The Pilot (15 page)

"You shall be admitted this very night, and this instant, Captain
Borroughcliffe, We owe it, sir, to your services here, as well as in the
field, and those forward girls shall be humored no longer. Nay, it is
nearly two weeks since I have seen my ward myself; nor have I laid my
eyes on my niece but twice in all that time, Christopher, I leave the
captain under your good care while I go seek admission into the
cloisters, we call that part of, the building the cloisters, because it
holds our nuns, sir! You will pardon my early absence from the table,
Captain Borroughcliffe."

"I beg it may not be mentioned; you leave an excellent representative
behind you, sir," cried the soldier, taking in the lank figure of Mr.
Dillon in a sweeping glance, that terminated with a settled gaze on his
decanter. "Make my devoirs to the recluses, and say all that your own
excellent wit shall suggest as an apology for my impatience, Mr. Dillon,
I meet you in a bumper to their healths and in their honor."

The challenge was coldly accepted; and while these gentlemen still held
their glasses to their lips, Colonel Howard left the apartment, bowing
low, and uttering a thousand excuses to his guest, as he proceeded, and
even offering a very unnecessary apology of the same effect to his
habitual inmate, Mr. Dillon.

"Is fear so very powerful within these old walls," said the soldier,
when the door closed behind their host, "that your ladies deem it
necessary to conceal themselves before even an enemy is known to have
landed?"

Dillon coldly replied:

"The name of Paul Jones is terrific to all on this coast, I believe; nor
are the ladies of St. Ruth singular in their apprehensions."

"Ah! the pirate has bought himself a desperate name since the affair of
Flamborough Head. But let him look to't, if he trusts himself in another
Whitehaven expedition, while there is a detachment of the —th in the
neighborhood, though the men should be nothing better than recruits."

"Our last accounts leave him safe in the court of Louis," returned his
companion; "but there are men as desperate as himself, who sail the
ocean under the rebel flag, and from one or two of them we have had much
reason to apprehend the vengeance of disappointed men. It is they that
we hope we lost in this gale."

"Hum! I hope they were dastards, or your hopes are a little unchristian,
and—"

He would have proceeded, but the door opened, and his orderly entered,
and announced that a sentinel had detained three men, who were passing
along the highway, near the abbey, and who, by their dress, appeared to
be seamen.

"Well, let them pass," cried the captain; "what, have we nothing to do
better than to stop passengers, like footpads on the king's highway!
Give them of your canteens, and let the rascals pass. Your orders were
to give the alarm if any hostile party landed on the coast, not to
detain peaceable subjects on their lawful business."

"I beg your honor's pardon," returned the sergeant; "but these men
seemed lurking about the grounds for no good, and as they kept carefully
aloof from the place where our sentinel was posted, until to-night,
Downing thought it looked suspiciously and detained them."

"Downing is a fool, and it may go hard with him for his officiousness.
What have you done with the men?"

"I took them to the guardroom in the east wings your honor."

"Then feed them; and hark ye, sirrah! liquor them well, that we hear no
complaints, and let them go."

"Yes, sir, yes, your honor shall be obeyed; but there is a straight,
soldierly-looking fellow among them, that I think might be persuaded to
enlist, if he were detained till morning. I doubt, sir, by his walk, but
he has served already."

"Ha! what say you!" cried the captain, pricking up his ears like a hound
who hears a well-known cry; "served, think ye, already?"

"There are signs about him, your honor, to that effect An old soldier is
seldom deceived in such a thing; and considering his disguise, for it
can be no other, and the place where we took him, there is no danger of
a have-us corpses until he is tied to us by the laws of the kingdom."

"Peace, you knave!" said Borroughcliffe, rising, and making a devious
route toward the door; "you speak in the presence of my lord chief
justice that is to be, and should not talk lightly of the laws. But
still you say reason: give me your arm, sergeant, and lead the way to
the east wing; my eyesight is good for nothing in such a dark night. A
soldier should always visit his guard before the tattoo beats."

After emulating the courtesy of their host, Captain Borroughcliffe
retired on this patriotic errand, leaning on his subordinate in a style
of most familiar condescension. Dillon continued at the table,
endeavoring to express the rancorous feelings of his breast by a
satirical smile of contempt, that was necessarily lost on all but
himself, as a large mirror threw back the image of his morose and
unpleasant features.

But we must precede the veteran colonel in his visits to the
"cloisters."

—"And kindness like their own
Inspired those eyes, affectionate and glad,
That seem'd to love whate'er they looked upon;
Whether with Hebe's mirth her features shone,
Or if a shade more pleasing them o'ercast—
Yet so becomingly th' expression past,
That each succeeding look was lovelier than the last."
Gertrude of Wyoming
.

The western wing of St. Ruth house or abbey, as the building was
indiscriminately called, retained but few vestiges of the uses to which
it had been originally devoted. The upper apartments were small and
numerous, extending on either side of a long, low, and dark gallery, and
might have been the dormitories of the sisterhood who were said to have
once inhabited that portion of the edifice; but the ground-floor had
been modernized, as it was then called, about a century before, and
retained just enough of its ancient character to blend the venerable
with what was thought comfortable in the commencement of the reign of
the third George. As this wing had been appropriated to the mistress of
the mansion, ever since the building had changed its spiritual character
for one of a more carnal nature, Colonel Howard continued the
arrangement, when he became the temporary possessor of St. Ruth, until,
in the course of events, the apartments which had been appropriated for
the accommodation and convenience of his niece were eventually converted
into her prison. But as the severity of the old veteran was as often
marked by an exhibition of his virtues as of his foibles, the
confinement and his displeasure constituted the sole subjects of
complaint that were given to the young lady. That our readers may be
better qualified to judge of the nature of their imprisonment, we shall
transport them, without further circumlocution, into the presence of the
two females, whom they must be already prepared to receive.

The withdrawing-room of St. Ruth's was an apartment which, tradition
said, had formerly been the refectory of the little bevy of fair sinners
who sought a refuge within its walls from the temptations of the world.
Their number was not large, nor their entertainments very splendid, or
this limited space could not have contained them. The room, however, was
of fair dimensions, and an air of peculiar comfort, mingled with
chastened luxury, was thrown around it, by the voluminous folds of the
blue damask curtains that nearly concealed the sides where the deep
windows were placed, and by the dark leathern hangings, richly stamped
with cunning devices in gold, that ornamented the two others. Massive
couches in carved mahogany, with chairs of a similar material and
fashion, all covered by the same rich fabric that composed the curtains,
together with a Turkey carpet, over the shaggy surface of which all the
colors of the rainbow were scattered in bright confusion, united to
relieve the gloomy splendor of the enormous mantel, deep heavy cornices,
and the complicated carvings of the massive woodwork which cumbered the
walls. A brisk fire of wood was burning on the hearth, in compliment to
the willful prejudice of Miss Plowden, who had maintained, in her most
vivacious manner, that sea-coal was "only tolerable for blacksmiths and
Englishmen." In addition to the cheerful blaze from the hearth, two
waxen lights, in candlesticks of massive silver, were lending their aid
to enliven the apartment. One of these was casting its rays brightly
along the confused colors of the carpet on which it stood, flickering
before the active movements of the form that played around it with light
and animated inflections. The posture of this young lady was infantile
in grace, and, with one ignorant of her motives, her employment would
have been obnoxious to the same construction. Divers small square pieces
of silk, strongly contrasted to each other in color, lay on every side
of her, and were changed, as she kneeled on the floor, by her nimble
hands, into as many different combinations as if she was humoring the
fancies of her sex, or consulting the shades of her own dark but rich
complexion in the shop of a mercer. The close satin dress of this young
female served to display her small figure in its true proportions, while
her dancing eyes of jet black shamed the dyes of the Italian
manufacturer by their superior radiance. A few ribbons of pink, disposed
about her person with an air partly studied, and yet carelessly
coquettish, seemed rather to reflect than lend the rich bloom that
mantled around her laughing countenance, leaving to the eye no cause to
regret that she was not fairer.

Another female figure, clad in virgin white, was reclining on the end of
a distant couch. The seclusion in which they lived might have rendered
this female a little careless of her appearance, or, what was more
probable, the comb had been found unequal to its burden; for her
tresses, which rivaled the hue and gloss of the raven, had burst from
their confinement, and, dropping over her shoulders, fell along her
dress in rich profusion, finally resting on the damask of the couch, in
dark folds, like glittering silk. A small hand, which seemed to blush at
its own naked beauties, supported her head, embedded in the volumes of
her hair, like the fairest alabaster set in the deepest ebony. Beneath
the dark profusion of her curls, which, notwithstanding the sweeping
train that fell about her person, covered the summit of her head, lay a
low spotless forehead of dazzling whiteness, that was relieved by two
arches so slightly and truly drawn that they appeared to have been
produced by the nicest touches of art. The fallen lids and long silken
lashes concealed the eyes that rested on the floor, as if their mistress
mused in melancholy. The remainder of the features of this maiden were
of a kind that is most difficult to describe, being neither regular nor
perfect in their several parts, yet harmonizing and composing a whole
that formed an exquisite picture of female delicacy and loveliness.
There might or there might not have been a tinge of slight red in her
cheeks, but it varied with each emotion of her bosom, even as she mused
in quiet, now seeming to steal insidiously over her glowing temples, and
then leaving on her face an almost startling paleness. Her stature, as
she reclined, seemed above the medium height of womanhood, and her
figure was rather delicate than full, though the little foot that rested
on the damask cushion before her displayed a rounded outline that any of
her sex might envy.

"Oh! I'm as expert as if I were signal officer to the lord high admiral
of this realm!" exclaimed the laughing female on the floor, clapping her
hands together in girlish exultation. "I do long, Cecilia, for an
opportunity to exhibit my skill."

While her cousin was speaking, Miss Howard raised her head, with a faint
smile, and as she turned her eyes toward the other, a spectator might
have been disappointed, but could not have been displeased, by the
unexpected change the action produced in the expression of her
countenance.

Instead of the piercing black eyes that the deep color of her tresses
would lead him to expect, he would have beheld two large, mild, blue
orbs, that seemed to float in a liquid so pure as to be nearly invisible
and which were more remarkable for their tenderness and persuasion, than
for the vivid flashes that darted from the quick glances of her
companion.

"The success of your mad excursion to the seaside, my cousin, has
bewildered your brain," returned Cecilia; "but I know not how to conquer
your disease, unless we prescribe salt water for the remedy, as in some
other cases of madness."

"Ah! I am afraid your nostrum would be useless," cried Katherine; "it
has failed to wash out the disorder from the sedate Mr. Richard
Barnstable, who has had the regimen administered to him through many a
hard gale, but who continues as fair a candidate for Bedlam as ever.
Would you think it, Cicely, the crazy one urged me, in the ten minutes'
conversation we held together on the cliffs, to accept of his schooner
as a shower-bath!"

"I can think that your hardihood might encourage him to expect much, but
surely he could not have been serious in such a proposal!"

"Oh! to do the wretch justice, he did say something of a chaplain to
consecrate the measure, but there was boundless impudence in the
thought. I have not, nor shall I forget it, or forgive him for it, these
six-and-twenty years. What a fine time he must have had of it, in his
little Ariel, among the monstrous waves we saw tumbling in upon the
shore to-day, coz! I hope they will wash his impudence out of him! I do
think the man cannot have had a dry thread about him, from sun to sun. I
must believe it as a punishment for his boldness, and, be certain, I
shall tell him of it. I will form half a dozen signals, this instant, to
joke at his moist condition, in very revenge."

Pleased with her own thoughts, and buoyant with the secret hope that Her
adventurous undertaking would be finally crowned with complete success,
the gay girl shook her black locks, in infinite mirth, and tossed the
mimic flags gaily around her person, as she was busied in forming new
combinations, in order to amuse herself with her lover's disastrous
situation. But the features of her cousin clouded with the thoughts that
were excited by her remarks, and she replied, in a tone that bore some
little of the accents of reproach: