Fiction > Serialisations > London, 1896-1897 - St. Ives > Volume 13

ST. IVES. 413
Under this soothing reflection I composed myself to slumber ; and awoke, to my
surprise and annoyance, in a miserable flutter of the nerves. And this fretfulness
increased with the hours, so that from Amiens to the coast Mr. Romaine must
have had the devil of a time with me. I bolted my meals at the way-houses,
chafing all the while at the business of the relays. I popped up and down in the
caliche like a shot on a hot shovel. I cursed our pace. I girded at the lawyer's
snuffbox, and could have called him out upon Calais sands, when we reached
them, to justify his vile methodical use of it. By good fortune we arrived to find
the packet ready with her warps, and bundled ourselves on board in a hurry. We
sought separate cabins for the night ; and in mine, as in a sort of moral bath, the
drastic cross-seas of the Channel cleansed me of my irritable humour, and left me
like a rag, beaten and hung on a clothes-line to the winds of heaven.
In the grey of the morning we disembarked at Dover ; and here Mr. Romaine
had prepared a surprise for me. For as we drew to the shore and the throng of
porters and waterside loafers, on what should my gaze alight but the beaming
countenance of Mr. Rowley ! I declare it communicated a roseate flush to the
pallid cliffs of Albion. I could have fallen on his neck. On his side the honest
lad kept touching his hat and grinning in a speechless ecstasy. As he confessed
to me later, " It was either hold my tongue, sir, or call for three cheers ! " He
snatched my valise and ushered us through the crowd to our hotel and breakfast.
And it seemed he must have filled up his time at Dover with trumpetings of our
importance : for the landlord welcomed us on the perron, obsequiously cringing ;
we entered in a respectful hush that might have flattered his Grace of Wellington
himself; and the waiters, I believe, would have gone on all fours but for the
difficulty of reconciling that posture with efficient service. I knew myself at last
for a Personage — a great English landowner ; and did my best to command the
mien proper to that tremendous class when, the meal despatched, we passed out
between the bowing ranks to the door, where our chaise stood ready.
" But hullo ! " said I at sight of it, and my eye sought Rowley's.
" Begging your pardon, sir, but I took it on myself to order the colour, and
hoping it wasn't a liberty."
"Claret and invisible green — a replica, but for a bullet-hole wanting."
" Which I didn't like to go so far on my own hook, Mr. Anne."
" We fight under the old colours, my lad."
" And walk in and win this time, sir, strike me lucky ! "
While we bowled along the first stage towards London — Mr. Romaine and I
within the chaise, and Rowley perched upon the dickey— I told the lawyer of our
anabasis from Aylesbury to Kirkby-Lonsdale. He took snuff.
" Forsitan et hcec olim, — that Rowley of yours seems a good-hearted lad, and
less of a fool than he looks. The next time I have to travel post with an impatient
lover, I'll take a leaf out of his book and buy me a flageolet."
"Sir, it was ungrateful of me "
"Tut, tut, Mr. Anne! I was fresh from my little triumph, that is all; and
perhaps would have felt the better for a word of approbation — a little pat on the
back, as I may say. It is not often that I have felt the need of it — twice or
thrice in my life, perhaps ; not often enough to justify my anticipating your example
and seeking a wife betimes : for that is a man's one chance if he wants another
to taste his success."
" And yet I dare swear you rejoice in mine unselfishly enough."
" Why, no, sir. Your cousin would have sent me to the right-about within a
week of his succession. Still I own to you that he offended something at least as