A Lady of England 12

A Lady of England 12

Enter COLONEL STUMPLY and CORPORAL CATCHUP._

 

COL. Plant two stout fellows at the front door, and half a dozen

in the garden. Place them so that there shall be no possibility

of escape either from the house or the churchyard adjoining.

 

COR. I will, Sir.

 

HORATIA. [_Aside._] Horror and despair!

 

COL. Yourself and four of your best men go and search the open

vault at the right-hand corner of the churchyard, and on your

lives let not your prisoner escape. Go, plant your Sentinels,

and then to your business. [_Exit CORPORAL CATCHUP._] I will go

and superintend myself. [_Exit._]

 

HORATIA. Day of horror and misery! All is lost. All is

discovered. If I but knew of one who could divert the attention

of these wretches till the Prince escaped! If I ...

 

_Enter DARESBY._

 

Daresby! He’s a Whig! but I’ll make him my tool.

 

DARESBY. Good morning, I came thus early....

 

HORATIA. [_Speaking very fast._] You are so welcome--you came

just a moment ...

 

DARESBY. My Sophy! nothing is the matter with her?

 

HORATIA. O no. It’s a poor soldier--got the cholera--lying in

the vault ...

 

DARESBY. In a vault!

 

HORATIA. Run, run, dearest Daresby, or you will be too late.

 

DARESBY. What do you mean? Explain yourself.

 

HORATIA. The cholera, I say--in the vault--O! you put me in a

fever. For my sake, for Sophy’s--O run, fly!

 

DARESBY. Whatever can you ...

 

HORATIA. Go, or I shall run wild! You know the way, go!

 

DARESBY. If I can be of any use to the poor sufferer. [_Exit._]

 

HORATIA. O, what a relief! he’s gone! I should never survive

another day of such excitement. If they once suppose that their

object is gained and the Prince caught, the sentinels will be

removed from the garden, and he can escape through the window.

If the deception can be carried on for one half-hour he may

be saved. I must go and put my sisters on their guard, and

prepare the Prince for flight. If Aunt Judith or Weasel see

and recognise Daresby all is lost. I wish I could lock them

both up. What a labyrinth I am in! The greatest comfort is that

the Colonel is a blockhead, and would not know a prince from a

pancake! [_Exit._]

 

 

SCENE III.

 

THE STORE-ROOM.

 

CHARLES. Something better than a vault this, methinks. I could

not have found a hiding-place more to my mind. Excellent

cherry-brandy she makes, this Mrs. Judith. I have entered half a

dozen professions since I entered this room; it will be hard if

I do not make my fortune out of one of them. I am an Historian,

for I have been discussing old dates; a Merchant, for I add plum

to plum; a Lawyer, for I have opened many a case; a Lord Mayor,

for the mace is before me; and a Navigator, for I am led to

seize and gulf! What if I were to stay here altogether, or set

up a new company with my fair hostesses? Miss Ratty is cut out

for a tragedy Queen. Such passion! such emphasis! [_Mimicking._]

‘That my keen knife see not the wound it makes’--but the puzzle

is that they are all ladies; not one to take a gentleman’s part.

It is a shame in me to say so, for I am sure that they have

taken mine. My only hope would be in Weasel. That fellow has

such a desperate squint, that I am sure he would make a capital

Lear!

 

_Enter HORATIA._

 

HORATIA. Fly! fly! while yet there is a moment’s respite.

 

CHARLES. Fly! and wherefore?

 

HORATIA. Rouse all the ancient courage of your race ...

 

CHARLES. There can be no courage in a race, for a race is

running away.

 

HORATIA. Let the spirit of your Ancestors glow in your bosom,

for the hour of danger is come.

 

CHARLES. ‘I dare do all that may become a man’ ...

 

HORATIA. Does this trifling become a man and a hero?

 

CHARLES. I know of but one thing, fair Ratty, that can become a

man and a hero.

 

HORATIA. What is that?

 

CHARLES. A boy, to be sure!

 

HORATIA. Enough, enough of this perpetual play of words. We

must think, we must act. Another is now taking your place at the

vault ...

 

CHARLES. My place! how excessively obliging!

 

HORATIA. Every moment is invaluable. Put on this dress of my

Aunt’s which I have brought for you, and fly, fly, while the

deception lasts!

 

CHARLES. The brandy must have got into my head.

 

HORATIA. Put it on, I entreat you, if not for your own or your

Country’s sake, yet for your noble Father’s.

 

CHARLES. My Father’s! Either you or I ... Why, what’s the matter

with him? Is he in the farce too?

 

HORATIA. [_Aside._] He is the worse for liquor! O horrible!

and at such a moment! [_Aloud._] The soldiers are here--sent

to seize you--to drag you to a dungeon, perhaps an ignominious

death.

 

CHARLES. [_Alarmed._] And why? what have I done?

 

HORATIA. I heard the orders given. One hour’s delay will lead

you to the scaffold.

 

CHARLES. The scaffold!

 

HORATIA. The block.

 

CHARLES. The block! why, what is my crime? Why does not my

Father come to my assistance?

 

HORATIA. Your Father cannot--he is exiled from his native land.

Were he to appear, he must perish too.

 

CHARLES. Have you hid him? have you hid him?

 

HORATIA. [_Aside._] Horridly drunk! [_Aloud._] Put on this dress

and fly. It is your only chance of life.

 

CHARLES. You have put me into a shiver. I cannot half believe,

nor a quarter comprehend you.

 

HORATIA. Believe then these tears, this agony of apprehension in

which you see me. This moment the soldiers may be mounting the

staircase--cutting off all hope ...

 

CHARLES. Give me the slip then, and I will give them the slip!

quick, quick, and the cloak and hood.

 

HORATIA. Here, here! O despatch! while you remain here I tread

on hot iron.

 

CHARLES. I am to personate your Aunt.

 

HORATIA. Yes, yes, any one, but make haste.

 

CHARLES. So, I’m equipped. Farewell, Lady!

 

HORATIA. Pull the hood over your face. O farewell! [_Exit

CHARLES._]

 

HORATIA. One hour more of excitement, and then ... [_Exit._]

 

 

SCENE IV.

 

THE CHURCHYARD.

 

_Enter CORPORAL CATCHUP and Soldiers._

 

CORP. Silence! Silence! halt! advance bending down and with your

bayonets presented. Comrades, this is a glorious day, and if we

catch the Pretender we shall have little cause to grieve that we

arrived a day too late for the Battle of Culloden. What were the

deeds of the Duke of Cumberland to ours? He but wounded the fox,

we catch him by the nose. We shall be made Aldermen, every man

of us. Take ground behind those bushes; keep silence. I hear a

voice in the vault. On your lives be silent--be steady!

 

DARESBY. [_In the vault._] I can find no one, yet here is a

bed prepared. What a strange place to make an hospital of!

[_Emerging from the vault._] Perhaps the poor fellow has got

frightened and delirious ...

 

CORP. Stand!