Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER LX

  ANNIE LUCKIER THAN JOHN

  Some people may look down upon us for our slavish ways (as they maychoose to call them), but in our part of the country, we do love tomention title, and to roll it on our tongues, with a conscience and acomfort. Even if a man knows not, through fault of education, who theDuke of this is, or the Earl of that, it will never do for him to sayso, lest the room look down on him. Therefore he must nod his head,and say, 'Ah, to be sure! I know him as well as ever I know my owngood woman's brother. He married Lord Flipflap's second daughter, and aprecious life she led him.' Whereupon the room looks up at him. ButI, being quite unable to carry all this in my head, as I ought, wasspeedily put down by people of a noble tendency, apt at Lords, and patwith Dukes, and knowing more about the King than His Majesty would haverequested. Therefore, I fell back in thought, not daring in words to doso, upon the titles of our horses. And all these horses deserved theirnames, not having merely inherited, but by their own doing earned them.Smiler, for instance, had been so called, not so much from a habit ofsmiling, as from his general geniality, white nose, and white ankle.This worthy horse was now in years, but hale and gay as ever; and whenyou let him out of the stable, he could neigh and whinny, and make menand horses know it. On the other hand, Kickums was a horse of moroseand surly order; harbouring up revenge, and leading a rider to falseconfidence. Very smoothly he would go, and as gentle as a turtle-dove;until his rider fully believed that a pack-thread was enough for him,and a pat of approval upon his neck the aim and crown of his worthylife. Then suddenly up went his hind feet to heaven, and the rider forthe most part flew over his nose; whereupon good Kickums would takeadvantage of his favourable position to come and bite a piece out ofhis back. Now in my present state of mind, being understood of nobody,having none to bear me company, neither wishing to have any, anindefinite kind of attraction drew me into Kickum's society. A bond ofmutual sympathy was soon established between us; I would ride no otherhorse, neither Kickums be ridden by any other man. And this good horsebecame as jealous about me as a dog might be; and would lash out, or runteeth foremost, at any one who came near him when I was on his back.

  This season, the reaping of the corn, which had been but a year ago sopleasant and so lightsome, was become a heavy labour, and a thing forgrumbling rather than for gladness. However, for the sake of all, itmust be attended to, and with as fair a show of spirit and alacrity asmight be. For otherwise the rest would drag, and drop their hands andidle, being quicker to take infection of dullness than of diligence. Andthe harvest was a heavy one, even heavier than the year before, althoughof poorer quality. Therefore was I forced to work as hard as any horsecould during all the daylight hours, and defer till night the broodingupon my misfortune. But the darkness always found me stiff with work,and weary, and less able to think than to dream, may be, of Lorna. Andnow the house was so dull and lonesome, wanting Annie's pretty presence,and the light of Lorna's eyes, that a man had no temptation aftersupper-time even to sit and smoke a pipe.

  For Lizzie, though so learned, and pleasant when it suited her, neverhad taken very kindly to my love for Lorna, and being of a proud andslightly upstart nature, could not bear to be eclipsed in bearing,looks, and breeding, and even in clothes, by the stranger. For one thingI will say of the Doones, that whether by purchase or plunder, they hadalways dressed my darling well, with her own sweet taste to help them.And though Lizzie's natural hate of the maid (as a Doone and burdenedwith father's death) should have been changed to remorse when shelearned of Lorna's real parentage, it was only altered to sullenness,and discontent with herself, for frequent rudeness to an innocentperson, and one of such high descent. Moreover, the child had imbibedstrange ideas as to our aristocracy, partly perhaps from her own way ofthinking, and partly from reading of history. For while, from one pointof view she looked up at them very demurely, as commissioned by God forthe country's good; from another sight she disliked them, as ready tosacrifice their best and follow their worst members.

  Yet why should this wench dare to judge upon a matter so far beyond her,and form opinions which she knew better than declare before mother? Butwith me she had no such scruple, for I had no authority over her; and myintellect she looked down upon, because I praised her own so. Thusshe made herself very unpleasant to me; by little jags and jerks ofsneering, sped as though unwittingly; which I (who now considered myselfallied to the aristocracy, and perhaps took airs on that account) hadnot wit enough to parry, yet had wound enough to feel.

  Now any one who does not know exactly how mothers feel and think, wouldhave expected my mother (than whom could be no better one) to pet me,and make much of me, under my sad trouble; to hang with anxiety on mylooks, and shed her tears with mine (if any), and season every dish ofmeat put by for her John's return. And if the whole truth must be told,I did expect that sort of thing, and thought what a plague it wouldbe to me; yet not getting it, was vexed, as if by some new injury.For mother was a special creature (as I suppose we all are), being thewarmest of the warm, when fired at the proper corner; and yet, if takenat the wrong point, you would say she was incombustible.

  Hence it came to pass that I had no one even to speak to, about Lornaand my grievances; for Captain Stickles was now gone southward; and JohnFry, of course, was too low for it, although a married man, and wellunder his wife's management. But finding myself unable at last to bearthis any longer, upon the first day when all the wheat was cut, and thestooks set up in every field, yet none quite fit for carrying, I saddledgood Kickums at five in the morning, and without a word to mother (for alittle anxiety might do her good) off I set for Molland parish, to havethe counsel and the comfort of my darling Annie.

  The horse took me over the ground so fast (there being few better to gowhen he liked), that by nine o'clock Annie was in my arms, and blushingto the colour of Winnie's cheeks, with sudden delight and younghappiness.

  'You precious little soul!' I cried: 'how does Tom behave to you?'

  'Hush!' said Annie: 'how dare you ask? He is the kindest, and the best,and the noblest of all men, John; not even setting yourself aside. Nowlook not jealous, John: so it is. We all have special gifts, you know.You are as good as you can be, John; but my husband's special gift isnobility of character.' Here she looked at me, as one who has discoveredsomething quite unknown.

  'I am devilish glad to hear it,' said I, being touched at going down so:'keep him to that mark, my dear; and cork the whisky bottle.'

  'Yes, darling John,' she answered quickly, not desiring to open thatsubject, and being too sweet to resent it: 'and how is lovely Lorna?What an age it is since I have seen you! I suppose we must thank her forthat.'

  'You may thank her for seeing me now,' said I; 'or rather,'--seeing howhurt she looked,--'you may thank my knowledge of your kindness, and mydesire to speak of her to a soft-hearted dear little soul like you. Ithink all the women are gone mad. Even mother treats me shamefully. Andas for Lizzie--' Here I stopped, knowing no words strong enough, withoutshocking Annie.

  'Do you mean to say that Lorna is gone?' asked Annie, in greatamazement; yet leaping at the truth, as women do, with nothing at all toleap from.

  'Gone. And I never shall see her again. It serves me right for aspiringso.'

  Being grieved at my manner, she led me in where none could interruptus; and in spite of all my dejection, I could not help noticing how verypretty and even elegant all things were around. For we upon Exmoor havelittle taste; all we care for is warm comfort, and plenty to eat and togive away, and a hearty smack in everything. But Squire Faggus had seenthe world, and kept company with great people; and the taste he hadfirst displayed in the shoeing of farmers' horses (which led almost tohis ruin, by bringing him into jealousy, and flattery, and dashing ways)had now been cultivated in London, and by moonlight, so that none couldhelp admiring it.

  'Well!' I cried, for the moment dropping care and woe in astonishment:'we have nothing like this at Plover's Barrows; nor even Uncle Reuben. Ido hope it is h
onest, Annie?'

  'Would I sit in a chair that was not my own?' asked Annie, turningcrimson, and dropping defiantly, and with a whisk of her dress whichI never had seen before, into the very grandest one: 'would I lie on acouch, brother John, do you think, unless good money was paid for it?Because other people are clever, John, you need not grudge them theirearnings.'

  'A couch!' I replied: 'why what can you want with a couch in theday-time, Annie? A couch is a small bed, set up in a room without spacefor a good four-poster. What can you want with a couch downstairs? Inever heard of such nonsense. And you ought to be in the dairy.'

  'I won't cry, brother John, I won't; because you want to make mecry'--and all the time she was crying--'you always were so nasty, John,sometimes. Ah, you have no nobility of character, like my husband. And Ihave not seen you for two months, John; and now you come to scold me!'

  'You little darling,' I said, for Annie's tears always conquered me;'if all the rest ill-use me, I will not quarrel with you, dear. You havealways been true to me; and I can forgive your vanity. Your thingsare very pretty, dear; and you may couch ten times a day, without myinterference. No doubt your husband has paid for all this, with theponies he stole from Exmoor. Nobility of character is a thing beyondmy understanding; but when my sister loves a man, and he does well andflourishes, who am I to find fault with him? Mother ought to see thesethings: they would turn her head almost: look at the pimples on thechairs!'

  'They are nothing,' Annie answered, after kissing me for my kindness:'they are only put in for the time indeed; and we are to have muchbetter, with gold all round the bindings, and double plush at thecorners; so soon as ever the King repays the debt he owes to my poorTom.'

  I thought to myself that our present King had been most unlucky in onething--debts all over the kingdom. Not a man who had struck a blow forthe King, or for his poor father, or even said a good word for him,in the time of his adversity, but expected at least a baronetcy, anda grant of estates to support it. Many have called King Charlesungrateful: and he may have been so. But some indulgence is due toa man, with entries few on the credit side, and a terrible column ofdebits.

  'Have no fear for the chair,' I said, for it creaked under me veryfearfully, having legs not so large as my finger; 'if the chair breaks,Annie, your fear should be, lest the tortoise-shell run into me. Why, itis striped like a viper's loins! I saw some hundreds in London and verycheap they are. They are made to be sold to the country people, such asyou and me, dear; and carefully kept they will last for almost halfa year. Now will you come back from your furniture, and listen to mystory?'

  Annie was a hearty dear, and she knew that half my talk was joke, tomake light of my worrying. Therefore she took it in good part, as I wellknew that she would do; and she led me to a good honest chair; and shesat in my lap and kissed me.

  'All this is not like you, John. All this is not one bit like you:and your cheeks are not as they ought to be. I shall have to come homeagain, if the women worry my brother so. We always held together, John;and we always will, you know.'

  'You dear,' I cried, 'there is nobody who understands me as you do.Lorna makes too much of me, and the rest they make too little.'

  'Not mother; oh, not mother, John!'

  'No, mother makes too much, no doubt; but wants it all for herselfalone; and reckons it as a part of her. She makes me more wroth than anyone: as if not only my life, but all my head and heart must seek fromhers, and have no other thought or care.'

  Being sped of my grumbling thus, and eased into better temper, I toldAnnie all the strange history about Lorna and her departure, and thesmall chance that now remained to me of ever seeing my love again. Tothis Annie would not hearken twice, but judging women by her faithfulself, was quite vexed with me for speaking so. And then, to my surpriseand sorrow, she would deliver no opinion as to what I ought to do untilshe had consulted darling Tom.

  Dear Tom knew much of the world, no doubt, especially the dark side ofit. But to me it scarcely seemed becoming that my course of action withregard to the Lady Lorna Dugal should be referred to Tom Faggus, anddepend upon his decision. However, I would not grieve Annie again bymaking light of her husband; and so when he came in to dinner, thematter was laid before him.

  Now this man never confessed himself surprised, under any circumstances;his knowledge of life being so profound, and his charity universal. Andin the present case he vowed that he had suspected it all along, andcould have thrown light upon Lorna's history, if we had seen fit toapply to him. Upon further inquiry I found that this light was a verydim one, flowing only from the fact that he had stopped her mother'scoach, at the village of Bolham, on the Bampton Road, the day before Isaw them. Finding only women therein, and these in a sad condition, Tomwith his usual chivalry (as he had no scent of the necklace) allowedthem to pass; with nothing more than a pleasant exchange of courtesies,and a testimonial forced upon him, in the shape of a bottle of Burgundywine. This the poor countess handed him; and he twisted the cork outwith his teeth, and drank her health with his hat off.

  'A lady she was, and a true one; and I am a pretty good judge,' saidTom: 'ah, I do like a high lady!'

  Our Annie looked rather queer at this, having no pretensions to be one:but she conquered herself, and said, 'Yes, Tom; and many of them likedyou.'

  With this, Tom went on the brag at once, being but a shallow fellow, andnot of settled principles, though steadier than he used to be; until Ifelt myself almost bound to fetch him back a little; for of all thingsI do hate brag the most, as any reader of this tale must by this timeknow. Therefore I said to Squire Faggus, 'Come back from your highwaydays. You have married the daughter of an honest man; and such talkis not fit for her. If you were right in robbing people, I am rightin robbing you. I could bind you to your own mantelpiece, as you knowthoroughly well, Tom; and drive away with your own horses, and all yourgoods behind them, but for the sense of honesty. And should I not do asfine a thing as any you did on the highway? If everything is of publicright, how does this chair belong to you? Clever as you are, Tom Faggus,you are nothing but a fool to mix your felony with your farmership. Dropthe one, or drop the other; you cannot maintain them both.'

  As I finished very sternly a speech which had exhausted me more than tenrounds of wrestling--but I was carried away by the truth, as sometimeshappens to all of us--Tom had not a word to say; albeit his mind wasso much more nimble and rapid than ever mine was. He leaned against themantelpiece (a newly-invented affair in his house) as if I had cordedhim to it, even as I spoke of doing. And he laid one hand on his breastin a way which made Annie creep softly to him, and look at me not like asister.

  'You have done me good, John,' he said at last, and the hand he gave mewas trembling: 'there is no other man on God's earth would have daredto speak to me as you have done. From no other would I have taken it.Nevertheless every word is true; and I shall dwell on it when you aregone. If you never did good in your life before, John, my brother, youhave done it now.'

  He turned away, in bitter pain, that none might see his trouble; andAnnie, going along with him, looked as if I had killed our mother. Formy part, I was so upset, for fear of having gone too far, that withouta word to either of them, but a message on the title-page of KingJames his Prayer-book, I saddled Kickums, and was off, and glad of themoorland air again.