Gashford, with a smiling face, but still with looks of profounddeference and humility, betook himself towards his master"s room,smoothing his hair down as he went, and humming a psalm tune. Ashe approached Lord George"s door, he cleared his throat and hummedmore vigorously.
There was a remarkable contrast between this man"s occupation atthe moment, and the expression of his countenance, which wassingularly repulsive and malicious. His beetling brow almostobscured his eyes; his lip was curled contemptuously; his veryshoulders seemed to sneer in stealthy whisperings with his great flapped ears.
"Hush!" he muttered softly, as he peeped in at the chamber-door.
"He seems to be asleep. Pray Heaven he is! Too much watching, toomuch care, too much thought--ah! Lord preserve him for a martyr!
He is a saint, if ever saint drew breath on this bad earth."
Placing his light upon a table, he walked on tiptoe to the fire,and sitting in a chair before it with his back towards the bed,went on communing with himself like one who thought aloud:
"The saviour of his country and his country"s religion, the friendof his poor countrymen, the enemy of the proud and harsh; belovedof the rejected and oppressed, adored by forty thousand bold andloyal English hearts--what happy slumbers his should be!" And herehe sighed, and warmed his hands, and shook his head as men do whentheir hearts are full, and heaved another sigh, and warmed hishands again.
"Why, Gashford?" said Lord George, who was lying broad awake, uponhis side, and had been staring at him from his entrance.
"My--my lord," said Gashford, starting and looking round as though in great surprise. "I have disturbed you!"
"I have not been sleeping."
"Not sleeping!" he repeated, with assumed confusion. "What can Isay for having in your presence given utterance to thoughts--butthey were sincere--they were sincere!" exclaimed the secretary,drawing his sleeve in a hasty way across his eyes; "and why shouldI regret your having heard them?"
"Gashford," said the poor lord, stretching out his hand withmanifest emotion. "Do not regret it. You love me well, I know-toowell. I don"t deserve such homage."
Gashford made no reply, but grasped the hand and pressed it to hislips. Then rising, and taking from the trunk a little desk, heplaced it on a table near the fire, unlocked it with a key hecarried in his pocket, sat down before it, took out a pen, and,before dipping it in the inkstand, sucked it--to compose thefashion of his mouth perhaps, on which a smile was hovering yet.
"How do our numbers stand since last enrolling-night?" inquiredLord George. "Are we really forty thousand strong, or do we still speak in round numbers when we take the Association at that amount?"
"Our total now exceeds that number by a score and three," Gashfordreplied, casting his eyes upon his papers.
"The funds?"
"Not VERY improving; but there is some manna in the wilderness, mylord. Hem! On Friday night the widows" mites dropped in. "Fortyscavengers, three and fourpence. An aged pew-opener of St Martin"sparish, sixpence. A bell-ringer of the established church,sixpence. A Protestant infant, newly born, one halfpenny. TheUnited Link Boys, three shillings--one bad. The anti-popishprisoners in Newgate, five and fourpence. A friend in Bedlam,half-a-crown. Dennis the hangman, one shilling.""
"That Dennis," said his lordship, "is an earnest man. I marked himin the crowd in Welbeck Street, last Friday."
"A good man," rejoined the secretary, "a staunch, sincere, andtruly zealous man."
"He should be encouraged," said Lord George. "Make a note of Dennis. I"ll talk with him."
Gashford obeyed, and went on reading from his list:
""The Friends of Reason, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Liberty,half-a-guinea. The Friends of Peace, half-a-guinea. The Friendsof Charity, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Mercy, half-a-guinea.
The Associated Rememberers of Bloody Mary, half-a-guinea. TheUnited Bulldogs, half-a-guinea.""
"The United Bulldogs," said Lord George, biting his nails mosthorribly, "are a new society, are they not?"
"Formerly the "Prentice Knights, my lord. The indentures of theold members expiring by degrees, they changed their name, it seems,though they still have "prentices among them, as well as workmen."
"What is their president"s name?" inquired Lord George.
"President," said Gashford, reading, "Mr Simon Tappertit."
"I remember him. The little man, who sometimes brings an elderlysister to our meetings, and sometimes another female too, who is conscientious, I have no doubt, but not well-favoured?"
"The very same, my lord."
"Tappertit is an earnest man," said Lord George, thoughtfully.
"Eh, Gashford?"
"One of the foremost among them all, my lord. He snuffs the battlefrom afar, like the war-horse. He throws his hat up in the streetas if he were inspired, and makes most stirring speeches from theshoulders of his friends."