The Black Moth: A Romance of the XVIIIth Century Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE BITER BIT

  With John Carstares the winter had passed quite uneventfully. Hecontinued his highway robbery, but he made two bad blunders--not fromthe point of view of a thief, but from that of the gentleman in him. Thefirst was when he stopped an opulent-looking chariot, which he found tocontain two ladies, their maid and their jewels, and the second when theoccupant of a large travelling coach chanced to be an old gentleman whopossessed far greater courage than physical strength. On the firstoccasion my lord's dismay had been ludicrous, and he had hastily retiredafter tendering a naive apology. The old gentleman in the second episodehad defied him so gallantly that he had impulsively offered him the buttend of one of his pistols. The old man was so surprised that he allowedthe weapon to fall to the ground, where it exploded quite harmlessly,sending up a cloud of dust and smoke. Carstares then begged his pardonmost humbly, assisted him back into his coach, and rode off before theastonished Mr. Dunbar had time to collect his wits.

  The robbing was not carried out in a very scientific manner, for, as hasbeen seen, Carstares could not bring himself to terrorise women or oldmen, and there only remained the young and the middle-aged gentlemen,one of whom Jack offered to fight for the possession of his jewels. Hischallenge was promptly accepted by the man, who happened to possess astrong sense of humour, and probably saw a chance of saving hisbelongings in the offer. He had been speedily worsted, but Carstares wasso pleased with a particularly neat thrust which he had executed, thathe forwent half the booty, and the pair of them divided the contents ofthe jewel-box by the roadside, the sporting gentleman keeping his mostvalued belongings and giving Jack the surplus. They parted on the verybest of terms, and all Carstares got out of the episode was a littlesword practice and a few trinkets.

  When day came he was patrolling the west side of Sussex, beyondMidhurst, not because he thought it a profitable part, but because heknew and loved the country. One late afternoon towards the end of themonth he rode gaily into one of the small villages that nestle amongstthe Downs, and made his way down the quaint main street to the GeorgeInn, where he drew rein and dismounted. At his call an aged ostlerhobbled out of a side door, chewing an inevitable straw, and aftereyeing the newcomer and his steed for an appreciable length of time,evidently decided that they were worthy of his attention, for he cameforward, remarking that it had been a pleasant day.

  Carstares agreed with him, and volunteered the information that it wouldbe another fine day to-morrow, if the sunset were to be trusted. To thisthe ostler replied that he, for one, never trusted to no red sunsets,and added darkly that there warn't nothing so deceitful to his manner o'thinking. He'd known it be such a red sunset as never was, and yet bea-pouring with rain all next day.... Should he take the mare?

  Carstares shook his head.

  "No, I thank you. I remain here but a few moments. I doubt she's thirstythough--eh, Jenny?"

  "Water, sir?"

  "For her, yes. For myself I fancy a tankard of your home-brewed ale.Stand, Jenny!" He turned away and walked up the steps to the inn door.

  "Be you a-going to leave her there, sir--a-standing all by herself?"inquired the man, surprised.

  "Why, yes! She's docile enough."

  "Well! Seems to me a risky thing to leave a hoss--and a skittish hoss atthat--a-standing loose in the road. Ye won't be tying her to a post,master?"

  Carstares leaned his arms on the balustrade and looked down at them.

  "I will not. She'd be very hurt at such treatment, wouldn't you, lass?"

  Jenny tossed her head playfully, as if in agreement, and the ostlerscratched his head, looking from her to my lord:

  "A'most seems as if she understands what you be a-saying to her, sir!"

  "Of course she understands! Don't I tell you 'tis a clever little lady?If I call her now she'll come up these steps to me, and not all theostlers in Christendom could stop her."

  "Don't'ee go for to do it, sir!" urged the old man, backing. "She mustbe uncommon fond o' ye?"

  "She'd be a deal fonder of you if you'd fetch her a drink," hinted Jackbroadly.

  "Ay, sir! I be a-going this werry instant!" And with many an anxiousglance over his shoulder at the perfectly quiet mare, he disappearedthrough an open doorway into the yard.

  When Carstares, tankard of ale in hand, emerged from the inn and sathimself down on one of the benches that stood against the wall, themare was drinking thirstily from a bucket which the ancient one held forher.

  "'Tis a wunnerful fine mare, sir," he remarked at length, after acareful inspection of her points.

  Carstares nodded pleasantly, and surveyed Jenny through half-shut eyes.

  "I think so every time I look at her," he said.

  "I should think she could get a bit of a pace on her, sir? Mebbe ye'vetried her racing?"

  "No, she wasn't brought up to that. But she's fast enough."

  "Ay, sir. No vices?"

  "Lord, no!"

  "Don't kick neither?"

  "Not with me."

  "Ah! they allus knows who'll stand it and who won't."

  Jack drained his tankard, and setting it down on the bench beside him,rose to his feet.

  "She'd not dream of kicking a friend. Jenny!"

  The ostler watched her pick her way towards her master, coquetting withher head, and sidling round him in the most playful manner possible. Aslow smile dawned on the man's face.

  "Ah, it be a purty sight to watch her--so it be!" he said, and receiveda guinea from Jack, who never tired of listening to praise of hisbeloved Jenny.

  Carstares remounted, nodded farewell to the ostler and rode leisurely ondown the street, soon branching off to the right into a typical Sussexlane, where he trotted between uneven hedges, sweet with blossom andwith May, and placid fields rolling away on either side, upwards untilthey merged into the undulating hills, barely discernible in the gloom,that are the downs. It was a wonderfully calm evening, with only agentle west wind blowing, and the moon already shining faintly in thedark sky. There was nothing beyond the sound of the mare's hoofs tobreak the beautiful stillness of it all.

  He rode for some way without meeting a soul, and when at the end of anhour someone did chance along the road it was only a labourer returninghome to his supper after a long day in the fields. John bade him acheery good evening and watched him pass on down the road humming.

  After that he met no one. He rode easily along for miles, into thefast-gathering darkness. He was frowning as he rode, thinking.

  Curiously enough, it was on his penniless days in France that his minddwelt this evening. He had resolutely thrust that dark time behind him,determined to forget it, but there were still days when, try as hemight, he could not prevent his thoughts flying back to it.

  With clenched teeth he recalled the days when he, the son of an Earl,had taught fencing in Paris for a living.... Suddenly he laughedharshly, and at the unusual sound the mare pricked up her ears andsidled uneasily across the road. For once no notice was taken of her,and she quickened her pace with a flighty toss of her head....

  He thought how he, the extravagant John, had pinched and scraped andsaved rather than go under; how he had lived in one of the poorer_quartiers_ of the city, alone, without friends--nameless.

  Then, cynically now, he reviewed the time when he had taken to drinking,heavily and systematically, and had succeeded in pulling himself up atthe very brink of the pit he saw yawning before him.

  Next the news of his mother's death.... John passed over that quickly.Even now the thought of it had the power of rousing in him all the oldmisery and impotent resentment.

  His mind sped on to his Italian days. On his savings he had travelled toFlorence, and from there he went gradually south, picking up all thelatest arts and subtleties of fence on the way.

  The change of scene and of people did much to restore his spirits. Hisdevil-may-care ways peeped out again; he started to gamble on the littlemoney he had left. For once Fortune proved kind; he doubled a