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.''Well, Mr.John, is a fact you have always been good to me.'Haggard scratched his head in sheer frustration.'Yet you have run away.''Well, Mr.John, sir, is a fact a man got for be free, if he can.All the people I am meeting, they are free, Mr.John.And they asking me, why you are not free? How are you a slave? They asking, Mr.John, and I am thinking.How am I a slave?''And there you have it in a nutshell, Mr.Haggard,' Barcroft said.Haggard looked from one to the other, then turned back to Sharp".He was aware of a feeling of total humiliation.Sharp had made a fool of him, in the most public fashion.There was only one course of action left to a gentleman, and a Haggard.'You, sir, are nothing more than an agitator.And, through the mouth of your attorney here, you have seen fit to cast the gravest aspersions upon my honesty and indeed my humanity.I regard that as an insult, sir." My second will call upon you.'Sharp gathered up his papers.'And he will be shown the door, sir.I am not afraid to be a coward.Go and fight with your fellow planters, and leave honest men in peace.' He walked past Haggard to the door.Middlesex and Barcroft followed.For the first time in his life Haggard was speechless.It had never occurred to him that it was possible for a gentleman to refuse a challenge.He stared after the disappearing men, his fists opening, shutting.'Mr.Haggard,' Cummings said.'I doubt this country is truly for me,' Haggard said, it is composed of lawyers and cowards so far as I can see.''Not entirely, Mr.Haggard.There is a gentleman most anxious to have a word with you.''And I have no desire to speak with anyone at this moment,' Haggard said.'Please, sir.It will certainly be to your advantage.'Haggard sighed, allowed himself to be escorted to the back of the courtroom, where he found a very elegant man, older than himself, and only of medium height with a stocky build, but dressed in the height of fashion in a dark green heavy cloth garrick overcoat, white buckskin breeches and black leather Hessian boots with braided tops and a gold tassel hanging from each.His coat was pale green, worn over a pique waistcoat, his hat was a grey felt with a silk cord, which he now proceeded to raise.His face was uncommonly fine, having small, perfectly etched features, small nose and mouth and chain all fitting smoothly into the other.He made Haggard feel like a tramp.'John Haggard.' He held out his hand.Thomas Brand, at your service.'Haggard shook hands."You find me at a difficult moment, sir.'‘Indeed, that magistrate is a confounded Whig.Not to be trusted.You are staying on in town?'Haggard shrugged.There seems little point.Cummings here can find me an attorney.It seems I must crawl back to Derleth with my tail between my legs.''Stuff and nonsense,' Brand said.'You'll not let a trifling setback like this disconcert you? Not John Haggard, I'll be bound.You'll dine with me, sir.I insist upon it.''You are very kind,' Haggard said.'Perhaps you'd explain your interest in me.'‘I had heard you were a plain-spoken man as well.It will be my pleasure.You'll excuse us, Cummings.'The agent did not seem offended.'Of course Colonel Brand.I'll see to the matter right away, Mr.Haggard.''Aye,' Haggard said, and followed Brand outside into the drizzle.Here a phaeton was waiting, and a moment later they were seated side by side, the gate closed and a rug thrown across their knees.Brand drove himself, handling reins and whip with considerable skill.‘I was told of your arrival in England by Harry Addison,' he explained.'Ah,' Haggard said.Then you'll be a political gentleman.' 'Indeed I am.I am one of the Tory whips.' 'You'll have to explain that to me.''It is my business to marshal sufficient support for Mr.Pitt in the Commons, whenever he feels the need of it.I may say he is most anxious to meet you.Will you not stay over for another few days?'To meet Pitt?''Amongst others.''Aye, well, with this business over Middlesex dragging its feet, I doubt I will be much use to you.''But you must, Mr.Haggard.These are tumultuous times approaching.We shall need every vote we can find to carry through Mr.Pitt's programme.No, no, sir.You have suffered a setback.Believe me, every right thinking man will sympathise with you.But nothing more can be done, at least by you personally, until the case comes again to court.Now you must concentrate on your election.Of course it is a simple matter, owning Derleth Hall as you do, yet must you campaign forcefully, allow your views to be heard, bring yourself before the public.I may say we were disappointed at the haste with which you abandoned London.’‘I received little welcome here,' Haggard pointed out.'And I wished to see my new home.''You would have been welcomed, had you but spared the time,' Brand insisted.'But that is an omission on our part for which I humbly apologise, and which I personally shall see is remedied.But first, dinner.' He turned the phaeton through the driveway of a house situated in a close off Bond Street.Yard boys hurried forward to take the bridle, while others opened the gate to allow their master down.Brand waited for Haggard, escorted him into the entry hall.'I'd have you meet my daughters,' he said.'Alison, and Emily.'For the second time that morning.Haggard found himself bereft of speech as well as breath.For Alison Brand was breathtakingly lovely.About the same height as her father, she possessed similar features, but on her refined to such an extent that save for the delicious flare of her nostrils she might have been carved from marble.Her complexion was pale, with just a touch of colour at her cheeks, and the whole was shrouded in a halo of magnificently fine pale gold hair which descended past her shoulders in a dead straight shawl.Her figure had the slenderness of youth, but that it would match up to the promise of the face and the hair Haggard did not doubt for an instant.Her sister was but slightly less perfect, and had the more ready smile; Haggard observed that although they were not twins, Alison being clearly the elder, they dressed alike, each wearing a simple blue gown, with a high waist and a low bodice, bosom modestly hidden by a white fichu, and their movements and gestures were remarkably similar, as were their voices, low and caressing.'Mr.Haggard,' Alison said, extending her hand and leaving him uncertain whether to shake it or kiss it.'Papa has told us so much about you.''Mr.Haggard,' Emily said, her actions duplicating her sister's, 'it is a pleasure to have you in our house.'They look after me," Brand said, 'now that my dear wife has passed on.Ah, me, I must prepare myself to lose them, would you not say Haggard? Next summer Alison will be eighteen, and for presentation at court.If she does not run off and elope before then.'Alison flushed prettily.'Papa listens for the sound of ladders against my bedroom window, every night,' she said.'You'll take a glass of punch, Mr.Haggard.' She led him into the withdrawing room, her sister at her side, while Haggard realised he had not spoken since entering the room.He was John Haggard.He was not the sort of man to be struck dumb by feminine beauty or feminine poise like some mooning youth.Yet he could think of absolutely nothing to say.'Papa tells us you will be spending a few days with us,' Emily said, sitting beside him on the settee.'Why, I.''Of course you will, Haggard.What, a man of your calibre staying with an agent? I'll send my man for your things [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.''Well, Mr.John, is a fact you have always been good to me.'Haggard scratched his head in sheer frustration.'Yet you have run away.''Well, Mr.John, sir, is a fact a man got for be free, if he can.All the people I am meeting, they are free, Mr.John.And they asking me, why you are not free? How are you a slave? They asking, Mr.John, and I am thinking.How am I a slave?''And there you have it in a nutshell, Mr.Haggard,' Barcroft said.Haggard looked from one to the other, then turned back to Sharp".He was aware of a feeling of total humiliation.Sharp had made a fool of him, in the most public fashion.There was only one course of action left to a gentleman, and a Haggard.'You, sir, are nothing more than an agitator.And, through the mouth of your attorney here, you have seen fit to cast the gravest aspersions upon my honesty and indeed my humanity.I regard that as an insult, sir." My second will call upon you.'Sharp gathered up his papers.'And he will be shown the door, sir.I am not afraid to be a coward.Go and fight with your fellow planters, and leave honest men in peace.' He walked past Haggard to the door.Middlesex and Barcroft followed.For the first time in his life Haggard was speechless.It had never occurred to him that it was possible for a gentleman to refuse a challenge.He stared after the disappearing men, his fists opening, shutting.'Mr.Haggard,' Cummings said.'I doubt this country is truly for me,' Haggard said, it is composed of lawyers and cowards so far as I can see.''Not entirely, Mr.Haggard.There is a gentleman most anxious to have a word with you.''And I have no desire to speak with anyone at this moment,' Haggard said.'Please, sir.It will certainly be to your advantage.'Haggard sighed, allowed himself to be escorted to the back of the courtroom, where he found a very elegant man, older than himself, and only of medium height with a stocky build, but dressed in the height of fashion in a dark green heavy cloth garrick overcoat, white buckskin breeches and black leather Hessian boots with braided tops and a gold tassel hanging from each.His coat was pale green, worn over a pique waistcoat, his hat was a grey felt with a silk cord, which he now proceeded to raise.His face was uncommonly fine, having small, perfectly etched features, small nose and mouth and chain all fitting smoothly into the other.He made Haggard feel like a tramp.'John Haggard.' He held out his hand.Thomas Brand, at your service.'Haggard shook hands."You find me at a difficult moment, sir.'‘Indeed, that magistrate is a confounded Whig.Not to be trusted.You are staying on in town?'Haggard shrugged.There seems little point.Cummings here can find me an attorney.It seems I must crawl back to Derleth with my tail between my legs.''Stuff and nonsense,' Brand said.'You'll not let a trifling setback like this disconcert you? Not John Haggard, I'll be bound.You'll dine with me, sir.I insist upon it.''You are very kind,' Haggard said.'Perhaps you'd explain your interest in me.'‘I had heard you were a plain-spoken man as well.It will be my pleasure.You'll excuse us, Cummings.'The agent did not seem offended.'Of course Colonel Brand.I'll see to the matter right away, Mr.Haggard.''Aye,' Haggard said, and followed Brand outside into the drizzle.Here a phaeton was waiting, and a moment later they were seated side by side, the gate closed and a rug thrown across their knees.Brand drove himself, handling reins and whip with considerable skill.‘I was told of your arrival in England by Harry Addison,' he explained.'Ah,' Haggard said.Then you'll be a political gentleman.' 'Indeed I am.I am one of the Tory whips.' 'You'll have to explain that to me.''It is my business to marshal sufficient support for Mr.Pitt in the Commons, whenever he feels the need of it.I may say he is most anxious to meet you.Will you not stay over for another few days?'To meet Pitt?''Amongst others.''Aye, well, with this business over Middlesex dragging its feet, I doubt I will be much use to you.''But you must, Mr.Haggard.These are tumultuous times approaching.We shall need every vote we can find to carry through Mr.Pitt's programme.No, no, sir.You have suffered a setback.Believe me, every right thinking man will sympathise with you.But nothing more can be done, at least by you personally, until the case comes again to court.Now you must concentrate on your election.Of course it is a simple matter, owning Derleth Hall as you do, yet must you campaign forcefully, allow your views to be heard, bring yourself before the public.I may say we were disappointed at the haste with which you abandoned London.’‘I received little welcome here,' Haggard pointed out.'And I wished to see my new home.''You would have been welcomed, had you but spared the time,' Brand insisted.'But that is an omission on our part for which I humbly apologise, and which I personally shall see is remedied.But first, dinner.' He turned the phaeton through the driveway of a house situated in a close off Bond Street.Yard boys hurried forward to take the bridle, while others opened the gate to allow their master down.Brand waited for Haggard, escorted him into the entry hall.'I'd have you meet my daughters,' he said.'Alison, and Emily.'For the second time that morning.Haggard found himself bereft of speech as well as breath.For Alison Brand was breathtakingly lovely.About the same height as her father, she possessed similar features, but on her refined to such an extent that save for the delicious flare of her nostrils she might have been carved from marble.Her complexion was pale, with just a touch of colour at her cheeks, and the whole was shrouded in a halo of magnificently fine pale gold hair which descended past her shoulders in a dead straight shawl.Her figure had the slenderness of youth, but that it would match up to the promise of the face and the hair Haggard did not doubt for an instant.Her sister was but slightly less perfect, and had the more ready smile; Haggard observed that although they were not twins, Alison being clearly the elder, they dressed alike, each wearing a simple blue gown, with a high waist and a low bodice, bosom modestly hidden by a white fichu, and their movements and gestures were remarkably similar, as were their voices, low and caressing.'Mr.Haggard,' Alison said, extending her hand and leaving him uncertain whether to shake it or kiss it.'Papa has told us so much about you.''Mr.Haggard,' Emily said, her actions duplicating her sister's, 'it is a pleasure to have you in our house.'They look after me," Brand said, 'now that my dear wife has passed on.Ah, me, I must prepare myself to lose them, would you not say Haggard? Next summer Alison will be eighteen, and for presentation at court.If she does not run off and elope before then.'Alison flushed prettily.'Papa listens for the sound of ladders against my bedroom window, every night,' she said.'You'll take a glass of punch, Mr.Haggard.' She led him into the withdrawing room, her sister at her side, while Haggard realised he had not spoken since entering the room.He was John Haggard.He was not the sort of man to be struck dumb by feminine beauty or feminine poise like some mooning youth.Yet he could think of absolutely nothing to say.'Papa tells us you will be spending a few days with us,' Emily said, sitting beside him on the settee.'Why, I.''Of course you will, Haggard.What, a man of your calibre staying with an agent? I'll send my man for your things [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]