Oakshott Castle, being the memoir of an eccentric nobleman. Written by Mr. G. D. and edited [or rather written] by H. Kingsley ... Second edition

Chapter I. The Public-house

The weather had been dim and wild all day, and the sea had begun to tumble in heavily from the south-west ; but when the fisher men had gathered round the fire inside the screen, there was one matter of congratu lation among them all : there was not one single boat out; the catch had been good, the hucksters had been ready, the fish were gone, the money was paid, the women were VOL. I. B [chap. 2 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. seeing to the nets, and each man had in his pocket a sum of money allowed him by his wife for liquor. If he chose to spend it that night, he could spend it ; if not, he could leave some of it for another night : but so long as he did not come to bed with his boots on, every married man there was as free as if he were a bachelor. As the head lady of the place, Mrs. Price, said, ("I}hey have arnt their money, God bless 'em, and arnt it hard ; let 'em have some good company together."

And so these wicked women, not having the fear of the League before their eyes, had made their husbands strip and dry, given them their suppers, taken their money from them, given them half-a-crown apiece, and sent them off to the Oakshott Arms for a gossip, while they Lj THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. turned to hanging out the nets. A most reprehensible body of women, doubtless, but certainly with a set of hard-working and affectionate husbands. The bachelors, it may be remarked, stayed and helped the un married girls with the nets, and a kiss or a squeeze of the haud from a handsome young sailor is much the same, whether he be as dry as a dandy or as wet as a shag : and a saunter home to the house with him may be made as pleasant in a furious south-westerly gale on a dark night, as in a bright June day under towering elms, with flowers round your feet at every tread ; at least it would seem so, for a great deal of honest love-making went on that night, both on the beach and in front of the cottage-doors, until the bachelors were b [CHAP- 4 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. driven away through the rain and wind by mothers to join their seniors inside the screen at the Oakshott Arms, down on the beach.

How it blew, and how delightful it was to hear it blow ! How it roared in the chimney, and blew at the door like a hungry wolf wishing for their blood ! That morning they had been all out together not ten miles between any of them, and nearly all over loaded. Captain Joyce, at the windy Pre ventive Station on the Point, had looked more than once at his barometer, and then had fired a gun every five minutes until they turned and came home, the last of them in a heas'y tumbling sea, which got up with wonderful rapidity, for a strong wind had met the tide. They were very deep, and it had been a question with the last Lj THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 5 of them whether they should part with their fish or no, but they had held by their fish. Between the walls of ugly green water which broke audibly on the rocks in the lee, only being able to show a rag of sail, these last men had held on, keeping the boys baling, with two oars out to leeward, and had won the harbour : sometimes upon the top of a wave, when they could see the women grouped upon the beach watching them, and Prout the landlord, with his apron, looking on from the public-house door, which they might never enter again ; some times deep in the trough, when they could only see the mast of the next boat like a brown spike above the wind-driven foam : — these men had held on and won, though death was a little nearer to them than usual. [CHAP. 6 OAKSHOTT CASTLE.

Now the fish were sold, the boat was safe, the nets were out to dry, the wives had the money, and they were inside the screen with their grog and their tobacco, while the wind was impotently getting up outside. Where is the man who will look one in the face and say that they had not earned a little innocent pleasure, and that they were not better there than anywhere else? Mr. Prout, the landlord, was a very sen sible man ; he knew perfectly well that the married men would have their supper before they came there, and that the bachelors would want some when they came, so he had it ready for them ; and the young men, when they had torn themselves away from the young women, found themselves in the presence of a large hot pie which the land- !■] 7 THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. lord had cut open. The moment a young man smelt that pie as he came in, he called for a pint of beer, drew a stool, and sat down without any further questioning.

The steam out of the pie mingled with the steam of the undried clothes of the young bachelors, and made a scent like a mixture of haunch of venison and bromine, with a soupfon of tobacco. The elders, who had been dried, looked on approvingly. " Cut away, boys," said the landlord ; " cut and come again. That cost me nothing but the pie-crust and the fuel to cook it, and it shan't cost you anything. No cnarge for supper to-night." " What is it ? " said one young man who had helped himself and was looking at his plate with a pleased expression. [ CHAP. OAKSHOTT CASTLE. " Venison, my lad," said Mr. Prout ; " my lord's own venison, sent by his own hand." "It's too good for the likes of me," said the young man, laughing ; " but here goes." " Nothing is too good for the likes of a man as brought his boat in as you brought yours," said Mr. Prout.

" Why, you are wet now, my lad ; take a drain of this. Take drains all round, you lads, and pay when two Eridays come in one week. You sleep single and cold now ; here's to the time when you may all sleep double and warm." There was no resisting the landlord : the venison pie disappeared very rapidly ; the dish was moved away by the maid, and the wet young men settled themselves among their drier elders, and steamed before the blazing fire untd they too were dry. THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 9 At first it was too delightfully comfort able for conversation ; they were packed close together, like herrings in a barrel, and each man could feel his neighbour's body, which is a sort of company. Then every body knew what anybody else would say, which was also very comfortable. So they sat and smoked, and drank warm liquors for a little while, and no one said anything.

At last Mr. Prout, standing before the fire beaming, thought that he would start the conversation by saying exactly what he was perfectly sure anyone else would have said. " It's blowing hard, Master Dixon." Master Dixon moved a polite amendment to this by taking his pipe out of his mouth and saying — " It's blowing darned hard." [chap. 10 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. Old Horton ought to have been addressed first, as the oldest man in the company, and he let them know it. He took his pipe from his mouth and looked round ; there was a general attention. " It's blowing," he said, " at this present minute as hard as it's blown for forty year, and it's going to blow harder." Then he put his pipe in his mouth again, and there was silence. It is noticeable that whenever it blows, it blows harder than it has done for forty years.

But only for one moment a quiet voice from the end of the screen said — " You think so, do you, Horton ? I am very much of the same opinion myself." Evervone rose and looked, while a man THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 11 came forward to the fire, and, taking a chair, sat down and warmed his hands by the blaze. His figure was tall and athletic ; his face very brown, with a light yellow beard ; his expression dreamy and inscrutable ; his dress like that of a sailor. " Sit down, my dear people," he said : and they sat down in silence. " Are all the boats in ? " " All, my lord." "I think," he said, dreamily, "that we ought to give thanks to God for that, each one of us, before we go to bed. I do not see how we could do otherwise. I think that it would be only decent. Not that I wish any man to give thanks to God on my account ; I only make the suggestion."

And then the conversation flagged. OAKSHOTT CASTLE. CHAP. " I wish, Mr. Prout," said Lord Oakshott, " for a glass of warm beer, and I shall smoke my cigar here among you all. I am not easy in my mind. My cousin wrote to me from Cherbourg to say that he would be with me to-day, if the weather served ; now the weather has served, and I am very anxious. Make room for me by you, Horton ; I am keeping the fire from everyone." He sat down quite contentedly among them, and now that the ice was broken they were not a bit afraid of him. " When was Sir Arthur to sail, my lord ? " said a young man. " That I cannot tell you," said Lord Oakshott ; " he said he would be here to day. Here is his letter: — 'I will be in har- I.] THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 13 hour with you on the evening of the 15th.' I am very anxious."

" What is Sir Arthur's new yacht like, my lord ? " asked old Horton. " I have never seen her." " Oh, one of these 250-ton American fashioned schooners ; a keel ship ; a rare sea boat ; weather anything. He is going to sail her across the Atlantic, he says." " Has he spare spars on board ? " said Horton. " He always carries them," said Lord Oakshott; "and he is under-sparred as it is. He is not in racing trim." " A good thing for him," said old Horton. There was a crash overhead at this moment, and Mrs. Prout was heard scream ing upstairs. Prout ran out, and soon came [CHAP. 14 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. back, saying that it was only one of the chimney-pots, and that Mrs. Prout was quite quiet again. The conversation went on : — " What crew had he, my lord ? " said Horton. " I suppose a common crew," said Lord Oakshott.

" Sir Arthur is too fine a sailor to make this little harbour to-night," said old Horton. "If he sailed at all, he has run under Port land: make your mind easy, my lord." " I cannot quite do that, he is so des perately rash ; and I could not have any thing happen to him for fifty thousand pounds.' A dead silence showed that sentiment did not meet the views of the company I.] THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 15 at all. Sir Arthur was next in succession, and Lord Oakshott was unmarried. If Lord Oakshott had been looking at his tenants' faces, he would have seen that there was not one of them who would have given fifty shillings or fifty pence to save Sir Arthur from drowning. "Well," said Lord Oakshott, "I shall stay here to-night ; I could not get a wink of sleep up at the Castle in this howling weather, and Arthur at sea.

Prout, get me a bed ready. I will sit here with you men and talk. I must have company; that Castle would drive a man mad." " It is lonesome," said old Horton, " but it would be lonesomer still if you were to leave it; your study window iu the tower, my lord, makes a beacon for us, as good OAKSHOTT CASTLE. LCHAP. as Eddystone. When we are far out at night, in all weathers, we see your lonely light burning up there, and we think my lord is up there at his books ; and how ever wild the weather may be, it makes us feel homely and comfortable." " I should comfort someone," said Lord Oakshott, " for I am little comfort to my self." " You are some to us in bad winters, my lord ; but, as I was saying, we make i a beacon of that reading-lamp of yours. I and my grandson were out in the little yawl one night, and it came on from the south-east, and I couldn't tell where we were, and I kept the spritsail only on her and let her drive, as I thought, to kingdom come : and all of a sudden my boy sings 1-] THE PUBLIC-HOUSE. 17 out, ' Get the foresail on her and luff her : there's my lord's light in the tower; we are all right.' And so we were.

You little thought, while you were up there with your books, that we were blessing you for not having gone to bed." "Shall I always keep a light burning?" said Lord Oakshott; "always, until the sea gives up its dead?" " The sea will never give up its dead. my lord, until the day of judgment," said old Horton, very solemnly. " I suppose not," said Lord Oakshott " I think that I will build a lighthouse in the park, and leave funds to keep the light burning ; for when I am dead the light in my study window will be dark for ever. Arthur will never go there." VOL. i. c [CH. I. 18 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. There was more talk on indifferent mat ters, principally about the gale, which was certainly doing itself justice. One by one the tired fishermen went out into the wild wind to their homes, and at last Lord Oakshott went to bed, with the wind howl ing at his window as if it would tear his flesh.

Chapter II. The Shipwreck

In the very early morning there was a great cry and a hurrying to and fro. Prout was in Lord Oakshott's room, shaking him by the shoulder, and he bounced out of bed. "What the devil is it?" he cried. " Is it Arthur's yacht ? " " No, my lord. It is the poor Albion, the Poole and Cherbourg steamer. Lost her place in the night, my lord, and fighting for her life so bravely. Oh, poor Jeffreys ! poor Jeffreys ! " c [CHAP. OAKSHOTT CASTLE. Lord Oakshott ran out with his clothes put hurriedly on, and stumbled over in the blast which met him. When he was ten yards from the door, he saw that all was over, and that that ship would sail no more for ever. Beyond the surf, which raged and rushed at his feet, there were walls after walls of green sea-water following one another inext orably, and combing over in the expectation of their hideous death.

Among these wralls of water was the Albion, fiditinor them stoutly and bravely to the last, without the slightest hope of mercy or of safety. Her steam-pipes were roaring, and her wheels were tearing into the grim sides of the waves ; she knew she must die, but she was dying fiercely, like a true English ship. At IL] 21 THE SHIPWRECK. one time, as her bows lifted, you could see the whole of her bare deck, two men at the wheel, and Jeffreys steadfast on the bridge ; the crew and apparently three or four pas sengers huddled under the forecastle, — thank God, no women ! Then you only saw her stern as it rose over a wave, and then her deck again. It was maddening, but there was nothing to be done but to walk wildly up and down. "Where will she touch?" said Lord Oak shott, shouting into old Horton's ear.

" On the outer land in one minute." Almost as he spoke she touched it with her stern and broached to; three or four green seas leaped over her and hid the deck, which was towards them, from their view. The larboard paddle-box, the one in [chap. 22 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. the air, burst with a noise like thunder, and then everything was utter ruin and con fusion : men struggling amidst the broken ruin of the ship in the leeward of the hull. Half-a-dozen ropes had been ready, and half-a-dozen young men were in the surf with the ropes round their waists, at once : one of them was Lord Oakshott ; a floating companion-ladder struck him heavily on the chest, but there were two wild, clutching, sinking hands before him in the horrible hell-broth, and he dashed on and seized one. In another instant he was thrown down badly bruised and half-stunned, but he held on by that hand, swearing to him self that his grip should only be loosened by his own death.

He felt the rope tighten round his chest, and he knew that they were IL] THE SHIPWRECK. 23 dragging him on shore. In a few moments he was lying half dead upon the sand, on the body of another man, the man he had saved. He rose, staggered, and then looked into the man's face. It was Captain Jeffreys, the man of all others he wished to see. Jeffreys was soon himself again, though very badly hurt ; they had told him the name of the man who had saved him, and when Lord Oakshott came to him he sat up on the land and put his hand towards him feebly. Lord Oakshott knelt by him and said — " Jeffreys, I want you to listen to me. When did you sail from Cherbourg, old man ? " " Yesterday noon." " Had Sir Arthur sailed ? " OAKSHOTT CASTLE. CHAP. " Yes ; three hours before. I passed him about mid-channel."

" How was the wind ? " " Northern-by-west, then." " Was he making good weather ? " " There was no weather in particular, my lord ; he altered her course after he spoke me. He was tacking to westward when I saw him last. Then it came on to blow ; and here I am. I have something more to tell you about Sir Arthur, but I am terribly knocked about. What men are drowned ? " "There are four." " Give me your arm, one of you, and let me look at them." They went to look. The dead men were lying quietly on the sand, with groups of women round them. The women parted as IL] 25 THE SHIPWRECK. they went up to the first one, and they looked at him : a young man lying on his back, looking like other dead men who lie on their backs, the face quite calm, and the slightly parted feet turned up to heaven (those who have been among these later carnages will know what I mean).

There was nothing to remark about this man ; he had been the steward of the steamer. The next man was lying on his face, and was dressed in uniform. At Jeffreys' request two old women turned the body on its back. Jeffreys sighed, and said — " That is all I wish to see : that is a man who could have told much ; how much I cannot say. Do you know who he is?" "No," said Lord Oakshott. " He was Sir Arthur's sailing master. I [chap. 26 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. brought over nearly all the rest of his crew. He discharged all but four, and paid their passage home." " But what crew had he then ? " " All the scum of Cherbourg. He took two refractory Erench sailors from the Isle Pelee." " Were his crew of any use at all ? " " They were very good sailors, — but the people are listening, and I am very weak. Take me somewhere where I can lie down."

Lord Oakshott took him along and put him in his own bed at Prout's, after which he gave him hot brandy-and-water, and Jeffreys told him all that he knew. " There were terrible works at Cherbourg, my lord. Sir Arthur was always bullying Mr. Clough, his sailing master, and Clough II.] 27 THE SHIPWRECK. has come on board my ship and told me that he would send his engagement to the devil. I have told him that if he thought of his wife and child he shoidd do nothing of the kind. I have spoken to Sir Arthur more than once, and I came to the conclusion that Sir Arthur's object was to pick a quarrel with Clough and the best hands among his crew. Anyhow he did it. He insisted on bringing aboard a woman of bad character, and Clough would not have it, and told him so. There was a general row, and the main of the crew sided with Clough, and were discharged and sent home, and he filled up with such as he could get, all foreigners."

" There is nothing very remarkable in all that," said Lord Oakshott. " He ex pected to be here last night." [chap 28 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. " He wrote to that effect, did he, my lord?" " Yes." "Then you may entirely depend that he did not mean to be here. Did you ever know him do what he said he was going to do?" " Not that I remember. But we all have our eccentricities." " Now, you saw that young steward who lay drowned ? " " Yes." " Clough knew something, but he knew more. I heard Sir Arthur offer him ten pounds a month to stay with him, and the young man refused. I saw a look in Sir Arthur's eyes when he refused, which made me advise him quietly to come on board my IL] THE SHIPWRECK. 29 ship at once. He wanted to go on board the yacht for his kit, but I persuaded him not, for she was out by the Digue, and I thought it was quite as well that he should claim his kit in England."

"Well?" " Well, my lord, Sir Arthur sailed, and the two men who knew most about his plans are drowned." " What do you conceive has become of my cousin ? " " He is possibly in Portland." " Thanks ; I will send high and low to find him. As a matter of detail, did the lady you mention sail with him?" "Yes." " Do you know her name ? " "You must know it, my lord." [chap. 30 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. " Madame d'Esperance ? " " Exactly." " Then you were scarcely justified in saying that she was a woman of bad character." " She was another man's wife," said Jeffreys. " She was nothing of the kind," said Lord Oakshott ; " she was as pure as your sister." "Then why was she Madame, my lord? " " She was an actress, and she. took that name. Why, good heavens, man ! she was my cousin's wife." " Why uid he uot acknowledge her ?

" said the bluff sailor. " He never did anything like anyone else," said Lord Oakshott. " Why, I IL] THE SHIPWRECK. 31 wanted to marry her myself, Jeffreys, but she preferred him : and I was going to welcome them at the Castle yesterday." " Well, my lord, in my opinion it will be a very long time before you welcome them there. I have my opinions." " Go to sleep now, at all events," said Lord Oakshott ; " I will go and search for them." His search was a long aud a weary one, but he never found them, never got the least trace of them, save one : the captain of the Jumna had seen a schooner very like the Petrel lying to, clear off the Lizard, with her mizen-topmast gone Erom fisher men and pilots on the tumbling seas in the chops of the Channel, from keen-eyed Preventive men on windy capes, he learnt [chap. 32 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. nothing more at all.

There was no doubt that this cousin Sir Arthur and his wife were gone to the bottom of the sea ; one waif of them only remained. Wearying of all hope, he borrowed a friend's yacht and steamed across to Cherbourg, taking Jeffreys with him. Jeffreys was immensely popular, and the people had neither forgotten the loss of his ship nor the rather strange behaviour of Sir Arthur with his crew. Madame Mantalent was extremely garrulous on the subject. She discussed Jeffreys' mishap, and then, utterly unaware that Lord Oakshott was Sir Arthur's cousin, began railing at him. " Savage and barbarian ! " she said ; " he beat and cursed his crew so that no honest THE SHIPWRECK. Englishman would stay with him. And he had designs, that man, — oh yes, he had designs. And look once more at his treat ment of Madame, — for she was Madame, Captain Jeffreys, as sure as your mother was Madame, though he would not call her so ; I saw the ring on her finger, and the writing from the Protestant minister in the Rue Auguesseau.

Ah, she was Madame, though he says she was ballet girl, lorette, I know not what, to make quarrel with Clough. And he makes quarrel with him, and all the respectables depart and go with Jeffreys. And before she sailed she went down on her knees to him in the room by the shore, that he should let her take her child with her, and he r-r-refuse, — the barbarian ! " " What child, Madame ? " said Lord Oak- VOL. I. D [chap. 34 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. shott, quietly. " I was aware that Sir Arthur was married, but I was utterly unaware that he had a child." " Do you know Sir Arthur, then ? " said Madame Man talent. " He was my cousin. He was next in succession to my title and my estates. Is the child a boy or a girl, then, Madame ? " "A beautiful boy, and they are going to send him to the enfants trouves."

" You perceive, Madame, that if he can be proved legitimate he is my heir ; and as I shall never marry, the boy's life is of importance to me." " The child is legitimate," said Madame Mantalent, looking a little puzzled and elevating her eyebrows. " I can give you one hundred, two thousand proofs of that. THE SHIPWRECK. 35 But why then did Sir Arthur leave him behind?" "It is evident that poor Arthur thought the crossing would be too rough," said Lord Oakshott. "Then why did he take Madame?" " Marie was used to the sea, Madame. She had lived at Morbihan." " You know her Christian name, then, Milord ? Why did you allow that dog to blacken it ? I also am from Brittany, and I would often have put a knife in his heart if I dared, when he taunted her about Edward." " Did he do that ? " said Lord Oakshott, very quietly.

" Always. He said that the child was Edward's." d [chap. 36 OAKSHOTT CASTLE. " God forgive him that lie, Madame. When he left her in Paris, I found her, and treated her as what she was ; in fact, my own sister. And I loved her still, Madame." " Then you are Edward ? " " I am Edward. But they are drowned now ; my life is ruined, and it is all over. AVe have at least the boy saved from the wreck. You must remember, Madame, that the child is the son of a woman I wooed and of a man whom, with all his faults, I loved. He will be dear to me. Can you fetch him for me ? " Ask a Frenchwoman to do a good natured thing when her domestic sym pathies are aroused ; you will not ask twice. She had on her bonnet and shawl IL] 37 THE SHIPWRECK. at once, and was away, leaving Lord Oak shott with his head buried in his hands.

Captain Jeffreys sauntered out on the quay down by the Arsenal, to smoke, and he met a comrade there, as true a salt as himself. This skipper hailed from Wey mouth, and knew Lord Oakshott well. Jeffreys explained to him what had hap pened, and concluded by saying — " I have not a word against a man who saved my life. My lord is a good man, but he wants more of the devil in him. Why, if a man had served me as that dog Sir Arthur and that woman served him, I'd have started them both overboard some dark night, and sent the kid to the enfant s trouves. But my lord is a sentimental fool." CH.'lI. OAKSHOTT CASTLE. Then he returned to Lord Oakshott. The child, a beautiful boy of three, had been fetched and was on his knee, with his handsome head buried in Lord Oak shott's yellow beard. Captain Jeffreys heard Lord Oakshott say, as he bent and kissed the boy : " My darling, nothing shall separate us but death." Possibly Captain Jeffreys was right