are, of necessity, more strictly insisted upon there than in some +others?' + +'Sir, I quite see it.' + +'Well, I hope you will do your duty as well on a line-of-battle ship as +you did when mate of the brig, for it is a duty that may be serious.' + +Bob replied that it should be his one endeavour; and receiving a few +instructions for getting on board the guard-ship, and being conveyed to +Portsmouth, he turned to go away. + +'You'll have a stiff walk before you fetch Overcombe Mill this dark +night, Loveday,' concluded the captain, peering out of the window. 'I'll +send you in a glass of grog to help 'ee on your way.' + +The captain then left Bob to himself, and when he had drunk the grog that +was brought in he started homeward, with a heart not exactly light, but +large with a patriotic cheerfulness, which had not diminished when, after +walking so fast in his excitement as to be beaded with perspiration, he +entered his father's door. + +They were all sitting up for him, and at his approach anxiously raised +their sleepy eyes, for it was nearly eleven o'clock. + +'There; I knew he'd not be much longer!' cried Anne, jumping up and +laughing, in her relief. 'They have been thinking you were very strange +and silent to-day, Bob; you were not, were you?' + +'What's the matter, Bob?' said the miller; for Bob's countenance was +sublimed by his recent interview, like that of a priest just come from +the penetralia of the temple. + +'He's in his mate's clothes, just as when he came home!' observed Mrs. +Loveday. + +They all saw now that he had something to tell. 'I am going away,' he +said when he had sat down. 'I am going to enter on board a man-of-war, +and perhaps it will be the Victory.' + +'Going?' said Anne faintly. + +'Now, don't you mind it, there's a dear,' he went on solemnly, taking her +hand in his own. 'And you, father, don't you begin to take it to heart' +(the miller was looking grave). 'The press-gang has been here, and +though I showed them that I was a free man, I am going to show everybody +that I can do my duty.' + +Neither of the other three answered, Anne and the miller having their +eyes bent upon the ground, and the former trying to repress her tears. + +'Now don't you grieve, either of you,' he continued; 'nor vex yourselves +that this has happened. Please not to be angry with me, father, for +deserting you and the mill, where you want me, for I _must go_. For +these three years we and the rest of the country have been in fear of the +enemy; trade has been hindered; poor folk made hungry; and many rich folk +made poor. There must be a deliverance, and it must be done by sea. I +have seen Captain Hardy, and I shall serve under him if so be I can.' + +'Captain Hardy?' + +'Yes. I have been to his house at Pos'ham, where he's staying with his +sisters; walked there and back, and I wouldn't have missed it for fifty +guineas. I hardly thought he would see me; but he did see me. And he +hasn't forgot you.' + +Bob then opened his tale in order, relating graphically the conversation +to which he had been a party, and they listened with breathless +attention. + +'Well, if you must go, you must,' said the miller with emotion; 'but I +think it somewhat hard that, of my two sons, neither one of 'em can be +got to stay and help me in my business as I get old.' + +'Don't trouble and vex about it,' said Mrs. Loveday soothingly. 'They +are both instruments in the hands of Providence, chosen to chastise that +Corsican ogre, and do what they can for the country in these trying +years.' + +'That's just the shape of it, Mrs. Loveday,' said Bob. + +'And he'll come back soon,' she continued, turning to Anne. 'And then +he'll tell us all he has seen, and the glory that he's won, and how he +has helped to sweep that scourge Buonaparty off the earth.' + +'When be you going, Bob?' his father inquired. + +'To-morrow, if I can. I shall call at the barracks and tell John as I go +by. When I get to Portsmouth--' + +A burst of sobs in quick succession interrupted his words; they came from +Anne, who till that moment had been sitting as before with her hand in +that of Bob, and apparently quite calm. Mrs. Loveday jumped up, but +before she could say anything to soothe the agitated girl she had calmed +herself with the same singular suddenness that had marked her giving way. +'I don't mind Bob's going,' she said. 'I think he ought to go. Don't +suppose, Bob, that I want you to stay!' + +After this she left the apartment, and went into the little side room +where she and her mother usually worked. In a few moments Bob followed +her. When he came back he was in a very sad and emotional mood. Anybody +could see that there had been a parting of profound anguish to both. + +'She is not coming back to-night,' he said. + +'You will see her to-morrow before you go?' said her mother. + +'I may or I may not,' he replied. 'Father and Mrs. Loveday, do you go to +bed now. I have got to look over my things and get ready; and it will +take me some little time. If you should hear noises you will know it is +only myself moving about.' + +When Bob was left alone he suddenly became brisk, and set himself to +overhaul his clothes and other possessions in a business-like manner. By +the time that his chest was packed, such things as he meant to leave at +home folded into cupboards, and what was useless destroyed, it was past +two o'clock. Then he went to bed, so softly that only the creak of one +weak stair revealed his passage upward. At the moment that he passed +Anne's chamber-door her mother was bending over her as she lay in bed, +and saying to her, 'Won't you see him in the morning?' + +'No, no,' said Anne. 'I would rather not see him! I have said that I +may. But I shall not. I cannot see him again!' + +When the family got up next day Bob had vanished. It was his way to +disappear like this, to avoid affecting scenes at parting. By the time +that they had sat down to a gloomy breakfast, Bob was in the boat of a +Budmouth waterman, who pulled him alongside the guardship in the roads, +where he laid hold of the man-rope, mounted, and disappeared from +external view. In the course of the day the ship moved off, set her +royals, and made sail for Portsmouth, with five hundred new hands for the +service on board, consisting partly of pressed men and partly of +volunteers, among the latter being Robert Loveday. + + + + +XXXIV. A SPECK ON THE SEA + + +In parting from John, who accompanied him to the quay, Bob had said: +'Now, Jack, these be my last words to you: I give her up. I go away on +purpose, and I shall be away a long time. If in that time she should +list over towards ye ever so little, mind you take her. You have more +right to her than I. You chose her when my mind was elsewhere, and you +best deserve her; for I have never known you forget one woman, while I've +forgot a dozen. Take her then, if she will come, and God bless both of +ye.' + +Another person besides John saw Bob go. That was Derriman, who was +standing by a bollard a little further up the quay. He did not repress +his satisfaction at the sight. John looked towards him with an open gaze +of contempt; for the cuffs administered to the yeoman at the inn had not, +so far as the trumpet-major was aware, produced any desire to avenge that +insult, John being, of course, quite ignorant that Festus had erroneously +retaliated upon Bob, in his peculiar though scarcely soldierly way. +Finding that he did not even now approach him, John went on his way, and +thought over his intention of preserving intact the love between Anne and +his brother. + +He was surprised when he next went to the mill to find how glad they all +were to see him. From the moment of Bob's return to the bosom of the +deep Anne had had no existence on land; people might have looked at her +human body and said she had flitted thence. The sea and all that +belonged to the sea was her daily thought and her nightly dream. She had +the whole two-and-thirty winds under her eye, each passing gale that +ushered in returning autumn being mentally registered; and she acquired a +precise knowledge of the direction in which Portsmouth, Brest, Ferrol, +Cadiz, and other such likely places lay. Instead of saying her own +familiar prayers at night she substituted, with some confusion of +thought, the Forms of Prayer to be used at sea. John at once noticed her +lorn, abstracted looks, pitied her,--how much he pitied her!--and asked +when they were alone if there was anything he could do. + +'There are two things,' she said, with almost childish eagerness in her +tired eyes. + +'They shall be done.' + +'The first is to find out if Captain Hardy has gone back to his ship; and +the other is--O if you will do it, John!--to get me newspapers whenever +possible.' + +After this duologue John was absent for a space of three hours, and they +thought he had gone back to barracks. He entered, however, at the end of +that time, took off his forage-cap, and wiped his forehead. + +'You look tired, John,' said his father. + +'O no.' He went through the house till he had found Anne Garland. + +'I have only done one of those things,' he said to her. + +'What, already! I didn't hope for or mean to-day.' + +'Captain Hardy is gone from Pos'ham. He left some days ago. We shall +soon hear that the fleet has sailed.' + +'You have been all the way to Pos'ham on purpose? How good of you!' + +'Well, I was anxious to know myself when Bob is likely to leave. I +expect now that we shall soon hear from him.' + +Two days later he came again. He brought a newspaper, and what was +better, a letter for Anne, franked by the first lieutenant of the +Victory. + +'Then he's aboard her,' said Anne, as she eagerly took the letter. + +It was short, but as much as she could expect in the circumstances, and +informed them that the captain had been as good as his word, and had +gratified Bob's earnest wish to serve under him. The ship, with Admiral +Lord Nelson on board, and accompanied by the frigate Euryalus, was to +sail in two days for Plymouth, where they would be joined by others, and +thence proceed to the coast of Spain. + +Anne lay awake that night thinking of the Victory, and of those who +floated in her. To the best of Anne's calculation that ship of war +would, during the next twenty-four hours, pass within a few miles of +where she herself then lay. Next to seeing Bob, the thing that would +give her more pleasure than any other in the world was to see the vessel +that contained him--his floating city, his sole dependence in battle and +storm--upon whose safety from winds and enemies hung all her hope. + +The morrow was market-day at the seaport, and in this she saw her +opportunity. A carrier went from Overcombe at six o'clock thither, and +having to do a little shopping for herself she gave it as a reason for +her intended day's absence, and took a place in the van. When she +reached the town it was still early morning, but the borough was already +in the zenith of its daily bustle and show. The King was always out-of- +doors by six o'clock, and such cock-crow hours at Gloucester Lodge +produced an equally forward stir among the population. She alighted, and +passed down the esplanade, as fully thronged by persons of fashion at +this time of mist and level sunlight as a watering-place in the present +day is at four in the afternoon. Dashing bucks and beaux in cocked hats, +black feathers, ruffles, and frills, stared at her as she hurried along; +the beach was swarming with bathing women, wearing waistbands that bore +the national refrain, 'God save the King,' in gilt letters; the shops +were all open, and Sergeant Stanner, with his sword-stuck bank-notes and +heroic gaze, was beating up at two guineas and a crown, the crown to +drink his Majesty's health. + +She soon finished her shopping, and then, crossing over into the old +town, pursued her way along the coast-road to Portland. At the end of an +hour she had been rowed across the Fleet (which then lacked the +convenience of a bridge), and reached the base of Portland Hill. The +steep incline before her was dotted with houses, showing the pleasant +peculiarity of one man's doorstep being behind his neighbour's chimney, +and slabs of stone as the common material for walls, roof, floor, pig- +sty, stable-manger, door-scraper, and garden-stile. Anne gained the +summit, and followed along the central track over the huge lump of +freestone which forms the peninsula, the wide sea prospect extending as +she went on. Weary with her journey, she approached the extreme +southerly peak of rock, and gazed from the cliff at Portland Bill, or +Beal, as it was in those days more correctly called. + +The wild, herbless, weather-worn promontory was quite a solitude, and, +saving the one old lighthouse about fifty yards up the slope, scarce a +mark was visible to show that humanity had ever been near the spot. Anne +found herself a seat on a stone, and swept with her eyes the tremulous +expanse of water around her that seemed to utter a ceaseless +unintelligible incantation. Out of the three hundred and sixty degrees +of her complete horizon two hundred and fifty were covered by waves, the +coup d'oeil including the area of troubled waters known as the Race, +where two seas met to effect the destruction of such vessels as could not +be mastered by one. She counted the craft within her view: there were +five; no, there were only four; no, there were seven, some of the specks +having resolved themselves into two. They were all small coasters, and +kept well within sight of land. + +Anne sank into a reverie. Then she heard a slight noise on her left +hand, and turning beheld an old sailor, who had approached with a glass. +He was levelling it over the sea in a direction to the south-east, and +somewhat removed from that in which her own eyes had been wandering. Anne +moved a few steps thitherward, so as to unclose to her view a deeper +sweep on that side, and by this discovered a ship of far larger size than +any which had yet dotted the main before her. Its sails were for the +most part new and clean, and in comparison with its rapid progress before +the wind the small brigs and ketches seemed standing still. Upon this +striking object the old man's glass was bent. + +'What do you see, sailor?' she asked. + +'Almost nothing,' he answered. 'My sight is so gone off lately that +things, one and all, be but a November mist to me. And yet I fain would +see to-day. I am looking for the Victory.' + +'Why,' she said quickly. + +'I have a son aboard her. He's one of three from these parts. There's +the captain, there's my son Ned, and there's young Loveday of +Overcombe--he that lately joined.' + +'Shall I look for you?' said Anne, after a pause. + +'Certainly, mis'ess, if so be you please.' + +Anne took the glass, and he supported it by his arm. 'It is a large +ship,' she said, 'with three masts, three rows of guns along the side, +and all her sails set.' + +'I guessed as much.' + +'There is a little flag in front--over her bowsprit.' + +'The jack.' + +'And there's a large one flying at her stern.' + +'The ensign.' + +'And a white one on her fore-topmast.' + +'That's the admiral's flag, the flag of my Lord Nelson. What is her +figure-head, my dear?' + +'A coat-of-arms, supported on this side by a sailor.' + +Her companion nodded with satisfaction. 'On the other side of that +figure-head is a marine.' + +'She is twisting round in a curious way, and her sails sink in like old +cheeks, and she shivers like a leaf upon a tree.' + +'She is in stays, for the larboard tack. I can see what she's been +doing. She's been re'ching close in to avoid the flood tide, as the wind +is to the sou'-west, and she's bound down; but as soon as the ebb made, +d'ye see, they made sail to the west'ard. Captain Hardy may be depended +upon for that; he knows every current about here, being a native.' + +'And now I can see the other side; it is a soldier where a sailor was +before. You are _sure_ it is the Victory?' + +'I am sure.' + +After this a frigate came into view--the Euryalus--sailing in the same +direction. Anne sat down, and her eyes never left the ships. 'Tell me +more about the Victory,' she said. + +'She is the best sailer in the service, and she carries a hundred guns. +The heaviest be on the lower deck, the next size on the middle deck, the +next on the main and upper decks. My son Ned's place is on the lower +deck, because he's short, and they put the short men below.' + +Bob, though not tall, was not likely to be specially selected for +shortness. She pictured him on the upper deck, in his snow-white +trousers and jacket of navy blue, looking perhaps towards the very point +of land where she then was. + +The great silent ship, with her population of blue-jackets, marines, +officers, captain, and the admiral who was not to return alive, passed +like a phantom the meridian of the Bill. Sometimes her aspect was that +of a large white bat, sometimes that of a grey one. In the course of +time the watching girl saw that the ship had passed her nearest point; +the breadth of her sails diminished by foreshortening, till she assumed +the form of an egg on end. After this something seemed to twinkle, and +Anne, who had previously withdrawn from the old sailor, went back to him, +and looked again through the glass. The twinkling was the light falling +upon the cabin windows of the ship's stern. She explained it to the old +man. + +'Then we see now what the enemy have seen but once. That was in seventy- +nine, when she sighted the French and Spanish fleet off Scilly, and she +retreated because she feared a landing. Well, 'tis a brave ship and she +carries brave men!' + +Anne's tender bosom heaved, but she said nothing, and again became +absorbed in contemplation. + +The Victory was fast dropping away. She was on the horizon, and soon +appeared hull down. That seemed to be like the beginning of a greater +end than her present vanishing. Anne Garland could not stay by the +sailor any longer, and went about a stone's-throw off, where she was +hidden by the inequality of the cliff from his view. The vessel was now +exactly end on, and stood out in the direction of the Start, her width +having contracted to the proportion of a feather. She sat down again, +and mechanically took out some biscuits that she had brought, foreseeing +that her waiting might be long. But she could not eat one of them; +eating seemed to jar with the mental tenseness of the moment; and her +undeviating gaze continued to follow the lessened ship with the fidelity +of a balanced needle to a magnetic stone, all else in her being +motionless. + +The courses of the Victory were absorbed into the main, then her topsails +went, and then her top-gallants. She was now no more than a dead fly's +wing on a sheet of spider's web; and even this fragment diminished. Anne +could hardly bear to see the end, and yet she resolved not to flinch. The +admiral's flag sank behind the watery line, and in a minute the very +truck of the last topmast stole away. The Victory was gone. + +Anne's lip quivered as she murmured, without removing her wet eyes from +the vacant and solemn horizon, '"They that go down to the sea in ships, +that do business in great waters--"' + +'"These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep,"' was +returned by a man's voice from behind her. + +Looking round quickly, she saw a soldier standing there; and the grave +eyes of John Loveday bent on her. + +''Tis what I was thinking,' she said, trying to be composed. + +'You were saying it,' he answered gently. + +'Was I?--I did not know it. . . . How came you here?' she presently +added. + +'I have been behind you a good while; but you never turned round.' + +'I was deeply occupied,' she said in an undertone. + +'Yes--I too came to see him pass. I heard this morning that Lord Nelson +had embarked, and I knew at once that they would sail immediately. The +Victory and Euryalus are to join the rest of the fleet at Plymouth. There +was a great crowd of people assembled to see the admiral off; they +cheered him and the ship as she dropped down. He took his coffin on +board with him, they say.' + +'His coffin!' said Anne, turning deadly pale. 'Something terrible, then, +is meant by that! O, why _would_ Bob go in that ship? doomed to +destruction from the very beginning like this!' + +'It was his determination to sail under Captain Hardy, and under no one +else,' said John. 'There may be hot work; but we must hope for the +best.' And observing how wretched she looked, he added, 'But won't you +let me help you back? If you can walk as far as Hope Cove it will be +enough. A lerret is going from there across the bay homeward to the +harbour in the course of an hour; it belongs to a man I know, and they +can take one passenger, I am sure.' + +She turned her back upon the Channel, and by his help soon reached the +place indicated. The boat was lying there as he had said. She found it +to belong to the old man who had been with her at the Bill, and was in +charge of his two younger sons. The trumpet-major helped her into it +over the slippery blocks of stone, one of the young men spread his jacket +for her to sit on, and as soon as they pulled from shore John climbed up +the blue-grey cliff, and disappeared over the top, to return to the +mainland by road. + +Anne was in the town by three o'clock. The trip in the stern of the +lerret had quite refreshed her, with the help of the biscuits, which she +had at last been able to eat. The van from the port to Overcombe did not +start till four o'clock, and feeling no further interest in the gaieties +of the place, she strolled on past the King's house to the outskirts, her +mind settling down again upon the possibly sad fate of the Victory when +she found herself alone. She did not hurry on; and finding that even now +there wanted another half-hour to the carrier's time, she turned into a +little lane to escape the inspection of the numerous passers-by. Here +all was quite lonely and still, and she sat down under a willow-tree, +absently regarding the landscape, which had begun to put on the rich +tones of declining summer, but which to her was as hollow and faded as a +theatre by day. She could hold out no longer; burying her face in her +hands, she wept without restraint. + +Some yards behind her was a little spring of water, having a stone margin +round it to prevent the cattle from treading in the sides and filling it +up with dirt. While she wept, two elderly gentlemen entered unperceived +upon the scene, and walked on to the spring's brink. Here they paused +and looked in, afterwards moving round it, and then stooping as if to +smell or taste its waters. The spring was, in fact, a sulphurous one, +then recently discovered by a physician who lived in the neighbourhood; +and it was beginning to attract some attention, having by common report +contributed to effect such wonderful cures as almost passed belief. After +a considerable discussion, apparently on how the pool might be improved +for better use, one of the two elderly gentlemen turned away, leaving the +other still probing the spring with his cane. The first stranger, who +wore a blue coat with gilt buttons, came on in the direction of Anne +Garland, and seeing her sad posture went quickly up to her, and said +abruptly, 'What is the matter?' + +Anne, who in her grief had observed nothing of the gentlemen's presence, +withdrew her handkerchief from her eyes and started to her feet. She +instantly recognised her interrogator as the King. + +'What, what, crying?' his Majesty inquired kindly. 'How is this!' + +'I--have seen a dear friend go away, sir,' she faltered, with downcast +eyes. + +'Ah--partings are sad--very sad--for us all. You must hope your friend +will return soon. Where is he or she gone?' + +'I don't know, your Majesty.' + +'Don't know--how is that?' + +'He is a sailor on board the Victory.' + +'Then he has reason to be proud,' said the King with interest. 'He is +your brother?' + +Anne tried to explain what he was, but could not, and blushed with +painful heat. + +'Well, well, well; what is his name?' + +In spite of Anne's confusion and low spirits, her womanly shrewdness told +her at once that no harm could be done by revealing Bob's name; and she +answered, 'His name is Robert Loveday, sir.' + +'Loveday--a good name. I shall not forget it. Now dry your cheeks, and +don't cry any more. Loveday--Robert Loveday.' + +Anne curtseyed, the King smiled good-humouredly, and turned to rejoin his +companion, who was afterwards heard to be Dr. ---, the physician in +attendance at Gloucester Lodge. This gentleman had in the meantime +filled a small phial with the medicinal water, which he carefully placed +in his pocket; and on the King coming up they retired together and +disappeared. Thereupon Anne, now thoroughly aroused, followed the same +way with a gingerly tread, just in time to see them get into a carriage +which was in waiting at the turning of the lane. + +She quite forgot the carrier, and everything else in connexion with +riding home. Flying along the road rapidly and unconsciously, when she +awoke to a sense of her whereabouts she was so near to Overcombe as to +make the carrier not worth waiting for. She had been borne up in this +hasty spurt at the end of a weary day by visions of Bob promoted to the +rank of admiral, or something equally wonderful, by the King's special +command, the chief result of the promotion being, in her arrangement of +the piece, that he would stay at home and go to sea no more. But she was +not a girl who indulged in extravagant fancies long, and before she +reached home she thought that the King had probably forgotten her by that +time, and her troubles, and her lover's name. + + + + +XXXV. A SAILOR ENTERS + + +The remaining fortnight of the month of September passed away, with a +general decline from the summer's excitements. The royal family left the +watering-place the first week in October, the German Legion with their +artillery about the same time. The dragoons still remained at the +barracks just out of the town, and John Loveday brought to Anne every +newspaper that he could lay hands on, especially such as contained any +fragment of shipping news. This threw them much together; and at these +times John was often awkward and confused, on account of the unwonted +stress of concealing his great love for her. + +Her interests had grandly developed from the limits of Overcombe and the +town life hard by, to an extensiveness truly European. During the whole +month of October, however, not a single grain of information reached her, +or anybody else, concerning Nelson and his blockading squadron off Cadiz. +There were the customary bad jokes about Buonaparte, especially when it +was found that the whole French army had turned its back upon Boulogne +and set out for the Rhine. Then came accounts of his march through +Germany and into Austria; but not a word about the Victory. + +At the beginning of autumn John brought news which fearfully depressed +her. The Austrian General Mack had capitulated with his whole army. Then +were revived the old misgivings as to invasion. 'Instead of having to +cope with him weary with waiting, we shall have to encounter This Man +fresh from the fields of victory,' ran the newspaper article. + +But the week which had led off with such a dreary piping was to end in +another key. On the very day when Mack's army was piling arms at the +feet of its conqueror, a blow had been struck by Bob Loveday and his +comrades which eternally shattered the enemy's force by sea. Four days +after the receipt of the Austrian news Corporal Tullidge ran into the +miller's house to inform him that on the previous Monday, at eleven in +the morning, the Pickle schooner, Lieutenant Lapenotiere, had arrived at +Falmouth with despatches from the fleet; that the stage-coaches on the +highway through Wessex to London were chalked with the words 'Great +Victory!' 'Glorious Triumph!' and so on; and that all the country people +were wild to know particulars. + +On Friday afternoon John arrived with authentic news of the battle off +Cape Trafalgar, and the death of Nelson. Captain Hardy was alive, though +his escape had been narrow enough, his shoe-buckle having been carried +away by a shot. It was feared that the Victory had been the scene of the +heaviest slaughter among all the ships engaged, but as yet no returns of +killed and wounded had been issued, beyond a rough list of the numbers in +some of the ships. + +The suspense of the little household in Overcombe Mill was great in the +extreme. John came thither daily for more than a week; but no further +particulars reached England till the end of that time, and then only the +meagre intelligence that there had been a gale immediately after the +battle, and that many of the prizes had been lost. Anne said little to +all these things, and preserved a superstratum of calmness on her +countenance; but some inner voice seemed to whisper to her that Bob was +no more. Miller Loveday drove to Pos'ham several times to learn if the +Captain's sisters had received any more definite tidings than these +flying reports; but that family had heard nothing which could in any way +relieve the miller's anxiety. When at last, at the end of November, +there appeared a final and revised list of killed and wounded as issued +by Admiral Collingwood, it was a useless sheet to the Lovedays. To their +great pain it contained no names but those of officers, the friends of +ordinary seamen and marines being in those good old days left to discover +their losses as best they might. + +Anne's conviction of her loss increased with the darkening of the early +winter time. Bob was not a cautious man who would avoid needless +exposure, and a hundred and fifty of the Victory's crew had been disabled +or slain. Anybody who had looked into her room at this time would have +seen that her favourite reading was the office for the Burial of the Dead +at Sea, beginning 'We therefore commit his body to the deep.' In these +first days of December several of the victorious fleet came into port; +but not the Victory. Many supposed that that noble ship, disabled by the +battle, had gone to the bottom in the subsequent tempestuous weather; and +the belief was persevered in till it was told in the town and port that +she had been seen passing up the Channel. Two days later the Victory +arrived at Portsmouth. + +Then letters from survivors began to appear in the public prints which +John so regularly brought to Anne; but though he watched the mails with +unceasing vigilance there was never a letter from Bob. It sometimes +crossed John's mind that his brother might still be alive and well, and +that in his wish to abide by his expressed intention of giving up Anne +and home life he was deliberately lax in writing. If so, Bob was +carrying out the idea too thoughtlessly by half, as could be seen by +watching the effects of suspense upon the fair face of the victim, and +the anxiety of the rest of the family. + +It was a clear day in December. The first slight snow of the season had +been sifted over the earth, and one side of the apple-tree branches in +the miller's garden was touched with white, though a few leaves were +still lingering on the tops of the younger trees. A short sailor of the +Royal Navy, who was not Bob, nor anything like him, crossed the mill +court and came to the door. The miller hastened out and brought him into +the room, where John, Mrs. Loveday, and Anne Garland were all present. + +'I'm from aboard the Victory,' said the sailor. 'My name's Jim Cornick. +And your lad is alive and well.' + +They breathed rather than spoke their thankfulness and relief, the +miller's eyes being moist as he turned aside to calm himself; while Anne, +having first jumped up wildly from her seat, sank back again under the +almost insupportable joy that trembled through her limbs to her utmost +finger. + +'I've come from Spithead to Pos'ham,' the sailor continued, 'and now I am +going on to father at Budmouth.' + +'Ah!--I know your father,' cried the trumpet-major, 'old James Cornick.' + +It was the man who had brought Anne in his lerret from Portland Bill. + +'And Bob hasn't got a scratch?' said the miller. + +'Not a scratch,' said Cornick. + +Loveday then bustled off to draw the visitor something to drink. Anne +Garland, with a glowing blush on her face, had gone to the back part of +the room, where she was the very embodiment of sweet content as she +slightly swayed herself without speaking. A little tide of happiness +seemed to ebb and flow through her in listening to the sailor's words, +moving her figure with it. The seaman and John went on conversing. + +'Bob had a good deal to do with barricading the hawse-holes afore we were +in action, and the Adm'l and Cap'n both were very much pleased at how +'twas done. When the Adm'l went up the quarter-deck ladder, Cap'n Hardy +said a word or two to Bob, but what it was I don't know, for I was +quartered at a gun some ways off. However, Bob saw the Adm'l stagger +when 'a was wownded, and was one of the men who carried him to the +cockpit. After that he and some other lads jumped aboard the French +ship, and I believe they was in her when she struck her flag. What 'a +did next I can't say, for the wind had dropped, and the smoke was like a +cloud. But 'a got a good deal talked about; and they say there's +promotion in store for'n.' + +At this point in the story Jim Cornick stopped to drink, and a low +unconscious humming came from Anne in her distant corner; the faint +melody continued more or less when the conversation between the sailor +and the Lovedays was renewed. + +'We heard afore that the Victory was near knocked to pieces,' said the +miller. + +'Knocked to pieces? You'd say so if so be you could see her! Gad, her +sides be battered like an old penny piece; the shot be still sticking in +her wales, and her sails be like so many clap-nets: we have run all the +way home under jury topmasts; and as for her decks, you may swab wi' hot +water, and you may swab wi' cold, but there's the blood-stains, and there +they'll bide. . . . The Cap'n had a narrow escape, like many o' the +rest--a shot shaved his ankle like a razor. You should have seen that +man's face in the het o' battle, his features were as if they'd been cast +in steel.' + +'We rather expected a letter from Bob before this.' + +'Well,' said Jim Cornick, with a smile of toleration, 'you must make +allowances. The truth o't is, he's engaged just now at Portsmouth, like +a good many of the rest from our ship. . . . 'Tis a very nice young +woman that he's a courting of, and I make no doubt that she'll be an +excellent wife for him.' + +'Ah!' said Mrs. Loveday, in a warning tone. + +'Courting--wife?' said the miller. + +They instinctively looked towards Anne. Anne had started as if shaken by +an invisible hand, and a thick mist of doubt seemed to obscure the +intelligence of her eyes. This was but for two or three moments. Very +pale, she arose and went right up to the seaman. John gently tried to +intercept her, but she passed him by. + +'Do you speak of Robert Loveday as courting a wife?' she asked, without +the least betrayal of emotion. + +'I didn't see you, miss,' replied Cornick, turning. 'Yes, your brother +hev' his eye on a wife, and he deserves one. I hope you don't mind?' + +'Not in the least,' she said, with a stage laugh. 'I am interested, +naturally. And what is she?' + +'A very nice young master-baker's daughter, honey. A very wise choice of +the young man's.' + +'Is she fair or dark?' + +'Her hair is rather light.' + +'I like light hair; and her name?' + +'Her name is Caroline. But can it be that my story hurts ye? If so--' + +'Yes, yes,' said John, interposing anxiously. 'We don't care for more +just at this moment.' + +'We _do_ care for more!' said Anne vehemently. 'Tell it all, sailor. +That is a very pretty name, Caroline. When are they going to be +married?' + +'I don't know as how the day is settled,' answered Jim, even now scarcely +conscious of the devastation he was causing in one fair breast. 'But +from the rate the courting is scudding along at, I should say it won't be +long first.' + +'If you see him when you go back, give him my best wishes,' she lightly +said, as she moved away. 'And,' she added, with solemn bitterness, 'say +that I am glad to hear he is making such good use of the first days of +his escape from the Valley of the Shadow of Death!' She went away, +expressing indifference by audibly singing in the distance-- + + 'Shall we go dance the round, the round, the round, + Shall we go dance the round?' + +'Your sister is lively at the news,' observed Jim Cornick. + +'Yes,' murmured John gloomily, as he gnawed his lower lip and kept his +eyes fixed on the fire. + +'Well,' continued the man from the Victory, 'I won't say that your +brother's intended ha'n't got some ballast, which is very lucky for'n, as +he might have picked up with a girl without a single copper nail. To be +sure there was a time we had when we got into port! It was open house +for us all!' And after mentally regarding the scene for a few seconds +Jim emptied his cup and rose to go. + +The miller was saying some last words to him outside the house, Anne's +voice had hardly ceased singing upstairs, John was standing by the +fireplace, and Mrs. Loveday was crossing the room to join her daughter, +whose manner had given her some uneasiness, when a noise came from above +the ceiling, as of some heavy body falling. Mrs. Loveday rushed to the +staircase, saying, 'Ah, I feared something!' and she was followed by +John. + +When they entered Anne's room, which they both did almost at one moment, +they found her lying insensible upon the floor. The trumpet-major, his +lips tightly closed, lifted her in his arms, and laid her upon the bed; +after which he went back to the door to give room to her mother, who was +bending over the girl with some hartshorn. + +Presently Mrs. Loveday looked up and said to him, 'She is only in a +faint, John, and her colour is coming back. Now leave her to me; I will +be downstairs in a few minutes, and tell you how she is.' + +John left the room. When he gained the lower apartment his father was +standing by the chimney-piece, the sailor having gone. The trumpet-major +went up to the fire, and, grasping the edge of the high chimney-shelf, +stood silent. + +'Did I hear a noise when I went out?' asked the elder, in a tone of +misgiving. + +'Yes, you did,' said John. 'It was she, but her mother says she is +better now. Father,' he added impetuously, 'Bob is a worthless +blockhead! If there had been any good in him he would have been drowned +years ago!' + +'John, John--not too fast,' said the miller. 'That's a hard thing to say +of your brother, and you ought to be ashamed of it.' + +'Well, he tries me more than I can bear. Good God! what can a man be +made of to go on as he does? Why didn't he come home; or if he couldn't +get leave why didn't he write? 'Tis scandalous of him to serve a woman +like that!' + +'Gently, gently. The chap hev done his duty as a sailor; and though +there might have been something between him and Anne, her mother, in +talking it over with me, has said many times that she couldn't think of +their marrying till Bob had settled down in business with me. Folks that +gain victories must have a little liberty allowed 'em. Look at the +Admiral himself, for that matter.' + +John continued looking at the red coals, till hearing Mrs. Loveday's foot +on the staircase, he went to meet her. + +'She is better,' said Mrs. Loveday; 'but she won't come down again to- +day.' + +Could John have heard what the poor girl was moaning to herself at that +moment as she lay writhing on the bed, he would have doubted her mother's +assurance. 'If he had been dead I could have borne it, but this I cannot +bear!' + + + + +XXXVI. DERRIMAN SEES CHANCES + + +Meanwhile Sailor Cornick had gone on his way as far as the forking roads, +where he met Festus Derriman on foot. The latter, attracted by the +seaman's dress, and by seeing him come from the mill, at once accosted +him. Jim, with the greatest readiness, fell into conversation, and told +the same story as that he had related at the mill. + +'Bob Loveday going to be married?' repeated Festus. + +'You all seem struck of a heap wi' that.' + +'No; I never heard news that pleased me more.' + +When Cornick was gone, Festus, instead of passing straight on, halted on +the little bridge and meditated. Bob, being now interested elsewhere, +would probably not resent the siege of Anne's heart by another; there +could, at any rate, be no further possibility of that looming duel which +had troubled the yeoman's mind ever since his horse-play on Anne at the +house on the down. To march into the mill and propose to Mrs. Loveday +for Anne before John's interest could revive in her was, to this hero's +thinking, excellent discretion. + +The day had already begun to darken when he entered, and the cheerful +fire shone red upon the floor and walls. Mrs. Loveday received him +alone, and asked him to take a seat by the chimney-corner, a little of +the old hankering for him as a son-in-law having permanently remained +with her. + +'Your servant, Mrs. Loveday,' he said, 'and I will tell you at once what +I come for. You will say that I take time by the forelock when I inform +you that it is to push on my long-wished-for alliance wi' your daughter, +as I believe she is now a free woman again.' + +'Thank you, Mr. Derriman,' said the mother placably. 'But she is ill at +present. I'll mention it to her when she is better.' + +'Ask her to alter her cruel, cruel resolves against me, on the score +of--of my consuming passion for her. In short,' continued Festus, +dropping his parlour language in his warmth, 'I'll tell thee what, Dame +Loveday, I want the maid, and must have her.' + +Mrs. Loveday replied that that was very plain speaking. + +'Well, 'tis. But Bob has given her up. He never meant to marry her. +I'll tell you, Mrs. Loveday, what I have never told a soul before. I was +standing upon Budmouth Quay on that very day in last September that Bob +set sail, and I heard him say to his brother John that he gave your +daughter up.' + +'Then it was very unmannerly of him to trifle with her so,' said Mrs. +Loveday warmly. 'Who did he give her up to?' + +Festus replied with hesitation, 'He gave her up to John.' + +'To John? How could he give her up to a man already over head and ears +in love with that actress woman?' + +'O? You surprise me. Which actress is it?' + +'That Miss Johnson. Anne tells me that he loves her hopelessly.' + +Festus arose. Miss Johnson seemed suddenly to acquire high value as a +sweetheart at this announcement. He had himself felt a nameless +attractiveness in her, and John had done likewise. John crossed his path +in all possible ways. + +Before the yeoman had replied somebody opened the door, and the firelight +shone upon the uniform of the person they discussed. Festus nodded on +recognizing him, wished Mrs. Loveday good evening, and went out +precipitately. + +'So Bob told you he meant to break off with my Anne when he went away?' +Mrs. Loveday remarked to the trumpet-major. 'I wish I had known of it +before.' + +John appeared disturbed at the sudden charge. He murmured that he could +not deny it, and then hastily turned from her and followed Derriman, whom +he saw before him on the bridge. + +'Derriman!' he shouted. + +Festus started and looked round. 'Well, trumpet-major,' he said blandly. + +'When will you have sense enough to mind your own business, and not come +here telling things you have heard by sneaking behind people's backs?' +demanded John hotly. 'If you can't learn in any other way, I shall have +to pull your ears again, as I did the other day!' + +'_You_ pull my ears? How can you tell that lie, when you know 'twas +somebody else pulled 'em?' + +'O no, no. I pulled your ears, and thrashed you in a mild way.' + +'You'll swear to it? Surely 'twas another man?' + +'It was in the parlour at the public-house; you were almost in the dark.' +And John added a few details as to the particular blows, which amounted +to proof itself. + +'Then I heartily ask your pardon for saying 'twas a lie!' cried Festus, +advancing with extended hand and a genial smile. 'Sure, if I had known +_'twas_ you, I wouldn't have insulted you by denying it.' + +'That was why you didn't challenge me, then?' + +'That was it! I wouldn't for the world have hurt your nice sense of +honour by letting 'ee go unchallenged, if I had known! And now, you see, +unfortunately I can't mend the mistake. So long a time has passed since +it happened that the heat of my temper is gone off. I couldn't oblige +'ee, try how I might, for I am not a man, trumpet-major, that can butcher +in cold blood--no, not I, nor you neither, from what I know of 'ee. So, +willy-nilly, we must fain let it pass, eh?' + +'We must, I suppose,' said John, smiling grimly. 'Who did you think I +was, then, that night when I boxed you all round?' + +'No, don't press me,' replied the yeoman. 'I can't reveal; it would be +disgracing myself to show how very wide of the truth the mockery of wine +was able to lead my senses. We will let it be buried in eternal mixens +of forgetfulness.' + +'As you wish,' said the trumpet-major loftily. 'But if you ever _should_ +think you knew it was me, why, you know where to find me?' And Loveday +walked away. + +The instant that he was gone Festus shook his fist at the evening star, +which happened to lie in the same direction as that taken by the dragoon. + +'Now for my revenge! Duels? Lifelong disgrace to me if ever I fight +with a man of blood below my own! There are other remedies for upper- +class souls!. . . Matilda--that's my way.' + +Festus strode along till he reached the Hall, where Cripplestraw appeared +gazing at him from under the arch of the porter's lodge. Derriman dashed +open the entrance-hurdle with such violence that the whole row of them +fell flat in the mud. + +'Mercy, Maister Festus!' said Cripplestraw. '"Surely," I says to myself +when I see ye a-coming, "surely Maister Festus is fuming like that +because there's no chance of the enemy coming this year after all."' + +'Cr-r-ripplestraw! I have been wounded to the heart,' replied Derriman, +with a lurid brow. + +'And the man yet lives, and you wants yer horse-pistols instantly? +Certainly, Maister F---' + +'No, Cripplestraw, not my pistols, but my new-cut clothes, my heavy gold +seals, my silver-topped cane, and my buckles that cost more money than he +ever saw! Yes, I must tell somebody, and I'll tell you, because there's +no other fool near. He loves her heart and soul. He's poor; she's tip- +top genteel, and not rich. I am rich, by comparison. I'll court the +pretty play-actress, and win her before his eyes.' + +'Play-actress, Maister Derriman?' + +'Yes. I saw her this very day, met her by accident, and spoke to her. +She's still in the town--perhaps because of him. I can meet her at any +hour of the day-- But I don't mean to marry her; not I. I will court +her for my pastime, and to annoy him. It will be all the more death to +him that I don't want her. Then perhaps he will say to me, "You have +taken my one ewe lamb"--meaning that I am the king, and he's the poor +man, as in the church verse; and he'll beg for mercy when 'tis too +late--unless, meanwhile, I shall have tired of my new toy. Saddle the +horse, Cripplestraw, to-morrow at ten.' + +Full of this resolve to scourge John Loveday to the quick through his +passion for Miss Johnson, Festus came out booted and spurred at the time +appointed, and set off on his morning ride. + +Miss Johnson's theatrical engagement having long ago terminated, she +would have left the Royal watering-place with the rest of the visitors +had not matrimonial hopes detained her there. These had nothing whatever +to do with John Loveday, as may be imagined, but with a stout, staid boat- +builder in Cove Row by the quay, who had shown much interest in her +impersonations. Unfortunately this substantial man had not been quite so +attentive since the end of the season as his previous manner led her to +expect; and it was a great pleasure to the lady to see Mr. Derriman +leaning over the harbour bridge with his eyes fixed upon her as she came +towards it after a stroll past her elderly wooer's house. + +'Od take it, ma'am, you didn't tell me when I saw you last that the +tooting man with the blue jacket and lace was yours devoted?' began +Festus. + +'Who do you mean?' In Matilda's ever-changing emotional interests, John +Loveday was a stale and unprofitable personality. + +'Why, that trumpet-major man.' + +'O! What of him?' + +'Come; he loves you, and you know it, ma'am.' + +She knew, at any rate, how to take the current when it served. So she +glanced at Festus, folded her lips meaningly, and nodded. + +'I've come to cut him out.' + +She shook her head, it being unsafe to speak till she knew a little more +of the subject. + +'What!' said Festus, reddening, 'do you mean to say that you think of him +seriously--you, who might look so much higher?' + +'Constant dropping will wear away a stone; and you should only hear his +pleading! His handsome face is impressive, and his manners are--O, so +genteel! I am not rich; I am, in short, a poor lady of decayed family, +who has nothing to boast of but my blood and ancestors, and they won't +find a body in food and clothing!--I hold the world but as the world, +Derrimanio--a stage where every man must play a part, and mine a sad +one!' She dropped her eyes thoughtfully and sighed. + +'We will talk of this,' said Festus, much affected. 'Let us walk to the +Look-out.' + +She made no objection, and said, as they turned that way, 'Mr. Derriman, +a long time ago I found something belonging to you; but I have never yet +remembered to return it.' And she drew from her bosom the paper which +Anne had dropped in the meadow when eluding the grasp of Festus on that +summer day. + +'Zounds, I smell fresh meat!' cried Festus when he had looked it over. +''Tis in my uncle's writing, and 'tis what I heard him singing on the day +the French didn't come, and afterwards saw him marking in the road. 'Tis +something he's got hid away. Give me the paper, there's a dear; 'tis +worth sterling gold!' + +'Halves, then?' said Matilda tenderly. + +'Gad, yes--anything!' replied Festus, blazing into a smile, for she had +looked up in her best new manner at the possibility that he might be +worth the winning. They went up the steps to the summit of the cliff, +and dwindled over it against the sky. + + + + +XXXVII. REACTION + + +There was no letter from Bob, though December had passed, and the new +year was two weeks old. His movements were, however, pretty accurately +registered in the papers, which John still brought, but which Anne no +longer read. During the second week in December the Victory sailed for +Sheerness, and on the 9th of the following January the public funeral of +Lord Nelson took place in St. Paul's. + +Then there came a meagre line addressed to the family in general. Bob's +new Portsmouth attachment was not mentioned, but he told them he had been +one of the eight-and-forty seamen who walked two-and-two in the funeral +procession, and that Captain Hardy had borne the banner of emblems on the +same occasion. The crew was soon to be paid off at Chatham, when he +thought of returning to Portsmouth for a few days to see a valued friend. +After that he should come home. + +But the spring advanced without bringing him, and John watched Anne +Garland's desolation with augmenting desire to do something towards +consoling her. The old feelings, so religiously held in check, were +stimulated to rebelliousness, though they did not show themselves in any +direct manner as yet. + +The miller, in the meantime, who seldom interfered in such matters, was +observed to look meaningly at Anne and the trumpet-major from day to day; +and by-and-by he spoke privately to John. + +His words were short and to the point: Anne was very melancholy; she had +thought too much of Bob. Now 'twas plain that they had lost him for many +years to come. Well; he had always felt that of the two he would rather +John married her. Now John might settle down there, and succeed where +Bob had failed. 'So if you could get her, my sonny, to think less of him +and more of thyself, it would be a good thing for all.' + +An inward excitement had risen in John; but he suppressed it and said +firmly-- + +'Fairness to Bob before everything!' + +'He hev forgot her, and there's an end on't.' + +'She's not forgot him.' + +'Well, well; think it over.' + +This discourse was the cause of his penning a letter to his brother. He +begged for a distinct statement whether, as John at first supposed, Bob's +verbal renunciation of Anne on the quay had been only a momentary +ebullition of friendship, which it would be cruel to take literally; or +whether, as seemed now, it had passed from a hasty resolve to a standing +purpose, persevered in for his own pleasure, with not a care for the +result on poor Anne. + +John waited anxiously for the answer, but no answer came; and the silence +seemed even more significant than a letter of assurance could have been +of his absolution from further support to a claim which Bob himself had +so clearly renounced. Thus it happened that paternal pressure, brotherly +indifference, and his own released impulse operated in one delightful +direction, and the trumpet-major once more approached Anne as in the old +time. + +But it was not till she had been left to herself for a full five months, +and the blue-bells and ragged-robins of the following year were again +making themselves common to the rambling eye, that he directly addressed +her. She was tying up a group of tall flowering plants in the garden: +she knew that he was behind her, but she did not turn. She had subsided +into a placid dignity which enabled her when watched to perform any +little action with seeming composure--very different from the flutter of +her inexperienced days. + +'Are you never going to turn round?' he at length asked good-humouredly. + +She then did turn, and looked at him for a moment without speaking; a +certain suspicion looming in her eyes, as if suggested by his perceptible +want of ease. + +'How like summer it is getting to feel, is it not?' she said. + +John admitted that it was getting to feel like summer: and, bending his +gaze upon her with an earnestness which no longer left any doubt of his +subject, went on to ask-- + +'Have you ever in these last weeks thought of how it used to be between +us?' + +She replied quickly, 'O, John, you shouldn't begin that again. I am +almost another woman now!' + +'Well, that's all the more reason why I should, isn't it?' + +Anne looked thoughtfully to the other end of the garden, faintly shaking +her head; 'I don't quite see it like that,' she returned. + +'You feel yourself quite free, don't you?' + +'_Quite_ free!' she said instantly, and with proud distinctness; her eyes +fell, and she repeated more slowly, 'Quite free.' Then her thoughts +seemed to fly from herself to him. 'But you are not?' + +'I am not?' + +'Miss Johnson!' + +'O--that woman! You know as well as I that was all make-up, and that I +never for a moment thought of her.' + +'I had an idea you were acting; but I wasn't sure.' + +'Well, that's nothing now. Anne, I want to relieve your life; to cheer +you in some way; to make some amends for my brother's bad conduct. If +you cannot love me, liking will be well enough. I have thought over +every side of it so many times--for months have I been thinking it +over--and I am at last sure that I do right to put it to you in this way. +That I don't wrong Bob I am quite convinced. As far as he is concerned +we be both free. Had I not been sure of that I would never have spoken. +Father wants me to take on the mill, and it will please him if you can +give me one little hope; it will make the house go on altogether better +if you can think o' me.' + +'You are generous and good, John,' she said, as a big round tear bowled +helter-skelter down her face and hat-strings. + +'I am not that; I fear I am quite the opposite,' he said, without looking +at her. 'It would be all gain to me-- But you have not answered my +question.' + +She lifted her eyes. 'John, I cannot!' she said, with a cheerless smile. +'Positively I cannot. Will you make me a promise?' + +'What is it?' + +'I want you to promise first-- Yes, it is dreadfully unreasonable,' she +added, in a mild distress. 'But do promise!' + +John by this time seemed to have a feeling that it was all up with him +for the present. 'I promise,' he said listlessly. + +'It is that you won't speak to me about this for _ever_ so long,' she +returned, with emphatic kindliness. + +'Very good,' he replied; 'very good. Dear Anne, you don't think I have +been unmanly or unfair in starting this anew?' + +Anne looked into his face without a smile. 'You have been perfectly +natural,' she murmured. 'And so I think have I.' + +John, mournfully: 'You will not avoid me for this, or be afraid of me? I +will not break my word. I will not worry you any more.' + +'Thank you, John. You need not have said worry; it isn't that.' + +'Well, I am very blind and stupid. I have been hurting your heart all +the time without knowing it. It is my fate, I suppose. Men who love +women the very best always blunder and give more pain than those who love +them less.' + +Anne laid one of her hands on the other as she softly replied, looking +down at them, 'No one loves me as well as you, John; nobody in the world +is so worthy to be loved; and yet I cannot anyhow love you rightly.' And +lifting her eyes, 'But I do so feel for you that I will try as hard as I +can to think about you.' + +'Well, that is something,' he said, smiling. 'You say I must not speak +about it again for ever so long; how long?' + +'Now that's not fair,' Anne retorted, going down the garden, and leaving +him alone. + +About a week passed. Then one afternoon the miller walked up to Anne +indoors, a weighty topic being expressed in his tread. + +'I was so glad, my honey,' he began, with a knowing smile, 'to see that +from the mill-window last week.' He flung a nod in the direction of the +garden. + +Anne innocently inquired what it could be. + +'Jack and you in the garden together,' he continued laying his hand +gently on her shoulder and stroking it. 'It would so please me, my dear +little girl, if you could get to like him better than that weathercock, +Master Bob.' + +Anne shook her head; not in forcible negation, but to imply a kind of +neutrality. + +'Can't you? Come now,' said the miller. + +She threw back her head with a little laugh of grievance. 'How you all +beset me!' she expostulated. 'It makes me feel very wicked in not +obeying you, and being faithful--faithful to--' But she could not trust +that side of the subject to words. 'Why would it please you so much?' +she asked. + +'John is as steady and staunch a fellow as ever blowed a trumpet. I've +always thought you might do better with him than with Bob. Now I've a +plan for taking him into the mill, and letting him have a comfortable +time o't after his long knocking about; but so much depends upon you that +I must bide a bit till I see what your pleasure is about the poor fellow. +Mind, my dear, I don't want to force ye; I only just ask ye.' + +Anne meditatively regarded the miller from under her shady eyelids, the +fingers of one hand playing a silent tattoo on her bosom. 'I don't know +what to say to you,' she answered brusquely, and went away. + +But these discourses were not without their effect upon the extremely +conscientious mind of Anne. They were, moreover, much helped by an +incident which took place one evening in the autumn of this year, when +John came to tea. Anne was sitting on a low stool in front of the fire, +her hands clasped across her knee. John Loveday had just seated himself +on a chair close behind her, and Mrs. Loveday was in the act of filling +the teapot from the kettle which hung in the chimney exactly above Anne. +The kettle slipped forward suddenly, whereupon John jumped from the chair +and put his own two hands over Anne's just in time to shield them, and +the precious knee she clasped, from the jet of scalding water which had +directed itself upon that point. The accidental overflow was instantly +checked by Mrs. Loveday; but what had come was received by the devoted +trumpet-major on the back of his hands. + +Anne, who had hardly been aware that he was behind her, started up like a +person awakened from a trance. 'What have you done to yourself, poor +John, to keep it off me!' she cried, looking at his hands. + +John reddened emotionally at her words, 'It is a bit of a scald, that's +all,' he replied, drawing a finger across the back of one hand, and +bringing off the skin by the touch. + +'You are scalded painfully, and I not at all!' She gazed into his kind +face as she had never gazed there before, and when Mrs. Loveday came back +with oil and other liniments for the wound Anne would let nobody dress it +but herself. It seemed as if her coyness had all gone, and when she had +done all that lay in her power she still sat by him. At his departure +she said what she had never said to him in her life before: 'Come again +soon!' + +In short, that impulsive act of devotion, the last of a series of the +same tenor, had been the added drop which finally turned the wheel. +John's character deeply impressed her. His determined steadfastness to +his lode star won her admiration, the more especially as that star was +herself. She began to wonder more and more how she could have so +persistently held out against his advances before Bob came home to renew +girlish memories which had by that time got considerably weakened. Could +she not, after all, please the miller, and try to listen to John? By so +doing she would make a worthy man happy, the only sacrifice being at +worst that of her unworthy self, whose future was no longer valuable. 'As +for Bob, the woman is to be pitied who loves him,' she reflected +indignantly, and persuaded herself that, whoever the woman might be, she +was not Anne Garland. + +After this there was something of recklessness and something of +pleasantry in the young girl's manner of making herself an example of the +triumph of pride and common sense over memory and sentiment. Her +attitude had been epitomized in her defiant singing at the time she +learnt that Bob was not leal and true. John, as was inevitable, came +again almost immediately, drawn thither by the sun of her first smile on +him, and the words which had accompanied it. And now instead of going +off to her little pursuits upstairs, downstairs, across the room, in the +corner, or to any place except where he happened to be, as had been her +custom hitherto, she remained seated near him, returning interesting +answers to his general remarks, and at every opportunity letting him know +that at last he had found favour in her eyes. + +The day was fine, and they went out of doors, where Anne endeavoured to +seat herself on the sloping stone of the window-sill. + +'How good you have become lately,' said John, standing over her and +smiling in the sunlight which blazed against the wall. 'I fancy you have +stayed at home this afternoon on my account.' + +'Perhaps I have,' she said gaily-- + + '"Do whatever we may for him, dame, we cannot do too much! + For he's one that has guarded our land." + +'And he has done more than that: he has saved me from a dreadful +scalding. The back of your hand will not be well for a long time, John, +will it?' + +He held out his hand to regard its condition, and the next natural thing +was to take hers. There was a glow upon his face when he did it: his +star was at last on a fair way towards the zenith after its long and +weary declination. The least penetrating eye could have perceived that +Anne had resolved to let him woo, possibly in her temerity to let him +win. Whatever silent sorrow might be locked up in her, it was by this +time thrust a long way down from the light. + +'I want you to go somewhere with me if you will,' he said, still holding +her hand. + +'Yes? Where is it?' + +He pointed to a distant hill-side which, hitherto green, had within the +last few days begun to show scratches of white on its face. 'Up there,' +he said. + +'I see little figures of men moving about. What are they doing?' + +'Cutting out a huge picture of the king on horseback in the earth of the +hill. The king's head is to be as big as our mill-pond and his body as +big as this garden; he and the horse will cover more than an acre. When +shall we go?' + +'Whenever you please,' said she. + +'John!' cried Mrs. Loveday from the front door. 'Here's a friend come +for you.' + +John went round, and found his trusty lieutenant, Trumpeter Buck, waiting +for him. A letter had come to the barracks for John in his absence, and +the trumpeter, who was going for a walk, had brought it along with him. +Buck then entered the mill to discuss, if possible, a mug of last year's +mead with the miller; and John proceeded to read his letter, Anne being +still round the corner where he had left her. When he had read a few +words he turned as pale as a sheet, but he did not move, and perused the +writing to the end. + +Afterwards he laid his elbow against the wall, and put his palm to his +head, thinking with painful intentness. Then he took himself vigorously +in hand, as it were, and gradually became natural again. When he parted +from Anne to go home with Buck she noticed nothing different in him. + +In barracks that evening he read the letter again. It was from Bob; and +the agitating contents were these:-- + + 'DEAR JOHN,--I have drifted off from writing till the present time + because I have not been clear about my feelings; but I have discovered + them at last, and can say beyond doubt that I mean to be faithful to + my dearest Anne after all. The fact is, John, I've got into a bit of + a scrape, and I've a secret to tell you about it (which must go no + further on any account). On landing last autumn I fell in with a + young woman, and we got rather warm as folks do; in short, we liked + one another well enough for a while. But I have got into shoal water + with her, and have found her to be a terrible take-in. Nothing in her + at all--no sense, no niceness, all tantrums and empty noise, John, + though she seemed monstrous clever at first. So my heart comes back + to its old anchorage. I hope my return to faithfulness will make no + difference to you. But as you showed by your looks at our parting + that you should not accept my offer to give her up--made in too much + haste, as I have since found--I feel that you won't mind that I have + returned to the path of honour. I dare not write to Anne as yet, and + please do not let her know a word about the other young woman, or + there will be the devil to pay. I shall come home and make all things + right, please God. In the meantime I should take it as a kindness, + John, if you would keep a brotherly eye upon Anne, and guide her mind + back to me. I shall die of sorrow if anybody sets her against me, for + my hopes are getting bound up in her again quite strong. Hoping you + are jovial, as times go, I am,--Your affectionate brother, + + ROBERT.' + +When the cold daylight fell upon John's face, as he dressed himself next +morning, the incipient yesterday's wrinkle in his forehead had become +permanently graven there. He had resolved, for the sake of that only +brother whom he had nursed as a baby, instructed as a child, and +protected and loved always, to pause in his procedure for the present, +and at least do nothing to hinder Bob's restoration to favour, if a +genuine, even though temporarily smothered, love for Anne should still +hold possession of him. But having arranged to take her to see the +excavated figure of the king, he started for Overcombe during the day, as +if nothing had occurred to check the smooth course of his love. + + + + +XXXVIII. A DELICATE SITUATION + + +'I am ready to go,' said Anne, as soon as he arrived. + +He paused as if taken aback by her readiness, and replied with much +uncertainty, 'Would it--wouldn't it be better to put it off till there is +less sun?' + +The very slightest symptom of surprise arose in her as she rejoined, 'But +the weather may change; or had we better not go at all?' + +'O no!--it was only a thought. We will start at once.' + +And along the vale they went, John keeping himself about a yard from her +right hand. When the third field had been crossed they came upon half-a- +dozen little boys at play. + +'Why don't he clasp her to his side, like a man?' said the biggest and +rudest boy. + +'Why don't he clasp her to his side, like a man?' echoed all the rude +smaller boys in a chorus. + +The trumpet-major turned, and, after some running, succeeded in smacking +two of them with his switch, returning to Anne breathless. 'I am ashamed +they should have insulted you so,' he said, blushing for her. + +'They said no harm, poor boys,' she replied reproachfully. + +Poor John was dumb with perception. The gentle hint upon which he would +have eagerly spoken only one short day ago was now like fire to his +wound. + +They presently came to some stepping-stones across a brook. John crossed +first without turning his head, and Anne, just lifting the skirt of her +dress, crossed behind him. When they had reached the other side a +village girl and a young shepherd approached the brink to cross. Anne +stopped and watched them. The shepherd took a hand of the young girl in +each of his own, and walked backward over the stones, facing her, and +keeping her upright by his grasp, both of them laughing as they went. + +'What are you staying for, Miss Garland?' asked John. + +'I was only thinking how happy they are,' she said quietly; and +withdrawing her eyes from the tender pair, she turned and followed him, +not knowing that the seeming sound of a passing bumble-bee was a +suppressed groan from John. + +When they reached the hill they found forty navvies at work removing the +dark sod so as to lay bare the chalk beneath. The equestrian figure that +their shovels were forming was scarcely intelligible to John and Anne now +they were close, and after pacing from the horse's head down his breast +to his hoof, back by way of the king's bridle-arm, past the bridge of his +nose, and into his cocked-hat, Anne said that she had had enough of it, +and stepped out of the chalk clearing upon the grass. The trumpet-major +had remained all the time in a melancholy attitude within the rowel of +his Majesty's right spur. + +'My shoes are caked with chalk,' she said as they walked downwards again; +and she drew back her dress to look at them. 'How can I get some of it +cleared off?' + +'If you was to wipe them in the long grass there,' said John, pointing to +a spot where the blades were rank and dense, 'some of it would come off.' +Having said this, he walked on with religious firmness. + +Anne raked her little feet on the right side, on the left side, over the +toe, and behind the heel; but the tenacious chalk held its own. Panting +with her exertion, she gave it up, and at length overtook him. + +'I hope it is right now?' he said, looking gingerly over his shoulder. + +'No, indeed!' said she. 'I wanted some assistance--some one to steady +me. It is so hard to stand on one foot and wipe the other without +support. I was in danger of toppling over, and so gave it up.' + +'Merciful stars, what an opportunity!' thought the poor fellow while she +waited for him to offer help. But his lips remained closed, and she went +on with a pouting smile-- + +'You seem in such a hurry! Why are you in such a hurry? After all the +fine things you have said about--about caring so much for me, and all +that, you won't stop for anything!' + +It was too much for John. 'Upon my heart and life, my dea--' he began. +Here Bob's letter crackled warningly in his waistcoat pocket as he laid +his hand asseveratingly upon his breast, and he became suddenly scaled up +to dumbness and gloom as before. + +When they reached home Anne sank upon a stool outside the door, fatigued +with her excursion. Her first act was to try to pull off her shoe--it +was a difficult matter; but John stood beating with his switch the leaves +of the creeper on the wall. + +'Mother--David--Molly, or somebody--do come and help me pull off these +dirty shoes!' she cried aloud at last. 'Nobody helps me in anything!' + +'I am very sorry,' said John, coming towards her with incredible slowness +and an air of unutterable depression. + +'O, I can do without _you_. David is best,' she returned, as the old man +approached and removed the obnoxious shoes in a trice. + +Anne was amazed at this sudden change from devotion to crass +indifference. On entering her room she flew to the glass, almost +expecting to learn that some extraordinary change had come over her +pretty countenance, rendering her intolerable for evermore. But it was, +if anything, fresher than usual, on account of the exercise. 'Well!' she +said retrospectively. For the first time since their acqaintance she had +this week encouraged him; and for the first time he had shown that +encouragement was useless. 'But perhaps he does not clearly understand,' +she added serenely. + +When he next came it was, to her surprise, to bring her newspapers, now +for some time discontinued. As soon as she saw them she said, 'I do not +care for newspapers.' + +'The shipping news is very full and long to-day, though the print is +rather small.' + +'I take no further interest in the shipping news,' she replied with cold +dignity. + +She was sitting by the window, inside the table, and hence when, in spite +of her negations, he deliberately unfolded the paper and began to read +about the Royal Navy she could hardly rise and go away. With a stoical +mien he read on to the end of the report, bringing out the name of Bob's +ship with tremendous force. + +'No,' she said at last, 'I'll hear no more! Let me read to you.' + +The trumpet-major sat down. Anne turned to the military news, delivering +every detail with much apparent enthusiasm. 'That's the subject _I_ +like!' she said fervently. + +'But--but Bob is in the navy now, and will most likely rise to be an +officer. And then--' + +'What is there like the army?' she interrupted. 'There is no smartness +about sailors. They waddle like ducks, and they only fight stupid +battles that no one can form any idea of. There is no science nor +stratagem in sea-fights--nothing more than what you see when two rams run +their heads together in a field to knock each other down. But in +military battles there is such art, and such splendour, and the men are +so smart, particularly the horse-soldiers. O, I shall never forget what +gallant men you all seemed when you came and pitched your tents on the +downs! I like the cavalry better than anything I know; and the dragoons +the best of the cavalry--and the trumpeters the best of the dragoons!' + +'O, if it had but come a little sooner!' moaned John within him. He +replied as soon as he could regain self-command, 'I am glad Bob is in the +navy at last--he is so much more fitted for that than the +merchant-service--so brave by nature, ready for any daring deed. I have +heard ever so much more about his doings on board the Victory. Captain +Hardy took special notice that when he--' + +'I don't want to know anything more about it,' said Anne impatiently; 'of +course sailors fight; there's nothing else to do in a ship, since you +can't run away! You may as well fight and be killed as be killed not +fighting.' + +'Still it is his character to be careless of himself where the honour of +his country is concerned,' John pleaded. 'If you had only known him as a +boy you would own it. He would always risk his own life to save anybody +else's. Once when a cottage was afire up the lane he rushed in for a +baby, although he was only a boy himself, and he had the narrowest +escape. We have got his hat now with the hole burnt in it. Shall I get +it and show it to you?' + +'No--I don't wish it. It has nothing to do with me.' But as he +persisted in his course towards the door, she added, 'Ah! you are leaving +because I am in your way. You want to be alone while you read the +paper--I will go at once. I did not see that I was interrupting you.' +And she rose as if to retreat. + +'No, no! I would rather be interrupted by _you_ than--O, Miss Garland, +excuse me! I'll just speak to father in the mill, now I am here.' + +It is scarcely necessary to state that Anne (whose unquestionable +gentility amid somewhat homely surroundings has been many times insisted +on in the course of this history) was usually the reverse of a woman with +a coming-on disposition; but, whether from pique at his manner, or from +wilful adherence to a course rashly resolved on, or from coquettish +maliciousness in reaction from long depression, or from any other +thing,--so it was that she would not let him go. + +'Trumpet-major,' she said, recalling him. + +'Yes?' he replied timidly. + +'The bow of my cap-ribbon has come untied, has it not?' She turned and +fixed her bewitching glance upon him. + +The bow was just over her forehead, or, more precisely, at the point +where the organ of comparison merges in that of benevolence, according to +the phrenological theory of Gall. John, thus brought to, endeavoured to +look at the bow in a skimming, duck-and-drake fashion, so as to avoid +dipping his own glance as far as to the plane of his interrogator's eyes. +'It is untied,' he said, drawing back a little. + +She came nearer, and asked, 'Will you tie it for me, please?' + +As there was no help for it, he nerved himself and assented. As her head +only reached to his fourth button she necessarily looked up for his +convenience, and John began fumbling at the bow. Try as he would it was +impossible to touch the ribbon without getting his finger tips mixed with +the curls of her forehead. + +'Your hand shakes--ah! you have been walking fast,' she said. + +'Yes--yes.' + +'Have you almost done it?' She inquiringly directed her gaze upward +through his fingers. + +'No--not yet,' he faltered in a warm sweat of emotion, his heart going +like a flail. + +'Then be quick, please.' + +'Yes, I will, Miss Garland! B-B-Bob is a very good fel--' + +'Not that man's name to me!' she interrupted. + +John was silent instantly, and nothing was to be heard but the rustling +of the ribbon; till his hands once more blundered among the curls, and +then touched her forehead. + +'O good God!' ejaculated the trumpet-major in a whisper, turning away +hastily to the corner-cupboard, and resting his face upon his hand. + +'What's the matter, John?' said she. + +'I can't do it!' + +'What?' + +'Tie your cap-ribbon.' + +'Why not?' + +'Because you are so--Because I am clumsy, and never could tie a bow.' + +'You are clumsy indeed,' answered Anne, and went away. + +After this she felt injured, for it seemed to show that he rated her +happiness as of meaner value than Bob's; since he had persisted in his +idea of giving Bob another chance when she had implied that it was her +wish to do otherwise. Could Miss Johnson have anything to do with his +firmness? An opportunity of testing him in this direction occurred some +days later. She had been up the village, and met John at the mill-door. + +'Have you heard the news? Matilda Johnson is going to be married to +young Derriman.' + +Anne stood with her back to the sun, and as he faced her, his features +were searchingly exhibited. There was no change whatever in them, unless +it were that a certain light of interest kindled by her question turned +to complete and blank indifference. 'Well, as times go, it is not a bad +match for her,' he said, with a phlegm which was hardly that of a lover. + +John on his part was beginning to find these temptations almost more than +he could bear. But being quartered so near to his father's house it was +unnatural not to visit him, especially when at any moment the regiment +might be ordered abroad, and a separation of years ensue; and as long as +he went there he could not help seeing her. + +The year changed from green to gold, and from gold to grey, but little +change came over the house of Loveday. During the last twelve months Bob +had been occasionally heard of as upholding his country's honour in +Denmark, the West Indies, Gibraltar, Malta, and other places about the +globe, till the family received a short letter stating that he had +arrived again at Portsmouth. At Portsmouth Bob seemed disposed to +remain, for though some time elapsed without further intelligence, the +gallant seaman never appeared at Overcombe. Then on a sudden John learnt +that Bob's long-talked-of promotion for signal services rendered was to +be an accomplished fact. The trumpet-major at once walked off to +Overcombe, and reached the village in the early afternoon. Not one of +the family was in the house at the moment, and John strolled onwards over +the hill towards Casterbridge, without much thought of direction till, +lifting his eyes, he beheld Anne Garland wandering about with a little +basket upon her arm. + +At first John blushed with delight at the sweet vision; but, recalled by +his conscience, the blush of delight was at once mangled and slain. He +looked for a means of retreat. But the field was open, and a soldier was +a conspicuous object: there was no escaping her. + +'It was kind of you to come,' she said, with an inviting smile. + +'It was quite by accident,' he answered, with an indifferent laugh. 'I +thought you was at home.' + +Anne blushed and said nothing, and they rambled on together. In the +middle of the field rose a fragment of stone wall in the form of a gable, +known as Faringdon Ruin; and when they had reached it John paused and +politely asked her if she were not a little tired with walking so far. No +particular reply was returned by the young lady, but they both stopped, +and Anne seated herself on a stone, which had fallen from the ruin to the +ground. + +'A church once stood here,' observed John in a matter-of-fact tone. + +'Yes, I have often shaped it out in my mind,' she returned. 'Here where +I sit must have been the altar.' + +'True; this standing bit of wall was the chancel end.' + +Anne had been adding up her little studies of the trumpet-major's +character, and was surprised to find how the brightness of that character +increased in her eyes with each examination. A kindly and gentle +sensation was again aroused in her. Here was a neglected heroic man, +who, loving her to distraction, deliberately doomed himself to pensive +shade to avoid even the appearance of standing in a brother's way. + +'If the altar stood here, hundreds of people have been made man and wife +just there, in past times,' she said, with calm deliberateness, throwing +a little stone on a spot about a yard westward. + +John annihilated another tender burst and replied, 'Yes, this field used +to be a village. My grandfather could call to mind when there were +houses here. But the squire pulled 'em down, because poor folk were an +eyesore to him.' + +'Do you know, John, what you once asked me to do?' she continued, not +accepting the digression, and turning her eyes upon him. + +'In what sort of way?' + +'In the matter of my future life, and yours.' + +'I am afraid I don't.' + +'John Loveday!' + +He turned his back upon her for a moment, that she might not see his +face. 'Ah--I do remember,' he said at last, in a dry, small, repressed +voice. + +'Well--need I say more? Isn't it sufficient?' + +'It would be sufficient,' answered the unhappy man. 'But--' + +She looked up with a reproachful smile, and shook her head. 'That +summer,' she went on, 'you asked me ten times if you asked me once. I am +older now; much more of a woman, you know; and my opinion is changed +about some people; especially about one.' + +'O Anne, Anne!' he burst out as, racked between honour and desire, he +snatched up her hand. The next moment it fell heavily to her lap. He +had absolutely relinquished it half-way to his lips. + +'I have been thinking lately,' he said, with preternaturally sudden +calmness, 'that men of the military profession ought not to m--ought to +be like St. Paul, I mean.' + +'Fie, John; pretending religion!' she said sternly. 'It isn't that at +all. _It's Bob_!' + +'Yes!' cried the miserable trumpet-major. 'I have had a letter from him +to-day.' He pulled out a sheet of paper from his breast. 'That's it! +He's promoted--he's a lieutenant, and appointed to a sloop that only +cruises on our own coast, so that he'll be at home on leave half his +time--he'll be a gentleman some day, and worthy of you!' + +He threw the letter into her lap, and drew back to the other side of the +gable-wall. Anne jumped up from her seat, flung away the letter without +looking at it, and went hastily on. John did not attempt to overtake +her. Picking up the letter, he followed in her wake at a distance of a +hundred yards. + +But, though Anne had withdrawn from his presence thus precipitately, she +never thought more highly of him in her life than she did five minutes +afterwards, when the excitement of the moment had passed. She saw it all +quite clearly; and his self-sacrifice impressed her so much that the +effect was just the reverse of what he had been aiming to produce. The +more he pleaded for Bob, the more her perverse generosity pleaded for +John. To-day the crisis had come--with what results she had not +foreseen. + +As soon as the trumpet-major reached the nearest pen-and-ink he flung +himself into a seat and wrote wildly to Bob:-- + + 'DEAR ROBERT,--I write these few lines to let you know that if you + want Anne Garland you must come at once--you must come instantly, and + post-haste--_or she will be gone_! Somebody else wants her, and she + wants him! It is your last chance, in the opinion of-- + + 'Your faithful brother and well-wisher, + 'JOHN. + + 'P.S.--Glad to hear of your promotion. Tell me the day and I'll meet + the coach.' + + + + +XXXIX. BOB LOVEDAY STRUTS UP AND DOWN + + +One night, about a week later, two men were walking in the dark along the +turnpike road towards Overcombe, one of them with a bag in his hand. + +'Now,' said the taller of the two, the squareness of whose shoulders +signified that he wore epaulettes, 'now you must do the best you can for +yourself, Bob. I have done all I can; but th'hast thy work cut out, I +can tell thee.' + +'I wouldn't have run such a risk for the world,' said the other, in a +tone of ingenuous contrition. 'But thou'st see, Jack, I didn't think +there was any danger, knowing you was taking care of her, and keeping my +place warm for me. I didn't hurry myself, that's true; but, thinks I, if +I get this promotion I am promised I shall naturally have leave, and then +I'll go and see 'em all. Gad, I shouldn't have been here now but for +your letter!' + +'You little think what risks you've run,' said his brother. 'However, +try to make up for lost time.' + +'All right. And whatever you do, Jack, don't say a word about this other +girl. Hang the girl!--I was a great fool, I know; still, it is over now, +and I am come to my senses. I suppose Anne never caught a capful of wind +from that quarter?' + +'She knows all about it,' said John seriously. + +'Knows? By George, then, I'm ruined!' said Bob, standing stock-still in +the road as if he meant to remain there all night. + +'That's what I meant by saying it would be a hard battle for 'ee,' +returned John, with the same quietness as before. + +Bob sighed and moved on. 'I don't deserve that woman!' he cried +passionately, thumping his three upper ribs with his fist. + +'I've thought as much myself,' observed John, with a dryness which was +almost bitter. 'But it depends on how thou'st behave in future.' + +'John,' said Bob, taking his brother's hand, 'I'll be a new man. I +solemnly swear by that eternal milestone staring at me there that I'll +never look at another woman with the thought of marrying her whilst that +darling is free--no, not if she be a mermaiden of light! It's a lucky +thing that I'm slipped in on the quarterdeck! it may help me with +her--hey?' + +'It may with her mother; I don't think it will make much difference with +Anne. Still, it is a good thing; and I hope that some day you'll command +a big ship.' + +Bob shook his head. 'Officers are scarce; but I'm afraid my luck won't +carry me so far as that.' + +'Did she ever tell you that she mentioned your name to the King?' + +The seaman stood still again. 'Never!' he said. 'How did such a thing +as that happen, in Heaven's name?' + +John described in detail, and they walked on, lost in conjecture. + +As soon as they entered the house the returned officer of the navy was +welcomed with acclamation by his father and David, with mild approval by +Mrs. Loveday, and by Anne not at all--that discreet maiden having +carefully retired to her own room some time earlier in the evening. Bob +did not dare to ask for her in any positive manner; he just inquired +about her health, and that was all. + +'Why, what's the matter with thy face, my son?' said the miller, staring. +'David, show a light here.' And a candle was thrust against Bob's cheek, +where there appeared a jagged streak like the geological remains of a +lobster. + +'O--that's where that rascally Frenchman's grenade busted and hit me from +the Redoubtable, you know, as I told 'ee in my letter.' + +'Not a word!' + +'What, didn't I tell 'ee? Ah, no; I meant to, but I forgot it.' + +'And here's a sort of dint in yer forehead too; what do that mean, my +dear boy?' said the miller, putting his finger in a chasm in Bob's skull. + +'That was done in the Indies. Yes, that was rather a troublesome chop--a +cutlass did it. I should have told 'ee, but I found 'twould make my +letter so long that I put it off, and put it off; and at last thought it +wasn't worth while.' + +John soon rose to take his departure. + +'It's all up with me and her, you see,' said Bob to him outside the door. +'She's not even going to see me.' + +'Wait a little,' said the trumpet-major. It was easy enough on the night +of the arrival, in the midst of excitement, when blood was warm, for Anne +to be resolute in her avoidance of Bob Loveday. But in the morning +determination is apt to grow invertebrate; rules of pugnacity are less +easily acted up to, and a feeling of live and let live takes possession +of the gentle soul. Anne had not meant even to sit down to the same +breakfast-table with Bob; but when the rest were assembled, and had got +some way through the substantial repast which was served at this hour in +the miller's house, Anne entered. She came silently as a phantom, her +eyes cast down, her cheeks pale. It was a good long walk from the door +to the table, and Bob made a full inspection of her as she came up to a +chair at the remotest corner, in the direct rays of the morning light, +where she dumbly sat herself down. + +It was altogether different from how she had expected. Here was she, who +had done nothing, feeling all the embarrassment; and Bob, who had done +the wrong, feeling apparently quite at ease. + +'You'll speak to Bob, won't you, honey?' said the miller after a silence. +To meet Bob like this after an absence seemed irregular in his eyes. + +'If he wish me to,' she replied, so addressing the miller that no part, +scrap, or outlying beam whatever of her glance passed near the subject of +her remark. + +'He's a lieutenant, you know, dear,' said her mother on the same side; +'and he's been dreadfully wounded.' + +'Oh?' said Anne, turning a little towards the false one; at which Bob +felt it to be time for him to put in a spoke for himself. + +'I am glad to see you,' he said contritely; 'and how do you do?' + +'Very well, thank you.' + +He extended his hand. She allowed him to take hers, but only to the +extent of a niggardly inch or so. At the same moment she glanced up at +him, when their eyes met, and hers were again withdrawn. + +The hitch between the two younger members of the household tended to make +the breakfast a dull one. Bob was so depressed by her unforgiving manner +that he could not throw that sparkle into his stories which their +substance naturally required; and when the meal was over, and they went +about their different businesses, the pair resembled the two Dromios in +seldom or never being, thanks to Anne's subtle contrivances, both in the +same room at the same time. + +This kind of performance repeated itself during several days. At last, +after dogging her hither and thither, leaning with a wrinkled forehead +against doorposts, taking an oblique view into the room where she +happened to be, picking up worsted balls and getting no thanks, placing a +splinter from the Victory, several bullets from the Redoubtable, a strip +of the flag, and other interesting relics, carefully labelled, upon her +table, and hearing no more about them than if they had been pebbles from +the nearest brook, he hit upon a new plan. To avoid him she frequently +sat upstairs in a window overlooking the garden. Lieutenant Loveday +carefully dressed himself in a new uniform, which he had caused to be +sent some days before, to dazzle admiring friends, but which he had never +as yet put on in public or mentioned to a soul. When arrayed he entered +the sunny garden, and there walked slowly up and down as he had seen +Nelson and Captain Hardy do on the quarter-deck; but keeping his right +shoulder, on which his one epaulette was fixed, as much towards Anne's +window as possible. + +But she made no sign, though there was not the least question that she +saw him. At the end of half-an-hour he went in, took off his clothes, +and gave himself up to doubt and the best tobacco. + +He repeated the programme on the next afternoon, and on the next, never +saying a word within doors about his doings or his notice. + +Meanwhile the results in Anne's chamber were not uninteresting. She had +been looking out on the first day, and was duly amazed to see a naval +officer in full uniform promenading in the path. Finding it to be Bob, +she left the window with a sense that the scene was not for her; then, +from mere curiosity, peeped out from behind the curtain. Well, he was a +pretty spectacle, she admitted, relieved as his figure was by a dense +mass of sunny, close-trimmed hedge, over which nasturtiums climbed in +wild luxuriance; and if she could care for him one bit, which she +couldn't, his form would have been a delightful study, surpassing in +interest even its splendour on the memorable day of their visit to the +town theatre. She called her mother; Mrs. Loveday came promptly. + +'O, it is nothing,' said Anne indifferently; 'only that Bob has got his +uniform.' + +Mrs. Loveday peeped out, and raised her hands with delight. 'And he has +not said a word to us about it! What a lovely epaulette! I must call +his father.' + +'No, indeed. As I take no interest in him I shall not let people come +into my room to admire him.' + +'Well, you called me,' said her mother. + +'It was because I thought you liked fine clothes. It is what I don't +care for.' + +Notwithstanding this assertion she again looked out at Bob the next +afternoon when his footsteps rustled on the gravel, and studied his +appearance under all the varying angles of the sunlight, as if fine +clothes and uniforms were not altogether a matter of indifference. He +certainly was a splendid, gentlemanly, and gallant sailor from end to end +of him; but then, what were a dashing presentment, a naval rank, and +telling scars, if a man was fickle-hearted? However, she peeped on till +the fourth day, and then she did not peep. The window was open, she +looked right out, and Bob knew that he had got a rise to his bait at +last. He touched his hat to her, keeping his right shoulder forwards, +and said, 'Good-day, Miss Garland,' with a smile. + +Anne replied, 'Good-day,' with funereal seriousness; and the acquaintance +thus revived led to the interchange of a few words at supper-time, at +which Mrs. Loveday nodded with satisfaction. But Anne took especial care +that he should never meet her alone, and to insure this her ingenuity was +in constant exercise. There were so many nooks and windings on the +miller's rambling premises that she could never be sure he would not turn +up within a foot of her, particularly as his thin shoes were almost +noiseless. + +One fine afternoon she accompanied Molly in search of elderberries for +making the family wine which was drunk by Mrs. Loveday, Anne, and anybody +who could not stand the rougher and stronger liquors provided by the +miller. After walking rather a long distance over the down they came to +a grassy hollow, where elder-bushes in knots of twos and threes rose from +an uneven bank and hung their heads towards the south, black and heavy +with bunches of fruit. The charm of fruit-gathering to girls is enhanced +in the case of elderberries by the inoffensive softness of the leaves, +boughs, and bark, which makes getting into the branches easy and pleasant +to the most indifferent climbers. Anne and Molly had soon gathered a +basketful, and sending the servant home with it, Anne remained in the +bush picking and throwing down bunch by bunch upon the grass. She was so +absorbed in her occupation of pulling the twigs towards her, and the +rustling of their leaves so filled her ears, that it was a great surprise +when, on turning her head, she perceived a similar movement to her own +among the boughs of the adjoining bush. + +At first she thought they were disturbed by being partly in contact with +the boughs of her bush; but in a moment Robert Loveday's face peered from +them, at a distance of about a yard from her own. Anne uttered a little +indignant 'Well!' recovered herself, and went on plucking. Bob thereupon +went on plucking likewise. + +'I am picking elderberries for your mother,' said the lieutenant at last, +humbly. + +'So I see.' + +'And I happen to have come to the next bush to yours.' + +'So I see; but not the reason why.' + +Anne was now in the westernmost branches of the bush, and Bob had leant +across into the eastern branches of his. In gathering he swayed towards +her, back again, forward again. + +'I beg pardon,' he said, when a further swing than usual had taken him +almost in contact with her. + +'Then why do you do it?' + +'The wind rocks the bough, and the bough rocks me.' She expressed by a +look her opinion of this statement in the face of the gentlest breeze; +and Bob pursued: 'I am afraid the berries will stain your pretty hands.' + +'I wear gloves.' + +'Ah, that's a plan I should never have thought of. Can I help you?' + +'Not at all.' + +'You are offended: that's what that means.' + +'No,' she said. + +'Then will you shake hands?' + +Anne hesitated; then slowly stretched out her hand, which he took at +once. 'That will do,' she said, finding that he did not relinquish it +immediately. But as he still held it, she pulled, the effect of which +was to draw Bob's swaying person, bough and all, towards her, and herself +towards him. + +'I am afraid to let go your hand,' said that officer, 'for if I do your +spar will fly back, and you will be thrown upon the deck with great +violence.' + +'I wish you to let me go!' + +He accordingly did, and she flew back, but did not by any means fall. + +'It reminds me of the times when I used to be aloft clinging to a yard +not much bigger than this tree-stem, in the mid-Atlantic, and thinking +about you. I could see you in my fancy as plain as I see you now.' + +'Me, or some other woman!' retorted Anne haughtily. + +'No!' declared Bob, shaking the bush for emphasis, 'I'll protest that I +did not think of anybody but you all the time we were dropping down +channel, all the time we were off Cadiz, all the time through battles and +bombardments. I seemed to see you in the smoke, and, thinks I, if I go +to Davy's locker, what will she do?' + +'You didn't think that when you landed after Trafalgar.' + +'Well, now,' said the lieutenant in a reasoning tone; 'that was a curious +thing. You'll hardly believe it, maybe; but when a man is away from the +woman he loves best in the port--world, I mean--he can have a sort of +temporary feeling for another without disturbing the old one, which flows +along under the same as ever.' + +'I can't believe it, and won't,' said Anne firmly. + +Molly now appeared with the empty basket, and when it had been filled +from the heap on the grass, Anne went home with her, bidding Loveday a +frigid adieu. + +The same evening, when Bob was absent, the miller proposed that they +should all three go to an upper window of the house, to get a distant +view of some rockets and illuminations which were to be exhibited in the +town and harbour in honour of the King, who had returned this year as +usual. They accordingly went upstairs to an empty attic, placed chairs +against the window, and put out the light; Anne sitting in the middle, +her mother close by, and the miller behind, smoking. No sign of any +pyrotechnic display was visible over the port as yet, and Mrs. Loveday +passed the time by talking to the miller, who replied in monosyllables. +While this was going on Anne fancied that she heard some one approach, +and presently felt sure that Bob was drawing near her in the surrounding +darkness; but as the other two had noticed nothing she said not a word. + +All at once the swarthy expanse of southward sky was broken by the blaze +of several rockets simultaneously ascending from different ships in the +roads. At the very same moment a warm mysterious hand slipped round her +own, and gave it a gentle squeeze. + +'O dear!' said Anne, with a sudden start away. + +'How nervous you are, child, to be startled by fireworks so far off,' +said Mrs. Loveday. + +'I never saw rockets before,' murmured Anne, recovering from her +surprise. + +Mrs. Loveday presently spoke again. 'I wonder what has become of Bob?' + +Anne did not reply, being much exercised in trying to get her hand away +from the one that imprisoned it; and whatever the miller thought he kept +to himself, because it disturbed his smoking to speak. + +Another batch of rockets went up. 'O I never!' said Anne, in a +half-suppressed tone, springing in her chair. A second hand had with the +rise of the rockets leapt round her waist. + +'Poor girl, you certainly must have change of scene at this rate,' said +Mrs. Loveday. + +'I suppose I must,' murmured the dutiful daughter. + +For some minutes nothing further occurred to disturb Anne's serenity. +Then a slow, quiet 'a-hem' came from the obscurity of the apartment. + +'What, Bob? How long have you been there?' inquired Mrs. Loveday. + +'Not long,' said the lieutenant coolly. 'I heard you were all here, and +crept up quietly, not to disturb ye.' + +'Why don't you wear heels to your shoes like Christian people, and not +creep about so like a cat?' + +'Well, it keeps your floors clean to go slip-shod.' + +'That's true.' + +Meanwhile Anne was gently but firmly trying to pull Bob's arm from her +waist, her distressful difficulty being that in freeing her waist she +enslaved her hand, and in getting her hand free she enslaved her waist. +Finding the struggle a futile one, owing to the invisibility of her +antagonist, and her wish to keep its nature secret from the other two, +she arose, and saying that she did not care to see any more, felt her way +downstairs. Bob followed, leaving Loveday and his wife to themselves. + +'Dear Anne,' he began, when he had got down, and saw her in the candle- +light of the large room. But she adroitly passed out at the other door, +at which he took a candle and followed her to the small room. 'Dear +Anne, do let me speak,' he repeated, as soon as the rays revealed her +figure. But she passed into the bakehouse before he could say more; +whereupon he perseveringly did the same. Looking round for her here he +perceived her at the end of the room, where there were no means of exit +whatever. + +'Dear Anne,' he began again, setting down the candle, 'you must try to +forgive me; really you must. I love you the best of anybody in the wide, +wide world. Try to forgive me; come!' And he imploringly took her hand. + +Anne's bosom began to surge and fall like a small tide, her eyes +remaining fixed upon the floor; till, when Loveday ventured to draw her +slightly towards him, she burst out crying. 'I don't like you, Bob; I +don't!' she suddenly exclaimed between her sobs. 'I did once, but I +don't now--I can't, I can't; you have been very cruel to me!' She +violently turned away, weeping. + +'I have, I have been terribly bad, I know,' answered Bob, +conscience-stricken by her grief. 'But--if you could only forgive me--I +promise that I'll never do anything to grieve 'ee again. Do you forgive +me, Anne?' + +Anne's only reply was crying and shaking her head. + +'Let's make it up. Come, say we have made it up, dear.' + +She withdrew her hand, and still keeping her eyes buried in her +handkerchief, said 'No.' + +'Very well, then!' exclaimed Bob, with sudden determination. 'Now I know +my doom! And whatever you hear of as happening to me, mind this, you +cruel girl, that it is all your causing!' Saying this he strode with a +hasty tread across the room into the passage and out at the door, +slamming it loudly behind him. + +Anne suddenly looked up from her handkerchief, and stared with round wet +eyes and parted lips at the door by which he had gone. Having remained +with suspended breath in this attitude for a few seconds she turned +round, bent her head upon the table, and burst out weeping anew with +thrice the violence of the former time. It really seemed now as if her +grief would overwhelm her, all the emotions which had been suppressed, +bottled up, and concealed since Bob's return having made themselves a +sluice at last. + +But such things have their end; and left to herself in the large, vacant, +old apartment, she grew quieter, and at last calm. At length she took +the candle and ascended to her bedroom, where she bathed her eyes and +looked in the glass to see if she had made herself a dreadful object. It +was not so bad as she had expected, and she went downstairs again. + +Nobody was there, and, sitting down, she wondered what Bob had really +meant by his words. It was too dreadful to think that he intended to go +straight away to sea without seeing her again, and frightened at what she +had done she waited anxiously for his return. + + + + +XL. A CALL ON BUSINESS + + +Her suspense was interrupted by a very gentle tapping at the door, and +then the rustle of a hand over its surface, as if searching for the latch +in the dark. The door opened a few inches, and the alabaster face of +Uncle Benjy appeared in the slit. + +'O, Squire Derriman, you frighten me!' + +'All alone?' he asked in a whisper. + +'My mother and Mr. Loveday are somewhere about the house.' + +'That will do,' he said, coming forward. 'I be wherrited out of my life, +and I have thought of you again--you yourself, dear Anne, and not the +miller. If you will only take this and lock it up for a few days till I +can find another good place for it--if you only would!' And he +breathlessly deposited the tin box on the table. + +'What, obliged to dig it up from the cellar?' + +'Ay; my nephew hath a scent of the place--how, I don't know! but he and a +young woman he's met with are searching everywhere. I worked like a wire- +drawer to get it up and away while they were scraping in the next cellar. +Now where could ye put it, dear? 'Tis only a few documents, and my will, +and such like, you know. Poor soul o' me, I'm worn out with running and +fright!' + +'I'll put it here till I can think of a better place,' said Anne, lifting +the box. 'Dear me, how heavy it is!' + +'Yes, yes,' said Uncle Benjy hastily; 'the box is iron, you see. However, +take care of it, because I am going to make it worth your while. Ah, you +are a good girl, Anne. I wish you was mine!' + +Anne looked at Uncle Benjy. She had known for some time that she +possessed all the affection he had to bestow. + +'Why do you wish that?' she said simply. + +'Now don't ye argue with me. Where d'ye put the coffer?' + +'Here,' said Anne, going to the window-seat, which rose as a flap, +disclosing a boxed receptacle beneath, as in many old houses. + +''Tis very well for the present,' he said dubiously, and they dropped the +coffer in, Anne locking down the seat, and giving him the key. 'Now I +don't want ye to be on my side for nothing,' he went on. 'I never did +now, did I? This is for you.' He handed her a little packet of paper, +which Anne turned over and looked at curiously. 'I always meant to do +it,' continued Uncle Benjy, gazing at the packet as it lay in her hand, +and sighing. 'Come, open it, my dear; I always meant to do it!' + +She opened it and found twenty new guineas snugly packed within. + +'Yes, they are for you. I always meant to do it!' he said, sighing +again. + +'But you owe me nothing!' returned Anne, holding them out. + +'Don't say it!' cried Uncle Benjy, covering his eyes. 'Put 'em away. . . . +Well, if you _don't_ want 'em--But put 'em away, dear Anne; they are +for you, because you have kept my counsel. Good-night t'ye. Yes, they +are for you.' + +He went a few steps, and turning back added anxiously, 'You won't spend +'em in clothes, or waste 'em in fairings, or ornaments of any kind, my +dear girl?' + +'I will not,' said Anne. 'I wish you would have them.' + +'No, no,' said Uncle Benjy, rushing off to escape their shine. But he +had got no further than the passage when he returned again. + +'And you won't lend 'em to anybody, or put 'em into the bank--for no bank +is safe in these troublous times?. . . If I was you I'd keep them +_exactly_ as they be, and not spend 'em on any account. Shall I lock +them into my box for ye?' + +'Certainly,' said she; and the farmer rapidly unlocked the window-bench, +opened the box, and locked them in. + +''Tis much the best plan,' he said with great satisfaction as he returned +the keys to his pocket. 'There they will always be safe, you see, and +you won't be exposed to temptation.' + +When the old man had been gone a few minutes, the miller and his wife +came in, quite unconscious of all that had passed. Anne's anxiety about +Bob was again uppermost now, and she spoke but meagrely of old Derriman's +visit, and nothing of what he had left. She would fain have asked them +if they knew where Bob was, but that she did not wish to inform them of +the rupture. She was forced to admit to herself that she had somewhat +tried his patience, and that impulsive men had been known to do dark +things with themselves at such times. + +They sat down to supper, the clock ticked rapidly on, and at length the +miller said, 'Bob is later than usual. Where can he be?' + +As they both looked at her, she could no longer keep the secret. + +'It is my fault,' she cried; 'I have driven him away! What shall I do?' + +The nature of the quarrel was at once guessed, and her two elders said no +more. Anne rose and went to the front door, where she listened for every +sound with a palpitating heart. Then she went in; then she went out: and +on one occasion she heard the miller say, 'I wonder what hath passed +between Bob and Anne. I hope the chap will come home.' + +Just about this time light footsteps were heard without, and Bob bounced +into the passage. Anne, who stood back in the dark while he passed, +followed him into the room, where her mother and the miller were on the +point of retiring to bed, candle in hand. + +'I have kept ye up, I fear,' began Bob cheerily, and apparently without +the faintest recollection of his tragic exit from the house. 'But the +truth on't is, I met with Fess Derriman at the "Duke of York" as I went +from here, and there we have been playing Put ever since, not noticing +how the time was going. I haven't had a good chat with the fellow for +years and years, and really he is an out and out good comrade--a regular +hearty! Poor fellow, he's been very badly used. I never heard the +rights of the story till now; but it seems that old uncle of his treats +him shamefully. He has been hiding away his money, so that poor Fess +might not have a farthing, till at last the young man has turned, like +any other worm, and is now determined to ferret out what he has done with +it. The poor young chap hadn't a farthing of ready money till I lent him +a couple of guineas--a thing I never did more willingly in my life. But +the man was very honourable. "No; no," says he, "don't let me deprive +ye." He's going to marry, and what may you think he is going to do it +for?' + +'For love, I hope,' said Anne's mother. + +'For money, I suppose, since he's so short,' said the miller. + +'No,' said Bob, 'for _spite_. He has been badly served--deuced badly +served--by a woman. I never heard of a more heartless case in my life. +The poor chap wouldn't mention names, but it seems this young woman has +trifled with him in all manner of cruel ways--pushed him into the river, +tried to steal his horse when he was called out to defend his country--in +short, served him rascally. So I gave him the two guineas and said, "Now +let's drink to the hussy's downfall!"' + +'O!' said Anne, having approached behind him. + +Bob turned and saw her, and at the same moment Mr. and Mrs. Loveday +discreetly retired by the other door. + +'Is it peace?' he asked tenderly. + +'O yes,' she anxiously replied. 'I--didn't mean to make you think I had +no heart.' At this Bob inclined his countenance towards hers. 'No,' she +said, smiling through two incipient tears as she drew back. 'You are to +show good behaviour for six months, and you must promise not to frighten +me again by running off when I--show you how badly you have served me.' + +'I am yours obedient--in anything,' cried Bob. 'But am I pardoned?' + +Youth is foolish; and does a woman often let her reasoning in favour of +the worthier stand in the way of her perverse desire for the less worthy +at such times as these? She murmured some soft words, ending with 'Do +you repent?' + +It would be superfluous to transcribe Bob's answer. + +Footsteps were heard without. + +'O begad; I forgot!' said Bob. 'He's waiting out there for a light.' + +'Who?' + +'My friend Derriman.' + +'But, Bob, I have to explain.' + +But Festus had by this time entered the lobby, and Anne, with a hasty +'Get rid of him at once!' vanished upstairs. + +Here she waited and waited, but Festus did not seem inclined to depart; +and at last, foreboding some collision of interests from Bob's new +friendship for this man, she crept into a storeroom which was over the +apartment into which Loveday and Festus had gone. By looking through a +knot-hole in the floor it was easy to command a view of the room beneath, +this being unceiled, with moulded beams and rafters. + +Festus had sat down on the hollow window-bench, and was continuing the +statement of his wrongs. 'If he only knew what he was sitting upon,' she +thought apprehensively, 'how easily he could tear up the flap, lock and +all, with his strong arm, and seize upon poor Uncle Benjy's possessions!' +But he did not appear to know, unless he were acting, which was just +possible. After a while he rose, and going to the table lifted the +candle to light his pipe. At the moment when the flame began diving into +the bowl the door noiselessly opened and a figure slipped across the room +to the window-bench, hastily unlocked it, withdrew the box, and beat a +retreat. Anne in a moment recognized the ghostly intruder as Festus +Derriman's uncle. Before he could get out of the room Festus set down +the candle and turned. + +'What--Uncle Benjy--haw, haw! Here at this time of night?' + +Uncle Benjy's eyes grew paralyzed, and his mouth opened and shut like a +frog's in a drought, the action producing no sound. + +'What have we got here--a tin box--the box of boxes? Why, I'll carry it +for 'ee, uncle!--I am going home.' + +'N-no-no, thanky, Festus: it is n-n-not heavy at all, thanky,' gasped the +squireen. + +'O but I must,' said Festus, pulling at the box. + +'Don't let him have it, Bob!' screamed the excited Anne through the hole +in the floor. + +'No, don't let him!' cried the uncle. ''Tis a plot--there's a woman at +the window waiting to help him!' + +Anne's eyes flew to the window, and she saw Matilda's face pressed +against the pane. + +Bob, though he did not know whence Anne's command proceeded obeyed with +alacrity, pulled the box from the two relatives, and placed it on the +table beside him. + +'Now, look here, hearties; what's the meaning o' this?' he said. + +'He's trying to rob me of all I possess!' cried the old man. 'My heart- +strings seem as if they were going crack, crack, crack!' + +At this instant the miller in his shirt-sleeves entered the room, having +got thus far in his undressing when he heard the noise. Bob and Festus +turned to him to explain; and when the latter had had his say Bob added, +'Well, all I know is that this box'--here he stretched out his hand to +lay it upon the lid for emphasis. But as nothing but thin air met his +fingers where the box had been, he turned, and found that the box was +gone, Uncle Benjy having vanished also. + +Festus, with an imprecation, hastened to the door, but though the night +was not dark Farmer Derriman and his burden were nowhere to be seen. On +the bridge Festus joined a shadowy female form, and they went along the +road together, followed for some distance by Bob, lest they should meet +with and harm the old man. But the precaution was unnecessary: nowhere +on the road was there any sign of Farmer Derriman, or of the box that +belonged to him. When Bob re-entered the house Anne and Mrs. Loveday had +joined the miller downstairs, and then for the first time he learnt who +had been the heroine of Festus's lamentable story, with many other +particulars of that yeoman's history which he had never before known. Bob +swore that he would not speak to the traitor again, and the family +retired. + +The escape of old Mr. Derriman from the annoyances of his nephew not only +held good for that night, but for next day, and for ever. Just after +dawn on the following morning a labouring man, who was going to his work, +saw the old farmer and landowner leaning over a rail in a mead near his +house, apparently engaged in contemplating the water of a brook before +him. Drawing near, the man spoke, but Uncle Benjy did not reply. His +head was hanging strangely, his body being supported in its erect +position entirely by the rail that passed under each arm. On +after-examination it was found that Uncle Benjy's poor withered heart had +cracked and stopped its beating from damages inflicted on it by the +excitements of his life, and of the previous night in particular. The +unconscious carcass was little more than a light empty husk, dry and +fleshless as that of a dead heron found on a moor in January. + +But the tin box was not discovered with or near him. It was searched for +all the week, and all the month. The mill-pond was dragged, quarries +were examined, woods were threaded, rewards were offered; but in vain. + +At length one day in the spring, when the mill-house was about to be +cleaned throughout, the chimney-board of Anne's bedroom, concealing a +yawning fire-place, had to be taken down. In the chasm behind it stood +the missing deed-box of Farmer Derriman. + +Many were the conjectures as to how it had got there. Then Anne +remembered that on going to bed on the night of the collision between +Festus and his uncle in the room below, she had seen mud on the carpet of +her room, and the miller remembered that he had seen footprints on the +back staircase. The solution of the mystery seemed to be that the late +Uncle Benjy, instead of running off from the house with his box, had +doubled on getting out of the front door, entered at the back, deposited +his box in Anne's chamber where it was found, and then leisurely pursued +his way home at the heels of Festus, intending to tell Anne of his trick +the next day--an intention that was for ever frustrated by the stroke of +death. + +Mr. Derriman's solicitor was a Casterbridge man, and Anne placed the box +in his hands. Uncle Benjy's will was discovered within; and by this +testament Anne's queer old friend appointed her sole executrix of his +said will, and, more than that, gave and bequeathed to the same young +lady all his real and personal estate, with the solitary exception of +five small freehold houses in a back street in Budmouth, which were +devised to his nephew Festus, as a sufficient property to maintain him +decently, without affording any margin for extravagances. Oxwell Hall, +with its muddy quadrangle, archways, mullioned windows, cracked +battlements, and weed-grown garden, passed with the rest into the hands +of Anne. + + + + +XLI. JOHN MARCHES INTO THE NIGHT + + +During this exciting time John Loveday seldom or never appeared at the +mill. With the recall of Bob, in which he had been sole agent, his +mission seemed to be complete. + +One mid-day, before Anne had made any change in her manner of living on +account of her unexpected acquisition, Lieutenant Bob came in rather +suddenly. He had been to Budmouth, and announced to the arrested senses +of the family that the --th Dragoons were ordered to join Sir Arthur +Wellesley in the Peninsula. + +These tidings produced a great impression on the household. John had +been so long in the neighbourhood, either at camp or in barracks, that +they had almost forgotten the possibility of his being sent away; and +they now began to reflect upon the singular infrequency of his calls +since his brother's return. There was not much time, however, for +reflection, if they wished to make the most of John's farewell visit, +which was to be paid the same evening, the departure of the regiment +being fixed for next day. A hurried valedictory supper was prepared +during the afternoon, and shortly afterwards John arrived. + +He seemed to be more thoughtful and a trifle paler than of old, but +beyond these traces, which might have been due to the natural wear and +tear of time, he showed no signs of gloom. On his way through the town +that morning a curious little incident had occurred to him. He was +walking past one of the churches when a wedding-party came forth, the +bride and bridegroom being Matilda and Festus Derriman. At sight of the +trumpet-major the yeoman had glared triumphantly; Matilda, on her part, +had winked at him slily, as much as to say--. But what she meant heaven +knows: the trumpet-major did not trouble himself to think, and passed on +without returning the mark of confidence with which she had favoured him. + +Soon after John's arrival at the mill several of his friends dropped in +for the same purpose of bidding adieu. They were mostly the men who had +been entertained there on the occasion of the regiment's advent on the +down, when Anne and her mother were coaxed in to grace the party by their +superior presence; and their well-trained, gallant manners were such as +to make them interesting visitors now as at all times. For it was a +period when romance had not so greatly faded out of military life as it +has done in these days of short service, heterogeneous mixing, and +transient campaigns; when the esprit de corps was strong, and long +experience stamped noteworthy professional characteristics even on rank +and file; while the miller's visitors had the additional advantage of +being picked men. + +They could not stay so long to-night as on that earlier and more cheerful +occasion, and the final adieus were spoken at an early hour. It was no +mere playing at departure, as when they had gone to Exonbury barracks, +and there was a warm and prolonged shaking of hands all round. + +'You'll wish the poor fellows good-bye?' said Bob to Anne, who had not +come forward for that purpose like the rest. 'They are going away, and +would like to have your good word.' + +She then shyly advanced, and every man felt that he must make some pretty +speech as he shook her by the hand. + +'Good-bye! May you remember us as long as it makes ye happy, and forget +us as soon as it makes ye sad,' said Sergeant Brett. + +'Good-night! Health, wealth, and long life to ye!' said Sergeant-major +Wills, taking her hand from Brett. + +'I trust to meet ye again as the wife of a worthy man,' said Trumpeter +Buck. + +'We'll drink your health throughout the campaign, and so good-bye t'ye,' +said Saddler-sergeant Jones, raising her hand to his lips. + +Three others followed with similar remarks, to each of which Anne +blushingly replied as well as she could, wishing them a prosperous +voyage, easy conquest, and a speedy return. + +But, alas, for that! Battles and skirmishes, advances and retreats, +fevers and fatigues, told hard on Anne's gallant friends in the coming +time. Of the seven upon whom these wishes were bestowed, five, including +the trumpet-major, were dead men within the few following years, and +their bones left to moulder in the land of their campaigns. + +John lingered behind. When the others were outside, expressing a final +farewell to his father, Bob, and Mrs. Loveday, he came to Anne, who +remained within. + +'But I thought you were going to look in again before leaving?' she said +gently. + +'No; I find I cannot. Good-bye!' + +'John,' said Anne, holding his right hand in both hers, 'I must tell you +something. You were wise in not taking me at my word that day. I was +greatly mistaken about myself. Gratitude is not love, though I wanted to +make it so for the time. You don't call me thoughtless for what I did?' + +'My dear Anne,' cried John, with more gaiety than truthfulness, 'don't +let yourself be troubled! What happens is for the best. Soldiers love +here to-day and there to-morrow. Who knows that you won't hear of my +attentions to some Spanish maid before a month is gone by? 'Tis the way +of us, you know; a soldier's heart is not worth a week's purchase--ha, +ha! Goodbye, good-bye!' + +Anne felt the expediency of his manner, received the affectation as real, +and smiled her reply, not knowing that the adieu was for evermore. Then +with a tear in his eye he went out of the door, where he bade farewell to +the miller, Mrs. Loveday, and Bob, who said at parting, 'It's all right, +Jack, my dear fellow. After a coaxing that would have been enough to win +three ordinary Englishwomen, five French, and ten Mulotters, she has to- +day agreed to bestow her hand upon me at the end of six months. Good-bye, +Jack, good-bye!' + +The candle held by his father shed its waving light upon John's face and +uniform as with a farewell smile he turned on the doorstone, backed by +the black night; and in another moment he had plunged into the darkness, +the ring of his smart step dying away upon the bridge as he joined his +companions-in-arms, and went off to blow his trumpet till silenced for +ever upon one of the bloody battle-fields of Spain. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{207} _Vide_ Preface. + +{211} _Vide_ Preface. + +{225} _Vide_ Preface. + +{272} _Vide_ Preface. + +{303} _Vide_ Preface. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUMPET-MAJOR*** + + +******* This file should be named 2864.txt or 2864.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/6/2864 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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