Part 13 (1/2)
”The loyalty of Sir Wycherly seems to be of proof.”
”Oh! Admiral Bluewater,” exclaimed the distressed wife, feeling, momentarily, getting the better of discretion; ”_do_ you--_can_ you call such a desecration of G.o.d's image enjoyment?”
”Not justly, perhaps, Mrs. Dutton; and yet it is what millions mistake for it. This mode of celebrating any great event, and even of ill.u.s.trating what we think our principles, is, I fear, a vice not only of our age, but of our country.”
”And yet, neither you, nor Sir Gervaise Oakes, I see, find it necessary to give such a proof of your attachment to the house of Hanover, or of your readiness to serve it with your time and persons.”
”You will remember, my good, lady, that both Oakes and myself are flag-officers in command, and it would never do for us to fall into a debauch in sight of our own s.h.i.+ps. I am glad to see, however, that Mr.
Wychecombe, here, prefers such society as I find him in, to the pleasures of the table.”
Wycherly bowed, and Mildred cast an expressive, not to say grateful, glance towards the speaker; but her mother pursued the discourse, in which she found a little relief to her suppressed emotion.
”G.o.d be thanked for that!” she exclaimed, half-unconscious of the interpretation that might be put on her words; ”All that we have seen of Mr. Wychecombe would lead us to believe that this is not an unusual, or an accidental forbearance.”
”So much the more fortunate for him. I congratulate you, young sir, on this triumph of principle, or of temperament, or of both. We belong to a profession, in which the bottle is an enemy more to be feared, than any that the king can give us. A sailor can call in no ally as efficient in subduing this mortal foe, as an intelligent and cultivated mind. The man who really _thinks_ much, seldom _drinks_ much; but there are hours--nay, weeks and months of idleness in a s.h.i.+p, in which the temptation to resort to unnatural excitement in quest of pleasure, is too strong for minds, that are not well fortified, to resist. This is particularly the case with commanders, who find themselves isolated by their rank, and oppressed with responsibility, in the privacy of their own cabins, and get to make a companion of the bottle, by way of seeking relief from uncomfortable thoughts, and of creating a society of their own. I deem the critical period of a sailor's life, to be the first few years of solitary command.”
”How true!--how true!” murmured Mrs. Dutton. ”Oh! that cutter--that cruel cutter!”
The truth flashed upon the recollection of Bluewater, at this unguarded, and instantly regretted exclamation. Many years before, when only a captain himself, he had been a member of a court-martial which cas.h.i.+ered a lieutenant of the name of Dutton, for grievous misconduct, while in command of a cutter; the fruits of the bottle. From the first, he thought the name familiar to him; but so many similar things had happened in the course of forty years' service, that this particular incident had been partially lost in the obscurity of time. It was now completely recalled, however; and that, too, with all its attendant circ.u.mstances. The recollection served to give the rear-admiral renewed interest in the unhappy wife, and lovely daughter, of the miserable delinquent. He had been applied to, at the time, for his interest in effecting the restoration of the guilty officer, or even to procure for him, the hopeless station he now actually occupied; but he had sternly refused to be a party in placing any man in authority, who was the victim of a propensity that not only disgraced himself, but which, in the peculiar position of a sailor, equally jeoparded the honour of the country, and risked the lives of all around him. He was aware that the last application had been successful, by means of a court influence it was very unusual to exert in cases so insignificant; and, then, he had, for years, lost sight of the criminal and his fortunes. This unexpected revival of his old impressions, caused him to feel like an ancient friend of the wife and daughter; for well could he recall a scene he had with both, in which the struggle between his humanity and his principles had been so violent as actually to reduce him to tears. Mildred had forgotten the name of this particular officer, having been merely a child; but well did Mrs. Dutton remember it, and with fear and trembling had she come that day, to meet him at the Hall. The first look satisfied her that she was forgotten, and she had struggled herself, to bury in oblivion, a scene which was one of the most painful of her life. The unguarded expression, mentioned, entirely changed the state of affairs.
”Mrs. Dutton,” said Bluewater, kindly taking a hand of the distressed wife; ”I believe we are old friends; if, after what has pa.s.sed, you will allow me so to consider myself.”
”Ah! Admiral Bluewater, my memory needed no admonisher to tell me _that_. Your sympathy and kindness are as grateful to me, now, as they were in that dreadful moment, when we met before.”
”And I had the pleasure of seeing this young lady, more than once, on that unpleasant occasion. This accounts for a fancy that has fairly haunted me throughout the day; for, from the instant my eye fell on Miss Mildred, it struck me that the face, and most of all, its expression, was familiar to me. Certainly it is not a countenance, once seen, easily to be forgotten.”
”Mildred was then but a child, sir, and your recollection must have been a fancy, indeed, as children of her age seldom make any lasting impression on the mind, particularly in the way of features.”
”It is not the features that I recognize, but the expression; and that, I need not tell the young lady's mother, is an expression not so very easily forgotten. I dare say Mr. Wychecombe is ready enough to vouch for the truth of what I say.”
”Hark!” exclaimed Mrs. Dutton, who was sensitively alive to any indication of the progress of the debauch. ”There is great confusion in the dining-room!--I hope the gentlemen are of one mind as respects this rising in Scotland!”
”If there is a Jacobite among them, he will have a warm time of it; with Sir Wycherly, his nephew, and the vicar--all three of whom are raging lions, in the way of loyalty. There does, indeed, seem something out of the way, for those sounds, I should think, are the feet of servants, running to and fro. If the servants'-hall is in the condition I suspect, it will as much need the aid of the parlour, as the parlour can possibly--”
A tap at the door caused Bluewater to cease speaking; and as Wycherly threw open the entrance, Galleygo appeared on the threshold, by this time reduced to the necessity of holding on by the casings.
”Well, sir,” said the rear-admiral, sternly, for he was no longer disposed to trifle with any of the c.r.a.pulous set; ”well, sir, what impertinence has brought you here?”
”No impertinence at all, your honour; we carries none of _that_, in the old Planter. There being no young gentlemen, hereabouts, to report proceedings, I thought I'd just step in and do the duty with my own tongue. We has so many reports in our cabin, that there isn't an officer in the fleet that can make 'em better, as myself, sir.”
”There are a hundred who would spend fewer words on any thing. What is your business?”
”Why, sir, just to report one flag struck, and a commander-in-chief on his beam-ends.”
”Good G.o.d! Nothing has happened to Sir Gervaise--speak, fellow, or I'll have you sent out of this Babel, and off to the s.h.i.+p, though it were midnight.”
”It be pretty much that, Admiral Blue; or past six bells; as any one may see by the s.h.i.+p's clock on the great companion ladder; six bells, going well on to seven--”
”Your business, sir! what has happened to Sir Gervaise?” repeated Bluewater, shaking his long fore-finger menacingly, at the steward.
”We are as well, Admiral Blue, as the hour we came over the Planter's side. Sir Jarvy will carry sail with the best on 'em, I'll answer for it, whether the s.h.i.+p floats in old Port Oporto, or in a brewer's vat.
Let Sir Jarvy alone for them tricks--he wasn't a young gentleman, for nothing.”