Springall raised his eyes, almost for the first time, from the ground, and started at seeing his friends standing on a level with the Protector. Robin"s cheek was blanched, and his ken wandered over the blazing gulf which had swallowed up the dwelling of his early years.
Springall, with the quickness of feeling that pa.s.ses from kind heart to kind heart, without the aid of words, sprang towards him, and catching his arm, exclaimed,
"Your mother"s body! it is safe, safe, Robin, under the dark tree, by the cairn stones. Surely I would not let it be so destroyed."
Cromwell"s veneration for his own mother was one of the most beautiful traits in his character; from that instant the Protector of England took the boy Springall unto his heart: there was something in common between them--out of such slight events are destinies moulded.
"Your Highness," said Walter, whom we must now distinguish as WALTER CECIL, "will pardon one who is indebted to you, not only for a restored fortune, but for his hopes of happiness. Your Highness will, I trust, pardon me for so soon becoming a suitor:--that boy----"
"Shall be cared for--it pleased the Almighty that Major Wellmore encountered more than one brave heart and trusty hand in this same Isle of Shepey. After a time we trust to show you and your cousin-bride, when she visits her G.o.d-mother, how highly we esteem your friendship; and we trust, moreover, that the awful lesson of retributive justice, it has graciously pleased the Lord to write in palpable letters of fire, will be remembered by all those who hear of Hugh Dalton and the Fire-fly.
Great as is the power given into our keeping, we would not have dared to execute such awful judgment as that which has fallen upon the man of many sins. And behold, also, by the hands of the unG.o.dly righteous punishment has been dealt unto the sticks and stones that have long given to rapine most unworthy shelter. The wheat, too, mark ye, young sir!--the wheat has been divided--glory be to G.o.d! for it is his doing.
The wheat has been divided from the tares--and from amid the lawless and the guilty have come forth some who may yet take seats among the faithful in Israel."
CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
Twelve years--twelve eventful years--had pa.s.sed, and, ere our work is done, we must entreat our readers to visit with us, once again, the old Isle of Shepey. The thoughtless, good-tempered, dissipated, extravagant, ungrateful, unprincipled Charles, had been called by the sedate, thinking, and moral people of England to reign over them. But with English whim, or English wisdom, we have at present nought to do; we leave abler and stronger heads to determine, when reviewing the page of history, whether we are or are not a most change-loving people--lovers of change for the sake of change.
Our business is with an aged man, seated, on a pleasant evening of the year 1668, under a n.o.ble oak, whose spreading branches shadowed a brook that babbled at his feet.
The beams of the setting sun were deepening the yellow tints of yet early autumn, and many of the trees looked as if steeped in liquid gold.
In the distance, the ocean, quiet, calm, unruffled, was sleeping beneath the sober sky, and not a breeze wafted its murmurs to the little streamlet by the side of which that old man sat. He was but one of a group; four healthy and handsome children crowded around him, watching, with all the intense hope and anxiety of that happy age, the progress of his work. He was occupied, as grandfathers often are, in constructing a toy for his grandchildren. The prettiest of the party was a dark-eyed rosy girl of about four, perhaps five--for her countenance had more intelligence than generally belongs to either age, while her figure was slight and small, small enough for a child not numbering more than three years: she, too, was employed--st.i.tching, with a long awkward needle, something which looked very like the sail of a baby-boat. A boy, somewhat older than herself, was twisting tow into cordage, while the eldest, the man of the family, issued his directions, or rather his commands, to both, in the customary style of lads when overlooking their juniors. The next to him was probably grandpapa"s especial pet, for he knelt at the old man"s knee, watching patiently, and taking good note, how he secured the princ.i.p.al mast steadily in the centre of the mimic vessel, it had been his kind task to frame for the youngsters"
amus.e.m.e.nt.
It must not be forgotten that a very pretty spaniel crouched at the little maid"s feet, and ever and anon lifted its mild gentle eyes to the countenance of its mistress.
"Con," said the eldest boy, "you are making those st.i.tches as long as your own little fingers; and you must remember, that if the work is not done neatly, the wind may get into the turnings and throw the ship on her beam-ends."
"Grandfather!" exclaimed the child, holding up her work with an imploring look, "be those st.i.tches too long? If you say so, grandfather, I will take them all out, because you know."
"They will do very nicely indeed, Conny," replied the old man, with an approving smile; "and as for you, Master Walter, I wish that your work was always done as well as your sister"s. Bless her! how like her mother she is!"
"I wish I was like my mother too," said Walter, "for then you would love me."
"Boys and girl, I love you all, and thank G.o.d that, in these bad times, you are as good as you are! But, Watty, you must never think of the sea; you were not intended for a sailor, or you would not talk of wind getting into the st.i.tchings of a topsail, and throwing the ship on her beam-ends--ha, ha!"
The proud boy turned blushingly away, and began playing with, or rather teazing, a very old nondescript dog, who was lying comfortably coiled up on the youngest lad"s pinafore, under shelter of the grey stone which the grandfather used as his seat.
"Wat will be a soldier," said the second boy, whose name was Hugh; "his G.o.dpapa, Sir Walter, says he shall. But you will teach me to be a sailor before you die, and then I may live to be as great as the great man you and father talk about, the brave Blake. Oh! how proud I should be if you could live to see that day," he continued, his bright eyes dancing at the antic.i.p.ation of future glory. "And you may, dear grandfather, for mother says that Crisp is older now for a dog than you are for a man.
Watty, you had better not teaze Crisp, for he has three teeth left."
"Three!" interrupted little Con, whose fine name of Constantia had been diminished to the familiar appellation--"three! he has four and a half and a little piece, for I opened his mout and counted them myself."
"When do you mean to speak plain, and be a lady, Miss Con?"
The child looked into her brother"s face, and laughed a gleesome laugh, one of those burstings of a joyous heart that come, we know not how, but never come after the dancing pulse of youth changes into a measured time, when we look upon the dial"s hand, and note that hours are pa.s.sing.
"Grandfather," said Hugh, when the mast was fairly established, and the rigging properly arranged, "may I call my vessel the "Firefly?""
From whence came the rich warm blood that in a moment suffused the old man"s cheek, as his unconscious grandchild p.r.o.nounced the name of his darling, his long-lost, but not forgotten ship? He grasped the boy"s arm with the energy of former times, and shook him as he never thought to have shaken the child of his own Barbara.
"Where heard you those words--where, I say?" he demanded of his namesake, while the boy cowered, and the other children stood aghast.
"I heard that wild old man who died in our barn last week, although mother made him so comfortable, and you and father were so kind to him, say that was the name of a ship you once had," sobbed little Hugh: "and I only thought I should like to call mine after it."
"And was that indeed all?" inquired the aged Buccaneer, relaxing his grasp, but still looking into the boy"s ingenuous countenance, as if he expected some evil tidings.
"It was all that I understood," replied the child, now weeping from pain and terror, "except that I remember he asked to be buried at East-Church, because that was nearer what he called the Gull"s Nest Crag than the old church of Minster."
"Poor Jack!--poor Jack Roupall!" exclaimed Dalton, forgetting his momentary displeasure, and musing aloud upon the end of his ever reckless follower--"Poor Jack! The nut _had_ been good, fresh, sweet, wholesome, though the rind was rough and bitter; it was the canker that destroyed it: and I should have been as bad--as blighted--lost--but for my own sweet child." And then Hugh Dalton"s eye fell upon the pouting boy, whose arm he had, in the anguish of his remembrance, pressed too roughly, and he caught him to his bosom, and blessed him with all his heart and soul.
Little Con crept round, and, seeing where her brother"s arm was still red, held it to her grandfather"s lip, saying,
"Kiss, kiss it, and make it well."
The old man did as that child in her simplicity directed; and, when she again looked upon it, there was more than one tear glistening on the fair firm flesh.
"Let us call her "King Charles,"" exclaimed the eldest boy, as the gallant little vessel moved down the stream; while the children, who not ten minutes before were trembling with alarm at their grandfather"s displeasure, now, with the happy versatility of youthful spirits, shouted gaily at the ship"s progress over the unrippled waters.
"You will call it by no such name," said Dalton gravely. "Yonder comes your mother, and she or your father can best christen your little ship."
The old man, who had launched their fairy boat, turned towards where once Cecil Place had stood. From some peculiar feeling in the bosoms of Sir Walter and Lady Cecil, for which it would not be difficult to account, only a portion of the old structure remained--sufficient, and just sufficient, to lodge Robin, and Robin"s wife, and Robin"s father-in-law, and Robin"s children. The fine old gateway was fast crumbling to decay, and, indeed, it was well known that a kindly sentiment towards the Buccaneer decided Sir Walter on keeping even so much of the place standing, as the old man"s only wish now was to die in the Isle of Shepey; and it will be readily believed that Hugh Dalton"s wishes were laws to the family of Cecil. The trees had in many places been levelled, and the only spot which remained perfectly untouched in the gardens was one called "The Fairy Ring." The neighbouring peasantry believed that it was hallowed by some remembrance of which both Lady Cecil and Barbara partook; for the latter tended every herb and flower therein with more than common care--with perfect devotion. Did we say there was but one spot cherished? faithless historians that we are!
there was another--a rustic temple; and, about ten years before the period of which we now treat, something resembling an altar had been erected therein, with a quaint device carved in white stone, a braid of hair encircling two hearts, and a rhyme, or, as it was then called, a posy, the words of which are not recorded, but were said to have been written by Lucy Hutchinson, as a compliment to her friend Constantia Cecil.
The old man, as we have said, turned towards Cecil Place, which then presented only the appearance of a small and picturesque dwelling.
Issuing thence were two persons whom we may at once introduce as the manikin, Robin Hays, and the little Puritan, Barbara Iverk, of our story. Manikin, indeed! He of the gay pink doublet, silken hose, and plume hat, would little thank us for the term! He was rather over than under-dressed, more fine than might be expected in a country gentleman in so lonely an island; but it was evident he loved finery, and loved to deck his own person: his long black hair curled naturally and gracefully over his shoulders; his eyes had more to do, during latter years, with love and home, than with hate and adventure; consequently they sparkled with pure and kindly feeling; and if sometimes sarcasm lighted its beacon within their lids, it was quickly extinguished by the devoted affection and grat.i.tude of his right excellent heart. His figure appeared much less disproportioned than when first we saw him taunted into fury in his mother"s hostelry by poor Jack Roupall"s ill-timed jests on his deformity: he was much stouter; and the full cavalier dress was better calculated to hide any defects of person, than the tight fitting vests of the bygone Roundheads, who looked to every inch of cloth with a carefulness altogether scouted by their more heedless successors. He had a free and open air, and a smile of dazzling brightness. What can we say of Barbara? Female beauty is seldom stationary; there is no use in disguising the fact, that after twenty--dear, sweet, fascinating twenty! the freshness of the rose is gone. We have said freshness--_not_ fragrance. Fragrance to the rose, is what the soul is to the body--an imperishable essence, that lasts after the petals have meekly dropped, one by one, upon their mother-earth. A blessing upon the fragrance of sweet flowers! and a thousand blessings upon the power that gifted their leaves with such a dowry! Oh, it partakes of heaven to walk into the pastures and inhale the goodness of the Lord, from the myriad field-flowers that gem the earth with beauty!
And then in sickness! What, what is so refreshing as the perfume of sweet plants? We speak not of the glazed and costly things that come from foreign lands, but of the English nosegay--(how we love the homely word!)--the sweet briar, lavender, cowslip, violet, lily of the valley, or a sprig of meadow sweet, a branch of myrtle, a tuft of primroses, or handful of wild thyme! Such near the couch of sickness are worth a host of powdered doctors! Again we say, a blessing on sweet flowers! And now for one who loved them well, and learnt much wisdom "from every leaf that clothed her native hills." Barbara was no longer the slight, delicate girl, tripping with an orderly but light step to do the behests of those she loved; but a sober, diligent, affectionate matron, zealous in the discharge of her duty, patient in supporting pain, whether of mind or body; a sincere Christian, a kind mistress, a gentle daughter, a wise mother, but, above all, a devoted, trusting wife, still looking upon Robin--her Robin, as the English Solomon,--a system we advise all wives to follow--when they can. The manner in which this truly pious woman yielded to all her husband"s whims was almost marvellous--one of the miracles of that miracle-worker--LOVE! With the simple, yet discriminating tact, of itself a gift from nature, which no earthly power can either bestow or teach, she understood the wishes of Robin almost before he was himself acquainted with his own thoughts. And had she been on her death-bed, that excellent creature could have declared before Him, to whom all things are known, that "G.o.d and her husband" had been her true heart"s motto.
Even Robin"s weaknesses were hallowed, if not cherished things--she innocently catered to his personal vanity, for she really loved to see him well appointed; and she avoided every thing bordering on gaiety of dress, manner, or society, because she felt that jealousy was one of his infirmities; thus by never arousing his evil pa.s.sions, their very existence was forgotten, and the violent, capricious Ranger would have been hardly recognized (except by his very intimates), as the self-satisfied, and somewhat important manager of Sir Walter Cecil"s estates.
As Robin and Barbara drew near their father and the children, they perceived a Cavalier well mounted, and attended by two serving men, also on horseback, winding along the hill path, or road, as it was called; and the younger dog--by the way a daughter of our old acquaintance Blanche--gave notice to the little mariners of the approach, by bristling her silken hair and rounding her flapping ears, while she barked long and loudly at the unusual arrival.
The Buccaneer shaded his eyes with his hand and looked out. Robin jerked his hat a little more on one side, while Barbara drew the Flanders lace of her silken hood more closely round her face.
"It is a Court Cavalier," exclaimed _Master Hays_, as he was respectfully termed by his a.s.sociates, "with two attendants and a dog; beshrew me! but a n.o.ble dog from foreign parts; some friend of our kind master is that gentleman. One would think he was reconnoitring, so earnestly does he look out from place to place. Father," he continued, drawing towards Dalton, "do you note how he peers out yonder, towards where once--you understand me----"
"I do," replied the old man, "I do note it; and I note also that yon same Cavalier is no other than one we both knew well. There! he sees us--his hat is off--he hails us right joyfully. Know you not the bold brow, and the bright eye--blue, blue as the waters and the heavens he has so long looked upon? Off with ye"r hats, my boys," he added to the children; "and, Robin, is yours nailed to your head, that it answers not his signal?--it is the young sea captain of whom, even here, we have heard and read so much. It is Springall!"
And so it was; distinguished by the Protector at the very moment when to be so distinguished makes a man"s fortune, the bold intrepid boy quickly ripened into the able and experienced seaman. His promotion was rapid, because his talents were appreciated--and, after the death of Cromwell, he had been too much occupied with England"s enemies at sea, to suffer from the moral blight of Charles"s court on sh.o.r.e.
"Now, Springall--I love to call you by that name," said the Buccaneer, "though you have taken your old one, and made it even more honoured than it was before,--the evening has closed in--the children a-bed--G.o.d bless them! We will draw nearer round our cheerful hearth, and talk of days long gone. Barbara, let"s have some fresh logs on the fire; and now, for past and present times."
"I am a bad hand at a long yarn--you know I always was so, captain,"--said the naval officer, smiling, "and the news of poor Jack"s death has damped my canva.s.s. I always thought he"d make a queer end of it--so fond of plunder--so careless--so unprincipled--but brave, brave to the backbone."