Old Vauxhall. A romance

Front matter

OLD VAUXHALL. A ROMANCE. BY W. H. MABSHALL, ESQ. IN THREE VOLUMES. YOL. II. LONDON : CHARLES J. SKEET, PUBLISHER, 10, KING WILLIAM STREET, CHARING CROSS. 1862. LONDON: Printed by A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. PAGE CHAPTEB I. — The Secret Society . ... 1 II.— Outward Bound . . . .26 III.— The Gaming House . . . .73 IV.— The Initiation .... .96 V— On Board Ship . . . .113 VI.— The Development of the Plot . . .130 VII.— What's to be done . . . .160 VIII.— A May Fair Marriage . . . .173 IX. — Conjectures and Defeats . . . 204 X.— The Great Failure . . . .212 XL— 111 News . . . . .230 XII.— The Sacred Trust . . . .273 XIII.— Death 296 Note

Chapter I. The Secret Society

Eastcheap in the year 1741 was a busy thoroughfare, but with very few of the charac teristics which distinguish that street at the present time. Many of its ancient features then remained, though a few modern buildings had been erected on the site of old and crumbling edifices. Sign-boards stood out over shop doors, indicative of the occupation of the trades men who rented or owned them, and city apprentices took their stations at the windows, invit ing the attention of the passers by to the wares, which were for sale within. Over the door of a tolerably pretentious- VOL. II. B looking house, facing Pudding Lane, was dis played a sign-board carved in the form of a time piece, curiously embellished with devices of evidently foreign design, the dial being painted white, with black figures denoting the hours, and gilded hands, which pointed to the first half hour after noon.

Immediately over the door were painted in modest characters the words, " Simon Favrolles, Horologer," and un derneath that line, in smaller letters, " from Paris." Monsieur de Favrolles had no apprentices, but a middle aged man, clad like a respect able journeyman, usually appeared in charge of the shop, in the absence of the master. When master and journeyman were both absent, as the neighbours remarked was not unfre quently the case, the shop was closed. The stock which the shop contained did not appear to be extensive, consisting only of a few clocks and watches, of foreign manufacture, and as but few customers patronised the establish ment, people in the vicinity, who by the way, frequently take as much interest in the affairs of other folk as of their own, wondered how Mon sieur de Favrolles could afford the rental of so large a house, out of what was evidently an unprofitable business.

Yet everybody knew, of course, that he paid his rent regularly, and that the tax gatherer never called twice for govern mental or parish dues. On the Monday afternoon succeeding the coroner's inquest, reported in the last chapter, Monsieur de Favrolles was at home and busy in his shop. He was attired as a tradesman ought to be, divested of his coat, as was natural in warm weather, and a clean white apron was tied round his waist. His journeyman was there also, arranging the wares, regulating the clocks, and performing other offices connected with his employment with unusual assi duity. " They are inspecting the stock," said the mercer, who lived next door, to his apprentices, " a bale of silk to an ell of ribbon, they are pre paring to remove." B At about three in the afternoon, a gentleman called at the horologer's ; a square-built, hard featured man of about fifty, with an unexception able peruke, belaced and beruffled, carrying a gold-headed cane.

" A customer at last," said the mercer to a vintner, his next door neighbour, who stood outside his shop, " or a creditor come to take an inventory." " I'll wager a hogshead," said the vintner, " that whatever he comes for, he is a Scotchman, I can tell him by the shape of his mug." The gentleman entered the shop, apparently on the invitation of the journeyman, to inspect the goods within. He looked at some watches, which Monsieur de Favrolles seemed to recommend with volubility and earnestness. ■ " Poor man, how anxious he is to sell his foreign rubbish," said the mercer. "A poor catch," replied the vintner, "the Scotchman will beat him down to cost price." Presently the gentleman appeared to select a watch, and to demand the price ; the horologer's actions were expressive of an invitation to his customer into the little parlour behind the shop, an invitation with which the latter would seem to have complied, for both adjourned within that apartment.

" The spider has caught his fly," said the mercer. " A wasp that will sting him to death before he can bite, I'll warrant me," returned the vintner. Monsieur de Favrolles ushered his customer into the back chamber, and closed the door. I " What has brought you here, Mr. Menzies ?" he asked in French, when the two were closeted together. " I did not expect to meet you until to-night at Vauxhall." "Let us proceed upstairs," replied Mr. Menzies ; " your man, Richie Saunders, whom I recommended to your service is, I believe, trust worthy, but may be inquisitive. He under stands the language in which we converse, and your door has a key-hole. I have that to say which had better not be overheard." M. de Favrolles conducted his visitor up the narrow flight of stairs to an apartment furnished with a lightness and elegance rarely observable in those days in houses inhabited by Englishmen, and which evidenced the taste and refinement of its owner, as well as his nation ality.

" Proceed," said De Favrolles, after he had locked the door, " for you alarm me." " We have in our bank," said Mr. Menzies, still speaking in French, " forty thousand pounds, collected for the service of His Majesty in Scotland and this country." M. de Favrolles bowed in token of assent. " To-morrow you must withdraw every shil ling." M. de Favrolles shrugged his shoulders, and raised his eyebrows, and looked surprised, but said nothing ; he waited for an explanation. " I know I am answerable with my life for the safety of this money," proceeded Menzies, " but I tell you it is no longer safe in our hands." " Pourquoi ?" inquired M. de Favrolles. " If I tell you it is not safe, and I caution you to withdraw it at a time when I know the transferance may be effected, am I answerable for the consequences if you neglect my warning and the money should be lost ?" inquired Menzies.

" Unless it can be transferred to other safe custody," replied De Favrolles. " But the bank of McTaggart, Menzies and Company, I tell you, is no longer safe," urged Mr. Menzies. " Listen to me, monsieur," said De Favrolles, calmly, " you know the terms by which every one of our society is bound to his master. To each is assigned his particular duties, and every member is compelled, by solemn and stringent oaths, to fulfil his compact. The penalty of disobedience, or breach of trust, is death — se cretly but surely, death, to the recusant or the traitor." " But I am neither recusant nor traitor," said Mr. Menzies. " My dear friend," rejoined the Frenchman, " you know that the very nature of a confederacy like ours requires the exercise of the ut most caution, and the slightest accident may awaken distrust and suspicion, for one traitor could destroy us all.

If you surrender your trust you will be accounted a recusant ; if the money is lost to the cause you will be de nounced as a traitor. I am overwhelmed with grief at your situation, for it is excessively awkward. You remember the fate of Robert Massey ?" Menzies shuddered ; he remembered it well. The man, in a carouse at a tavern, had revealed the situation of a Jacobite rendezvous. Next morning he was found dead in his bed, stabbed to the heart with a dagger, on the handle of which was engraved a Jacobite device. " His case was hardly analogous to yours," continued De Favrolles, " but the punishment is similar in all cases. Menzies leant over a table and hid his face in his hands. " If I draw the money out," said De Favrolles, " where shall I put it ? Shall I invest so large a sum in my own name at any fresh bank ?

I should be watched every time I went out of my door — my footsteps would be dogged by your stupid constabulary, who, knowing that my business is small, would suspect that I com bined occasional sorties on the highway with my modest trade of horologer, or else that I am a receiver of stolen goods, and make huge profits out of other people's pillage." " There is not the slightest doubt," said Menzies, " but that when our firm stops payment — as it must eventually ; the crisis may be delayed for weeks, months, or even a year, but it is sure to come — my house will be searched, my affairs investigated, and no stone left un turned to discover my resources. We have hitherto borne a high commercial character. I am conscious of my own integrity, and contem plate approaching ruin and disgrace with grief and horror.

That ruin and disgrace would be averted for a year, perhaps two, or even more, by the use of the King's money, and ere the blow falls, I might, perchance, sink into my grave in the course of nature, with my com mercial reputation still untarnished. It is not death, but dishonour, that I fear; and yet I accelerate that dishonour by asking you to with draw this money. Does not that sufficiently evidence my devotion to my lawful prince ?" "My dear Monsieur Menzies," replied De Favrolles, " it is easy to convince me of your devotion, of your loyalty ; but I am but one, a mere unit, a single member of a peculiarly organized and numerous body. Before I can withdraw this money I must obtain the assent of my confreres ; but it would be unadvisable and even unsafe for me to be the banker of the association.

The selection of a proper person to undertake so important a responsibility is a task of difficulty and some danger. Can the removal of the money be safely delayed for a month ?" " Yes ; I will undertake that it shall be forthcoming at the expiration of a month, but I cannot be answerable for its safe keeping after that period. But why do you require so long a time for deliberation ?" " To enable me to communicate with my royal master, and obtain his instructions," replied De Favrolles. " King James ?" asked Menzies. "No, my friend," replied De Favrolles, " Louis the Magnificent. But how think you ? — will my Lord Dicehurst meet us this evening according to his appointment? or will the injuries he received prevent his going so far? I thought his lordship was getting reckless, and was not surprised to hear of his mis adventure."

" I think he will be there," returned Menzies. " He was at the inquest on Saturday, and I am informed is nearly recovered." " Aha ! the affair occurred through his fol lowing that girl he raved about so, and to whom he directed our attention, and the person who slew Featherstone, I suppose, was the boy who sat beside her — is it not so ?" " I presume so." ."Well, I thought the young fellow looked as if he had something of the lion in him. He would be an invaluable soldier for James, if his heart is with his legitimate sovereign." " Humph !" ejaculated Menzies. " If the Philistines catch him he will be hanged for murder." " Which will render a promising youth good for nothing," said De Favrolles. " It's a pity, for I could almost swear he slew his man in self-defence. However, I hope they will not catch him, and in the meantime, shall say au revoir, till evening."

" Au revoir .'" returned Menzies, who des cended the stairs, and after bidding the shop man ' a good day,' left the premises. " I wonder has he purchased the watch ?" speculated the mercer. " Scotchmen," said the vintner, " never pur chase anything — they only drag." Menzies walked slowly and thoughtfully along in the direction of Ludgate Hill, where the banking house of McTaggart, Menzies, & Co. was situated. His interview with the Frenchman had not been productive of any relief to his troubled mind, but on the contrary, had tended considerably to increase his un easiness ; and when he entered the banking parlour of his house of business, within which his partner was seated over a ponderous ledger, his look of dejection was so painfully apparent, that Mr. McTaggart exclaimed, in some alarm, " Why, Jamie mon, what ails ye?"

" Eh, mon, eneuch, eneuch in a' conscience. Since Thursday last, when we discovered the creetical state o' our affairs, I hae na laid my head upon my pillow wi' ony hope o' repose or refraishment. I hae jist tossed aboot to and fra wi'oot the slichtest poo'er to compose my thochts or address mysell to slumber. And when my sairly laden ee'lids are forced doun by sheer excess o' fatigue, I am tormainted by dreams, Sawnee, mair frichtsome and waefu' than ony that ever disturbed me when my conscience was a' clear o' reproach." "Nay," said McTaggart, a tall man, with prominent cheek bones and a cadaverous face, well, but soberly dressed, " I canna see ony reason why your conscience suld suffer, Jamie Menzies. We hae nae dishonesty to lay to our chairge." "Not if we close the bank at once, and pay oot everything to our creditors," said Menzies, "in whilk case we may meet a' reasonable demands ; and though we may hae naething for oursels, after a' the years that we hae been toiling thegither, we shall stand proodly oot forenent the warld as honest men, wha wronged naebody o' a bawbee."

" But wi' care and deeligence we may re cover," urged McTaggart. "Never, I tell ye — never, Sawney McTag gart," said Menzies, warmly. "When we commenced business it was wi' a sma' capital I admit, twa thoosan' pouns a-piece jist, whilk our faithers gaed us after we had passed an honourable commaircial probation in the guid ceety o' Glasky. We opened a sma' banking hoose, and our transactions were cautious and sairtain. Our prosperity was gradual but satisfactory, and Richie Gillespie joined us and pit four thoosan' mair to our capital. We had extended our business, and when puir Richie dee'd, we had clear in hand, over and abune leeabilities, nae less a sum than twenty thoosan' pund." " Weel !" said McTaggart, " the consairn is warth double what it was then." " It is jist warth less than naething at a'," said Menzies, dogmatically.

" The great failure o' McGilvray & Co. at Glasky, and that infairnal loan to Moss, Brothers, o' Boston, in America, has drained us o' our capital, and we hae na a skurrick the noo, except what belongs to our consteetuents. To continue trading upon that is not only dangerous but dishonest, and — " " Hoot awa, hoot awa ! my dear Sawnee," said McTaggart, " ye speak as if our losses had shaken confidence in us, and as if a' our consteetuents were aboot coming upon us at ance for their deposits. Do not a' bankers trade upon their consteetuents' money ?" "When they hae capital o' their ain to meet contingencies," replied Menzies. "Oh come," said McTaggart. "Matters are nae sae bad as ye wad paint 'em. We may still recover by prudence and caution." " Suppose De Favrolles were to withdraw his deposit ?" said Menzies interrogatively, and looking at his partner with a fixed gaze of inquiry.

" Jamie !" exclaimed McTaggart in con sternation. " Has he expressed_ony intentions o' withdrawing ?" " When he placed his money in our hands," said Menzies, " he told me that it was mair than likely it wad be withdrawn in the lump at some time or other, whatever the amount might be. It has noo reached forty thoosan', and I ask you Sawney McTaggart what wad be the consequence o' a withdrawal o' that sum fra our hoose ?" " We suld stap payment in a month," said McTaggart in dismay. "Then wi' sic a contingeency hanging o'er our heeds, like the sword o' Damocles, hoo can a man gang aboot wi' a free mind, and sleep soun'ly in bed o'nichts ?" " Mairciful providence !" ejaculated McTag gart, " ye hae seen Favrolles, Jamie, and he has gaed ye the notice. I ken it, I ken it by ye're countenance, Jamie.

Oh ! saints presairve us ! I ken the noo why ye looked sae sad and gloomy when ye came ben." " He has gaed nae formal notice as yet," said Menzies, " but he said eneuch to gar me suppose he sune wull. But I'll awa the noo, and see if I can tak some refraishment, though the lord kens I hae but puir appetite for eating. I am sairly fashed," he continued, rising and moving towards the door, "I am sairly fashed." " Wull ye help me with these ledgers the VOL. II. c nicht, Jamie ?" said McTaggart to his partner appealingly. "Not the nicht, Sawnee," replied Menzies, "for I shall be engaged abroad until a late hoor." " Wae's me !" sighed McTaggart, when his partner had closed the door behind. " Wae's me ! the times are sairly changed, the hoose o' McTaggart, Menzies and Company on the vera vairge o' bankruptcy, and ane o' its princi pals, wha was ance sic a sober, steady auld batchelor, staying oot nicht after nicht till the break o'day, like ony rantin' callant o' the toun.

It gars me amaist greet to think o' a' the calamity that has befa'en us. Wae's me, wae's me !" While Mr. McTaggart was lamenting his misfortunes over his day-books and ledgers in the bank parlour, Mr. James Menzies was pre paring his stomach for dinner in an upper apartment of the banking bouse, by imbibing sundry half measures of neat usquebaugh, with a view to the double effect of raising his spirits OLD VAUXHALL. and inducing an appetite. His dinner consisted simply of a dish of baked sheep's head, dressed after the Scotch fashion, and some baked po tatoes. He made but a scanty meal, however, and, when he had concluded, went into his bed chamber to dress for the evening. At five o'clock a chair was in readiness for him at the door, and hanging his sword by his side, and carrying his cloak over his shoulder, and his mask in one hand, he stepped in and directed the chairman to carry him to Charing Cross.

When there he paid and discharged them, and proceeded from thence on foot to the waterside, where he took boat for Vauxhall. He exhibited his silver ticket at the river gate of the gardens, after assuming his cloak and mask, and passed in. The day being tolerably fine, there was a good attendance within the grounds, for Monday was a fashionable day, and, when the weather was favourable on that day, they were usually well frequented. He strolled idly along the walks for about half an hour, when he saw an individual masked c2 OLD VAUXHALL. and wearing a black cloak, on the shoulder of which was a yellow cross. This was the sign by which De Favrolles was to be recognized, and accordingly Menzies went up to the mask and accosted him. The two continued in conversation for some time, walking, meanwhile, up and down the avenue of elms.

Presently they were joined by another mask, whose voice proclaimed him to be Lord Dicehurst, and who conducted them to the grove where they found Messrs. O'Grady, Mallison, and Lord Newbury, conversing together in a group, all similarly disguised. " I am glad to see milord and gentlemen," said De Favrolles, after the ceremony of introduc tion had been duly performed by Dicehurst. " Ma foi, our party is stronger than I ex pected." " True Tories," whispered Dicehurst to De Favrolles, " men of blood and spirit, staunch Jacobites to the back bone. And my Lord New bury, as rich as Crœsus, who will aid our cause with arm and purse." " Humph !" said De Favrolles, " you have been busy in His Majesty's service at a some what early period of your enlistment, my Lord Dicehurst. You shew your zeal. You have not yet taken the initiatory oath, however, and cannot, therefore, be considered a member of our confraternity as yet."

" I am ready to take the oath when and where you please," replied Lord Dicehurst. " And these gentlemen whom you have just introduced ?" " Are as eager as myself to embark in the cause." "How say you milord Newbury and gen tlemen ?" said De Favrolles addressing the trio whom Dicehurst had brought. " If Lord Dicehurst has told you the objects of our society, you will understand that its pro ceedings are not conducted without some danger, and that caution and fidelity are incum bent on all its members. Are you content to incur the danger to life and property which your connection with us will involve ? The oath that will be administered to you in one of our secret haunts will be stringent, the penalty for an infraction of the slightest and simplest of its clauses, death. Death, no matter what the rank or how great the power of the offender.

The poniard of the assassin will avenge treason, as surely as the sun shines." He paused for a moment as if to mark the effect of his words upon his audience. Each was silent. " If you have any desire to retract your ex pressed wish to join our confraternity, now is your time to say so. It will be too late after you have undergone the ceremony of initia tion." " I, for one, am prepared to take the oath," said Lord Dicehurst. " And I," said Lord Newbury. " And I, and I," echoed the others. "To serve the cause of King James, now known as the Chevalier de Saint George, with heart and hand and fortune, to make any sa crifice that may be required by the emergencies which may arise during the prosecution of his righteous claim to the crown of his ancestors, even of life itself, and to faithfully observe all the ordinances of the confraternity, on pain of death."

" We are satisfied," said Lord Dicehurst, and the others bowed their heads in token of as sent. " Very well then, my lords and gentlemen," said De Favrolles, " you will each be prepared to attend, when summoned before the Council. On the day appointed for your initiation, a man will say to you, ' the Prince is coming !' No matter where you may be, in the street, in your houses, on the business of the day, or in the boudoirs of your lady loves, you must follow the man who utters that watchword whither soever he may conduct you." " And when will the summons be given ?" asked Lord Newbury. " You will know that," replied M. de Fav rolles, " when you hear the watchword. And now, my lords and gentlemen, my business here is, for the present, completed. I, and my friend, Mr. Menzies, here, will leave you to enjoy the gaieties around you.

Our next meeting will be in a gloomier place, and the occasion will be more solemn and important. Till then, adieu ! ' He removed his hat and bowed courteously to Lord Dicehurst and his friends, and then, drawing the arm of Menzies within his own, moved towards the river gate. " The council meet to-night," said De Fav rolles to his friend, "you had best explain before them the position in which you stand. I believe you to be loyal and true to the cause, and I will do my best in your behalf. I have some influence as you know, and I will exert all I possess ; but you will have to keep the money till we can find a safer bank, and no transference can be made without instructions from France. Our communications with friends on the other side of the water are necessarily of a nature to demand the utmost wariness, and much time is expended in conducting them, in consequence of the many precautions which our emissaries are compelled to adopt. It will be a month before we can relieve you of your trust, mon ami, quite a month."

Chapter II. Outward Bound

It seemed to Eleanor Tyrrell that Gilbert Mardingly mended but very slowly ; in the opinion of the elder nurse, however, and in that of the doctor, he progressed surprisingly, so that in a week he was permitted to sit up in bed, and gradually to change the position which it was at first enjoined that he should lie in. He continued very weak for a long time, but his appetite got better and better every day, and as he was fed upon nourishing and strengthening diet, there was soon a perceptible improvement in his appearance, and his capacity to sit up and converse without fatigue. In three weeks he was so much better that he could get in and out of bed without assistance, and was able to dress himself, and sit for two or three hours in the invalid chair. During all this time he had not seen his mother once.

He was told he was at Lambeth, and indeed he could, when the window was open and the wind blew from that direction, distinctly hear the music from the orchestra in the Spring Gardens ; he was therefore cognizant that he was a very long way from Mrs. Mar dingly's residence. Gilbert sometimes thought, he would say, that unless she was really con fined through her infirmity to her bed, his mother might have endeavoured to have made an easy journey over to the place where her only son lay hovering between this earth and the world to come. Whenever he would express himself in this way, Eleanor would reason with him, and generally succeeded in calming his anxiety on his mother's account. She would represent to him that although Mrs. Mardingly was in no worse condition of health than when he had last seen her, it was still deemed unadvisable to subject her to any unusual excitement, which an interview with her son in his present state could not fail to induce.

" For you know, dear Gilbert," she would say, " although you are rapidly progressing towards convalescence," (this was said to cheer Gilbert, for her words behed her own impres sion) " you are very much changed in appearance, and she would be shocked to see your wan face, and your frame, lately so vigorous and healthful, now so feeble and attenuated ;" and so he was fain to be comforted, having so gentle and beloved a reasoner by his side, and to take heart and live, and gather strength, in the hope that, when he recovered some of his former good looks, he might be allowed to embrace his mother, without fear of her sensibilities being overcome by the interview. He was kept in entire ignorance of the charge which was hanging over him ; and it was a matter of some congratulation to his nurses that he never, after his first return to perfect con sciousness, alluded in any way to the circumstances which occasioned his present illness.

He frequently expressed his wonder that he was not allowed to sit at the window of his chamber to watch the passers by, and amuse himself by observing the indications of life and business which the outside world presented, by such glimpses as he might thereby obtain ; but when they told him it was considered better for him not to do so, he submitted without a murmur, although he wondered what harm so trifling an indulgence could do him, and certainly thought the doctor was rather tyrannical in his mode of treatment, and his nurses ultra-particular in obeying his injunctions. These opinions, how ever, he kept to himself, being unwilling to oc casion uneasiness in the minds of his affection ate attendants by even the slightest shew of rebellion against the course of treatment pre scribed for him.

Mr. Harper visited the house but seldom ; when he did, it was to ascertain the progress of the patient, in order that he might communicate his information to Mrs. Mardingly, who received with gratitude the intelligence of the gradual improvement in her son's health, and was reconciled to the expediency of her not visiting him in his concealment, by the earnest reasoning of Mr. Harper, who invariably brought with him a letter from Eleanor to her foster mother, corroborative of his representations regarding Gilbert, and coinciding in the necessity of keeping his asylum, for the present, free from any fresh visitors. That gentleman also placed himself in communication with Captain Merreweather, who, however, was hardly satisfied with mere verbal assurances of his mate's pro gress, and almost insisted upon ascertaining his state of health in person.

This, however, Harper peremptorily forbade. " If," said he, " you choose to take him on board, unfit for active duty, as he necessarily will be for some time yet, you will be acting the part of a true friend, and to your good-nature and regard for him, he will probably owe his safety. If you visit the house where he at pre sent lies, you will assuredly endanger that safety, for your conduct on a previous occasion excited curiosity in the neighbourhood, which your reappearance there would revive. If you were seen at the house, the neighbours would pro bably make awkward inquiries, which might possibly, in spite of every caution on your part, result in a discovery which would prove fatal. Be content with my assurance that he shall be conveyed on board your ship the night before you sail, comparatively restored to health."