Lawrence Clavering

emarked his presence until we had ridden some t

in my horse. He followed my example, but with so evident a di

of your return, or where I should look

ts he gave me information, which inclined me in his favour. The northern counties, as far south as Derbyshire, were so much tinder. It needed but a spark to set them ablaze from one coast to the other. I was ready to listen to as much talk of that ki

received a better schooling than his father before him. He spoke, indeed, very correctly for a servant, but with a broadish accent and a clipping of his the's, as

ough the narrow streets, it was the English tongue that I heard spoken on every side, though more often with a Scotch or an Irish accent. But the one whom I came to seek I did not find. The Che

ng in the courtyard, I noticed a carriage, which was ranged, all dirtied and muddy, again

d to th

the carr

morn

monsi

ithin, I

a jug upon a tray. She gave a little scream; the tray struck me on the chest; there was jingle o

r is in?

aid, with a sta

is in?" I

nd caught me a swing

p the stairs. A footman stood beside the

d I, "he

dvanced a ste

rd is

ill s

strictest

door. It was thrown open from the inside, and

ith his back towards me--a man of a slender and graceful figure, plainly dressed in a suit of black velvet. He turned hastily as I stumbled across the threshold, and in a twinkling I knew what I had done

d upon m

tammered out; and a

wards me. I felt the clar

spondency. "But it will be bad news. Not a doubt of that! 'Tis always bad news that comes in suc

ngbroke, who, having closed the door, now stood on one side, midway between King James and

ome perplexity--"Mr. Lawrence Clavering,

the King, affably. "That

though I perceived nothing of its humour at t

him hurry!" and he came a little nearer towards me, as though with his own hands he would help me to rise.

s of his voice redo

, but it was from sheer humiliation. I glanced about me, wishing the floor would open. But i

d, "it is no wound I would

drawing back and bending

ence?" asked Bolingbrok

ckskin breeches, with the re

d I, "a jugf

n fact, like so many men of a reserved disposition, very sensitive to the least hint of ridicule u

ich spring from overmuch zeal, and this is the second proof of his wisdom that I have had to-day. For now I have offended your Ma

Bolingbroke began to laugh, and in a moment or two

now," said he, "the r

nd how, on the sight of Lord Bolingbroke's carriage in the courtyard, I had rushed into his presence, without a thought that he might be closeted wi

your kinsman," said the King; "and I am fain to take th

longs to yourself. For I doubt if Lawrence would have shown such eagernes

was littered over with papers, and finally seized upon a couple o

g to a tone sharp and precise; and he proceeded to put to me a question or t

y. For this inheritance has come to me unexpected

ngers upon the table,

hing, then, o

as set foot in it. I w

"neither is he known there. There is an advantage in

face, and looked at me doubtful

d, "and one may perhaps think"--he smi

for some achievement, however slight, which might outweigh my indiscretion. But I had not a single deed to my name: and what excuse could acquit me of a hot-headed thoughtlessness? I remai

n the siege of Deny, and with those two lives

e and came over to me. He l

al in the kindliness of his accent, as though my father's death raised me from a unit in the ag

I inherit," I replied. From the tail of my eye I

of a courtier, your Majest

ly, "this is honest trut

shoulder with a quite paternal air, though, in t

t known in Cumberland, and there is, besides, a very natural reason for his presence in the county." He stood looking me over for

upon oath to say. But the man who passed it to me was the steward of Blackladies, and he spoke in t

n eagerly to Bolingbroke. "Perhaps it were best, then, that I sh

's eyebrows lift

f irony in his tone, "that your Majesty had deter

hing of petulance; "but these later

said Bolingbroke, spr

e report of Mr. Roo

hen again at the letter in his hand, which was written in a round and clumsy character. I caught

elf of Blackladies? I fancied that the name w

erning the man, and how I was to hold his estate i

d he, "that Mr. Claverin

blood rush

that I spoke," I declared earnestly

oke broke in upon

advise that we see the man here, and question him closely face to face. For Mr.

King; "yet it appears his lo

"At night, over their cups, they are all for King James; then they consult their pillows, and in the sober mo

ed labours during those last six years of Queen Anne's reign, and I fanci

ese letters speak in

lution? Will they support the revolution with advantage, if it spins out to a war? It is on these points your Majesty needs to be informed; and it is on these points they keep so discreet a silence. We ask them for their plan, as Marshall Berwick asked them

s gestures and expression, while the King listened to him in an uneasy impati

five minutes in the house, the people of the inn informed me. I hurried to the stables, thinking perchance to find him there. I questioned the ostlers, the drawers, even the wench who had boxed my ears. No one had knowledge of his whereab

now in the room, gathering together t

I could have heard him out. Besides, Mr. Clavering, I have had some talk concerning you with your kinsman here, an

o! it had come true. It had come true! The words made a silent music at my heart, and animated all my blood. It had come true! and then, of a sudden, there shot through me, chilling me to the centre, the rector's warning, and the forebodings that had flowed from it. Did this mission, which t

e counties adjoining. Lord Bolingbroke will inform you more of the particulars. Your errand, of course, you will keep secret--locked up from all--from our supporters, no less than from our opponents. It would be of detriment to us if they came to think that we distrusted them. Nor do we--it is their judgment, not their loyalty, about which we wish to be assured. We think, therefore, that it would be prudent in you to make no p

ars back," and he gave it into my hand. "It may serve to keep me in your heart and memories. Moreover, a day may come when it will be nece

of King James--very true and life-like--with the words "cujus est;" on the other

," so charged was it with a sad and pitiful significance, brought the tears we

thought that I noted something of a veritable tenderness in his accen

door, flung himself into a c

e said, "I am

sideboard at one end of the room. He went

ne to me "Let us drink to ourselves,"

ied, "to th

s next. What matters the toast, so long as we drink it?" an

that of drinking to the King. For so one drinks double, and never a word can be said against it." I noticed, how

d, and, becoming quite serious, he took me

saddle if I did," s

ed. "Let's drink to her several

ed a good twenty mi

his hea

n that you are new to

letter for

he looked at me in surprise.

es

before sunrise." Thereupon he proceeded to instruct me as to the precise details concerning which I was to inform myself in Cumberland--such as the number of troops they could put into the field, and how competent they were to face well-drilled and disciplined squadrons, their weapons, the least assistance from France they would hazard the rising u

rning as even then did somet

ier spoke when he bade you beware h

k me. "It was you, then, that prom

altog

e main, fo

ool's business we're embarked upon. You heard the Chevalier. He has no fixed design," and he brought his hand down upon the table with a dunch. "On

ot believe that. He ha

miled, but sh

e more power than I. He will concert a plan with me, and the hour after give a contrary order behind my back. It w

uld see no sign, and, leaving another direction that he should follow with all speed, I rode off towards the village of Isoncour, where Ashlock c

h fatigued with the hurry of our travelling, had fallen fast asleep. And I, bethinking me that, in spite of his gloomy forecast, Lor

ships were ever on the watch for the King's emissaries, and one of them, a sloop, was riding not so far out in full view of Dunkirk. In this difficulty Ashlock w

could sail th

f us could steer a course and

by myself, and the second

we kept as nearly as we could ever turned towards the land. The moon was in its fourth quarter and not yet risen when we started, so that the night, though not so black as we could wish, was still dark enough for our purpose. We had besides the lights from the port-holes of the warship to guide us, which gleamed pure and bright across the water like a triple row of candles upon an

were strewn with a gold-dust of stars and jewelled with the planets. The wind blew out of the night sharp and clean, the waves bubbled and tinkled against the planks as the prow split them into a white fire, and we sped across that broad floor of the sea as if licensed to an illimitable course. Now and again the lights of a ship would rise t

sea became an image of the life I was entering upon. I felt the brine like a leaven in my blood. And then of a sudden the sail fla

the bows. I lay still and watched him in a lazy contentment. Midway betwixt bow and stern he stopped and busied himself with tightening a stay; then again he crouched down and looked forwards, but this time it seemed to me that he was not looking out beyond the bowsprit, but rather into the bows to the spot where I lay

n as he had tightened the stay? He stooped beneath the sail and still crept forward, running his hand along the top of the gunwale as he came; and it broke upon me as something new tha

could see the scabbard shining by the tiller. At all events, Ashlock had not brought it with him. I watched him without a

le I watched him, looking straight into his eyes. His face was but a few inches from mine when he drew back with a little quivering cry--it was, indeed, more of a startled in-drawing of the breath than a cry--and crouched on

question that moment, made a very great mistake, the imp

him in the face, I raised myself on one elb

u waked or slept," he said; and I

e, Ashlock.

idently enough, "and blows dead in our teeth. We must

el

your help. It needs two to tac

the other side of the mast. The which it fell to me to do, while Ashlock guided the tiller. So that I knew there was good reason for his waking me. However, I had little time for speculation up

ore, for it was as though he had some sixth sense which found its occasion upon the sea, and when the day broke and the mist rolled down and massed itself upon the water, we were within five miles of the white cliffs wi

ur?" asked Ashlock, and he turn

conviction that if we disembarked at Dover, we should be surrounded, catechised, and finally searched, upon the ground of a tell-tale face, which face w

oded as low as we could see. Towards this cove we pointed, intending to run in there and abandon the boat But when we were within half a mile of land the sun blazed out in the sky and the fog shredded like so much gauze burnt up in a fire. It was a fortunate thing for us that we had come no nearer to the sho

in great excitement, "Oh

n my hurry get the spar entangled amongst the stays a foot above the thwart. Ashlock

air of deference, he was for wresting rather than taking the spar out of

ck, holding the one end of it in his hands, the other caught me a crack in the joint at the knees, and the next moment I was sprawling on my back at the bottom of the boat.

ittle difference between master and servant when

en!" I cried, scr

ve men," said he with

im. I turned me about. The boat was swinging round with the tide now that it had neither sail nor a hand at the rudder to direct it. Before, it had been pointing for the beach midway in the cove; now it

" I said in a lo

ed from me t

mill-race," said he, doubtfully, and he mad

and he obeyed, and again

the boat's head up until the wind against which we had been tacking was directly astern of us, and the tiller kicked in my hand as w

e corner of the re

e runs in shore. There's a gap in

my speed, and I felt the boat leap and pulse beneath me like a live thing. Ashlock looked at me

ss of the passage, and maybe it was that very oblivion which kept my hand steady. So engrossed was I, in truth, in my one idea, that I could not forbear from glancing backwards now and then in a mortal dread, lest I should see the sun flash upon the disc o

mless and oily like a rapid in the Severn. The boat gave a great spring, and then slid with a swift, easy motion like a sledge. I heard the waves burst over the rocks and patter back upon the sea; I felt the spray whipping my forehead; and the

said I, "you c

o babble an apology for the disrespect he had

g to believe, moreover, that you were hurried into it through devotion to a higher mast

s ever at your pocket on the road if we g

all humiliation. For here was I entrusted with a mission of some co

"How comes it that you, Cumberland-born and Cum

it softened in a manner that surprised me; a look, tender and almost dreamy, came into his eyes, a regretful smile fli

of the surf. But my parents would not have it so, and I live inland, restless, unsatisfied, like a man kept out of his own." He checked himself hastily, and continued in a flurry

is not the first time you have

ng. It was as though a lid had been slammed down upon an open

said; and he drew

ad lain--for all that day we remained hidden within the cliffs--I saw him continually stoop beneath the sail; I saw his face sink out of the moonlight down and down to mine, and his hands hover above my

!" I cried, and in my perturb

oke up wi

expecting the Preventive men to row round the point and discover us. There was no possible escape for us if they did. The more I searched and searched the cliffs, the more clearly I saw how impossible they were to scale. It would, I think, have made the strain and tension of this waiting more tolerable had I been able to reach some point whence I could command a view of the bay, though it would have served no other end. But that too was denied to me. I lay the livelong day the impatient hanger-on of chance. No sound ca

as it was dark, and coasting along, landed shortly after two in the morning, at a spot in the Downs a

joyment that we had much ado to persuade him to part with the horses at all, and it was because of his grumbles that I paid him double what he asked. I remember, too, the hedgerows a-glimmer with wild-roses as with so many pale stars. To ride ever between hedgerows! It seemed the ultimate of happiness. And the larks in the earl