THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF David L. Wilt MY LADY PEGGY GOES TO TOWN By FRANCES AYMAR MATHEWS ILLUSTRATED BY HARRISON FISHER GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK Copyright, 1901, By The Bowen-Merrill Company MY LADY PEGGY GOES TO TOWN THE DECORATIONS DESIGNED BY VIRGINIA KEEP THE COVER DESIGNED BY FRANCIS HAZENTLUG ILLUSTRATIONS Then Lady Peggy, laughing, humming such a gay snatch of a song, comes tripping down the stairs. Frontispiece And Lady Peggy and her woman found themselves on the road to town. Page 40 "A touch, a hit!" cry all at once as a spurt of blood darts up the supposed Sir Robin's blade. Page 68 Tim watched her as she came in on Beau ]iru)iiweH's arm. Page 1J2 At the table sat Kennaston, inky -fin gered, scribbling; eyes now rolling to the ceiling, now roving hither and yon. Page J')S The instant that Lady Peggy felt her self in the highwayman s saddle, she knew that her wrists had met their match. Page 186< "I am Sir Robin McTart! Who, the devil, are you?" Page 218 "Ah, Peggy, my adored one," says he, devouring her pale face with his happy eyes. Page 336 ENVOI When gay postillions cracked their whips, And gallants gemmed their chat with quips ; When patches nestled o'er sweet lips At choc'late times ; and, 'twixt the sips, Fair Ladies gave their gossips tips ; Then, in Levantine gown and brooch, My Lady Peggy took the coach, For London Town! LADY PEGGY In the which My Lady Peggy sends off her lover broken-hearted and promptly falls into a swoon. Kennaston Castle lies in Surrey. The Earl of Exham is master of the picturesque old pile and of the estate, and decidedly the slave of the very considerable number of debts which were up to His Lordship's ears when he came of age, some four and fifty years ago, and by this time have reached almost to the crown of his head. He is also father to his son and heir, Kennaston of Ken naston, and to the heir's tall twin, My Lady Peggy. 1 MY LADY PEGGY My Lady Peggy at this particular moment sits a-swinging on the top branch of a plum tree at the foot of the kitchen garden whence she commands a tolerable view of the highway. "Impertinent sun!" cries Peggy, shading her handsome eyes with her hand as she stares off along the dusty road. "How is't you dare shine when there's no fine gentleman a-comin' from the east; no gallant with disheveled locks, powdered shoul ders, disordered mien, distracted looks, spurs a-dig- ging into his beast, lips apart, heart beating like spent rabbit's, and 'Peggy, lovely Peggy,' the clap per to his eager tongue at every jolt of his saddle, every rut of his way? Go cloud yourself, I say! since Sir Percy tarries. I'd have the skies weep, even if I can't." A peal of merriest laughter con cludes this sally, and an apronful of plums comes tumbling down all over the other young woman .who stands under the tree in waiting on her mis- ; tress. "Is His Lordship not yet in sight, My Lady-?" asks this one. "Nay ! that is not he, Chockey, and whisk me ! but when His Lordship does come, he'll find a very 9 GOES TO TOWN sorry entertainment. I swear, as dad says, I'll not see him when he does appear, that will not I. Nay, shake not your head, girl. Is't not true that Lady Peggy had once a lover?" " 'Twere truer say a dozen of that sort of gentry, Madam," replies the buxom Chockey, as she sorts the plums, the best in her bonnet, the flaws over the wall where the chickens and hens cackle to the refuse. "Well, well, twenty if you like! but one more favored than the rest? the properest sort of man at saddle, gun, line, wrestle, toast, song, or dance? honest, straightforward, beautiful, as dad says the angels are he saw painted on the walls at Rome. Speak I truth, eh, Chockey ?" "Madam, that you do." "And this paragon so worshiped his Peggy as, when she went off a-three months since to visit her godmother in Kent, he vowed by all the saints in the calendar he'd scarce survive until her return. False or true, eh, Chockey ?" My Lady Peggy punctuated this query by an accurate aim and hit, on the top of her waiting woman's head, with an especially large plum. MY LADY PEGGY "True, Madam," dodging the fruit, and still with an eye on the road. "And then, back comes My Lady Peggy, cutting short her stay in Kent, where she had much pleas ure, to tell the truth, in the society of a very fine young nobleman." "Lawk, Madam! another?" interrupted the faithful Chockey. "Another, Chock," vouchsafes her mistress. "Sweet, sweet Sir Eobin McTart !" "Oh, My Lady !" cries the girl, vainly endeavor ing to conceal a smile. "Aye, Chock," proceeds Peggy, "I say again, a sweet and most entrapping young man." "Madam, a squint eye, a wry nose, an underlip that hangs, a pair of fox-teeth, and a chin that's gone a-huntin' for his throat !" "Tut, tut ! Chock," laughs Lady Peggy, leaning back in her leafy bower, "what's all that to a nimble wit, a galloping conversation, and a faith ful heart?" Lady Peggy's tone is as light as the May breeze blowing her soft locks about her lovely blooming face, full of mockery, witchery, and then a bit of a sigh, low as flowers' whispers, and 4 GOES TO TOWN up with her drooped head higher than before, as in the half mannish tone her twinship and long play- fellowship with her brother have given her, she adds curtly "D'ye see aught coming yet, Chock?" "No, My Lady, not yet," answers the girl rue fully. Peggy bites her lips until they hurt. "As I was a-sayin', Chock, your mistress cuts short her visit, sends word to her lover she'll be home o'-Thursday, and, as I live ! to-day's the Mon day after, and him still on the way ! See him !" Peggy's white teeth close tight, and her eyes flash, and her little hands clench. "Not I! Let him come now an' he goes again faster than he ever traveled. The vain coxcomb ! the deceitful, cozen ing, graceless poppet ! He'll ne'er set eyes on her he used to call his Peg again, or I die fort." And Peggy jumped to the ground. "Madam ! Madam !" exclaims Chockey, pointing joyfully to a cloud of dust far up the highway. "Look ! Yonder conies Sir Percy ! Don't I know ? Ain't I watched his long roan any day this twelve month a-turnin' by the lodge ?" 5 MY LADY PEGGY Lady Peggy seizes Chcckey's arm, and runs breathless to the house; in, a-scrambling up the broad stairs to her chamber ; a-pulling out of draw ers from their chests; a-himting of ribbons and fallals, combs, brushes, kerchiefs, perfumes, patches, powder, whatever else besides ! "Hurry, Chock, do my hair as he likes it !" urges Lady Peggy. "Lawk, Madam ! I thought you swore just now you'd never set eyes on Sir Percy again ?" "You thought ! Bless you, Chock, never be a- wastin' your time a-thinking where a woman's con cerned. When her heart steps up and lays hold the reins, the steed gallops to the goal; she's always time to think after she's acted." "Yes, Madam," concurs Choc-key, with a mental reservation back of her mouthful of pins. "There, My Lady, Your Ladyship's hair is lovely; your Levantine gown becomes you like a pheasant do its plumage, and your eyes is a-shinin' with love and" "Tut, girl! It's anger, wrath, temper, so!" Peggy marches up and down before the mirror, .tossing her lovely head. "Thus attired, Chock, a 6 lady can flout, deride, harass, and madden one of the opposite sex, as can she not do in cotton frock and fruit- stained apron. Give me my comfit box, I pray. Tell me how long Sir Percy now hath been cooling his heels in the drawing-room ?" "But little lacking the hour, Madam." "Good! I'd keep him there until Thursday, an I could. Now go tell him I'll be with him pres ently." Chockey went. Lady Peggy stood at the door ajar; she heard the impatient footsteps of her lover below, but yet she tarried, tapping her high red heel on the sill. "Lud!" cried she, "an I show no proper spirit, Percy's uncle'll have the right of it when he says of one he's never seen yet, 'She's a-hunting your bank-notes, boy ! She's heiress to debts, Sir, and by my life, Sir! I'll never father-in-law her, so long as I'm above the sod, Sir !' Despicable old wretch ! as if 'twere not Percy I adored, without a care if he have a farthing to his fortune, or a roof to his head !" And then Chockey, her palm warm with * sovereign, came with a rush. 7 MY LADY PEGGY "My Lady!" cries she, "'f you could see Sir Percy ! White as milk, tremblin', shakin', chatter- in', a-begging and a-praying as you'll condescend to go to him inside of another hour !" "White, said you Chock?" The girl nods vehemently. "Shaking?" "Aye, Madam." "Like to faint, think you?" "Like to die, My Lady!" Then Lady Peggy, laughing, humming such a gay snatch of a song, comes tripping down the stairs, pulling out her petticoats, stopping her lover's outstretched arms of eagerness with such a splendid curtsy as any Court lady might have envied. Still laughing. "Lud ! Sir Percy! is't you?" amazed. "Aye!" returns he, more amazed than she, and standing off with dropped arms. "Whom did you think it was?" "Another. My woman's stupid, and when she described the gallant that she did, it matched a different sort of him than you, methinks. How- 8 GOES TO TOWN ever, let's be civil; the crops are good, the game likely to be, later; the King in health, prithee have a chair." And Peggy swept a second curtsy, motioning toward a seat. "Peggy ! Sweet lips ! Joy of my soul, what's it ? Not one warm word for him who only lives for thee? Who's counted every hour since he parted from you, eh ?" The young man draws nearer to her, and bends upon his knee, venturing, as he does so, to take her hand in his. "Since you spent your time a-counting the hours, Sir, pray you, how many hours have passed since in this same room we parted, now three months, three weeks, and a few days since ?" Sir Percy sprang to his feet. "Zounds ! Peggy, and you flout me so ?" "Zounds! Sir Percy, did not I write you and very well you know writing's not my forte, that I'd be home o'-Thursday ?" "Aye, but I never got it until this morning ; then did I put spurs and leave my uncle in the lurch to fly to you." "What, Sir ! not get my letter ? An idle, silly, and foolish excuse. I sent it by Bickers, and trust- 9 MY LADY PEGGY ier man ne'er breathed. He vowed me he'd put it in your hands." "Peggy, believe whichever of the two you like ; but, in mercy tell me! What kept you so long away? I've heard rumors of another. Eh, Peg, 'tis not true, swear me 'tis not true? Oh, by the hue of my visage must you know what jealous pangs have racked me!" Lady Peggy nods her head maliciously. "Jealous pangs, forsooth ! and you thought to medicine them, I dare be sworn, with vaulting the country over in the wake of Lady Diana Weston, the greatest heiress in the market ! Bah, Sir, and you've heard rumors! I'll match 'em. I've seen the minx from afar. She is handsome, Sir; your taste does you credit." "Peg, I swear 'twas but to please my uncle!" cries Sir Percy. "Aye, and so displease me !" "Nay, you know too well that I'll never do that of my will ; but my uncle, as I've told you, must be coaxed, and then when once I gain his consent to seeing you, our battle's won. To see thee, Peg 10 GOES TO TOWN 's to worship thee ! Lord Gower'll kneel when he- beholds thee !" "Our me no ours, Sir !" returned Peggy. "Let's here and now make an end on't all. You go pound the roads after your new mistress with her acres and notes, and I " "Well, you what ?" asks the young man impetu ously and yet with a certain grave dignity. "Oh, I'll acquit myself to a certainty with one that's faithful as the sun, and gallant from his head to his heels." "What's his name ?" inquires Sir Percy in a hard, strained voice. "If he's a better man, Peg, and you can say you love him God keep me !" "His name's a very honorable and ancient one, he's Sir Robin McTart, twenty-third Baronet !" "Peggy!" If a thunderbolt had fallen betwixt Peggy's red shoes and his brown ones, Percy could not have been more astounded. "Well, Sir ?" returns she, scarce controlling the twitching of her lips. "A milk-sop, molly-coddle ! Oh Peggy, an you drop me, take a better man ! Peg, you're a-joking. 11 MY LADY PEGGY Not that bumpkin ! I've never seen him, but re port has it he's afeard if one of his own dogs looks him in the eye and bays !" "Sir Percy, have you finished?" inquires Peggy with dignity. "No, have I not! By my soul, Peg, an you pitch me to hell for that jackanapes, I'll go to hell as fast as wine and dice, and cards and brawls, and usurers, and all that sort of crew can carry me! I'll up to London, and one morning when your brother sends you word he's found me with a rapier stuck in my throat, my pockets empty, and Teggy' writ on the scrap o' paper a-lying over my heart, then you'll believe Percy loved you !" "Lud, Sir! Men are apt at such chatter, and a fortnight after, the vicar's a-publishing their banns with the other lady !" "Peg !" He takes her kerchief end, as it droops away from her pretty long throat, in his fingers; he looks down deep into her eyes ; his voice shakes, so does his hand. "Whatever betides, my bonny sweetheart, there's only one that'll ever have banns read with me, and that's " He takes her by surprise and by the 12 GOES TO TOWN shoulders, and squares her to the mirror in its niche. "Farewell, Peg since you send me, it's the devil and dice, for by the Lord ! I can't live a quiet life lacking your smiles." In two minutes more Chockey, from the upper window, saw the long roan flying away from Ken- naston faster than she ever galloped to it; and went down to find her young mistress a-lying prone in a fine wrinkled heap of silken gown, lace frills and furbelows, on the threadbare carpet of the big drawing-room. To rush across the wide hall to the dining-room, seize a game-knife, back again ; cut her mistress's stays; pour a glass of cider down Lady Peggy's throat, willy-nilly; clap her palms; pound her back ; set her on her feet ; and half carry her to her chamber, occupied not many minutes for stout Chockey. "Lawk, My Lady," said she, surveying the pros trate form on the couch, arms a-kimbo, eyes saucer- wide, "who'd ever have thought to see your haughty Ladyship so mauled for the sake of any gentleman as lives \" 13 MY LADY PEGGY Lady Peggy lay still, but presently, from the depths of the pillows she spoke. "I ain't mauled, Chock, not I !" Her Ladyship now sat up and stared around the hig room. "If s only for sorrow for havin' had to disappoint Sir Percy, on account of dear Sir Eobin." "Oh !" ejaculates the worthy Chockey in a tone of undisguised and sarcastic disbelief. "Chockey!" exclaimed her mistress in the tone of a drill sergeant, now rising to her feet. "Lawk ! My Lady, I didn't mean nothin'." "Chockey," echoes Lady Peggy faintly, sinking to her knees, "whatever*!! I do ? Oh Chock ! Chock ! and Sir Percy just the centre of my heart, and me to behave to him like a brute ! Out of my sight, away with you ! There's the first bell a-ringin' for dinner. Say to daddy I'm too deep in my hand- writin' lessons to eat to-day ! Say to him I'm gone out to break the new colt and not got back. Say to him I'm gone to the devil !" And Lady Peggy fell a-weeping with such vio lence as Chockey had never seen ; and, being a wise damsel, she left her mistress alone and went 14 GOES TO TOWN down to soothe the gouty Earl, tied to his chair, as best she could for the absence of his daughter Peg from dinner. II In the which Her Ladyship wheedles her noble father and makes up her mind. The Earl forsooth was a testy gentleman, and his girl was his plague and his pride; on her. rather than on his heir, the old man's fancy was set, for the reason that Kennaston, disclaiming all the country sports, the half wild outdoor life, the lusty joys and racing bumps and cups that had been vastly helpful in reducing the little his parent had started his career with, had elected instead to try his luck at that most inscrutable, vile trade of ecribbling ! Peg's twin, her fellow in height and build, which made a slender youth of him indeed, had gone up to London quill-armed, ink-fingered, brain-pos- 16 sessed with rhymes; empty-pursed, determined to carve with such unlikely weapons as that apt bird, the goose, furnishes, a fame and fortune for him self, that should dazzle the world and recoup the fortunes of his well-nigh fallen house. While the Earl jeered, Peg, herself scarce able to spell a two-syllabled word, looked up to her brother as nothing short of whatever stood in her mind for Shakespeare; for, low be it spoke, the fair Peggy had small notion of books, their makers or their pleasurable usage. To her they repre sented waste time almost, and only as a means of communication with Kennaston did she, since his absence began, pore daily over a dictionary, a speller, and a copy-book. So sat she now, a couple of months after the parting betwixt her and Sir Percy; lips pursed, brows knit, goose-feather in finger, poring over a blank sheet of paper first, and from it turning to the closely-writ page of a letter from her twin. Chockey sat on a stool hard by, they were both in the buttery, for Lady Peggy was apt with all the mysteries of housekeeping, and had as fine a churning, as big cheeses, as fat chickens, as 17 MY LADY PEGGY eggs, as good hams as any other in the county, had she not, the Earl, her father, had lacked some thing or all of his comfort. Choekey, then, sat working butter, squeezing all the white milky bub bles back and forth in the wooden bowl, and print ing the pats in the trays, while her mistress sighed, swallowed, and at last burst forth in speech. "Choekey, I shall fall into a fit, an I've ever another letter to write in this world. The last I writ was for Sir Eobin to introduce him to Lord Kennaston when he should go up to town and be like, I forgot to give it to him as I promised and have it safe here. It took me a week to finish, and I've copied all the words out of it I can, yet do I lack thousands more, methinks, to say what I would to my brother. Lud ! Learning's a wonderful thing ! Look at that, Chock !" Lady Peggy holds up the well covered pages of Kennaston's letter before the eyes of the Abigail. "Aye, Madam,'' giggles this one, "it has the air to me of where spiders has been a-fightin' ! Now, for true, My Lady, do it say words as has a mean- in' r "Listen," replies the mistress, reading off quite 18 GOES TO TOWN glibly, since 'tis the one hundredth time since she got it that she's rehearsed the same to herself. "SWEET SISTEB PEGGY : I'd have written before but that literature pays ill until a man hath con trived by preference and patronage, the rather than by his wits, to place himself at evens with the Great and the Distinguished. So far I find Fame's hill hard in the Climbing, but do I not complain, for there's that spirit reigning in my breast as bids me welcome Poverty, even Starvation, lead it but to the sometime recognition of my Talents. I take up my pen not to riddle your ears with plaints, but on another matter, which is Sir Percy." Lady Peggy's head droops a bit to match her voice, whilst Chocke/s bright little eyes sparkle, and she twists the yellow butter into heart shapes a= she pricks her ears and sighs. "Sir Percy/' continues My Lady Peggy, reading, "as you know came up to town, now these seven weeks agone, straight as a die to my meagre cham bers, where welcome was spelled. I can assure thee, all over the bare floor, barer board, and barer mas ter thereof, for of a truth I love him as should 19 I the brother I had hoped he'd be! Peg, what's this thou'st done to the lad? Thrown him, a gal lant with as big a heart as God ever made, over into the Devil's own mire, for sake of that little tow-haired sprat, Eobin McTart! with his pate full of himself and none other, so I've heard say, for never set I eyes upon the blackguard from Kent ! Zounds ! twin ! What are ye women made of? And I write to say Percy, what with carous als and brawls, and drink and fights, and all night at the gaming-table, and all day God knows where. ? s fast a-throwing himself piecemeal into the grave he's a-digging daily for your cruel sake. Could you but see him ! A ghost ! Wan, with eyes full of blood-spots, and hair unkempt ! Madam, there's love for you and love's what ladies like. Go match him, Sister, with McTart if you can, but twin me no more ever again an you and I wear black ribbons for Percy de Bohun !" Lady Peggy's lip quivers; so does Chockey's. "Lawk, My Lady !" cries the girl, splashing tears into the butter, reckless. " 'Black ribbons/ Chock ! 'A ghost/ Chock ! 'Me- 20 GOES TO TOWN Tart/ Chock ! Lord ha' mercy ! What's to become o' me ?" Peggy's tears smart her eyes as she flings the goose-quill over to a cheese on the shelf, where it sticks, and one day surprises the Vicar at his supper. "Get out of my sight !" she flings after it. "I can't write! Who can write out her heart and soul, when it's devilish hard even to speak it. Oh ! Would I were my brother for one fine half -hour !" cries Peggy, rising and stamping up and down the stone floor of the buttery. "An* if you were, Madam?" asks Chockey meekly, "what then ?" "I'd swear ! Yea, would I ! Such a lot of splen did oaths as'd ease my mind and let me hear from my own lips what a fool's part I'd played with my own my adored Percy ! Could I but see him ! as Kennaston says." Peggy in her progress now upsets a pan of cream, and has genuine pleasure in splashing it about over her slippers as she speaks. "But I ! What am I ? A girl ! swaddled in pet ticoats and fallals; tethered to an apron, and a besom, and a harpsichord, and a needle, yet can I snap a rapier, fire a pistol, jump a ditch, land a 21 MY LADY PEGGY fish, for my brother taught me. Still it's girl! girl! sit by the fire and spin! dawdle! dally!" The cream now spots up as far as Peggy's chin and flecks its dimple. "Stop-at-home, nor stir-abroad ! Smile, ogle !" each word emphasized with heel and toe. "And " Lady Peggy now flops back into her chair, breathless, "wait on man's will and whims, that, Chock, 's what 'tis to be a woman." "Aye, 'tis," assents the waiting woman. "But yet, My Lady, if I dared make bold, there's summat Your Ladyship might do, an My Lady, Your Ladyship's mother, came back home again from her visit to your uncle in York." "Out with it!" says Peggy hopelessly, folding up her attempted letter and tucking it in her reticule. "Mayhap you could persuade, by much weeping and praying, falling into swoons and such like, that Her Ladyship would take you up to London ! Once there, Sir Percy couldn't keep his distance from you." Peggy looks at Chockey as if she were a vision GOES TO TOWN sent from on high; then, quickly succeeding de rision curls her lip. "My Lady mother take a squealing chit like me up to town! Never! She'd say my manners weren't fit, or my figger, or my wardrobe. Lud ! Chock ! Bethink thee, lass, of my gowns in Lon don town! and me no more acquainted with the ways yonder, than our Brindle is with the family pew!" Lady Peggy walked out into the paddock, rubbed the cream from her slippers on the turf; caressed the ponies; munched the sweet cake she had in her apron-pocket, felt the keen sweet air blow over her hot forehead, and saw, dancing ever before her mind's eye, that insidious sweet sug gestion of "going up to London." How did one go up to London ? In the coach : aye to be sure ; and the coach left the "Mermaid" in the village every Tuesday and Thursday at five in the morning. The coach ! The splendid coach, a-swinging on its springs like a gigantic cradle; the postillions a-snapping their whips, the coachman a-cracking his long lash and a- shouting "All h'up for London!" and the ladies 23 MY LADY PEGGY and gentlemen well armed, these last, in dread of the highwaymen on the heath all a-piling in and a-settling themselves; and the guards a-tooting their horns, the landlady and the boots and the maids and the hostlers all a-bowing and a-scraping and off they go ! for London town where Percy was a-pining and a-dying for her, so her twin writ in his letter. Well, Lady Peggy went in, clapt on a fresh gown and shoes, and never was daughter more tender and patient with crabbed, gouty, crusty dad than she all through that lovely day. Playing back gammon; spelling out the newspaper; trouncing the cat when it jumped on His Lordship's leg; blowing the fire ; wheeling his chair from hither to yon; stroking the bald head; combing the white whiskers ; and finally said she, "Daddy, London's a very big sort of a place, now, isn't it?" The Earl nods, coddling his leg into the slip of sunshine that's walking westerly away from him. "My brother lodges, so he says, at the corner of Holy well Road and Lark Lane; tell me, dad, 24 GOES TO TOWN where should that be now?" Lady Peggy has a careless air, and flecks a buzzing fly out of His Lordship's bowl of porridge. "Eh?" pursues she, "is't for instance, in the city, or nigh London Bridge, or where the quality lives, or toward Southwark, or where?" "Rot me !" cries His Lordship, looking up at his daughter in surprise, "what's my poppet got into her pretty head now, forsooth? Tut, tut, girl, what's town to thee, or its bearings? hey? stick thy eye into thy churn an' keep thy hand on the dasher, 'twere better'n all the shops in Piccadilly, or all the fops at Court." "Slow, dad! I was only askin' of my twin's whereabouts. Shops and fops are not dizzyin' your Peggy, you may swear; 'tis my brother, Sir, of whom I'd learn !" " 'Twere better chase the scoundrel out'n my head, Peg, than hammer him in ! A lad with every chance here in the county to raise his house, and make a good match with a nice plump girl, havin' land joining his own ; but no ! Up and off to town to starve and scratch !" MY LADY PEGGY The Earl pommels the floor with his stick, caus ing the cat to leap into the air. "Let him die in want ! Let him freeze, thirst, come to the gallows, say I! For such as leaves plenty to pursue want, gets no sympathy from me!" "He ain't begged fort yet, dad," says Peggy very mildly. "All I was a-wonderin' was this: When my brother took the coach at the Mermaid that mornin' you mind ? how far off the inn where he alighted was the lodgin' at the corner of Holy- well Road and Lark Lane? eh, dad? Surely" and here Lady Peggy knelt and stroked his lord ship's gouty member, and her voice positively trembled, doubtless with excess of filial zeal and devotion. "Surely," resumed she, "you, who were, I dare be sworn" such arch eyes as Lady Peggy now made! "a fine gallant not so many years ago, must remember that, don't you ?" "Let's see, let's see," responds His Lordship, rub bing his head. "They set ye down at the King's Arms, nigh the Bridge, Southwark Bridge, yes; Well ! Damme ! I ought to know ! Lark Lane ? 26 GOES TO TOWN A devil of a hole; why, girl! it's not a quarter hour's trot from the inn, hut it's a beastly en vironment. Gad ! that son of mine chooses pens, ink and writing-paper there, rather than " "Lady Belinda here, weight fourteen stone; acres two thousand; guineas, countless; temper, amazin' ; years, untold ! ha ! ha ! ha ! Oh, daddy !" Lady Peggy springs up and dances about a minute in most genuine gaiety, then she seizes her father's head between her palms and hugs and kisses him with much grateful warmth; then flops down a-coddling of the gout again; laughing, giggling, pinching puss, and saying, "Daddy, drop London ! Care I no more for't. Know I quite enough. Let's chat of aught else in the world, until you fall a-napping, which will be soon now, guessing by the shadows." 'Twas very soon. Then Lady Peggy tiptoed off to her chamber; then she pulled the rope that rang in the kitchen, and presently Chockey came, chopper and bowl in hand, checkered apron over white one ; for serv ing maids were scarce in Kennaston Hall, foot men there were none; butler there was when he m MY LADY PEGGY wis not doing t'other half his duty at tfie stables. "Come hither, Chockey," says her mistress in a whisper, with a beckon. "Shut the door; go on with choppin' your leeks and carrots, cook'll want 'em for the soup, but listen, Chock ; unlock your ears Jane Chockey, as never you did before in your life/' Chockey bobs as she chops, leaning against the headpost, for support of her occupation, and also of her curiosity. "You know my mother's box, the small one that was re-covered last spring with the skin of the red calf that died natural ? Bickers put it on with * gross of brass nails ?" Chockey again bobs. "Put into it," continues Lady Peggy, "a change of linen for yourself and me, two night-rails," Chockey's eyes dilate, "my gray taffeta gown with the flowered petticoat, my green hood and kerchief ; powder, patch-box, lavender, musk, pins, needles; my red silken hose ; your Sunday cap and sleeves" Chockey's chopper ceases to work, and the bed- poet creaks. "AH of which," continues her mis- kes, "is but prelude to saying : 'I'm going up to 28 GOES TO T W London by to-morrow's coach, and I'm takin' yoi with me !' " "Madam!" Down goes the bowl, leeks, car rots, chopper and all a-spilling over the floor. "Aye," says Peggy calmly, "gather up thy mess, Chock, and to work with the duds. Lay out my Levantine gown, my blue kerchief, my black silk hose, my brown cloak; and, from my mother's press, take the thick fall of Brussels lace and the brown bonnet it's tied to, and bring 'em hither; put them under the bed beside thy trundle so's my father 5 !! not see 'em when he stops to bid me good-night. Borrow cook's hat she bought at the Fair when she was young, and her delaine veil for thyself; for, so appareled as not to be recog nized, will you, dear Chock, and my Lady Peggy take the coach on April the twelfth. But, Chock, remember, mum's the word, an you let your tongue wag to my undoing, but the thousandth part of a syllable, your mistress and you part company for ever! Go." Chockey picked up Lady Peggy's waving hand between a pinch of her apron, lest her onion- smelling fingers should foul so dainty a morsel, 29 MY LADY PEGGY kissed it, and off and obeyed, speechless from sur prise and veneration, both. At night's fall, the Earl, somnolent again from fire's warmth and the port he would take, despite the surgeon's orders to the contrary, Lady Peggy, Chockey in her wake, purse in hand, went scouting through the kitchen-garden, the paddocks, the cowyard to the stable where Bickers's pipe shone in the gloaming like a fire-gem as he dodged and lurched after a refractory colt. Bickers, albeit sometimes the slave of beer, was all times Lady Peggy's abject, and it took no ef fort nor persuasion to gain him to her will. He took his orders amiably, they were to secure two places in the London mail for to-morrow morn ing, and strictly to hold his peace both now and forever about the whole concern. Peggy gave him the price of the seats and with wise Castle-mistress foresight, she showed Bickers a sovereign beside. "And Bickers," said Lady Peggy, "considering that the devil walks abroad often in the Mermaid's tap-room, I am told, I'll keep the sovereign for you 'til you come back, lest he rob you of it, eh ?" 30 GOES TO TOWN "Well, My Lady," said Bickers ; "a whole sover eign, My Lady, ain't often seen out of the quality's pockets, and the devil might think I'd stole it, My Lady, and try to get it from me. Keep it, My Lady, keep it!" With which the old man, having conquered the colt, set off for the village by a side-path all too well known to his tread. Presently by the spark in his pipe-bowl the two women saw that he had turned back; that, as he came close to them, he clapped his thumb over the glow, and, "My Lady Peggy," mumbled he sheepishly. "Whatever is't, Bickers?" cries his mistress in alarm. ''Naught to fright ye, My Lady, only it's been on my mind these many days to tell you as the letter you sent me with to Sir Percy de Bohun " "Well, well?" Lady Peggy's words came with a gasp, as the old man dead stops. "Go on Bickers, I say !" the mi stress's foot stamps with a thud on the damp earth. "Askin* Your Ladyship's parding, the devil caught me that time at the Kennaston Arms, My 31 MY LADY PEGGY Lady, and he clawed that tight, My I^dy, that I couldn't stir, and and " Peggy now stooped, seized a billet of wood as big as her arm and gave Bickers a sound drub across his hands. The pipe fell in bits, the ash glowed ; Bickers jumped, so did Chockey. " 'And, and' what ?" drubbed Peggy with a will. "Not so much as ha' penny of the sovereign, un less you out with the whole truth !" "I will! I will !" cried the old man. "Sir Percy never got the letter, My Lady, until the very day I seen him on the long roan a-ridin' for's life away from the Castle yonder," and Bickers jerked his thumb toward the house as he now made off. The devil did not catch Bickers that night; he earned his sovereign before the moon rose. As he sped, Lady Peggy took Chockey's prof fered arm. "You see, Chock, you see, how we that are born to wear petticoats are no better'n puppets ! a-dan- cin* and a-cryin'; or a-kneelin' and a-weepin', as it happens to suit the whim of what, Chock ? Who, Chock ? Tell me, Chock !" cries Lady Peggy ex citedly. 32 GOES TO TOWN "Lawk, My Lady, that can I not !" "A man, Chock, a man ! it's a him that pulls the strings, girl, and all we've to do is to simper and jerk this way, that way. To think/' here Peggy's voice falters, for they've gained the house and are clambering the back stairs in the dark. "To think that Bickers, Bickers ! should ha' made me treat my worshiped Percy like a hog ! Yes, Chock- ey, like a hog! even that name ain't vile enough for me. But, oh, an I reach London in safety, and gain my brothers chambers, and learn from him that 'tis for very love of me Sir Percy's can- terin* to perdition, then, Chock, Lady Peggy'll know how to spell paradise for him she's riskin' much to hear the truth about." "But, My Lady," ventures Chockey, who, not withstanding the blissful prospect of seeing Lon don, still had a practical eye toward the dangers that beset the path, both thereto, and once there. "But, My Lady, supposin' we can't find Lord Kennaston's lodgin's; supposin' he's away from home when we get there; or, a-havin' a party, or ain't got no place for us to sleep ; or suppose " "Suppose me no supposes, Chock !" Lady Peggy 33 MY LADY PEGGY shakes eat the Levantine gown from its wrinkles. If London were the black pit, and an army of Sitans a~jtrm* cnnrnn* around tfcp brim, nil! would I go and find out lor myself if ifs for me be pines or, if Lady Diana Weston is up in Lon don too P* With whkh Her Ladyship giTes the pet ticoat, die takes from its peg against the morrow, 10 So" riilic:.j-\i m Whoerer Iraws the rare delights of an ~r"i77 ::r .L-n.r-7..:. i: 11 r ;-.'-:-':-;.-: ~1- L_l; Pir.r-- ir,i 7^ ::>:-. ii:.ir th ?TSI?IIIS= ihit lonff-asi? Fpiinff nKir *~~ ' -~ ~v7v r. z .r in i j7"7*7T_n^ f.i~.~ i_j^i ~-i: r"-~7r-~7--n:~? : "^L-? m"?". -:f - .. - "- . - - . ,fV " _^_ * * - T flower-garden next the court-raid of tie Castle, cine pocc^^v. l*^ed bj the f^h ihat bj tingeing aH the pallid east wiA rose; the hung !:-w ;> her 5*r7ig. asd tw of all her nuQian tnnp^ H MY LADY PEGGY at either side the disk; yonder, the steeple of the church pricked up to heaven; hither, the oaks, greening to their full leafage ; there a brown rab bit scurried across the road ; here the rooks hopped and ha-ha-ed to their fellows. Else, 'twas all a~ hush with that recurring fond expectancy of hope, with which every day of every year so waits and wonders for "to-morrow" to be born. Lady Peggy took the lead, kirtle high upheld, shoes soon bedrabbled in the dust and dew. Chock- ey, bearing the newly-covered box in her stout arms, followed close at heel. Both women, veiled double, and being wholly unused to such matters, sighting the path much the worse for the covering ; in fact Peggy stumbled along like some old crone, and yet laughed under her breath merrily back at floundering Chockey. "Hist! Chock, had I now but brought dad's cane and snuff-box, I must sure be taken for some three-score dame come yawning out of bed before her hour, to overtake, mayhap, a recreant grand son ! Zounds ! as my twin'd say, were he here," and hauling at the mischievous Brussels veil, down 36 GOES TO TOWN flopped Her Ladyship, on her knees betwixt two villainous ruts. "Oh, My Lady!" moaned the waiting-woman panting under cook's delaine and the calf-skin box.