CHAPTER XIV.
_Celia_.--Here comes Monsieur Le Beau, _Rosalind_.--With his mouth full of news.
AS YOU LIKE IT.
"You strike dreadful hard, Missa Gladding. If you can't write, I guessyou can make you mark," said the General, rubbing his shoulders.
"I was larned to do one, and t'other come natural," said Tom,laughing; "but I didn't lay it on a bit too hard. You see I had tobring him a pretty good polt, so as to lay him flat, else he might ha'found it all out, the good-for-nothing son-of-a-gun, to go to sarve awarrant on an old man, just for speaking his mind in meeting. I goin for liberty. And then to insult you and me, Prime, by asking usto help him! But I didn't mean to strike you, except in the way offriendship."
"You friendship too smart for me, Missa Gladding, and s'pose I breakmy neck in de fall, what you friendship good for den?"
"But you hain't broke nothing but your leg, and I see you've gotanother rigged, and the half dollar Basset give you will more'n payfor that; though, if I was you, I'd come down upon him in damages forthe loss--'twas in his sarvice--and then his digging his head rightinto your stomach, when he come thundering into the boat, I call aregular assault and battery."
"How you like you cold duck wid sea-weed saace, Missa Gladding?"retorted Primus; and here the two united in peals of laughter.
"Cunning fellow, dat Basset," said Primus. "He kill two bird wid onestone--knock me into de bottom ob de boat, and chuck you oberboard,all at once." And the merriment was renewed.
"Do you think he has any suspicions, Prime!" said Tom.
"Dat question acquire some reflexum," answered the General. "Whedderit was old Holden or de fisherman ghost dat gib him de strike on deback?"
"No, I don't mean that. I mean whether he thought you or me hadanything to do with it."
"I guess not," said the General, doubtingly. "If sich an idee git intohis head, somebody will put it dere."
"Well, what did he say coming home?"
"Not much; dere he set in front, wid his back to me, rowing, and hishead all tie up wid my bandanna, and he seem sort o' snarl up, as ifhe want a night's rest to take de kinks out ob him. He was not much'cline to 'greeable conversashum. I feel kind o' sorry when I see himso mellancholliky like."
"You needn't be so liberal with your sorry. The scamp desarves it alland more, too. The cretur's cheated us out of half our fun." How Ishould ha' liked to leave him, as we intended, alone with old Holdenon the island! The chicken-hearted booby would ha' half died o'fright, and then 'twould ha' been worth nuts to see how he looked whenthe old man caught him in the morning, and asked after his business."
"He nebber stay till dat time. He would hab swum 'cross de channel,and run home."
"Well, he'd found out, then, how a fellow likes to be soused in thewater, as the blundering blunderbus did me, darn him."
"O, nebber bear no malice. I 'scuse Basset 'cause he don't know nobetter, and you must forgib him."
"As to that, you needn't fret your gizzard. But how did you git home,Prime, with your broken leg?"
"Dat is a secret atween me and Basset; but I didn't walk."
"Then, I vow," said Tom, bursting into a laugh, "he either trundledyou along in a wheelbarrow, like a load o' pumpkins, or else carriedyou on his back."
"Nobody roll me in a wheelbarrow," said the General, drawing himselfup, and affecting to be offended.
"I would ha' given all my old shirts to see a darkey riding Basset,"said Tom, whose merriment increased the more he dwelt on the idea.
"A colored pusson as light complexum as a white man in de dark,"exclaimed Primus, grinning.
"Well, old Prime, you're the cleverest nigger I ever did see," saidTom, slapping him on the back, and still laughing; "but take care youdon't feel too proud after your ride. Put a nigger on horseback, andyou know where he goes. But what have you got there?" he inquired,seeing the General draw a paper out of his pocket.
"Dis paper fall out ob Missa Basset hat when de ghost strike him lastnight, and I pick him up."
"Golly! if it ain't the warrant. Prime, you're the ace o' clubs. I'mgladder of this than if I found a good dinner."
"Well, what shall I do wid him?"
"Why, man, burn it up; it's the constable's sword and gun, andbaggonit and cartridge-box; he can't do nothing without it; why,without the warrant, he's just like a cat without claws. He daresn'ttouch a man without a warrant."
"If Missa Basset trow de paper away, I 'spose he don't want him, andhe ain't good for noting, and nobody can find fault wid me for burningup a little piece ob waste paper, just to kindle de fire," saidPrimus, throwing the warrant into the flames, where it was immediatelyconsumed.
"There, we've drawn Basset's eye-teeth now," said Gladding. "Holden'sas safe as you or me. And, Prime," he added, rising, and, as he tookleave, making a peculiar gesture with the thumb of his right handtouching the end of his nose, and his fingers twinkling in the air,"you're too old a fox to need teaching, but it will do no harm to sayI advise you to keep as dark as your skin."
Such was the conversation that, on the morning after the adventure ofthe island, took place at the cabin of Primus, and the reader will nowperfectly understand (if, indeed, he has not before discovered it) therelation which the associates bore to the constable. Yet, therewas some difference in the feelings of the two: Gladding felt onlyunmitigated contempt for Basset, while the good-nature of the negro(proverbial of the race) infused some pity into the sentiment.
"Tom Gladding hab no manners," said Primus to himself, after thedeparture of his friend. "It is bery onpleasant to hear sich pussonalinflections. But, probumbly, arter he keep company wid me a littlelonger, he larn better."
How it got out, nobody could tell. Tom and the General both declaredthey had said nothing about it, and Basset was equally positive he hadnot opened his mouth. It is, therefore, singular that, before twelveo'clock the next day, rumors of the adventure had reached the ears ofmore than one-half the inhabitants of Hillsdale. True, none were veryaccurate, nor did any two agree; for, as is apt to happen, in suchcases, each one who told the story took care, most conscientiously,it should lose nothing in the repetition. Hence, before noon, it was,like most of our modern literature, "splendidly embellished."
It was not strange, then, that the doctor, in his morning round amonghis patients and friends, should get some inkling of it. Divested ofornaments, enough remained to satisfy him that an attempt to arrestHolden had been made. For the cause, he was at first at a loss; for,though he had heard of the disturbance at the conference, he hardlysupposed that an offence which he regarded as so venial, wouldhave drawn along such serious consequences. But when he heard thatgenerally assigned as the reason, having no words of his own toexpress his astonishment, he was obliged to resort to his unfailingtreasury--
"'Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud, Without our special wonder?'"
The quotation did not seem fully to answer the purpose, and headded, "Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun: it shineseverywhere." This gave him relief. It acted more soothingly thanhis own anodyne drops; and, having thus recovered his equanimity, hedetermined to ascertain if the Armstrongs had heard the news.
He found Miss Armstrong at home, but not her father.
"You have heard the news, Faith, this morning. I suppose?" said thedoctor.
"No; we are not much like the Athenians. Neither my father nor myselfare accustomed to get the first edition. What is it, doctor?"
But the doctor did not relish being called, by the remotestimplication, an Athenian. As inquisitive as the most prying Yankee issaid to be, he stoutly repelled the imputation of inquisitiveness, asapplied to himself or to his countrymen. "It was," he was in the habitof saying, "a slander invented by your porter-guzzling Englishmen andsmoking Dutchmen. What can you expect of people who are involved ina perpetual cloud either of their own raising or of the making ofProvidence? They are adapted to circumstances. It never was intendedthey should hav
e more than one idea a week; it would be too much fortheir constitution; and therefore they ask no questions. No wonder,then, they feel uncomfortable when they get into a clear climate,where they can see the sun, and hear ideas buzzing about their earslike a swarm of bees."
The doctor appeared to have forgotten his own question, and not tohave heard Miss Armstrong's.
"You are looking remarkably well," he said. "You ought to be ashamedto meet me: if everybody else were like you, I should starve."
"All your own fault, dear doctor. Your presence brings cheerfulnessand health."
"To say nothing of the medicine. Of that (in confidence between us),the less the better. If I should ever become crazy enough to prescribeany other than bread pills, be sure to throw them out of the window.There, you have the secret of medical success; though if I pursue thesystem much longer, I think I shall be obliged to adopt the Emperorof China's plan, and require a salary for your health, on condition itshall stop when you are sick."
"I admire the Emperor's plan, so let it be understood that is thearrangement between us. I have the best of the bargain, for I shallsecure a greater number of visits."
"You provoking creature! smothering me with compliments, andpretending you are not dying with curiosity. This is always the waywith your tormenting sex:
'Let Hercules do what he may, The cat will mew'"--
"And girls will have their way," interrupted Faith, laughing, andfinishing the quotation to suit herself. "But, doctor, you haveconquered, and please now 'unmuzzle your wisdom.'"
"Methinks," cried the doctor, "'sometimes I have no more wit than aChristian or an ordinary man; but I am a great eater of beef, andI believe that does harm to my wit,' else I should not allow you totease me. But," added he, in a more serious tone, "there is a reportin the village that an attempt has been made to arrest Holden."
"To arrest whom?" exclaimed Faith, turning pale, "father Holden! Forwhat?"
"He is not taken yet, and, were one to believe all the stories onehears, not likely to be. According to them, his enchanted castle onSalmon Island is protected, not only by his own stalwart arm, but bylegions of ghosts and hobgoblins; and, since that is the case, hemay safely defy the _posse comitatus_ itself, with the sheriff at itshead. But, for the cause--
"'It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul, Let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars, It is the cause'--
Why, because he made the most interesting speech at conference theother evening."
Miss Armstrong, whom the jesting manner of the doctor somewhatre-assured, begged him to give her all the information he hadobtained; but, throwing aside what he considered the embellishments offancy, it was no more than what he had already imparted.
"What would be the punishment for such an offence?" inquired Faith.
"I am more learned in pills than in points of law; but I suppose sometrifling fine."
"It would be of no great consequence, were it any one else," saidFaith; "but it would grieve me to have Mr. Holden subjected to anindignity he would feel sensibly. It was through my father's andmy entreaties he attended the meeting, and if censure is to fallanywhere, it ought to alight on us, and not on him, who certainlysupposed he was performing a duty, however much he might be mistaken.Dear doctor, I shall trust in you to watch that no harm befalls him. Ishould forever reproach myself as the cause, if any did."
"You may rely on me, my dear. It is not so much on account of the oldfellow, who richly deserves to be fined and shut up a week forrunning about the country and frightening the children with his longbeard--why my horse started at it the other day--but because you takean interest in him, and I am above all jealousy; therefore, commandme,
'Be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality."
"My commands will not be so difficult to perform, I trust," saidFaith, smiling.
"Understand me metaphorically, parabolically, poetically," cried he,taking leave.
After he was gone Miss Armstrong sat musing over what she had heard.The idea that any annoyance should happen to the Solitary, growingout of a circumstance with which she was in some manner connected,distressed her exceedingly, and, dissatisfied with the meagrestatement of the doctor, she determined to go over to Judge Bernard's,to try to procure more satisfactory information.
"He will, at least," she said, "be better acquainted with the law thanDoctor Elmer, and there is no favor he will refuse me."
But the Judge was unable to add anything of importance. He had heardthe same rumors, but could not vouch for their truth. With regard tothe issuing of a warrant for such a cause, he could not say but thatpersons might be found malignant enough to get one out, and justicesof the peace foolish and ignorant enough to be made their instruments,but if it came to the worst, the penalty could only be a fine, whichhe would gladly pay himself.
"He cannot be imprisoned then?" inquired Miss Armstrong.
"No; they would not dare," he said, to himself in a tone so lowthat Faith could catch only a word or two here and there, "sendhim--disorderly--no settlement--no, no--too bad--might be done. No,Faith," he said, "you need anticipate no serious trouble about your_protege_."
"Cannot we prevent his being arrested? It would mortify himexceedingly."
"For that, perhaps, there is no remedy, but we will see. We are allequally amenable to the laws. But after all, the thing may not benoticed. These may be only rumors put out by some mischievous personto keep Holden away from the village."
"They can have no such effect."
"No: and yet the rogue who invents them may think they will."
"I should not be at all anxious, Faith," said Anne. "Here are myfather, and yours, and my chivalrous brother, and--"
"And Mr. Thomas Pownal," said Faith, smiling, observing she hesitated.
"Yes, and Mr. Pownal; I am sure they would all be happy to spend agreat deal of breath and a little money in your service. They willprotect Father Holden. What are the gentlemen good for, if they cannotgrace a fair lady thus far?"
"And Mistress Anne, should they fail, would, like another Don Quixote,with lance in rest, charge the enemy, and release the captive knight,herself," said her father, pinching her cheek.
"Like Amadis de Gaul, father, and then would I present the captive ofmy sword and lance to you, Faith, though what you would do with him Ido not know."
"Do not let us hear of swords and lances from you, Anne," said hermother. "Thimbles and needles become you better."
"If I had been a man," exclaimed Anne, "and lived in the olden time,how I would have gloried in such an adventure! You, Faith, should havebeen the distressed damsel, I the valorous knight, and Father Holden acaptured seneschal. How would I have slashed around me, and howwould you have blushed, and hung about my neck, and kissed me, when Iappeared leading by the hand your venerable servitor!"
"What! what!" cried her father, "before the seneschal?"
"He would be so old he could not see, or, if he was not, tears of joywould fill his eyes so that they would blind him," said Anne.
"An excellent idea, my dear," said Mrs. Bernard: "hand me myknitting-work."
"What! a knight hand knitting-work?"
"Certainly," said her father. "It is a knight's business and delight,to be employed in the service of the fair."
"Here is your knitting, mamma. I am an enchanted knight, changedby some horrible incantation into a girl," said Anne, resuming herneedle.
"Worth twice all the preux chevaliers from Bayard down," said theJudge, kissing her blooming cheek.
"Who is in great danger of being spoiled by the flattery of her fondfather," said Mrs. Bernard, smiling.
"Dear mother, how can you speak so of an enchanted knight?"
"I will crave your aid in the hour of peril, Sir Knight," said Faith,rising. "Meantime, accept this kiss as guerdon for your good will."
"Or retainer," said the Judge.
Faith left her frien
ds in better spirits than she had met them. Theassurances of Judge Bernard had relieved her mind of a weight ofanxiety. It was evident, she thought, from the manner in which thesubject was treated by the family, that they felt no apprehensions.The gaiety of Anne, too, had not failed of its design. It was, indeed,scarcely possible to be in the presence of this sweet girl withoutfeeling the charm which, like the sun, radiated light and happinessabout her. It was the overflow of an innocent and happy heart, and asnatural to her as light to the sun, or fragrance to the rose.
Faith found her father in the house on her return. She communicated tohim what she had heard, and asked his opinion. He knew, he said, thatwhile there were some--probably the majority--who, regarding Holden'sconduct as only an impropriety, would be disposed to overlook it;there were others who would desire to have him punished, in orderto prevent a repetition of such scenes. "Such," said he, "are thefeelings of the world, but they are not mine. So far from deservingcensure, Holden is entitled to all honor and praise, for he spoke fromthe inspiration of conviction. Nor, whatever may be the attempts toinjure him, will they succeed. As St. Paul shook the deadly viper fromhis hand, so will this man rid himself of his enemies. There are morewith him than against him, and the shining ones are the stronger."
The confidence of her father harmonized so well with the hopes ofFaith, that it was easy to participate in it, nor in the excitementwhich she felt, did his language seem other than proper for theoccasion.