"Ah! Mr. Murdock"s a character, then?"
"Ay; an" a queery one."
"In what respect? what way?"
"More"n one--a goodish many."
"Specify, Jack."
"Well; for one thing, he a"nt sober to say half o" his time."
"Addicted to dipsomania."
""Dicted to getting dead drunk. I"ve seen him so, scores o" "casions."
"That"s not wise of Mr. Murdock."
"No, captain; "ta"nt neyther wise nor well. All the worse, considerin"
the place where mostly he go to do his drinkin"."
"Where may that be?"
"The Welsh Harp--up at Rogue"s Ferry."
"Rogue"s Ferry? Strange appellation! What sort of place is it? Not very nice, I should say--if the name be at all appropriate."
"It"s parfitly "propriate, though I b"lieve it wa"nt that way bestowed.
It got so called after a man the name o" Rugg, who once keeped the Welsh Harp and the ferry too. It"s about two mile above, a little ways back.
Besides the tavern, there be a cl.u.s.ter o" houses, a bit scattered about, wi" a chapel an" a grocery shop--one as deals truckways, an" a"nt partickler as to what they take in change--stolen goods welcome as any--ay, welcomer, if they be o" worth. They got plenty o" them, too.
The place be a regular nest o" poachers, an" worse than that--a good many as have sarved their spell in the Penitentiary."
"Why, Wingate, you astonish me! I was under the impression your Wyeside was a sort of Arcadia, where one only met with innocence and primitive simplicity."
"You won"t meet much o" either at Rogue"s Ferry. If there be an uninnocent set on earth it"s they as live there. Them Forest chaps we came "cross a"nt no ways their match in wickedness. Just possible drink made them behave as they did--some o" "em. But drink or no drink it be all the same wi" the Ferry people--maybe worse when they"re sober. Any ways they"re a rough lot."
"With a place of worship in their midst! That ought to do something towards refining them."
"Ought; and would, I daresay, if "twar the right sort--which it a"nt.
Instead, o" a kind as only the more corrupts "em--being Roman."
"Oh! A Roman Catholic chapel. But how does it corrupt them?"
"By makin" "em believe they can get cleared of their sins, hows"ever black they be. Men as think that way a"nt like to stick at any sort of crime--"specially if it brings "em the money to buy what they calls absolution."
"Well, Jack, it"s very evident you"re no friend, or follower, of the Pope."
"Neyther o" Pope nor priest. Ah! captain; if you seed him o" the Rogue"s Ferry Chapel, you wouldn"t wonder at my havin" a dislike for the whole kit o" them."
"What is there "specially repulsive about him?"
"Don"t know as there be anythin" very special, in partickler. Them priests all look "bout the same--such o" "em as I"ve ever set eyes on.
And that"s like stoats and weasels, shootin" out o" one hole into another. As for him we"re speakin" about, he"s here, there, an"
everywhere; sneakin" along the roads an" paths, hidin" behind bushes like a cat after birds, an" poppin" out where n.o.body expects him. If ever there war a spy meaner than another it"s the priest of Rogue"s Ferry."
"No," he adds, correcting himself. "There be one other in these parts worse that he--if that"s possible. A different sort o" man, true; and yet they be a good deal thegither."
"Who is this other?"
"d.i.c.k Dempsey--better known by the name of Coracle d.i.c.k."
"Ah, Coracle d.i.c.k! He appears to occupy a conspicuous place in your thoughts, Jack; and rather a low one in your estimation. Why, may I ask?
What sort of fellow is he?"
"The biggest blaggard as lives on the Wye, from where it springs out o"
Plinlimmon to its emptying into the Bristol Channel. Talk o" poachers an" night netters. He goes out by night to catch somethin" beside salmon. "Taint all fish as comes into his net, I know."
The young waterman speaks in such hostile tone both about priest and poacher, that Ryecroft suspects a motive beyond the ordinary prejudice against men who wear the sacerdotal garb, or go trespa.s.sing after game.
Not caring to inquire into it now, he returns to the original topic, saying,--
"We"ve strayed from our subject, Jack--which was the hard-drinking owner of yonder house."
"Not so far, captain; seein" as he be the most intimate friend the priest have in these parts; though if what"s said be true, not nigh so much as his Missus."
"Murdock is married, then?"
"I won"t say that--leastwise I shouldn"t like to swear it. All I know is, a woman lives wi" him, s"posed to be his wife. Odd thing she."
"Why odd?"
""Cause she beant like any other o" womankind "bout here."
"Explain yourself, Jack. In what does Mrs. Murdock differ from the rest of your Herefordshire fair?"
"One way, captain, in her not bein" fair at all. "Stead, she be dark complected; most as much as one o" them women I"ve seed "bout Cheltenham, nursin" the children o" old officers as brought "em from India--_ayers_ they call "em. She a"nt one o" "em, but French, I"ve heerd say; which in part, I suppose explains the thickness "tween her an" the priest--he bein" the same."
"Oh! His reverence is a Frenchman, is he?"
"All o" that, captain. If he wor English, he woudn"t--coudn"t--be the contemptible sneakin" hound he is. As for Mrs. Murdock, I can"t say I"ve seed her more"n twice in my life. She keeps close to the house; goes nowhere! an" it"s said n.o.body visits her nor him--leastwise none o" the old gentry. For all Mr. Murdock belongs to the best of them."
"He"s a gentleman, is he?"
"Ought to be--if he took after his father."
"Why so?"
"Because he wor a squire--regular of the old sort. He"s not been so long dead. I can remember him myself, though I hadn"t been here such a many years--the old lady too--this Murdock"s mother. Ah! now I think on"t, she wor t"other squire"s sister--father to the tallest o" them two young ladies--the one with the reddish hair."
"What! Miss Wynn?"