Audrey

by Mary Johnston

  CHAPTER XVI

  AUDREY AND EVELYN

  Hugon went a-trading to the Southern Indians, but had lately returned tohis lair at the crossroads ordinary, when, upon a sunny September morning,Audrey and Mistress Deborah, mounted upon the sorriest of Darden's sorrysteeds, turned from Duke of Gloucester into Palace Street. They had partedwith the minister before his favorite ordinary, and were on their way tothe house where they themselves were to lodge during the three days oftown life which Darden had vouchsafed to offer them.

  For a month or more Virginia had been wearing black ribbons for the King,who died in June, but in the last day or so there had been a reversion tobright colors. This cheerful change had been wrought by the arrival in theYork of the Fortune of Bristol, with the new governor on board. HisExcellency had landed at Yorktown, and, after suitable entertainment atthe hands of its citizens, had proceeded under escort to Williamsburgh.The entry into the town was triumphal, and when, at the doorway of hisPalace, the Governor turned, and addressed a pleasing oration to thepeople whom he was to rule in the name of the King and my Lord of Orkney,enthusiasm reached its height. At night the town was illuminated, andwell-nigh all its ladies and gentlemen visited the Palace, in order topay their duty to its latest occupant. It was a pleasure-loving people,and the arrival of a governor an occasion of which the most must be made.Gentlemen of consideration had come in from every county, bringing withthem wives and daughters. In the mild, sunshiny weather the crowded townoverflowed into square and street and garden. Everywhere were bustle andgayety,--gayety none the less for the presence of thirty or more ministersof the Established Church. For Mr. Commissary Blair had convoked a meetingof the clergy for the consideration of evils affecting that body,--not,alas! from without alone. The Governor, arriving so opportunely, must,too, be addressed upon the usual subjects of presentation, induction, andall-powerful vestries. It was fitting, also, that the college of Williamand Mary should have its say upon the occasion, and the brightest scholarthereof was even now closeted with the Latin master. That the copy ofverses giving the welcome of so many future planters, Burgesses, andmembers of Council would be choice in thought and elegant in expression,there could be no reasonable doubt. The Council was to give anentertainment at the Capitol; one day had been set aside for a muster ofmilitia in the meadow beyond the college, another for a great horse-race;many small parties were arranged; and last, but not least, on the night ofthe day following Darden's appearance in town, his Excellency was to givea ball at the Palace. Add to all this that two notorious pirates werestanding their trial before a court-martial, with every prospect of beinghanged within the se'ennight; that a deputation of Nottoways andMeherrins, having business with the white fathers in Williamsburgh, wereto be persuaded to dance their wildest, whoop their loudest, around abonfire built in the market square; that at the playhouse Cato was to begiven with extraordinary magnificence, and one may readily see that theremight have been found, in this sunny September week, places lessentertaining than Williamsburgh.

  Darden's old white horse, with its double load, plodded along the streetthat led to the toy Palace of this toy capital. The Palace, of course, wasnot its riders' destination; instead, when they had crossed NicholsonStreet, they drew up before a particularly small white house, so hiddenaway behind lilac bushes and trellised grapevines that it gave but hereand there a pale hint of its existence. It was planted in the shadow of alarger building, and a path led around it to what seemed a pleasant,shady, and extensive garden.

  Mistress Deborah gave a sigh of satisfaction. "Seven years come Martinmassince I last stayed overnight with Mary Stagg! And we were born in thesame village, and at Bath what mighty friends we were! She was playingDorinda,--that's in 'The Beaux' Stratagem,' Audrey,--and her dress wasjust an old striped Persian, vastly unbecoming. Her Ladyship's pinkalamode, that Major D---- spilt a dish of chocolate over, she gave to mefor carrying a note; and I gave it to Mary (she was Mary Baker then),--forI looked hideous in pink,--and she was that grateful, as well she mightbe! Mary, Mary!"

  A slender woman, with red-brown hair and faded cheeks, came running fromthe house to the gate. "At last, my dear Deborah! I vow I had given youup! Says I to Mirabell an hour ago,--you know that is my name for Charles,for 'twas when he played Mirabell to my Millamant that we fell inlove,--'Well,' says I, 'I'll lay a gold-furbelowed scarf to a yard ofoznaburg that Mr. Darden, riding home through the night, and in liquor,perhaps, has fallen and broken his neck, and Deborah can't come.' And saysMirabell--But la, my dear, there you stand in your safeguard, and I'mkeeping the gate shut on you! Come in. Come in, Audrey. Why, you've grownto be a woman! You were just a brown slip of a thing, that Lady Day, twoyears ago, that I spent with Deborah. Come in the both of you. There arecakes and a bottle of Madeira."

  Audrey fastened the horse against the time that Darden should remember tosend for it, and then followed the ex-waiting-woman and the former queenof a company of strollers up a grassy path and through a little green doorinto a pleasant room, where grape leaves wreathed the windows and casttheir shadows upon a sanded floor. At one end of the room stood a great,rudely built cabinet, and before it a long table, strewn with an orderlylitter of such slender articles of apparel as silk and tissue scarfs,gauze hoods, breast knots, silk stockings, and embroidered gloves.Mistress Deborah must needs run and examine these at once, and MistressMary Stagg, wife of the lessee, manager, and principal actor of theWilliamsburgh theatre, looked complacently over her shoulder. Theminister's wife sighed again, this time with envy.

  "What with the theatre, and the bowling green, and tea in yoursummer-house, and dancing lessons, and the sale of these fine things, youand Charles must turn a pretty penny! The luck that some folk have! _You_were always fortunate, Mary."

  Mistress Stagg did not deny the imputation. But she was a kindly soul,who had not forgotten the gift of my Lady Squander's pink alamode. Thechocolate stain had not been so very large.

  "I've laid by a pretty piece of sarcenet of which to make you a capuchin,"she said promptly. "Now, here's the wine. Shan't we go into the garden,and sip it there? Peggy," to the black girl holding a salver, "put thecake and wine on the table in the arbor; then sit here by the window, andcall me if any come. My dear Deborah, I doubt if I have so much as aribbon left by the end of the week. The town is that gay! I says toMirabell this morning, says I, 'Lord, my dear, it a'most puts me in mindof Bath!' And Mirabell says--But here's the garden door. Now, isn't itcool and pleasant out here? Audrey may gather us some grapes. Yes, they'revery fine, full bunches; it has been a bounteous year."

  The grape arbor hugged the house, but beyond it was a pretty, shady,fancifully laid out garden, with shell-bordered walks, a grotto, asummer-house, and a gate opening into Nicholson Street. Beyond the gardena glimpse was to be caught through the trees of a trim bowling green. Ithad rained the night before, and a delightful, almost vernal freshnessbreathed in the air. The bees made a great buzzing amongst the grapes, andthe birds in the mulberry-trees sang as though it were nesting time.Mistress Stagg and her old acquaintance sat at a table placed in theshadow of the vines, and sipped their wine, while Audrey obedientlygathered clusters of the purple fruit, and thought the garden very fine,but oh, not like--There could be no garden in the world so beautiful andso dear as that! And she had not seen it for so long, so long a time. Shewondered if she would ever see it again.

  When she brought the fruit to the table, Mistress Stagg made room for herkindly enough; and she sat and drank her wine and went to her world ofdreams, while her companions bartered town and country gossip. It has beensaid that the small white house adjoined a larger building. A window inthis structure, which had much the appearance of a barn, was now opened,with the result that a confused sound, as of several people speaking atonce, made itself heard. Suddenly the noise gave place to a singlehigh-pitched voice:--

  "'Welcome, my son! Here lay him down, my friends, Full in my sight, that I may view at leisure The bloody corse, and count those glorious
wounds.'"

  A smile irradiated Mistress Stagg's faded countenance, and she blew a kisstoward the open window. "He does Cato so extremely well; and it's a grave,dull, odd character, too. But Mirabell--that's Charles, you know--managesto put a little life in it, a _Je ne sais quoi_, a touch of Sir HarryWildair. Now--now he's pulling out his laced handkerchief to weep overRome! You should see him after he has fallen on his sword, and is broughton in a chair, all over blood. This is the third rehearsal; the play'sordered for Monday night. Who is it, Peggy? Madam Travis! It's about thelace for her damask petticoat, and there's no telling how long she maykeep me! My dear Deborah, when you have finished your wine, Peggy shallshow you your room. You must make yourself quite at home. For says I toMirabell this morning, 'Far be it from me to forget past kindnesses, andin those old Bath days Deborah was a good friend to me,--which was nowonder, to be sure, seeing that when we were little girls we went to thesame dame school, and always learned our book and worked our samplerstogether.' And says Mirabell--Yes, yes, ma'am, I'm coming!"

  She disappeared, and the black girl showed the two guests through the halland up a tiny stairway into a little dormer-windowed, whitewashed room.Mistress Deborah, who still wore remnants of my Lady Squander's ancientgifts of spoiled finery, had likewise failed to discard the second-handfine-lady airs acquired during her service. She now declared herselfexcessively tired by her morning ride, and martyr, besides, to a migraine.Moreover, it was enough to give one the spleen to hear Mary Stagg's magpiechatter and to see how some folk throve, willy-nilly, while others just asgood--Here tears of vexation ensued, and she must lie down upon the bedand call in a feeble voice for her smelling salts. Audrey hurriedlysearched in the ragged portmanteau brought to town the day before in theox-cart of an obliging parishioner, found the flask, and took it to thebedside, to receive in exchange a sound box of the ear for her tardiness.The blow reddened her cheek, but brought no tears to her eyes. It was toosmall a thing to weep for; tears were for blows upon the heart.

  It was a cool and quiet little room, and Mistress Deborah, who had drunktwo full glasses of the Madeira, presently fell asleep. Audrey sat verystill, her hands folded in her lap and her eyes upon them, until theirhostess's voice announced from the foot of the stairs that Madam Travishad taken her departure. She then slipped from the room, and was affablyreceived below, and taken into the apartment which they had first entered.Here Mistress became at once extremely busy. A fan was to be mounted;yards of silk gathered into furbelows; breast knots, shoulder knots, swordknots, to be made up. Her customers were all people of quality, and unlessshe did her part not one of them could go to the ball. Audrey shylyproffered her aid, and was set to changing the ribbons upon a mask.

  Mistress Stagg's tongue went as fast as her needle: "And Deborah isasleep! Poor soul! she's sadly changed from what she was in old Englandthirteen years ago. As neat a shape as you would see in a day's journey,with the prettiest color, and eyes as bright as those marcasite buttons!And she saw the best of company at my Lady Squander's,--no lack there ofkisses and guineas and fine gentlemen, you may be sure! There's a deal ofchange in this mortal world, and it's generally for the worse. Here,child, you may whip this lace on Mr. Lightfoot's ruffles. I think myselflucky, I can tell you, that there are so few women in Cato. If 'tweren'tso, I should have to go on myself; for since poor, dear, pretty Jane Daydied of the smallpox, and Oriana Jordan ran away with the rascallyBridewell fellow that we bought to play husbands' parts, and was neverheard of more, but is supposed to have gotten clean off to Barbadoes byfavor of the master of the Lady Susan, we have been short of actresses.But in this play there are only Marcia and Lucia. 'It is extremelyfortunate, my dear,' said I to Mirabell this very morning, 'that in thisplay, which is the proper compliment to a great gentleman just takingoffice, Mr. Addison should have put no more than two women.' And Mirabellsays--Don't put the lace so full, child; 'twon't go round."

  "A chair is stopping at the gate," said Audrey, who sat by the window."There's a lady in it."

  The chair was a very fine painted one, borne by two gayly dressed negroes,and escorted by a trio of beribboned young gentlemen, prodigal of gallantspeeches, amorous sighs, and languishing glances. Mistress Stagg looked,started up, and, without waiting to raise from the floor the armful ofdelicate silk which she had dropped, was presently curtsying upon thedoorstep.

  The bearers set down their load. One of the gentlemen opened the chairdoor with a flourish, and the divinity, compressing her hoop, descended. Asecond cavalier flung back Mistress Stagg's gate, and the third, with alow bow, proffered his hand to conduct the fair from the gate to thedoorstep. The lady shook her head; a smiling word or two, a slight curtsy,the wave of a painted fan, and her attendants found themselves dismissed.She came up the path alone, slowly, with her head a little bent. Audrey,watching her from the window, knew who she was, and her heart beat fast.If this lady were in town, then so was he; he would not have stayed behindat Westover. She would have left the room, but there was not time. Themistress of the house, smiling and obsequious, fluttered in, and EvelynByrd followed.

  There had been ordered for her a hood of golden tissue, with wide and longstreamers to be tied beneath the chin, and she was come to try it on.Mistress Stagg had it all but ready,--there was only the least bit ofstitchery; would Mistress Evelyn condescend to wait a very few minutes?She placed a chair, and the lady sank into it, finding the quiet of theshadowed room pleasant enough after the sunlight and talkativeness of theworld without. Mistress Stagg, in her role of milliner, took the gauzytrifle, called by courtesy a hood, to the farthest window, and fellbusily to work.

  It seemed to grow more and more quiet in the room: the shadow of theleaves lay still upon the floor; the drowsy humming of the bees outsidethe windows, the sound of locusts in the trees, the distant noises of thetown,--all grew more remote, then suddenly appeared to cease.

  Audrey raised her eyes, and met the eyes of Evelyn. She knew that they hadbeen upon her for a long time, in the quiet of the room. She had satbreathless, her head bowed over her work that lay idly in her lap, but atlast she must look. The two gazed at each other with a sorrowfulsteadfastness; in the largeness of their several natures there was no roomfor self-consciousness; it was the soul of each that gazed. But in themists of earthly ignorance they could not read what was written, and theyerred in their guessing. Audrey went not far wide. This was the princess,and, out of the fullness of a heart that ached with loss, she could haveknelt and kissed the hem of her robe, and wished her long and happy life.There was no bitterness in her heart; she never dreamed that she hadwronged the princess. But Evelyn thought: "This is the girl they talkabout. God knows, if he had loved worthily, I might not so much haveminded!"

  From the garden came a burst of laughter and high voices. Mistress Staggstarted up. "'Tis our people, Mistress Evelyn, coming from the playhouse.We lodge them in the house by the bowling green, but after rehearsalsthey're apt to stop here. I'll send them packing. The hood is finished.Audrey will set it upon your head, ma'am, while I am gone. Here, child!Mind you don't crush it." She gave the hood into Audrey's hands, andhurried from the room.

  Evelyn sat motionless, her silken draperies flowing around her, one whitearm bent, the soft curve of her cheek resting upon ringed fingers. Hereyes yet dwelt upon Audrey, standing as motionless, the mist of gauze andlace in her hands. "Do not trouble yourself," she said, in her low, clearvoice. "I will wait until Mistress Stagg returns."

  The tone was very cold, but Audrey scarce noticed that it was so. "If Imay, I should like to serve you, ma'am," she said pleadingly. "I will bevery careful."

  Leaving the window, she came and knelt beside Evelyn; but when she wouldhave put the golden hood upon her head, the other drew back with a gestureof aversion, a quick recoil of her entire frame. The hood slipped to thefloor. After a moment Audrey rose and stepped back a pace or two. Neitherspoke, but it was the one who thought no evil whose eyes first sought thefloor. Her dark cheek paled, and her lips trembled; she tur
ned, and goingback to her seat by the window took up her fallen work. Evelyn, with asharp catch of her breath, withdrew her attention from the other occupantof the room, and fixed it upon a moted sunbeam lying like a bar betweenthe two.

  Mistress Stagg returned. The hood was fitted, and its purchaser preparedto leave. Audrey rose and made her curtsy, timidly, but with a quick,appealing motion of her hand. Was not this the lady whom he loved, thatpeople said he was to wed? And had he not told her, long ago, that hewould speak of her to Mistress Evelyn Byrd, and that she too would be herfriend? Last May Day, when the guinea was put into her hand, the lady'ssmile was bright, her voice sweet and friendly. Now, how changed! In hercraving for a word, a look, from one so near him, one that perhaps hadseen him not an hour before; in her sad homage for the object of his love,she forgot her late repulse, and grew bold. When Evelyn would have passedher, she put forth a trembling hand and began to speak, to say she scarceknew what; but the words died in her throat. For a moment Evelyn stood,her head averted, an angry red staining neck and bosom and beautiful,down-bent face. Her eyes half closed, the long lashes quivering againsther cheek, and she smiled faintly, in scorn of the girl and scorn ofherself. Then, freeing her skirt from Audrey's clasp, she passed insilence from the room.

  Audrey stood at the window, and with wide, pained eyes watched her go downthe path. Mistress Stagg was with her, talking volubly, and Evelyn seemedto listen with smiling patience. One of the bedizened negroes opened thechair door; the lady entered, and was borne away. Before Mistress Staggcould reenter her house Audrey had gone quietly up the winding stair tothe little whitewashed room, where she found the minister's wife astir andrestored to good humor. Her sleep had helped her; she would go down atonce and see what Mary was at. Darden, too, was coming as soon as themeeting at the church had adjourned. After dinner they would walk out andsee the town, until which time Audrey might do as she pleased. When shewas gone, Audrey softly shut herself in the little room, and lay down uponthe bed, very still, with her face hidden in her arm.

  With twelve of the clock came Darden, quite sober, distrait in manner anduneasy of eye, and presently interrupted Mistress Stagg's flow ofconversation by a demand to speak with his wife alone. At that time of daythe garden was a solitude, and thither the two repaired, taking theirseats upon a bench built round a mulberry-tree.

  "Well?" queried Mistress Deborah bitterly. "I suppose Mr. Commissaryshowed himself vastly civil? I dare say you're to preach before theGovernor next Sunday? Or maybe they've chosen Bailey? He boasts that hecan drink you under the table! One of these fine days you'll drink andcurse and game yourself out of a parish!"

  Darden drew figures on the ground with his heavy stick. "On such a fineday as this," he said, in a suppressed voice, and looked askance at thewife whom he beat upon occasion, but whose counsel he held in respect.

  She turned upon him. "What do you mean? They talk and talk, and cryshame,--and a shame it is, the Lord knows! But it never comes toanything"--

  "It has come to this," interrupted Darden, with an oath: "that thisGovernor means to sweep in the corners; that the Commissary--damnedScot!--to-day appointed a committee to inquire into the charges madeagainst me and Bailey and John Worden; that seven of my vestrymen are deadagainst me; and that 'deprivation' has suddenly become a very commonword!"

  "Seven of the vestry?" said his wife, after a pause. "Who are they?"

  Darden told her.

  "If Mr. Haward"--she began slowly, her green eyes steady upon thesituation. "There's not one of that seven would care to disoblige him. Iwarrant you he could make them face about. They say he knew the Governorin England, too; and there's his late gift to the college,--the Commissarywouldn't forget that. If Mr. Haward would"--She broke off, and with knitbrows studied the problem more intently.

  "If he would, he could," Darden finished for her. "With his interest thiscloud would go by, as others have done before. I know that, Deborah. Andthat's the card I'm going to play."

  "If you had gone to him, hat in hand, a month ago, he'd have done you anyfavor," said his helpmate sourly. "But it is different now. He's over hisfancy; and besides, he's at Westover."

  "He's in Williamsburgh, at Marot's ordinary," said the other. "As for hisbeing over his fancy,--I'll try that. Fancy or no fancy, if a woman askedhim for a fairing, he would give it her, or I don't know my gentleman.We'll call his interest a ribbon or some such toy, and Audrey shall askhim for it."

  "Audrey is a fool!" cried Mistress Deborah. "And you had best be careful,or you'll prove yourself another! There's been talk enough already.Audrey, village innocent that she is, is the only one that doesn't knowit. The town's not the country; if he sets tongues a-clacking here"--

  "He won't," said Darden roughly. "He's no hare-brained one-and-twenty! AndAudrey's a good girl. Go send her here, Deborah. Bid her fetch me Stagg'sinkhorn and a pen and a sheet of paper. If he does anything for me, itwill have to be done quickly. They're in haste to pull me out of saddle,the damned canting pack! But I'll try conclusions with them!"

  His wife departed, muttering to herself, and the reverend Gideon pulledout of his capacious pocket a flask of usquebaugh. In five minutes fromthe time of his setting it to his lips the light in which he viewed thesituation turned from gray to rose color. By the time he espied Audreycoming toward him through the garden he felt a moral certainty that whenhe came to die (if ever he died) it would be in his bed in the Fair Viewglebe house.