Part 33 (1/2)

”No, sir, it isn't that sort of thing, at all,” returned the fine boy, blus.h.i.+ng a little, in spite of his contempt for any such womanly weakness; ”you know we never talk of that nonsense in our squadron. With us it's all service, and that sort of thing. Jack Oldcastle says the Clevelands are all civilians, as he calls 'em; or _soldiers_, which isn't much better, as you know, sir. Now, I tell him that there is an old picture of one of 'em, with an anchor-b.u.t.ton, and that was long before Queen Anne's time--Queen Elizabeth's, perhaps,--and then you know, sir, I fetch him up with a yarn about the Hedworths; for I am just as much Hedworth as Cleveland.”

”And what does the impudent dog say to that, Geoffrey?”

”Why, sir, he says the name should be spelt Head_work_, and that they were all _lawyers_. But I gave him as good as he sent for that saucy speech, I'm certain!”

”And what did you give him, in return for such a compliment? Did you tell him the Oldcastles were just so much stone, and wood, and old iron; and that, too, in a tumbledown condition?”

”No, sir, not I,” answered the boy, laughing; ”I didn't think of any answer half so clever; and so I just gave him a dig in the nose, and that, laid on with right good will.”

”And how did he receive that argument? Was it conclusive;--or did the debate continue?”

”Oh, of course, sir, we fought it out. 'Twas on board the Dover, and the first lieutenant saw fair play. Jack carried too many guns for me, sir, for he's more than a year older; but I hulled him so often that he owned it was harder work than being mast-headed. After that the Dover's chaps took my part, and they said the Hedworths had no Head_work_ at all, but they were regular sailors; admirals, and captains, and youngsters, you know, sir, like all the rest of us. I told 'em my grandfather Hedworth was an admiral, and a good one, too.”

”In that you made a small mistake. Your mother's father was only a _general_; but _his_ father was a full admiral of the red,--for he lived before that grade was abolished--and as good an officer as ever trod a plank. He was my mother's brother, and both Sir Gervaise and myself served long under his orders. He was a sailor of whom you well might boast.”

”I don't think any of the Plantagenets will chase in that quarter again, sir; for we've had an overhauling among our chaps, and we find we can muster four admirals, two commodores, and thirteen captains in our two messes; that is, counting all sorts of relatives, you know, sir.”

”Well, my dear boy, I hope you may live to reckon all that and more too, in your own persons, at some future day. Yonder is Sir Reginald Wychecombe, coming this way, to my surprise; perhaps he wishes to see me alone. Go down to the landing and ascertain if my barge is ash.o.r.e, and let me know it, as soon as is convenient. Remember, Geoffrey, you will go off with me; and hunt up Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, who will lose his pa.s.sage, unless ready the instant he is wanted.”

The boy touched his cap, and went bounding down the hill to execute the order.

CHAPTER XVIII.

”So glozed the Tempter, and his poison tuned; Into the heart of Eve his words made way, Though at the voice much marvelling.”

MILTON.

It was, probably, a species of presentiment, that induced Bluewater to send away the mids.h.i.+pman, when he saw the adherent of the dethroned house approaching. Enough had pa.s.sed between the parties to satisfy each of the secret bias of the other; and, by that sort of free-masonry which generally accompanies strong feelings of partisans.h.i.+p, the admiral felt persuaded that the approaching interview was about to relate to the political troubles of the day.

The season and the hour, and the spot, too, were all poetically favourable to an interview between conspirators. It was now nearly dark; the head-land was deserted, Dutton having retired, first to his bottle, and then to his bed; the wind blew heavily athwart the bleak eminence, or was heard scuffling in the caverns of the cliffs, while the portentous clouds that drove through the air, now veiled entirely, and now partially and dimly revealed the light of the moon, in a way to render the scene both exciting and wild. No wonder, then, that Bluewater, his visiter drawing near, felt a stronger disposition than had ever yet come over him to listen to the tale of the tempter, as, under all the circ.u.mstances, it would scarcely exceed the bounds of justice to call Sir Reginald.

”In seeking you at such a spot, and in the midst of this wild landscape,” said the latter, ”I might have been a.s.sured I should be certain of finding one who really loved the sea and your n.o.ble profession. The Hall is a melancholy house, just at this moment; and when I inquired for you, no one could say whither you had strolled. In following what I thought a seaman's instinct, it appears that I did well.--Do my eyes fail me, or are there no more than three vessels at anchor yonder?”

”Your eyes are still good, Sir Reginald; Admiral Oakes sailed several hours since, and he has been followed by all the fleet, with the exception of the two line-of-battle s.h.i.+ps, and the frigate you see; leaving me to be the last to quit the anchorage.”

”Is it a secret of state, or are you permitted to say whither so strong a force has so suddenly sailed?” demanded the baronet, glancing his dark eye so expressively towards the other as to give him, in the growing obscurity, the appearance of an inquisitor. ”I had been told the fleet would wait for orders from London?”

”Such was the first intention of the commander-in-chief; but intelligence of the sailing of the Comte de Vervillin has induced Sir Gervaise to change his mind. An English admiral seldom errs when he seeks and beats an active and dangerous enemy.”

”Is this always true, Admiral Bluewater?” returned Sir Reginald, dropping in at the side of the other, and joining in his walk, as he paced, to and fro, a short path that Dutton called his own quarter-deck; ”or is it merely an unmeaning generality that sometimes causes men to become the dupes of their own imaginations. Are those _always_ our enemies who may seem to be so? or, are we so infallible that every feeling or prejudice may be safely set down as an impulse to which we ought to submit, without questioning its authority?”

”Do you esteem it a prejudice to view France as the natural enemy of England, Sir Reginald?”

”By heaven, I do, sir! I can conceive that England may be much more her own enemy than France has ever proved to be. Then, conceding that ages of warfare have contributed to awaken some such feeling as this you hint at, is there not a question of right and wrong that lies behind all?

Reflect how often England has invaded the French soil, and what serious injuries she has committed on the territory of the latter, while France has so little wronged us, in the same way; how, even her throne has been occupied by our princes, and her provinces possessed by our armies.”

”I think you hardly allow for all the equity of the different cases.

Parts of what is now France, were the just inheritance of those who have sat on the English throne, and the quarrels were no more than the usual difficulties of neighbourhood. When our claims were just in themselves, you surely could not have wished to see them abandoned.”