You are a gentleman of birth and breeding--your bearing makes it good; of civil habits and fair reputation--your manners declare it, and my uncle avouches it; and yet you a.s.sociate yourself with a sort of scant-of-grace, as men call me, and, knowing me to be such, you make yourself my companion in a visit to a man whom you are a stranger to--and all out of mere curiosity, forsooth! The excuse, if curiously balanced, would be found to want some scruples of just weight, or so."
"If your suspicions were just," said Tressilian, "you have shown no confidence in me to invite or deserve mine."
"Oh, if that be all," said Lambourne, "my motives lie above water. While this gold of mine lasts"--taking out his purse, chucking it into the air, and catching it as it fell--"I will make it buy pleasure; and when it is out I must have more. Now, if this mysterious Lady of the Manor--this fair Lindabrides of Tony Fire-the-f.a.got--be so admirable a piece as men say, why, there is a chance that she may aid me to melt my n.o.bles into greats; and, again, if Anthony be so wealthy a chuff as report speaks him, he may prove the philosopher"s stone to me, and convert my greats into fair rose-n.o.bles again."
"A comfortable proposal truly," said Tressilian; "but I see not what chance there is of accomplishing it."
"Not to-day, or perchance to-morrow," answered Lambourne; "I expect not to catch the old jack till. I have disposed my ground-baits handsomely.
But I know something more of his affairs this morning than I did last night, and I will so use my knowledge that he shall think it more perfect than it is. Nay, without expecting either pleasure or profit, or both, I had not stepped a stride within this manor, I can tell you; for I promise you I hold our visit not altogether without risk.--But here we are, and we must make the best on"t."
While he thus spoke, they had entered a large orchard which surrounded the house on two sides, though the trees, abandoned by the care of man, were overgrown and messy, and seemed to bear little fruit. Those which had been formerly trained as espaliers had now resumed their natural mode of growing, and exhibited grotesque forms, partaking of the original training which they had received. The greater part of the ground, which had once been parterres and flower-gardens, was suffered in like manner to run to waste, excepting a few patches which had been dug up and planted with ordinary pot herbs. Some statues, which had ornamented the garden in its days of splendour, were now thrown down from their pedestals and broken in pieces; and a large summer-house, having a heavy stone front, decorated with carving representing the life and actions of Samson, was in the same dilapidated condition.
They had just traversed this garden of the sluggard, and were within a few steps of the door of the mansion, when Lambourne had ceased speaking; a circ.u.mstance very agreeable to Tressilian, as it saved him the embarra.s.sment of either commenting upon or replying to the frank avowal which his companion had just made of the sentiments and views which induced him to come hither. Lambourne knocked roundly and boldly at the huge door of the mansion, observing, at the same time, he had seen a less strong one upon a county jail. It was not until they had knocked more than once that an aged, sour-visaged domestic reconnoitred them through a small square hole in the door, well secured with bars of iron, and demanded what they wanted.
"To speak with Master Foster instantly, on pressing business of the state," was the ready reply of Michael Lambourne.
"Methinks you will find difficulty to make that good," said Tressilian in a whisper to his companion, while the servant went to carry the message to his master.
"Tush," replied the adventurer; "no soldier would go on were he always to consider when and how he should come off. Let us once obtain entrance, and all will go well enough."
In a short time the servant returned, and drawing with a careful hand both bolt and bar, opened the gate, which admitted them through an archway into a square court, surrounded by buildings. Opposite to the arch was another door, which the serving-man in like manner unlocked, and thus introduced them into a stone-paved parlour, where there was but little furniture, and that of the rudest and most ancient fashion. The windows were tall and ample, reaching almost to the roof of the room, which was composed of black oak; those opening to the quadrangle were obscured by the height of the surrounding buildings, and, as they were traversed with ma.s.sive shafts of solid stone-work, and thickly painted with religious devices, and scenes taken from Scripture history, by no means admitted light in proportion to their size, and what did penetrate through them partook of the dark and gloomy tinge of the stained gla.s.s.
Tressilian and his guide had time enough to observe all these particulars, for they waited some s.p.a.ce in the apartment ere the present master of the mansion at length made his appearance. Prepared as he was to see an inauspicious and ill-looking person, the ugliness of Anthony Foster considerably exceeded what Tressilian had antic.i.p.ated. He was of middle stature, built strongly, but so clumsily as to border on deformity, and to give all his motions the ungainly awkwardness of a left-legged and left-handed man. His hair, in arranging which men at that time, as at present, were very nice and curious, instead of being carefully cleaned and disposed into short curls, or else set up on end, as is represented in old paintings, in a manner resembling that used by fine gentlemen of our own day, escaped in sable negligence from under a furred bonnet, and hung in elf-locks, which seemed strangers to the comb, over his rugged brows, and around his very singular and unprepossessing countenance. His keen, dark eyes were deep set beneath broad and s.h.a.ggy eyebrows, and as they were usually bent on the ground, seemed as if they were themselves ashamed of the expression natural to them, and were desirous to conceal it from the observation of men.
At times, however, when, more intent on observing others, he suddenly raised them, and fixed them keenly on those with whom he conversed, they seemed to express both the fiercer pa.s.sions, and the power of mind which could at will suppress or disguise the intensity of inward feeling.
The features which corresponded with these eyes and this form were irregular, and marked so as to be indelibly fixed on the mind of him who had once seen them. Upon the whole, as Tressilian could not help acknowledging to himself, the Anthony Foster who now stood before them was the last person, judging from personal appearance, upon whom one would have chosen to intrude an unexpected and undesired visit. His attire was a doublet of russet leather, like those worn by the better sort of country folk, girt with a buff belt, in which was stuck on the right side a long knife, or dudgeon dagger, and on the other a cutla.s.s. He raised his eyes as he entered the room, and fixed a keenly penetrating glance upon his two visitors; then cast them down as if counting his steps, while he advanced slowly into the middle of the room, and said, in a low and smothered tone of voice, "Let me pray you, gentlemen, to tell me the cause of this visit."
He looked as if he expected the answer from Tressilian, so true was Lambourne"s observation that the superior air of breeding and dignity shone through the disguise of an inferior dress. But it was Michael who replied to him, with the easy familiarity of an old friend, and a tone which seemed unembarra.s.sed by any doubt of the most cordial reception.
"Ha! my dear friend and ingle, Tony Foster!" he exclaimed, seizing upon the unwilling hand, and shaking it with such emphasis as almost to stagger the st.u.r.dy frame of the person whom he addressed, "how fares it with you for many a long year? What! have you altogether forgotten your friend, gossip, and playfellow, Michael Lambourne?"
"Michael Lambourne!" said Foster, looking at him a moment; then dropping his eyes, and with little ceremony extricating his hand from the friendly grasp of the person by whom he was addressed, "are you Michael Lambourne?"
"Ay; sure as you are Anthony Foster," replied Lambourne.
""Tis well," answered his sullen host. "And what may Michael Lambourne expect from his visit hither?"
"VOTO A DIOS," answered Lambourne, "I expected a better welcome than I am like to meet, I think."
"Why, thou gallows-bird--thou jail-rat--thou friend of the hangman and his customers!" replied Foster, "hast thou the a.s.surance to expect countenance from any one whose neck is beyond the compa.s.s of a Tyburn tippet?"
"It may be with me as you say," replied Lambourne; "and suppose I grant it to be so for argument"s sake, I were still good enough society for mine ancient friend Anthony Fire-the-f.a.got, though he be, for the present, by some indescribable t.i.tle, the master of c.u.mnor Place."
"Hark you, Michael Lambourne," said Foster; "you are a gambler now, and live by the counting of chances--compute me the odds that I do not, on this instant, throw you out of that window into the ditch there."
"Twenty to one that you do not," answered the st.u.r.dy visitor.
"And wherefore, I pray you?" demanded Anthony Foster, setting his teeth and compressing his lips, like one who endeavours to suppress some violent internal emotion.
"Because," said Lambourne coolly, "you dare not for your life lay a finger on me. I am younger and stronger than you, and have in me a double portion of the fighting devil, though not, it may be, quite so much of the undermining fiend, that finds an underground way to his purpose--who hides halters under folk"s pillows, and who puts rats-bane into their porridge, as the stage-play says."
Foster looked at him earnestly, then turned away, and paced the room twice with the same steady and considerate pace with which he had entered it; then suddenly came back, and extended his hand to Michael Lambourne, saying, "Be not wroth with me, good Mike; I did but try whether thou hadst parted with aught of thine old and honourable frankness, which your enviers and backbiters called saucy impudence."
"Let them call it what they will," said Michael Lambourne, "it is the commodity we must carry through the world with us.--Uds daggers! I tell thee, man, mine own stock of a.s.surance was too small to trade upon. I was fain to take in a ton or two more of bra.s.s at every port where I touched in the voyage of life; and I started overboard what modesty and scruples I had remaining, in order to make room for the stowage."
"Nay, nay," replied Foster, "touching scruples and modesty, you sailed hence in ballast. But who is this gallant, honest Mike?--is he a Corinthian--a cutter like thyself?"
"I prithee, know Master Tressilian, bully Foster," replied Lambourne, presenting his friend in answer to his friend"s question, "know him and honour him, for he is a gentleman of many admirable qualities; and though he traffics not in my line of business, at least so far as I know, he has, nevertheless, a just respect and admiration for artists of our cla.s.s. He will come to in time, as seldom fails; but as yet he is only a neophyte, only a proselyte, and frequents the company of c.o.c.ks of the game, as a puny fencer does the schools of the masters, to see how a foil is handled by the teachers of defence."
"If such be his quality, I will pray your company in another chamber, honest Mike, for what I have to say to thee is for thy private ear.--Meanwhile, I pray you, sir, to abide us in this apartment, and without leaving it; there be those in this house who would be alarmed by the sight of a stranger."
Tressilian acquiesced, and the two worthies left the apartment together, in which he remained alone to await their return. [See Note 1. Foster, Lambourne, and the Black Bear.]
CHAPTER IV.
Not serve two masters?--Here"s a youth will try it-- Would fain serve G.o.d, yet give the devil his due; Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy, And returns his thanks devoutly when "tis acted,--OLD PLAY.
The room into which the Master of c.u.mnor Place conducted his worthy visitant was of greater extent than that in which they had at first conversed, and had yet more the appearance of dilapidation. Large oaken presses, filled with shelves of the same wood, surrounded the room, and had, at one time, served for the arrangement of a numerous collection of books, many of which yet remained, but torn and defaced, covered with dust, deprived of their costly clasps and bindings, and tossed together in heaps upon the shelves, as things altogether disregarded, and abandoned to the pleasure of every spoiler. The very presses themselves seemed to have incurred the hostility of those enemies of learning who had destroyed the volumes with which they had been heretofore filled.
They were, in several places, dismantled of their shelves, and otherwise broken and damaged, and were, moreover, mantled with cobwebs and covered with dust.
"The men who wrote these books," said Lambourne, looking round him, "little thought whose keeping they were to fall into."
"Nor what yeoman"s service they were to do me," quoth Anthony Foster; "the cook hath used them for scouring his pewter, and the groom hath had nought else to clean my boots with, this many a month past."
"And yet," said Lambourne, "I have been in cities where such learned commodities would have been deemed too good for such offices."
"Pshaw, pshaw," answered Foster, ""they are Popish trash, every one of them--private studies of the mumping old Abbot of Abingdon. The nineteenthly of a pure gospel sermon were worth a cartload of such rakings of the kennel of Rome."
"Gad-a-mercy, Master Tony Fire-the-f.a.got!" said Lambourne, by way of reply.
Foster scowled darkly at him, as he replied, "Hark ye, friend Mike; forget that name, and the pa.s.sage which it relates to, if you would not have our newly-revived comradeship die a sudden and a violent death."
"Why," said Michael Lambourne, "you were wont to glory in the share you had in the death of the two old heretical bishops."
"That," said his comrade, "was while I was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and applies not to my walk or my ways now that I am called forth into the lists. Mr. Melchisedek Maultext compared my misfortune in that matter to that of the Apostle Paul, who kept the clothes of the witnesses who stoned Saint Stephen. He held forth on the matter three Sabbaths past, and ill.u.s.trated the same by the conduct of an honourable person present, meaning me."
"I prithee peace, Foster," said Lambourne, "for I know not how it is, I have a sort of creeping comes over my skin when I hear the devil quote Scripture; and besides, man, how couldst thou have the heart to quit that convenient old religion, which you could slip off or on as easily as your glove? Do I not remember how you were wont to carry your conscience to confession, as duly as the month came round? and when thou hadst it scoured, and burnished, and whitewashed by the priest, thou wert ever ready for the worst villainy which could be devised, like a child who is always readiest to rush into the mire when he has got his Sunday"s clean jerkin on."
"Trouble not thyself about my conscience," said Foster; "it is a thing thou canst not understand, having never had one of thine own. But let us rather to the point, and say to me, in one word, what is thy business with me, and what hopes have drawn thee hither?"
"The hope of bettering myself, to be sure," answered Lambourne, "as the old woman said when she leapt over the bridge at Kingston. Look you, this purse has all that is left of as round a sum as a man would wish to carry in his slop-pouch. You are here well established, it would seem, and, as I think, well befriended, for men talk of thy being under some special protection--nay, stare not like a pig that is stuck, mon; thou canst not dance in a net and they not see thee. Now I know such protection is not purchased for nought; you must have services to render for it, and in these I propose to help thee."
"But how if I lack no a.s.sistance from thee, Mike? I think thy modesty might suppose that were a case possible."
"That is to say," retorted Lambourne, "that you would engross the whole work, rather than divide the reward. But be not over-greedy, Anthony--covetousness bursts the sack and spills the grain. Look you, when the huntsman goes to kill a stag, he takes with him more dogs than one. He has the stanch lyme-hound to track the wounded buck over hill and dale, but he hath also the fleet gaze-hound to kill him at view.