Micah Clarke<br />His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During by Arthur Conan Doyle (read e books online free txt) ๐
Read free book ยซMicah Clarke<br />His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During by Arthur Conan Doyle (read e books online free txt) ๐ยป - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Read book online ยซMicah Clarke<br />His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During by Arthur Conan Doyle (read e books online free txt) ๐ยป. Author - Arthur Conan Doyle
โWe are your grateful servants, mistress,โ said he, when the smoking joint and the batter pudding had been placed upon the table. โWe have robbed you of your room. Will you not honour us so far as to sit down with us and share our repast?โ
โNay, kind sir,โ said the portly dame, much flattered by the proposal; โit is not for me to sit with gentles like yourselves.โ
โBeauty has a claim which persons of quality, and above all cavalieros of the sword, are the first to acknowledge,โ cried Saxon, with his little twinkling eyes fixed in admiration upon her buxom countenance. โNay, by my troth, you shall not leave us. I shall lock the door first. If you will not eat, you shall at least drink a cup of Alicant with me.โ
โNay, sir, it is too much honour,โ cried Dame Hobson, with a simper. โI shall go down into the cellars and bring a flask of the best.โ
โNay, by my manhood, you shall not,โ said Saxon, springing up from his seat. โWhat are all these infernal lazy drawers here for if you are to descend to menial offices?โ Handing the widow to a chair he clanked away into the tap-room, where we heard him swearing at the men-servants, and cursing them for a droning set of rascals who had taken advantage of the angelic goodness of their mistress and her incomparable sweetness of temper.
โHere is the wine, fair mistress,โ said he, returning presently with a bottle in either hand. โLet me fill your glass. Ha! it flows clear and yellow like a prime vintage. These rogues can stir their limbs when they find that there is a man to command them.โ
โWould that there were ever such,โ said the widow meaningly, with a languishing look at our companion. โHere is to you, sirโand to ye, too, young sirs,โ she added, sipping at her wine. โMay there be a speedy end to the insurrection, for I judge, from your gallant equipment, that ye be serving the King.โ
โHis business takes us to the West,โ said Reuben, โand we have every reason to hope that there will be a speedy end to the insurrection.โ
โAye, aye, though blood will be shed first,โ she said, shaking her head. โThey tell me that the rebels are as many as seven thousand, and that they swear to give anโ take no quarter, the murderous villains! Alas! how any gentleman can fall to such bloody work when he might have a clean honourable occupation, such as innkeeping or the like, is more than my poor mind can understand. There is a sad difference betwixt the man who lieth on the cold ground, not knowing how long it may be before he is three feet deep in it, and he who passeth his nights upon a warm feather bed, with mayhap a cellar beneath it stocked with even such wines as we are now drinking.โ She again looked hard at Saxon as she spoke, while Reuben and I nudged each other beneath the table.
โThis business hath doubtless increased your trade, fair mistress,โ quoth Saxon.
โAye, and in the way that payeth best,โ said she. โThe few kilderkins of beer which are drunk by the common folk make little difference one way or the other. But now, when we have lieutenants of counties, officers, mayors, and gentry spurring it for very life down the highways, I have sold more of my rare old wines in three days than ever I did before in a calendar month. It is not ale, or strong waters, I promise you, that those gentles drink, but Priniac, Languedoc, Tent, Muscadine, Chiante, and Tokayโnever a flask under the half-guinea.โ
โSo indeed!โ quoth Saxon thoughtfully. โA snug home and a steady income.โ
โWould that my poor Peter had lived to share it with me,โ said Dame Hobson, laying down her glass, and rubbing her eyes with a corner of her kerchief. โHe was a good man, poor soul, though in very truth and between friends he did at last become as broad and as thick as one of his own puncheons. All well, the heart is the thing! Marry come up! if a woman were ever to wait until her own fancy came her way, there would be more maids than mothers in the land.โ
โPrythee, good dame, how runs your own fancy?โ asked Reuben mischievously.
โNot in the direction of fat, young man,โ she answered smartly, with a merry glance at our plump companion.
โShe has hit you there, Reuben,โ said I.
โI would have no pert young springald,โ she continued, โbut one who hath knowledge of the world, and ripe experience. Tall he should be, and of sinewy build, free of speech that he might lighten the weary hours, and help entertain the gentles when they crack a flagon of wine. Of business habits he must be, too, forsooth, for is there not a busy hostel and two hundred good pounds a year to pass through his fingers? If Jane Hobson is to be led to the altar again it must be by such a man as this.โ
Saxon had listened with much attention to the widowโs words, and had just opened his mouth to make some reply to her when a clattering and bustle outside announced the arrival of some traveller. Our hostess drank off her wine and pricked up her ears, but when a loud authoritative voice was heard in the passage, demanding a private room and a draught of sack, her call to duty overcame her private concerns, and she bustled off with a few words of apology to take the measure of the new-comer.
โBody oโ me, lads!โ quoth Decimus Saxon the moment that she disappeared, โye can see how the land lies. I have half a mind to let Monmouth carve his own road, and to pitch my tent in this quiet English township.โ
โYour tent, indeed!โ cried Reuben; โit is a brave tent that is furnished with cellars of such wine as we are drinking. And as to the quiet, my illustrious, if you take up your residence here Iโll warrant that the quiet soon comes to an end.โ
โYou have seen the woman,โ said Saxon, with his brow all in a wrinkle with thought. โShe hath much to commend her. A man must look to himself. Two hundred pounds a year are not to be picked off the roadside every June morning. It is not princely, but it is something for an old soldier of fortune who hath been in the wars for five-and-thirty years, and foresees the time when his limbs will grow stiff in his harness. What sayeth our learned Flemingโโan mulierโโ but what in the name of the devil have we here?โ
Our companionโs ejaculation was called forth by a noise as of a slight scuffle outside the door, with a smothered โOh, sir!โ and โWhat will the maids think?โ The contest was terminated by the door being opened, and Dame Hobson re-entering the room with her face in a glow, and a slim young
Comments (0)