CHAPTER LXII

THE KING MUST NOT BE PRAYED FOR

[Illustration: 575.jpg Lynmouth]

All our neighbourhood was surprised that the Doones had not ere now

attacked, and probably made an end of us. For we lay almost at their

mercy now, having only Sergeant Bloxham, and three men, to protect us,

Captain Stickles having been ordered southwards with all his force;

except such as might be needful for collecting toll, and watching the

imports at Lynmouth, and thence to Porlock. The Sergeant, having now

imbibed a taste for writing reports (though his first great effort had

done him no good, and only offended Stickles), reported weekly from

Plover's Barrows, whenever he could find a messenger. And though we fed

not Sergeant Bloxham at our own table, with the best we had (as in the

case of Stickles, who represented His Majesty), yet we treated him so

well, that he reported very highly of us, as loyal and true-hearted

lieges, and most devoted to our lord the King. And indeed he could

scarcely have done less, when Lizzie wrote great part of his reports,

and furbished up the rest to such a pitch of lustre, that Lord Clarendon

himself need scarce have been ashamed of them. And though this cost a

great deal of ale, and even of strong waters (for Lizzie would have it

the duty of a critic to stand treat to the author), and though it was

otherwise a plague, as giving the maid such airs of patronage, and such

pretence to politics; yet there was no stopping it, without the risk

of mortal offence to both writer and reviewer. Our mother also, while

disapproving Lizzie's long stay in the saddle-room on a Friday night and

a Saturday, and insisting that Betty should be there, was nevertheless

as proud as need be, that the King should read our Eliza' s writings--at

least so the innocent soul believed--and we all looked forward to

something great as the fruit of all this history. And something great

did come of it, though not as we expected; for these reports, or as many

of them as were ever opened, stood us in good stead the next year, when

we were accused of harbouring and comforting guilty rebels.

Now the reason why the Doones did not attack us was that they were

preparing to meet another and more powerful assault upon their fortress;

being assured that their repulse of King's troops could not be looked

over when brought before the authorities. And no doubt they were right;

for although the conflicts in the Government during that summer and

autumn had delayed the matter yet positive orders had been issued that

these outlaws and malefactors should at any price be brought to justice;

when the sudden death of King Charles the Second threw all things into

confusion, and all minds into a panic.

We heard of it first in church, on Sunday, the eighth day of February,

1684-5, from a cousin of John Fry, who had ridden over on purpose from

Porlock. He came in just before the anthem, splashed and heated from his

ride, so that every one turned and looked at him. He wanted to create a

stir (knowing how much would be made of him), and he took the best way

to do it. For he let the anthem go by very quietly--or rather I should

say very pleasingly, for our choir was exceeding proud of itself, and

I sang bass twice as loud as a bull, to beat the clerk with the

clarionet--and then just as Parson Bowden, with a look of pride at his

minstrels, was kneeling down to begin the prayer for the King's Most

Excellent Majesty (for he never read the litany, except upon Easter

Sunday), up jumps young Sam Fry, and shouts,--

“I forbid that there prai-er.”

“What!” cried the parson, rising slowly, and looking for some one to

shut the door: “have we a rebel in the congregation?” For the parson was

growing short-sighted now, and knew not Sam Fry at that distance.

“No,” replied Sam, not a whit abashed by the staring of all the parish;

“no rebel, parson; but a man who mislaiketh popery and murder. That

there prai-er be a prai-er for the dead.”

“Nay,” cried the parson, now recognising and knowing him to be our

John's first cousin, “you do not mean to say, Sam, that His Gracious

Majesty is dead!”

“Dead as a sto-un: poisoned by they Papishers.” And Sam rubbed his hands

with enjoyment, at the effect he had produced.

“Remember where you are, Sam,” said Parson Bowden solemnly; “when did

this most sad thing happen? The King is the head of the Church, Sam Fry;

when did he leave her?”

“Day afore yesterday. Twelve o'clock. Warn't us quick to hear of 'un?”

“Can't be,” said the minister: “the tidings can never have come so

soon. Anyhow, he will want it all the more. Let us pray for His Gracious

Majesty.”

And with that he proceeded as usual; but nobody cried “Amen,” for fear

of being entangled with Popery. But after giving forth his text, our

parson said a few words out of book, about the many virtues of His

Majesty, and self-denial, and devotion, comparing his pious mirth to the

dancing of the patriarch David before the ark of the covenant; and he

added, with some severity, that if his flock would not join their pastor

(who was much more likely to judge aright) in praying for the King, the

least they could do on returning home was to pray that the King might

not be dead, as his enemies had asserted.

Now when the service was over, we killed the King, and we brought him to

life, at least fifty times in the churchyard: and Sam Fry was mounted on

a high gravestone, to tell every one all he knew of it. But he knew no

more than he had told us in the church, as before repeated: upon which

we were much disappointed with him, and inclined to disbelieve him;

until he happily remembered that His Majesty had died in great pain,

with blue spots on his breast and black spots all across his back, and

these in the form of a cross, by reason of Papists having poisoned him.

When Sam called this to his remembrance (or to his imagination) he was

overwhelmed, at once, with so many invitations to dinner, that he scarce

knew which of them to accept; but decided in our favour.

Grieving much for the loss of the King, however greatly it might be (as

the parson had declared it was, while telling us to pray against it) for

the royal benefit, I resolved to ride to Porlock myself, directly after

dinner, and make sure whether he were dead, or not. For it was not by

any means hard to suppose that Sam Fry, being John's first cousin, might

have inherited either from grandfather or grandmother some of those

gifts which had made our John so famous for mendacity. At Porlock I

found that it was too true; and the women of the town were in great

distress, for the King had always been popular with them: the men, on

the other hand, were forecasting what would be likely to ensue.

And I myself was of this number, riding sadly home again; although bound

to the King as churchwarden now; which dignity, next to the parson's in

rank, is with us (as it ought to be in every good parish) hereditary.

For who can stick to the church like the man whose father stuck to it

before him; and who knows all the little ins, and great outs, which must

in these troublous times come across?

But though appointed at last, by virtue of being best farmer in the

parish (as well as by vice of mismanagement on the part of my mother,

and Nicholas Snowe, who had thoroughly mixed up everything, being too

quick-headed); yet, while I dwelled with pride upon the fact that I

stood in the King's shoes, as the manager and promoter of the Church of

England, and I knew that we must miss His Majesty (whose arms were above

the Commandments), as the leader of our thoughts in church, and handsome

upon a guinea; nevertheless I kept on thinking how his death would act

on me.

And here I saw it, many ways. In the first place, troubles must break

out; and we had eight-and-twenty ricks; counting grain, and straw, and

hay. Moreover, mother was growing weak about riots, and shooting, and

burning; and she gathered the bed-clothes around her ears every night,

when her feet were tucked up; and prayed not to awake until morning. In

the next place, much rebellion (though we would not own it; in either

sense of the verb, to “own”) was whispering, and plucking skirts, and

making signs, among us. And the terror of the Doones helped greatly;

as a fruitful tree of lawlessness, and a good excuse for everybody.

And after this--or rather before it, and first of all indeed (if I must

state the true order)--arose upon me the thought of Lorna, and how these

things would affect her fate.

And indeed I must admit that it had occurred to me sometimes, or been

suggested by others, that the Lady Lorna had not behaved altogether

kindly, since her departure from among us. For although in those days

the post (as we call the service of letter-carrying, which now comes

within twenty miles of us) did not extend to our part of the world, yet

it might have been possible to procure for hire a man who would ride

post, if Lorna feared to trust the pack-horses, or the troopers, who

went to and fro. Yet no message whatever had reached us; neither any

token even of her safety in London. As to this last, however, we had no

misgivings, having learned from the orderlies, more than once, that

the wealth, and beauty, and adventures of young Lady Lorna Dugal were

greatly talked of, both at court and among the common people.

Now riding sadly homewards, in the sunset of the early spring, I was

more than ever touched with sorrow, and a sense of being, as it were,

abandoned. And the weather growing quite beautiful, and so mild that the

trees were budding, and the cattle full of happiness, I could not but

think of the difference between the world of to-day and the world of

this day twelvemonth. Then all was howling desolation, all the earth

blocked up with snow, and all the air with barbs of ice as small

as splintered needles, yet glittering, in and out, like stars, and

gathering so upon a man (if long he stayed among them) that they began

to weigh him down to sleepiness and frozen death. Not a sign of life

was moving, nor was any change of view; unless the wild wind struck the

crest of some cold drift, and bowed it.

Now, on the other hand, all was good. The open palm of spring was laid

upon the yielding of the hills; and each particular valley seemed to be

the glove for a finger. And although the sun was low, and dipping in the

western clouds, the gray light of the sea came up, and took, and taking,

told the special tone of everything. All this lay upon my heart, without

a word of thinking, spreading light and shadow there, and the soft

delight of sadness. Nevertheless, I would it were the savage snow around

me, and the piping of the restless winds, and the death of everything.

For in those days I had Lorna.

Then I thought of promise fair; such as glowed around me, where the

red rocks held the sun, when he was departed; and the distant crags

endeavoured to retain his memory. But as evening spread across them,

shading with a silent fold, all the colour stole away; all remembrance

waned and died.

“So it has been with love,” I thought, “and with simple truth and

warmth. The maid has chosen the glittering stars, instead of the plain

daylight.”

Nevertheless I would not give in, although in deep despondency

(especially when I passed the place where my dear father had fought in

vain), and I tried to see things right and then judge aright about them.

This, however, was more easy to attempt than to achieve; and by the time

I came down the hill, I was none the wiser. Only I could tell my mother

that the King was dead for sure; and she would have tried to cry, but

for thought of her mourning.

There was not a moment for lamenting. All the mourning must be ready (if

we cared to beat the Snowes) in eight-and-forty hours: and, although

it was Sunday night, mother now feeling sure of the thing, sat up with

Lizzie, cutting patterns, and stitching things on brown paper, and

snipping, and laying the fashions down, and requesting all opinions, yet

when given, scorning them; insomuch that I grew weary even of tobacco

(which had comforted me since Lorna), and prayed her to go on until the

King should be alive again.

The thought of that so flurried her--for she never yet could see a

joke--that she laid her scissors on the table and said, “The Lord

forbid, John! after what I have cut up!”

“It would be just like him,” I answered, with a knowing smile: “Mother,

you had better stop. Patterns may do very well; but don't cut up any

more good stuff.”

“Well, good lack, I am a fool! Three tables pegged with needles! The

Lord in His mercy keep His Majesty, if ever He hath gotten him!”

By this device we went to bed; and not another stitch was struck until

the troopers had office-tidings that the King was truly dead. Hence the

Snowes beat us by a day; and both old Betty and Lizzie laid the blame

upon me, as usual.

Almost before we had put off the mourning, which as loyal subjects we

kept for the King three months and a week; rumours of disturbances, of

plottings, and of outbreak began to stir among us. We heard of fighting

in Scotland, and buying of ships on the continent, and of arms in Dorset

and Somerset; and we kept our beacon in readiness to give signals of a

landing; or rather the soldiers did. For we, having trustworthy reports

that the King had been to high mass himself in the Abbey of Westminster,

making all the bishops go with him, and all the guards in London, and

then tortured all the Protestants who dared to wait outside, moreover

had received from the Pope a flower grown in the Virgin Mary's garden,

and warranted to last for ever, we of the moderate party, hearing all

this and ten times as much, and having no love for this sour James,

such as we had for the lively Charles, were ready to wait for what might

happen, rather than care about stopping it. Therefore we listened to

rumours gladly, and shook our heads with gravity, and predicted, every

man something, but scarce any two the same. Nevertheless, in our part,

things went on as usual, until the middle of June was nigh. We ploughed

the ground, and sowed the corn, and tended the cattle, and heeded every

one his neighbour's business, as carefully as heretofore; and the only

thing that moved us much was that Annie had a baby. This being a very

fine child with blue eyes, and christened “John” in compliment to me,

and with me for his godfather, it is natural to suppose that I thought

a good deal about him; and when mother or Lizzie would ask me, all of a

sudden, and treacherously, when the fire flared up at supper-time (for

we always kept a little wood just alight in summer-time, and enough to

make the pot boil), then when they would say to me, “John, what are

you thinking of? At a word, speak!” I would always answer, “Little John

Faggus”; and so they made no more of me.

But when I was down, on Saturday the thirteenth of June, at the

blacksmith's forge by Brendon town, where the Lynn-stream runs so close

that he dips his horseshoes in it, and where the news is apt to come

first of all to our neighbourhood (except upon a Sunday), while we were

talking of the hay-crop, and of a great sheep-stealer, round the corner

came a man upon a piebald horse looking flagged and weary. But seeing

half a dozen of us, young, and brisk, and hearty, he made a flourish

with his horse, and waved a blue flag vehemently, shouting with great

glory,--

[Illustration: 582.jpg Waved a blue flag vehemently]

“Monmouth and the Protestant faith! Monmouth and no Popery! Monmouth,

the good King's eldest son! Down with the poisoning murderer! Down with

the black usurper, and to the devil with all papists!”

“Why so, thou little varlet?” I asked very quietly; for the man was too

small to quarrel with: yet knowing Lorna to be a “papist,” as we choose

to call them--though they might as well call us “kingists,” after the

head of our Church--I thought that this scurvy scampish knave might show

them the way to the place he mentioned, unless his courage failed him.

“Papist yourself, be you?” said the fellow, not daring to answer much:

“then take this, and read it.”

And he handed me a long rigmarole, which he called a “Declaration”: I

saw that it was but a heap of lies, and thrust it into the blacksmith's

fire, and blew the bellows thrice at it. No one dared attempt to stop

me, for my mood had not been sweet of late; and of course they knew my

strength.

The man rode on with a muttering noise, having won no recruits from us,

by force of my example: and he stopped at the ale-house farther down,

where the road goes away from the Lynn-stream. Some of us went thither

after a time, when our horses were shodden and rasped, for although we

might not like the man, we might be glad of his tidings, which seemed to

be something wonderful. He had set up his blue flag in the tap-room, and

was teaching every one.

“Here coom'th Maister Jan Ridd,” said the landlady, being well pleased

with the call for beer and cider: “her hath been to Lunnon-town, and

live within a maile of me. Arl the news coom from them nowadays, instead

of from here, as her ought to do. If Jan Ridd say it be true, I will try

almost to belave it. Hath the good Duke landed, sir?” And she looked at

me over a foaming cup, and blew the froth off, and put more in.

“I have no doubt it is true enough,” I answered, before drinking; “and

too true, Mistress Pugsley. Many a poor man will die; but none shall die

from our parish, nor from Brendon, if I can help it.”

And I knew that I could help it; for every one in those little places

would abide by my advice; not only from the fame of my schooling and

long sojourn in London, but also because I had earned repute for being

very “slow and sure”: and with nine people out of ten this is the very

best recommendation. For they think themselves much before you in wit,

and under no obligation, but rather conferring a favour, by doing the

thing that you do. Hence, if I cared for influence--which means, for

the most part, making people do one's will, without knowing it--my first

step toward it would be to be called, in common parlance, “slow but

sure.”

For the next fortnight we were daily troubled with conflicting rumours,

each man relating what he desired, rather than what he had right, to

believe. We were told that the Duke had been proclaimed King of England

in every town of Dorset and of Somerset; that he had won a great battle

at Axminster, and another at Bridport, and another somewhere else;

that all the western counties had risen as one man for him, and all

the militia had joined his ranks; that Taunton, and Bridgwater, and

Bristowe, were all mad with delight, the two former being in his hands,

and the latter craving to be so. And then, on the other hand, we heard

that the Duke had been vanquished, and put to flight, and upon being

apprehended, had confessed himself an impostor and a papist as bad as

the King was.

We longed for Colonel Stickles (as he always became in time of war,

though he fell back to Captain, and even Lieutenant, directly the fight

was over), for then we should have won trusty news, as well as good

consideration. But even Sergeant Bloxham, much against his will, was

gone, having left his heart with our Lizzie, and a collection of all

his writings. All the soldiers had been ordered away at full speed for

Exeter, to join the Duke of Albemarle, or if he were gone, to follow

him. As for us, who had fed them so long (although not quite for

nothing), we must take our chance of Doones, or any other enemies.

Now all these tidings moved me a little; not enough to spoil appetite,

but enough to make things lively, and to teach me that look of wisdom

which is bred of practice only, and the hearing of many lies. Therefore

I withheld my judgment, fearing to be triumphed over, if it should

happen to miss the mark. But mother and Lizzie, ten times in a day,

predicted all they could imagine; and their prophecies increased in

strength according to contradiction. Yet this was not in the proper

style for a house like ours, which knew the news, or at least had known

it; and still was famous, all around, for the last advices. Even from

Lynmouth, people sent up to Plover's Barrows to ask how things were

going on: and it was very grievous to answer that in truth we knew not,

neither had heard for days and days; and our reputation was so great,

especially since the death of the King had gone abroad from Oare parish,

that many inquirers would only wink, and lay a finger on the lip, as if

to say, “you know well enough, but see not fit to tell me.” And before

the end arrived, those people believed that they had been right all

along, and that we had concealed the truth from them.

For I myself became involved (God knows how much against my will and my

proper judgment) in the troubles, and the conflict, and the cruel work

coming afterwards. If ever I had made up my mind to anything in all my

life, it was at this particular time, and as stern and strong as could

be. I had resolved to let things pass,--to hear about them gladly, to

encourage all my friends to talk, and myself to express opinion upon

each particular point, when in the fullness of time no further doubt

could be. But all my policy went for nothing, through a few touches of

feeling.

One day at the beginning of July, I came home from mowing about noon, or

a little later, to fetch some cider for all of us, and to eat a morsel

of bacon. For mowing was no joke that year, the summer being wonderfully

wet (even for our wet country), and the swathe falling heavier over the

scythe than ever I could remember it. We were drenched with rain almost

every day; but the mowing must be done somehow; and we must trust to God

for the haymaking.

In the courtyard I saw a little cart, with iron brakes underneath it,

such as fastidious people use to deaden the jolting of the road; but few

men under a lord or baronet would be so particular. Therefore I wondered

who our noble visitor could be. But when I entered the kitchen-place,

brushing up my hair for somebody, behold it was no one greater than our

Annie, with my godson in her arms, and looking pale and tear-begone.

And at first she could not speak to me. But presently having sat down a

little, and received much praise for her baby, she smiled and blushed,

and found her tongue as if she had never gone from us.

“How natural it all looks again! Oh, I love this old kitchen so! Baby

dear, only look at it wid him pitty, pitty eyes, and him tongue out of

his mousy! But who put the flour-riddle up there. And look at the pestle

and mortar, and rust I declare in the patty pans! And a book, positively

a dirty book, where the clean skewers ought to hang! Oh, Lizzie, Lizzie,

Lizzie!”

“You may just as well cease lamenting,” I said, “for you can't alter

Lizzie's nature, and you will only make mother uncomfortable, and

perhaps have a quarrel with Lizzie, who is proud as Punch of her

housekeeping.”

“She,” cried Annie, with all the contempt that could be compressed in a

syllable. “Well, John, no doubt you are right about it. I will try not

to notice things. But it is a hard thing, after all my care, to see

everything going to ruin. But what can be expected of a girl who knows

all the kings of Carthage?”

“There were no kings of Carthage, Annie. They were called, why let me

see--they were called--oh, something else.”

“Never mind what they were called,” said Annie; “will they cook our

dinner for us? But now, John, I am in such trouble. All this talk is

make-believe.”

“Don't you cry, my dear: don't cry, my darling sister,” I answered,

as she dropped into the worn place of the settle, and bent above her

infant, rocking as if both their hearts were one: “don't you know,

Annie, I cannot tell, but I know, or at least I mean, I have heard the

men of experience say, it is so bad for the baby.”

“Perhaps I know that as well as you do, John,” said Annie, looking up at

me with a gleam of her old laughing: “but how can I help crying; I am in

such trouble.”

“Tell me what it is, my dear. Any grief of yours will vex me greatly;

but I will try to bear it.”

“Then, John, it is just this. Tom has gone off with the rebels; and you

must, oh, you must go after him.”

[Illustration: 586.jpg Tailpiece]