CHAPTER XXI
MASTER MITTACHIP'S IDEA
He waited a little while, and gradually a smile of the deepestsatisfaction spread over his bird-like countenance; he rubbed his meagreknees up and down with his thin hands, in obvious delight, and as soonas he saw his opportunity, he remarked slily,--
"An your Honour was on the Heath last night, you can help me testify tohighway robbery before Squire West. There are plenty of soldiers inthis village. His Honour'll have out a posse or two; the rascal can'tescape hanging this time."
Sir Humphrey's florid, sensual face suddenly paled with a curiousintensity of hatred.
"Aye! he shall hang sure enough," he muttered, with a loud oath.
He dragged a chair forward, facing Mittachip, and sat astride on it,drumming a devil's tattoo on the back.
"Listen here, you old scarecrow," he said more quietly, "for I've notdone with you yet. You don't understand, I suppose, what my presencehere in Brassington means?"
"I confess that I am somewhat puzzled, your Honour," replied theattorney, meekly. "I remarked on it to Master Duffy, just before hestarted off for Wirksworth this morning. But he could offer nosuggestion."
"Odd's life, man! couldn't you guess that having made my proposal tothat rascally highwayman I could not rest at Aldwark unless I saw himcarry it through?"
"Ah?"
"I got a horse at the Moorhen, and at nightfall I rode out on the Heath.I feared to lose my way on the bridle path, and moreover, I wished tokeep her ladyship's coach in view, so I kept to the road. It must havebeen close on midnight when I sighted it at last. It was at astandstill in the midst of a quagmire, and as I drew near I could seeneither driver on the box, nor groom at the horses' heads."
"Well?"
"Well! that's all! there was a wench inside the coach; I threw her outand searched for the letters; I found them! That rascally highwaymanhad played me false. Some distance from the road I spied him dancing arigadoon in the moonlight with her ladyship, whilst her men, the dolts,were watching the spectacle! Ha! ha! ha! 'twas a fine sight too, I tellyou! So now the sooner I get that chivalrous highwayman hanged, thebetter I shall like it."
"Then ... am I to understand that your Honour has the letters?"
"Aye! I have the letters right enough!" said Sir Humphrey, with an oathbetween his clenched teeth, "but I fear me her ladyship has cajoled therogue into her service. Else why this dance? I did not know what tomake of it. Madness, surely, or she never would have left the lettersunprotected. He bewitched her mayhap, and the devil, his master, lenthim a helping hand. I'll see him hang, I tell you.... Hang.... Hang!"
Master Mittachip's attenuated frame quaked with terror. There was somuch hatred, so much lust for revenge in Sir Humphrey's half-chokedvoice, that instinctively the attorney cowered, as before some great andevil thing which he only half understood. After awhile Sir Humphreymanaged to control himself. He was ashamed of having allowed his agentthis one peep into the darkness of his soul. His love for Patience,though brutish and grasping, was as strong as his sensuous nature wascapable of: his jealousy and hatred had been aroused by the strangescene he had witnessed on the Heath, and he was as conscious now of thelonging for revenge, as of the desire to possess himself of LadyPatience and her fortune.
"'Sdeath!" he said more calmly, "Beau Brocade and that rascal John Stichwere after me in a trice, and they'd have had the letters back from me,had I not put a bullet into the damned thief!"
"And wounded him, your Honour?" queried Mittachip, eagerly.
"Nay! I could not wait to see! but I hoped I had killed him, for 'twasJohn Stich who rode after me, fortunately. He was too big a fool to dome any harm and I quickly made him lose my track."
"And you've destroyed the letters, Sir Humphrey?"
"Destroyed them, you fool? Nay, it would ill suit my purpose ifStretton were to die. Can't you see that _now_," he said excitedly,"with those letters in my hand, I can force Lady Patience's acceptanceof my suit? While her brother's life hangs in the balance I can offerher the letters, on condition that she consent to marry me, and threatento destroy them if she refuse!"
"Aye! aye!" murmured the attorney, "'twere a powerful argument!"
"And remember," added his Honour, significantly, "there'll be twohundred guineas for you the day that I wed Lady Patience. That is, _if_you render me useful assistance to the end."
"Two hundred guineas!!! Good lack, Sir Humphrey, I hope you've gotthose letters safe!"
"Aye! safe enough for the present!"
"About your person?"
"Nay! you idiot! about my person? With so cunning a rascal as BeauBrocade at my heels!"
"Then in your valise, Sir Humphrey?"
"What? in a strange inn? Think you the fellow would be above breakinginto my room? How do I know that mine host is not one of his booncompanions? The rascal has many friends hereabouts."
"B ... b ... but what have you done with them, Sir Humphrey?" queriedthe attorney, in despair.
"In your ear, Master Mittachip," quoth his Honour, instinctivelylowering his voice, lest the walls of the old inn had ears. "I thoughtthe best plan was to hide the letters there, where Lady Patience and herchivalrous highwayman would least expect to find them."
"How so, good Sir Humphrey?"
"I was hard pressed, mind you, and had but a few seconds in which tomake up my mind. I dismounted, then lashed my horse into a panic. As Iexpected he made straight for his own stables, at anyrate, he gallopedoff like mad in the direction of Aldwark, whilst I remained cowering inthe dense scrub, grateful for the mist, which was very dense in thehollow. There I remained hidden for about half an hour, until all sounddied away on the Heath. What happened to that damned highwayman or toJohn Stich I know not, but I did not feel that the letters were safewhilst they were about my person. I knew that I was some distance fromthis village, and still further from Aldwark, and feared that I shouldbe pursued and overtaken. At any rate, I crept out of my hiding-placeand presently found myself close to a wooden hut, not far from theroadside: and there, underneath some bramble and thorny stuff, I hid theletters well out of sight."
"Oh! but they won't be safe there, Sir Humphrey," moaned Mittachip, whoseemed to see the golden vision of two hundred guineas vanishing beforehis eyes. "Think of it. Any moment they might be unearthed by somedolt of a shepherd!"
"'Sdeath! I know that, you fool! They're in a dry place now, but Ionly mean them to remain there until you can take them to your own houseat Wirksworth, and put them in your strong room till I have need ofthem."
But this suggestion so alarmed Master Mittachip that he lost his balanceand nearly fell off the edge of his chair.
"I, Sir Humphrey? .... I ... cross that lonely Heath again? ... and withthose letters about my person?..."
"Tush, man! the footpads wouldn't take letters from you, and BeauBrocade will be keeping an eye on me, and wouldn't again molest you..."
"Aye! but he knows I enjoy the honour of your confidence, good SirHumphrey! Believe me, the letters would not be safe with me."
"Adsbud!" said his Honour, firmly, "then I'll have to find someone elseto take care of those letters for me, and," he added significantly, "toearn the two hundred guineas."
Master Mittachip gave an anxious gasp. That two hundred guineas!!! theultimate ambition of his sordid, miserable existence! No! he would notmiss that! ... and yet he dreaded the Heath ... and was in terror ofBeau Brocade ... and he dreaded his Honour's anger ten thousand timesmore than either: that anger would be terrible if, having taken chargeof the letters, he should be robbed of them.
The alternative was an awful one! He racked his tortuous brain for alikely issue. Sir Humphrey had risen, kicked his chair to one side, andmade as if he would go.
"Now, harkee, friend Mittachip," he said firmly, "I want those lettersplaced somewhere in absolute safety, where neither Lady Patience'sinfluence nor her chivalrous highway
man could possibly get at them. Ifyou find a way and means of doing this for me, the two hundred guineasare yours. But if I have to manage this business myself, if I have totake the almost certain risk of being robbed of the letters, if I carrythem about my own person, then you shall not get another shilling fromme. Now you can think this matter over. I'll across to speak to SquireWest, and see if I can't get that rascally highwayman captured andclapped into jail before the day is done."
He took up his hat, and threw his coat over his arm. The situation wasgetting desperate.
Then suddenly Master Mittachip had an idea.
"I have it, Sir Humphrey," he cried excitedly. "I have it! A perfectlysafe way of conveying those letters to my strong room at Wirksworth!"
"Let's have it, then."
"I have bought some sheep of a farmer from over Aldwark way, for aclient at Wirksworth. Here," he added, pulling a paper out of hispocket and handing it up to Sir Humphrey, "is the receipt and tally forthem. Jock Miggs--Master Crabtree's shepherd--is taking the sheep tothe town to-day. He'll most likely put up for the night on the Heath."
"Well?" queried Sir Humphrey.
"Well! Jock Miggs can neither read nor write."
"Of course not."
"Let us send _him_ to Wirksworth and tell him to leave the packet ofletters at my house in charge of my clerk, Master Duffy, who will put itin the strong room until you want them. Duffy started for Wirksworth atdaybreak this morning, and should be there by nightfall."
"Pshaw, man! would you have me trust such valuable letters to a fool ofa shepherd?"
"Nay, Sir Humphrey, but that is our safeguard. Beau Brocade nevertouches the poor or the peasantry, and certainly would never suspectJock Miggs of being in your Honour's confidence, whilst the ordinaryfootpads would take no count of him. He is worth neither powder norshot."
"That's true enough!"
"I should tell Miggs that the papers are accounts for the sheep, andpromise him a silver crown if he delivers them safely at my door. Wecan put the letters in a sealed packet; no one would ever suspect him."
There was silence in the inn parlour for awhile. His Honour stood withlegs apart, opposite the tiny leaded window, gazing out into vacancy,whilst Master Mittachip fixed his eyes meditatively on the broad back ofhis noble patron. What a deal depended on what was going on at thepresent moment in Sir Humphrey's active brain.
Suddenly his Honour turned on his heel.
"Odd's fish, Master Mittachip," he said, "but your plan is none so badafter all."
The attorney heaved a deep sigh of relief, and began mopping his beadyforehead. The tension had been acute. This lengthy, agitatinginterview had been extremely trying. So much hung in the balance, andso much had depended upon that very uncertain quantity, his Honour'stemper. But now the worst was over. Sir Humphrey was a man ofdetermination, who never changed his mind once that mind was made up,and who carried any undertaking through with set purpose and unflinchingwill.
"Well! and when can I see that shepherd you speak of?" he asked.
"If your Honour would ride over on the Heath with me this afternoon,"suggested the attorney, "I doubt not but we should come across JockMiggs and his sheep, and in any case he would be at the hut bynightfall."
"Very good!" rejoined his Honour. "Do you see that a couple of horsesbe ready for us. We can start as soon as I have spoken with Squire Westand laid my information against that d--d Beau Brocade. With a posse ofsoldiers at his heels he's less likely to worry us, eh, old scarecrow?"
"We shall not be safe, your Honour," assented worthy Master Mittachip,"until the rascal is dangling six feet above the ground. In themeanwhile," he added, seeing that Sir Humphrey was making for the door,"your Honour will be pleased to give me back that receipt and tally forthe sheep I showed you just now."
But already his Honour was hurrying down the narrow passage, eager toget through the business that would lay his enemy by the heels, andrender him safe in the possession of the important letters which were tosecure him Lady Patience's hand and fortune.
"All right!" he shouted back lustily, "it's safe enough in my pocket.I'll give it you back on my return."
Left alone in the dingy, black-raftered parlour, Master Mittachip satpondering for awhile, his pale, watery eyes blinking at times with theintensity of his satisfaction. Now for a little good luck--and he hadno cause to fear the reverse--and that glorious vision of two hundredgolden guineas would become a splendid reality. The advice he had givenSir Humphrey was undoubtedly the safest which he could offer. BeauBrocade, even with a posse of soldiers at his heels, was still a potentpersonality on the Heath, and it certainly looked as if her ladyship hadcajoled him into her service. No one knew really who his friends andaccomplices were: on and about Brassing Moor he could reckon on the helpof most of the poorer villagers.
But Jock Miggs at any rate was safe, alike from the daring highwaymanand the more humble footpad. The former would not suspect him, and thelatter would leave a poor shepherd severely alone. The footpath from thehut by the roadside to the town of Wirksworth was but a matter of threeor four miles, and for a silver crown the shepherd would be ready enoughto take a sealed packet to the house of Master Mittachip in FulsomeStreet.
Yes! it was all going to be for the best, in this best possible world,and as Master Mittachip thought over it all, he rubbed his thin,claw-like hands contentedly together.
Beau Brocade: A Romance Page 21
