In the King's Service. A tale of real life

Front matter

IN THE KING'S SEEVICE, Iff THE KING'S SERVICE. 3 fate of ~gleal Jtfe. BY Mrs. HIBBERT-WARE, AUTHOR OF "THE KINO OF BATH," " LIFE'S SEVEN AGES," " THE WATER TOWER," "HIS DEAREST WISH," " FRIEND ELLWOOD," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C 1887. PRINTED ET KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. ; AND MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. SIX POPULAR NOVELS. Now Ready, the Seventh Edition of AEMY SOCIETY." By JOHN STRANGE WINTER, Author of " Booties' Baby." Cloth gilt, 6s. ; also, picture boards, 2.. THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT." A Sporting Novel. By Mrs. Edward Kennard. Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. BY WOMAN'S WIT." By Mrs. ALEXANDER, Author of "The Wooing O't." Cloth gilt, 3j. 6d. KILLED IN THE OPEN." By Mrs. EDWARD EJSNNARD, Author of " The Right Sort."

Cloth gilt, 3-. 6_. IN A GRASS COUNTRY." By Mrs. H. LOVETT-CAMERON. Author of " A North Country Maid," &c. (Fifth'Edition.) ' Cloth gilt, is. Sd. THE OUTSIDER." By HAWLET SMART. Uniform -with the above. F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. — Tittle-tattle 1 II. — The Insolvent 12 III.— A Hue and (Jby 32 IV. — -Fob Foreign Service .... 45 V.— The Cove of Cork 60 VI.— On a Sabbath Morn .... 67 VII.— The Billet 85 VIII.— Louise D'Erlon 93 IX. — A Comparative Paradise .... 104 X.— "Roaring War" 118 XL— "We'll do it!" 134 XII.— Alone in the World .... 145 XIIL— On Sick Leave 165 XIV.— A Knack op Sating Disagreeable Things 178 XV. — General Sir Menelaus Martinet . 184 XVI. — On the Horns of a Dilemma . . . 204 XVIL— Bingley Manor House .... 222 XVIII.— The Rivals CHAETER I. TITTLE-TATTLE.

Alter a great deal of hard winter weather, of keen frosts and heavy snow, there came a change ; a warm wind blew from the west, the brooks, released from the fetters of ice that had bound them, flowed placidly over their sedgy beds, and the fields and meadows around the cottages of Fulford, so long shrouded in snow, appeared once more, clothed with the fresh green tints of coming spring. In the little cottage gardens, gold-coloured crocuses mingle with patches of the pure white snow drop, and nature seems awakening from the torpor of those long weeks when the earth had lain frost bound. It is yet early in the morning, but there is much stir and bustle in Mr. Markland's house, for that gentleman is interrupting his labours on a more profound and extended work on vol. it. his favourite Celts, and is most unwillingly leaving home rather suddenly for London, so it has been said, but the gossips shake their heads and marvel at this abrupt departure, only spoken of for the first time on the previous day by Miss Lucy Markland, and all and sundry amongst them maintain that Eroome, in Somersetshire, must really be the place of the learned author's destination, and that something most urgent, most pressing, could alone induce him to undertake such a long journey, when, if the coach is not likely to be snowed up, it may get stuck in the mire, for the roads are complete beds of slush and mud, traversed by deep ruts.

Chapter II. The Insolvent

In a heavy shower of rain the driver of the London mail coach pulled up its four steam ing horses in order to deposit its passengers and luggage at the " George Inn," in the Froome Market Place. At the door, erect as on parade, stood Colonel Black, his tall and stately form in regimentals, for, as we have before observed, officers were not then ashamed of their uni form. His keen eyes fell scrutinizingly on one of the passengers, an elderly gentleman, who had just alighted, and whose portmanteau seemed abnormally heavy, to judge from the way in which the boots lifted it. A gentle man, unquestionably, w7as this passenger, though his garments were not very fashion ably cut, and suggested the idea of a village tailor, and his gloves were decidedly well worn; still there was about him all the air of a well-bred man, and Colonel Black, more over, fancied that the care-worn and somewhat harassed-looking face was not wholly un familiar to him ; whilst the stranger, on the other hand, as he entered the inn, glanced in his turn with an inquiring look at the officer.

A few minutes later, as Colonel Black was crossing the hall a waiter handed him a card, on which, to his surprise, he saw the name of Markland, whilst the man at the same time delivered a message to the effect that Mr. Markland would be very happy to have the honour of waiting on Colonel Black when it would be convenient to him. Concluding at once that the new arrival was the father of his young lieutenant, the colonel replied, "Give Mr. Markland my com pliments, and say that I will do myself the pleasure of calling on him in his room now." The greetings between the two gentlemen when they met were expressive of mutual satisfaction on either side, but before Colonel Black had taken the chair wrhich Mr. Mark land placed for him, the boots entered with a " Beg your pardon, zir, but the waiter zays you want your pertmanty here."

As he spoke, the man let the portmanteau slide from his shoulder, and it dropped with a heavy sounding thud on the floor, whilst a deep grunt of relief issued at the same time from his mouth. Colonel Black was too well bred to appear to notice this little episode, but Mr. Markland, student as he was, was enough a man of the world to know that his visitor could not fail to have perceived it, so he observed with a smile — " A few books, Colonel Black ; I sometimes require a volume or two for reference, even when I am going to be absent from home only for a short time." The colonel bowed and smiled too, politely saying, " I have heard of your name as a man of science, Mr. Markland ;" and this was all the gentleman of the sword could say, for he was not well versed in literature. Mr. Markland, however, bowed in his turn and smiled, and the colonel then said — "Your son will be greatly pleased to see you, sir ; he is a very clever, talented young fellow, and there is the making of a good soldier in him."

The mention of his son brought back at once to Mr. Markland's recollection the real object of his visit to Froome. " My dear sir," he . exclaimed, the tone of his voice and expression of his face betraying the trouble and anxiety of his mind, " it is on his account solely that I have come to Froome, and most thankful am I to have met you before seeing him, and to be able to thank you in person for the great kindness you have shown him, and for which I trust he has been duly grateful." "My dear sir," said the colonel, "I have been only too happy to do what I could for your lad, and a fine promising young fellow he is, as I have just said." " I am very pleased to hear you speak so highly of my poor boy, and it makes me hope that things are not quite so bad as I feared, though your sending him here, I must own, strengthened my suspicions."

" I sent him to Froome on recruiting ser vice ostensibly," replied Colonel Black with an air of surprise, " but principally," and here the veteran officer gave vent to a chuckle, "to get him out of the way of a certain young lady." " Ah ! " replied Mr. Markland, gloomily, " I thought there must be some truth in the reports transmitted from Hastings to Fulford, and circulated there through the medium of a cantankerous female who knows everybody's affairs better than her own, but I had hoped other things of my son than that he should be dangling after a girl and her money bags, instead of making his way in the world by his own honourable exertions in the profession he has chosen." " Bless my soul, sir, you are quite under a misapprehension ; Mr. William was in danger, certainly, and that was the reason why I sent him away from Hastings, but I am compelled to say, though it may sound very ungallant, that the young lady in question was dangling after him, and, by-the-by, she was no heiress, and I think I may safely say, too, that your son is too disinterested a fellow to w7ant to marry money."

"This is a great relief to me," exclaimed Mr. Markland, the gloom on whose face lessened sensibly ; " but he is in debt, Colonel Black, I fear deeply in debt." " Is he ? " said the colonel, with an air of doubt ; " I think not; at least, I fancy he will only owe a few trifling debts ; I hope nothing more," he added, a shade passing over his face for a moment as he thought of Lieutenant Bartlett; " but let us trust that this is only another exaggerated report of that cantan kerous female at Fulford." " Perhaps you are right," replied Mr. Markland ; " any way," he added with a hearty laugh, " I feel pretty certain now that the uproar in Froome lately, in which some of your men were concerned, was not because of an attempt to resist a bailiff sent to arrest Lieu tenant Markland." " I should rather think not," said the colonel laughing ; " but it is that very uproar that has brought me here, for I have come to look into that matter.

You may have heard from your son how the rascals of volunteers here refused to give up a fifer whom one of my sergeants had enlisted, and not only refused to give the man up, but actually flogged him, and then flogged another man for saying he would enlist, and ended by setting in a body on my sergeant and knocking him down. Zounds ! there's a nice way of showing their loyalty and zeal for the service of their king and country. Knaves ! " added the colonel with an angry scowl ; " but what can we expect from a set of feather-bed soldiers ? Well, I shall lay the whole matter before the Horse Guards, and I should not be surprised if the entire corps were disbanded. But to return to your son, I think you have no need to feel uneasy on his score, and I believe he w7ill in the future be a credit to his regi ment."

" I see you are his friend, Colonel Black, and I thank Heaven for giving him such an one. He is a good lad, in the main, but he has hitherto been very extravagant. You can have no idea how he has pulled at me, and yet he knows what a great expense I am at for the education of my children." "It's plaguy enough, my dear sir, when children suck their mothers," said the colonel ; "but when they begin to suck their fathers it's the devil." In spite of hi.f paternal woes, this last remark so tickled Mr. Markland that he indulged in a hearty laugh. " And how is my old friend Colonel Faulk ner ? and Mr. Goddard, how is he ? I made VOL. II. the vicar's acquaintance when I was staying with Faulkner." " They are both very well. Colonel Faulk ner travelled to London with me, and I left him there. As for the vicar, he leads a very happy, quiet life, doing all the good he can, and is in high favour with all his parishioners, except only a few of the devout female sex, who take him to task sometimes, my cantan kerous friend amongst the number, though, plague him as they will, it does not seem to lessen his chivalrous, I might say Quixotic, devotion to women in general."

" I think he carries his admiration of the ladies to eccentricity ; perhaps he has a screw loose ; he is a most estimable man, but really almost mad on that point," replied the colonel. " He certainly does place woman on a very high pedestal both as regards intellect and every good quality ; he is imbued with all the opinions of an old author called Cornelius Agrippa," observed Mr. Markland with a smile, " and it often amazes me that he should be a single man." " Well, one can only say with regard to that, that his actions show better judgment than his words," remarked the colonel, who had now mounted his own hobby. " He is a soldier, a soldier of Christ, and what does he want with a wife ? He should have no family but his flock, and then he can serve his church without any let or hindrance.

Now, as for myself, I am a soldier of King George, and I have no wife and no family ; my regiment is my family." "And a pretty numerous one," said Mr. Markland laughing. " Aye, and sad scamps some of them are, and they give me no end of trouble, but they are fine lads, they will do anything, from kicking a football to pitching a grenade ; but here I am keeping you talking," added the colonel abruptly, " and I am sure you must be anxious to see your boy. Our recruiting sergeant, Kite, who is in the inn, I know, shall take you to his lodgings, and then I hope you will do me the great favour to come back and dine with me, and bring your son with you. I have been here two or three days, so I feel as if I were in my own quarters, in a way." When Mr. Markland was leaving the " George," escorted by the magnificent Kite, he said to that worthy, " Your name is familiar to me, sergeant."

" You'll perhaps have heard of my old dad, sir," replied Kite ; " he was a native of York, and worked for your honour's grandfather from the time he was a little chap, and then for others of the family till he died. I was his youngest, and was apprenticed to a painter, but I didn't take to the trade ; I was born to be a soldier, and that's the truth of it, and sa 18—2 I cut off and 'listed. Excuse me for being so bold as to give my opinion, sir, but I am right glad and proud to see your son in the regi ment, sir," added Kite, "and he's the finest young hossifer w7e have. He'll stand fire and no mistake ; he'll be as cool in his first engage ment as an old soldier, and I'd back him, if it was a siege, to be one of the first in the breach." Though Mr. Markland listened with pleasure to this evidently sincere encomium on his son, there was a tightening at his heart when he thought of the perils which would await him on active service ; however, the sight of the quaint buildings in the streets of the picturesque old town through which he was passing turned his thoughts in another and more pleasing direction.

The rain, which had been heavy, but tran sient as a thunder shower, had ceased before Mr. Markland had left the " George," and the sun breaking suddenly from behind a bank of clouds lit up the wintry landscape with a fleeting glory. The dense masses of wood, still stripped of leaves, clothing the hill-sides, looked darker by contrast with the green pas tures, their tint brightened by the sudden vivid light gleaming from the sky, while the learned author of the " Cradle " could have fancied himself living in the Middle Ages, or wandering through the streets of some old continental city as he walked along under the shadow of the projecting storeys of the houses and noted the quaint appearance of the timber and plaster walls, the curious little latticed casements, and the high-peaked gable ends, marked so strongly against a broad rift of blue in the stormy sky.

William Markland'ssurprise was great indeed when Nancy, her eyes yet kindling with the resentment excited by the appearance of the obnoxious Kite, ushered his father into the young officer's sitting-room, but his surprise gave way to a delight, which Mr. Markland evidently shared, for there was really a strong affection between father and son, spite of their occasional disagree ments. Of course, there were very many questions to be asked and answered on either side. William had to narrate all his military ex periences, and Mr. Markland had to give full particulars about Lucy and the children and the Faulkner family and Miss Ann Cross, who as the unsuspecting old gentleman said, in answer to an inquiry put in a would-be indif ferent tone by the sly young officer, was not yet married to Mr. Josh Martin, nor going to be, so far as he knew.

"In fact, Josh Martin," observed Mr. Mark land, "has but one idea at present, and that is politics : in his opinion the downfall of old ■ }■> IN THE KING'S SERVICE. England would have been quick and certain after the death of the Heaven-born statesman, Billy Pitt, if his great adversary, Fox, the Man of the People, had not followed him last Sep tember. But ah, ah, my good lad," continued Mr. Markland playfully, as he turned over a few pamphlets lying on the table, among which were the Mutiny Act, the Articles of War, and the Standing Orders of the Regiment, " so you thought you would have no more law to read when you got into the profession you have yourself chosen ! " and here the old gentleman laid particular emphasis on the last few words. " But I trust you are making yourself master of these subjects," he added, with an amused smile.

" I am doing my best," replied William ; " and I see from the first section of the Mutiny Act," he continued in a jocular tone, " that we officers are all to be good and go regularly to church, or else we shall be court martialled and reprimanded." "Well, well, that is as it ought to be," observed Mr. Markland. " For cursing and swearing, ditto," con tinued William ; " but if we were to speak against any article of the Christian faith, we should be given up to the civil authorities to be dealt wfith according to law." " And serve you right too ; but that will do," said the old gentleman, interrupting his son, and turning the conversation to his own literary labours, when William, in his turn, listened to a tedious discourse on the origin of the Celts in Britain. The attention, how ever, which the latter bestowed on his sire's learned talk was apparent only, for all the while there was an anxious, uneasy feeling at his heart about that grim and sordid subject, "the mammon of iniquity," which he knew must come forward as soon as all the greet ings between himself and his father were made.

The poor insolvent was, in truth, painfully aware that this sudden and un expected paternal visit had reference chiefly, if not altogether, to his embarrassments, which, somehow, had come to Mr. Markland's know ledge, and though the young officer had some time ago resolved to make a full confession of his debts, yet the task seemed a hundred times more painful and disagreeable now that he was face to face wdth his father, and it was almost a relief when the latter, having made an end of the Celts, of his own mere motion broached, rather abruptly, the dreaded subject. " Doubtless you are at no loss, William, to guess what is the real object of my coming here ; your own letters have made me fear that you were not keeping within the bounds of your pay and my allowance, and some rumours which have reached me from another IN THE KING S SERVICE. quarter have tended to convince me of this fact."

" I will not attempt to deny that I am in debt, sir, though not to a very large amount," said William in a faltering tone. "I had hoped to be able to satisfy the claims on me without appealingto you, but this I find impossible. I assure you, sir, you cannot reproach me half so bitterly as I reproach myself for having run into debt, when I remember how much you have done for me, and that you might reasonably have expected that after going to the expense of buying me a commission, and then my lieutenancy, you should be at no further cost on my account ; but I now solemnly promise you that if you will but free me from my present liabilities I will never again owe any man a penny." Affected by his son's penitent and humble tone, and by his evident distress, Mr. Mark land replied — " Well, well, my dear lad, I must see what I can do, and I only hope you will keep your promise ; " then suddenly assuming an air of more severity he added, "I have certainly been surprised to find that your expenses and wants have been so great and so different from what I at first understood they would be.

How far these expenses have been neces sary you know best." Here Mr. Markland paused and looked searchingly at his son. who remembering the four-in-hands and the tandems and the whist parties and other unfortunate extravagances which he had launched into under the tute lage of Lieutenant Bartlett, did not attempt for the moment to make any reply to his father's indirect question. His look of con fusion, however, confirmed Mr. Markland in his suspicions. " I am afraid, William, that the connections and friendships you have formed, though I trust all very good ones, may have been the means of causing many expenses to you which might have been avoided, and though I am unwilling to check any cultivation of good acquaintance, yet even these, at least too many of them, may create habits of extravagance.

Then, again, I heard that you were paying attentions to a young lady, but Colonel Black has partly contradicted that. I must say, William, that for you to think of marriage on this side of forty would be a sort of moral suicide, for I don't suppose you would be the man to want to buy your promotion with a wife's fortune." " Heaven forbid ! " exclaimed William, his eyes almost blazing ; " the base role of a fortune hunter is one I shall never adopt. As to my debts, dear father," he added, " I know I have been extravagant, but some of my expenses have been necessary. My uniform has been very costly ; ten pounds for a new dress coat and epaulette, five pounds for Hes sian boots, twenty-four pounds for regimental appointments ; and then I have had many articles of camp furniture to buy, and my travelling expenses to this place were no trifle.

At Hastings, certainly, I made excursions sometimes with the Giffords, whom I have spoken about in my letters ; but one of the officers, I won't mention his name, who said he would share all expenses, used invariably, by some shabby trick or another, to leave me the whole reckoning to pay." " When he once served you that trick you should never have let him have the chance again," replied Mr. Markland sententiously ; " however, let that pass ; for this time I will settle your bills lest you should be embarrassed some way or other, but you must be careful in future, if you wish to prevent incon venience to yourself, to keep within narrower bounds, for my hand will certainly be with held if you offer to stretch it so very far. I will not toil and scrape money together to support extravagance, so far as I can help it ; besides, I have other children, except Lucy, who are all dragging at me one way or another, from the oldest to the very youngest."

The idea of poor little four-year-old Jim being accused of dragging at his father was so ludicrous, that William, spite of his misery, could scarcely repress a smile. " I suppose," said Mr. Markland abruptly, " that if I draw you a bill on my bankers for £60, which you can get cashed here, it will cover all you owe ? " " Oh yes, certainly," replied William, after a moment's hesitation, which his father, though he perceived it, thought nothing of just then, and without further question the latter wrote out the bill and handed it to his son, giving him at the same time a few more admonitions against the heinous fault of running into debt, and again emphatically assuring him that this should positively be the last help he would render him. After another stroll through the quaint old town, the author of the " Cradle of the Celts " and his son proceeded to the " George Inn," to dine with Colonel Black.

The dinner was fairly good, but as regards the wine, the less said the better. In those days, and for a long time afterwards, indeed, almost up to our own times, the wine furnished by innkeepers to their customers was wretch edly bad and abominably dear ; yet such was then the force of custom, that gentlemen would knowinglj7 and heroically victimize themselves by drinking it for the good of the house, as the saying was. But if the colonel had to pay for bad wine, he was too old a soldier to drink it, so after tasting the first glass, he proposed a bowl of punch to his guests ; this being willingly agreed to, the waiter was ordered to take away the trash and bring the materials for brewing that beverage. The little party remained together till late in the evening, and so pleasantly had the hours passed, that the mulcted father thought no more of the bill he had drawn, nor did the impecunious son of his still remaining debts, which that bill would assuredly not cover.

It was only when each had gone to his own room at night that the unpleasant subject cropped up again. Mr. Markland in his sleeping chamber at the " George," as he adjusted his tasselled night cap over his brows, muttered half aloud — "I did not like his hesitation when I told him I would give him a bill for £60 ; if he owes more debts yet, I am a ruined man." Whilst poor William, in his bed-room at his lodgings, covered a sheet of foolscap with figures, in the vain attempt to try how he could make £60 do the work of £130. Mr. Markland intended leaving Froome soon after breakfast, so William came early to the inn, Colonel Black not being present, as he judged it best to leave father and son to themselves. And a very quiet meal it was, for the learned author could not fail to perceive his son's dejection and uneasiness, and became himself taciturn, whilst the unpleasant doubt of the previous night, that £60 would not cover William's liabilities, now resolved itself into a certainty; and unable to bear this tormenting thought any longer, he said to the young lieutenant, who had just strapped the book-laden portmanteau — " Do you owe more debts than the £60 will suffice to pay ?

" " I am afraid by the calculation I made last night that the sum, though a large one for you to part with, will not quite set me free," replied William in a tone of genuine sorrow. " I thought as much," said the unhappy father with something like a groan ; " I suppose you have debts at Hastings and debts here, and debts the Lord knows where, to an extent which I could have had no conception of, considering the money I have sent you. Your situation depresses my spirits most terribly, for if you continue in the army, you will either get into some great scrape by debts, or drain my purse till you have had all I can properly leave you at my death. Why did you put off telling me all till the coach was on the point of starting? But for Heaven's sake let me now know, to the last penny, what you really do owe."

Just then the boots came in for the port manteau, and was followed by the waiter with his bill ; and the guard of the coach was al ready winding his horn to give warning to intending passengers to take their places, so there was not much time to lose, yet unable to come to the point all at once, the distressed insolvent stammered out something about a tailor's bill. " I think," he said in a faltering tone, " that I shall require £80, and " The next few words stuck in his throat, stopped by his father's despairing expression of countenance and doleful ejaculations, and it was not till the latter was fairly seated in the coach, of which he was the sole inside passenger, that William found courage to jerk out — " I have now told you everything, except a debt of £50 which I owe to a money lender in London, whom the officer I have told you of introduced me to ; but I only got £40 from him, for the other £10 he kept back for his interest, and I was only allowed six months' credit, and the six months will be up in a few days."