CHAPTER LXXIII
The terrified eagerness with which Juliet sought personal security, madeher enter the New Forest as unmoved by its beauties, as unobservant ofits prospects, as the 'Dull Incurious[3],' who pursue their course butto gain the place of their destination; unheeding all they meet on theirway, deaf to the songsters of the wood, and blind to the pictures of'God's Gallery[4],' the country.
[Footnote 3: Thomson.]
[Footnote 4: Twining.]
Her steps had no guide but fear, which winged their flight; she soughtno route but that which seemed most private. She flew past, across, awayfrom the high road, without daring to raise her eyes, lest her sightshould be blasted by the view of her dreaded pursuer.
But speed which surpasses strength must necessarily be transitory. Herfeet soon failed; she panted for breath, and was compelled to stop.Fearfully, then, she glanced her eyes around. Nothing met them but treesand verdure. Again she blessed Heaven, and ventured to seat herself uponthe 'wild fantastic roots' of an aged beech-tree.
Here, far removed from the 'busy hum of man,' from all public roads; noteven a beaten path within view, not a sheep-walk, nor a hamlet, nor acottage to be discerned; nor a single domestic animal to announce thevicinity of mortal habitation; here, she began to hope that she hadparried danger, escaped detection, and reached a spot so secluded, thatall probability of pursuit was at an end.
With this flattering idea the freedom of her respiration returned: theywill go on, she thought, from stage to stage, from mile-stone tomile-stone; they will never imagine I should dare thus to turn asidefrom the public way; or, should any unfortunate circumstance lead themto such a surmise, how many chances, how many thousand chances are in myfavour, that they may not fix upon exactly the same direction, as thatto which accident, alone, has been my guide into the mazes of thisintricate forest!
This belief sufficed to attract back to her willing welcome, thatinvincible foe to helpless despondency, Hope; whose magic elasticitywaits not for reason, consults not with probability; weighs notcontending arguments for settling its expectations, or regulating itsdesires; but, airy, blyth, and bright, bounds over every obstacle thatit cannot conquer.
To find some humble dwelling, by travelling on still further from thetowns in which she had been seen, was her immediate project; butprudence forbade her seeking the asylum with Dame Fairfield which shehad pleased herself with thinking secured, lest her arrival should bepreceded by an accusing, or followed by a dangerous report from herhostess of Salisbury. She determined, therefore, to hide herself undersome obscure roof, where she might be utterly unknown; and there toabide, till the fury of the storm by which she feared to be overtaken,should be passed.
No sooner were her spirits, in some degree, calmed, than, with the happypromptitude of youth to set aside evil, all personal fatigue wasinsensibly forgotten; her eyes began to recover their functions; and themoment that she cast them around with abated anxiety, she was soirresistibly struck with the prospect, and invigorated by the purity ofthe ambient air, which exhaled odoriferous salubrity, that, rising freshas from the balmy restoration of undisturbed repose, she mounted ahillock to take a general survey of the spot, and thought all paradisewas opened to her view.
The evening was still but little advanced; the atmosphere was asserenely clear, as the beauties which met her sight were sublimelypicturesque; and the gay luxuriance of the scenery, though chastened byloneliness and silence, invited smiling admiration. Chiefly she wasstruck with the noble aspect of the richly variegated woods, whose agedoaks appeared to be spreading their venerable branches to offer shelterfrom the storms of life, as well as of the elements, charming herimagination by their lofty grandeur; while the zephyrs, which agitatedtheir verdant foliage, seemed but their animation. Soon, however, allobservation was seized and absorbed by the benignant west, where thesun, with glory indescribable and ever new, appeared to be concentratingits refulgence, to irradiate the world with its parting blessing: whilethe extatic wild notes, and warbling, intuitive harmony of the featheredrace, struck her ear as sounds celestial, issuing from the abode ofangels; or to that abode chanting invitation.
Here, for the first time, she ceased to sigh for social intercourse; shehad no void, no want; her mind was sufficient to itself; Nature,Reflection, and Heaven seemed her own! Oh Gracious Providence! shecried, supreme in goodness as in power! What lesson can all theeloquence of rhetoric, science, erudition, or philosophy produce, torestore tranquillity to the troubled, to preserve it in the wise, tomake it cheerful to the innocent,--like the simple view of beautifulnature? so divine in its harmony, in its variety so exquisite! Oh greatCreator! beneficent! omnipotent! thy works and religion are one!Religion! source and parent of resignation! under thy influence howsupportable is every earthly calamity! how supportable, because howtransitory becomes all human woe, where heaven and eternity seem full inview!
Thus, in soul-expanding contemplation, Juliet composed her spirits andrecruited her strength, while she awaited the dusky hue of twilight todiscover some retreat; and not without reluctance she then quitted thedelicious spot, where her weary mind and body had been alike refreshedwith repose and consolation.
Though too much occupied by the certain and cruel danger from which shewas running, to bestow much attention upon the uncertain, yet immediateand local risks to which she might be liable, she was not, now, sorry toregain a beaten track, of which the rugged ruts shewed the recentpassage of a rural vehicle.
In a few minutes, she descried a small cart, directed by a man on foot,who was jovially talking with some companion.
While seeking to discover whether their appearance were such as mightencourage her to ask their assistance upon her way, she was startledwith a cry of 'Why if there ben't Deb. Dyson! O the jeade! if I ben'tvenged of un! a would no' know me this very blessed morning!'
'Deb. Dyson?' answered the other: 'no, a be too slim for Debby. Debby'doutweigh the double o' un.'
'O, belike I do no' know Deb. Dyson?' cried the carter. 'Why I zee her,at five of the clock, at her own door, in that seame bonnet. And I doknow her bonnet of old, for t' be none so new; for I was by when JohnnyAscot gin it her, at our fair, two years agone. I know un well enough, Iva'nt me! A can make herself fat or lean as a wull, can Debby. A be afunny wench, be Debby. But a shall peay me for this trick, I van't me, ajeade!'
Juliet, in the utmost alarm to find herself thus recognised by thecarter, though still supposed to be another, hastily glided back to thewood; cruelly vexed that the very disguise which had hitherto saved herfrom personal discovery, exposed her but additionally to another speciesof peril. She might easily, indeed, by speaking, or by suffering herselfto be looked at, shew the carter his mistake in conceiving her to be ofhis acquaintance; but there would still remain a dangerous appearance ofintimacy with a young woman who was evidently held in light estimation.She quickened, therefore, her pace, and determined to relinquish hersuspicious bonnet by the first opportunity.
In a short time the cackling of fowls, and other sounds of ruralanimation, announced the vicinity of some inhabited spot. She pursuedthis unerring direction, and soon saw, and entered, a small hut; inwhich, though the whole dimensions might have stood in a corner of anylarge hall, without being in the way, she found a father, mother, andseven young children at supper.
Their looks, upon her entrance, were by no means auspicious; the womanscowled at her with an eye of ill will; the man harshly asked what shewanted; the children, who seemed ravenous, squalled and squabbled forfood; and a fierce dog, quitting a half-gnawn bone, to barkvociferously, seemed panting for a sign to leap at and bite her; as aspecies of order to which he was accustomed upon the intrusion of astranger.
Juliet told them that she was going to a neighbouring village; but thatshe had missed her road, and, as it was growing dark, had stopt to beg anight's lodging.
They answered morosely that they had neither bed nor room fortravellers.
Was there any house in the neighbourhood where s
he could beaccommodated?
Aye, there was one, they answered, not afar off, where an old man andhis wife had a spare bed, belonging to their son: but the directionwhich they gave was so intricate that, in the fear of losing her way, oragain encountering the carter, she entreated permission to sit up in thekitchen.
They went on with their supper, now helping, and now scolding theirchildren, and one another, without taking any notice of this request.
To quicken their attention she put half-a-crown upon the table.
The man and woman both rose, bowing and courtsying, and each offeringher their place, and their repast; saying it should go hard but theywould find something upon which she might take a little rest.
She felt mortified that so mercenary a spirit could have found entrancein a sport which seemed fitted to the virtuous innocence of our yetuntainted first parents; or to the guileless hospitality of the poet'sgolden age. She was thankful, however, for their consent, and partook oftheir fare; which she found, with great surprize, required not eitherair or exercise to give it zest: it consisted of scraps of pheasant andpartridge, which the children called _chicky biddy_; and slices of suchfine-grained mutton, that she could with difficulty persuade herselfthat she was not eating venison.
All else that belonged to this rustic regale gave a surprize of anentirely different nature; the nourishment was not more strikinglyabove, than the discourse and general commerce of her new hosts werebelow her expectations. They were rough to their children, and gross toeach other; the woman looked all care and ill humour; the man, allmoroseness and brutality.
Safety, at this moment, was the only search of Juliet; yet, little asshe was difficult with respect to the manner of procuring it, she didnot feel quite at ease, when she observed that the man and his wifespoke to each other frequently apart, in significant whispers, whichevidently, by their looks, had reference to their guest.
Nevertheless, this created but a vague uneasiness, till the childrenwere put to bed; when the man and woman, having given Juliet someclothing, and an old rug for a mattrass, demanded whether she were asound sleeper.
She answered in the affirmative.
They then mounted, by a staircase ladder to their chamber; but, whilethey were shutting a trap-door, which separated the attic-story from thekitchen, Juliet caught the words, 'You've only to turn the darkside ofyour lanthorn, as you pass, mon, and what can a zee then?'
She was now in a consternation of a sort yet new to her. What was thereto be seen?--What ought to be hidden?--Where, she cried, have I castmyself! Have I fallen into a den of thieves?
Her first impulse was to escape; and the moment that all was still overher head, she stept softly to the door, guided by the light of the moon,which gleamed through sundry apertures of an old board, that was placedagainst the casement as a shutter: but the door was locked, and no keywas hung up; nor was any where in sight.
This extraordinary caution in cottagers augmented her alarm. She had,however, no resource but to await the dark lanthorn with steadiness, andto collect all her courage for what might ensue.
She sat upright and watchful, till, by the calculations of probability,she conceived it to be about three o'clock in the morning. Lulled, then,by a hope that her fears were groundless, she was falling insensiblyinto a gentle slumber; when she was aroused by a step without, followedby three taps against the window, and a voice that uttered, in lowaccents, 'Make heaste, or 'twull be light o'er we be back.'
The upper casement was then opened, and the host, in a gruff whisper,answered, 'Be still a moment, will ye? There be one in the kitchen.'
Great as was now the affright of Juliet, she had the presence of mind toconsider, that, whatever was the motive of this nocturnal rendezvous, itwas undoubtedly designed to be secret; and that her own safety mighthang upon her apparent ignorance of what might be going forward.
To obviate, therefore, more effectually any surmize of her alarm, shedropt softly upon the rug, and covered herself with the clothingprovided by her hostess.
She had barely time for this operation before the trap-door wasuplifted, and gently, and without shoes, the man descended. He crossedthe room cautiously, unbolted and unlocked the door, and shut himselfout. Immediately afterwards, the woman, with no other drapery than thatin which she had slept, quickly, though with soft steps, came to theside of the rug, and bent over it for about a minute; she then reboltedand locked the door, returned up the ladder, and closed thetrap-opening.
Juliet, though dismayed as much as astonished, forbore to rise, fromignorance, even could she effect her escape, by what course to avoidencountering the persons whom she meant to fly, in a manner still moredangerous than that of awaiting their return to their own abode; whenceshe hoped she might proceed quietly on her way the next morning, as anobject not worth detention or examination; her homely attire andlaborious manner of travelling alike announcing profitless poverty.
Her doubts of the nature of what she had to apprehend, were as full ofperplexity as of inquietude. Would robbers thus eagerly have caught athalf-a-crown? Would they be residents in a fixed abode, with a family ofchildren? Surely not. Yet the whispers, the cautions, the examinationwhether she slept, evinced clearly something clandestine; and theirlooks and appearance were so darkly in their disfavour, that,ultimately, she could only judge, that, if they were not actual robbers,they were the occasional harbourers, and miserable accomplices of thosewho, to similar want of principle, joined the necessary hardiness forfollowing that brief mode of obtaining a livelihood; brief not alone inits success, but in its retribution!
In a state of disturbance so singular, there was not much danger thatshe should find herself surprised by
'Kind nature's soft restorer, balmy sleep.'[5]
[Footnote 5: Young.]
In less than an hour, three taps again struck her ear, though not uponher own casement; taps so gentle, that had she been less watchful, theywould not have been heard.
The woman instantly descended the ladder, and approached the bedding;over which she leant as before; and, as before, concluded stillness tobe sleep. Cautiously, then, she unbolted and unlocked the door; when,low as were the whispers that ensued, Juliet distinguished threedifferent tones of voice, though she caught not a word that was uttered.
The woman next, gliding across the room, opened a low door, which Juliethad not remarked. The man followed slowly, and as if heavily loaded; thewoman shut him out by this private door, and returned to fasten that ofpublic entrance; whispering 'Good bye!' to some one who seemed to bedeparting. Juliet, at the same time, heard something fall, or throwndown, from within, weighty, and bearing a lumpish sound that made herstart with horrour.
This involuntary and irresistible movement was immediately perceived bythe hostess, who was re-crossing the room, but who, then, precipitatelyadvanced to the bedding, and roughly demanded whether she slept?
Juliet struggled vainly to resume her serene appearance of repose; theshock of her nerves had mounted to her features; she felt her lipsquiver, and her bosom heave, but she had still sufficient presence ofmind to conceal her face by rubbing her eyes, while she asked whether itwere time to breakfast?
Satisfied by this enquiry, the woman answered No; and that she had onlygotten up to let in her husband, who had been abroad upon a little job,for which he had not found leisure in the day: she recommended to her,therefore, to lie still, and fall asleep.
Still, she remained; but sleep was as far from her eyes, as, in such asituation, from her wishes. She sought, however, again to wear itssemblance, while the woman followed her husband through the small door,and shut herself, also, out.
They continued together about half an hour, when, re-entering, they bothre-mounted the ladder; without further examination whether or not theywere observed.
What might this imply? Was it simply that, concluding her to be awake,they deemed caution to be unavailing? or, that their secret businessbeing finished, caution was no longer necessary?
Strange,
also, it appeared to her, their rustic life and residenceconsidered, that they should take such a season for rest, when she sawthe vivid rays of the early sun piercing, through various crevices, intothe apartment.
Raising her head, next, to view the door, which, the preceding night,had escaped her notice, she espied, close to its edge, a large clot ofblood.
Struck with terrour, she started up; and then perceived that the passagefrom door to door was traced with bloody spots.
She remained for some minutes immovable, incapable either to think ofher danger, or to form any plan for her preservation; and whollyabsorbed by the image which this sight presented to her fears, of somevictim to murderous rapacity.
Soon, however, rousing to a sense of her own situation, she determinedupon making a new attempt to escape. She listened beneath the trap-door,to ascertain that all was quiet, and received the most unequivocalassurances, that fatigue and watchfulness had ended in sound sleep.Still, however, she could find no key; but, while fearfully examiningevery corner, she remarked that the low door was merely latched.
Should she here seek some out-let? She recoiled from the sight of theblood; yet it was a sight that redoubled her earnestness to fly.Whatever had been deposited would certainly be concealed: she resolved,therefore, to make the experiment, though her hand shook so violently,that, more than once, it dropt from the latch ere she could open thedoor.
Tremblingly she then crossed the threshold, and found herself in amiserable outer-building, without casements, and encumbered with oldutensils and lumber. She observed a large cupboard which was locked, butof which, from the darkness of the place, she could take no survey. Tothe outward door there was no lock, but it was doubly bolted. She openedit, though not without difficulty, and saw that it led to a smalldisorderly garden, which was hedged round, half planted with potatoes,and half wasted with rubbish. She examined whether there were anyopening by which she might enter the Forest; and discerned a small gate,over which, though it was covered with briars, she believed that shecould scramble.
Nevertheless, she hesitated; she might be heard, or presently missed andpursued; and the vengeance incurred by such a detection of hersuspicions and ill opinion, might provoke her immediate destruction. Itmight be better, therefore, to return; to rise only when called; to paythem another half-crown; and then publicly depart.
Accidentally, while thus deliberating, she touched the handle of a largewicker-basket, and found that it was wet: she held out her hand to thelight, and saw that it was besmeared with blood.
She turned sick; she nearly fainted; she shrunk from her hand withhorrour; yet strove to recover her courage, by ejaculating a ferventprayer.
To re-enter the house voluntarily, was now impossible; she shuddered atthe idea of again encountering her dreaded hosts, and resolved upon aflight, at all risks, from so fearful a dwelling.
She made her way through the enclosure; crossed the briery gate, and,rushing past whatever had the appearance of already trodden ground,dived into a wood; where, trampling down thorns, brambles, and nettles,now braving, now unconscious of their stings, she continued her rapidcourse, till she came within view of a small cottage. There she stopt;not for repose; her troubled mind kept her body still insensible toweariness; but to ponder upon her dreadful suspicions.
Not a moment was requisite to satisfy her upright reason, that todiscover what she had seen, and what she surmised, was an immediate dutyto the community, if, by such a discovery, the community might beserved; however repugnant the measure might be to female delicacy;however cruel to the pleadings of compassion for the children of thehouse; and however adverse to her feelings, to denounce what she couldnot have detected, but from seeking, and finding, a personal asylum indistress.
Yet who was she who must give such information? Anonymous accusationmight be neglected as calumnious; yet how name herself as belonging tothe noble family from which she sprung, but by which she wasunacknowledged? How, too, at a moment when concealment appeared to herto be existence, come forward, a volunteer to public notice? Small asought to be the weight given to a consideration merely selfish, ifopposing the rights of general security; neither law, she thought, norequity, demanded the sacrifice of private and bosom feelings, for anevil already irremediable, where, while the denunciation would beunavailing, the denunciator must be undone.
Appeased thus for the moment, though not satisfied in her scruples, shewalked on towards the dwelling; but, seeing that it was still shut up,she seated herself upon the stump of a large tree, where deaf, frommental occupation, to the wild melody of innumerable surrounding singingbirds, she shudderingly, and without intermission, bathed her bloodyhand in the dew.
Rest, however, to her person, served but to quicken the energy of herfaculties; and the less her fears, the more her judgment prevailed. Herreasoning, upon examination, she found to be plausible but fallacious.The evil already committed, it was, indeed, too late to obviate; but ifthe wretched hut, from which she had just escaped, were the receptacleof nocturnal culprits, or of their victims, there might not be a momentto lose to prevent some new and horrible catastrophe.
In a dilemma thus severe, between the terrour of exposing herself to thepersonal discovery which she was flying to avoid, or the horrour ofomitting the performance of a public duty; she had fixed upon nopositive measure, decided upon nothing that was satisfactory, before thecasements of the cottage were opened.
Not to lose, then, another moment in unprofitable deliberation, sheresolved to communicate to the inhabitants her suspicions, and to urgetheir being made known to the nearest Justice of the Peace. She mightthen, with less scruple, continue her flight; and hereafter, if,unhappily, there should be no other alternative, give her assistance infollowing up the investigation.
She tapped at the cottage-door, and demanded admittance and rest, as aweary traveller.
She was let in, without difficulty, by an old woman, who wasbreakfasting with an old man, upon a rasher of bacon.
It now, with much alarm, occurred to her, that this might be the houseto which she had been directed from the terrible hut. She fearfullyenquired whether they had a spare bed? and, upon receiving an answer inthe affirmative, with the history of their son's absence, not a doubtremained that she had sought refuge with the friends, perhaps theaccomplices, of the very persons from whom she was escaping; and who,should they, through vengeful apprehension, pursue her, would probablybegin their search at this spot.
Affrighted at the idea, yet not daring abruptly to abscond, she forcedherself to sit still while they breakfasted; though unable to converse,and turning with disgust from the sight of food.
The old man and woman, meanwhile, intent solely upon their meal, which,now too hot for their mouths, now too cold for their taste, now too hardfor their teeth, occupied all their discourse; heeded not heruneasiness, and, when she arose and took leave, saw her departure withas little remark as they had seen her entrance.
With a complication of fears she now went forth again; to seek,--not anasylum in the Forest, the beautiful Forest!--but the road by which shemight quit it with the greatest expedition. Where, now, was theenchantment of its prospects? Where, the witchery of its scenery? Allwas lost to her for pleasure, all was thrown away upon her as enjoyment;she saw nothing but her danger, she could make no observation but how toescape what it menaced.
She flew, therefore, from the vicinity of the hut, though with acelerity better adapted to her wishes than to her powers; for, in lessthan half an hour, she was compelled, from utterly exhausted strength,to seat herself upon the turf.
Not yet was she risen, and scarcely was she rested, when she wasstartled by a whistling in the wood, which was presently followed by thesound of two youthful male voices, in merry converse.
To escape notice, she, at first, thought it safest to sit still; but thenearer and nearer approach of feet, made her reflect, that to besurprised, in so unfrequented a spot, at so early an hour in themorning, might be yet more unfavourable to opinion, than b
eing discernedto pace her lonely way, with the quick steps of busy haste or timidcaution. She moved, therefore, on; carefully taking a contrary directionto that whence the voices issued.
She soon found herself bewildered in a thicket, where she could traceno path, and whence she could see no opening. She was felicitatingherself, however, that she had out-run the sounds by which she had beenaffrighted; when she first heard, and next perceived, an immense dog,who, after beating about the bushes at some distance, suddenly made apoint at her, and sprang forward.
Terrour, which puts us into any state but that which is natural,bestows, occasionally, what, in common, it robs us of, presence of mind.Juliet knew that flight, to the intelligent, though dumb friend of man,was well seen to be cowardice, and instinctively judged to be guilt.Aware, therefore, that if she could not appease his fury, it were vainto attempt escaping it, she compelled herself to turn round and facehim; holding out her hand in a caressing attitude, that seemed invitinghis approach; though with difficulty sustaining herself upon her feet,from a dread of being torn to pieces.
The rage, unprovoked, but not inexorable, of the animal, withstood notthis manifestation of kindness: from a pace so rapid, that it seemedmenacing to level her with the earth by a single bound, he abruptlystopt, to look at and consider his imagined enemy; and from a barking,of which the stormy loudness resounded through the forest, his tonechanged to a low though surly growl, in which he seemed to be debatingwith himself, whether to attack a foe, or accept a friend.
The hesitation sufficed to ensure to Juliet the victory. Encouraged by aview of success, her address supplanted her timidity, and, bendingforwards, she called to him with endearing expressions. The dog, caughtby her confidence, made a grumbling but short resistance; and, havingfirst fiercely, and next attentively, surveyed her, wagged his tail insign of accommodation, and, gently advancing, stretched himself at herfeet.
Juliet repaid his trust with the most playful caresses. Good andexcellent animal, she cried, what a lesson of mild philanthropy do youoffer to your masters! The kindness of an instant gains you to astranger, though no unkindness, nor even the hardest usage, can alienateyou from an old friend!
She now flattered herself that, by following as he led, she might have aguide, as well as a protector, to the habitation to which he belonged.She sate by his side, determined to wait his movements, and to pursuehis course. Perfectly contented himself, he basked in the sun-beams thatbroke through the thicket, and was evidently soothed, nay, charmed, bythe fond accents with which she solicited his friendship.
This nearly silent, but expressive intercourse, was soon interrupted bya vociferous Haloo! from a distant part of the wood.
Up started the new companion of Juliet, who arose, also, to accompany,or, at least, to trace his steps. Neither were possible. He darted fromher with the same rapidity, though wide from the same ferocity, as thatwith which he had at first approached her: vain was every soft appeal,lost was every gentle blandishment; in an instant he was out of sight,out of hearing,--she scarcely saw him go ere he was gone. Faithfulcreature! she cried, 'tis surely his master who calls! A new tie mayexcite his benevolence; none can shake his fidelity, nor slacken hisservices.
Alone and unaided, she had now to pierce a passage through the thicket,uncertain whither it might lead, and filled with apprehensions.
But, in a few minutes, greatly to her satisfaction, her new friendre-appeared; wagging his tail, rubbing himself against her gown, andmeeting and returning her caresses.
Her project of obtaining a conductor was now recurring, when again anHaloo! followed by the whistling of two voices, called off her hope; andshewed her that her intended protector belonged to the young men whomshe had been endeavouring to avoid.
She knew not whether it were better, under the auspices of her new ally,to risk begging a direction from these youths, to some house or village;or still to seek her desolate way alone.
She had time only to start, not to solve this doubt; the dog, againreturning, as if unwilling to relinquish his new alliance, began toexcite the curiosity of his masters; who, following, exclaimed, 'Dash avound zomething, zure!' and presently, through the trees, she descriedtwo wood-cutters.
She was seen, also, by them; they scrambled faster on; and one of themsaid,
'Why t'be a girl!'
'Be it?' answered the other; 'why then I'll have a kiss.'
'Not a fore me, mon!' cried his companion, 'vor I did zee her virzt!'
'Belike you did,' the other replied; 'but I zpoke virzt; zo you mun comeafter!'
Juliet now saw herself in a danger more dreadful than any to whicheither misfortune or accident had hitherto exposed her,--the danger ofpersonal and brutal insult. She looked around vainly for succour orredress; the woods and the heavens were alone within view or withinhearing.
The first terrible moment of this alarm was an agony of affright, thatmade her believe herself a devoted victim to outrage: but the momentafter, observing that the young men were beginning to combat forprecedence, a sudden hope of escape revived her courage, and gave wingsto her feet; and, defying every obstacle, she pushed on a passage,through the intricate thicket, almost with the swiftness that she mighthave crossed the smoothest plain, till she arrived at an open spot ofground.
The fear of losing her now ended, though without deciding, the dispute;and the youths ran on together, mutually and loudly shouting familiarappeals, after the fugitive, upon their rights, with entreaties that shewould stop.
Juliet again felt her strength expiring; but where courage is the resultof understanding, if its operation is less immediate than that whichsprings from physical bravery, it is not less certain. The despair,therefore, of saving herself by bodily exertion, presently gave rise toa mental effort, which instigated her to turn round upon herpersecutors, and await and face them; with the same assumed firmness,though not with the offered caresses, with which she had justencountered her four-footed pursuer.
Their surprize at this unexpected action put an end to their dissention;and, each believing her to be alike at the service of either, or ofboth, they laughed coarsely, and came on, arm in arm, and leisurely,together.
Juliet, calling to her assistance her utmost presence of mind, anddignity of manner, stept forward to meet them; and, with an air thatdisguised her apprehensions, said, 'Gentlemen, I have business of greatimportance with the farmer who lives near this place; but I do not knowthe shortest way to his farm. If you will be so obliging as to shew itto me, you may depend upon his handsomely rewarding any trouble that youmay take.'
Their astonishment, now, was encreased; but although, at the wordbusiness, they leered at one another with an air of mockery, her air andmien, with her grave civility and apparent trust, caused, involuntarily,a suspension of their facetious design; and they enquired the name ofthe farmer, whom she was seeking.
She could not immediately, she said, recollect it; but he lived at thenearest farm.
'Why 't-ben't Master Zimmers?' They cried.
'The very same!'
'What, that do live yinder, across the copse?'
'Without any doubt'
They now ogled one another, with a consciousness that persuaded Julietthat this Simmers was their own master; or, perhaps, their father; andshe repeated her request, with reiterated assurances, that aconsiderable recompence would be bestowed upon her conductor.
They looked irresolute, and extremely foolish; Dash, however, was firmlyher friend, and, while they were whispering and hesitating, jumped andcapered from his masters to his new associate, from his new associate tohis masters, with an intelligent delight, that seemed manifesting hisenjoyment of a junction which he had himself brought about.
Juliet shewed so much pleasure in his kindness, that the young men,proud of their dog, and glad, in their embarrassment, to be occupiedrather than to reply, fondled him, in their rough manner, themselves;making him fetch, carry, stand on his hinder legs, leap over their hats,caper, bark, point, and display his various accompl
ishments.
Juliet encouraged this diversion, by patting the dog, applauding histeachers, and stimulating a repetition of every feat; till the youths,charmed by her good fellowship, were insensibly turned aside from theirevil intentions; and soon, and in perfect harmony, they all arrived at aconsiderable farm, upon the borders of the New Forest.