Part 1 (1/2)
Roger Willoughby
by Willialad to find you at last I have been hunting up and down along the cliffs for the last hour or an to fear that you must have been carried off by a Barbary corsair, or spirited away on the end of Mother shi+pton's broo lad of sixteen, dressed in the costu cloth coat of unobtrusive hue, knee-breeches, high-heeled shoes with large buckles, a thick neckcloth tied in a bow, and a high-crowned, broad-brimmed hat; but the brim of the lad's hat was looped up on one side by a rosette of silver lace, his shoe-buckles were of massive silver, his neckcloth was of silk, and his coat of fine cloth, betokening that he was of the rank of a gentleman, and that, if a Puritan, he had taken no se
”Faith! I had no idea that I had been so long hidden away in my cosy nook, and if you had not ferreted h have lain _perdu_ for another hour or er, a sturdy blue-eyed boy, apparently a year or two younger than Stephen Battisob, and of the saayer colours and less precise cut than that of his friend, was somewhat threadbare, and put on as if he had not troubled hi the art of navigation, and begin to hope that I shall be able to sail a shi+p through distant seas as well as Drake or Cavendish, or Sir Martin Frobisher, or Sir Richard Grenville, or the great Christopher Coluallant deeds,” he continued, holding up a sress thisas I expected to do, for I have ever and anon been watching yonder fine shi+p, which has long been in sight, striving to beat down Channel against this light westerly breeze, but for soress, or rather has been drifting back to the eastward”
”It see in this way,” observed Stephen, shading his eyes with his hand froht as is the wind slips swiftly through the water”
”Would that I were on board of her!” exclaie lands of which I have read in Master Purchas _Pilgri to visit those regions, and to behold with hts they present!”
”Many, you should understand, arefables-- such as Sir John de Mandeville would make us believe aboutabout with their heads under their arms, and cities of marble, the s of precious stones, and the streets paved with gold, and such like extravagances,” observed Stephen ”I much doubt also whether your father will readily accede to your wishes Think hoould grieve should any of the many e on the treacherous ocean”
”My father knows that Ior other, and he would be well pleased were I to coold of Golconda to restore the ier, still looking eagerly towards the approaching shi+p
”Day-dreah, but very unlikely to come true,” said Stephen in a somewhat sententious tone, such as he considered became one of his mature years If the truth were to have been known, however, Master Stephen Battisob was apt to indulge in day-drea and robes, or even a seat on the Woolsack, were not beyond his aspirations
He now added, ”But we er See, the sun is already at his height in the heavens; an we delay the Colonel and Mada late to dinner”
”I a and watching the shi+p in the offing ”But tell ?”
”I caht join us in reatly in our woods of late Not finding you, I would fain, I own, have remained in the house to enjoy the society of sweet Mistress Alice, but Mada that she required her aid in the manufacture of some conserves, sent rateful to you for coht have remained in my nest mayhap till the sun had sunk behind Beer Head out yonder,” said Roger, beginning to cliladly, however, reet a better sight of her”
To this, however, Stephen would not consent, for the reason he had already given, and Roger also well knew that his uncle, Colonel Tregellen, would be displeased should they not appear at the regular dinner-hour
Roger Willoughby's cosy nook, as he called it, was a small hollow in the cliff a few feet frorowth of purple bramble, scented clematis, pink thorn, and other shrubs, which formed a complete shelter from all but southerly winds, and likewise concealed it fro the downs above It was on a part of the Dorsetshi+re coast between Lyme and Bridport, almost in the centre of the extensive bay which has Portland Bill on its eastern side and the Start Point on the west To the right could be seen Lowesdon Hill and Pillesdon Pen rising above the surrounding country, while to the left a line of precipitous cliffs extended in a bold sweep for several ht of the Gilten Cap, visible to the e of srass and corn, orchards and woods, amid which appeared here and there a church steeple, the roof of a farable-end of soer accompanied Stephen Battisob with evident reluctance, and turnedshi+p which had so attracted his attention
”Sheto coo on board her,” he exclai up to wait till the tide turns,” said Stephen in a tone of indifference ”If you have a fancy for visiting her, the sooner we get back to Eversden the more time you will have to accooing; but as we do not know the character of the vessel, he may doubt whether the trip is a safe one--she may be a pirate, or a trader in want of hands, and may kidnap you and your boathed heartily as Stephen ceased speaking ”We need not fear any danger of that sort,” he said ”My father is not so over-careful of me as you suppose Neither he nor the Colonel will say o alone”
”No! no!--if you go I will go with you,” answered Stephen ”I ht not be disappointed”
”I knoell that I can always trust you, and that you are ever ready to please er ”But, as you say, it were a pity to lose time--so ill hasten on to the er, ill return to the shore and get Ben Rullock and his boy Toby to put us aboard the stranger See, she is still standing in for the land, and she would certainly not co”
The boys had now reached the highest part of the downs After this, having to descend to the cultivated ground, they lost sight of the shi+p
Making a short cut across some fields enclosed by stone walls, they reached a lane with hedges on either side, along which they proceeded for a mile or more, as snake-like it twisted and turned in various directions, till, crossing what froh as full of ruts and holes as the lane, they passed through a gateway, the entrance to an avenue of fine beech-trees The once stout gate shook and creaked on its rusty hinges as they pushed it open; the keeper's lodge was in ruins, burnt down o, for the marks of fire were still visible on the portions of the walls seen between the ivy and other creepers partially covering the up the avenue, soon reached a substantial house of sohly constructed wooden bridge, where once a drawbridge had existed across the narrowest part, directly in front of the chief entrance Thewas a porch of stone, handsoht side of it was a breadth of ith several s, and at the end what appeared froeat the gable-end had been bricked up, a few loopholes only being left in it On the other side of the porch was a still e hall, and beyond that again was a square stone tower, serving in the eyes of the architect as a balance to the chapel
The moat was a sufficient distance from the house to allow of a roadway round it to the back, where, guarded by a high wall, the offices and stables, the cow-house, the piggeries and poultry-yard, were situated