"But you have not told me what brought you into the broil," asked his Lordship, as we walked toward the inn.
"Sir Malcolm and I were walking out to see the town and--"
"To see the town? By gad, that"s good, Cousin Madge. How much of it did you see? You are as blind as an owl at noon," answered his Lordship.
"Alas! I am blind," returned Madge, clinging closely to me, and shrinking from her cousin"s terrible jest. I could not think of anything sufficiently holy and sacred upon which to vow my vengeance against this fellow, if the time should ever come when I dared take it.
"Are you alone with this--this gentleman?" asked his Lordship, grasping Madge by the arm.
"No," returned Madge, "Dorothy is with us."
"She is among the shops," I volunteered reluctantly.
"Dorothy? Dorothy Vernon? By gad, Tod, we are in luck. I must see the wench I am to marry," said his Lordship, speaking to his companion, the stable boy. "So Dorothy is with you, is she, cousin? I haven"t seen her for years. They say she is a handsome filly now. By gad, she had room to improve, for she was plain enough, to frighten rats away from a barn when I last saw her. We will go to the inn and see for ourselves, won"t we, Tod? Dad"s word won"t satisfy us when it comes to the matter of marrying, will it, Tod?"
Tod was the drunken stable boy who had a.s.sisted his Lordship and me in our battle with the Brownists.
I was at a loss what course to pursue. I was forced to submit to this fellow"s company, and to endure patiently his insolence. But John and Dorothy would soon return, and there is no need that I should explain the dangers of the predicament which would then ensue.
When we were within a few yards of the inn door I looked backward and saw Dorothy and John approaching us. I held up my hand warningly. John caught my meaning, and instantly leaving Dorothy"s side, entered an adjacent shop. My movement had attracted Stanley"s attention, and he turned in the direction I had been looking. When he saw Dorothy, he turned again to me and asked:--
"Is that Dorothy Vernon?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Look at her, Tod!" exclaimed my lord, "look at her, Tod! The dad was right about her, after all. I thought the old man was hoaxing me when he told me that she was beautiful. Holy Virgin, Tod, did you ever see anything so handsome? I will take her quick enough; I will take her. Dad won"t need to tease me. I"m willing."
Dorothy approached to within a few yards of us, and my Lord Stanley stepped forward to meet her.
"Ye don"t know me, do ye?" said Stanley.
Dorothy was frightened and quickly stepped to my side.
"I--I believe not," responded Dorothy.
"Lord James Stanley," murmured Madge, who knew of the approaching Stanley marriage.
"Madge is right," returned. Stanley, grinning foolishly. "I am your cousin James, but not so much of a cousin that I cannot be more than cousin, heh?" He laughed boisterously, and winking at Tod, thrust his thumb into that worthy"s ribs. "Say, Tod, something more than cousin; that"s the thing, isn"t it, Tod?"
John was standing half-concealed at the door of the shop in which he had sought refuge. Dorothy well knew the peril of the situation, and when I frowned at her warningly, she caught the hint that she should not resent Stanley"s words, however insulting and irritating they might become.
"Let us go to the inn," said Dorothy.
"That"s the thing to do. Let us go to the inn and have dinner," said Stanley. "It"s two hours past dinner time now, and I"m almost famished.
We"ll have a famous dinner. Come, cousin," said he, addressing Dorothy.
"We"ll have kidneys and tripe and--"
"We do not want dinner," said Dorothy. "We must return home at once. Sir Malcolm, will you order Dawson to bring out the coach?"
We went to the inn parlor, and I, loath to do so, left the ladies with Stanley and his horse-boy friend while I sought Dawson for the purpose of telling him to fetch the coach with all haste.
"We have not dined," said the forester.
"We shall not dine," I answered. "Fetch the coach with all the haste you can make." The bystanders in the tap-room were listening, and I continued, "A storm is brewing, and we must hasten home."
True enough, a storm was brewing.
When I left Dawson, I hurriedly found John and told him we were preparing to leave the inn, and that we would expect him to overtake us on the road to Rowsley.
I returned to the ladies in the parlor and found them standing near the window. Stanley had tried to kiss Dorothy, and she had slapped his face.
Fortunately he had taken the blow good-humoredly, and was pouring into her unwilling ear a fusillade of boorish compliments when. I entered the parlor.
I said, "The coach is ready."
The ladies moved toward the door. "I am going to ride with you, my beauty," said his Lordship.
"That you shall not do," retorted Dorothy, with blazing eyes.
"That I will do," he answered. "The roads are free to all, and you cannot keep me from following you."
Dorothy was aware of her predicament, and I too saw it, but could find no way out of it. I was troubled a moment; but my fear was needless, for Dorothy was equal to the occasion.
"We should like your company, Cousin Stanley," replied Dorothy, without a trace of anger in her manner, "but we cannot let you ride with us in the face of the storm that is brewing."
"We won"t mind the storm, will we, Tod? We are going with our cousin."
"If you insist upon being so kind to us," said Dorothy, "you may come. But I have changed my mind about dinner. I am very hungry, and we accept your invitation."
"Now you are coming around nicely," said Lord James, joyfully. "We like that, don"t we, Tod?"
Tod had been silent under all circ.u.mstances.
Dorothy continued: "Madge and I will drive in the coach to one or two of the shops, and we shall return in one hour. Meantime, Cousin Stanley, we wish you to have a fine dinner prepared for us, and we promise to do ample justice to the fare."
"She"ll never come back," said silent Tod, without moving a muscle.
"How about it, cousin?" asked Stanley. "Tod says you"ll never come back; he means that you are trying to give us the slip."
"Never fear, Cousin Stanley," she returned, "I am too eager for dinner not to come back. If you fail to have a well-loaded table for me, I shall never speak to you again."
We then went to the coach, and as the ladies entered it Dorothy said aloud to Dawson:--
"Drive to Conn"s shop."
I heard Tod say to his worthy master:--
"She"s a slippin" ye."
"You"re a fool, Tod. Don"t you see she wants me more than she wants the dinner, and she"s hungry, too."