your own son!"-said the turnkey; "but you quality folks know your own ways best." "My son!" exclaimed the little figure. "Audacious" "Here is some strange mistake," said Peveril, in the same breath. I sought Sir Geoffrey" "And you have him before you, young man," said the pigmy tenant of the cell, with an air of dignity; at the same time casting on the floor his crimson cloak, and standing before them in his full dignity of three feet six inches of height. "I who was the favoured servant of three successive Sovereigns of the Crown of England, am now the tenant of this dungeon, and the sport of its brutal keepers. I am Sir Geoffrey Hudson." Julian, though he had never before seen this important personage, had no difficulty in recognising, from description, the celebrated dwarf of Henrietta Maria, who had survived the dangers of civil war and privatequarrel-the murder of his royal master, Charles I., and the exile of his widow-to fall upon evil tongues and evil days, amidst the unsparing accusations connected with the Popish Plot. He bowed to the unhappy old man, and hastened to explain to him, and to the turnkey, that it was Sir Geoffrey Peveril, of Martindale Castle in Derbyshire, whose prison he had desired to share. "You should have said that before you parted with the gold-dust, my master," answered the turnkey; "for t'other Sir Geoffrey, that is the big, tall, grayhaired man, was sent to the Tower last night; and the Captain will think he has kept his word well enow with you, by lodging you with this here Sir Geoffrey Hudson, who is the better show of the two." "I pray you go to your master," said Peveril; "explain the mistake; and say to him I beg to be sent to the Tower." "The Tower!-Ha, ha, ha!" exclaimed the fellow. "The Tower is for lords and knights, and not for squires of low degree-for high treason, and not for ruffling on the streets with rapier and dagger; and there must go a secretary's warrant to send you there." 'Why, so I should," said Clink, still grinning, "if I were not sure that he knew it already. You paid to be sent to Sir Geoffrey, and he sent you to Sir Geoffrey. You are so put down in the register, and he will blot it for no man. Come, come, be conformable, and you shall have light and easy irons-that's all I can do for you." Resistance and expostulation being out of the question, Peveril submitted to have a light pair of fetters secured on his ankles, which allowed him, nevertheless, the power of traversing the apartment. During this operation, he reflected that the jailer, who had taken the advantage of the equivoque betwixt the two Sir Geoffreys, must have acted as his assistant had hinted, and cheated him from malice prepense, since the warrant of committal described him as the son of Sir Geoffrey Peveril. It was therefore in vain, as well as degrading, to make farther application to such a man on the subject. Julian determined to submit to his fate, as what could not be averted by any effort of his own. Even the turnkey was moved in some degree by his youth, good mien, and the patience with which, after the first effervescence of disappointment, the new prisoner resigned himself to his situation. "You seem a brave young gentleman," he said: "and shall at least have a good dinner, and as good a pallet to sleep on, as is within the walls of Newgate. And, Master Sir Geoffrey, you ought to make much of him, since you do not like tall fellows; for I can tell you that Master Peveril is in for pinking long Jack Jenkins, that was the Master of Defence-as tall a man as is in London, always excepting the King's Porter, Master Evans, that carried you about in his pocket, Sir Geoffrey, as all the world has heard tell.' Begone, fellow!" answered the dwarf. "Fellow, I scorn vou!" VOL. IV. 21 The turnkey sneered, withdrew, and locked the door behind him. CHAPTER XXXIV. Degenerate youth, and not of Tydeus' kind, Whose little body lodged a mighty mind!-Iliad. LEFT quiet at least, if not alone, for the first time after the events of this troubled and varied day, Julian threw himself on an old oaken seat, beside the embers of a sea-coal fire, and began to muse on the miserable situation of anxiety and danger in which he was placed; where, whether he contemplated the interests of his love, his family affections, or his friendships, all seemed such a prospect as that of a sailor who looks upon breakers on every hand, from the deck of a vessel which no longer obeys the helm. As Peveril sat sunk in despondency, his companion in misfortune drew a chair to the opposite side of the chimney-corner, and began to gaze at him with a sort of solemn earnestness, which at length compelled him, though almost in spite of himself, to pay some attention to the singular figure who seemed so much engrossed with contemplating him. Geoffrey Hudson, (we drop occasionally the title of knighthood, which the King had bestowed on him in a frolic, but which might introduce some confusion into our history,) although a dwarf of the least possible size, had nothing positively ugly in his countenance, or actually distorted in his limbs. His head, hands, and feet, were indeed large, and disproportioned to the height of his body, and his body itself much thicker than was consistent with symmetry, but in a degree which was rather ludicrous than disagreeable to look upon. His countenance, in particular, had he been a little taller, would have been accounted, in youth, handsome, and now, in age, striking and expressive; it was but the uncommon disproportion betwixt the head and the trunk which made the features seem whimsical and bizarre-an effect which was considerably increased by the dwarf's mustaches, which it was his pleasure to wear so large, that they almost twisted back amongst, and mingled with, his grizzled hair. But poor The dress of this singular wight announced that he was not entirely free from the unhappy taste which frequently induces those whom nature has marked by personal deformity, to distinguish, and at the same time to render themselves ridiculous, by the use of showy colours, and garments fantastically and extraordinarily fashioned. Geoffrey Hudson's laces, embroideries, and the rest of his finery, were sorely worn and tarnished by the time which he had spent in jail under the vague and malicious accusation that he was somehow or other an accomplice in this all-involving, all-devouring whirlpool of a Popish conspiracy-an impeachment which, if pronounced by a mouth the foulest and most malicious, was at that time sufficiently predominant to sully the fairest reputation. It will presently appear, that in the poor man's manner of thinking, and tone of conversation, there was something analogous to his absurd fashion of apparel; for, as in the latter, good stuff and valuable decorations were rendered ludicrous by the fantastic fashion in which they were made up; so, such glimmerings of good sense and honourable feeling as the little man often evinced, were made ridiculous by a restless desire to assume certain airs of importance, and a great jealousy of being despised, on account of the peculiarity of his outward form. After the fellow-prisoners had looked at each other for some time in silence, the dwarf, conscious of his dignity as first owner of their joint apartment, thought it necessary to do the honours of it to the new-comer. " "Sir," he said, modifying the alternate harsh and squeaking tones of his voice into accents as harmonious as they could attain, "I understand you to be the son of my worthy namesake, and ancient acquaintance, the stout Sir Geoffrey Peveril of the Peak. I promise you, I have seen your father where blows have been going more plenty than gold pieces; and for a tall heavy man, who lacked, as we martial ists thought, some of the lightness and activity of | he had been a very model of valour and gallantry, our more slightly made Cavaliers, he performed his duty as a man might desire. I am happy to see you, his son; and, though by a mistake, I am glad we are to share this comfortless cabin together." Julian bowed and thanked his courtesy; and Geoffrey Hudson, having broken the ice, proceeded to question him without farther ceremony. "You are no courtier, I presume, young gentleman ?" Julian replied in the negative. "I thought so," continued the dwarf; "for although I have now no official duty at Court, the region in which my early years were spent, and where I once held a considerable office, yet I still, when I had my liberty, visited the Presence from time to time, as in duty bound for former service; and am wont, from old habit, to take some note of the courtly gallants, those choice spirits of the age, among whom I was once enrolled. You are, not to compliment you, a marked figure, Master Peveril-though something of the tallest, as was your father's case; I think, I could scarce have seen you any where without remembering you." Peveril thought he might, with great justice, have returned the compliment, but contented himself with saying, "he had scarce seen the British Court." "Tis pity," said Hudson; "a gallant can hardly be formed without frequenting it. But you have been perhaps in a rougher school; you have served, doubtless?" My Maker, I hope," said Julian. "Fie on it, you mistake. I meant," said Hudson, "à la Francoise, you have served in the army?" "No. I have not yet had that honour," answered Julian. "What! neither courtier nor soldier, Master Peveril?" said the important little man: "Your father is to blame. By cock and pie he is, Master Peveril! How shall a man be known, or distinguished, unless by his bearing in peace and war? I tell you, sir, that at Newberry, where I charged with my troop abreast with Prince Rupert, and when, as you may have heard, we were both beaten off by those cuckoldy hinds the Trained Bands of London, -we did what men could; and I think it was a matter of three or four minutes after most of our gentlemen had been driven off, that his Highness and I continued to cut at their long pikes with our swords; and I think might have broken in, but that I had a tall, long-legged brute of a horse, and my sword was somewhat short-in fine, at last we were obliged to make volte-face, and then, as I was going to say, the fellows were so glad to get rid of us, that they set up a great jubilee cry of 'There goes Prince Robin and Cock Robin!'-Ay, ay, every scoundrel among them knew me well. But those days are over. And where were you educated, young gentleman ?" Peveril named the household of the Countess of Derby. A most honourable lady, upon my word as a gentleman," said Hudson.-"I knew the noble Countess well, when I was about the person of my royal mistress, Henrietta Maria. She was then the very muster of all that was noble, loyal, and lovely. She was, indeed, one of the fifteen fair ones of the Court, whom I permitted to call me Piccoluomini; a foolish jest on my somewhat diminutive figure, which always distinguished me from ordinary beings, even when I was young-I have now lost much stature by stooping; but, always the ladies had their jest at me.-Perhaps, young man, I had my own amends of some of them somewhere, and somehow or other-I say nothing if I had or no; far less do I insinuate disrespect to the noble Countess. She was daughter of the Duc de la Tremouille, or, more correctly, Des Thouars. But certainly to serve the ladies, and condescend to their humours, even when somewhat too free, or too fantastic, is the true decorum of gentle blood." Depressed as his spirits were, Peveril could scarce forbear smiling when he looked at the pigmy creature, who told these stories with infinite complacency, and appeared disposed to proclaim, as his own herald, that though love and arms seemed to be pursuits totally irreconcilable to his shrivelled, weatherbeaten countenance, and wasted limbs. Julian was, however, so careful to avoid giving his companion pain, that he endeavoured to humour him, by saying, that, questionably, one bred up like Sir Geoffrey Hudson, in courts and camps, knew exactly when to suffer personal freedoms, and when to control them." un The little Knight, with great vivacity, though with some difficulty, began to drag his seat from the side of the fire opposite to that where Julian was seated, and at length succeeded in bringing it near him, in token of increasing cordiality. "You say well, Master Peveril," said the dwarf; "and I have given proofs both of bearing and forbearing.-Yes, sir, there was not that thing which my most royal mistress, Henrietta Maria, could have required of me, that I would not have complied with, sir; I was her sworn servant, both in war and in fes tival, in battle and pageant, sir. At her Majesty's particular request, I once condescended to becomeladies, you know, have strange fancies-to become the tenant, for a time, of the interior of a pie." "Of a pie!" said Julian, somewhat amazed. "Yes, sir, of a pie. I hope you find nothing risible in my complaisance?" replied his companion, something jealously, "Not I, sir," said Peveril; "I have other matters than laughter in my head at present." So had I," said the dwarfish champion, "when I found myself imprisoned in a huge platter, of no ordinary dimensions you may be assured, since I could lie at length in it, and when I was entomed, as it were, in walls of standing crust, and a huge cover of pastry, the whole constituting a sort of sarcophagus, of size enough to have recorded the epitaph of a general officer or an archbishop on the lid. Sir, notwithstanding the conveniences which were made to give me air, it was more like being buried alive than aught else which I could think of?"* "I conceive it," said Julian. "Moreover, sir," continued the dwarf, "there were few in the secret, which was contrived for the Queen's divertisement; for advancing of which I would have of Charles I.'s time. His first appearance at court was his being presented, as mentioned in the text, in a pie, at an entertainment given by the Duke of Buckingham to Charles I. and Henrietta Maria. Upon the same occasion, the Duke presented the tenant of the pasty to the Queen, who retained him as her page. When about eight years of age, he was but eighteen or twenty inches high; and remained stationary at that stature till he was thirty years old, when he grew to the height of three feet nine inches, and there stopped. This singular lusus nature was trusted in some negotiations He went to France to fetch over a midwife to his mistress, Henrietta Maria. On his return, he was taken by Dunkirk privateers, when he lost many valuable presents sent to the Queen from France, and about 25001, of his own. Sir William Davenant makes a real or supposed combat between the dwarf and a turkey-cock, the subject of a poem called Jef friedos. The scene is laid at Dunkirk, where, as the satire con * Geoffrey or Jeffrey Hudson is often mentioned in anecdotes of consequence. cludes "Jeffrey strait was thrown, when, faint and weak, The cruel fowl assaults him with his beak. A lady midwife now he there by chance So kind of nature as deliver me.'" We are not acquainted how far Jeffrey resented this lampoon. But we are assured he was a consequential personage, and en dured with little temper the teasing of the domestics and courtiers, and had many squabbles with the King's gigantic porter. The fatal duel with Mr. Crofts actually took place, as mentioned in the text. It happened in France. The poor dwarf had also the misfortune to be taken prisoner by a Turkish pi rate. He was, however, probably soon set at liberty, for Hudson was a captain for the King during the civil war. In 1644, the dwarf attended his royal mistress to France. The Restora tion recalled him, with other royalists, to England. But this poor being, who received, it would seem, hard measure both from nature and fortune, was not doomed to close his daye in peace. Poor Jeffrey, upon some suspicion respecting the Popish Plot, was taken up in 1682, and confined in the Gatehouse prison, Westminster, where he ended his life in the sixty-third year of his age. Jeffrey Hudson has been immortalized by the brush of Van dyke, and his clothes are said to be preserved as articles of curiosity in Sir Hans Sloan's Museum. PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. crept into a filbert nut, had it been possible; and few, as I said, being private in the scheme, there was a risk of accidents. I doubted, while in my darksome abode, whether some awkward attendant might not have let me fall, as I have seen happen to a venison pasty; or whether some hungry guest might not anticipate the moment of my resurrection, by sticking his knife into my upper crust. And though I had my weapons about me, young man, as has been my custom in every case of peril, yet, if such a rash person had plunged deep into the bowels of the supposed pasty, my sword and dagger could barely have served me to avenge, assuredly not to prevent, either of these catastrophes." "Certainly I do so understand it," said Julian, who began, however, to feel that the company of little Hudson talkative as he showed himself, was likely rather to aggravate than to alleviate the inconveniences of a prison. "Nay," continued the little man, enlarging on his former topic, "I had other subjects of apprehension; for it pleased my Lord of Buckingham, his Grace's father who now bears the title, in his plenitude of Court favour, to command the pasty to be carried down to the office, and committed anew to the oven, alleging preposterously that it was better to be eaten warm than cold." "And did this, sir, not disturb your equanimity ?" said Julian. "My young friend," said Geoffrey Hudson, "I cannot deny it.-Nature will claim her rights from the best and boldest of us.-I thought of Nebuchadnezzar and his fiery furnace; and I waxed warm with apprehension. But, I thank Heaven, I also thought of my sworn duty to my royal mistress; and was thereby obliged and enabled to resist all temptations to make myself prematurely known. Nevertheless, the Duke-if of malice, may Heaven forgive himfollowed down into the office himself, and urged the master-cook very hard that the pasty should be heated, were it but for five minutes. But the mastercook, being privy to the very different intentions of my royal mistress, did most manfully resist the order; and I was again reconveyed in safety to the royal table." "And in due time liberated from your confinement, I doubt not?" said Peveril. man should live to regret not being young enough to The dwarf here paused, fetched a sigh, big at once with regret, and with the importance becoming the subject of a tragic history; then proceeded as follows: "You would have thought in your simplicity, young gentleman, that the pretty pageant I have mentioned could only have been quoted to my advantage, as a rare masking frolic, prettily devised, and not less "Yes, sir; that happy, and I may say glorious mo- deftly executed; and yet the malice of the courtiers, ment, at length arrived," continued the dwarf. "The who maligned and envied me, made them strain their upper crust was removed-I started up to the sound wit, and exhaust their ingenuity, in putting false and of trumpet and clarion, like the soul of a warrior when ridiculous constructions upon it. In short, my ears the last summons shall sound-or rather, (if that were so much offended with allusions to pies, puff simile be over audacious,) like a spell-bound cham- paste, ovens, and the like, that I was compelled to pion relieved from his enchanted state. It was then prohibit such subject of mirth, under penalty of my that, with my buckler on my arm, and my trusty Bil- instant and severe displeasure. But it happ'd there boa in my hand, I executed a sort of warlike dance, was then a gallant about the Court, a man of good in which my skill and agility then rendered me pre-quality, son to a knight baronet, and in high esteem eminent, displaying, at the same time, my postures, both of defence and offence, in a manner so totally inimitable, that I was almost deafened with the applause of all around me, and half-drowned by the scented waters with which the ladies of the Court deluged me from their casting-bottles. I had amends of his Grace of Buckingham also; for as I tripped a hasty morris hither and thither upon the dining-table, now offering my blade, now recovering it, I made a blow at his nose a sort of estramacon-the dexterity of which consists in coming mighty near to the object you seem to aim at, yet not attaining it. You may have seen a barber make such a flourish with his razor. I promise you his Grace sprung back a half yard at least. He was pleased to threaten to brain me with a chicken-bone, as he disdainfully expressed it; but the King said, George, you have but a Rowland for an Oliver.' And so I tripped on, showing a bold heedlessness of his displeasure, which few dared to have done at that time, albeit countenanced to the utmost like me by the smiles of the brave and the fair. But, well-a-day! sir, youth, its fashions, its follies, its frolics, and all its pomp and pride, are as idle and transitory as the crackling of thorns under a pot." The flower that is cast into the oven were a better simile," thought Peveril. "Good God, that a with the best in that sphere, also a familiar friend of A squirt, doubtless," said Peveril, who began to recollect having heard something of this adventure. "You are right," said the dwarf; "you have indeed | bloody hands, which dimly seen by twilight, seemed the name of the little engine, of which I have had ex- to beckon him forward like errant-knight on sad perience in passing the yards at Westminster.-Well, adventure bound. More than once he started from sir, this token of slight regard compelled me to give the his sleep, so lively was the influence of these visions gentleman such language, as soon rendered it neces-on his imagination; and he always awaked under sary for him to take more serious arms. We fought on the impression that some one stood by his bedside. horseback-breaking ground, and advancing by sig- The chillness of his ankles, the weight and clatter of nal; and, as I never miss aim, I had the misadventure the fetters, as he turned himself on his pallet, reto kill the Honourable Master Crofts at the first shot. minded him on these occasions where he was, and I would not wish my worst foe the pain which I felt, under what circumstances. The extremity to which when I saw him reel on his saddle, and so fall down he saw all that was dear to him at present reduced, to the earth!-and, when I perceived that the life- struck a deeper cold on his heart than the iron upon blood was pouring fast, I could not but wish to his limbs; nor could he compose himself again to Heaven that it had been my own instead of his. rest without a mental prayer to Heaven for protection. Thus fell youth, hopes, and bravery, a sacrifice to a But when he had been for a third time awakened silly and thoughtless jest; yet, alas! wherein had I from repose by these thick-stirring fancies, his distress choice, seeing that honour is, as it were, the very of mind vented itself in speech, and he was unable to breath in our nostrils; and that in no sense can we suppress the almost despairing ejaculation, "God have be said to live, if we permit ourselves to be deprived mercy upon us!" of it?" The tone of feeling in which the dwarfish hero concluded his story, gave Julian a better opinion of his heart, and even of his understanding, than he had been able to form of one who gloried in having, upon a grand occasion, formed the contents of a pasty. He was indeed enabled to conjecture that the little champion was seduced into such exhibitions, by the necessity attached to his condition, by his own vanity, and by the flattery bestowed on him by those who sought pleasure in practical jokes. The fate of the unlucky Master Crofts, however, as well as various exploits of this diminutive person during the Civil Wars, in which he actually, and with great gallantry, commanded a troop of horse, rendered most men cautious of openly rallying him; which was indeed the less necessary, as, when left alone, he seldom failed voluntarily to show himself on the ludicrous side. At one hour after noon, the turnkey, true to his word, supplied the prisoners with a very tolerable dinner and a flask of well-flavoured, though light claret; which the old man who was something of a bonvivant, regretted to observe, was nearly as diminutive as himself. The evening also passed away, but not without continued symptoms of garrulity on the part of Geoffrey Hudson. Amen!" answered a voice as sweet and "soft as honey dew," which sounded as if the words were spoken close by his bedside. The natural inference was, that Geoffrey Hudson, his companion in calamity, had echoed the prayer which was so proper to the situation of both. But the tone of voice was so different from the harsh and dissonant sounds of the dwarf's enunciation, that Peveril was impressed with the certainty it could not proceed from Hudson. He was struck with involuntary terror, for which he could give no sufficient reason; and it was not without an effort that he was able to utter the question, "Sir Geoffrey, did you speak?" No answer was returned. He repeated the question louder; and the same silver-toned voice, which had formerly said "Amen" to his prayers, answered to his interrogatory, "Your companion will not awake while I am here.' "And who are you?-What seek you ?-How came you into this place?" said Peveril, huddling, eagerly, question upon question. "I am a wretched being, but one who loves you well.-I come for your good.-Concern yourself no farther." It now rushed on Julian's mind, that he had heard of persons possessed of the wonderful talent of counIt is true these were of a graver character than he terfeiting sounds to such accuracy, that they could had hitherto exhibited, for when the flask was empty, impose on their hearers the belief, that they proceeded he repeated a long Latin prayer. But the religious from a point of the apartment entirely opposite to that act in which he had been engaged, only gave his which the real speaker occupied. Persuaded that he discourse a more serious turn than belonged to his had now gained the depth of the mystery, he replied, former themes, of war, lady's love, and courtly splen-"This trifling, Sir Geoffrey, is unseasonable. Say dour. The little Knight harangued, at first on polemical points of divinity, and diverged from this thorny path, into the neighbouring and twilight walk of mysticism. He talked of secret warnings-of the predictions of sad-eyed prophets-of the visits of monitory spirits, and the Rosicrucian secrets of the Cabala; all which topics he treated of with such apparent conviction, nay, with so many appeals to personal experience, that one would have supposed him a member of the fraternity of gnomes, or fairies, whom he resembled so much in point of size. In short, he persevered for a stricken hour in such a torrent of unnecessary tattle, as determined Peveril, at all events, to endeavour to procure a separate lodging. Having repeated his evening prayers in Latin, as formerly, (for the old gentleman was a Catholic, which was the sole cause of his falling under suspicion,) he set off on a new score, as they were undressing; and continued to prattle, until he had fairly talked both himself and his companion to sleep. what you 'But the being who speaks with you," answered the voice, "is fitted for the darkest hour, and the most melancholy haunts." Impatient of suspense, and determined to satisfy his curiosity, Julian jumped at once from his pallet, hoping to secure the speaker, whose voice indicated he was so near. But he altogether failed in his attempt, and grasped nothing save thin air. For a turn or two, Peveril shuffled at random about the room, with his arms extended; and then at last recollected, that with the impediment of his shackles, and the noise which necessarily accompanied his motions, and announced where he was, it would be impossible for him to lay hands on any one who might be disposed to keep out of his reach. He therefore endeavoured to return to his bed; but, in groping for his way, lighted first on that of his fellow-prisoner. The little captive slept deep and heavy, as was evinced from his breathing; and upon listening a moment, Julian became again certain, either that his companion was the most artful of ventriloquists and of dissemblers, or that there was actually within the precints of that guarded chamber, some third being, whose very presence there seemed to intimate that it belonged not to the ordinary line of humanity. Julian was no ready believer in the supernatural; but that age was very far from being so incredulous concerning ghostly occurrences as our own; and it was no way derogatory to his good sense, that he CHAP. XXXV.] PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. shared the prejudices of his time., His hair began to bristle, and the moisture to stand on his brow, as he called on his companion to awake, for Heaven's sake. The dwarf answered-but he spoke without awaking,-"The day may dawn and be d-d. Tell the master of the horse I will not go to the hunting, unless I have the little black jennet.". "I tell you," said Julian, "there is some one in the apartment. Have you not a tinder-box to strike a light?" "I care not how slight my horse be," replied the slumberer, pursuing his own train of ideas, which, doubtless, carried him back to the green woods of Windsor, and the royal deer-hunts which he had witnessed there. "I am not overweight.-I will not ride that great Holstein brute, that I must climb up to by a ladder, and then sit on his back like a pin-cushion on an elephant." Julian at length put his hand to the sleeper's shoulder, and shook him, so as to awake him from his dream; when, after two or three snorts and groans, the dwarf asked, peevishly, what the devil ailed him? "The devil himself, for what I know," said Peveril; "is at this very moment in the room here beside us." of the apartment, where, with his own hands, he had The attention of the dwarf was bent, however, upon a more domestic object. He was only preparing soup, of no unsavoury quality, for breakfast, which he invited Peveril to partake with him. "I old prisoner; and understand how to shift for myself am an old soldier," he said, "and, I must add, an better than you can do, young man.-Confusion to my reach-Will you hand it me from the mantelthe scoundrel Clink he has put the spice-box out of The dwarf on this information started up, crossed piece!-I will teach you, as the French have it, faire himself, and began to hammer a flint and steel with le cuisine; and then, if you please, we will divide, all despatch, until he had lighted a little piece of can-like brethren, the labours of our prisonhouse." dle, which he said was consecrated to Saint Bridget, and as powerful as the herb called fuga dæmonum, or the liver of the fish burnt by Tobit in the house of Raquel, for chasing all goblins, and evil or dubious spirits, from the place of its radiance; "if, indeed," as the dwarf carefully guarded his proposition, "they existed any where, save in the imagination of his fellow-prisoner." Accordingly, the apartment was no sooner enlightened by this holy candle's end, than Julian began to doubt the evidence of his own ears; for not only was there no one in the room save Sir Geoffrey Hudson and himself, but all the fastenings of the door were so secure, that it seemed impossible that they could have been opened and again fixed, without a great deal of noise, which, on the last occasion at least, could not possibly have escaped his ears, seeing that he must have been on his feet, and employed in searching the chamber, when the unknown, if an earthly being, was in the act of retreating from it. Julian gazed for a moment with great earnestness, and no little perplexity, first on the bolted door, then on the grated window; and began to accuse his own imagination of having played him an unpleasant trick. He answered little to the questions of Hudson, and returning to his bed, heard, in silence, a long studied oration on the merits of Saint Bridget, which comprehended the greater part of her long-winded legend, and concluded with the assurance, that, from all accounts preserved of her, that holy saint was the least of all possible women, except those of the pigmy kind. By the time the dwarf had ceased to speak, Julian's desire of sleep had returned; and after a few glances around the apartment, which was still illuminated by the expiring beams of the holy taper, his eyes were again closed in forgetfulness, and his repose was not again disturbed in the course of that night. Morning dawns on Newgate, as well as on the freest mountain-turf which Welshman or wild goat ever trode; but in so different a fashion, that the very beams of heaven's precious sun, when they penetrate into the recesses of the prison-house, have the air of being committed to jail. Still, with the light of day around him, Peveril easily persuaded himself of the vanity of his preceding night's visions; and smiled when he reflected that fancies, similar to those to which his ear was often exposed in the Isle of Man, had been able to arrange themselves in a manner so impressive, when he heard them from the mouth of So singular a character as Hudson, and in the solitude of a prison. Before Julian had awaked, the dwarf had already quitted his bed, and was seated in the chimney-corner Julian readily assented to the little man's friendly But Julian had no alternative, saving only to muse Noon first, and thereafter nightfall, were successively marked by a brief visit from their stern turnkey, silence the necessary offices about the meals of the who with noiseless step and sullen demeanour, did in prisoners, exchanging with them as few words as an official in the Spanish Inquisition might have permitted himself upon a similar occasion. With the same taciturn gravity, very different from the laughing humour into which he had been surprised on a former occasion, he struck their fetters with a small hammer, to ascertain, by the sound thus produced, whether they had been tampered with by file or otherwise. He next mounted on a table to make the Julian's heart throbbed; for might not one of those same experiment on the window-grating. grates have been so tampered with as to give entrance experienced ear of Master Clink, when he struck to the nocturnal visitant? But they returned to the them in turn with the hammer, a clear and ringing sound, which assured him of their security. |