CHAPTER XXV
BETSY'S TALE--(Concluded.)
"Well, now," continued Mrs. Strouss, as soon as I could persuade herto go on, "if I were to tell you every little thing that went on amongthem, miss, I should go on from this to this day week, or I might saythis day fortnight, and then not half be done with it. And the worst ofit is that those little things make all the odds in a case of that sort,showing what the great things were. But only a counselor at the OldBailey could make head or tail of the goings on that followed.
"For some reason of his own, unknown to any living being but himself,whether it were pride (as I always said) or something deeper (as otherpeople thought), he refused to have any one on earth to help him, whenhe ought to have had the deepest lawyer to be found. The constablecautioned him to say nothing, as it seems is laid down in their orders,for fear of crimination. And he smiled at this, with a high contempt,very fine to see, but not bodily wise. But even that jack-in-officecould perceive that the poor Captain thought of his sick wife up stairs,and his little children, ten times for one thought he ever gave to hisown position. And yet I must tell you that he would have no denial, butto know what it was that had killed his parent. When old Dr. Diggory'shands were shaking so that his instrument would not bite on the thinglodged in his lordship's back, after passing through and through him,and he was calling for somebody to run for his assistant, who do youthink did it for him, Miss Erema? As sure as I sit here, the Captain!His face was like a rock, and his hands no less; and he said, 'Allowme, doctor. I have been in action.' And he fetched out the bullet--whichshowed awful nerve, according to my way of thinking--as if he had been aman with three rows of teeth.
"'This bullet is just like those of my own pistol!' he cried, and hesat down hard with amazement. You may suppose how this went against him,when all he desired was to know and tell the truth; and people said thatof course he got it out, after a bottleful of doctors failed, because heknew best how it was put in.'
"'I shall now go and see the place, if you please, or whether you pleaseor not,' my master said. 'Constable, you may come and point it out,unless you prefer going to your breakfast. My word is enough that Ishall not run away. Otherwise, as you have acted on your own authority,I shall act on mine, and tie you until you have obtained a warrant. Takeyour choice, my man; and make it quickly, while I offer it.'
"The rural polishman stared at this, being used on the other hand to bemade much of. But seeing how capable the Captain was of acting up toany thing, he made a sulky scrape, and said, 'Sir, as you please for thepresent,' weighting his voice on those last three words, as much as tosay, 'Pretty soon you will be handcuffed.' 'Then,' said my master, 'Ishall also insist on the presence of two persons, simply to use theireyes without any fear or favor. One is my gardener, a very honest man,but apt to be late in the morning. The other is a faithful servant, whohas been with us for several years. Their names are Jacob Rigg and BetsyBowen. You may also bring two witnesses, if you choose. And the miller'smen, of course, will come. But order back all others.'
"'That is perfectly fair and straightforward, my lord,' the constableanswered, falling naturally into abeyance to orders. 'I am sure that allof us wishes your lordship kindly out of this rum scrape. But my duty ismy duty.'
"With a few more words we all set forth, six in number, and no more; forthe constable said that the miller's men, who had first found the lateLord Castlewood, were witnesses enough for him. And Jacob Rigg, whoselegs were far apart (as he said) from trenching celery, took us throughthe kitchen-garden, and out at a gap, which saved every body knowing.
"Then we passed through a copse or two, and across a meadow, and thenalong the turnpike-road, as far as now I can remember. And along that wewent to a stile on the right, without any house for a long way off. Andfrom that stile a foot-path led down a slope of grass land to the littleriver, and over a hand-bridge, and up another meadow full of trees andbushes, to a gate which came out into the road again a little to thisside of the Moonstock Inn, saving a quarter of a mile of road, which ranstraight up the valley and turned square at the stone bridge to get tothe same inn.
"I can not expect to be clear to you, miss, though I see it all now asI saw it then, every tree, and hump, and hedge of it; only about thedistances from this to that, and that to the other, they would bebeyond me. You must be on the place itself; and I never could carrydistances--no, nor even clever men, I have heard my master say. But whenhe came to that stile he stopped and turned upon all of us clearly, andas straight as any man of men could be. 'Here I saw my father last, ata quarter past ten o'clock last night, or within a few minutes of thattime.' I wished to see him to his inn, but he would not let me do so, andhe never bore contradiction. He said that he knew the way well, havingfished more than thirty years ago up and down this stream. He crossedthis stile, and we shook hands over it, and the moon being bright, Ilooked into his face, and he said, 'My boy, God bless you!' Knowing hisshort ways, I did not even look after him, but turned away, and wentstraight home along this road. Upon my word as an Englishman, and as anofficer of her Majesty, that is all I know of it. Now let us go on tothe--to the other place.
"We all of us knew in our hearts, I am sure, that the Captain spokethe simple truth, and his face was grand as he looked at us. But theconstable thought it his duty to ask,
"'Did you hear no sound of a shot, my lord? For he fell within a hundredyards of this.'
"'I heard no sound of any shot whatever. I heard an owl hooting asI went home, and then the rattle of a heavy wagon, and the bells ofhorses. I have said enough. Let us go forward.'
"We obeyed him at once; and even the constable looked right and left, asif he had been wrong. He signed to the miller's man to lead the way,and my lord walked proudly after him. The path was only a little narrowtrack, with the grass, like a front of hair, falling over it on theupper side and on the under, dropping away like side curls; such alittle path that I was wondering how a great lord could walk over it.Then we came down a steep place to a narrow bridge across a shallowriver--abridge made of only two planks and a rail, with a prop or two tocarry them. And one end of the handrail was fastened into a hollow andstubby old hawthorn-tree, overhanging the bridge and the water a goodway. And just above this tree, and under its shadow, there came a drycut into the little river, not more than a yard or two above the woodenbridge, a water-trough such as we have in Wales, miss, for the water torun in, when the farmer pleases; but now there was no water in it, onlygravel.
"The cleverest of the miller's men, though, neither of them had muchintellect, stepped down at a beck from the constable, right beneath theold ancient tree, and showed us the marks on the grass and the gravelmade by his lordship where he fell and lay. And it seemed that he musthave fallen off the bridge, yet not into the water, but so as to haveroom for his body, if you see, miss, partly on the bank, and partly inthe hollow of the meadow trough.
"'Have you searched the place well?' the Captain asked. 'Have you foundany weapon or implement?'
"'We have found nothing but the corpse, so far,' the constable answered,in a surly voice, not liking to be taught his business. 'My first dutywas to save life, if I could. These men, upon finding the body, ran forme, and knowing who it was, I came with it to your house.'
"'You acted for the best, my man. Now search the place carefully, whileI stand here. I am on my parole, I shall not run away. Jacob, go downand help them.'
"Whether from being in the army, or what, your father always spoke insuch a way that the most stiff-neckedest people began without thinkingto obey him. So the constable and the rest went down, while the Captainand I stood upon the plank, looking at the four of them.
"For a long time they looked about, according to their attitudes,without finding any thing more than the signs of the manner in which thepoor lord fell, and of these the constable pulled out a book and madea pencil memorial. But presently Jacob, a spry sort of man, cried,'Hulloa! whatever have I got hold of here? Many a good craw-fish have Ipulled out from t
his bank when the water comes down the gully, but neverone exactly like this here afore.'
"'Name of the Lord!' cried the constable, jumping behind the hawthornstump; 'don't point it at me, you looby! It's loaded, loaded one barrel,don't you see? Put it down, with the muzzle away from me.'
"'Hand it to me, Jacob,' the Captain said. 'You understand a gun, andthis goes off just the same.' Constable Jobbins have no fear. 'Yes, itis exactly as I thought. This pistol is one of the double-barreled pairwhich I bought to take to India. The barrels are rifled; it shootsas true as any rifle, and almost as hard up to fifty yards. The rightbarrel has been fired, the other is still loaded. The bullet I took frommy father's body most certainly came from this pistol.'
"'Can 'e say, can 'e say then, who done it, master?' asked Jacob, a manvery sparing of speech, but ready at a beck to jump at constable andmiller's men, if only law was with him. 'Can 'e give a clear account,and let me chuck 'un in the river?'
"'No, Jacob, I can do nothing of the kind,' your father answered; whilethe rural man came up and faced things, not being afraid of a fight halfso much as he was of an accident; by reason of his own mother havingbeen blown up by a gunpowder start at Dartford, yet came down allright, miss, and had him three months afterward, according to hisown confession; nevertheless, he came up now as if he had always beenupright, in the world, and he said, 'My lord, can you explain all this?'
"Your father looked at him with one of his strange gazes, as if he weremeasuring the man while trying his own inward doing of his own mind.Proud as your father was, as proud as ever can be without cruelty, itis my firm belief, Miss Erema, going on a woman's judgment, that if theman's eyes had come up to my master's sense of what was virtuous, mymaster would have up and told him the depth and contents of his mind andheart, although totally gone beyond him.
"But Jobbins looked back at my lord with a grin, and his little eyes,hard to put up with. 'Have you nothing to say, my lord? Then I amafeared I must ask you just to come along of me.' And my master wentwith him, miss, as quiet as a lamb; which Jobbins said, and even Jacobfancied, was a conscience sign of guilt.
"Now after I have told you all this, Miss Erema, you know very nearly asmuch as I do. To tell how the grief was broken to your mother, and whather state of mind was, and how she sat up on the pillows and cried,while things went on from bad to worse, and a verdict of 'willfulmurder' was brought against your father by the crowner's men, and youcome headlong, without so much as the birds in the ivy to chirp aboutyou, right into the thick of the worst of it. I do assure you, MissErema, when I look at your bright eyes and clear figure, the Lord inheaven, who has made many cripples, must have looked down special tohave brought you as you are. For trouble upon trouble fell in heaps,faster than I can wipe my eyes to think. To begin with, all the servantsbut myself and gardener Jacob ran away. They said that the old lordhaunted the house, and walked with his hand in the middle of his heart,pulling out a bullet if he met any body, and sighing 'murder' threetimes, till every hair was crawling. I took it on myself to fetch theVicar of the parish to lay the evil spirit, as they do in Wales. A nicekind gentleman he was as you could see, and wore a velvet skull-cap, andwaited with his legs up. But whether he felt that the power was notin him, or whether his old lordship was frightened of the Church, theynever made any opportunity between them to meet and have it out, miss.
"Then it seemed as if Heaven, to avenge his lordship, rained downpestilence upon that house. A horrible disease, the worst I ever met,broke out upon the little harmless dears, the pride of my heart and ofevery body's eyes, for lovelier or better ones never came from heaven.They was all gone to heaven in a fortnight and three days, and laid inthe church-yard at one another's side, with little beds of mould to themeasure of their stature, and their little carts and drums, as they mademe promise, ready for the judgment-day. Oh, my heart was broken, miss,my heart was broken! I cried so, I thought I could never cry more.
"But when your dear mother, who knew nothing of all this (for we put alltheir illness, by the doctor's orders, away at the further end of thehouse), when she was a little better of grievous pain and misery (forbeing so upset her time was hard), when she sat up on the pillow,looking like a bride almost, except that she had what brides hasn't--alittle red thing in white flannel at her side--then she says to me, 'Iam ready, Betsy; it is high time for all of them to see their littlesister. They always love the baby so, whenever there is a new one. Andthey are such men and women to it. They have been so good this timethat I have never heard them once. And I am sure that I can trust them,Betsy, not to make the baby cry. I do so long to see the darlings. Nowdo not even whisper to them not to make a noise. They are too good torequire it; and it would hurt their little feelings.'
"I had better have been shot, my dear, according as the old lord was,than have the pain that went through all my heart, to see the mother so.She sat up, leaning on one arm, with the hand of the other round yourlittle head, and her beautiful hair was come out of its loops, and thecolor in her cheeks was like a shell. Past the fringe of the curtain,and behind it too, her soft bright eyes were a-looking here and therefor the first to come in of her children. The Lord only knows what liesI told her, so as to be satisfied without them. First I said they wereall gone for a walk; and then that the doctor had ordered them away; andthen that they had got the measles. That last she believed, because itwas worse than what I had said before of them; and she begged to see Dr.Diggory about it, and I promised that she should as soon as he had donehis dinner. And then, with a little sigh, being very weak, she went downinto her nest again, with only you to keep her company.
"Well, that was bad enough, as any mortal sufferer might have said;enough for one day at any rate. But there was almost worse to come. Forwhen I was having a little sit down stairs, with my supper and half pintof ale (that comes like drawing a long breath to us when spared out ofsickrooms, miss), and having no nursery now on my mind, was thinking ofall the sad business, with only a little girl in the back kitchen comein to muck up the dishes, there appeared a good knock at the gardendoor, and I knew it for the thumb of the Captain. I locked the younggirl up, by knowing what their tongues are, and then I let your fatherin, and the candle-sight of him made my heart go low.
"He had come out of prison; and although not being tried, his clotheswere still in decency, they had great holes in them, and the gloss allgone to a smell of mere hedges and ditches. The hat on his head wasquite out of the fashion, even if it could be called a hat at all, andhis beautiful beard had no sign of a comb, and he looked as old again ashe had looked a month ago.
"'I know all about it. You need not be afraid,' he said, as I took himto the breakfast-room, where no one up stairs could hear us. 'I knowthat my children are all dead and buried, except the one that was notborn yet. Ill news flies quick. I know all about it. George, Henrietta,Jack, Alf, little Vi, and Tiny. I have seen their graves and countedthem, while the fool of a policeman beat his gloves through the hedgewithin a rod of me. Oh yes, I have much to be thankful for. My life isin my own hand now.'
"'Oh, master; oh, Captain; oh, my lord!' I cried; 'for the sake of Godin heaven, don't talk like that. Think of your sweet wife, your dearlady.'
"'Betsy,' he answered, with his eyes full upon me, noble, yet frightfulto look at, 'I am come to see my wife. Go and let her know it, accordingto your own discretion.'
"My discretion would have been not to let him see her, but go on andwrite to her from foreign countries, with the salt sea between them; butI give you my word that I had no discretion, but from pity and majestyobeyed him. I knew that he must have broken prison, and by good rightsought to be starving. But I could no more offer him the cold ham andpullet than take him by his beard and shake him.
"'Is he come, at last, at last?' my poor mistress said, whose wits werewandering after her children. 'At last, at last! Then he will find themall.'
"'Yes, ma'am, at last, at the last he will,' I answered, while I thoughtof the burial service, which I had heard th
ree times in a week--for thelittle ones went to their graves in pairs to save ceremony; likewise ofthe Epistle of Saint Paul, which is not like our Lord's way of talkingat all, but arguing instead of comforting. And not to catch her up inthat weak state, I said, 'He will find every one of them, ma'am.'
"'Oh, but I want him for himself, for himself, as much as all the restput together,' my dear lady said, without listening to me, but puttingher hand to her ear to hearken for even so much as a mouse on thestairs. 'Do bring him, Betsy; only bring him, Betsy, and then let me gowhere my children are.'
"I was surprised at her manner of speaking, which I would not haveallowed to her, but more than all about her children, which she couldonly have been dreaming yet, for nobody else came nigh her except onlyme, miss, and you, miss, and for you to breathe words was impossible.All you did was to lie very quiet, tucked up into your mother's side;and as regular as the time-piece went, wide came your eyes and yourmouth to be fed. If your nature had been cross or squally, 'baby'scoffin No. 7' would have come after all the other six, which the thiefof a carpenter put down on his bill as if it was so many shavings.
"Well, now, to tell you the downright truth, I have a lot of work to doto-morrow, miss, with three basketfuls of washing coming home, and aman about a tap that leaks and floods the inside of the fender; and ifI were to try to put before you the way that those two for the last timeof their lives went on to one another--the one like a man and the otherlike a woman, full of sobs and choking--my eyes would be in such a stateto-morrow that the whole of them would pity and cheat me. And I ought tothink of you as well, miss, who has been sadly harrowed listening whenyou was not born yet. And to hear what went on, full of weeping, whenyourself was in the world, and able to cry for yourself, and all doneover your own little self, would leave you red eyes and no spirit forthe night, and no appetite in the morning; and so I will pass it allover, if you please, and let him go out of the backdoor again.
"This he was obliged to do quick, and no mistake, glad as he mighthave been to say more words, because the fellows who call themselvesofficers, without any commission, were after him. False it was to say,as was said, that he got out of Winchester jail through money. Thatstory was quite of a piece with the rest. His own strength and skill itwas that brought him out triumphantly, as the scratches on his hands andcheeks might show. He did it for the sake of his wife, no doubt. Whenhe heard that the children were all in their graves, and their motherin the way to follow them, madness was better than his state of mind, asthe officers told me when they could not catch him--and sorry they wouldhave been to do it, I believe.
"To overhear my betters is the thing of all things most against mynature; and my poor lady being unfit to get up, there was nothing saidon the landing, which is the weakest part of gentlefolks. They must havesaid 'Good-by' to one another quite in silence, and the Captain, as firma man as ever lived, had lines on his face that were waiting for tears,if nature should overcome bringing up. Then I heard the words, 'for mysake,' and the other said, 'for your sake,' a pledge that passed betweenthem, making breath more long than life is. But when your poor fatherwas by the back-door, going out toward the woods and coppices, he turnedsharp round, and he said, 'Betsy Bowen!' and I answered, 'Yes, atyour service, Sir.' 'You have been the best woman in the world,' hesaid--'the bravest, best, and kindest. I leave my wife and my last childto you. The Lord has been hard on me, but He will spare me those two. Ido hope and believe He will.'
"We heard a noise of horses in the valley, and the clank of swords--nodoubt the mounted police from Winchester a-crossing of the MoonstockBridge to search our house for the runaway. And the Captain took myhand, and said, 'I trust them to you. Hide the clothes I took off, thatthey may not know I have been here. I trust my wife and little babe toyou, and may God bless you, Betsy!'
"He had changed all his clothes, and he looked very nice, but a sadderface was never seen. As he slipped through the hollyhocks I said tomyself, 'There goes a broken-hearted man, and he leaves a broken heartbehind.' And your dear mother died on the Saturday night. Oh my! oh my!how sad it was!"
Erema; Or, My Father's Sin Page 25
