Beau Brocade - Baroness Emmuska Orczy (polar express read aloud TXT) 📗

on the Heath, he viewed with some curiosity, not unmixed with boyish admiration, the tall, well-knit figure of his gallant rescuer. He tried to think of him as the notorious highwayman, Beau Brocade, on whose head the Government had put the price of a hundred guineas.

A hero of romance he was in the hearts of the whole country-side, yet a felon in the eyes of the law. Philip could just see his noble profile, with the well-cut features, the boyish, sensitive mouth, firm chin and straight, massive brow, over which a mass of heavy brown curls clustered in unruly profusion.

A brave man, surely—Philip had experienced that; a wise one too in spite of his youth. Stretton guessed his companion to be still under thirty years of age, and yet there was at times, in spite of the inherently sunny disposition below, a look of melancholy, of disappointment, in the deep grey eyes, which spoke of a wasted life, of opportunities lost perhaps, or of persistent adverse fate.

Through it all there was the quaint air of foppishness, the manners and apperance of a dandy about the Court. The caped coat was dark and serviceable, but it was of the finest cloth and of the latest, most fashionable cut, and beneath it peeped a dainty silk waistcoat, delicately embroidered.

The lace at the throat and wrists was of the finest Mechlin, and the boots, though stout and heavy, betrayed the smallness and the arch of the foot. Though Jack Bathurst had obviously been riding, he carried neither whip nor cane.

All that Philip observed in this rapid walk to the place of shelter which Bathurst had thought out for him, Patience, with a woman’s quick perception, had noted from the first. To her, of course, the Captain was but a gallant stranger, good to look at and replete with all the chivalrous attributes this troubled century called forth in the hearts of her sons. She knew naught of Beau Brocade the highwayman, and probably would have recoiled in horror at thought of connecting the name of a thief with that of her newly-found hero of romance.

She stood in the doorway for some time, watching with glowing eyes the figures of the two men, until they disappeared behind a high clump of gorse: then with a curious little sigh she turned and went within.

John Stich and Mistress Betty were carrying on an animated conversation in a remote corner of the forge. Patience did not wish to disturb them: she was deeply grateful to John, and felt kindly disposed towards the suggestion of romance conveyed by the smith’s obvious appreciation of pretty Mistress Betty.

She crossed the shed, and opening the door at the further end of it, she found that it gave upon a small yard which separated the forge from the cottage, and in which Stich and his mother, who kep house for him, had with tender care succeeded in cultivating a few flowers: only one or two tall hollyhocks, some gay-looking sunflowers, and a few sweet-scented herbs. And on the south aspect a lovely trail of creeping white rose, the kind known as “Five Sisters,” threw its delicate fragrance over this little oasis in the wilderness of the Moor.

And, almost mechanically, whilst her fancy once more went a-roaming in the land of dreams, Patience began to hum the quaint old ditty: “My beautiful white rose.”

Suddenly—at a quick thought mayhap—her eyes grew dim, her cheeks began to burn: she drew towards her a cluster of snowy blossoms, on which the earlier rains had left a mantle of glittering diamonds, and buried her glowing face in its pure, cool depths. Then she detached one lovely white rose from the parent bough, and, sighing, pinned it to her belt.

Chapter XIII

A Proposal and a Threat

Sir Humphrey Challoner had not been long in making up his mind to take Master Mittachip’s pernicious advice. He twisted the old adage that “everything is fair in love” to be a justification of his own evil purpose. He was not by any means a bad man. Save for his somewhat inordinate love of money, he had none of the outrageous vices which were looked upon with leniency in the quality in those days.

He drank hard, and exacted his pound of flesh equally from all his tenants, but neither of these characteristics was unusual in an English squire of the early eighteenth century: a great many of them were impecunious, and all were fond of good cheer. Originally he had meant no harm to the young Earl of Stretton. His plan, as he clumsily conceived it, was to get Philip into trouble first, then to extricate him from it, for the sake of earning the gratitude of the richest heiress in the Midlands and the most beautiful woman in England to boot.

Sir Humphrey Challoner was not a diplomatist: he was a rough country gentleman of that time, with but scant notions of abstract right and wrong where his own desires were at stake.

His original plan had failed through that very Act of Parliament which placed Philip’s life in immediate and imminent peril. Sir Humphrey did not desire the lad’s death: of course not. He had nothing to gain thereby, and only wished for the sister’s hand in marriage. He started for London post-haste, hoping still to use what influence he had, and also what knowledge he possessed of Philip’s attitude at the time of the rebellion, in order to bring about the boy’s justification and release.

That Patience had evidently found a means of proving her brother’s innocence without his help was a bitter disappointment to Sir Humphrey. He knew that she would never marry him of her own free will, but only on compulsion or from gratitude.

The latter was now out of the question. He could do nothing to earn it. Compulsion was the only course, and Mittachip, with crafty persuasion, had shown him the possible way; therefore he went to the forge of John Stich to carry through the plan to that end.

It was close on sunset. On the Moor, gorse, bramble and heather were bathed in ruddy gold, the brilliant aftermath of this glowing September afternoon.

Sir Humphrey had walked over from the Moorhen; as soon as he entered the forge, the first thing he noticed was the beautiful chestnut horse tethered against the door-post, the same which he himself had declared that very day to be worth a small fortune. Fate was obviously playing into his hands. Mittachip had neither deceived him nor lured him with false hopes.

Otherwise the shed was empty: there was no sign of John Stich or of the stranger who rode the chestnut horse. Sir Humphrey went within and, as patiently as he could, set himself to wait.

When therefore Jack Bathurst returned to the forge some few minutes later, he found that her ladyship, Betty and Stich had gone, whilst, sitting on the edge of the rough deal table, and impatiently tapping his boot with a riding-whip, was no less a personage than the Squire of Hartington.

Jack had caught a glimpse of his Honour that night before on the Heath, under circumstances which even now brought a smile to his lips, and which incidentally had made the poor of Brassington richer by fifty guineas.

For a moment he hesitated whether he would go in or no. He had been masked during that incident, of course, and knew not even the A B C of fear. His dare-devil spirit of fun and adventure quickly gained the upper hand, and the next moment he had greeted his Honour with all the courtly grace he had at command.

Sir Humphrey looked at him keenly for a moment or two. Young and well looking! Oft to be seen at the forge at sundown! Odd’s life but …

“Your servant, sir!” he said, returning the salutation.

Sir Humphrey was in on hurry. He firmly believed that Fate had decided to be kind to him in this matter, but he feared to brusque the situation, and thereby to imperil the successful issue of his scheme.

Therefore he passed the time of day with this well-looking stranger, he talked of the weather and the rains on the Moors, the bad state of the roads and the insufficiency of police in the county, of the late rebellion and the newest fashion in coats.

Jack Bathurst seemed to fall into his mood. He was shrewd enough to perceive that Sir Humphrey Challoner was in his own estimation playing a diplomatic game of cat and mouse, and it much intrigued Bathurst to know what his ultimate purpose might be. He had not long to wait; after some five minutes of casual conversation, Sir Humphrey went straight for his goal.

“Odd’s life!” he said suddenly, interrupting his own flow of small talk, “it wonders me how long that rascally smith’ll stay away from his work. Adsbud! but he’s a lazy vagabond. What say you, sir?”

“Nay! you, sir, wrong an honest man,” replied Bathurst. “John Stich is a steady worker. Shall I call him for you? I know my way about his cottage.”

“Nay, I thank you, sir! my purpose can wait. Truth to tell,” added his Honour, carelessly, “‘twas not the blacksmith’s work I needed, but his help in a trifling matter of business.”

“Indeed?”

“You’ll be surprised perhaps at my question, sir, but have you ever heard mention of that fellow, Beau Brocade?”

“Oh! ... vaguely…”

“A highwayman, sir, and a consummate rogue, yet your honest John Stich is said to be his friend.”

“Indeed?”

‘Now, an you’ll believe me, sir, I have a mind to speak with the rascal.”

“Indeed? then you are bolder than most, sir,” said Jack, cheerfully. He was really beginning to wonder what the Squire of Hartington was driving at.

“It seems strange, doesn’t it? but to be frank with you, I’m in two minds about that rogue.”

“How so?”

“Well! I have a score to settle with him, and a business to propose; and I cannot decide which course to adopt.”

“You, sir, being so clever, might perhaps manage both,” said Bathurst, with a touch of sarcasm.

“Hm! I wonder now,” continued Sir Humphrey, not wishing to notice the slight impertinence. “I wonder now what an independent gentleman like yourself would advise me to do. I have not the honour of knowing who you are,” he added with grave condescension, “but I can see that you are, like myself, a gentleman.”

Bathurst bowed in polite acknowledgment.

“I should be proud to serve you with advice, sir, since you desire it.”

“Well! as I have said, I have a score to settle with the rogue. He stole fifty guineas from me last night.”

“Ah me!” sighed Jack, with a melancholy shake of the head, “then I fear me he’ll never haunt the Heath again.”

“What mean you, sir?”

“Nay! I can picture the rascal now, after you, sir, had punished him for his impudence! A mangled, bleeding wreck! But there! I have no pity for him! Daring to measure his valour against your noted prowess!”

“Quite so! quite so!” quoth his Honour, whilst smothering a curse at this more obvious piece of insolence.

“But I entreat your pardon. I was interrupting the story.”

“I saw the rogue, sir,” said Sir Humphrey, glancing significantly at the young man, “saw him clearly by the light of my carriage lanthorns. He was masked, of course, but I’d know him anywhere, and could denounce him to-morrow.”

He had risen to his feet, and with legs apart, standing face to face with Bathurst, he spoke every word as if he meant them to act as a threat.

“There are plenty of soldiers about these parts now, even if the country folk won’t