“Absolutely impossible,” replied the footman, in the same dulcet and deliberate tone. “It is indeed amposseeble, as the Parisians have it. You must be aware, my good old soul, that you’re in a positive pickle. You are, pardon me, my excellent friend, very dirty and very disgusting. You must therefore go out in a few moments into the fresh air.” At any other moment, such a speech would have infallibly provoked Mr. Toole’s righteous and most rigorous vengeance; but he was now too completely absorbed in the mission which he had undertaken to suffer personal considerations to have a place in his bosom.
“Will you, then,” he ejaculated desperately, “will you as much as give him a message yourself, when he’s comin’ down?”
“What message?” drawled the lackey.
“Tell him, for the love of God, to take the old road home, by the seven sallies,” replied Larry. “Will you give him that message, if it isn’t too long?”
“I have a wretched memory for messages,” observed the footman, as he leisurely opened the door— “a perfect sieve: but should he catch my eye as he passes, I’ll endeavour, upon my honour; good night — adieu!”
As he thus spoke, Larry had reached the threshold of the door, which observing, the polished footman, with a nonchalant and easy air, slammed the hall-door, thereby administering upon Larry’s back, shoulders, and elbows, such a bang as to cause Mr. Toole to descend the flight of steps at a pace much more marvellous to the spectators than agreeable to himself. Muttering a bitter curse upon his exquisite acquaintance, Larry took his stand among the expectants in the street; there resolved to wait and watch for young Ashwoode, and to give him the warning which so nearly concerned his safety.
Meanwhile, Lady Stukely’s drawingrooms were crowded by the gay, the fashionable, and the frivolous, of all ages. Young Ashwoode stood behind his wealthy hostess’s chair, while she played quadrille, scarce knowing whether she won or lost, for Henry Ashwoode had never been so fascinating before. Lady Stukely was a delicate, die-away lady, not very far from sixty; the natural blush upon her nose outblazoned the rouge upon her cheeks; several very long teeth— “ivory and ebon alternately” — peeped roguishly from beneath her upper lip, which her ladyship had a playful trick of screwing down, to conceal them — a trick which made her ladyship’s smile rather a surprising than an attractive exhibition. It is but justice, however, to admit that she had a pair of very tolerable eyes, with which she executed the most masterly evolutions. For the rest, there having existed a very considerable disparity in years between herself and her dear deceased, Sir Charles Stukely, who had expired at the mature age of ninety, more than a year before, she conceived herself still a very young, artless, and interesting girl; and under this happy hallucination she was more than half inclined to return in good earnest the disinterested affection of Henry Ashwoode.
There, too, was old Lord Aspenly, who had, but two days before, solicited and received Sir Richard Ashwoode’s permission to pay his court to his beautiful daughter, Mary. There, jerking and shrugging and grimacing, he hobbled through the rooms, all wrinkles and rappee; bandying compliments and repartees, flirting and fooling, and beyond measure enchanted with himself, while every interval in frivolity and noise was filled up with images of his approaching nuptials and intended bride, while she, poor girl, happily unconscious of all their plans, was spared, for that night, the pangs and struggles which were hereafter but too severely to try her heart.
‘Twere needless to enumerate noble peers, whose very titles are now unknown — poets, who alas! were mortal — men of promise, who performed nothing — clever young men, who grew into stupid old ones — and millionaires, whose money perished with them; we shall not, therefore, weary the reader by describing Lady Stukely’s guests; let it suffice to mention that Henry Ashwoode left the rooms with young Pigwiggynne, of Bolton’s regiment of dragoons, and one of Lord Wharton’s aides-de-camp. This circumstance is here recorded because it had an effect in producing the occurrences which we have to relate by-and-by; for young Pigwiggynne having partaken somewhat freely of Lady Stukely’s wines, and being unusually exhilarated, came forth from the hall-door to assist Ashwoode in procuring a chair, which he did with a good deal more noise and blasphemy than was strictly necessary. Our friend Larry Toole, who had patiently waited the egress of his quondam young master, no sooner beheld him than he hastened to accost him, but Pigwiggynne being, as we have said, in high spirits and unusual good humour, cut short poor Larry’s address by jocularly knocking him on the head with a heavy walking-cane — a pleasantry which laid that person senseless upon the pavement. The humorist passed on with an exhilarating crow, after the manner of a cock; and had not a matter-of-fact chairman drawn Mr. Toole from among the coach-wheels where the joke had happened to lay him, we might have been saved the trouble of recording the subsequent history of that very active member of society. Meanwhile, young Ashwoode was conveyed in a chair to a neighbouring fashionable hotel, where, having changed his suit, and again equipped himself for the road, he mounted his horse, and followed by his treacherous groom, set out at a brisk pace upon his hazardous, and as it turned out, eventful night-ride toward the manor of Morley Court.
CHAPTER IX.
THE “BLEEDING HORSE” — HOLLANDS AND PIPES FOR TWO — EVERY BULLET HAS ITS BILLET.
At the time in which the events that we have undertaken to record took place, there stood at the southern extremity of the city, near the point at which Camden Street now terminates, a small, oldfashioned building, something between an ale-house and an inn. It occupied the roadside by no means unpicturesquely; one gable jutted into the road, with a projecting window, which stood out from the building like a glass box held together by a massive frame of wood; and commanded by this projecting gable, and a few yards in retreat, but facing the road, was the inn door, over which hung a painted panel, representing a white horse, out of whose neck there spouted a crimson cascade, and underneath, in large letters, the traveller was informed that this was the genuine old “Bleeding Horse.” Old enough, in all conscience, it appeared to be, for the tiled roof, except where the ivy clustered over it, was crowded with weeds of many kinds, and the boughs of the huge trees which embowered it had cracked and shattered one of the cumbrous chimney-stacks, and in many places it was evident that but for the timely interposition of the saw and the axe, the giant limbs of the old timber would, in the gradual increase of years, have forced their way through the roof and the masonry itself — a tendency sufficiently indicated by sundry indentures and rude repairs in those parts of the building most exposed to such casualties. Upon the night in which the events that are recorded in the immediately preceding chapters occurred, two horsemen rode up to this inn, and leisurely entering the stable yard, dismounted, and gave their horses in charge to a ragged boy who acted as hostler, directing him with a few very impressive figures of rhetoric, on no account to loosen girth or bridle, or to suffer the beasts to stir one yard from the spot where they stood. This matter settled, they entered the house. Both were muffled; the one — a large, shambling fellow — wore a capacious riding-coat; the other — a small, wiry man — was wrapped in a cloak; both wore their hats pressed down over their brows, and had drawn their mufflers up, so as to conceal the lower part of the face. The lesser of the two men, leaving his companion in the passage, opened a door, within which were a few fellows drowsily toping, and one or two asleep. In a chair by the fire sat Tony Bligh, the proprietor of the “Bleeding Horse,” a middle-aged man, rather corpulent, as pale as tallow, and with a sly, ugly squint. The little man in the cloak merely introduced his head and shoulders, and beckoned with his thumb. The signal, though scarcely observed by one other of the occupants of the room, was instantly and in silence obeyed by the landlord, who, casting one uneasy glance round, glided across the floor, and was in the passage almost as soon as the gentleman in the cloak.
“Here, Tony, boy,” whispered the man, as the innkeeper approached, “fetch us a pint of Hollands, a couple of pipes, and a glim; bu
t first turn the key in this door here, and come yourself, do ye mind?”
Tony squeezed the speaker’s arm in token of acquiescence, and turning a key gently in the lock, he noiselessly opened the door which Brimstone Bill had indicated, and the two cavaliers strode into the dark and vacant chamber. Brimstone walked to the window, pushed open the casement, and leaned out. The beautiful moon was shining above the old and tufted trees which lined the quiet road; he looked up and down the shaded avenue, but nothing was moving upon it, save the varying shadows as the night wind swung the branches to and fro. He listened, but no sound reached his ears, excepting the rustling and moaning of the boughs, through which the breeze was fitfully soughing.
Scarcely had he drawn back again into the room, when Tony returned with the refreshments which the gentleman had ordered, and with a dark lantern enclosing a lighted candle.
“Right, old cove,” said Bill. “I see you hav’n’t forgot the trick of the trade. Who are your pals inside?”
“Three of them sleep here tonight,” replied Tony. “They’re all quiet coves enough, such as doesn’t hear nor see any more than they ought.”
The two fellows filled a pipe each, and lighted them at the lantern.
“What mischief are you after now, Bill?” inquired the host, with a peculiar leer.
“Why should I be after any mischief,” replied Brimstone jocularly, “any more than a sucking dove, eh? Do I look like mischief tonight, old tickle-pitcher — do I?”
He accompanied the question with a peculiar grin, which mine host answered by a prolonged wink of no less peculiar significance.
“Well, Tony boy,” rejoined Bill, “maybe I am and maybe I ain’t — that’s the way: but mind, you did not see a stim of me, nor of him, tonight (glancing at his comrade), nor ever, for that matter. But you did see two ill-looking fellows not a bit like us; and I have a notion that these two chaps will manage to get into a sort of shindy before an hour’s over, and then mizzle at once; and if all goes well, your hand shall be crossed with gold tonight.”
“Bill, Bill,” said the landlord, with a smile of exquisite relish, and drawing his hand coaxingly over the man’s forehead, so as to smooth the curls of his periwig nearly into his eyes, “you’re just the same old dodger — you are the devil’s own bird — you have not cast a feather.”
It is hard to say how long this tender scene might have continued, had not the other ruffian knocked his knuckles sharply on the table, and cried —
“Hist! brother — chise it — enough fooling — I hear a horseshoe on the road.”
All held their breath, and remained motionless for a time. The fellow was, however, mistaken. Bill again advanced to the window, and gazed intently through the long vista of trees.
“There’s not a bat stirring,” said he, returning to the table, and filling out successively two glasses of spirits, he emptied them both. “Meanwhile, Tony,” continued he, “get back to your company. Some of the fellows may be poking their noses into this place. If you don’t hear from me, at all events you’ll hear of me before an hour. Hop the twig, boy, and keep all hard in for a bit — skip.”
With a roguish grin and a shake of the fist, honest Tony, not caring to dispute the commands of his friend, of whose temper he happened to know something, stealthily withdrew from the room, where we, too, shall for a time leave these worthy gentlemen of the road vigilantly awaiting the approach of their victim.
Larry Toole had no sooner recovered his senses — which was in less than a minute — than he at once betook himself to the “Cock and Anchor,” resolved, as the last resource, to inform O’Connor of the fact that an attack was meditated. Accordingly, he hastened with very little ceremony into the presence of his master, told him that young Ashwoode was to be waylaid upon the road, near the “Bleeding Horse,” and implored him, without the loss of a moment, to ride in that direction, with a view, if indeed it might not already be too late, to intercept his passage, and forewarn him of the danger which awaited him.
Without waiting to ask one useless question, O’Connor, before five minutes were passed, was mounted on his trusty horse, and riding at a hard pace through the dark streets towards the point of danger.
Meanwhile, young Ashwoode, followed by his mounted attendant, proceeded at a brisk trot in the direction of the manor; his brain filled with a thousand busy thoughts and schemes, among which, not the least important, were sundry floating calculations as to the probable and possible amount of Lady Stukely’s jointure, as well as some conjectures respecting the maximum duration of her ladyship’s life. Involved in these pleasing ruminations, sometimes crossed by no less agreeable recollections, in which the triumphs of vanity and the successes of the gaming-table had their share, he had now reached that shadowy and silent part of the road at which stood the little inn, embowered in the great old trees, and peeping forth with a sort of humble and friendly aspect, but ill-according with the dangerous designs it served to shelter.
Here the servant, falling somewhat further behind, brought his horse close under the projecting window of the inn as he passed, and with a sharp cut of his whip gave the concerted signal. Before sixty seconds had elapsed, two well-mounted cavaliers were riding at a hard gallop in their wake. At this headlong pace, the foremost of the two horsemen had passed Ashwoode by some dozen yards, when, checking his horse so suddenly as to throw him back upon his haunches, he wheeled him round, and plunging the spurs deep into his flanks, with two headlong springs, he dashed him madly upon the young man’s steed, hurling the beast and his rider to the earth. Tremendous as was the fall, young Ashwoode, remarkable alike for personal courage and activity, was in a moment upon his feet, with his sword drawn, ready to receive the assault of the ruffian.
“Let go your skiver — drop it, you greenhorn,” cried the fellow, hoarsely, as he wheeled round his plunging horse, and drew a pistol from the holster, “or, by the eternal —— , I’ll blow your head into dust!”
Young Ashwoode attempted to seize the reins of the fellow’s horse, and made a desperate pass at the rider.
“Take it, then,” cried the fellow, thrusting the muzzle of the pistol into Ashwoode’s face and drawing the trigger. Fortunately for Ashwoode, the pistol missed fire, and almost at the same moment the rapid clang of a horse’s hoofs, accompanied by the loud shout of menace, broke startlingly upon his ear. Happy was this interruption for Henry Ashwoode, for, stunned and dizzy from the shock, he at that moment tottered, and in the next was prostrate upon the ground. “Blowed, by —— !” cried the villain, furiously, as the unwelcome sounds reached his ears, and dashing the spurs into his horse, he rode at a furious gallop down the road towards the country. This scene occupied scarce six seconds in the acting. Brimstone Bill, who had but a moment before come up to the succour of his comrade, also heard the rapid approach of the galloping hoofs upon the road; he knew that before he could count fifty seconds the new comer would have arrived. A few moments, however, he thought he could spare — important moments they turned out to be to one of the party. Bill kept his eye steadily fixed upon the point some three or four hundred yards distant at which he knew the horseman whose approach was announced must first appear.
In that brief moment, the cool-headed villain had rapidly calculated the danger of the groom’s committing his accomplices through want of coolness and presence of mind, should he himself, as was not unlikely, become suspected. The groom’s pistols were still loaded, and he had taken no part in the conflict. Brimstone Bill fixed a stern glance upon his companion while all these and other thoughts flashed like lightning across his brain.
“Darby,” said he, hurriedly, to the man who sat half-stupefied in the saddle close beside him, “blaze off the lead towels — crack them off, I say.”
Bill impatiently leaned forward, and himself drew the pistols from the groom’s saddle-bow; he fired one of them in the air — he cocked the other. “This dolt will play the devil with us all,” thought he, looking with a peculiar expression at the
bewildered servant. With one hand he grasped him by the collar to steady his aim, and with the other, suddenly thrusting the pistol to his ear, and drawing the trigger, he blew the wretched man’s head into fragments like a potsherd; and wheeling his horse’s head about, he followed his comrade pellmell, beating the sparks in showers from the stony road at every plunge.
All this occurred in fewer moments than it has taken us lines to describe it; and before our friend Brimstone Bill had secured the odds which his safety required, O’Connor was thundering at a furious gallop within less than a hundred yards of him. Bill saw that his pursuer was better mounted than he — to escape, therefore, by a fair race was out of the question. His resolution was quickly taken. By a sudden and powerful effort he reined in his horse at a single pull, and, with one rearing wheel, brought him round upon his antagonist; at the same time, drawing one of the large pistols from the saddle-bow, he rested it deliberately upon his bridle-arm, and fired at his pursuer, now within twenty yards of him. The ball passed so close to O’Connor’s head that his ear rang shrilly with the sound of it for hours after. They had now closed; the highwayman drew his second pistol from the holster, and each fired at the same instant. O’Connor’s shot was well directed — it struck his opponent in the bridle-arm, a little below the shoulder, shattering the bone to splinters. With a hoarse shriek of agony, the fellow, scarce knowing what he did, forced the spurs into his horse’s sides; and the animal reared, wheeled, and bore its rider at a reckless speed in the direction which his companion had followed.
It was well for him that the shot, which at the same moment he had discharged, had not been altogether misdirected. O’Connor, indeed, escaped unscathed, but the ball struck his horse between the eyes, and piercing the brain, the poor beast reared upright and fell dead upon the road. Extricating himself from the saddle, O’Connor returned to the spot where young Ashwoode and the servant still lay. Stunned and dizzy with the fall which he had had, the excitement of actual conflict was no sooner over, than Ashwoode sank back into a state of insensibility. In this condition O’Connor found him, pale as death, and apparently lifeless. Raising him against the grassy bank at the roadside, and having cast some water from a pool close by into his face, he saw him speedily recover.
Complete Works of Sheridan Le Fanu (Illustrated) Page 7
