By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico by G. A. Henty (great novels txt) 📕

As soon as he could get free from the crowd, he went to a money changer's, and obtained Spanish gold in exchange for his bar. Then he purchased, at a clothier's, a suit of garments of Spanish fashion and, putting these on, was able to move about without attracting observation.

Amenche did not disembark until after nightfall, but Roger's first care after landing was to purchase a chestful of garments, fit for a Spanish lady of rank, and to send them out to the vessel. Having sent these off, he made his way down to the port and, inquiring among the sailors, found that an English ship would sail on the following day.

Hiring a boat, he went on board. He determined to maintain his character as a Spaniard to the last, as he would thereby avoid all questions; and it was, accordingly, in that language that he arranged for a passage for himself and his wife, the captain taking him for a Spanish gentleman having business with the Court in London.

Having settled this, Roger returned on board and, late in the evening, was rowed with Amenche to the English ship, which was to sail early the next morning. The wind was favorable, and the ship made a quick passage. The captain and sailors amused Roger by their comments on his appearance. Never, they agreed, had they seen a Spaniard of such size and strength before.

"He stands six feet three, if he is an inch," an old sailor said, "and he is as broad as any man I ever saw. He is never a bit like a Spaniard in appearance, with his blue eyes and light brown hair. If you were to put him in good English broadcloth, and teach him to talk like a Christian, no one would dream he was other than an Englishman. The Spaniards generally have solemn faces, but this chap looks as if he could laugh and joke with the best of us. One could almost swear that he understood what I am saying, now."

Roger was several times tempted to say that he did understand, but he kept his counsel.

As soon as they landed, near London Bridge, they went to an inn; and when the sailors who had carried his trunk for him had left, he addressed the landlord in English.

"Can you direct me to a clothier, where I can obtain suitable clothes?" he said. "I have been staying in Spain and, having been wrecked and lost all my outfit, had to rig myself in Spanish fashion. I also wish to purchase clothing of English fashion for my wife."

"I thought you were an Englishman, by your looks," the landlord said; "though the fashion of your clothes was altogether foreign, and you speak, too, with a strange accent."

For indeed, Roger found the English words come with difficulty; after having, for nearly six years, spoken nothing but Mexican and Spanish.

"I have been some time away," he said; "and have been talking with the Spaniards until I have well-nigh forgotten my own tongue."

Two hours later, he was attired in the fashion of a well-to-do merchant; and Amenche made, as he told her, the prettiest wife merchant ever had. They stayed for a week in London, Amenche being greatly amused and interested in all she saw. At the end of that time, having purchased a stout horse, and a sword to defend himself against any robbers he might meet with on the way, Roger started to ride down to Plymouth, with Amenche behind him on a pillion.

Six days after leaving London they entered the town, and Roger, having seen Amenche comfortably bestowed at the principal inn, took his way to the house of Master Diggory Beggs. The latter was in his shop, and came forward, bowing, as Roger entered it.

"What can I do for you today, good sir?" he said. "I have goods of all sorts and kinds: Italian work and Spanish; silks, and satins, and velvets."

"I would have a talk with you alone, Master Beggs. I am the bearer of a message from an old friend of yours. If you will grant me a few minutes' talk, we may do business together."

"By all means," the merchant said, thinking that such an introduction offered some important transactions. "Will you be good enough to follow me?" and he led the way upstairs.

Dame Mercy was sitting at work with her youngest daughter when they entered the room, Diggory saying:

"Please to leave, Dame. This gentleman and I have business of importance to discuss together."

"There is no occasion for you to leave us," Roger said. "My business is not so private but that you and Mistress Agnes may hear us."

"You know my daughter's name!" Dame Beggs exclaimed, in surprise.

"The gentleman comes with a message from an old friend of ours," Diggory said; "and has doubtless heard him mention our daughter's name."

"And Dorothy," Roger asked; "she is well, I hope."

"My eldest daughter was married, three months since," Dame Mercy replied.

Roger gave an exclamation of satisfaction.

"And so none of you know me?" he asked. "And yet, you are but little changed; except that Mistress Agnes has grown into a young woman, whereas she was but a child when I parted from her."

Diggory Beggs and his wife gazed at Roger in astonishment. Agnes stood up, with her hands tightly clasped together.

"It is Roger," she cried. "Oh, mother! It is Roger, come back to us."

"I am Roger, sure enough, aunt," he said, stooping and kissing her; and then shaking hands with his uncle, and kissing Agnes.

"And your father," Diggory asked, "and the Swan?"

"It is a sad story," Roger said. "A very sad story, uncle. Six years ago, the Swan was wrecked on the coast of Tabasco; and every soul, save myself, lost."

It was a blow for Diggory Beggs. He had, indeed, long since given up all hope of ever seeing his cousin Reuben, or of obtaining any return for the capital he had embarked on the Swan; but the sight of Roger had, for a moment, raised his hopes that the venture had, after all, been productive. However, he speedily recovered himself.

"I am grieved to hear it, Roger, though in no ways surprised. For two years we looked for your return; but we have all, long since, given up hope, and written off our shares in the Swan as lost money. I am sorry for Reuben, very sorry, for I loved him like a brother.

"Well, well, do not let us talk about it, now. You are restored to us, safe and sound; and though the loss was a heavy one, and crippled me for a time, I have got over it.

"Now, tell us what have you been doing, ever since. And by what miracle have you returned, safe and sound?"

"It is a long story, uncle. A very long story. But before I begin it, I may tell you that, though the ship and its venture were lost, I myself have returned by no means penniless; and can, indeed, repay to the full all the money expended upon the Swan and her outfit.

"Now I want you all to come round with me to the inn, for there I have left a lady whom I would fain introduce to you."

"Your wife?" Mistress Mercy cried. "You don't say you have brought home a wife, Roger?"

"That do I, aunt. She is a princess, in her own country; but what is much better, she is the dearest of women, and all but gave her life to save mine."

Mistress Mercy looked grave, and was about to speak, when Roger interrupted her.

"I know what you are about to say, aunt. The thought of having a foreign woman for your niece is shocking to you. Never mind, leave it unsaid, until you have seen her.

"But as we go, let us call in and see Dorothy, and take her on with us. I should wish her to be one of the first to welcome my wife."

Dorothy was as astonished as the others had been, when they arrived at her house with Roger; and cast a meaning glance at him, when she heard that he had brought home a wife.

"I know what you are thinking of, Dorothy--our parting on the hoe."

Dorothy laughed.

"I meant it when I said it, Dorothy, and meant it for a good time afterwards. It was only when it seemed that I should never come back again that I fell in love with some one else; and when you have heard my story, and know what she did for me, and how much I owe her, and come to love her for herself, you won't blame me."

"I don't blame you one bit, Roger," she said, frankly. "When you went away, we thought we cared for each other; but of course we were only boy and girl then, and when I grew up and you did not come home, and it seemed that you never would come home, as you say, I fell in love with someone else.

"And now I will put on my hood, and come round and see your wife. What is her name?"

"Her name is Amenche," Roger said; "and Amenche I mean to call her. When she was christened--for of course she had to be christened before we were married--Father Olmedo said she must have a Christian name, and christened her Caterina; but for all that her name is Amenche, and we mean to stick to it.

"But come along; she has been an hour alone in this strange place, already, and must begin to think that I have run away from her."

Dorothy and Agnes were at once won by the soft beauty of the dark-skinned princess; and when, that evening, Roger told the story of all that had taken place in Mexico, Dame Mercy's last prejudice vanished, and she took Amenche in her arms and kissed her tenderly.

"My dear," she said, "Roger has always been as a son to me, and henceforth you will be as one of my daughters."

As to Diggory, his delight and satisfaction were almost too great for words. He was overjoyed that Roger had returned, vastly gratified that the money he expended on the Swan was to be repaid, and greatly captivated by Amenche.

The princess could speak but a few words of English, for Roger had been afraid to commence her tuition in that language until they were safely in England: but she was greatly pleased with the welcome she received; and began, for the first time, to feel that someday she might come to regard this strange country as home.

There was a long talk, between Roger and his uncle, as to the steps that should be taken. It was agreed that, now Spain and England were so closely allied, it would be imprudent in the extreme to allow it to become known that the Swan had sailed for the Western Indies, or that Roger had obtained wealth there; for if it came to the ears of the Court--and such strange news would travel fast--it might well be that a ruinous fine might be imposed upon all concerned in the matter. Therefore, it was arranged that nothing whatever should be said about it; but that it should be given out that the Swan had been wrecked in foreign parts; and that Roger, who had been sole survivor of the wreck, had settled abroad and made money there, and had married a foreign lady.

More than that, it would be unnecessary to tell. The gems could be sent over, a few at a time, to Amsterdam; and there sold to merchants who would care nothing whence they came; and the partners of Diggory Beggs, in the venture of the Swan, would be only too glad to receive their money back again, and to ask no questions as to how it had been obtained. And so matters were carried out.

For some months, Roger remained in nominal partnership with his uncle; and then bought a large estate, a few miles out of the town, where he set up as a country gentleman. He was, for a time, somewhat shyly looked upon by the magistrates of the county, who deemed it an unheard-of thing for a Plymouth merchant thus to settle among them; but in time he was accepted, especially after it became known that, when he went up to town, he held his place among the highest there, and kept a state and expenditure equal to that of many of the nobles.

His wife was remarkable, not only for her beauty, but for the richness of her jewels, many of which were fashioned in a way such as had never before been seen at the English Court. As time went on, and the relations between England and Spain grew cold, there was no longer any occasion for secrecy; and little by little it became known that the Swan had sailed to the Spanish