The Chaplain of the Fleet Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  HOW WE CAME TO LONDON ON THE COACH.

  With the purpose, therefore, of carrying out my father's injunctions,I remained for a few days at the Vicarage alone, having one servant totake care of me. But, had it not been for an accident, I might haveremained at the village all my life. "For," said Lady Levett, "itis but right, child, that the instructions of your father should becarried out; I should like to know, however, who is to take charge ofthee to London, and how we are to get thee there? A young maid cannotbe sent to London on a pack-horse, like a bundle of goods. As for SirRobert, he goes no more to town, since he has ceased to be a member.I care not for the court, for my own part, and am now too old for thegaieties of London. Nancy will enjoy them, I doubt not, quite soonenough; and as for the boys, I see not very well how they can undertakeso great a charge. I doubt, Kitty, that thou must come to the Hall,after all. You can be useful, child, and we will make you happy. Thereis the still-room, where, Heaven knows, what with the cowslip-wine,the strong waters, the conserving, pickling, drying, candying, andthe clove gilliflowers for palleting, there is work enough for youand Nancy, as well as my still-room maid and myself. And just now,Sir Robert calling every day for a summer sallet (which wants a lighthand), to cool his blood!"

  I would very willingly have gone to the Hall; I asked nothing better,and could think of nothing more happy for myself, if it could so beordered. My father's wishes must certainly be obeyed; but if no oneat the Hall could take charge of me, it seemed, at first, as if therecould be no going to London at all, for our farmers and villagers wereno great travellers. None of them knew much of this vast round worldbeyond their own fields, unless it were the nearest market-town, orperhaps Maidstone, or even Canterbury. Now and again one of the rusticswould go for a soldier (being crossed in love); but he never camehome again to tell of his campaigns. Or one would go for a gentleman'sservant (being too lazy to work like his father); then he would returnfilled with all the wickedness of London, and stay corrupting the mindsof the simple folk, till Sir Robert bade him pack and be off, for apestilent fellow. Or one would go away to the nearest market-town to beapprenticed to a handicraft (being ambitious, as will happen even tosimple clods, and aspiring to a shop). But if he succeeded, such an onewould seldom come back to the place which gave him birth.

  An accident happened which served my purpose. There was a certainfarmer on Sir Robert's estate, whose sister had married a Londontradesman of respectability and reputed honesty, named Samuel Gambit(he was a builder's foreman, who afterwards became a master builder,and made great sums of money by taking city contracts. His son, afterhim, rose to be an alderman in the city of London). Whether the youngwoman was in ill health, or whether she was prompted by affection, Iknow not, but she left her husband for a space and journeyed into thecountry to see her friends and people. Now when I heard, by accident,that she was about to return, my heart fell, because I saw that my timewas come, and that a proper person to take charge of me during thejourney was found in Mrs. Gambit.

  Madam sent for her. She was a strong, well-built woman, of about sixor seven and twenty, resolute in her bearing, and sturdy of speech.She was not afraid, she said, of any dangers of the road, holding (butthat was through ignorance) highwaymen in contempt; but she could notbe answerable, she said, and this seemed reasonable, for the safety ofthe coach, which might upset and break our necks. As for the rest, shewould be proud to take the young lady with her to London, and madammight, if she wished, consider the extra trouble worth something; butthat she left to her ladyship.

  "I know," said Lady Levett, "that it is a great charge for you toconduct a young gentlewoman to town in these bad and dangerous times,when not only the high roads are thronged with robbers, and thestreets with footpads, but also the very inns swarm with villains, andgentlemen are not ashamed to insult young persons of respectability instage-coaches and public places. But Kitty is a good girl, not giddy,and obedient. I will admonish her that she obey you in everything uponthe road, and that she keep eyes, ears, and mouth closed all the way."

  The good woman undertook to have her eye upon me the whole journey.Then Lady Levett made her promise that she would take me straightto St. Paul's Coffee-house, St. Paul's Churchyard, there to inquireafter my uncle's residence, and never leave me until she had seen medeposited safely in Dr. Shovel's hands.

  Now was I in a flutter and agitation of spirits indeed, as was natural,considering that I was going to leave my native place for the firsttime in my life and to seek out new relations.

  "Nancy!" I cried, "what will be my lot? What will become of me?"

  Nancy said that she would tell my fortune if I would only leave offwalking about and wringing my hands and be comfortable.

  Then she sat down beside me in her pretty affectionate way, and threwher arms round my waist, and laid her head upon my shoulder.

  "You are so tall and so pretty, Kitty, that all the men will lose theirhearts. But you must listen to none of them until the right man comes.Oh! I know what he is like. He will be a great nobleman, young andhandsome, and oh, so rich! he will kneel at your feet as humble as alover ought to be, and implore you to accept his title and his hand.And when you are a great lady, riding in your own coach, as happy asthe day is long, you will forget--oh no, my dear! sure I am you willnever forget your loving Nancy."

  Then we kissed and cried over each other in our foolish girls' way,promising not only kind remembrance, but even letters sometimes. And weexchanged tokens of friendship. I gave her a ring, which had been mymother's, made of solid silver with a turquoise and two pearls, veryrich and good, and she gave me a silver-gilt locket with chased back,and within it a little curl of her hair, brown and soft.

  Lady Levett gave me nothing but her admonition. I was going, she said,to a house where I should meet with strangers who would perhaps, afterthe manner of strangers, be quicker at seeing a fault than a grace, andthis particularly at the outset and very beginning, when people areapt to be suspicious and to notice carefully. Therefore I was to becircumspect in my behaviour, and above all, be careful in my speech,giving soft words in return for hard, and answering railing, if therewas any railing, with silence. But perhaps, she said, there would beno railing, but only kindness and love, in the which case I was allthe more to preserve sweet speech and sweet thoughts, so as not totrouble love. Then she was good enough to say that I had ever been agood maid and dutiful, and she doubted not that so I would continue inmy new world, wherefore she kissed me tenderly, and prayed, with tearsin her eyes--for my lady, though quick and sharp, was wondrous kind ofheart--that the Lord would have me in His keeping.

  I say nothing about Sir Robert, because he was always fond of me, andwould almost as soon have parted from his Nancy.

  Now it was a week and more since I had, without knowing it, receivedthose overtures of love from Harry Temple and Will, which I took in myinnocence for mere overtures of friendship and brotherly affection.They thought, being conceited, like all young men, that I had at oncedivined their meaning and accepted their proposals; no doubt they gavethemselves credit for condescension and me for gratitude. Therefore,when, the evening before I came away, Harry Temple begged me, withmany protestations of regret, not to inform Sir Robert or madam of hisintentions, I knew not what to say. What intentions? why should I not?

  "Reigning star of Beauty!" he cried, laying his hand upon his heart,"I entreat thy patience for a twelvemonth. Alas! such separation! whocan bear it!

  "'Fond Thyrsis sighs, through mead and vale, His absent nymph lamenting----'"

  "O Harry!" I cried, "what do I care about Thyrsis and absent nymphs?You have promised to bring me back in a year. Very well, then, I shallexpect you. Of course you can tell Sir Robert whatever you please. Itis nothing to me what you tell Sir Robert or my lady."

  "She is cold as Diana," said Harry, with a prodigious sigh; but I brokefrom him, and would hear no more such nonsense. Sighing shepherds andcruel nymphs were for ever on Harry Temple's lips.


  As for Will, of course he wanted to have an explanation too. Hefollowed Harry, and, in his rustic way, begged to say a word or two.

  "Pray go on, Will," I said.

  "I promised a twelvemonth," he explained. "I'll not go back upon myword. I _did_ say a twelvemonth."

  "A twelvemonth? Oh yes. You said the same as Harry, I remember."

  "I don't know what Harry said, but I'll swear, whatever Harry said,I said just the clean contrary. Now, then, liberty's sweet, my girl.Come, let us say fifteen months. Lord! when a man is twenty-one hedon't want to be tied by the heels all at once. Let's both have our runfirst. You are but a filly yet--ay--a six months' puppy, so to say."

  "You said a twelvemonth, Will," I replied, little thinking of what hemeant. How, indeed, could I know? "I shall expect you in a twelvemonth."

  "Very good, then. A twelvemonth it must be, I suppose. Shan't tell myfather yet, Kitty. Don't you tell un neyther, there's a good girl. Gad!there will be a pretty storm with my lady when she hears it! Ho! ho!"

  Then he went off chuckling and shaking himself. How could a courtlygentleman like Sir Robert and a gentlewoman like her ladyship have ason who was so great a clown in his manner and his talk? But the sonsdo not always take after their parents. A stable and a kennel, whenthey take the place of a nursery and a school, are apt to breed suchbumpkins even out of gentle blood.

  In the morning at five I was to start in the cart which would take usacross the country to the stage-coach.

  Nancy got up with me, and we had a fine farewell kissing. The boyswere up too; Harry out of compliment to me, dressed in a nightcap anda flowered morning-gown; and Will out of compliment to his kennel,for whose sake he always rose at daybreak. He was dressed in his oldscarlet coat, he carried a whip in one hand, and half-a-dozen dogsfollowed at his heels.

  "Remember, sweet Kitty," whispered Harry, with a ceremonious bow, "itis but for a twelvemonth."

  "Only a year," said Will. "Heart up, my pretty!"

  They heard what each had said, and they were looking at each otherpuzzled when I drove away.

  "What did you mean, Will?" asked Harry, when the cart was out of sight,"by saying only a year?"

  "I meant what I meant," he replied doggedly. "Perhaps you know, andperhaps you don't."

  "Of course I know," said Harry. "The question is, how do you know?"

  "Well," replied Will, "that is a pretty odd question, to be sure. Howcould I help knowing?"

  "I think," said Harry, red in the face, "that some one has beeninjudicious in telling any one."

  Will laughed.

  "She ought not to have told, that's a fact. But we will keep it secret,Harry; don't tell her ladyship."

  So that each thought that the other knew of his engagement with Kitty.

  Little heed gave I to them and their promises. It was pleasant,perhaps, though I soon forgot to think about it at all, to rememberthat Harry and Will after a twelvemonth would come to carry me homeagain, and that I should never leave the old place again. But just thenI was too sad to remember this. I was going away, Heaven knew where,amongst strangers, to people who knew me not; and I mounted the cart inwhich we were to begin our journey crying as sadly as if it had beenthe dreadful cart which goes to Tyburn Tree. The best thing to curea crying fit is a good jolting. It is impossible to weep comfortablywhen you are shaken and rolled about in a country cart among the deep,hard ruts of last winter. So I presently put up my handkerchief, driedmy eyes, and thought of nothing but of clinging to Mrs. Gambit whenthe wheels sank deeper than usual. The way lay along the lanes which Iknew so well, arched over with trees and lofty hedges, then in theirbeautiful spring dressing. It led past the churchyard, where the sunwas striking full upon my father's new-made grave. I tried to think ofhim, but the cart jolted so terribly that I was fain to remember onlyhow I carried his last admonitions in my bosom, and the money in twobags sewn to my petticoats.

  Presently the lane led on to the high-road, which was not quite sorough, and here we came to the roadside inn where the stage-coachchanged horses. We waited an hour or so, until at length we saw itcoming slowly up the hill, piled with packages and crowded withpassengers. But there was room for two more, and we mounted to ourplaces outside. Presently the machine moved slowly along again. Itwas so heavily-laden and the roads were so rough, that we rolled asif every moment we were going to roll over into the ditch, where weshould all be killed. Mrs. Gambit loudly declared that nothing shouldever again take her out of London, where a body could ride in a coachwithout the fear of being upset and the breaking of necks. On thisjourney, however, no necks were broken, because the coach did notupset. When the rolling was very bad, Mrs. Gambit clutched me with onehand and her right hand neighbour with the other. I, in my turn, seizedher with one hand and my right hand neighbour with the other. Then weboth shrieked, until presently, finding that we did not actually goover, I began to laugh.

  My neighbour was a clergyman of grave and studious aspect. He worea full wig, which had certainly been a second-hand one when it wasbought, so shabby, was it now; his gown was also shabby, and hisstockings were of grey worsted. Clearly a country clergyman of humblemeans. His face, however, looked young. When I caught him by the arm,he laid hold of my hand with both of his, saying gravely, "Now, madam,I hold you so tightly that you cannot fall." This was very kind of him.And, presently, he wanted to lay his arm round my waist for my betterprotection. But this was taking more trouble than I would consent to.

  There was, however, a worse danger than that of upsetting. This year,England suffered from a plague of highway-robbers, the like of whichwas never before known. The roads were crowded with them. They weremostly disbanded soldiers, who, being either disinclined to returnto their old trades, or being unable to find employment, roamedabout the country either singly or in pairs, or in bands, rogues andvagabonds, ready to rob, steal, plunder, or even murder as occasionoffered. They were sometimes so bold that they would attack a wholecoachful of passengers, and take from them whatever they carried,unless, as sometimes happened, there were one or two valiant men onthe coach ready to give them a warm reception with guns, pistols,swords, or even stout cudgels. They were said seldom to show much fight(being conscious of the gallows awaiting them if they were wounded orcaptured), and would generally make off. But it was not always thatpassengers were found ready to risk the fight, and in most cases theysat still and delivered.

  With this danger before us, it was not surprising that the conversationshould turn upon highwaymen whenever the road became a little smooth,and I listened with terror to the tales I heard. Most of them wererelated by a man who sat opposite to me. He wore a scratch wig(probably his second-best), and had his hat flapped and tied about hisears as if it were winter. He was, I suppose, a merchant of some kind,because he talked a great deal about prices, and stocks, and markets,with other things, Greek and Hebrew to me. Also, he looked so uneasy,and kept watching the road with so anxious an air, that I felt surehe must be carrying a great parcel of money like me, and I longed toadvise him to imitate my prudence; and at the next town we got downto sew it within his coat. He continually lamented, as we went along,the desperate wickedness of the highway-robbers: he spoke of it as ifhe were entirely disinterested, and regarded not at all the peril tohis own fortune, but only the danger of their own souls, liable tobe wretchedly lost and thrown away by their dreadful courses. And hetalked so feelingly on this subject that one began to feel as if goodwords were being spoken to the edification of the soul. As for theirsuppression, he said that, in their own interests, strong measureswould be necessary. Trade would never flourish, and therefore men wouldnot be induced to follow a respectable trade until ships could sail theseas without fear of pirates, and honest merchants carry their propertyup and down the king's highway without fear of highwaymen. Here we camein sight of a man on horseback, and we all kept silence for an anxiousspace, till we discovered, by his great wig and black coat, that it wasnothing but a country surgeon riding out to see a patient. Then theme
rchant went on to say that since the gallows did not terrify theseevil-doers, he, for one, was for trying how they would like the Frenchwheel.

  At this there was a terrible outcry: the clergyman, especially, askingif he wished to introduce French barbarities.

  "Such things," he said solemnly, "are the natural accompaniment ofPopery. Pray, sir, remember Smithfield."

  "Sir," said the merchant, "I hope I am as good a Protestant as myneighbours. I call that, however, not barbarity but justice and mercywhich punishes the guilty and deters the weak. As for barbarities, arewe Protestants better than our neighbours? Is it not barbarous to flogour soldiers and sailors for insubordination; to flog our rogues at thecart-tail; to lash the backs of women in Bridewell; to cut and scourgethe pickpockets so long as the alderman chooses to hold up the hammer?Do we not hack the limbs of our traitors, and stick them up on TempleBar? Truly the world would come to a pretty pass if we were to ask ourcut-throats what punishment would hurt them least."

  "I like not the breaking of legs on wheels," cried Mrs. Gambit. "But tocall the flogging of Bridewell hussies barbarous! Fie, sir! You mightas well call bull-baiting barbarous."

  No one wanted to encourage highway-robbers, yet none but this merchantfrom foreign parts would allow than an Englishman, however wicked,should cruelly have his limbs broken and crushed by a rod of iron.

  "As for the gentlemen of the road," said Mrs. Gambit, "I, for one, fearthem not. They may take the butter and eggs in my basket, but theywon't find my money, for that is in my shoe."

  "Nor mine," said I, taking courage and thinking to show my cleverness;"for it is all sewn safe inside my petticoats."

  "Hush, silly women!" cried the merchant. "You know not but there is ahighwayman sitting in disguise on the coach beside you. I beg pardon,sir," he turned to the clergyman beside me--"no offence, sir--though Ihave heard of a thief who robbed a coach after travelling in it dressedas a gentleman of your cloth."

  "None, sir, none," replied his reverence. "Yet am I not a highwayman,I do assure you for your comfort. Nor have I any money in my pocket ormy shoe. I am but a simple clergyman, going to look at a benefice whichhath been graciously bestowed upon me."

  "That, sir," said the merchant, "is satisfactory, and I hope thatno other ears have heard what these ladies have disclosed. Shoes?petticoats? Oh, the things that I have seen and heard!"

  The clergyman then told us that he had a wife and six daughters, andthat the preferment (two hundred pounds a year!) would make a man ofhim, who had as yet been little better than a slave with sixty poundsfor all his income. The Christian year, he told us, was a long Lent forhim, save that sometimes, as at Christmas and Eastertide, he was ableto taste meat given to him. Yet he looked fat and hearty.

  "My drink," he said, "is from the spring, which costs nothing; and mybread is but oatmeal-porridge, potatoes, or barley-meal."

  Then he pressed my hand in his, said I resembled his wife in heryounger days, and declared that he already felt to me like a father.

  There sat next to the merchant a young gentleman of about seventeenor eighteen, brave in scarlet, for he had just received a commissionas ensign in a regiment of the line, and was on his way to join hiscolours, as he told us with pride. Directly highway robbers werementioned he assumed, being a young man with rosy and blushing cheek,fitter for a game of cricket on the green than for war's alarms, afierce and warlike mien, and assured us that we ladies should not wantprotection while he was on the coach. And he made a great show ofloosening his sword in the scabbard to ensure its quick and ready use,should the occasion rise. The merchant received these professions ofcourage with undisguised contempt; the clergyman smiled; Mrs. Gambitnodded her head and laughed, as if he was a boy whose talk meantnothing. I neither laughed at him nor scowled at him. In fact I wasthinking, girl-like, what a handsome boy he was, and hoping that hewould some day become a great general. As the country seems at thepresent juncture sadly in want of great generals, I fear he has beenkilled in action.

  When we stopped for dinner, at one o'clock--I remember that I neverbefore saw so prodigious a piece of roast beef upon the table--our hostmust needs spoil all enjoyment of the meal by asking us, just as wewere sat down, sharp-set by the air, if we had met or seen anything ofa certain "Black Will," who seemed to be very well known by all. Thevery name caused our poor merchant to push back his plate untasted, andthe young officer to rise from the table and hasten to assure himselfthat his sword was loose in the scabbard.

  "Because," said the landlord, "it is right for you to know that BlackWill is reported in this neighbourhood with all his crew: a bloody lot,gentlemen. I hope you have no valuables to speak of upon you. However,perhaps they will not meet you on the road. They murdered a man lastyear, a young gentleman like you, sir," nodding to the ensign, "becausehe offered resistance and drew his sword. What is a little toothpicklike that, compared with a quarterstaff in the hands of a sturdy rogue?So they beat his brains out for him. Then they gagged and used mostunmercifully, kicking him till he was senseless, an honest gentlemanlike yourself, sir"--he nodded to our merchant--"who gave them thetrouble of taking off his boots, where, for greater safety, as the poorwretch thought, he had bestowed his money----"

  "God bless my soul!" cried the merchant, changing colour, so that I forone felt quite certain that his was there too, and that his courage wasdown in his boots as well, to keep the money company. "Bless my soul!hanging, mere hanging, is too good for such villains."

  "It is indeed," replied the landlord, shaking his head. "There was ayoung lady, too"--I started, because he looked at me--"who had hermoney sewn in a bag inside her frock." I blushed red, knowing wheremine was. "They made her take it off and dance a minuet with one ofthem in her petticoats. But indeed there is no end to their wickedness.Come, gentlemen, let me carve faster; spare not the beef; don't letBlack Will spoil your appetites. Cut and come again. He may be twentymiles away. A noble sirloin, upon my word! To be sure, he may bewaiting on the hill there in the wood."

  "A glass of brandy, landlord," cried the merchant, who surely was adreadful coward. "Tell me, would he be alone?"

  "Not likely." The landlord, I thought, took a pleasure in makingus uneasy. "He would have two or three with him. Perhaps six. Withpistols. Do take some more beef. And blunderbusses. Ah! a desperatewicked gang."

  In such cheerful discourse we took our dinner, and then, withtrepidation, mounted to our places and drove away.

  We got up the hill safely, and met no Black Will. During the next stagewe all kept an anxious look up and down the road. The coach seemed tocrawl, and the way was rough. The sight of a man on horseback madeour hearts beat; if we saw two, we gave ourselves up for lost. But Iwas pleased all the time to mark the gallant and resolute behaviourof the boy, who, with his hand upon the hilt of his sword, sat palebut determined; and when he caught my eye, smiled with the courage ofone who would defend us to the death, as I am sure he would, like thegallant young knight he was.

  Towards the evening we caught sight of the tower of CanterburyCathedral, and soon afterwards we rolled through the streets of thatancient city, and got down at the Crown Inn, where we were to rest forthe night.

  I pass over, as unworthy of record, my own wonder at so great andbeautiful a city. This was the first town I had ever seen; these thefirst shops; and this the first, and still the grandest, to my mind, ofgreat cathedral churches. We walked through the great church at sunset,where there was something truly awful in the lofty arches mountingheavenwards, and the gloom of the roof. Outside there were Gothicruins; rooks were calling to each other in the trees, and swifts wereflying about the tower.

  At supper we had more talk about highway-robbers, but we were assuredthat there was less danger now, because between Canterbury and Londonthe road is more frequented, and therefore robbers, who are by naturea timorous folk, hesitate to attack a coach. Moreover, the landlordtold us that we should have with us two or three honest citizens ofCanterbury, substantial tradesmen, who travelled to London t
ogether formutual protection, taking money with them, and pistols with which todefend themselves.

  "One of them," he added, "is a lieutenant in the train-band, anda draper in the city: a more resolute fellow never handled ayard-measure."

  The gentlemen ordered a bowl of punch after supper, and we retired. Aswe left the room, the clergyman followed us. Outside the door, Mrs.Gambit having already begun to go upstairs, he said he would giveme his benediction, which he did, kissing me on the cheeks and lipswith much (and undeserved) affection. He was good enough to say thatI greatly resembled his youngest sister, the beautiful one, and hedesired closer acquaintance. Nor could I understand why Mrs. Gambitspoke scornfully of this act of kindness, which was entirely unexpectedby me. "Kindness, quotha!" she cried. "A pious man indeed, to love tokiss a pretty maid! I like not such piety."

  In the morning the train-band lieutenant, with his two friends, cameswaggering to the inn. He carried his pistols openly, and made moredisplay of them, I thought, than was necessary, considering hischaracter for resolution and desperate bravery. Then we started, ourlittle soldier still ready with his sword.

  The road was smoother; it ran for the most part along enclosures andgentlemen's parks. It was broad and straight, having been made, we weretold by the draper, in the time of the Romans; and as we drew near toLondon, the villages became more frequent, and the road was coveredwith carts, waggons, and carriages of every kind, all moving towardsLondon. Was London bigger than Canterbury? I asked. They laughed atmy innocence, and began to tell me that you might take the whole ofCanterbury out of London and not miss it much: also that he or she whohad not seen London had not seen the greatest marvel and wonder of theworld.

  "There are fine buildings," said the merchant, "in Paris, though thestreets are foul; but in London there are buildings as fine, withstreets that are broader: and there is the trade. Aha!"--he smacked hislips--"Paris hath no trade. One has to see the ships in the Pool, andthe Custom House, and the wharves, before one can understand how greatand rich a city is London. And one should also--but that, young lady,you cannot ever do, live as long as you will, being only a woman--feastat one of the great City Companies to understand how nobly they can usetheir wealth."

  We were still anxious about highwaymen, but our fears were greatlylessened by the presence of the brave draper of Canterbury. Theclergyman kept up a flow of anecdotes, which showed strangeacquaintance with the wickedness of the world, on highwaymen, footpads,robbers of all kinds, deceivers of strangers, and practisers oninnocence. The merchant listened eagerly, and together they bemoanedthe credulity of the ignorant, and the subtlety of the designing.

  Our spirits grew higher as we neared the end of our journey. Now,indeed, there was but little fear. The coach travels from Canterbury toLondon in a single day; we should arrive before nightfall.

  "Ha! ha!" said the merchant, rubbing his hands, "we who travelencounter many dangers. In London one can go to bed without fearingto be murdered in one's sleep, and walk abroad without looking to bebrained and murderously treated for the sake of a purse and a watch.There may be pickpockets, shoplifters, and such petty rogues: theremay be footpads about St. Pancras or Lincoln's Inn Fields, but smallvillains all compared with these desperate rogues of highwaymen."

  "Desperate indeed," said the clergyman. "Dear sir, we should begrateful for our preservation."

  It was already past seven when we arrived at the Talbot Inn. Themerchant fetched a deep sigh, and thanked Providence aloud for keepingus safe from the danger of "Stand and deliver!" The clergyman said,"Amen," but gently reproved the merchant for not allowing him, as anordained minister, to take the lead in every devotional exercise. Whenthey got down they entered the house together. The young ensign pulledoff his hat to me, and said that no doubt the rogues had got wind ofan officer's presence on the stage. Then he tapped his sword-hiltsignificantly, and got down, and I saw him no more. The gallant draper,getting down slowly, lamented that he must still be carrying loadedpistols, with never an opportunity for using them upon the road, anduncocked his weapons with as much ostentatious care as he had shownin loading them. For my own part, I had no taste for fighting, or forseeing fights, and was only too glad to escape the hands of men who, iftales were true, did not even respect a girl's frocks. The clergymanbestowed a final benediction upon me, saying that he craved my namewith a view to a closer friendship; and would have kissed me again hadnot Mrs. Gambit pushed him away with great roughness.

  The thing I am now about to relate will doubtless seem incredible. Yetit is true. I learned it some time after, when Black Will was hanged,and his last Dying Speech and Confession was cried in the streets.

  The merchant and the clergyman entered the Talbot Inn to drink togethera bowl of punch at the former's expense before separating. The latter,out of respect for his cloth, called for a private room, whither thepunch was presently brought.

  Now, when they had taken a glass or two each, both being very merry,they were disturbed by the entrance of two tall and ill-favouredfellows, who walked into the room and sat down, one on each side of themerchant.

  "Gentlemen!" he cried, "this is a private room, ordered by hisreverence here and myself for the peaceful drinking of a thanksgivingglass."

  "No," replied the clergyman, rising and locking the door; "I find, dearsir, that this room had been already bespoke by these gentlemen, whoare friends of mine own, and that we have very urgent business whichparticularly concerns yourself."

  At these words the merchant turned pale, being, as you may imagine,horribly frightened, and perceiving that he had fallen into a nest ofhornets. Whereupon he sprang to his feet, and would have rushed to thedoor, but that two of the villains seized him and pushed him back intothe chair, while the third drew a knife and held it at his throat,informing him that his weasand would most certainly be cut across didhe but move a finger or utter a sigh. At this dreadful threat the poorman gave himself up for lost, and said no more, only the tears ofdespair rolled down his face as he thought of what was going to happento him.

  The good clergyman then, with smiles and a polite bow, informed himthat in this world things are not always what they seemed to be."Honest tradesmen," he said, "often turn out to be common cheats, andsubstantial citizens become bankrupts. Therefore, it is not surprisingif a reverend minister of the Established Church should occasionallybear a hand in a little scheme in which good acting and dexterity areessentials necessary for success. In fact," he went on, drinking up allthe punch meanwhile, "though to you and to many good friends I am apious divine, among my particular intimates and these gentlemen of theroad"--here he pointed to the two villains--"I am no other than BlackWill, at your service! Nay, do not faint, dear sir. Although you wouldbreak me on the wheel, had you the power, I assure you I shall do youno harm in the world. Wherefore, kick off your boots!"

  Alas! in his boots was the money which the poor man was bringing homefrom France. They took it all. They tied him to his chair, and thatto the table. They gagged him; they put his wig on the table, tied ahandkerchief over his head, so that he should seem to be asleep; andthen they left him, telling the waiter that the gentleman in the blueroom was tired after his journey, and would like to be undisturbed foran hour or two.

  To think that this villain (who was but twenty-four when he was hanged,a year or so later) should dare to feel towards me like a father, andto give me his blessing--on the lips!