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Books: The King\'s Highway

G >> G. P. R. James >> The King\'s Highway




Wilton instantly dropped the muzzle of his pistol, without returning
the shot. But there was a cause for his so doing, which none of the
conspirators themselves, who were all eagerly looking towards the
spot where he stood, had yet perceived.

While Charnock and the other had been speaking, a young gentleman had
suddenly entered the room, and pushing rapidly forward through the
group in the doorway, he had advanced to the front and knocked up the
hand of the assassin just as he was in the very act of firing. The
new comer was dressed in dark-coloured clothes, and more in the
French than in the English costume of that day, with a curious sort
of cravat of red silk tied in a bow beneath the chin. He wore his
hat, which was trimmed with feathers, and a large red bow of ribands,
and in his hand he bore nothing but a small cane with an amber head,
while his person displayed no arms whatever, except a small riding
sword, which every gentleman wore in that day.

His figure was tall and commanding; his countenance open, noble, but
somewhat stern; and there was to be remarked therein the peculiar
expression which the pictures of Vandyke have handed down to us in
the portraits of Charles I. It was a melancholy expression; but in
Charles that melancholy seemed somewhat mingled with weakness; while
on the stern brow and tightly-compressed lips of the young stranger,
might be read, by the physiognomist, vigour and determination almost
approaching to obstinacy.

The same, perhaps, might have been said of him which was said by the
Roman sculptor when he beheld the picture of Charles, "That man will
not die a natural death;" and in this instance, also, the prophecy
would have been correct. But there was something that might have
spoken, too, of death upon the battle-field, or in the deadly breach,
or in some enterprise where daring courage needed to be supported by
unshrinking pertinacity and resolution.

The sound of the pistol-shot fixed all eyes, for an instant, upon
that particular point in the room towards which it had been fired;
but the moment that the conspirators beheld the person who now stood
amongst them, they instantly drew back in a circle. Every sword was
thrust into its sheath, every hat was taken off, while, with a
flashing eye and frowning brow, the young stranger turned to Sir
George Barkley, exclaiming, "What is all this, sir? What is this,
gentlemen? Are ye madmen? or fools? or villains?"

"Those are hard words, your grace," replied Sir George Barkley, "and
hard to stomach."

"Not more than those persons deserve, sir," replied the stranger,
"who betray the confidence of their King, when they know that he is
powerless to punish them."

"We are serving our King, my lord duke," replied Sir John Fenwick,
"and not betraying his confidence. Are we not here in arms, my Lord
of Berwick, perilling our lives, prepared for any enterprise, and all
on the King's behalf?"

"I say again, sir," replied the Duke of Berwick, "that those who
abuse the trust reposed in them, so as to ruin their monarch's
honour, his character, and his reputation, are tenfold greater
traitors than those who have stripped him of his crown. There is but
one excuse for your conduct, that you have acted with mistaken zeal
rather than criminal intent. But you have aggravated the guilt of
your plans by concealing them till the last moment, not only from
your King, but from your Commander-in-chief. All here who hold
commissions, or at least all but one or two, hold them under my hand
as generalissimo of my father's forces. Those commissions authorize
you to raise men for the service of your lawful sovereign, and to
kill or take prisoner his enemies arrayed in arms against you, but to
assassinate no man; and I feel heartily ashamed that any person
leagued in this great cause with me, should not be able to
distinguish between war and murder. However, on these subjects let us
speak no more at present, for there are matters even more important
to be thought of I heard of this but yesterday morning, and at the
imminent peril of my life have come to England to stop such deeds. I
sought you in London, Sir George Barkley, and have followed you
hither; and from what I have heard, I have to tell you that your
coming to England has been discovered, and that for the last four or
five days a warrant has been out against you, without your knowing
it. This I learned, beyond all doubt, from my Lady Middleton. There
is reason, also, to believe that your whole designs are known, sirs,
though it would seem all your names have not yet been obtained. My
advice, therefore, is, that you instantly disperse to different parts
of the country, or effect your escape to France. For you, Sir George,
there is no chance but to retire to France at once, as the warrant is
out."

"It most fortunately happens," said Sir George Barkley, "that a ship
is on the point of sailing, and lies in the river here, under Dutch
colours. Your grace will, of course, go back in her?"

"No, sir," replied the Duke--"I shall go as I came, in an open boat.
But you have no time to lose, for I know that suspicion is attached
to this spot. In the first place, however, tell me, what you have
here. What new outrage is this that I have just seen attempted? If I
had not entered at the very moment, cold and cowardly bloodshed would
have taken place five minutes ago."

The Duke's eyes were fixed upon Wilton as he spoke; and that
gentleman, now seeing and understanding whom he had to deal with, put
back the pistol into his belt, and advanced, saying,--

"My lord, it is probable I owe my life to your inter-position; and
to you the circumstances in which I am placed will be explained in a
moment. In your honour and integrity, I have confidence; but the
murderous purpose which you have just disappointed shows how well I
was justified in doubting the intentions of the men by whom I was but
now surrounded."

"Had you given them no offence, sir?" demanded the Duke of Berwick.
"I can scarcely suppose that so dark and sanguinary an act would have
been attempted had you not given some cause. I saw the pistol
levelled over Sir George Barkley's shoulder, while he seemed speaking
to you. That I considered a most unfair act, and stopped it. But you
must surely have done something to provoke such deeds.--Good
heavens! the Lady Helen Oswald!" he continued, as the elder lady
advanced, with Laura clinging to her. "Madam, I fully thought you
were at St. Germain.--Can you tell us anything of this strange
affair?"

"But too much, my lord," replied the lady, speaking eagerly, "but too
much for the honour of these men, who have thought fit to violate
every principle of justice and humanity. This young lady beside me
has been dragged from her father's house by the orders of some of
these gentlemen here present, beyond all doubt. This young gentleman
has traced her hither, legally authorized to carry her back to her
father; and although he plighted his honour, and I pledged my word
for him, that he would do nothing and say nothing to compromise any
of the persons here present, they not only refused to let him depart,
but have, as you saw yourself, most treacherously attempted to take
his life while they were affecting to parley with him."

"Madam," said the Duke of Berwick, in a sorrowful tone, "I am deeply
grieved and pained by all that has occurred. I confess I never felt
despondency till I discovered that persons, pretending to be my
father's friends, have made his cause the pretext for committing
crimes and acts like these. I have already heard this young lady's
story. All London is ringing with it; and the Earl of Aylesbury gave
me this morning, what is probably the real explanation of the whole
business. We will not enter upon it now, for there is no time to be
spared. I feel and know--and I say it with bitter regret--that the
deeds which these gentlemen have done, and the schemes which they
have formed, will do more to injure the cause of their legitimate
sovereign than the loss of twenty pitched battles. Sir George
Barkley, I beg you would make no reply. Provide for your safety, sir.
Your long services and sufferings are sufficient to make some
atonement; and I will take care to conceal from the ears of the King,
as far as possible, how you have misused his authority. Sir John
Fenwick and the rest of you gentlemen must act as you think fit in
regard to remaining in England, or going to the Continent. But I am
inclined to recommend to you the latter, as the safest expedient. You
will leave me to deal with this gentleman and his friends; for I need
not tell you that I shall suffer no farther injury or insult to be
offered to them. As to the personage who actually fired the pistol, I
have merely to tell him, that should I ever meet with him in
circumstances where I have the power to act, I will undoubtedly
punish him for his conduct this night."

The conspirators whispered for a moment amongst themselves; and at
length Sir William Parkyns took a step forward, saying, "Are we to
understand your grace that you will give us no assistance from the
French forces under your command?"

"You are so to understand me," replied the Duke of Berwick, sternly:
"I will not, sir, allude distinctly to the schemes that you have
formed. But you are all well aware of them; and I tell you that I
will give no aid, support, or countenance whatsoever, either to such
schemes or to the men who have formed them. At the same time, let me
say, that had there been--instead of such schemes--a general rising
against the usurper--ay, or even a partial rising--nay, had I found
twenty gentlemen in arms who needed my help in the straightforward,
honest, upright intent of re-seating their sovereign on his lawful
throne, I would not have hesitated for a moment to land the troops
under my command, and to have made a last determined stand for honour
and my father's rights. As it is, gentlemen, I have nothing farther
to say, but take care of yourselves. I shall remain here for a couple
of hours, and then return with all speed to France."

"But does not your grace run a great risk," said Sir George Barkley,
"in remaining so long?"

"I fear no risk, sir," said the Duke of Berwick, "in a righteous
cause; and I do not wish that any man should say I was amongst the
first to fly after I had warned others. You have all time, gentlemen,
if you make use of it wisely. Some, I see, are taking advantage of my
caution already. Sir George, you had better not be left behind in the
race. You say there is a ship in the river--get to her, and be gone
with all speed."

"But the captain will not sail without the Lady Helen," said the
conspirator, with some hesitation: "she, it seems, has hired the
vessel, and he refused this morning to go without her."

"That shall be no impediment," said the lady. "You may tell the
captain that I set him free from his engagement, and I will give an
order to his grace that the money may be paid which is the man's due.
I told you before, Miss Villars had met with a severe accident, and I
can neither quit her in such circumstances, nor go till she has
recovered."

"Will you be kind enough, madam," replied Sir George, who always had
thoughts for his own safety, "to write what you have said in these
tablets? Here is a pencil."

The lady took the tablets and wrote; and while she did so, two or
three, more of the conspirators dropped quietly out of the room. The
Duke of Berwick at the same time advanced, and said a few kindly
words to Lady Laura, and spoke for a moment to Wilton, with a
familiar smile, in regard to the risk he had run.

"To tell the truth," he said, "I was almost afraid that I should
myself meet with a shot between you; for I saw you had your pistol
cocked in your hand, and expected that the next fire would have been
upon your side."

"I saw you knock his arm up, sir," replied Wilton; "and though I was
not aware of the name of the person who entered, I was not a little
rejoiced to see, at least, one man of honour amongst them."

"Alas! sir," replied the Duke, in a lower tone, "they are all, more
or less, men of honour; but you must remember that there is a
fanaticism in politics as well as in religion, and men will think
that a great end will justify any intermediate means. An oak, planted
in the sand, sir, is as soon blown down as any other tree; and it is
not every heart that is firm and strong enough constantly to support
the honour that is originally implanted in it against the furious
blasts of passion, interest, or ambition. You must remember, too,
that those who are called Jacobites in this country have been hunted
somewhat like wolves and wild beasts; and nothing drives zeal into
fanaticism so soon as persecution."

"My lord, I am now ready to depart," said Sir George Barkley,
approaching, "and doubt not to be able to make my views and motives
good to my royal master."

"There is none, sir, who will abhor your views so much," replied the
Duke of Berwick, proudly, "though he may applaud your motives. But
you linger, Sir George. Can I do anything for you, or for those other
gentlemen by the door?"

"Nothing, your grace," replied Sir George Barkley; "but we would fain
see you provide for your own safety."

"Oh, no fear, no fear," replied the Duke. "Gentlemen, good night. I
trust to hear, when in another land, that this bad affair has ended
without evil consequences to yourselves. To the cause of your
sovereign it may be a great detriment; but I pray God that no whisper
of the matter may get abroad so as to affect his honour or bring
suspicion on his name. Once more, good night!"

Sir George Barkley bowed his head, and followed by three others, who
had still lingered, quitted the room.



CHAPTER XXVII.


There came a pause after the conspirators were gone, and the Duke of
Berwick gazed down upon the floor for a moment or two, as if thinking
of what was next to be done.

"I shall be obliged to stop," he said at length, "for an hour or so,
till my horses can feed, for they want refreshment sadly. To say the
truth, I want some myself, if I can obtain it. I must go down to the
stable, and see; for though that is not exactly the place to procure
food for a man, yet, in all probability, I shall get it nowhere else.
I found the good master of the house, indeed, who is an old
acquaintance of mine, hid in the farthest nook of his own stable,
terrified out of his life, and assuring me that there would certainly
be bloodshed up stairs."

"I will go down and look for him, your grace," replied Captain
Byerly, coming more forward than he had hitherto done. "You will find
no lack of provisions, depend upon it, in Monsieur Plessis's house."

"One moment, sir," said the Duke, stopping him as he was going: "have
I not seen your face before?"

"Long ago, sir, long ago," replied the Captain. "I had the honour of
commanding a troop, sir, in your regiment, during all that sad
business in Ireland--Byerly is my name."

"I remember you well, sir," said the Duke, "and your good services.
Should we meet in France, I may be able to repay them--especially if
your views are still of a military kind."

Byerly bowed his head, without reply, but looked much gratified; and
while lie proceeded to look for Plessis, the Duke once more turned to
the Lady Helen.

"I am sorry," he said, "to hear, from your account, madam, that an
accident has happened to Miss Villars. I have been so long absent
from St. Germain myself, that it is not very long since I heard of
her father's death. May I inquire if she is seriously hurt? for I
should apprehend that, after what has occurred, persons holding our
opinions would run considerable risks in this country, and be
subjected to a persecution even more severe than heretofore."

The Lady Helen replied simply that her young friend was seriously
hurt, and could not be removed; but she avoided carefully all
reference to the nature of the injury she had received. The Duke then
turned the conversation to indifferent subjects, spoke cheerfully and
gaily with Lady Laura and Wilton, and showed that calm sort of
equanimity in circumstances of danger and difficulty which is partly a
gift of nature, and partly an acquisition wrung from many perils and
evils endured. Ere long, Byerly returned with Plessis, and food and
wine were speedily procured. The tables were set in order, and the
Duke remained for about a quarter of an hour refreshing himself;
while Wilton and the two ladies continued to converse with him,
delaying their departure at his request, lest any of the more
unscrupulous conspirators should still be lingering in the
neighbourhood.

Plessis, however, was evidently uneasy; and he did not scruple at
length to express his fear, that amongst all the events of that
night, something might have happened to call the attention of the
world at large upon what was going on in his dwelling.

Wilton's apprehensions, in regard to the Duke, were somewhat of the
same nature; for he remembered that Arden, the Messenger, whom he now
knew to be a thorough coward, had fled at the beginning of the whole
business, and would most likely return accompanied by as large a
force as he could raise in the neighbourhood.

These fears he failed not to communicate to the Duke of Berwick; but
that nobleman looked up with a gay smile, replying, "My good sir,
my horse can go no farther. I rode one to death yesterday, and this
one, which I bought in London, is already knocked up: if I must be
caught like a rat in a rat-trap, as well here as anywhere."

"But will it not be better," said Wilton, "to accompany me and the
Lady Laura to High Halstow, where you can instantly procure a horse?
We must proceed thither on foot. I suppose you are not likely to be
known in this part of the country, and my being with you may shield
you from some danger."

"By no means a bad plan," said the Duke, starting up--"let us go at
once! When anything feasible is proposed, we should lose no time in
executing it."

Wilton was ready to depart, and Lady Laura was eager to do so. Every
moment, indeed, of their stay made her feel fresh apprehensions lest
that night should not be destined to close without some more painful
event still, than those which she had already witnessed.

She turned, however, to the Lady Helen before she went, and with the
peculiar sort of quiet grace which distinguished her, approached her
gently and kissed her cheek, saying, "I can never thank you
sufficiently, dear lady, for the kindness you have shown me, or the
deliverance which I owe, in the first place, to you; and I thank you
for the kindness you have shown me here, as much as for my
deliverance: for if it had not been for the comfort it gave me, I do
believe I should have sunk under the sorrow, and agitation, and
terror, which I felt when I was first brought hither. I hope and
believe, however, that I do not leave you here never to see you
again."

Lady Helen smiled, and laid her hand gently upon Wilton's arm.

"There is a link between him and me, lady," she said, "which can
never be broken; and I shall often, I hope, hear of your welfare from
him, for I trust that you will see him not infrequently."

Lady Laura blushed slightly, but she was not one to suffer any fine
or noble feeling of the heart to be checked by such a thing as false
shame.

"I trust I shall," she answered, raising her eyes to Wilton's face--"
I trust I shall see him often, very often; and I shall never see him,
certainly, without feelings of pleasure and gratitude. You do not
know that this is the second time he has delivered me from great
danger."

The Duke of Berwick smiled, not, indeed, at Lady Laura's words, but
at the blush that came deeper and deeper into her cheek as she spoke.
He made no observation, however, but changed the conversation by
addressing Wilton, "Wherever I am to procure a horse under your good
guidance, my dear sir," he said, "I must, I believe, take another
name than my own; for though Berwick and London are very distant
places, yet there might be compulsory means found of bringing them
unpleasantly together. You must call me, therefore, Captain
Churchill, if you please;--a name," he added, with a sigh, "which,
very likely, the gentleman who now fills the throne of England might
be very well inclined to bestow upon me himself. Lady Helen, I wish
you good night, and take my leave. Master Plessis, I leave the horse
with you: he never was worth ten pounds, and now he's not worth five;
so you may sell him to pay for my entertainment."

Bowing to the very ground from various feelings of respect, French,
English, and Jacobite, Plessis took a candle and lighted the Duke
down stairs, while Wilton followed, accompanied by Laura and Captain
Byerly. The outer door was then opened, and the whole party issued
forth into the field which surrounded the house, finding themselves
suddenly in the utter darkness of a moonless, starless, somewhat
foggy night.

From the little stone esplanade, which we have mentioned, lay a
winding road up to the gate in the walls, and along that Wilton and
his companion turned their steps, keeping silence as they went, with
the listening ear bent eagerly to catch a sound. It was not, indeed,
a sense of general apprehension only which made Wilton listen so
attentively, for, in truth, he had fancied at the very moment when
they were issuing forth from the house, that he had heard a low
murmur as if of people talking at some distance.

The same sound had met the ears of the Duke of Berwick, and had
produced the same effect; but nothing farther was heard till they
reached the gate, and Wilton's hand was stretched out to open it;
when suddenly a loud "Who goes there?" was pronounced on the opposite
side of the gate, and half-a-dozen men, who had been lying in the
inside of the wall, surrounded the party on all sides.

Several persons now spoke at once. "Who goes there?" cried one voice
again; but at the same time another exclaimed, "Call up the
Messenger, call up the Messenger from the other gate."

These last words gave Wilton some satisfaction, though they were by
no means pleasant to the ears of the Duke of Berwick.

The former, however, replied to the challenge, "A friend!" and
instantly added, "God save King William!"

"God save King William!" cried one of the voices: "you cry that on
compulsion, I've a notion. Pray, who are you that cry `God save King
William'?"

"My name, sir, is Wilton Brown," replied the young gentleman,
"private secretary to the Earl of Byerdale. Where is the Messenger
who came down with me? Be so good as to call him up immediately."

"Oh! you are the young gentleman who came down with the Messenger,
are you?" said one of the others: "he was in a great taking lest you
should be murdered."

"It was not his fault," replied Brown, somewhat bitterly, "that I was
not murdered; and if it had not been for Captain Churchill and this
other gentleman, who came to my assistance at the risk of their
lives, I certainly should have been assassinated by the troop of
Jacobites and smugglers amongst whom I fell."

The Duke of Berwick could not refrain from a low laugh at the
description given of the persons whom they had just seen; but Wilton
spoke loud again, in order to cover the somewhat ill-timed merriment
of his companion, asking of the person who had replied, "Pray, who
are you, sir?"

"I am head constable of High Halstow," replied the man, "and I
remained here with our party, while Master Arden and the rest, with
the soldiers from Hoo, went round to the other gate."

"Why did not the cowardly rascal go in by this gate himself,"
demanded Wilton, "instead of putting you, my friend, at the post of
danger?"

"Ay, it was shabby enough of him," replied the man; "but I don't fear
anything; not I."

"I'm afraid, my good fellows, it is too late," replied Wilton. "All
the gang have got off near an hour ago. If that stupid Messenger had
known what he was about, this affair would have had a different
result; but he ran away at the first shot that was fired--Have you
sent for him?" he continued, after a moment's pause.

"Oh yes, sir, we've sent for him," said the man, "though it's not
much use, if they are all gone, sir."

"Oh yes," replied Wilton, "you may as well make a good search amongst
the grounds and in the hedges. It will say something for your
activity, at all events. I shall go on to Halstow, but I wish one or
two of you would just show us the way, and when Arden comes up, tell
him to come after me immediately. I have a great mind to put him
under arrest, and send him up to the Earl, for his bad conduct."

The tone in which Wilton spoke, and the very idea of his arresting
the arrestor of all men, and sending up the Messenger of State as a
common prisoner to London, proved so impressive with the personages
he addressed, that they made not the slightest opposition to his
purpose of proceeding, but sent one of their number to show him the
way.

Accompanied, therefore, by Lady Laura, the Duke of Berwick, and
Captain Byerly, Wilton proceeded as fast as possible up the lane.
When they had gone about a hundred yards, however, he said, "Captain
Churchill, will you have the kindness to give the lady your arm? I
will follow you somewhat more slowly, for I want to speak a few words
to this fellow Arden.--He must not see you, if it can be avoided,"
he added, in a low tone; "and I think I hear him coming."