The Span o' Life Part 7

"Next thing to an uneasy conscience--eh, Mr. Johnstone?"

"Worse, sir, far worse. You may forget the one at times, but the other is never at rest."

"Oh, well, we are for a time now, at all events!" he cried, with a ring of triumph in his voice, as we slowed up alongside the great ship, and the sailors made us fast by the ladder.

"After you, sir," said my tormentor, as he pointed upward, and, w.i.l.l.y-nilly, I mounted the shaking steps with the horrid thought that perhaps it was the last ladder I should mount save one that would lead to a platform whence I would make my last bow to a howling mob at Tyburn.

"It is fast growing dark, sir; we will not stand on ceremony," said the captain, leading to the cabin.

"Do not, I pray," I answered, with some firmness, for now I was only anxious for the last act of the ghastly farce to end; the suspense was growing intolerable.

When wine and gla.s.ses were placed before us, the captain filled them both and raised his.

"'Pon my soul, Mr. Johnstone, I am sorry to lose so good a companion, but we must not put your landsman's endurance to too hard a proof.

I wish you a safe arrival with all my heart! My men will put you ash.o.r.e at once."

I was so fluttered by the unexpected turn and the honest heartiness he threw into his words that I could scarce reply, but in some way I made my acknowledgments. In a few moments I was over the side and speeding towards the Harwich sh.o.r.e with all the force of six oars pulled by six impatient men, and I'll wager none among them was so impatient as the pa.s.senger they carried.

CHAPTER VII

HOW I COME TO TAKE A GREAT RESOLVE

I rewarded the men handsomely enough to call forth their approval, and made my compliments so fully to Mr. Lockhart, with so many messages to his family, that I left him more puzzled than ever as to who Mr. Johnstone of Kirksmuir might be; and then picking up my portmanteau, made as though I would enter the town.

Once the boat was safely out of sight, I looked about for a quiet spot, and proceeded to effect a transformation in my outward appearance more in keeping with my new role of courier. Removing my wig, I smoothed my hair back, and fastened it with a plain riband. I undid my sword, and snapping the blade, put the hilt, which was handsomely mounted in silver, to one side, and then stripping the lace and silver braid off my hat, I bound wig and blade together and flung them into the sea. From my portmanteau I took a pair of stout black hose which I drew over the more modish ones I wore, removed the buckles from my shoes, and placing them with the sword-hilt in the portmanteau, m.u.f.fled myself carefully in my cloak, and, taking up my burden, trudged towards the town.

I found the inn where Lady Jane and Margaret lodged without difficulty, and on my inquiry for them the land-lord said:

"If you are the servant my lady has been expecting, let me tell you you have been within an ace of losing your place, for you are a day late, and but for the wind she would have sailed this morning.

You are to go to your room at once, and then you wait on her, and I, for one, don't envy you your reception! Take your things and come this way."

The thought of being so near friends banished any petty annoyance I might have felt at this treatment; indeed I could but so admire Lady Jane's cleverness that I entered into the jest, and inquired what manner of person my new mistress might be.

"Masterful, masterful. 'Tis a G.o.d's mercy she was not born a man, or it might have been ill holding with her!" the honest creature returned, with much decision, and I at once placed him as a man of fair judgment.

In my room I found the suit of bottle-green livery Lady Jane had promised laid out for me, so I soon made my transformation complete, and presented myself at the door my guide had pointed out.

My cousin's voice, in answer to my discreet signal on the panel, bade me enter, and my welcome was a merry one. How I made them laugh over my appearance! With what satisfaction did I turn the tables on Lady Jane by the landlord's estimate of her character, when she attempted to resume her quizzing over "Mr. Simpkin"! But it was when I came to the relation of my adventure with Captain Galway that I met a veritable triumph. To Lady Jane it afforded a new mark for her wit, and she professed to be vastly amused at my groundless alarm; but to Margaret, who was much distressed by Lady Jane's levity, 'twas all tragedy of the most serious description.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "How I made them laugh over my appearance!"]

The measures taken for her brother's safety had proved entirely effectual, and it was clear that Margaret credited me solely with his release, which was now a.s.sured, though I honestly believe the Duke's signature would have been only so much worthless paper had I not suggested the Vicomte's services. Be this as it may, I did not hold I was bound to combat with her sense of grat.i.tude, for Heaven knows I have so often suffered under an over-sufficiency of undeserved censure that a little overflowing of approbation was most welcome.

We hoped to be off early the next morning, but, alas, on our awakening the wind was as unfavourable as before, and there were no signs of a change. It was an anxious day for all of us. It was clear enough the Duke of Newcastle had suspected me, and though it was possible he did not realise my importance, it was quite probable he would have Lady Jane's following closely watched for the presence of Captain "Fitzgerald," as he chose to style me. The proximity of the _Triumphant_ and her over-hospitable commander, with his prying friend Mr. Hargreaves, was never out of my mind, and it was with no small uneasiness I learned the Governor of the town had been unceasing in his attentions to the two ladies. True, this may have meant nothing but pure civility, but the purest civility may prove as embarra.s.sing as the commonest intrusion when one has anything to conceal. Confound the man! He pressed his ill-timed courtesies upon us twenty times a day, and I could not but grow apprehensive when I marked the scarce-concealed curiosity with which he regarded me. Had I been a slave in a barrac.o.o.n, my points could not have been gone over more carefully; and had I been both deaf and dumb, my qualities could not have been discussed with more openness.

Never before had I realised that even a lackey might resent hearing himself discussed like an animal at a fair, and Lady Jane took a perverse delight in provoking the Governor's critiques when I was within earshot. Our morning walk in his garden will serve as an ensample.

"Has your fellow any experience of travel," the Governor would ask, stopping in his walk and eyeing me as if he were at a court-martial, "or is he as useless as the rest of his kind?"

"I've no doubt h.e.l.l prove stupid enough when we get where we really need him," she would answer, coolly, bending over some favourite flower. "'Tis really shameful the lying recommendation one's friends give servants nowadays."

"He looks stupid enough to prove honest," growled the Governor, "but if he were put through a few weeks' drill, with my sergeant's cane behind those fat calves of his, 'twould smarten him up a bit."

"What lovely Gueldre roses!" exclaimed Margaret, enthusiastically, and straightway fell to praising one flower after another with such rapidity and success that even Lady Jane's ingenuity could find no opportunity to lead the Governor back to the torture again.

However, I had my revenge, for Lady Jane herself was unpleasantly startled that same day as we sate at dinner in our room, and the Governor chose to pay us another visit without warning.

There was a frantic scurry for a few moments as we removed all traces of my place, and his Excellency must have had a suspicious train of thought running through his head as he waited for me to unlock the door. This I did with unmoved countenance, and Lady Jane made the excuse of being somewhat en deshabille, as the room was over-warm with the fire, and it pa.s.sed without further remark, though I could see he eyed me from time to time as I stood behind her chair. I waited on them, I flatter myself, quite as perfectly as the most highly trained servant--for the table is a point to which I have always devoted much attention, and my knowledge stood me in good stead now.

Whatever his suspicions were, he did not dare to make them known; Lady Jane was a person of too recognised a position not to make it highly inconvenient for any one who might interfere with her without due justification; and the next day we sailed without hinderance.

Upon our arrival at the Hague, the first letter we received was one from the Vicomte to Margaret, a.s.suring her of her brother's safety, and informing her it was commonly reported in London that Prince Charles had escaped to the continent in the train of Lady Jane Drummond, so we knew to a certainty the Governor had mistaken me for the Prince, and informed the Court of his suspicions.

Whether the mistake was flattering to me or not, I cannot fairly judge. So far as the Prince stood morally or intellectually, he was beneath my contempt, but physically, my impression is that he was handsome--at least he had a fine carriage and bearing. It is most difficult to judge any man in his position; all my training and education, and that of my ancestors for generations before me, had been such that I have scarce been able to look on a king save with a feeling close akin to reverence. So with these reservations I allow the dubious compliment to pa.s.s. But whatever I might think, there was no doubt but the circ.u.mstance had raised me many degrees in Margaret's estimation. And this also I owed to the unwitting services of the Vicomte, who had successively helped me on to nearly every advance in her affections.

From the Hague we journeyed by easy stages to Paris, where Lady Jane found suitable lodgings for herself and Margaret in the rue Dauphine, while I found a humble one, better fitted to my purse, in the rue du Pet.i.t-Bourbon.

I at once made application to join my old regiment, but to my chagrin I was only put off from month to month, and, insisting on an answer, I was curtly informed there was no captaincy vacant, and I must remain satisfied with the small pension the king was pleased to give me as officer in the Scottish expedition, or accept a subaltern's position.

When the Vicomte arrived, by the end of May, he resumed his position in the Royal Guard, and his evening visits to Lady Jane, or rather to Margaret. About the middle of the summer he succeeded in obtaining an authentic copy of the Act of Indemnity, which was studied with the greatest interest by us all. The terms were fair, even generous, but I was not astonished to find my name among those excluded from its favour. It mattered little to me that I was henceforward a marked man, with a price on my head, doomed to perpetual banishment; for, being in no sense an Englishman, and a Scot only by descent, exclusion from the Three Kingdoms meant little to me; blood and training had made me an alien in feeling, and fate had ever thrown me and mine on the side of the unfortunate; Maxwells and Geraldines, we had always been on the losing side; it had become second nature.

But with Margaret it was far different. Her generous soul was in arms at once; my exclusion from the Act had raised me to the niche of a hero in her temple, and again it was the Vicomte who had contributed to this elevation.

Margaret now began to grow anxious again concerning her brother.

Why did he not join us? Could any new complication have arisen to cause his re-arrest? These and a thousand other disturbing speculations troubled her unceasingly, until they were put beyond all doubt by a letter, which fell upon us like a bomb:

"_January_ 19, 1748.

"My dearest Peggy,--I have resolved on a step which I can scarce expect you to approve, perhaps not even to understand at present, though I have every hope that some day you will do both.

"My situation briefly is this: I have no hope whatever of another effectual attempt on the part of the Prince, and I have set my face against foreign service. Still, I was bred to the sword, and so must bide by it. As I have neither the means nor the inclination for an idle existence, and it has pleased the King to grant me my pardon without exacting any terms, I am resolved to offer him my sword and duty without reserve.

"Let no one persuade you into thinking that I am playing a part, or have been won over by new friends or promises. I have won myself over from empty plots and idle dreams to an honourable career, and I have put the past from me without a regret, save that my decision will cause you pain, my dear and only sister.

"Whether you write me in anger or write not at all, you cannot in any way lessen the affection in which I will always cherish you.

"Your loving brother,

"Archd. Nairn."

"A most sensible determination," I thought, "and does much credit both to his sense of honour and his judgment," but I need hardly say I took care not to air my appreciations of his course before Lady Jane, and still less before Mistress Margaret, who was little short of distracted.

The poor girl had swooned on receiving the news, and for two days was utterly overwhelmed by what she held to be the disgrace of his desertion.

The Vicomte was singularly unfortunate in his attempt at consolation.

"Marguerite, mon amie," he said one evening, before us all, "your brother should lose no claim to your esteem. Remember, the cause of the Prince Charles is lost beyond all redemption. Your brother is under the greatest of all obligations to his legal King; he owes him his life. If my humble opinion be of value, I conceive he has acted strictly within the laws which govern the conscience of a gentleman and a man of honour."