CHAPTER XLIV. NOBLESSE OBLIGE
I lay that night in Captain Clapsaddle's lodgings opposite, and sleptsoundly. Banks was on hand in the morning to assist at my toilet, andwas greatly downcast when I refused him this privilege, for the firsttime. Captain Daniel was highly pleased with the honest fellow'sdevotion in following me to America. To cheer him he began to questionhim as to my doings in London, and the first thing of which Banks musttell was of the riding-contest in Hyde Park, which I had omitted. It iseasy to imagine how this should have tickled the captain, who always hadmy horsemanship at heart; and when it came to Chartersea's descent intothe Serpentine, I thought he would go into apoplexy. For he had put onflesh with the years.
The news of my return had spread all over town, so that I had a dealmore handshaking to do when we went to the Coffee House for breakfast.All the quality were in the country, of course, save only four gentlemenof the local Patriots' committee, of which Captain Daniel was a member,and with whom he had an appointment at ten. It was Mr. Swain who arrivedfirst of the four.
This old friend of my childhood was a quiet man (I may not havespecified), thin, and a little under stature, with a receding butthoughtful forehead. But he could express as much of joy and welcome inhis face and manner as could Captain Daniel with his heartier ways.
"It does me good to see you, lad," he said, pressing my hand. "I heardyou were home, and sent off an express to Patty and the mother lastnight."
"And are they not here?" I asked, with disappointment.
Mr. Swain smiled.
"I have done a rash thing since I saw you, Richard, and bought a littleplantation in Talbot, next to Singleton's. It will be my ruin," headded. "A lawyer has no business with landed ambitions."
"A little plantation!" echoed the captain. "'Od's life, he has boughtone of his Lordship's own manors--as good an estate as there is in theprovince."
"You overdo it, Daniel," said he, reprovingly.
At that moment there was a stir in the doorway, and in came Mr. Carroll,the barrister, and Mr. Bordley and Colonel Lloyd. These gentlemen gaveme such a welcome as those warm-hearted planters and lawyers knew how tobestow.
"What, he!" cried Mr. Lloyd, "I'm stamped and taxed if it isn't youngRichard Carvel himself. Well," says he, "I know one who will sleepeasier o' nights now,--one Clapsaddle. The gray hairs are forgot,Daniel. We had more to-do over your disappearance than when Mr.Worthington lost his musical nigger. Where a deuce have you been, sir?"
"He shall tell us when we come back," said Mr. Bordley. "He has broughtour worthy association to a standstill once, and now we must proceedabout our business. Will you come, Richard? I believe you have provedyourself a sufficiently good patriot, and in this very house."
We went down Church Street, I walking behind with Colonel Lloyd, and soproud to be in such company that I cared not a groat whether Graftonhad my acres or not. I remembered that the committee all wore plain andsober clothes, and carried no swords. Mr. Swain alone had a wig. I hadbeen away but seven months, and yet here was a perceptible change. Inthese dignified and determined gentlemen England had more to fear thanin all the mobs at Mr. Wilkes's back. How I wished that Charles Foxmight have been with me.
The sun beat down upon the street. The shopkeepers were gathered attheir doors, but their chattering was hushed as the dreaded committeepassed. More than one, apparently, had tasted of its discipline. ColonelLloyd whispered to me to keep my countenance, that they were notafter very large game that morning,--only Chipchase, the butcher.And presently we came upon the rascal putting up his shutters in muchprecipitation, although it was noon. He had shed his blood-stained smockand breeches, and donned his Sunday best,--a white, thick-set coat,country cloth jacket, blue broadcloth breeches, and white shirt. Agrizzled cut wig sat somewhat awry under his bearskin hat. When heperceived Mr. Carroll at his shoulder, he dropped his shutter againstthe wall, and began bowing frantically.
"You keep good hours, Master Chipchase," remarked Colonel Lloyd.
"And lose good customers," Mr. Swain added laconically.
The butcher wriggled.
"Your honours must know there be little selling when the gentry beout of town. And I was to take a holiday to-day, to see my daughtermarried."
"You will have a feast, my good man?" Captain Daniel asked.
"To be sure, your honour, a feast."
"And any little ewe-lambs?" says Mr. Bordley, very innocent.
Master Chipchase turned the colour of his meat, and his wit failed him.
"'Fourthly,'" recited Mr. Carroll, with an exceeding sober face,"'Fourthly, that we will not kill, or suffer to be killed, or sell, ordispose to any person whom we have reason to believe intends to kill,any ewe-lamb that shall be weaned before the first day of May, in anyyear during the time aforesaid.' Have you ever heard anything of thatsound, Mr. Chipchase?"
Mr. Chipchase had. And if their honours pleased, he had a defence tomake, if their honours would but listen. And if their honours but knew,he was as good a patriot as any in the province, and sold his wool toPeter Psalter, and he wore the homespun in winter. Then Mr. Carrolldrew a paper from his pocket, and began to read: "Mr. Thomas Hincks,personally known to me, deposeth and saith,--"
Master Chipchase's knees gave from under him.
"And your honours please," he cried piteously, "I killed the lamb,but 'twas at Mr. Grafton Carvel's order, who was in town with hisExcellency." (Here Mr. Swain and the captain glanced significantly atme.) "And I lose Mr. Carvel's custom, there is twelve pounds odd gone ayear, your honours. And I am a poor man, sirs."
"Who is it owns your shop, my man?" asks Mr. Bordley, very sternly.
"Oh, I beg your honours will not have me put out--"
The wailing of his voice had drawn a crowd of idlers and brothershopkeepers, who seemed vastly to enjoy the knave's discomfiture.Amongst them I recognized my old acquaintance, Weld, now a rivalbutcher. He pushed forward boldly.
"And your honours please," said he, "he has sold lamb to half the Torygentry in Annapolis."
"A lie!" cried Chipchase; "a lie, as God hears me!"
Now Captain Clapsaddle was one who carried his loves and his hatreds tothe grave, and he had never liked Weld since the day, six years gone by,he had sent me into the Ship tavern. And when Weld heard the captain'svoice he slunk away without a word.
"Have a care, Master Weld," says he, in a quiet tone that boded no good;"there is more evidence against you than you will like."
Master Chipchase, after being frightened almost out of his senses, waspardoned this once by Captain Daniel's influence. We went thence to Mr.Hildreth's shop; he was suspected of having got tea out of a South Riversnow; then to Mr. Jackson's; and so on. 'Twas after two when we gotback to the Coffee House, and sat down to as good a dinner as Mr. Claudecould prepare. "And now," cried Colonel Lloyd, "we shall have youradventures, Richard. I would that your uncle were here to listen tothem," he added dryly.
I recited them very much as I had done the night before, and I warrantyou, my dears, that they listened with more zest and eagerness than didMr. Walpole. But they were all shrewd men, and kept their suspicions,if they had any, to themselves. Captain Daniel would have me omitnothing,--my intimacy with Mr. Fox, the speech at Brooks's Club, and theriding-match at Hyde Park.
"What say you to that, gentlemen?" he cried. "Egad, I'll be sworn hedeserves credit,--an arrant young spark out of the Colonies, scarceturned nineteen, defeating a duke of the realm on horseback, andpreaching the gospel of 'no taxation' at Brooks's Club! Nor the favourof Sandwich or March could turn him from his principles."
Modesty, my dears, does not permit me to picture the enthusiasm of thesegood gentlemen, who bore the responsibility of the colony of Marylandupon their shoulders. They made more of me than I deserved. In vain didI seek to explain that if a young man was but well-born, and had a fullpurse and a turn for high play, his principles might go hang, for allMr. Fox cared. Colonel Lloyd commanded that the famous rose punch-bowlbe filled to the brim
with Mr. Claude's best summer brew, and they drankmy health and my grandfather's memory. It mattered little to them that Iwas poor. They vowed I should not lose by my choice. Mr. Bordley offeredme a home, and added that I should have employment enough in the daysto come. Mr. Carroll pressed me likewise. And big-hearted Colonel Lloyddesired to send me to King's College, as was my grandfather's wish,where Will Fotheringay and my cousin Philip had been for a term. I mightmake a barrister of myself. Mr. Swain alone was silent and thoughtful,but I did not for an instant doubt that he would have done as much forme.
Before we broke up for the evening the gentlemen plied me with questionsconcerning the state of affairs in England, and the temper of hisMajesty and Parliament. I say without vanity that I was able toenlighten them not a little, for I had learned a deeper lesson from theset into which I had fallen in London than if I had become the confidantof Rockingham himself. America was a long way from England in thosedays. I regretted that I had not arrived in London in time to witnessLord Chatham's dramatic return to politics in January, when he hadcompleted the work of Junius, and broken up the Grafton ministry. ButI told them of the debate I had heard in St. Stephen's, and made themlaugh over Mr. Fox's rescue of the King's friends, and the hustling ofMr. Burke from the Lords.
They were very curious, too, about Mr. Manners; and I was put to muchingenuity to answer their queries and not reveal my own connection withhim. They wished to know if it were true that some nobleman had flung abottle at his head in a rage because Dorothy would not marry him, as Dr.Courtenay's letter had stated. I replied that it was so. I did not addthat it was the same nobleman who had been pitched into the Serpentine.Nor did I mention the fight at Vauxhall. I made no doubt these thingswould come to their ears, but I did not choose to be the one to tellthem. Mr. Swain remained after the other gentlemen, and asked me if Iwould come with him to Gloucester Street; that he had something to sayto me. We went the long way thither, and I was very grateful to himfor avoiding Marlboro' Street, which must needs bring me painfulrecollections. He said little on the way.
I almost expected to see Patty come tripping down from the vine-coveredporch with her needlework in her hand, and the house seemed strangelyempty without her. Mr. Swain had his negro, Romney, place chairs forus under the apple tree, and bring out pipes and sangaree. The air wasstill, and heavy with the flowers' scent, and the sun was dipping behindthe low eaves of the house. It was so natural to be there that I scarcerealized all that had happened since last I saw the back gate in thepicket fence. Alas! little Patty would never more be smuggled through itand over the wall to Marlboro' Street. Mr. Swain recalled my thoughts.
"Captain Clapsaddle has asked me to look into this matter of the will,Richard," he began abruptly. "Altho' we thought never to see you again,we have hoped against hope. I fear you have little chance for yourproperty, my lad."
I replied that Captain Daniel had so led me to believe, and thanked himfor his kindness and his trouble.
"'Twas no trouble," he replied quickly. "Indeed, I wish it might havebeen. I shall always think of your grandfather with reverence and withsorrow. He was a noble man, and was a friend to me, in spite of mypolitics, when other gentlemen of position would not invite me to theirhouses. It would be the greatest happiness of my life if I could restorehis property to you, where he would have had it go, and deprive thatvillain, your uncle, of the fruits of his crime."
"Then there is nothing to be got by contesting the will?" I asked.
He shook his head soberly.
"I fear not at present," said he, "nor can I with honesty hold out anyhope to you, Richard. Your uncle, by reason of his wealth, is a man ofundue influence with the powers of the colony. Even if he were not so, Idoubt greatly whether we should be the gainers. The will is undoubtedlygenuine. Mr. Carvel thought you dead, and we cannot prove undueinfluence by Grafton unless we also prove that it was he who caused yourabduction. Do you think you can prove that?"
"There is one witness," I exclaimed, "who overheard my uncle and Mr.Allen talking of South River and Griggs, the master of the slaver, inthe stables at Carvel Hall."
"And who is that?" demanded Mr. Swain, with more excitement than Ibelieved him capable of.
"Old Harvey."
Your grandfather's coachman? Alas, he died the day after Mr. Carvel, andwas buried the same afternoon. Have you spoken of this?"
"Not to a soul," said I.
"Then I would not. You will have to be very careful and say nothing,Richard. Let me hear what other reasons you have for believing that youruncle tried to do away with you."
I told him, lucidly as possible, everything I have related in thesepages, and the admission of Griggs. He listened intently, shaking hishead now and then, but not a word out of him.
"No," he said at length, "nothing is there which will be admitted, butenough to damn him if you yourself might be a witness. I will give youthe law, briefly: descendible estates among us are of two kinds, estatesin fee simple and estates in fee tail. Had your grandfather died withouta will, his estate, which we suppose to be in fee simple, would havedescended to you as the son of his eldest son, according to the fourthof the canons of descent in Blackstone. But with us fee simple estatesare devisable, and Mr. Carvel was wholly within his right in cutting offthe line of his eldest son. Do you follow me?"
I nodded.
"There is one chance," he continued, "and that is a very slim one. Isaid that Mr. Carvel's estate was supposed to be in fee simple.Estates tail are not devisable. Our system of registration is far frominfallible, and sometimes an old family settlement turns up to provethat a property which has been willed out of the direct line, as infee simple, is in reality entailed. Is there a possibility of any suchdocument?"
I replied that I did not know. My grandfather had never brought up thesubject.
"We must bend our efforts in that direction," said the barrister. "Ishall have my clerks make a systematic search."
He ceased talking, and sat sipping his sangaree in the abstracted mannercommon to him. I took the opportunity to ask about his family, thinkingabout what Dolly had said of Patty's illness.
"The mother is as well as can be expected, Richard, and Patty veryrosy with the country air. Your disappearance was a great shock to themboth."
"And Tom?"
He went behind his reserve. "Tom is a d--d rake," he exclaimed, withsome vehemence. "I have given him over. He has taken up with thatmacaroni Courtenay, who wins his money,--or rather my money,--and yourcousin Philip, when he is home from King's College. How Tom can be sonof mine is beyond me, in faith. I see him about once in two months, whenhe comes here with a bill for his satins and his ruffles, and along faceof repentance, and a lot of gaming debts to involve my honour. And thatreminds me, Richard," said he, looking straight at me with his clear,dark eyes: "have you made any plans for your future?"
I ventured to ask his advice as to entering the law.
"As the only profession open to a gentleman," he replied, smiling alittle. "No, you were no more cut out for an attorney, or a barrister,or a judge, than was I for a macaroni doctor. The time is not far away,my lad," he went on, seeing my shame and confusion, "when an Americanmay amass money in any way he chooses, and still be a gentleman, behinda counter, if he will."
"I do not fear work, Mr. Swain," I remarked, with some pride.
"That is what I have been thinking," he said shortly. "And I am not aman to make up my mind while you count three, Richard. I have the placein Talbot, and no one to look after it. And--and in short I think youare the man."
He paused to watch the effect of this upon me. But I was so taken abackby this new act of kindness that I could not say a word.
"Tom is fast going to the devil, as I told you," he continued. "Hecannot be trusted. If I die, that estate shall be Patty's, and he maynever squander it. Captain Daniel tells me, and Mr. Bordley also, thatyou managed at Carvel Hall with sense and ability. I know you are veryyoung, but I think I may rely upon you."
Again he hesit
ated, eying me fixedly.
"Ah," said he, with his quiet smile, "it is the old noblesse oblige. Howmany careers has it ruined since the world began!"
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