Springhaven: A Tale of the Great War

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER XV

  ORDEAL OF AUDIT

  England saw the growing danger, and prepared, with an even mind andwell-girt body, to confront it. As yet stood up no other country to helpor even comfort her, so cowed was all the Continent by the lash, andspur of an upstart. Alone, encumbered with the pack of Ireland, pinchedwith hunger and dearth of victuals, and cramped with the colic ofWhiggery, she set her strong shoulder to the wheel of fortune, and sokept it till the hill was behind her. Some nations (which owe theirexistence to her) have forgotten these things conveniently; anEnglishman hates to speak of them, through his unjust abhorrence ofself-praise; and so does a Frenchman, by virtue of motives equallyrespectable.

  But now the especial danger lay in the special strength of England.Scarcely any man along the coast, who had ever come across a Frenchman,could be led (by quotations from history or even from newspapers) tobelieve that there was any sense in this menace of his to come andconquer us. Even if he landed, which was not likely--for none of themcould box the compass--the only thing he took would be a jolly goodthrashing, and a few pills of lead for his garlic. This lofty contempton the part of the seafaring men had been enhanced by Nelson, and throvewith stoutest vigour in the enlightened breasts of Springhaven.

  Yet military men thought otherwise, and so did the owners of crops andricks, and so did the dealers in bacon and eggs and crockery, and evenhardware. Mr. Cheeseman, for instance, who left nothing unsold that hecould turn a penny by, was anything but easy in his mind, and dreamedsuch dreams as he could not impart to his wife--on account of hertendency to hysterics--but told with much power to his daughter Polly,now the recognised belle of Springhaven. This vigilant grocer andbutterman, tea, coffee, tobacco, and snuffman, hosier also, and generalprovider for the outer as well as the inner man, had much of thatenterprise in his nature which the country believes to come from London.His possession of this was ascribed by all persons of a thoughtful turnto his ownership of that well-built schooner the London Trader. Sailingas she did, when the weather was fine, nearly every other week, forLondon, and returning with equal frequency, to the women who had neverbeen ten miles from home she was a mystery and a watchword. Not one ofthem would allow lad of hers to join this romantic galleon, and temptthe black cloud of the distance; neither did Mr. Cheeseman yearn (forreasons of his own about city prices) to navigate this good ship withnatives. Moreover, it was absurd, as he said, with a keen sense of hisown cheapness, to suppose that he could find the funds to buy and plysuch a ship as that!

  Truth is a fugitive creature, even when she deigns to be visible, oreven to exist. The truth of Mr. Cheeseman's statement had existed, butwas long since flown. Such was his worth that he could now afford to buythe London Trader three times over, and pay ready money every time. Butwhen he first invested hard cash in her--against the solid tears of hisprudent wife--true enough it was that he could only scrape together onequarter of the sum required. Mrs. Cheeseman, who was then in a conditionof absorbing interest with Polly, made it her last request in thisworld--for she never expected to get over it--that Jemmy should notrun in debt on a goose-chase, and fetch her poor spirit from its graveagain. James Cheeseman was compelled--as the noblest man may be--todissemble and even deny his intentions until the blessed period ofcaudle-cup, when, the weather being pleasant and the wind along theshore, he found himself encouraged to put up the window gently. Thetide was coming in with a long seesaw, and upon it, like the baby in thecradle full of sleep, lay rocking another little stranger, or rather avery big one, to the lady's conception.

  Let bygones be bygones. There were some reproaches; but the weakervessel, Mrs. Cheeseman, at last struck flag, without sinking, as shethreatened to do. And when little Polly went for her first airing, theLondon Trader had accomplished her first voyage, and was sailing intriumphantly with a box of "tops and bottoms" from the ancient firm inThreadneedle Street, which has saved so many infants from the power thatcuts the thread. After that, everything went as it should go, includingthis addition to the commercial strength of Britain, which the lady wasenabled soon to talk of as "our ship," and to cite when any questionrose of the latest London fashion. But even now, when a score of years,save one, had made their score and gone, Mrs. Cheeseman only guessed anddoubted as to the purchase of her ship. James Cheeseman knew the valueof his own counsel, and so kept it; and was patted on both shoulders bythe world, while he patted his own butter.

  He wore an apron of the purest white, with shoulder-straps of linentape, and upon his counter he had a desk, with a carved oak rail infront of it and returned at either end. The joy of his life was here tostand, with goodly shirt sleeves shining, his bright cheeks also shiningin the sun, unless it were hot enough to hurt his goods. He was not agreat man, but a good one--in the opinion of all who owed him nothing,and even in his own estimate, though he owed so much to himself. It wasenough to make any one who possessed a shilling hungry to see him soclean, so ready, and ruddy among the many good things which his looksand manner, as well as his words, commended. And as soon as he beganto smack his rosy lips, which nature had fitted up on purpose, over arasher, or a cut of gammon, or a keg of best Aylesbury, or a fine redherring, no customer having a penny in his pocket might struggle hardenough to keep it there. For the half-hearted policy of fingeringone's money, and asking a price theoretically, would recoil upon theconstitution of the strongest man, unless he could detach from allcooperation the congenial researches of his eyes and nose. When theweather was cool and the air full of appetite, and a fine smack of saltfrom the sea was sparkling on the margin of the plate of expectation,there was Mr. Cheeseman, with a knife and fork, amid a presence ofhungrifying goods that beat the weak efforts of imagination. Hams ofthe first rank and highest education, springs of pork sweeter than thepurest spring of poetry, pats of butter fragrant as the most deliciousflattery, chicks with breast too ample to require to be broken, andsometimes prawns from round the headland, fresh enough to saw oneanother's heads off, but for being boiled already.

  Memory fails to record one-tenth of all the good things gathered there.And why? Because hope was the power aroused, and how seldom can memoryendorse it! Even in the case of Mr. Cheeseman's wares there were peoplewho said, after making short work with them, that short weight hadenabled them to do so. And every one living in the village was surprisedto find his own scales require balancing again every time he sent hislittle girl to Cheeseman's.

  This upright tradesman was attending to his business one cold day inMay, 1803, soon after Nelson sailed from Portsmouth, and he stood withhis beloved pounds of farm-house butter, bladders of lard, and new-laideggs, and squares of cream-cheese behind him, with a broad butter-spatheof white wood in his hand, a long goose-pen tucked over his left ear,and the great copper scales hanging handy. So strict was his style,though he was not above a joke, that only his own hands might serveforth an ounce of best butter to the public. And whenever this wasweighed, and the beam adjusted handsomely to the satisfaction of thepurchaser, down went the butter to be packed upon a shelf uninvaded bythe public eye. Persons too scantily endowed with the greatest of allChristian virtues had the hardihood to say that Mr. Cheeseman hereindulged in a process of high art discovered by himself. Discoursingof the weather, or the crops, or perhaps the war, and mourning thedishonesty of statesmen nowadays, by dexterous undersweep of keen steelblade, from the bottom of the round, or pat, or roll, he would have awaya thin slice, and with that motion jerk it into the barrel which he keptbeneath his desk.

  "Is this, then, the establishment of the illustrious Mr. Cheeseman?"The time was yet early, and the gentleman who put this question was inriding dress. The worthy tradesman looked at him, and the rosy hue uponhis cheeks was marbled with a paler tint.

  "This is the shop of the 'umble James Cheeseman," he answered, but notwith the alacrity of business. "All things good that are in season, andnothing kept unseasonable. With what can I have the honor of servingyou, sir?"

  "With a little talk." The stranger's manner was not un
pleasantlycontemptuous, but lofty, and such as the English shopman loves, andcalls "aristocratic."

  "To talk with a gentleman is a pleasure as well as an honour," saidCheeseman.

  "But not in this public establishment." The visitor waved both hands ashe spoke, in a style not then common with Englishmen--though they arelearning eloquent gesticulation now. "It is fine, Mr. Cheeseman; but itis not--bah, I forget your English words."

  "It is fine, sir, as you are good enough to observe"--the humble JamesCheeseman was proud of his shop--"but not, as you remarked, altogetherprivate. That can hardly be expected, where business is conducted tosuit universal requirements. Polly, my dear, if your mother can spareyou, come and take my place at the desk a few minutes. I have businessinside with this gentleman. You may sell almost anything, except butter.If any one wants that, they must wait till I come back."

  A very pretty damsel, with a cap of foreign lace both adorning andadorned by her beautiful bright hair, came shyly from a little doorbehind the counter, receiving with a quick blush the stranger's earnestgaze, and returning with a curtsey the courteous flourish of hislooped-up riding-hat. "What a handsome gentleman!" said Polly toherself; "but there is something very sad and very wild in hisappearance." Her father's conclusion was the same, and his heart misgavehim as he led in this unexpected guest.

  "There is no cause for apologies. This place is a very good one,"the stranger replied, laying down his heavy whip on the table of astone-floored room, to which he had been shown. "You are a man ofbusiness, and I am come upon dry business. You can conjecture--is it notso?--who I am by this time, although I am told that I do not bear anystrong resemblance to my father."

  He took off his hat as he spoke, shook back his long black hair, andfixed his jet-black eyes upon Cheeseman. That upright dealer had notrecovered his usual self-possession yet, but managed to look up--for hewas shorter by a head than his visitor--with a doubtful and enquiringsmile.

  "I am Caryl Carne, of Carne Castle, as you are pleased to call it. Ihave not been in England these many years; from the death of my father Ihave been afar; and now, for causes of my own, I am returned, with hopeof collecting the fragments of the property of my ancestors. It appearsto have been their custom to scatter, but not gather up again. Myintention is to make a sheaf of the relics spread by squanderers, andsnapped up by scoundrels."

  "To be sure, to be sure," cried the general dealer; "this is vastly toyour credit, sir, and I wish you all success, sir, and so will all whohave so long respected your ancient and honourable family, sir. Take achair, sir--please to take a chair."

  "I find very little to my credit," Mr. Carne said, dryly, as he took theoffered chair, but kept his eyes still upon Cheeseman's; "but among thatlittle is a bond from you, given nearly twenty years agone, and of whichyou will retain, no doubt, a vivid recollection."

  "A bond, sir--a bond!" exclaimed the other, with his bright eyestwinkling, as in some business enterprise. "I never signed a bond in allmy life, sir. Why, a bond requires sureties, and nobody ever went suretyfor me."

  "Bond may not be the proper legal term. It is possible. I know nothingof the English law. But a document it is, under hand and seal, and yoursignature is witnessed, Mr. Cheeseman."

  "Ah well! Let me consider. I begin to remember something. But my memoryis not as it used to be, and twenty years makes a great hole in it. Willyou kindly allow me to see this paper, if you have it with you, sir?"

  "It is not a paper; it is written upon parchment, and I have not broughtit with me. But I have written down the intention of it, and it is asfollows:

  "'This indenture made between James Cheeseman (with a long description),of the one part, and Montagu Carne (treated likewise), of the otherpart, after a long account of some arrangement made between them,witnesseth that in consideration of the sum of 300 pounds well and trulypaid by the said Montagu Carne to Cheeseman, he, the said Cheeseman,doth assign, transfer, set over, and so on, to the said Carne, etc., oneequal undivided moiety and one half part of the other moiety of and in acertain vessel, ship, trading-craft, and so forth, known or thenceforthto be known as the London Trader, of Springhaven, in the county ofSussex, by way of security for the interest at the rate of five percent. per annum, payable half-yearly, as well as for the principal sumof 300 pounds, so advanced as aforesaid.'"

  "If it should prove, sir, that money is owing," Mr. Cheeseman said, withthat exalted candour which made a weak customer condemn his own eyes andnose, "no effort on my part shall be wanting, bad as the times are,to procure it and discharge it. In every commercial transaction Ihave found, and my experience is now considerable, that confidence, asbetween man and man, is the only true footing to go upon. And how cantrue confidence exist, unless--"

  "Unless a man shows some honesty. And a man who keeps books such asthese," pursued the visitor, suggesting a small kick to a pile ofledgers, "can hardly help knowing whether he owes a large sum or whetherhe has paid it. But that is not the only question now. In continuationof that document I find a condition, a clause provisional, that itshall be at the option of the aforesaid Montagu Carne, and hisrepresentatives, either to receive the interest at the rate beforementioned and thereby secured, or, if he or they should so prefer, totake for their own benefit absolutely three-fourths of the net profits,proceeds, or other increment realised by the trading ventures, or otheremployment from time to time, of the said London Trader. Also there is acovenant for the insurance of the said vessel, and a power of sale, andsome other provisions about access to trading books, etc., with whichyou have, no doubt, a good acquaintance, Mr. Cheeseman."

  That enterprising merchant, importer of commodities, and wholesale andretail dealer was fond of assuring his numerous friends that "nothingever came amiss to him." But some of them now would have doubted aboutthis if they had watched his face as carefully as Caryl Carne waswatching it. Mr. Cheeseman could look a hundred people in the face, andwith great vigour too, when a small account was running. But thesad, contemptuous, and piercing gaze--as if he were hardly worthpenetrating--and the twirl of the black tuft above the lip, and the firmconviction on the broad white forehead that it was confronting a roguetoo common and shallow to be worth frowning at--all these, and the factsthat were under them, came amiss to the true James Cheeseman.

  "I scarcely see how to take this," he said, being clever enough tosuppose that a dash of candour might sweeten the embroilment. "I willnot deny that I was under obligation to your highly respectedfather, who was greatly beloved for his good-will to his neighbours.'Cheeseman,' he used to say, 'I will stand by you. You are the only manof enterprise in these here parts. Whatever you do is for the good ofSpringhaven, which belonged to my family for centuries before thosenew-fangled Darlings came. And, Cheeseman, you may trust to the honourof the Carnes not to grind down a poor man who has his way to make.'Them were his words, sir; how well I recollect them!"

  "Too well almost," replied the young man, coldly, "considering howscanty was your memory just now. But it may save time, and painfulefforts of your memory, if I tell you at once that I am not concerned inany way with the sentiments of my father. I owe him very little, as youmust be well aware; and the matter betwixt you and me is strictly oneof business. The position in which I am left is such that I must pressevery legal claim to the extremest. And having the option under thisgood document, I have determined to insist upon three-quarters of theclear proceeds of this trading-ship, from the date of the purchase untilthe present day, as well as the capital sum invested on this security."

  "Very well, sir, if you do, there is only one course left me--to go intothe Court of Bankruptcy, see all my little stock in trade sold up, andstart in life again at the age of fifty-seven, with a curse upon all oldfamilies."

  "Your curse, my good friend, will not add sixpence to your credit. Andthe heat you exhibit is not well adapted for calculations commercial.There is one other course which I am able to propose, though I will notgive a promise yet to do so--a course which would relieve me from takingpo
ssession of this noble ship which has made your fortune, and perhapsfrom enforcing the strict examination of your trading-books, to which Iam entitled. But before I propose any such concession, which will bea grand abdication of rights, one or two things become necessary.For example, I must have some acquaintance with your character, somecertitude that you can keep your own counsel, and not divulge everythingthat arrives within your knowledge; also that you have some courage,some freedom of mind from small insular sentiments, some desire topromote the true interests of mankind, and the destruction of nationalprejudices."

  "Certainly, sir; all of those I can approve of. They are very gloriousthings," cried Cheeseman--a man of fine liberal vein, whenever twohalf-crowns were as good as a crown. "We are cramped and trampled anddown-trodden by the airs big people give themselves, and the longing ofsuch of us as thinks is to speak our minds about it. Upon that pointof freedom, sir, I can heartily go with you, and every stick upon mypremises is well insured."

  "Including, I hope, the London Trader, according to your covenant. Andthat reminds me of another question--is it well-found, well-manned, anda good rapid ship to make the voyage? No falsehood, if you please, aboutthis matter."

  "She is the fastest sailer on the English coast, built at Dunkirk, andas sound as a bell. She could show her taffrail, in light weather, toany British cruiser in the Channel. She could run a fine cargo of Frenchcognac and foreign laces any day."

  "It is not my desire," Caryl Carne replied, "to cheat the BritishRevenue. For that purpose exist already plenty of British tradesmen. Forthe present I impress upon you one thing only, that you shall observesilence, a sacred silence, regarding this conversation. For your ownsake you will be inclined to do so, and that is the only sake a man paysmuch attention to. But how much for your own sake you are obliged tokeep your counsel, you will very soon find out if you betray it."