Redgauntlet [179]
on such occasions.
'And you see, brother, you will be in safe quarters at Fairladies--good old scrambling house--good old maids enough, if they were not Papists,--Hollo, you Jack Lowther; keep the line, can't ye, and shut your rattle-trap, you broth of a--? And so, being of a good family, and having enough, the old lasses have turned a kind of saints, and nuns, and so forth. The place they live in was some sort of nun-shop long ago, as they have them still in Flanders; so folk call them the Vestals of Fairladies-- that may be, or may not be; and I care not whether it be or no.-- Blinkinsop, hold your tongue, and be d--d!--And so, betwixt great alms and good dinners, they are well thought of by rich and poor, and their trucking with Papists is looked over. There are plenty of priests, and stout young scholars, and such-like, about the house it's a hive of them. More shame that government send dragoons out after-a few honest fellows that bring the old women of England a drop of brandy, and let these ragamuffins smuggle in as much papistry and--Hark!--was that a whistle? No, it's only a plover. You, Jem Collier, keep a look-out ahead--we'll meet them at the High Whins, or Brotthole bottom, or nowhere. Go a furlong ahead, I say, and look sharp.--These Misses Arthurets feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and such-like acts--which my poor father used to say were filthy rags, but he dressed himself out with as many of them as most folk.--D--n that stumbling horse! Father Crackenthorp should be d--d himself for putting an honest fellow's neck in such jeopardy.'
Thus, and with much more to the same purpose, Nanty ran on, increasing, by his well-intended annoyance, the agony of Alan Fairford, who, tormented by a racking pain along the back and loins, which made the rough trot of the horse torture to him, had his aching head still further rended and split by the hoarse voice of the sailor, close to his ear. Perfectly passive, however, he did not even essay to give any answer; and indeed his own bodily distress was now so great and engrossing, that to think of his situation was impossible, even if he could have mended it by doing so.
Their course was inland; but in what direction, Alan had no means of ascertaining. They passed at first over heaths and sandy downs; they crossed more than one brook, or beck, as they are called in that country--some of them of considerable depth--and at length reached a cultivated country, divided, according to the English fashion of agriculture, into very small fields or closes, by high banks, overgrown with underwood, and surmounted by hedge- row trees, amongst which winded a number of impracticable and complicated lanes, where the boughs projecting from the embankments on each side, intercepted the light of the moon, and endangered the safety of the horsemen. But through this labyrinth the experience of the guides conducted them without a blunder, and without even the slackening of their pace. In many places, however, it was impossible for three men to ride abreast; and therefore the burden of supporting Alan Fairford fell alternately to old Jephson and to Nanty; and it was with much difficulty that they could keep him upright in his saddle.
At length, when his powers of sufferance were quite worn out, and he was about to implore them to leave him to his fate in the first cottage or shed--or under a haystack or a hedge--or anywhere, so he was left at ease, Collier, who rode ahead, passed back the word that they were at the avenue to Fairladies--'Was he to turn up?'
Committing the charge of Fairford to Jephson, Nanty dashed up to the head of the troop, and gave his orders.--'Who knows the house best?'
'Sam Skelton's a Catholic,' said Lowther.
'A d--d bad religion,' said Nanty, of whose Presbyterian education a hatred of Popery seemed to be the only remnant. 'But I am glad there is one amongst us, anyhow. You, Sam, being a Papist, know Fairladies and the old maidens I dare say; so do you fall out of the line, and wait here with me; and do you, Collier, carry on to
'And you see, brother, you will be in safe quarters at Fairladies--good old scrambling house--good old maids enough, if they were not Papists,--Hollo, you Jack Lowther; keep the line, can't ye, and shut your rattle-trap, you broth of a--? And so, being of a good family, and having enough, the old lasses have turned a kind of saints, and nuns, and so forth. The place they live in was some sort of nun-shop long ago, as they have them still in Flanders; so folk call them the Vestals of Fairladies-- that may be, or may not be; and I care not whether it be or no.-- Blinkinsop, hold your tongue, and be d--d!--And so, betwixt great alms and good dinners, they are well thought of by rich and poor, and their trucking with Papists is looked over. There are plenty of priests, and stout young scholars, and such-like, about the house it's a hive of them. More shame that government send dragoons out after-a few honest fellows that bring the old women of England a drop of brandy, and let these ragamuffins smuggle in as much papistry and--Hark!--was that a whistle? No, it's only a plover. You, Jem Collier, keep a look-out ahead--we'll meet them at the High Whins, or Brotthole bottom, or nowhere. Go a furlong ahead, I say, and look sharp.--These Misses Arthurets feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and such-like acts--which my poor father used to say were filthy rags, but he dressed himself out with as many of them as most folk.--D--n that stumbling horse! Father Crackenthorp should be d--d himself for putting an honest fellow's neck in such jeopardy.'
Thus, and with much more to the same purpose, Nanty ran on, increasing, by his well-intended annoyance, the agony of Alan Fairford, who, tormented by a racking pain along the back and loins, which made the rough trot of the horse torture to him, had his aching head still further rended and split by the hoarse voice of the sailor, close to his ear. Perfectly passive, however, he did not even essay to give any answer; and indeed his own bodily distress was now so great and engrossing, that to think of his situation was impossible, even if he could have mended it by doing so.
Their course was inland; but in what direction, Alan had no means of ascertaining. They passed at first over heaths and sandy downs; they crossed more than one brook, or beck, as they are called in that country--some of them of considerable depth--and at length reached a cultivated country, divided, according to the English fashion of agriculture, into very small fields or closes, by high banks, overgrown with underwood, and surmounted by hedge- row trees, amongst which winded a number of impracticable and complicated lanes, where the boughs projecting from the embankments on each side, intercepted the light of the moon, and endangered the safety of the horsemen. But through this labyrinth the experience of the guides conducted them without a blunder, and without even the slackening of their pace. In many places, however, it was impossible for three men to ride abreast; and therefore the burden of supporting Alan Fairford fell alternately to old Jephson and to Nanty; and it was with much difficulty that they could keep him upright in his saddle.
At length, when his powers of sufferance were quite worn out, and he was about to implore them to leave him to his fate in the first cottage or shed--or under a haystack or a hedge--or anywhere, so he was left at ease, Collier, who rode ahead, passed back the word that they were at the avenue to Fairladies--'Was he to turn up?'
Committing the charge of Fairford to Jephson, Nanty dashed up to the head of the troop, and gave his orders.--'Who knows the house best?'
'Sam Skelton's a Catholic,' said Lowther.
'A d--d bad religion,' said Nanty, of whose Presbyterian education a hatred of Popery seemed to be the only remnant. 'But I am glad there is one amongst us, anyhow. You, Sam, being a Papist, know Fairladies and the old maidens I dare say; so do you fall out of the line, and wait here with me; and do you, Collier, carry on to