Joscelyn Cheshire Part 25

"'Tis not worth while your coming. What need to waste time on the senseless offender when the offence is beyond repair? My very last flowering almond is a hopeless wreck, and I had nursed it with such care!" She ended with a sigh and a pretty pout, and went slowly down the stair out of Richard's sight; but the voices from below reached him distinctly, so that he heard the officers' condolences and her laughing replies. Great drops of perspiration broke out upon his brow as the joyous truth dawned fully upon him.

She did not intend to betray his presence in the house to the scarlet-coated bloodhounds who would tear him limb from limb!

How could he ever have mistrusted her, this one woman whom he had loved with the pa.s.sion of youth and of manhood? He sank to a sitting posture upon the floor, propping himself against the wall, for he was desperately weary with the long, hard chase, and this relief was as the opening of Paradise before his aching eyes. His limbs relaxed; but his ears were strained to catch every sound that came up the stairway. The game of cards had been renewed, and the merriment was at its height, when twenty minutes later there was again a commotion in the street and a loud summons at the door.

"May it please your lordship," said Tarleton's voice, "the fellow hath give us the slip and is in hiding with some of his sympathizers. We wish a permit to search the houses in this neighbourhood, for hereabouts he must be, since he was seen last at yonder corner."

There arose a perfect Babel of voices, out of which Richard could make nothing clearly; but he knew the permit was given, for in a few minutes Tarleton opened the street-door, and ordered his men to begin the search at the house on the lower corner, and proceed thence up the street, missing no dwelling. Every other street and alley in the town had been sentinelled, so he a.s.sured Cornwallis.

The soldiers at the door dispersed, and a breathless silence filled the house. Richard dared not move lest his stiff joints pop, or his boots creak and betray him. He knew flight was impossible; for there was a stamping of horses in the rear court, proving that the house was surrounded. It were wiser to wait and face the fate that came to him, than go out to meet it on the way.

The minutes that followed seemed interminable. He felt that his doom was sealed, and then there came upon him an overmastering desire to hear Joscelyn's voice once more. Why did she not come to him on some feigned pretext or other? Surely she must know how he suffered! Death were not so hard to meet, if he could but first hold her in his arms and hear her say some tender word.

Then the noise in the street grew louder, and he knew that the search was drawing near. His nerves were strained to tautness, when presently he heard the party stop in the street below, and a voice downstairs cried out gayly:--

"They be going to call upon your kinsfolk, the Cleverings, Mistress Joscelyn. Let us out to the balcony and see the fun."

In the confusion of sc.r.a.ping chairs and opening doors, Richard got to his feet. The cold and weariness in his limbs were forgotten in anxiety for his mother. A-tiptoe he crossed the room in the shadow of the furniture and gained Joscelyn's front window,--that window out of which he had seen her lean in her scarlet bodice the day he marched away so long ago. It was an easy thing to hide himself in the folds of the heavy curtains which had been drawn for the night; and thus concealed, to watch, through a crescent slit in the blind, the scene below, for the veranda was open with no roof to intervene.

It was full moon, and the figures in the street, twenty men-at-arms, were plainly visible. Three of these pa.s.sed silently to the rear of his mother's house, while the others drew up in line before the door. Then the leader smote the panels until they rang like a drum. Twice was the summons repeated ere a voice from an upper window demanded what might be the matter.

"Matter enough that I knock," replied the man, so insolently that Richard's blood took fire, for every word could be distinctly heard from his coign of vantage.

"Nay, we be but two lone women in this house, and we open not but to the proper authorities."

"Well, and we be the authorities," answered the man less rudely, for there was that in Mistress Clevering's voice that brought him to his senses. "We have here an order from the commander-in-chief to search this house for a rebel spy. Open the door and read the writ for yourself."

The window above was closed, and presently the click of the lock was heard, and then the door opened partially and Mistress Clevering, candle in hand, stood before them. Betty cowered behind like a frightened child.

"No one is here save my daughter and myself; to search the house were wasted time." And in her heart, Joscelyn thanked Heaven she could speak thus truly; but the soldier said brusquely:--

"We have judged the matter differently; lead the way, and see to it that you open every door. We will put up with no deception."

As they pa.s.sed into the house, Joscelyn's voice from over the way cried out shrilly, "Neglect not to search the closet by the attic chimney; 'tis just of a size to hold a man, and perchance contains him whom you seek."

Mistress Clevering turned angrily toward the door as though she would answer, but the soldiers urged her on, and so it was Betty who called back:--

"That is neighbourly! Tell all you know about your best friends, Mistress Ingrate; we have naught to fear."

At this Joscelyn laughed loudly, but to Richard the laugh was more hysterical than mirthful, like one under a great nervous strain. He felt his hands involuntarily groping for his pistols, as the opposite light flashed from window to window and he knew his mother was being ordered about by those insolent Redcoats. The candle lingered longest in the attic; but at last it descended, and soon the disappointed soldiers stood in the street empty handed. Tarleton was furious and swore a great oath, but the soldiers protested they had overlooked no nook or corner where a man might conceal himself.

"'Tis a bootless errand, sir; unless, indeed, the man be in this house,"

said Tarleton, riding up to Joscelyn's door. "What say you, shall we search here also?"

Upstairs Richard's heart stood still, while down below Joscelyn's head swam. Then her laugh rippled out mockingly.

"Truly, your lordship, that is a reflection upon you and those of your gallant officers who have done me the honour to spend the evening under my roof! I pray you, gentlemen all, turn your pockets wrong side out that Colonel Tarleton may be sure you have not hidden his spy."

"I jest not, mistress," answered Tarleton, who owed her a grudge in that she had manifested much personal dislike to himself. "What says your lordship?"

Cornwallis started to reply, and then hesitated; whereupon Joscelyn broke in haughtily:--

"An your lordship doubts my loyalty, pray let the search proceed--the doors are open."

"Ay, search; and fail not to look in my Lady Ingrate's wardrobe; 'tis just of a size to hold a man," came with a scornful laugh from over the way; for Betty was still at her door, and the street was not so wide but that the opposite voices reached her clearly.

"Of course," said Joscelyn, with the same haughty dignity; "search the wardrobe by all means; here are the keys." She threw the bunch at Tarleton's feet, calling to her mother to do the same, and then walked into the hall, her head up and her eyes aglow. Richard could not see her, and so ground his teeth in an impotent rage that she would thus tamely yield him up. But the next moment he guessed her purpose, realizing this was her surest way to avert suspicion, and he blessed her under his breath. If they found him, they should never know that she had for a moment connived at his concealment.

Tarleton stooped to pick up the keys, but Cornwallis interposed.

"Nay, sir; to search this house would be an affront to so loyal a subject as Mistress Joscelyn. Besides, the idea that the miscreant is hiding here is preposterous. He must have seen us through the windows, and to enter would have been to rush into the lion's jaws. Spies as a rule are wise men; not the fools of an army. Search the stable if you will, leave a guard in the alley; but enter not the house. And now, Mistress Cheshire, I see the ladies are going; we will also withdraw after returning thanks to you and your daughter for your charming hospitality."

Richard clutched at the window-frame to steady himself as he realized the present peril had pa.s.sed. What a glorious girl Joscelyn was, for all her Toryism and scoffing!

Joscelyn stood at the door, courtesying to her departing guests,--the picture of dainty, decorous hospitality. As Tarleton lifted his hat sullenly, she looked him straight in the eyes, and said graciously:--

"I will leave this door unbolted, that your sentry may come in and warm himself by the fire in the rear room as the night grows chilly."

To doubt her after that were impossible; and he excused his former brusqueness by saying a soldier's duty was oftentimes most displeasing to himself. She accepted the apology with a smile, and stood in the door until they all, even Barry, who was always tardy over his leave-taking, had gotten to horse; and then with a final good night, she shut them out. She did not stop in the hall, but went straight on to the stair, saying to her mother as she ran up:--

"Will you see to the lights down here, mother? I will go up and look after your fire."

This was a reversal of the usual order of things, but her mother was too used to her caprices to take any notice. In the room above, Richard had already replenished the fire, and was waiting for her on the rug with eager, outstretched arms.

"Joscelyn!" he cried; but she silenced him with a gesture.

"Quick--off with your boots--mother must not know; there will be further inquiry to-morrow, and for very anxiety she could not keep the secret.

Now, come." In the hall she leaned over the banister to ask her mother to leave something on the table for the sentry to eat; and when the old lady was gone back to the pantry, Joscelyn unlocked the door of the shed-like attic at the rear of the hall, and giving Richard the lighted candle she held, she pushed him in. "There are plenty of blankets on the shelves at the far end--make your bed on a pile of carpet that is behind the cedar chest."

"But, Joscelyn--"

"H-u-s-h, not so loud. As you know, the attic has no windows, so your candle cannot be seen outside. There is mother--I will come back if I can."

She was gone, and he knew that she had locked the door from without.

Along with his sense of relief came an exquisite joy that he was her prisoner, that it was she who must minister to him,--she to whom he owed his life. It was some minutes before he remembered her injunction and set to work to make himself comfortable. He left the candle on the floor beside his boots and, wrapping himself in the blankets, found a cosey resting-place behind the big cedar chest. What thoughts and visions crowded his mind as he lay there under the spider-hung rafters that dropped almost to his head! Five days before he had quitted his command--impelled by a thirsty desire to see Joscelyn's face--to undertake the dangerous mission of his chief, and ascertain Cornwallis's actual strength. Unable to learn anything definite by hearsay, and catching idle rumours of Joscelyn's popularity among the English officers, the daring design had come to him to play the part of a Loyalist seeking enlistment in the British army, trusting to what little disguise he could add to his own altered looks to shield him. Following out this plan, and gaining at the parade all the knowledge necessary, he had stolen from the field, and would have effected his escape had he but taken the longer bridle-path around the mountain, rather than the shorter one directly over it. Joscelyn's accident had delayed him somewhat, and trusting to his citizen's dress, and the preoccupation of the whole force at the parade, he had thought to be beyond sight or pursuit ere the review was over. That his reckoning failed, has been already shown. Tarleton's henchmen, set on by Linsey, had headed him off and driven him back into the town. Pa.s.sed through the peril, and strong man that he was, he yet shuddered as he thought how near to death he had been when he leaped from his horse at the corner yonder, and with a fierce cut sent the animal as a decoy down the dark adjacent street, while he plunged into the shadowy alley. At Mistress Cheshire's rear gate he had recognized his bearings, and entering without hesitation, he had crossed the yard, and by means of a grape-trellis climbed to the roof of the rear porch. To open the window was not difficult, but in entering he had upset that flower jar and betrayed his presence. He had heard the talk and laughter as he climbed up, and guessed who Joscelyn's guests were; but he trusted to her mother to hide him. How infinitely sweeter it was to know that, instead, it was her own hand that had saved him.

For nearly an hour he lay thus, stretched at full length upon the restful pallet. Then, all at once, although he was conscious of no sound, he felt that she had come. Rising hastily, he met her as she slipped through the half-opened door. She shaded her eyes for a moment to concentrate the light, the candle was so dim; then crossing over to the chest, she placed on it a platter of food and a pitcher of milk.

"You must be half famished;" and although but a whisper, her voice was studiously polite. "I have brought you ample supply; for it may be late ere you get your breakfast in the morning, seeing I have to smuggle it to you."

Never had he seen her so beautiful. The shining brocade set off every curve of her figure; under the lace of her bodice her bosom rose and fell with suppressed excitement, and her eyes were full of the starry lights he knew so well. And yet there was something about her that held in check the fire that leaped through his pulses. For the first time as he gazed thus upon her, he realized fully the menace he had brought upon her.

"Joscelyn, I should never have come here."

"It was, as you said, your only chance."

"I should not have taken that chance; rather I should have died beside my horse before bringing this danger to you."

"Hush! they will not harm me." Her head went up with a little triumphant fling as she said this; for she was thinking of Barry, and how, if detection came, he would surely save her.