Arrah Neil; or, Times of Old

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XX.

  More than an hour went by without Lord Beverley hearing anythingfurther from the governor; and he was sitting at the table, meditatingover his scheme, when his ear caught the sound of voices without.

  "Ah! here comes the messenger," he thought, "to summon me to Hotham'spresence;" but the moment after he distinguished the tones of hisworthy companion, Barecolt, who exclaimed, apparently addressing thesentinel, "But I must see the block-house, I tell you, sair; it bepart of my dutee to see de block-house, and here be de wordy CapitaineJenkin, one man of de big respectability, who tell you de same ting."

  Captain Jenkins grumbled a word or two in confirmation of Barecolt'sassertion; but the sentinel adhered steadfastly to his point, and saidthat the mounseer might do what he pleased with the outside of theplace, but should not set his foot within the doors without a specialorder from the governor, under his own hand.

  Of this permission, limited as it was, Barecolt hastened to takeadvantage; and having previously ascertained that his companion,Jenkins, did not understand one word of the French language, heapproached the window at which he had caught sight of the face of LordBeverley in the morning, and which was still open, declaring that hemust look into the inside at all events.

  The moment he was near, however, he said to the prisoner rapidly, butin a low tone, "What can be done to get you out?"

  He spoke in French, and the earl answered in the same tongue, "Nothingthat I know; but be ready to help me at a moment's notice. Where areyou to be found?"

  "At the 'Swan' inn," replied Barecolt; "but I will be with you in thecourse of this night--I have a plan in my head;" and seeing thatCaptain Jenkins, who had been speaking a word or two to the sentinel,was now approaching, he walked on, and busied himself with closelyexamining the rest of the building.

  Not long after he was gone, the earl was summoned before the governor;and with one of the train-bands on each side--for at this time Hullcould boast of no other garrison--he was led from the block-house toSir John Hotham's residence. After being conducted up a wide flight ofstairs, he was shown into the same large room in which the examinationof Barecolt had taken place. On the present occasion, however, to thesurprise and somewhat to the dismay of the earl, he found the roomhalf-filled with people, many of whom he knew; and, for an instantforgetting how completely he was disguised, he thought that all hisscheme must now fall to the ground, and his immediate discovery takeplace.

  The cold and strange looks, however, that were turned upon him, bothby Hotham himself and several of the officers with whose persons theearl was acquainted, soon restored his confidence, and showed him thathis person was far better concealed than he had imagined. Never losinghis presence of mind for a single instant, he advanced at once to SirJohn Hotham, and made him a low bow, asking if he were the governor.

  The answer, of course, was in the affirmative, and Hotham proceeded toquestion him in French, which he spoke with tolerable fluency. Withnever-failing readiness the earl answered all his questions, giving amost probable account of himself, and stating that he had come overfrom France with recommendations for the king, in the hope of gettingsome important command, as it was expected every day at the Frenchcourt that Charles would be obliged to have recourse to arms againsthis parliament.

  Several of the gentlemen present, who had either been really at thecourt of France very lately, or pretended to have been so, steppedforward to ask a good number of questions of the prisoner, which werenot very convenient for him to answer. He continued to parry them,however, with great dexterity for some time; but at length, findingthat this sort of cross-examination could not go on much longerwithout leading to his detection, he turned suddenly to Sir JohnHotham, and asked him in a low voice if the guard had given him themessage which he had sent.

  "Yes," replied the governor, "I received the message; what is it youhave to communicate?"

  "Something, sir, for your private ear," continued the earl, stillspeaking in French; "a matter which you will find of much importance,and which you will not regret to have known; but I can only discoverit to you if you grant me an interview with yourself alone."

  "Faith, I must hear more about you, sir, before I can do that,"replied Hotham. "Come hither with me, and I will speak to you for amoment in the window."

  Thus saying, he led the way to the further end of the room, where adeep bay-window looked out over the town. The distance from the restof the company was considerable, and the angle of the wall ensuredthat no distinct sound could reach the other part of the hall; butstill Lord Beverley determined, if possible, to obtain a greaterdegree of privacy, for he knew not what might be the effect of thesudden disclosure he was about to make upon the governor himself.

  "Can I not speak with you in another room, sir?" he asked, still usingthe French tongue.

  "That is quite impossible," answered Sir John Hotham; "you can saywhat you have to say here. Speak low, and no ears but mine will hearyou."

  The earl looked down, and then, raising his eyes suddenly to thegovernor's face, he asked in English--

  "Do you know me, Sir John Hotham?"

  The governor started, and looked at him attentively for a moment ortwo, but then replied in a decided tone--

  "No, I do not, sir. How should I?"

  "Well, then," replied the earl, "I will try whether I know Sir JohnHotham, and whether he be the same man of honour I have always takenhim to be. You see before you, sir, the Earl of Beverley; and you arewell aware that the activity I have displayed in the service of theking, and the number of persons whom I have brought over to hisinterest, by showing them that, whatever might be the case in timespast, their duty to their king and their country is now the same--youare aware, I say, that these causes have rendered the parliament myimplacable enemies; and I do believe, that in confiding as I do thisday to you, instead of keeping up the disguise that I have maintainedhitherto, I place myself in the hands of one who is too much agentleman to use that information to my disadvantage, and give me upto the fury of my adversaries."

  The astonishment which appeared on Sir John Hotham's face, while theearl was making this communication, might have attracted the attentionof his son and the rest of the company, had not his back beenfortunately turned towards them. He gazed earnestly on the earl'scountenance, however, and then, recollecting his features, wonderedthat he had not discovered him at once. So transparent did thedisguise seem as soon as he knew the secret, that he could scarcelypersuade himself that the other gentlemen present would be longdeceived, and he was now only anxious to get the earl out of the roomas soon as possible; for many of those curious little motives whichinfluence all human actions made him determine in an instant tojustify the honourable character attributed to him.

  "Say no more, say no more, sir!" he replied in a low tone, smoothingdown his countenance as best he might; "We cannot talk upon thissubject now. Rest satisfied, however, that you will not be sorry forthe trust you have reposed in me, and will find me the same man as yousupposed. I will see you again in private whenever I may meet with aconvenient opportunity; but in the mean time I am afraid you mustcontent yourself with the poor accommodation which you have, for anychange in it would beget suspicion, and I have shrewd and evil eyesupon me here; so I must now send you away at once. Here, guard," hecontinued, "take the prisoner back. Let him be well used, and providedwith all things necessary, but at the same time have a strict eye uponhim, and suffer no one to communicate with him but myself."

  Lord Beverley bowed and withdrew, and Hotham, with strong signs ofagitation still in his countenance, returned to his companions,saying--

  "That Frenchman is a shrewd fellow, and knows more of the king'scouncils than I could have imagined; but I must go and write adespatch to the parliament, for he has told me things that they willbe glad to know, and I trust that in a few days I shall learn morefrom him still."

  Thus speaking, he retired from the hall, and one of the gentlemenpresent inquired of anothe
r who was standing near--

  "Did you not think that what they were saying just now in the windowsounded very like English?"

  "Oh," replied Colonel Hotham, with a sneer, "my father's French hasquite an English tone. He changes the words, it is true, but not theaccent."

  In the mean while the earl was carried back to the block-house, andtowards evening he received a few words, written on a scrap of paper,telling him that the governor would be with him about ten o'clock thatnight.

  This was a mark of favour and consideration which Lord Beverleyscarcely expected, notwithstanding the difference of rank betweenhimself and Sir John Hotham, and the promises of honourable dealingwhich the latter had made. There were also signs of a willingness toattend to his comfort, which were even more consolatory in theconclusions he drew from them than in the acts themselves. Poor Sinbadthe sailor, when he fell into the hands of the cannibal blacks, lookedupon all the good cheer that they placed before him as merely themeans employed to fatten him previous to killing and eating him; but,as we never had such anthropophagous habits in Great Britain, evenduring the great rebellion itself, the earl, when he saw sundry muchmore savoury dishes provided for his dinner than he had hitherto beenfavoured with, and a bottle of very good wine to wash them downwithal, received them as a mark of the governor's good intentions, andan indication that there was some probability of his imprisonmentcoming to an end by a more pleasant process than a walk to thescaffold.

  He ate and drank then with renewed hope, and saw the sun go down withpleasure, totally forgetting Captain Barecolt's promise to see him atnight, which, if he had remembered it, might have somewhat disturbedhis serenity.

  I know not whether the people of Hull are still a tribe early in theirhabits, but certainly such was the case in those days; and towardsnine o'clock, or a little after, the noises of the great town began todie away, and Silence to resume her reign through the place. Thewatch, who had a great horror of everything like merriment, as thereader may have in some degree perceived, took care to suffer neithershouting nor brawling in the streets of the good city after dark; andthough, from the windows of the room in which he was confined, thenoble earl saw many a lantern pass along, it was still with a soberand steady pace; and with his usual imaginative activity of mind, heamused himself with fancying the character and occupations of thevarious persons who thus flitted before his eyes, drawing many acomment and meditative reflection upon everything in man's fate andnature.

  The lanterns, however, like the sounds, grew less and less frequent;and near a quarter of an hour had passed without his seeing one, whenat length the clock of the neighbouring church slowly struck the hourof ten, pausing long upon every dull tone, which seemed like the voiceof Time regretting the moments that had flown.

  In about ten minutes more, the sentry before the blockhouse challengedsome one who approached rather nearer than he thought proper to hispost. A signal word was given in reply, and the next moment the soundsof bolts being withdrawn and keys turned in the lock were heard,announcing the approach of a visiter. The opening door, as the earlexpected, showed the stout and somewhat heavy person of Sir JohnHotham, who entered with a sort of furtive look behind him, as if hewere afraid of being watched.

  "Keep at some distance in front," he said, turning to the guard; "anddo not let any one, coming from the side of my house, approach withina hundred yards." Thus saying, he shut the door of the room, lockedit, and put the key in his pocket; then turning to the prisoner heobserved, "It is a terrible thing, my lord, to have nothing but spiesabout one; and yet such is my case here. I do not know what I havedone to deserve this."

  "It is the most natural thing in the world, Sir John," said the earl,shaking him warmly by the hand: "when perverse, rash, and rebelliousmen know that they have to deal with a gentleman of honour, who,however much he may be attached to liberty, is well disposed towardshis sovereign, they naturally suspect and spy upon him."

  "You judge me rightly, my lord; you judge me rightly," replied SirJohn Hotham. "I have always been a friend equally to my country and myking; and deeply do I lament the discord which has arisen between hismajesty and the parliament. But I see you understand my conduct well,my lord, and need not be told that I entertain very differentprinciples from the men who have driven things to this strait. I vowto God I have always entertained the highest affection and sense ofduty towards his majesty, and lament deeply to think that my refusingto open the gates of Hull, when the king sent to require reception forhis forces, will always be considered as the beginning, and perhapsthe cause, of this civil war, whereas I did it in my own defence."

  "Indeed!" exclaimed the earl. "The king is not aware that such is thecase; for, when many people assured his majesty that there must havebeen some error in the business, he has replied often, 'God grant itbe so; for I always held Sir John Hotham to be a man of singularuprightness, and well affected towards myself, until he ventured toshut his gates in the king's face.'"

  "Ay, air," exclaimed the governor; "both the king and myself have beengreatly deceived; and I will now tell you what I never told to anyone, which I will beseech you, when we find means to set you free, toreport to his majesty, that he may judge favourably of me. There werecertain men, whom I have since discovered to be arrant knaves, andemployed by the more furious persons of the parliament to deceive me,who assured me, with every protestation of concern for my safety, thatit was the king's intention, as soon as he got into Hull, to hang mewithout form of trial further than a mere summary court-martial."

  "It was false, sir! it was false, altogether, I assure you!" repliedthe earl. "Nothing was ever farther from the king's intention."

  "I know it--I know it now," answered Sir John Hotham: "but I believedit at the time. However, to speak of what more nearly concerns you, mylord, I came hither to tell you, that, as you have so frankly putyourself in in hands, I will in no degree betray your trust; and Imuch wish you to consider in what way, and upon what pretext, I canset you at liberty, so that you may safely go whithersoever you will.But there is one thing you must remember, that the secret of who andwhat you are, and of my wish to treat you kindly, must be keptinviolably between you and me; for there is not a man here whom I cantrust, and especially my own son, who is one of the worst and mostevil-intentioned men towards the king and his own father in all therealm."

  "The only way that I can see," replied the earl, "will be for me topass for a Frenchman still, and for you to make it appear that I amwilling to purchase my liberty by giving you at once some informationregarding his majesty's designs, and obtaining more for you hereafter.But so sure am I of your good intentions towards me, that I fear notto remain here several days, if I may but hope that, through my poormediation, you and the king may be reconciled to each other. It is,indeed, a sad and terrible thing, that a handful of ill-disposed men,such as those who now rule in the parliament, should be able tooverwhelm this country with bloodshed and devastation, when the kinghimself is willing to grant his people everything that they canrightly and justly demand; and, moreover, that they should have thepower, when their intention is clearly, not alone to overthrow this orthat monarch, but to destroy and abolish monarchy itself, to involvegentlemen of high esteem, such as yourself, in acts which they abhor,and which must first prove disastrous to the country, and ultimatelydestructive to themselves."

  "Do not let them deceive you, Sir John," he continued: "this strugglecan have but one termination, as you will plainly see if you considera few points. You cannot for a moment doubt, that the turbulence andexactions of these men have already alienated from them the affectionsof the great body of the people. The king is now at the head of apowerful force, which is daily increasing. A great supply ofammunition and arms has just been received. The fleet is entirely athis majesty's disposal, and ready to appear before any place againstwhich he may direct it. And, although he is unwilling to employforeign troops against his rebellious subjects till the lastextremity, yet you must evidently perceive that every prince inChristendo
m is personally interested in supporting him, and will do itas soon as asked. Nay, more: I will tell you, what is not generallyknown, that the Prince of Orange is now preparing to come over, at thehead of his army; and you may well suppose that his first stroke willbe at Hull, which cannot resist him three days."

  Sir John Hotham looked somewhat bewildered and confounded by all thesearguments, and exclaimed in a musing tone, "How is it to be done? thatis the only question: how is it to be done?"

  "If you mean, Sir John," continued Lord Beverley, "how is peace to berestored to the country? methinks it may be easily done; but first Iwould have you consider, what glory and renown would accrue to thatman who should ward off all these terrible events; who, by his solepower and authority, and by setting a noble example to his countrymen,should pave the way to a reconciliation between King Charles and hisparliament; and at the same time secure the rights and liberties ofthe people and the stability of the throne. I will ask you, if you arenot sure that both monarch and people, seeing themselves deliveredfrom the horrors of a civil war, would not join in overwhelming himwith honours and rewards of all kinds, and whether his name would notdescend to posterity as the preserver of his country. You are the man,Sir John Hotham, who can do all this. You are the man who can obtainthis glorious name. The surrender of Hull to the king would at onceremedy the mistakes committed on both parts, would crush the civil warin the germ, would strengthen the good intentions of all the wise andbetter men in the parliament, would make the whole country rise as oneman to cast off the treason in which it has unwillingly taken part;and for my own self I can only say, that men attribute to me someinfluence both with the king and queen, and that all which I dopossess should be employed to obtain for you due recompense for theservices you have rendered your country."

  Hotham was evidently touched and moved; for so skilfully had the earlintroduced every subject that could affect the various passions ofwhich he was susceptible, that at every word some new pleader had,risen up in the bosom of the governor, to advocate the same courseupon which Lord Beverley was urging him. Now it was fear that spoke;now hope; now anger at the suspicions entertained by the parliament;now expectations from the king. Pride, vanity, ambition--all had theirword; and good Sir John's face betrayed the agitation of his mind, sothat the earl was in no slight hope of speedily gaining one of themost important converts that could be made to the royal cause, when,to the surprise of both, the door of the chamber in which they werewas violently shaken from without, and a voice was heard muttering,with a tremendous oath--

  "They have taken the key out: curse me if I don't force the lock offwith my dagger!"

  Sir John Hotham started, and looked towards the door with fear andtrepidation; for he expected nothing less than to see the face of hisson or some other of the violent men who had been sent down by theparliament; and to say truth, not the countenance of a personage whoseappearance in his own proper person is generally deprecated by eventhose who have the closest connexion with him _sub rosa_ could havebeen more unpleasant to the governor of Hull. The Earl of Beverleystarted, too, with no very comfortable feelings; for not only was heunwilling to have his conversation at that moment interrupted, butmoreover, dear reader, he recognised at once the tones of themagnanimous Captain Barecolt.

  "It is my son, on my life?" cried Hotham, in a low tone.

  "What, in the fiend's name, is to be done? This insolence isinsufferable; and yet I would give my right hand not to be found here!Hark! On my life, he is forcing the lock!"

  "Stay, stay!" whispered the earl. "Get behind the bed; but first giveme the key. I pledge you my word, Sir John, not even to attempt anescape; and, moreover, to send this person away without discoveringyou. Leave him to me--leave him to me. You may trust me!"

  "Oh! willingly--willingly," cried Sir John, giving him the key, anddrawing back behind the bed. "For heaven's sake, do not let him findme!"

  The earl took the key, and approached the door; but before we relatewhat followed, we must turn for a moment to explain the suddenappearance of Captain Barecolt.