A Set of Rogues

by Frank Barrett

  CHAPTER XVI.

  _Prosper as well as any thieves may; but Dawson greatly tormented._

  The next morning I went to Simon at his lodge house, having writ him anote overnight to prepare him for my visit, and there I found him, withall his books and papers ready for my examination. So to it we set,casting up figures, comparing accounts, and so forth, best part of theday, and in the end I came away convinced that he was the mostscrupulous, honest steward ever man had. And, truly, it appeared that byhis prudent investments and careful management he had trebled the valueof the estate, and more, in the last ten years. He showed me, also, thatin all his valuations he had set off a large sum for loss by accident offire, war, etc., so that actually at the present moment the estate,which he reckoned at seventy-five thousand pounds, was worth at theleast one hundred and twenty-five thousand. But for better assurance onthis head, I spent the remainder of the week in visiting the farms,messuages, etc., on his rent roll, and found them all in excellentcondition, and held by good substantial men, nothing in any particularbut what he represented it.

  Reporting on these matters privily to Don Sanchez and Dawson, I askedthe Don what we should now be doing.

  "Two ways lie before us," says he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out ofhis house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs ofsmoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, andget out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities beworth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a thirdof their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On tenthousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way isto make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him totreble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and livelike kings" (puff) "in England."

  "Pray, which way do you incline, Senor?" says I.

  "Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like aprince in Spain."

  "That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elchehave cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis abeggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done someunhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should neverdare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"

  "Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, ofmy own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."

  "Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and asshe is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"

  "No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmotherinto the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose herto do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twouldbe a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she hasa sneaking coward for a father."

  "As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you areto be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."

  "You mean that, Senor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raisinghis left.

  "By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.

  "Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don'spalm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Tenfrom t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does thatleave us?"

  "More than a hundred thousand!"

  "The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.

  Upon this, Moll, by the advice of Don Sanchez, sends for Simon, andtelling him she is satisfied with the account I have given of hisstewardship, offers him the further control of her affairs, subject atall times to her decision on any question concerning her convenience,and reserving to herself the sole government of her household, theordering of her home, lands, etc. And Simon grasping eagerly at thisproposal, she then gives him the promise of one thousand pounds for hispast services, and doubles the wages due to him under his contract withSir R. Godwin.

  "Give me what it may please thee to bestow that way," cries he. "Allshall be laid out to enrich this property. I have no other use formoney, no other worldly end in life but that."

  And when he saw me next he was most slavish in his thanks for my goodoffices, vowing I should be paid my claim by Michaelmas, if it were inthe power of man to raise so vast a sum in such short space. Surely,thinks I, there was never a more strange, original creature than this,yet it do seem to me that there is no man but his passion must appear amadness to others.

  I must speak now of Moll, her admirable carriage and sober conduct inthese new circumstances, which would have turned the heads of mostothers. Never once to my knowledge did she lose her self-possession, onthe most trying occasion, and this was due, not alone to her own shrewdwit and understanding, but to the subtle intelligence of Don Sanchez,who in the character of an old and trusty friend was ever by her side,watchful of her interest (and his own), ready at any moment to drop inher ear a quiet word of warning or counsel. By his advice she had takeninto her service a most commendable, proper old gentlewoman, one Mrs.Margery Butterby, who, as being the widow of a country parson, was veryorderly in all things, and particularly nice in the proprieties. Thisnotable good soul was of a cheery, chatty disposition, of very pleasingmanners, and a genteel appearance, and so, though holding but the partof housekeeper, she served as an agreeable companion and a respectableguardian, whose mere presence in the house silenced any question thatmight have arisen from the fact of three men living under the same roofwith the young and beautiful mistress of Hurst Court. Moreover, sheserved us as a very useful kind of mouthpiece; for all those marvellousstories of her life in Barbary, of the pirates we had encountered inredeeming her from the Turk, etc., with which Moll would beguile awayany tedious half-hour, for the mere amusement of creating Mrs.Butterby's wonder and surprise,--as one will tell stories of fairies tochildren,--this good woman repeated with many additions of her ownconcerning ourselves, which, to reflect credit on herself, were all toour advantage. This was the more fitting, because the news spreadingthat the lost heiress had returned to Hurst Court excited curiosity farand wide, and it was not long before families in the surrounding seats,who had known Sir R. Godwin in bygone times, called to see his daughter.And here Moll's wit was taxed to the utmost, for those who had knownJudith Godwin as an infant expected that she should remember someincident stored in their recollection; but she was ever equal to theoccasion, feigning a pretty doubting innocence at first, then suddenlyasking this lady if she had not worn a cherry dress with a beautifulstomacher at the time, or that gentleman if he had not given her a goldpiece for a token, and it generally happened these shrewd shafts hittheir mark: the lady, though she might have forgotten her gown,remembering she had a very becoming stomacher; the gentleman believingthat he did give her a lucky penny, and so forth, from very vanity. ThenMoll's lofty carriage and her beauty would remind them of their dearlost friend, Mrs. Godwin, in the heyday of her youth, and all agreed inadmiring her beyond anything. And though Moll, from her lack ofknowledge, made many slips, and would now and then say thingsuncustomary to women of breeding, yet these were easily attributed toher living so long in a barbarous country, and were as readily glancedover. Indeed, nothing could surpass Moll's artificial conduct on theseoccasions. She would lard her conversation with those scraps of Italianshe learnt from me, and sometimes, affecting to have forgot her owntongue, she would stumble at a word, and turning to Don Sanchez, ask himthe English of some Moorish phrase. Then one day, there being quite adozen visitors in her state room, she brings down her Moorish dress andthose baubles given her by friends at Elche, to show the ladies, much tothe general astonishment and wonder; then, being prayed to dress herselfin these clothes, she with some hesitation of modesty consents, andafter a short absence from the room returns in this costume, lookinglovelier than ever I had before seen, with the rings about her shapelybare arms and on h
er ankles, and thus arrayed she brings me a guitar,and to my strumming sings a Moorish song, swaying her arms above herhead and turning gracefully in their fashion, so that all were in anecstasy with this strange performance. And the talk spreading, thenumber of visitors grew apace,--as bees will flock to honey,--andyielding to their urgent entreaties, she would often repeat this pieceof business, and always with a most winning grace, that charmed everyone. But she was most a favourite of gentlemen and elderly ladies; forthe younger ones she did certainly put their noses out of joint, sincenone could at all compare with her in beauty nor in manner, either, forshe had neither the awkward shyness of some nor the boldness of others,but contrived ever to steer neatly betwixt the two extremes by hernatural self-possession and fearlessness.

  Of all her new friends, the most eager in courting her were Sir HarryUpton and his lady (living in the Crays); and they, being about to go toLondon for the winter, did press Moll very hard to go with them, thatshe might be presented to the king; and, truth to tell, they would nothave had to ask her twice had she been governed only by her owninclination. For she was mad to go,--that audacious spirit of adventurestill working very strong in her,--and she, like a winning gamester,must for ever be playing for higher and higher stakes. But we, who hadheard enough of his excellent but lawless Majesty's court to fear thefate of any impulsive, beauteous young woman that came within his sway,were quite against this. Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, didpersuade her from it with good strong argument,--showing that, despitehis worldliness, he did really love her as much as 'twas in his witheredheart to love any one. As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner seehis Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king's company, adding that'twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had ahusband to keep her out of mischief. And so she refused this offer (butwith secret tears, I believe). "But," says she to her father, "if I'mnot to have my own way till I'm married, I shall get me a husband assoon as I can."

  And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for oneneither. Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparkswere courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty,but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon hadenriched the estate. And 'twas this abundance of suitors which preventedMoll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, Ibelieve the business would have been settled very quickly. For now shewas in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veinswas of no lukewarm kind.

  But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Mollfor a space to tell of her father. That first hint of the Don's bringinghim to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and theexuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect inhis behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play. And the hard,trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen. For nowwas he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to liveapart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met inthe morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart,maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool,indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning forgentle, tender warmth. And these natural cravings of affection wererather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one's hunger bystarving. To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than evershe was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulatingthat admiration which he dared not express. He beheld her loved andcourted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her thanany, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle hisdesires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, likechains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into hisbeing, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.Yet, for Moll's sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, whenhe could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others wereenjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber andpace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.

  These sufferings were not unperceived by Moll, who also had strongfeeling to repress, and therefore could comprehend her father's torture,and she would often seize an opportunity, nay, run great risk ofdiscovery, to hie her secretly to his room, there to throw herself inhis arms and strain him to her heart, covering his great face withtender kisses, and whispering words of hope and good cheer (with thetears on her cheek). And one day when Jack seemed more than usualdownhearted, she offered him to give up everything and return to her oldways, if he would. But this spurring his courage, he declared he wouldlive in hell rather than she should fall from her high estate, andbecome a mere vagabond wench again, adding that 'twas but the firsteffort gave him so much pain, that with practice 'twould all be asnothing; that such sweet kisses as hers once a week did amply compensatehim for his fast, etc. Then her tears being brushed away, she would quithim with noiseless step and all precautions, and maybe five minutesafterwards, whilst Jack was sitting pensive at his window pondering hersweetness and love, he would hear her laughing lightly below, as if hewere already forgotten.