HOST.I will hear you,Master Fenton;and I will,at the least,keep your counsel.--MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
It becomes necessary to return to the detail of those circumstances which accompanied,and indeed occasioned,the sudden disappearance of Tressilian from the sign of the Black Bear at Cumnor.It will be recollected that this gentleman,after his rencounter with Varney,had returned to Giles Gosling's caravansary,where he shut himself up in his own chamber,demanded pen,ink,and paper,and announced his purpose to remain private for the day.In the evening he appeared again in the public room,where Michael Lambourne,who had been on the watch for him,agreeably to his engagement to Varney,endeavoured to renew his acquaintance with him,and hoped he retained no unfriendly recollection of the part he had taken in the morning's scuffle.
But Tressilian repelled his advances firmly,though with civility.Master Lambourne,said he,I trust I have recompensed to your pleasure the time you have wasted on me.
Under the show of wild bluntness which you exhibit,I know you have sense enough to understand me,when I say frankly that the object of our temporary acquaintance having been accomplished,we must be strangers to each other in future.VOTO!said Lambourne,twirling his whiskers with one hand,and grasping the hilt of his weapon with the other;if I thought that this usage was meant to insult me--You would bear it with discretion,doubtless,interrupted Tressilian,as you must do at any rate.You know too well the distance that is betwixt us,to require me to explain myself further.Good evening.So saying,he turned his back upon his former companion,and entered into discourse with the landlord.Michael Lambourne felt strongly disposed to bully;but his wrath died away in a few incoherent oaths and ejaculations,and he sank unresistingly under the ascendency which superior spirits possess over persons of his habits and deion.He remained moody and silent in a corner of the apartment,paying the most marked attention to every motion of his late companion,against whom he began now to nourish a quarrel on his own account,which he trusted to avenge by the execution of his new master Varney's directions.The hour of supper arrived,and was followed by that of repose,when Tressilian,like others,retired to his sleeping apartment.
He had not been in bed long,when the train of sad reveries,which supplied the place of rest in his disturbed mind,was suddenly interrupted by the jar of a door on its hinges,and a light was seen to glimmer in the apartment.Tressilian,who was as brave as steel,sprang from his bed at this alarm,and had laid hand upon his sword,when he was prevented from drawing it by a voice which said,Be not too rash with your rapier,Master Tressilian.It is I,your host,Giles Gosling.At the same time,unshrouding the dark lantern,which had hitherto only emitted an indistinct glimmer,the goodly aspect and figure of the landlord of the Black Bear was visibly presented to his astonished guest.
What mummery is this,mine host?said Tressilian.Have you supped as jollily as last night,and so mistaken your chamber?
Or is midnight a time for masquerading it in your guest's lodging?Master Tressilian,replied mine host,I know my place and my time as well as e'er a merry landlord in England.But here has been my hang-dog kinsman watching you as close as ever cat watched a mouse;and here have you,on the other hand,quarrelled and fought,either with him or with some other person,and I fear that danger will come of it.Go to,thou art but a fool,man,said Tressilian.Thy kinsman is beneath my resentment;and besides,why shouldst thou think Ihad quarrelled with any one whomsoever?
Oh,sir,replied the innkeeper,there was a red spot on thy very cheek-bone,which boded of a late brawl,as sure as the conjunction of Mars and Saturn threatens misfortune;and when you returned,the buckles of your girdle were brought forward,and your step was quick and hasty,and all things showed your hand and your hilt had been lately acquainted.Well,good mine host,if I have been obliged to draw my sword,said Tressilian,why should such a circumstance fetch thee out of thy warm bed at this time of night?Thou seest the mischief is all over.Under favour,that is what I doubt.Anthony Foster is a dangerous man,defended by strong court patronage,which hath borne him out in matters of very deep concernment.And,then,my kinsman--why,I have told you what he is;and if these two old cronies have made up their old acquaintance,I would not,my worshipful guest,that it should be at thy cost.I promise you,Mike Lambourne has been making very particular inquiries at my hostler when and which way you ride.Now,I would have you think whether you may not have done or said something for which you may be waylaid,and taken at disadvantage.Thou art an honest man,mine host,said Tressilian,after a moment's consideration,and I will deal frankly with thee.If these men's malice is directed against me--as I deny not but it may--it is because they are the agents of a more powerful villain than themselves.You mean Master Richard Varney,do you not?said the landlord;he was at Cumnor Place yesterday,and came not thither so private but what he was espied by one who told me.I mean the same,mine host.
Then,for God's sake,worshipful Master Tressilian,said honest Gosling,look well to yourself.This Varney is the protector and patron of Anthony Foster,who holds under him,and by his favour,some lease of yonder mansion and the park.Varney got a large grant of the lands of the Abbacy of Abingdon,and Cumnor Place amongst others,from his master,the Earl of Leicester.