The King's Own Part 7

"Why, yes, I think we both may; but would not this evil be removed by free trade?"

"Heaven forbid!" replied McElvina, laughing; "then there would be no _smuggling_."

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Love me, love my dog.

PROVERB.

It is the misfortune of those who have been in constant habits of deceit that they always imagine others are attempting the same dishonest practices. For some time McElvina felt convinced that our little hero had swerved from truth in the account which he gave of himself; and it was not until after repeated catechisings, in which he found that, strange and improbable as the narrative appeared, w.i.l.l.y never altered from or contradicted his original statement, that he believed the boy to be as honest and ingenuous as might have been inferred from his prepossessing countenance.

To this conviction, how ever, did he arrive at last; and our hero--who seemed no sooner to have lost one protector than to have the good fortune to find another--became the favourite and companion of his new captain, instead of his domestic, as had been originally contemplated.

A lad of w.i.l.l.y's age, who is treated with kindness and consideration, is soon attached, and becomes reconciled to any change of circ.u.mstances.

It was a matter of indifference to our hero whether he was on the quarter-deck of a man-of-war or in the cabin of a smuggling sloop.

Contented with his present lot,--with the happy thoughtlessness of youth, he never permitted the future to disturb his repose or affect his digestion.

w.i.l.l.y had been nearly a month at Cherbourg when McElvina's sloop took in another cargo. "w.i.l.l.y," said McElvina, one evening as they sat together in the apartment at the cabaret, "to-morrow I shall, in all probability, sail for the English coast. I have been thinking what I shall do with you. I do not much like parting with you; but, on reflection, I think it will be better that I should leave you behind. You can be of no use, and may be in the way if we should be obliged to take to our boat."

w.i.l.l.y pleaded hard against this arrangement. "I never have a friend but I lose him directly," said the boy, and the tears started into his eyes.

"I trust you will not lose me, my dear fellow," replied McElvina, moved at this proof of affection; "but I must explain to you why I leave you.

In the first place," added he, laughing, "with that mark on your shoulder, it would be felony without benefit of clergy for you to be found in my possession; but of that I would run the risk. My serious reasons are as follow:--If this trip proves fortunate, I shall not return to Cherbourg. I have business of importance in London, which may require my presence for some weeks in that metropolis and its vicinity.

I told you before, that I am about to take the command of a very different vessel from this paltry sloop, and upon a more dangerous service. In four or five months she will be ready to sail, and during that time I shall be constantly on the move, and shall hardly know what to do with you. Now, w.i.l.l.y, you are not aware of the advantages of education--I am: and as mine was given to me by strangers, so will I in return bestow as much upon you as I can afford. You must, therefore, go to school until my return. You will at least acquire the French language, and you will find that of no little use to you hereafter."

w.i.l.l.y, accustomed to discipline and to breathe the air of pa.s.sive obedience, submitted without raising any more objections. Debriseau joined, and they all three sallied forth to make arrangements for placing our hero "_en pension_," where they had been recommended.

Having effected this, they agreed to lounge on the _Place d'Armes_ till sunset, when they took possession of one of the benches. McElvina and Debriseau lighted their cigars, and puffed away in silence, while w.i.l.l.y amused himself with watching the promenaders as they pa.s.sed in review before him.

They had not remained there many minutes when a poodle-dog, _bien tondu_, and white as a sheep from the river before the day of shearing, walked up to them with an air of sagacious curiosity, and looked McElvina steadfastly in the face. McElvina, taking his cigar from his mouth, held it to the dog, who ran up to it, as if to smell it; the lighted end coming in contact with his cold nose, induced the animal to set up a loud yell, and retreat to his master much faster than he came, pa.s.sing first one fore-paw and then the other over his nose, to wipe away the pain, in such a ridiculous manner as to excite loud merriment, not only from our party on the bench, but also from others who had witnessed the scene.

"So much for curiosity," said McElvina, continuing his mirth. The proprietor of the dog, a young Frenchman, dressed very much "_en calicot_," did not, however, seem quite so much amused with this practical joke; he c.o.c.ked his hat fiercely on one side, raised his figure to the utmost of its height, and walking up, _en grand militaire_ addressed McElvina, with "_Comment, monsieur, vous avez fait une grande betise-la--vous m'insultez_--"

"I think I had better not understand French," said McElvina, aside to Debriseau; then turning to the Frenchman, with a grave face, and air of incomprehension,--"What did you say, sir?"

"Ah! you are Inglishman. You not speak French?"--McElvina shook his head, and began to puff away his cigar.

"Den, sare, if you not speak de French language, I speak de Englis like von natif; and I tell you, sare, _que vous m'avez insulte_. Got for dam!--you burnt my dog nose; vat you mean, sare?"

"The dog burnt his own nose," answered McElvina, mildly.

"Vat you mean? de dog burnt his own nose! How is a dog capable to burn his own nose? Sare, you put de cigar to my dog nose. I must have de _satisfaction_ or de apology _tout de suite_."

"But, sir, I have not insulted you."

"Sare, you insult my dog--he is von and de same ting--_mon chien est un chien de sentiment_. He feel de affront all de same vid me--I feel de affront all de same vid him. _Vous n'avez qu'a choisir, monsieur_."

"Between you and your dog," answered McElvina--"Well, then, I'd rather fight the dog."

"Bah! fight de dog--de dog cannot fight, sare: _mais je suis son maitre et son ami_ and I vill fight for him."

"Well, then, monsieur, I did insult your dog, I must acknowledge, and I will give him the satisfaction which you require."

"And how vill you give de satisfaction to de dog?"

"Why, sir, you said just now that he was _un chien de beaucoup de sentiment_:--if he is so, he will accept and properly appreciate my apology."

"Ah, sare," replied the Frenchman, relaxing the stern wrinkles of his brow, "_c'est bien dit_; you will make de apology to de dog. _Sans doute_, he is de princ.i.p.al, I am only de second. _C'est une affaire arrangee. Moustache, viens ici Moustache_" (the dog came up to his master). _Monsieur est tres fache de t'avoir brule le nez_.

"Monsieur Moustache," said McElvina, taking off his hat with mock gravity to the dog, who seemed determined to keep at a respectful distance, "_je vous demande mille excuses_."

"_Ah! que c'est charmant_!" cried some of the fair s.e.x, who, as well as the men, had been attracted by, and were listening to the dispute.

"_Que Monsieur l'Anglais est drole: et voyez Moustache, comme il a l'air content--vraiment c'est un chien d'esprit_."

"_Allez, Moustache_," said his master, who was now all smiles, "_donnez la patte a monsieur--donnez donc_. Ah, sare, he forgive you, I am very sure--_il n'a pas de malice_, but he is afraid of de cigar. De burnt shild dred de _vater_, as your great Shakespeare say."

"_C'est un chien de talent: il a beaucoup de sentiment. Je suis bien fache de t'avoir blesse, monsieur_."

"_Et monsieur parle Francais_?"

"I should esteem myself fortunate, if I spoke your language as well as you do mine," replied McElvina, in French.

This compliment, before so many bystanders, completely won the heart of the vain and choleric Frenchman.

"Ah, sare, you are too complaisant. I hope I shall have de pleasure to make your acquaintance. _Je m'appelle Monsieur Auguste de Poivre. J'ai l'honneur de vous presenter une carte d'adresse_. I live on de top of my mother's,--_sur l'entresol_. My mother live on de ground--_rez-de-chaussee_. Madame _ma mere_ will be delighted to receive a monsieur of so much vit and adresse." So saying, away went Monsieur Auguste de Poivre, followed by Moustache, who was "_all von and de same ting_."

"Well, we live and learn," said McElvina, laughing, as soon as the Frenchman was at a little distance; "I never thought that I should have made an apology to a dog."

"Oh, but," replied Debriseau, "you forget that he was _Un chien de sentiment_."

"You may imagine, from my behaviour, that I consider him a wiser puppy than his master, for he ran away from fire, whereas his master tried all he could to get into it. Some of our countrymen would have humoured him, and turned a comedy into a tragedy--I set a proper value on my life, and do not choose to risk it about trifles."

"There has been more than one valuable life thrown away about a dog, in my remembrance," said Debriseau. "I think you behaved in a sensible manner to get rid of the affair as you did; but you would have done better not to have burnt the dog's nose."

"Granted," replied McElvina; "the more so, as I have often remarked, that there is no object in the world, except your children or your own self; in which the _meum_ is so powerful, and the _tuum_ so weak. You caress your own dog, and kick a strange one; you are pleased with the clamorous barking of your own cur, and you curse the same noise from another. The feeling is as powerful, almost, as that of a mother, who thinks her own ugly cub a cherub compared to others, and its squallings the music of the spheres. It is because there is no being that administers so much to the self-love of his master. He submits, with humility, to the blows inflicted in the moment of irritation, and licks the hand that corrects. He bears no revengeful feelings, and is ready to fondle and caress you the moment that your good humour returns. He is, what man looks in vain for among his kind, a faithful friend, without contradiction--the _very perfection of a slave_. The abject submission on his part, which would induce you to despise him, becomes a merit, when you consider his courage, his fidelity, and his grat.i.tude.

I cannot think what Mahomet was about when he p.r.o.nounced his fiat against them, as _unclean_."

"Well," said Debriseau, "I agree with Mahomet that they are _not clean_, especially puppies. There's that little beast at Monsieur Picardon's, I declare--"

"Pooh," interrupted McElvina, laughing, "I don't mean it in that sense-- I mean that, in a despotic country, the conduct of a dog towards his master should be held up as an example for imitation; and I think that the banner of the Moslem should have borne the dog, instead of the crescent, as an emblem of blind fidelity and tacit submission."

"That's very true," said Debriseau; "but, nevertheless, I wish mademoiselle's puppy were either taught manners or thrown over the quay."

"_Ce n'est pas un chien de sentiment_," replied McElvina, laughing.

"But it is nearly dark. _Allons au cabaret_."

They returned to the inn; and the wind, on the ensuing morning, blowing strong from a favourable quarter, w.i.l.l.y and Debriseau accompanied McElvina down to the mole, from whence he embarked on board of the sloop, which was already under way, and in the course of an hour was out of sight.

On the following day, Captain Debriseau accompanied w.i.l.l.y to the _pension_, where our hero remained nearly five months, occasionally visited by the Guernsey captain, when he returned from his smuggling trips, and more rarely receiving a letter from McElvina, who had safely landed his cargo, and was latterly at Havre, superintending the fitting out of his new vessel. Our hero made good progress during the few months that he remained at the _pension_, and when McElvina returned to take him away, not only could speak the French language with fluency, but had also made considerable progress in what Sir W. C--- used to designate in his toast as "the three R's,"--viz., "Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic."