CHAPTER XIV
HOW IDONIA TAUGHT ME AND A CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD HOW TO KEEP BOOKS
"Now, cry you mercy, Mr. Denis!" said Idonia, "for indeed I guessed notthat affairs of trade were to be in debate between us."
But so confused as I was by her laughter, I could neither deny norconfirm that saying, but stood before her very hot in the face and, Imake no question, as sour to look upon as she was merry to see me so.
"I had thought you had forced your way hither," she continued, settingher head a little aside, "in order to rid me of such dangers as mightbeset me here, albeit I know of none."
"And knew you of any," said I, pretty desperate by this, "my swordshould make it none, if you would."
Perhaps it was the bitter tone I used, or the knowledge that I spokenot in mere idle boastfulness; but upon the sudden her manner changedwholly and she was pleading with me in so tender and deep a voice as itthrilled me through to hear it.
"Ah, Mr. Denis," said she, coming close and laying her hand on my arm,"we be friends surely, or if we be not, I know not where I am to seekfor a friend as true hearted, nor one that would venture as far to aidme. I meant no harm, indeed I did not, though my tongue played mymeaning false, as it doth, alas! too often. If I laughed, 'twas tofend off weeping, for once I fall to that, I know not when I should bedone."
"Yet you said you had no especial trouble," I returned.
"Nay, if I did, I lied," said Idonia, "for I am beset with troubleshere."
"I thought no less," said I, "and 'twas for that very reason, and indespite of your refusal to admit me awhile since, that I sought outother ways to come to you."
She smiled when she heard this honest confession. "So much trade asthat comes to, Mr. Denis, will hardly satisfy your father's debts, Ithink."
"I gave myself this one day more," I told her, "but to-morrow I mustnecessarily seek employment, though the doing of it I can scarce abideto think of."
"Having but an half-handful of shillings," said she, "poor lad! thereseemeth nought else to do, unless indeed you steal."
"Steal!" cried I.
"And wherefore not?" said Idonia, with a little hard laugh, "seeing weall do worse than steal here, or if we do not all so, yet do we standby permissively while others do. Oh, sir," she cried, "I warned youthis very morning I was not worth your thought of me, and 'twas truth,or less than the truth, I told, who live amongst evil folk in thisplace and secret men that whisper as they come and go."
She hid her face in her hands so overcome was she by the horror she hadwaked, and how to comfort her I knew not.
"Of what quality be these men you speak of?" I demanded, thinkingperhaps they were the thieves beyond the partition wall, who overraninto this place too. "I will lay information against them, before themagistrate if you will."
Idonia looked at me with a sort of wonder.
"But you know them not," said she, "nor where they bide, when theyleave us."
"Is it not yonder then?" I asked her, and pointed to the little dooraloft in the wall.
"They--poor folk!" she cried. "A pitiful lean company; would they wereno worse I ope the gate to! ... If you had known, when you would havehad me admit you, Mr. Denis.... But they be gone for this while ...oh, I fear them!" said she, and fell again to weeping.
'Twas evident she dared not be open with me as touching the businessnor estate of those she consorted with, nor, I found, dared give overthis life she led amongst them, for all the fear and horror she had ofit. So, notwithstanding I returned again and again to the question,she put me off with a manifest dismay.
"No, no," she would cry. "Even so much as I have already let fall ishaply more than wise for me to speak and you to hear. But now," inconclusion she said, "let us return to your own affairs, in the whichit may chance I may assist you."
She conceived from the first an infinite admiration of my father,bidding me tell over again the tale of his renouncing all his wealth inorder to the ending his brother's supposed confinement, as well as topay that added debt which I had so foolishly incurred. Idonia drew inher breath sharply when I had done, and then looking me full in theface, said--
"Whatever may befall you to do, Mr. Denis, 'twill be less than he haththe right to exact of you; although I believe that the least you willdo he will give you thanks for it."
'Twas my father's nature just, and none could have bettered thecharacter.
"What can you do?" she demanded briefly, and bade me sit (for we hadboth stood this while); she sitting too, on a bundle of folded sailsthat lay by the wall.
I hesitated to reply, for leaving the few scraps of Latin and logickthat Master Jordan had been at such pains to drive into me and I had aseasy let slip again, my studies had been woefully neglected, or ratherI had profited by them so little, that there was nothing I knew anywayswhole. I stammered out at last that what I could do, I doubted wouldscarce earn me a scavenger's wages, and looked (I suppose) so glum,that Idonia laughed outright.
"Come, there be books of account," said she, "can you not make shift tocast moneys in figure?"
I told her I thought I might compass that if I were given time enough;though for that matter I did not see how I was like greatly to profitthe merchant that should employ me.
But without replying by so much as a word, Idonia went over to an oakenpress by the stair, presently returning with a soiled leathern volumeclasped with a deal of brass and so heavy as to be hardly portable.This she set open before me saying it was a record of trade done, andhad belonged to one Mr. Enos Procter, whom she knew, and bade me readin it.
"Lord!" said I, very grave, for I had never seen so intricate andmysterious a labyrinth of words and cyphers as she then discovered."If Dives the rich man got his wealth that way, I suppose his life tohave been something less easy than our divines would have us believe."
"It is a ledger-book," said Idonia.
"Let it be what it will," said I, "it is more than I bargained for."
"Nay, but observe this superscription," she went on, eagerly, "where itcommenceth as is customary: _Laus Deo_ in London, and so following."She ran her finger along the line commenting with a facility thatastonished me. "This is the accompt of one Mendoza, as you see, awool-stapler of Antwerp, and as the Jews ever be, a punctual man of hismoney. Look you, now, how differently this other sets to work, JacobHornebolt of Amsterdam, and with what gross irregularity hetransmitteth his bills of exchange ... nay, here, I mean, upon theCreditor side," cried she, for my eyes ran hither and thither, up anddown the page, like any Jack-apparitor, in quest of her accursed DutchJacob and his pestilent bills.
"Oh, a truce to this," quoth I, "or else turn o'er to a page where aman's doings be set down in fair Queen's English, and not in suchcrabbed and alchemist terms as one must have gone to school to theBlack Witch that should understand 'em. You point me here and youpoint me there, and there's Creditor this and Debitor that, with anwhole history between them, good lack! mistress, but it makes my headreel to hear tell of."
"I had thought you understood me," said she very simply.
"Then 'tis time you understood I did not," said I, roundly, "and what'smore I think you should not neither. It is not maidenly reading;" andindeed I was staggered that so much of a man's actions should lie opento any girl's eye that had the trick of cyphers, to peruse them.
Idonia lifted her eyebrows pretty high, hearing me speak so, butpresently shut up the book, and putting it by, said a little wearily--
"I had meant to help you, Denis, but you are over-dull, I find; or ifyou be apt 'tis not in learning. Some lads there be think to get aliving other ways, though other ways I know not to be so honest, thoughhaply as easy."
'Twas on my tongue to retort upon her with a speech in the same kind,but I had to confess I could not frame one half so wittily, andtherefore said very tragical--
"I stay not where I am not welcome," and taking up my cap, bowed verylow to Idonia, who for her part, paid no heed to me, and although Ihalted once or
twice on my way to the door, stood averse from me, asbeing careless whether I stayed or went.
"I am not reckoned over-dull at sword play," I muttered, when I had gotas far as I could, without departing altogether.
"Oh, if you think to fence for a living, sir," said Idonia, over hershoulder, "I pity your father."
"He needs none of your pity, mistress," cried I.
"I know not where better to bestow it," she replied, "unless it be upona boy with twelve shillings and no wit to add to them."
Now, how one I had so handsomely benefited could yet run into thisexcess of obstinacy as she did, I stood astonished to consider, and inmy heart called her a thankless wench, and myself a preposterous ass toremain there any longer. Notwithstanding had I had the sense to readthe account between us whole, I doubt Mistress Avenon owed not a whitmore to me than I to her; although in my resentment she seemed then avery Jacob Hornebolt, and as gross a defaulter upon the balance as thatdilatory Hollander.
"Then I leave you to better companionship," said I, having run mylength, "and to such as have at the least the wit to please you, whichI have not, all done."
What she would have said to that I cannot guess, for before she couldspeak there came a thundering rattle at the door and a voice callingupon her to open in the Queen's name.
"Dear God!" whispered the girl. "'Tis the soldiers come," and stoodfacing me, distraught and quaking.
"Is it you they seek?" I asked, quick, but could not hear what sheanswered me, for the knocking drowned all.
"Up the ladder," I bade her. "Go, and draw it after. I will abide theevent."
'Twas this advice steadied her, although she refused it. Instead, sheshook off my hand that would have led her, and going to the ladder bywhich I had descended, drew it away from the trap in the wall and laidit along the floor.
"They would but use the same means to follow me," she said, and sowithout more ado went to the door and opened it. A score ofhalberdiers burst into the hall.
"What is your will, masters?" demanded Idonia; and her pride I hadbefore denounced I found commendable enough, now she directed itagainst these intruders.
One that seemed to be their Captain stepped forth, and having slightlysaluted her with a hand to his morion, turned leisurely to hisfollowing, and bade them shut the gate; which done, he posted them,some before the ways accessible to the hall, and the rest under asergeant, in the rooms above it, that he commanded them strictly toscrutinize. The soldiers had no sooner obeyed him than he drew forth apaper largely sealed, which he told us, with a great air, was HerGrace's commission and gave warrant to search this messuage of PettyWales for any such as might seem to be obnoxious to the Queen's peace,there harbouring.
The Captain was a tall, ill-favoured youth, of a behaviour quitelacking of courtesy, yet well enough matched to the task he had inhand; for he spoke in a slow and overbearing voice that betokened asmuch doubt of another's honesty, as satisfaction for the power givenhim to apprehend all that should withstand him. Idonia and I stoodsome distance apart, and after a swift glance at me, the Captainaddressed himself to the girl solely, and with so evident a mistrust ofher, as it maddened me to hear him.
"Your name, mistress?" said the Captain.
"Idonia Avenon," she replied carelessly, though I could not but grieveto note how pale she continued.
"And your father, he lives here with you?"
"He is dead," said she.
"Who inhabits here, then, besides yourself?"
"A many," replied Idonia, "though I have not their names."
The Captain turned aside to his lieutenant with some whispered word ofoffence that made the fellow smile broadly; and at that I could nofurther refrain myself.
"Stay within the limits of your commission, sir," said I hotly, "andkeep your jests for other seasons."
He troubled not so much as to turn his head my way, but took up hisexamination of Idonia again.
"Nor you know not their trades either, I suppose?" said he with a sneer.
"Saving this man's here present," replied the girl, "who keeps thebooks of accompt in a great merchant's counting-house."
You may judge whether I gasped at that, or no; and perhaps the Captainnoted my alarm, for he inquired at once who the merchant might be Iserved.
"'Tis Mr. Edward Osborne," said Idonia, "unless I mistake."
"It is," said I, and remembering Mr. Nelson's words, added boldly thathe was Governor of the Turkey Company; but inwardly I said, "Whitherdoth this lying tend?"
"And what purposeth he in this house?" demanded the soldier, somewhattaken aback by our credible answers.
"What, but to learn me in the keeping of accompts?" replied she.
"Ah, an apt scholar, I doubt not," cried the other, raising his chininsolently.
"I think I am not so backward for a maid," said Idonia modestly, andreached forth her hand to the great ledger-book I had so maligned; thewhich I now saw turned to an engine of our salvation; for opening it atthe former place she continued:
"He instructs me that herein is set down the merchant's commerce withone Mendoza, a wool-stapler of Antwerp, and a Jew, who despite thescandal of his unbelief, is, as appeareth plainly, an honest man. Ipray you, sir, follow me," said she, and directed him to the page, "tothe end you may correct me if I be in error."
I never saw a man's countenance fall so as the Captain's did then; whohaving formerly stood so stiff upon his right, was now ready tocompound upon almost any terms; only Idonia would not, but interruptedhis pish's, and his well-well's, and go-to's, with a clear expositionof the whole matter of wool, the while I, her supposed tutor, stood bywith open mouth and a heart charged with admiration of her wit.
"Enough," shouted the Captain, at last. "I came not hither for this,as you know, mistress, who are either the completest accountant or elsethe prettiest wanton this side Bridewell Dock. Halberdiers, have acare!" cried he, and so returning to them with a curse, marshalled theminto a body and would have withdrawn them forthwith, when a cry fromone of the chambers aloft suddenly sounding out, he ordered them againto stand to their arms and ran forward to the foot of the stairs. Ichanced to look at Idonia then, and blessed Heaven that her examinationwas done, and all eyes save mine averted from her, for she shook likeone in a palsy and staggered backward to the wall. I had bare leisureto follow her thither and support her, before the whole troop of thosethat had gone above returned down, bearing along with them in theirmidst a man whom they held, or rather dragged along with them, sowithout strength was he, and all aghast.
"A good capture," said the Captain in his slow, cruel voice, and badethe guard stand back from the abject fellow, but be ready to preventhis escape. "I thought not to have had so fair a fortune," said he,"although our information was exact enough that you lay here, MasterJesuit, whom I believe to be (and require you to answer to it) thatnotorious Jacques de Courcy, by some called Father Jacques, a Frenchmanand plotting Jesuit."
"I am a poor schoolmaster of Norfolk," said the man, very humbly.
"Do you deny you are this Courcy, and a devilish Papist?" asked theCaptain again.
The prisoner looked around wildly, as if he hoped even now to get free,but the ring about him was too close for that, and the pikes alllevelled at his breast. Something of the dignity which despair willthrow over a man that hath come into the extreme of peril, sustainedhim mercifully then, so that he who was before but a pitiful shrinkingcoward, became (and so remained to the end) a figure not all unmeet tothe part he played.
"Were I to recite my creed," said he very low, "you would but make mockof it; while for yourself, I see you be already minded to work yourwill upon me."
"We go no further than our Prince commands us," said the other loftily.
"And I, no further than my Prince hath enjoined long since," said theJesuit.
"Pish! words!" replied the Captain. "Do you still persist in denyingthat you are Jacques de Courcy?"
But the prisoner stood silent. Then one of the sol
diers that stoodbehind him went forward and took him something roughly by the collar,bidding him answer; but the Jesuit turning about to see who it wasdetained him thus, his coat burst open, and we saw he wore a littleleaden crucifix about his neck. A shout of laughter greeted thediscovery. "To the Tower with him, march!" cried the Captain. But erethey could seize the man he had leapt forward upon the pikes, and bymain force taking one of the pike-heads into his two hands he thrust itdeep under his shoulder.
After that I thank Heaven that I saw no more, for Idonia swooned away,and I almost, in horror of that poor hunted man's death. Thehalberdiers bore the body off with them, nor paid the least regard tous twain, but left us where we were, Idonia prone upon the cold flagsof the hall, and me above her, tending her.
Idonia: A Romance of Old London Page 14
