"Nay! you, sir, wrong an honest man," replied Bathurst. "John Stich is a steady worker. Shall I call him for you? I know my way about his cottage."
"Nay, I thank you, sir! my purpose can wait. Truth to tell," added his Honour, carelessly, ""twas not the blacksmith"s work I needed, but his help in a trifling matter of business."
"Indeed?"
"You"ll be surprised perhaps at my question, sir, but have you ever heard mention of that fellow, Beau Brocade?"
"Oh! ... vaguely..."
"A highwayman, sir, and a consummate rogue, yet your honest John Stich is said to be his friend."
"Indeed?"
"Now, an you"ll believe me, sir, I have a mind to speak with the rascal."
"Indeed? then you are bolder than most, sir," said Jack, cheerfully. He was really beginning to wonder what the Squire of Hartington was driving at.
"It seems strange, doesn"t it? but to be frank with you, I"m in two minds about that rogue."
"How so?"
"Well! I have a score to settle with him, and a business to propose; and I cannot decide which course to adopt."
"You, sir, being so clever, might perhaps manage both," said Bathurst with a touch of sarcasm.
"Hm! I wonder now," continued Sir Humphrey, not wishing to notice the slight impertinence. "I wonder now what an independent gentleman like yourself would advise me to do. I have not the honour of knowing who you are," he added with grave condescension, "but I can see that you _are_, like myself, a gentleman."
Bathurst bowed in polite acknowledgment.
"I should be proud to serve you with advice, sir, since you desire it."
"Well! as I have said, I have a score to settle with the rogue. He stole fifty guineas from me last night."
"Ah me!" sighed Jack, with a melancholy shake of the head, "then I fear me he"ll never haunt the Heath again."
"What mean you, sir?"
"Nay! I can picture the rascal now, after you, sir, had punished him for his impudence! A mangled, bleeding wreck! But there! I have no pity for him! Daring to measure his valour against your noted prowess!"
"Quite so! quite so!" quoth his Honour, whilst smothering a curse at this more obvious piece of insolence.
"But I entreat your pardon. I was interrupting the story."
"I saw the rogue, sir," said Sir Humphrey, glancing significantly at the young man, "saw him clearly by the light of my carriage lanthorns. He was masked, of course, but I"d know him anywhere, and could denounce him to-morrow."
He had risen to his feet, and with legs apart, standing face to face with Bathurst, he spoke every word as if he meant them to act as a threat.
"There are plenty of soldiers about these parts now, even if the country folk won"t touch their vaunted hero of romance. I could get him hanged, sir, within a week. A cordon of soldiers round this Heath, my word to swear his ident.i.ty, and.... But there!" he added with a jovial laugh, ""tis no concern of yours is it, sir? You were kind enough to promise me your advice. This is one of my alternatives, the score I"d wish to settle; there"s still the business I could offer the rogue."
Sir Humphrey had looked the young man squarely in the face whilst he uttered his threat, but had seen nothing there, save the merriest, the most light-hearted of smiles.
"I can scarce advise you, sir," said Bathurst, still smiling, "unless I know the business as well."
"Well, sir, you know of old Lady Rounce, do you not? the meanest, ugliest old witch in the county, eh? Well! she is on her way to London, and carries with her a ma.s.s of money, wrung from her miserable tenants."
"Faith, sir! you paint a most entrancing picture of the lady."
"Now, an that rascal Beau Brocade were willing to serve me, he could at one stroke save his own neck from the gallows, enrich himself, right the innocent and confound a wicked old woman."
"And how could this galaxy of n.o.ble deeds be accomplished at one stroke, sir?"
"Her ladyship"s coach will pa.s.s over the Heath to-night. It should be at the cross-roads soon. There will be all the old harridan"s money and jewels to be got out of it."
"Of course."
"And also a packet of love-letters, which doubtless will be hidden away in the receptacle beneath the seat."
"Letters?" queried Bathurst. "Hm! I doubt me if love-letters would tempt a gentleman of the road."
"Nay, sir," replied his Honour, now dropping his voice to a confidential whisper, "these are letters which, if published, would compromise an artless young lady, whom old Lady Rounce pursues with her hatred and spite. Now I would give a hundred guineas to any person who will bring me those letters at the Moorhen to-morrow. Surely to a gentleman of the road the game would be worth the candle. Lady Rounce carries money with her besides, and her diamonds. What think you of it, sir?"
""Tis somewhat difficult to advise," said Bathurst, meditatively.
"Ah well!" said Sir Humphrey with affected indifference, ""tis really not much to me. On the whole perhaps I would prefer to deliver the rascal into the hands of my friend Squire West at Bra.s.sington. Anyway, I have the night to think the matter over; "tis too late now to wait for that lout, John Stich. I would have preferred to have had your advice, sir. I daresay "tis difficult to give. And you a stranger too. I would have liked to save a young girl from the clutches of that old witch, Lady Rounce, and if Beau Brocade rendered me that service, I"d be tempted to hold my tongue about him.... He should have the hundred guineas to-morrow and have nought to fear from me, if he brought me those letters. If not ... well! ... well! ... we shall see.... The old gallows here have long been idle ... we shall see ... we shall see....
Good-day to you, sir ... proud to have met you.... No ... I"ll not wait for John Stich. Is this your horse? ... pretty creature! ... Good-day, sir ... good-day."
His Honour was extremely condescending and pleasant. He bowed very politely to Bathurst, patted the beautiful chestnut horse, and showed no further desire to talk with John Stich.
Bathurst, with a frown on his handsome face, watched the Squire of Hartington"s burly figure disappear round the bend in the road.
"I wonder now," he mused, "what mischief he"s brewing. He seemed to me up to no good. I suppose he guessed who I was."
While he stood there watching, John Stich quickly entered the forge from the rear.
"I was in the cottage, Captain," he said, "my mother was serving the ladies with some milk. But just now I saw Sir Humphrey Challoner walking away from the forge. I feared he might see you."
"He did see me, honest friend," said Jack, lightly. "His Honour and I have just had a long and animated conversation together."
"Great Heavens! the man is furious with you, Captain!" said the smith, with genuine anxiety in his gruff voice, "he saw you distinctly on the Heath last night. He may have recognised you to-day."
"He did recognise me."
"And may be brewing the devil"s own mischief against you."
"Oh, ho!" laughed the young man, with a careless shrug of the shoulders, "against me? ... Well! you know, honest John, I am bound to end on the gallows..."
"Sooner or later! Sooner or later!" he added merrily, noting John"s look of sorrowful alarm. "They"ve not got me yet, though there are so many soldiers about, as that piece of underdone roast-beef said just now."