Fanetta. A novel

Front matter

FANETTA FANETTA A NOVEL BY ERNEST MAURICE DE PARIS REMINGTON AND COMPANY, LIMITED LONDON : 15, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN AND SYDNEY 1895 All Rights Reserved CONTENTS. Chap. Page Prologue ----- i i. Mrs. Mayne "At Home" - - 30 n. Introduces Mr. Morson - - 51 in. Another Proposal - 69 iv. Admiral Vincey spins a Yarn - 93 v. The End of the Season - - 1 1 1 vi. A Rencontre - - - - 1 20 vii. A Day on the River- - - 132 viii. Mr. Morson Transacts Business - 157 ix. Mr. Morson Makes a Discovery 169 x. A Country Drive - - - 179 xi. The Pencillers' Club - - 202 xii. An Explosion - 223 xiii. Fanetta Leaves Her Home - 242 xiv Florence Goes to the City - - 266 xv. A Quiet Wedding - - - 292 xvi. The Old Barn - - - -311 xvn. Mr Morson is Distressed - 324 xvin. As it was in the Beginning - - 334 xix. News for the Papers - - 349 xx. Conclusion - - - - - FANETTA.

Prologue

. The wild wind blew with ever-increasing vio lence. Each gust came bellowing and shrieking across the limitless expanse of the ocean, driving the foam-crested waves with fearful violence against the black and jagged rocks which fringed the coast. Night was closing in. The wild day had given place to a still wilder night, and an occasional flash of lightning, followed by a peal of thunder, but faintly heard above the whistling of the hurri cane, showed fitfully, line upon line of formless, heaving breakers, that surged here and there, till they broke in clouds of spray against the iron bound shore. B FANETTA. 2 On the wild waters, drifting slowly, and yet surely, towards the white line of surf was a ship. This vessel, large though it was, was but a toy, compared to the vastness and strength of the huge seas that ever and anon threatened to engulph it, as they swept its decks with terrible frequency.

Her three masts were all broken at different heights above the deck, and but a rag of sail remained on the foremast, all others had been blown into space, and yet such was the violence of the wind, that this sufficed to give the huge craft steerage way. The vessel was not one of the modern sailing ships, iron-hulled, and four-masted, with every latest improvement, but one of a far different type, for this was the close of the twenty-third of June, fifteen hundred and eighty-eight, and the vessel was the Bella Victoria, one of the Invincible Armada of Philip of Spain, sent to assist in the conquest of the Islanders, whose steadfast Protestantism, and growing power stank in the nostrils of the haughty and bigoted Spaniard. The Bella Victoria had not sailed until some time after the departure of the main body of the gigantic Armada, and when she left Santander,

PROLOGUE.

. 3 the soldiers, sailors, and priests on board her had no thought but that they would have a calm voyage up the English Channel, to find the con quest of the country an established fact, and the Duke of Medina Sidonia, with his Court and his Inquisition, happily established in London. Unfortunately, the Bella Victoria encountered a storm, and had been knocking about at sea for a week or more, till she got quite beyond control of her mariners ; the commander had completely lost his reckoning, and with his vessel straining every plank, and shipping tons of water at every lurch, was trusting to reach some port or anchorage where the frowning headlands, visible only by the line of gleaming foam at their bases, presented the first land the crew had sighted since leaving Spain many days back. Amongst those gathered in the bows of the vessel were three men, whose dress distinguished them from the others ; these, supporting them selves by clutching ropes, were gazing eagerly towards the beetling cliffs, growing gradually higher and more distinct, as the vessel rolled, lurched, and staggered towards them.

" Malediction !" said one of these, a stern look ing man of some fifty years ; " but I shall be very B — FANETTA. 4 pleased when you, my good captain, can bring us all safely to shore. A few more days of this would spoil my taste for sailoring for ever, and I am no novice either." "A few more days of this?" echoed another, shouting so that his voice might carry. "Why, my taste for sailoring left me half-an-hour after we left port." " Patience, senors," replied another, whose dress betokened him to be the master of the vessel. " Patience, senors, a few more hours and we shall be safe, I hope." He paused on the word "hope," and a gigantic billow striking the sides of the ship, and shaking it from stem to stern, emphasized his words. " Is there any doubt, then ?" asked the second speaker, in tones that showed some agitation ; a man, dressed in a military garb, with a good humoured, handsome face, on which the salt spray had crystallized like frost on a window.

"There is always doubt on the sea, Senor da Vinci," returned the captain. " Anyone can tell that you are not a born sailor, like the good father here," indicating respectfully the stern-looking man, whose garb bespoke him to be a military monk.

PROLOGUE.

5 " No, captain, that is true ! " smiled Da Vinci, in answer. " But you should know that to the famous Padre Morseant no trade is amiss ; from fighting against Indians in Mexico, to burning a Jew at Toledo. I did but ask if there were danger, for methinks I heard the good father use a profane word just this minute past." The soldier monk turned round and scowled fiercely at the speaker. "It were more seemly, Da Vinci," he said, "to reconcile thy soul with God, than cast gibes at one of his servants on a night like this." The sailor, who clearly seared the stern-faced monk, kept silence, but the other who did not, merely laughed, saying, scoffingly, " With such a holy person as thou on board, what can there be to fear ? " The person addressed disdained to reply, but continued gazing steadily out into the misty darkness, holding a rope to steady himself, while he rested the right foot on one of the supports of the cumbrous bowsprit that ran nearly perpendicularly out from the rounded bows.

"If my reckoning be not altogether at fault, that land should be the coast of Brittany," said the captain to Da Vinci ; "and yet I thought we FANETTA. 6 were clear of that coast ere this cursed storm broke on us, and forced us to run before it." " God knows," returned Da Vinca, wiping some of the dripping moisture from his beard and moustaches, "and," — he added, leaning his face closer to the other's so that his voice might be heard above the creaking of the timbers and flapp ing of the cordage — "and it seems tolerably clear to me, that as we are driving towards yonder rocks, some of us, if not all, will sleep in Paradise to-night." " We are in God's hands, Senor da Vinci," replied the captain, crossing himself. " More like the devil's," returned the other, " and I suppose he will look after his own, eh !

Morseant ? " Before the one addressed had time to answer, the party was joined by another, who crept to wards them along the sloping, slippery decks, holding now on to a rope, and now to the bul warks, while keeping his head down to mitigate as far as possible the force of the wind. " Well, senors ! " said the new arrival, " I think the storm is increasing rather than diminishing, and your men, captain, seem to be bereft of their senses. How will it end, think you?"

PROLOGUE.

. 7 " We are in God's hands," again said the captain, " no mortal aid could serve us now," and he turned his head, to look along the deserted deck, where here and there only a head of a terrified sailor appeared among the confusion and litter that strewed the dismantled craft. "Well, if prayers can help us, help we shall get," said the newcomer; " for down below, all are on their knees praying; all, that is, who are not worn out with fatigue or sickness. Is that my father ? " he added, peering through the gloom at the figure in the bows. "I will join him." The elder Morseant had not always been a monk ; as a soldier fighting in Mexico, against the Indians, he had gained the approval of his supe riors by the energy and harshness he had displayed in subduing the conquered tribes that occasionally rose against their white tyrants.

He had married, and his wife had died giving birth to a son. One day, a member of the Holy Inquisition that was established in the City of Mexico, had passed Morseant, who for some real or imaginary insult, was convincing the offender, an Indian, bound to a post, of the error of his ways, by the simple and ingenious method of pouring boiling water down his throat, while Morseant looked on in callous FANETTA. curiosity. Struck by the simplicity of this form of coercion, and thinking it was a pity such in genuity should be wasted on an Indian, while so many Protestants and Jews remained obdurate to the pious teachings of the Holy Church of Rome, the good priest spoke to Morseant, and induced him to enter an order of militant monks then ex isting, a similar body to that of the Knights Templars of a previous age.

Being enrolled, he speedily became noted for his exceeding piety, and was soon an active member of the Holy Inquisition, and held exalted rank therein at the time the Great Armada was launched against England. The reasons for Padre Morseant's presence on board the Bella Victoria were two. Firstly, to assist in the promotion of the principles of the true religion among the benighted inhabitants of Great Britain. Secondly, to take charge of a valuable treasure, consisting of precious stones, gold and silver chalices, croziers, etc., for the use of the Church of Rome, about to be established in England. Morseant's son, grown to a man's estate, accompanied him, believing, as was com monly believed in Spain, in the certainty of an easy conquest, with the prospect of unlimited plunder to follow.

PROLOGUE.

. 9 However, it was not to be ! A mightier Power than Philip, King of Spain, had decided that the enervating thraldom of popery was not to be spread wholesale over the fair land of England ; and in obedience to His wish, a mighty storm arose, completing the work begun by Seymour, Howard, Drake, and others, and the battered con dition of the Bella Victoria was shared by nearly every ship of the proudly named " Invincible Armada." The younger Morseant rejoined the captain and Da Vinci. " Did I not hear," said he, " that we had on board one of these beef-fed islanders ? " "Yes, senor, that is so. What of him ? " " Would it not be wise to have him brought here, to see if he, perchance, may not know this coast, and be able to find us a more secure an chorage than these cliffs appear to offer ? " said Morseant, pointing his hand towards the crags, the thunder of the surf at whose base was begin ning to sound above the roar of the hurricane.

" Well, senor, we can but try ; I must go and give the order myself, 'tis in vain to shout through this wind ; " and the captain groped his way aft, to reappear, after a short interval, followed by a FANETTA. 10 man in sailor's dress, in charge of a couple of Spanish seamen. The prisoner, who bore many marks of ill-usage, was clearly not a Spaniard, and his round, weather beaten face was in strong contrast, even as seen by the light of a lantern borne by one of his jailers, to the sallow, thin-faced Spaniards round him. The captain's wishes having been explained to him by Da Vinci, who alone appeared to know any English, the man got on to a carronade, and holding to a guy rope with one hand, peered out into the darkness, while the others watched him with anxious faces. The presence of an English sailor on the Spanish vessel is easily explained.

Jan Lees had been a smuggler, and while in a Spanish port — some time before this ship had sailed — had been seized by the authorities, and detained in prison. It being considered that his services as pilot might be useful, he had been put on board the Bella Victoria before she left, and, being kept in confinement, his presence on board had been for gotten by all, till Morseant had reminded the captain of his existence. • The man remained quiet, staring fixedly into

PROLOGUE.

. 11 the murky gloom, occasionally wiping the spray from his face, while he gazed — as one who seeks to recollect — at the dark outline of the land. " Ask the dog, senor, if he knows the place," said the captain, impatiently, to Da Vinci, who re peated the question. " Why, I'm damned if this ain't my own native place ! " returned the Englishman, half to himself, and half to Da Vinci. " What place is that, fool ? " asked the latter, impatiently. "Well," said the man, "if that ain't Bull Point, I ain't no Devon man." " What does he say?" asked the elder Morseant, who now joined the group. " Why ! your honours," said the Englishman, in answer to Da Vinci, " this be the coast of North Devon." "Tush! the man is lying," said the captain, contemptuously, when this had been translated. " Does he pretend that while I think this land to be that of France, it is that of Devonshire in Eng land."

The man repeated his statement. " Bah ! " said the elder Morseant. " This will FANETTA. 12 teach him to see clearer," and he struck the man on the mouth with his clenched hand, causing the blood to flow instantly. "Gently! good father, gently!" interposed Da Vinci ; then to the man, who was wiping his mouth and muttering to himself, he added : " How can you be so positive my friend ? It is too dark to see aught to recognize in these cursed cliffs." "How do I know?" answered the man, sullenly; '"cause I was born at Ilfracombe yon der, 'cause I sailed these seas when I was a younker, 'cause I know every one of these tors, dark or light don't make no difference to me, I knows 'em." " Ask him if he knows any harbour we can make for," said the captain, to which question the man was about to answer on its being translated to him ; then he checked himself suddenly, and walked aft to where the cumbrous tiller was manned by two Spaniards who kept to their post more from the habit of obeying orders than for any good they were doing.

It should be explained that though every kind of sail had been blown to tatters, the lofty hull offered some resistance to the wind, and sufficient steerage way was on the craft to enable her to be

PROLOGUE.

. 13 kept before the wind, or the mighty billows that rose on every side would haveengulphed her long before. The Englishman roughly pushed aside the Spanish sailors, who withdrew at a word from their officer, and seizing the tiller, strained it to the starboard side so that the vessel ceased drift ing towards the rocks now less than half a mile off, and made slow progress along a parallel course with the line of surf. The captain, puzzled, went to his cabin to con sult his maps ; the monk and the two soldiers took up as sheltered a position as they could find and kept their eyes fixed on the coast. The situation of the vessel was as the sailor had described it. The Bella Victoria had, in the fortnight or so that she had been tossing about at the mercy of the wind and waves, been driven a long way to the North out of her course.

Un known to her crew and officers, the ship had been blown round the Lizard and along the Cornish coast, and at the present time she was driving across Bideford Bay. There were two harbours of refuge open before her, the only chances of safety, for should the vessel miss either of these in the dark, the wind FANETTA. 14 would drive her away off the coast again, and her wearied crew worn out with exhaustion, illness and hopelessness, would not have the strength to keep the battered hulk afloat by pumping out the water that leaked in at every seam. Ilfracombe, a small hamlet, with a little harbour between high rocks, was one of these havens ; Lynmouth, a village on an estuary thirteen miles away, was the other. Between these places was an unbroken suc cession of hills with rocky shores or abrupt preci pices leading sheer down to the sea.

Which would the steersman make for ? He cut a strange figure as he tugged at the tiller on the high stern of the vessel : a ragged-looking, unshaven man, with a blood-stained handkerchief bound round his head. The recent cut on his mouth had left blood clotted on his chin and beard, yet beneath this unpro mising exterior, there beat the heart of a hero. For though the Spaniards knew it not, Nemesis was at hand for them and all on board. There were two harbours of refuge, and miles of jagged rocks, where, were the vessel to strike against any of them, the furious waves would pound her and her crew, cargo, and timbers into countless fragments. The helmsman, tortured and harassed,

PROLOGUE.

. 15 threatened with a horrid death by the Inquisition, from which he had only been spared on account of his possible utility to the haughty Spaniards, bore no love to his captors, and through his mind ran thoughts somewhat after this kind. " Shall I run this craft safe into harbour to let the murdering villains cut the throats of my countrymen ? Not I I " He was fully aware that if he did not save the ship, his own life would be lost with the others, but he did not hesitate ; beneath that rough ex terior beat a heart as brave and dauntless as any there. He determined to wreck the vessel, and perish with the rest. His resolution made, he grasped the tiller yet more firmly, and set his teeth, and, as soon as the ship had drifted past Ilfracombe, he swung the tiller round and set her head, straight for the shore.

The waves carried the vessel right into the shadow of a huge hill ; it then rose with the rush forward of a mighty billow and struck. A sicken ing crash followed, that shook all on board from their feet ; another lift, as the waters rose under the shattered keel, and another crash as they fell again, and the Bella Victoria spitted on a rock, FANETTA. 16 parted amidships, while the shrieks and yells of the despairing crew sounded above the thunder of the surf and the crashing of the timbers. The afterpart of the vessel rolled back with the under tow, never to appear again, and, to the last, the helmsman's voice was heard calling defiance to the Spaniards. When the vessel had first struck, the elder Morseant said, hurriedly taking from under his cloak three cases, " My son ! Senor Da Vinci ! take you each one of these.

I will retain the other myself. They are the jewels that form part of the treasure of the expedition. If we reach shore in safety, remember they belong to the Church, if not, we die defending our trust. God alone can save us now ! " The forepart of the vessel, a shapeless mass of timbers, rose again as some vast waves poured into and over it, and the three adventurers in the bows were thrown off by the concussion into the water, which was boiling and surging among the rocks. Each struck out blindly for his life, and, being all three swimmers, by dint of almost superhuman efforts were able to obtain a footing among the boulders of the little shelving hollow into which the bows of the Bella Victoria had been thrust.

PROLOGUE.

. 17 Of the two or three hundred on board naught could be seen, save here and there a head or an arm appearing above the boiling foam, to vanish almost immediately. The bows of the ship caught on the needle-pointed rocks, could not long sur vive the terrible blows delivered by the relentless waves, and crumbled away before the eyes of the three survivors. The scene was indescribably grand. The limitless expanse of broken water, with here and there a half-submerged rock left un covered by a retiring wave, was tossing and heaving under the influence of the gale's irresis tible fury. The lightning darted zig-zag across the inky sky, while an occasional frightened sea fowl shrieked its discordant note as it circled above the scene of the shipwreck. The three men exhausted and drooping, gazed at the wild scene, hardly able to realize that they were the only ones saved out of the crew and passengers of the noble ship that had been their home for the past two weeks, and mingled with the feeling each had of thankfulness for his safety, was a feeling of despair at their forlorn condition in a totally unknown land.

Each, however, showed it in different ways. The monk stood with arms crossed, c FANETTA. 18 sternly regarding the scene of ruin ; his son crossed himself with fervour and gabbled prayers ; while Da Vinci leaned his head forward on his hands and felt the loss of many boon companions keenly for the minute. But his was not a nature to despond, and he quickly stood up, and wringing the water from his dripping clothes, looked round to try and discover a means of escape from the desolate position he and his companions found themselves in. They stood on a small beach strewn with mossgrown shiny boulders, showing that at high tide their refuge was under water. Behind them, by the side of a huge hill which towered above, stretched far inland a glen, or ravine, which alone showed means of access to the top of the cliff Da Vinci had no liking for either of his companions.

His was the frank, generous nature of the soldier, and he despised the cold aceticism of the monk, and the servile, cunning ways of his son ; but at that moment, drenched to the skin, forlorn and wretched as he was, he turned to his companions with a feeling of cordiality, born of the pleasure he felt in that deserted wild coast, of human com panionship. He pointed out the way through the ravine up the cliff to his companions, and, with a shrug of the shoulders he prepared to ascend.

PROLOGUE.

. 19 The way was long and steep, but by clinging to brambles, and availing themselves of every projecting ledge to pause for a momentary rest, the party eventually reached the summit of the cliff. " What is to be done now, I wonder ? " ex claimed Da Vinci in a querulous tone from the bank, on which he had thrown himself to rest. " The wind is as cold as ice playing on my wet body. If this is the summer in this barbarous land, what can the winter be like ? What a fool I was to come 1 " "You tire of the Lord's service right speedily, Senor da Vinci," said the monk, in a contemp tuous tone. "Well, I am not a Toledo sword blade that can stand any change, without losing its temper," growled Da Vinci, in answer. " Methinks, my father, and you, noble Da Vinci," said the younger Morseant, in his soft, purring tones, " that it would be well for us to turn inland and seek shelter."

" And get our throats cut at the same time, I suppose ? " said Da Vinci. "We can pass ourselves off as shipwrecked mariners," said Morseant. C — FANETTA. 20 " Well ! we cannot stay here, so I suppose we had better make a move ; but in what direction ? " The elder Morseant had abruptly left the party, and was fighting his way against the wind over the grass-grown hills away from the sea. The others followed, and all were cheered by seeing — a little way ahead — a large building, which pro mised to give them protection from the wind, which blew over the barren, bleak table-land with fearful violence. They reached the building, and were glad to find it deserted. It had neither door nor window, and was probably being repaired, as some loose bricks, and workmen's tools, were scattered about inside.

The wind had swept the sky temporarily clear of clouds, and the moon shone down with a watery light sufficient to enable the party to see there was straw lying on the floor of the building from which they judged it to be a barn or stable. The party entered cautiously, but the place was absolutely empty ; and so making themselves as comfortable as their wretched condition allowed them, they discussed the events of the last few hours.

PROLOGUE.

. 21 "Caramba!" ejaculated Da Vinci. "We are in a pretty plight ; no arms, nothing to eat or drink, and only the contents of these cases we carry to ensure us from absolute want. I myself shall take an opportunity of exchanging the big gest jewel I have here for a bottle of brandy at the first poseda we come to in the morning." "These jewels belong to the Church," emphati cally repeated Padre Morseant. " I beg you to listen to this ! We do not know where we are ; for aught we know we may be surrounded by thieves. We may perchance be on the outskirts of some town from whence if we slumber thieves may come and rob us where we lie. I think it would be advisable to secrete our valuable burdens in some nook for safety, and resume them to morrow when we are rested." All agreed to this plan which was very reason able, for they were in total ignorance of the country, all unarmed, and had no reason to believe that the inhabitants would be friendly towards them.

So the bags were deposited in a niche in the wall by the light of some burning straw ignited by the flint and steel Da Vinci had with him ; some loose stones lying about were placed in the niche to conceal it from possible prying eyes, and FANETTA. 22 then the three threw themselves on to the peat and straw that were on the ground, — there was no flooring, — and sought repose. The younger Morseant had hardly, however composed himself for slumber, when he felt a heavy hand on his arm, and his father's voice whispered. " Hist, make no sound, it is I ! " He scrambled to a sitting position, and in the dim light that penetrated the aperture, perceived his father leaning over him, " Follow me," he added, " and tread softly." The younger Morseant followed as best he could and joined his father outside, who was standing sheltered from the wind at an angle of the building.

" Why do you want me out here ? " he enquired, impatiently, " can you not let me sleep ? I perish with fatigue." " Talk not to me of sleep," answered the elder — sternly. " There is work to be done before you and I can rest. That man in there ! " " Da Vinci ? well, what of him ? " said his son. " He is in the way. He must die. Listen ! " he continued, seeing his son was about to inter rupt. "You know his frivolous manner of speaking ; you have heard him scoff at me and my holy calling more than once. Now if this Da Vinci, who I believe to be no true friend of the

PROLOGUE.

. 23 Church, meet with, as we probably shall, enemies, he may seek his own safety by betraying the bags of jewels we shall be carrying, and thus we shall perish, and the treasure will fall in the hands of these heretical islanders. Therefore, I say, we shall be committing no crime, but a good action, if we slay him where he sleeps." " Father, I don't like to do it," objected the younger, "and how should we dispose of the body?" Morseant, though unaccustomed to opposition from his son, kept his temper and changed his ground a little. " Now listen," he said, " and think well. If we fall into the hands of enemies, we shall be entitled to realize some portion of the jewels to purchase our safety ; but this Da Vinci, spend thrift and gambler as he is, will waste it all I know ; and listen again.