The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly Part 85

To account for their presence in this remote spot, George, as briefly as he could, sketched the course of events at Castello, not failing to lay due stress on the n.o.ble and courageous spirit with which Augustus and Nelly had met misfortune. "All is not lost yet," said L'Estrange; "far from it; but even if the worst should come, I do not know of two people in the world who will show a stouter front to adversity."

"And your sister, where is she?" said Jack, in a voice scarce above a whisper.

"Here,--at the villa."

"Not married?"

"No. I believe she has changed less than any of us. She is just what you remember her."

It was not often that L'Estrange attempted anything like adroitness in expression; but he did so here, and saw, in the heightened color and sparkling eye of the other, how thoroughly his speech had succeeded.

"I wonder will she know me!" said Jack, after a pause. "_You_ certainly did not at first."

"Nor, for that matter, did _you_ recognize _me_."

"Ah, but I did, though," said Jack, pa.s.sing his hand over his brow; "but I had gone through so much, and my head was so knocked about, I could n't trust that my senses were not deceiving me, and I thought if I make any egregious blunder now, these people will set me down for mad. That was the state I was in the whole time you were questioning me. I promise you it was no small suffering while it lasted."

"My poor fellow, what trials you must have gone through to come to this! Tell me by what mischance you were at Ischia."

With all a sailor's frankness, and with a modesty in speaking of his own achievements just as sailor-like, Jack told the story of the storm at Naples.

"I had no thought of breaking the laws," said he, bluntly. "I saw ships foundering, and small craft turning keel uppermost on every side of me; there was disaster and confusion everywhere. I had no time to inquire about the morals of the men I saw clinging to hencoops, or holding on by stretchers. I saved as many as I could, and sorry enough I was to have seen many go down before I could get near them; and I was fairly beat when it was all over, or, perhaps, they 'd not have captured me so easily. At all events," said he, after a minute's silence, "they might have let me off with a lighter sentence, but my temper got the better of me in court, and when they asked me if it was not true that I had made greater efforts to save the galley-slaves than the soldiery, I told them it might have been so, for the prisoners, chained and handcuffed, as they were, went down like brave men, while the royal troops yelled and screamed like a set of arrant cowards; and that whenever I pulled one of the wretches out of the water I was half ashamed of my own humanity.

That speech settled me; at least, the lawyer said so, and declared he was afraid to say a word more in defence of a man that insulted the tribunal and the nation together."

"And what was your sentence?"

"Death,--commuted to the galleys for life; worse than any death!

It's not the hardship or the labor, I mean. A sailor goes through more downright hard work on a blowy night than these fellows do in a year.

It is the way a man brutalizes when vice and crime make up the whole atmosphere of his life. The devil has a man's heart all his own, whenever hope deserts it, and you want to do wickedness just because it _is_ wickedness. For three weeks before I made my escape, it was all I could do not to dash the turnkey's brains out when he made his night round. I told my comrade--the man I was chained to--what I felt; and he said, 'We all go through that at first; but when you 're some years here you 'll not care for that or anything.' I believe it was the terror of coming to that condition made me try to escape. I don't know that I ever felt the same ecstasy of delight that I felt as I found myself swimming in that fresh cold sea in the silence of a calm starry night. I 'm sure it will be a memory that will last my lifetime. I thought of you all,--I thought of long ago, of our happy evenings; and I pictured to my mind the way we used to sit around the fire, and I wondered what had become of my place. Was I ever remembered? Was I spoken of? Could it be that at that very moment some one was asking, where was poor Jack? And how I wished you might all know that my last thoughts were upon you; that it was the dear old long ago was before me to the last. I was seventeen hours in the water. When they picked me up I was senseless from a sun-stroke; for the corks floated me long after I gave up swimming. I was so ill when I landed that I went to hospital; but there was little care given to the sick, and I left it when I was able to walk, and came on here. Talk of luck; but I ask you was there ever such a piece of fortune befell a man?"

L'Estrange could not speak as he gazed on the poor fellow, over whose worn and wasted features joy had lighted up a look of delight that imparted an almost angelic elevation to his face.

"But can I go back like this?" asked he, sorrowfully, as he looked down at his ragged clothes and broken shoes.

"I have thought of all that There is nothing to be had here ready but Montenegrin costume, so the landlord tells me, and you will have to figure in something very picturesque."

"Cannot I get a sailor's jacket and trousers?"

"Aye, of Dalmatian cut and color; but they 'll not become you as well as that green velvet attila and the loose hose of the mountaineer. Try if you can't take a sleep now; and when you awake you 'll find your new rig in that room yonder, where there 's a bath ready for you. I 'll go down the town, meanwhile, and do a few commissions, and we will set out homewards when you 're rested."

"I wish it was over," said Jack, with a sigh.

"Wish what was over?"

"I mean I wish the shock was over,--the shock of seeing me such an object as I am. Sickness changes a man quite enough, but there's worse than that, George. I know what this rough life of mine must have made of me. You won't say it, old fellow, but I see it in your sad face all the same. I am--say it out, man--I am a most disreputable-looking blackguard!"

"I declare, on my honor, that, except the ravages of illness, I see no change in you, whatever."

"Look here," said Jack, as his voice trembled with a peculiar agitation, "I 'll see Nelly first. A man's sister can never be ashamed of him, come what will. If Nelly shows--and she 's not one to hide it--that--no matter, I 'll not say more about it. I see you 're not pleased with me laying stress on such a matter."

"No, no, you wrong me, Jack; you wrong me altogether. My poor fellow, we never were--we never had such good reason to be proud of you as now. You are a hero, Jack. You've done what all Europe will ring with."

"Don't talk balderdash; my head is weak enough already. If you 're not ashamed of the tatterdemalion that comes back to you, it's more than I deserve. There, now, go off, and do your business, and don't be long, for I 'm growing very impatient to see them. Give me something to smoke till you come back, and I 'll try and be calm and reasonable by that time."

If L'Estrange had really anything to do in the town he forgot all about it, and trotted about from street to street, so full of Jack and his adventures that he walked into apple-stalls and kicked over egg-baskets amid the laughter and amus.e.m.e.nt of the people.

If he had told no more than the truth in saying that Jack was still like what he had been, there were about him signs of suffering and hardship that gave a most painful significance to his look; and more painful than even these was the poor fellow's consciousness of his fallen condition.

The sudden pauses in speaking, the deep sigh that would escape him, the almost bitter raillery he used when speaking of himself, all showed how acutely he felt his altered state.

L'Estrange was in nowise prepared for the change half an hour had made in Jack's humor. The handsome dress of Montenegro became him admirably, and the sailor-like freedom of his movements went well with the easy costume. "Isn't this a most appropriate transformation, George?" he cried out "I came in here looking like a pickpocket, and I go out like a stage bandit."

"I declare, it becomes you wonderfully. I 'll wager the girls will not let you wear any other dress."

"Ay, but my toilet is not yet completed. See what a gorgeous scarf I have got here--green and gold, and with a gold fringe that will reach to my boots; and the landlord insists on lending me his own silver-mounted sabre. I say, old fellow, have you courage to go through the town with me?"

"You forget you are in the last fashion of the place; if they stare at you now, it will be approvingly."

"What's the distance? Are we to walk?"

"Walk or drive, as you like best. On foot we can do it in an hour."

"On foot be it, then; for though I am very impatient to see them, I have much to ask you about."

As they issued from the inn, it was, as L'Estrange surmised, to meet a most respectful reception from the townsfolk, who regarded Jack as a mountaineer chief of rank and station. They uncovered and made way for him as he pa.s.sed; and from the women, especially, came words of flattering admiration at his handsome looks and gallant bearing.

"Are they commenting on the a.s.s in the lion's skin?" said Jack, in a sly whisper. "Is that what they are muttering to each other?"

"Quite the reverse. It is all in extravagant praise of you. The police are on the alert, too; they think there must be mischief brewing in the mountains, that has brought a great chief down to Cattaro."

Thus, chatting and laughing, they gained the outskirts of the town, and soon found themselves on one of the rural paths which led up the mountain.

"Don't think me very stupid, George, or very tiresome," said Jack, "if I ask you to go over again what you told me this morning. Such strange things have befallen me of late that I can scarcely distinguish between fact and fancy. Now, first of all, have we lost Castello--and who owns it?"

"No. The question is yet to be decided; the trial will take place in about two months."

"And if we are beaten, does it mean that we are ruined? Does it sweep away Marion and Nelly's fortunes, too?"

"I fear so. I know little accurately, but I believe the whole estate is involved in the claim."

"Gusty bears it well, you say?"

"Admirably. I never saw a man behave with such splendid courage."

"I 'll not ask about Nelly, for I could swear for _her_ pluck. She was always the best of us."

If L'Estrange drank in this praise with ecstasy, he had to turn away his head, lest the sudden flush that covered his face should be observed.

"I have no wish to hear the story of this claim now; you shall tell it to me some other time. But just tell me, was it ever heard of in my father's time?"