Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones (9781101614631) (31 page)

“There w-as a Fr-acas,” he said. “On the T-yburn R-oad. Didn’t you h-ear? All Passage was bl-ocked for twenty M-inutes, until Captain K-eane arrived with a f-ew of our Fellows and we joined F-orces and gave the Wretches Hell. The Hi-ghway’s damned clear now!”

There was much Laughter, as Lt. Simmins accepted the Congratulations of his Company. Then came the Clatter of Boots upon the Flags, and the conquering Hero steppt smartly into the dim Tavern. He blinked and looked about him. “Mr H-art!” he cried. “’Tis good to see you!” Striding forwards, he threw his Arms about my Shoulders and gave me an hearty Buss upon the Cheek. My Nostrils filled with the stout Reek of dampe Wool and Gunpowder.

Little Simmins had grown and altered much in his Appearance, for all that his Stammer had not. He was now almost eighteen, and tho’ he stood many Inches shorter than My Self, he seemed to have compleatly disowned that Aire of helpless Innocence he had worn as a Boy. Now he looked, at least, the Soldier to the Core; smart of Attire, strong and wiry of Build, with an intelligent Look to his Eye and a friendly and humorous Demeanour. His Eyebrows, tho’, were still too wild, and still met in the Middle.

“What do you think of the F-ood?” Simmins said, noticing the remains of my meat Pie, which lay still upon the Table. “It is bad, is it not?”

“Yes,” I said, with a Laugh. “It is very bad.”

Simmins clappt me quite hard upon my Back, and grasped me again in an Embrace so intense it seemed not unlike to the Hugg
I had given James Barnaby. “So,” I said, disentangling My Self with Difficulty. “You are with the Regiment. And an Hero, now, to boot.”

Simmins laughed, but his Nose flushed a brilliant pink. “I am n-not really an Hero,” he said. “Captain Keane is, I think. I d-on’t remember very M-uch, in Truth; ’tis somewhat of a Blur. There was a great Deal of Sm-oake, and I – I – I’m sure I did s-omething, but I don’t know what.” He scratched the Back of his Neck, perplext. “What a F-ool I am!” he exclaimed. “I may have b-een Heroick, but if I was I re-member nothing of it! What is the Good of that?” He laughed.

“When did you join up?” I asked, to relieve Simmins’ Embarrassment.

“Oh,” Simmins said. “My B-enefactor, thro’ whom you found me, bought me my Commission f-our Yeares ago. ’Tis b-etter by f-ar than Sch-ool.”

“Indeed,” I said. “It doth appear to suit. You have grown up, Simmins.”

Simmins drew back apace, and in the stark doorway Light I could perceive how keenly he was taking stock of me. Had I changed, I thought, as much as Simmins had?

As if he had read my Thoughts—or more likely, my Features—Simmins gave a small one-shouldered Shrug, intirely like to that which had long been mine own. Then his Chin came up. “You were not kind to me,” he said. “But it was n-aught I could not st-and. And after you—my F-ather used to b-eat me soundly, before; af-terwards he stoppt altogether.”

Again that little Shrug. The Effect was eerie; for all the Discrepancy in our Heights and Appearances, I could have been watching mine own younger Self. Then, hard upon it, came the
anxious Smile of the little Boy I had tormented. I realised that Simmins wanted me very much to like him. I did. I always had liked him, even when I had terrified him into scrubbing my Boots in the iron Cold of Winter.

“Do you wish that I should call the Landlord for some Food?” I said. “Perhaps his Steaks are better than his Pies.”

“If you have a Taste for W-orms,” said Simmins, with a Grimace of Disgust.

The Landlord’s Cellar being far superior to his Kitchen, Simmins hollered for a Jug of Ale, and so we sate together in companionable Manner for almost an Houre. I asked Simmins his Opinion upon the Condition of the Army, and with what Degree of Success he thought the Country would be able to resist an Encroachment upon her foreign Territories by the French, as appeared imminent.

“I cannot a-nswer for the State of the Colonials,” Simmins said. “But I know that in too m-any of our Regiments, Discipline is shockingly l-ax. Captain Keane says that this results from the over-Use of the L-ash for trivial Offenses, which leads to poor M-orale among the M-en. Our Colonel, however, is of the opposite Opinion, that Flogging is an intirely n-ecessary Means of C-ontrol upon the common S-oldier.”

“And Lieutenant Simmins?” I said. “What thinks he?”

“Men do not join the Army for its K-indness-es,” Simmins said.

He gave me a strange, sideways Glance. The Tip of his Tongue nestled against his Teeth, lightly, twice. All of a sudden, exactly as it had been with Viviane, I seemed to see Simmins before me, his Hands chained high above his Head, his soft white Back scourged raw and bloody. I caught my Breath.

Simmins smiled at me from across the Tabletop, and for an
half-Second there again was the abortive Embryo of that one-shouldered Shrug: the Devil may care; I do not. His slender Fingers played lightly about the Handle of his pewter Mugg.

For a Moment I closed mine Eyes, and tensed My Self against the Thunderbolt that must certainly fall from Heaven. But the Almighty did nothing, and of course I opened them up again to see Simmins, still smiling. In his brown Eyes there hovered still that curious Intimation, which seemed to me not unlike the sly Look of a three-Guinea Whore. Yet, as I met his Gaze, it seemed to vanish, as doth a Mist upon the early Sunnelight.

“Are you quite well, Mr Hart?” Simmins said.

“I am,” I said. I thought quickly. “I was suffering a Moment of Regret. ’Tis almost an whole Yeare now since I saw the Girl whom I would fain marry.”

Simmins’ Expression registered Surprize, then Sympathy. “The Separation must be hard on you,” he said.

“Indeed so,” I answered. “Sometimes it becomes almost impossible to bear.”

Simmins stretched out his Arm across the Table and covered mine Hand with his own. His Skin was dry and hot; I started; but a tiny Flinch; and hoped that he did not take notice.

“Let us drink to the Lady,” Simmins said. Taking his Hand from mine, he got to his Feet. “An Health, to—?”

“To Miss Montague,” I said, scraping back my Chair, my Tankard held aloft.

At that Moment, a small Number of Simmins’ Fellows, in scarlet Coats and rowdy Spirits, tumbled thro’ the inn Door, and our private Conversation came necessarily to a Close.

Lt. Simmins’ Cohort were, I discovered, an amiable Crowd. I had no Wish to join them, but I could perceive how any young
Surgeon with a more sociable Disposition than mine own might find it a fine thing to be with such a Regiment. I decided that the vile Fancy of mine earlier, unsought, imagining must have been but a passing Phantasm; gave up the Afternoon to Dice and Cards and Drink, and left the Inn in much more chearful Spirits than I had enjoyed for many Weeks.

Returning to Bow Street, I wrote at once to Katherine, to tell her of my curiously re-initiated Association with Lt. Simmins, and the unexpectedly friendly Nature of the Sentiments we had discovered in each other. But reaching the Point at which, in Life, I had so wretchedly invoked her in a foul Lie, I stoppt abruptly, and put down my Quill.

Oh! I thought, if only you were here, my Love, then I might tell you all; but what dare I risk in a Letter, that another may steal?

The restraining Cord within me, which had maintained mine external Silence and my Patience, snappt. I knew at once that should I endure a Sennight more apart from Katherine I knew not what I might do; moreover, that I need not do so. I was very nearly come upon the Time in my Life at which I could, if my Father should withdraw his Support, maintain us both; tho’ truly, as I had said to Erasmus Glass, it was not his Rejection that I feared, but mine Aunt’s Interference. If the Wedding were quick, I thought, and secret, she would have no Opportunity to meddle. The only Consent I would need, besides Katherine’s own, would be that of Mrs Montague; and surely she would not prove difficult to sway.

The Devil could care for Caution, I thought, and for Cleverness. I dippt my Nib into mine Ink and hoped my bald Words would communicate the Strength of my Passion, and the Urgency of my Question.

When no Reply to this Letter arrived within the next Daye and an Half, I was disappointed, but not at once alarmed, for there might, I thought, be any Number of Reasons for the Delay. It was possible that the perswasive Arguments I had used upon the Post had not proved as effective as I had thought; perhaps mine own Letter had not been dispatched before the Mondaye. I went about my Work, and wrote to Simmins, inviting him to join me at the Shakespeare when he was able, where I proposed to introduce him to Erasmus. It had occurred to me that it might prove useful to Erasmus to forge a Connexion with the Regiment, and thereby obtain an Employment. My Motive was not intirely
generous; I had no Wish for Erasmus to decamp to the Colonies, for I might never then see him after. Also, I had fallen under a strange and powerful Yearning to gather my Friends together in one Place, where I might more easily keep mine Eye upon them. Simmins was more than willing to join us both in the Tavern upon Saturdaye Eve, if Circumstance did not succeed, as presently it seemed it might, in keeping Erasmus Knee-deep in Pox.

When, by the Thursdaye I had still heard nothing from Katherine, I began to fear that she was ill, or worse. There was no one to whom I could turn to inquire after her Health; if she were not ill, but merely prevented by some trivial Circumstance from writing, or if she had not received my Letter, then any Approach I might make to the Ravenscrofts would work against me, and my Fears regarding mine Aunt become a Reality. Then I thought that perhaps the Reason for my Darling’s Silence was that we had been found out, and mine Aunt had exerted her Influence to break us off. I feared that perhaps Katherine had been forbidden to write, and was overlooked, or that she had been sent away without my Knowledge. Then, finally, there broke in upon my Meditations the aweful Conceit that perhaps her Silence was my Punishment for everything I had not told anyone: my Desire to hear Lady B.—— scream in Pain; mine Abuse of Annie; mine Attraction toward Simmins; as if the Thunderbolt that I had dreaded then had struck now in such a Way as to sever the Link between us. If that was the Cause, I thought, then truly Katherine’s Silence was the Work of God—or of the Devil.

I wrote to her again, from the Hospital, at nine, when I should have been again about Magdalen Ward:

Again, I sent away mine Heart; again, I fled into the Company of Erasmus Glass, seeking in Vain some Comfort and Distraction in harmless Entertainments. I would not even consider the Idea of visiting Mrs Haywood. I had, for the third Evening, refused to join the Fielding Family for Dinner, despite Mary’s sweetest Entreaties; it would have been only a Waste to feed me, since I had no Appetite. She had placed her Hand upon mine Elbow and called me Chick, and said she could not stand to watch me starve, but tho’ I kissed her kindly on her Cheek and thanked her, I would not be swayed. But having departed the House, I began to dread that she would comment upon mine Health to her Husband, and he to his Brother-in-law, who would certainly conclude that I was losing my Sanity.

By the Fridaye Morn, however, even the Presence of my Friends was more than I could stand. I ran like an Hare from Erasmus at the Hospital, and did not respond to the anxious Missive I received from him inquiring after my Welfare. I was not tired; I was not hungry; I was not ill.

If I had lost Katherine, I was nothing.

Katherine’s Reply arrived upon the Morning of Mondaye, at precisely six o’ the Clock. I was lucky, being in the Act of departing the House, to be able to take it straight from the Boy. At the Sight of her Handwriting, mine Heart leapt. My Darling was alive. My worst Fears melted at once to nothing in the Brightness of the early Summer Sunnelight.

I could not now resist, having the dear Letter in mine Hand, delaying my Departure for some Moments in order to read it. I stood upon the Doorstep, the front Door closed at my Back, and all the noisome Bustle of the Street mere Inches from my Face, and, breaking the Seal, unfolded the creamy Paper. To my Surprize I found
that there was only one, large Sheet, and that Katherine had filled it to the very Edge—as Jane was oft inclined to do, but which had never been Katherine’s Habit. Eagerly, I ran mine Eyes over her Words.