The Strollers Part 11

"I don't know as I understand you quite," replied the landlord with sudden dignity. "But here's your carriage and your things are all on.

I guess your tenants will be glad to see you," he continued, not resisting a parting shot.

"Curse the tenants!" muttered the guest in ill-humor, as he strode from the tavern without more ado.

He was soon on his way, partly forgetting his vexation in new antic.i.p.ations, and traveling with spirit to his destination, which he reached late that afternoon. The residence of the old patroons, a lordly manor where once lavish hospitality had been displayed, was approached through great gates of hammered iron in which the family arms were interwoven, leading into a fine avenue of trees. The branches of the more majestic met overhead, forming a sylvan arch that almost obscured the blue sky by day and the stars by night. Gazing through this vista, a stately portico appeared, with Corinthian columns, affording an inviting termination of the view. The grounds bore evidence of neglect in the gra.s.s growing knee-high and rank with weeds; the flower beds almost obliterated; a corn-crib sunk to one side like a quadruped gone weak-kneed; and the stream that struggled vainly through the leaves and rubbish barring its pa.s.sage across the estate. The fence resembled the "company front" of an awkward squad, each picket being more or less independent of its neighbor, with here and there a break or gap in the ranks.

Pa.s.sing through the leafy archway over a noiseless road and drawing near the manor, the heir could see that the broad windows, with their quaint squares of gla.s.s, were unwashed, the portico unswept and the bra.s.s finis.h.i.+ngs of the front door unpolished. At the right of the steps leading to the portico, moss-covered and almost concealed by a rose-bush, stood a huge block of granite upon which rested the "lifting-stone," as it was called, of one of the early masters. This not inconsiderable weight the new retainers had been required to lift in days of old, or failing, the patroon would have none of their services, for he wanted only l.u.s.ty, broad-backed varlets for farmers or--when need were--soldiers.

In answer to repeated summons from the ponderous knocker, shuffling footsteps were finally heard within, the door was opened a few inches and the gleaming teeth of a great, gaunt dog were thrust into the opening, followed by an ominous growling. Mauville sprang back a step; the snarling resolved itself into a yelp, as some one unceremoniously dragged the canine back; the door was opened wider and a brawny figure, smoking a long-stemmed pipe, barred the way. The dog, but partly appeased, peered from behind the man's st.u.r.dy legs, awaiting hostilities. The latter, an imperturbable Dutchman, eyed the intruder askance, smoking as impa.s.sively in his face as one of his ancestors before William the Testy. From his point of vantage on the threshold the care-taker looked down upon the master so indifferently, while the dog glared so viciously that the land baron cried angrily:

"Why the devil don't you get out of the way and call off that beast?"

The man pondered. "No one but the heir would give orders like that,"

he said, so accustomed to speaking his thoughts in the solitude of the great rooms, that he gave way to the habit now. "This must be the heir."

Slowly the care-taker moved aside, the hound s.h.i.+fting his position accordingly, and Mauville entered, gazing around with some interest, for the interior of the manor realized the pretensions of its outward aspect. The floor of the hall was of satinwood and rosewood, and the mahogany wainscoting, extending almost to the ceiling, was black with age. With its rich carvings, the stairway suggested woody rioting in bal.u.s.trades lifting up to the support of the heavy beams in the ceiling. The furnis.h.i.+ngs were in keeping, but dust obscured the mirror-like surface of the mahogany tables, the heavy draperies were in need of renovation, while a housewife would have viewed with despair the condition of bra.s.s and ebony inlaid cabinets, ancient tapestries, and pictures, well-nigh defaced, but worthy, even in their faded aspect, of the brush of Sir G.o.dfrey Kneller, Benjamin West and the elder Peale.

Having casually surveyed his new home, the heir was reminded of the need for refreshment after his long journey, and, turning to the care-taker, asked him what there was in the house? The servant smoked silently as though deeply considering this momentous question, while the rear guard maintained unabated hostility between the man's firmly-planted feet. Then abruptly, without removing his pipe, the guardian of the manor e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed:

"Short-cakes and oly-koeks."

The other laughed, struck his knee with his light cane and demanded to be shown to the library, where he would have these outlandish dishes served.

"And bring with them, Mynheer Oly-koeks, a bottle of wine," he continued. "At the same time, chain up the dog. He eyes me with such hungry hostility that, gad! I believe he's an anti-renter!"

Mauville was ushered into a large room, where great leather-bound volumes filled the oak shelves to the ceiling. The care-taker turned, and, with echoing footsteps, slowly departed, followed by his faithful four-footed retainer. It is true the latter paused, swung half-around and regarded the land-owner with the look of a sulky and rebellious tenant, but, summoned by a stern "Oloffe!" from his master, the dog reluctantly pattered across the hard-wood floor.

In surveying his surroundings, the land baron's attention was attracted by a coat-of-arms deeply carved in the ma.s.sive wood of the book-case--on a saltire sable, a fleur-de-lys or. This head of heraldic flowers appeared to interest Mauville, who smiled grimly.

"From what I know of my worthy ancestors," he muttered, "and their propensities to prey on their fellow-men, I should say a more fitting device would be that of Lovett of Astwell: Gules, three wolves pa.s.sant sable, in pale."

Pleased with his own humor, he threw himself upon a couch near the window, stretching himself luxuriously. Soon the man reappeared with the refreshments and a bottle of old-fas.h.i.+oned, substantial girth, which he uncorked with marked solicitude.

"Where are the oly-koeks?" exclaimed the heir.

The watchman pointed to a great dish of dark blue willow-ware pattern.

"Oh, doughnuts!" said Mauville. "You know where the family lawyer lives? Have my man drive you to his house and bring him here at once."

As the care-taker again disappeared the heir bent over the curiously shaped bottle in delight, for when the cork was drawn a fragrance filled the musty apartment as from a bouquet.

"Blessings on the ancestor who laid down this wine!" he muttered.

"May his ghost wander in to sniff it! These oly-koeks are not bad.

I suppose this man, Ten Breecheses, or whatever he is called, is at once cook and housekeeper. Although I don't think much of his housekeeping," ruminated Mauville, as he observed a herculean spider weaving a web from an old volume of Giraldus Cambrensis, antiquary, to the cla.s.sical works of one Joseph of Exeter. There is a strong sympathy between wine and cobwebs, and Mauville watched with increasing interest the uses to which these ponderous tomes had sunk--but serving the bloodthirsty purpose of the nimble architect, evolving its delicate engineering problem in mid air.

A great blundering fly had just bobbed into the net and the spider, with hideous, carnivorous zest, was scrambling for it, when the guardian of the manor returned with the family solicitor, a little man who bore in his arms a bundle of papers which, after the customary greetings, he spread upon the table. He helped himself to a gla.s.s of burgundy and proceeded forthwith to enter into the history of his trust.

Mynheer, the patroon, Mauville's predecessor, a lonely, arrogant man, had held tenaciously to the immense tracts of land acquired in the colonial days by nominal purchase. He had never married, his desire for an heir being discounted by his aversion for the other s.e.x, until as the days dragged on, he found himself bed-ridden and childless in his old age. Unfortunately the miser can not take his acres into Paradise, and the patroon, with many an inward groan, cast about him for some remote relative to whom he would reluctantly transfer his earthly hereditaments. These were two: one a man of piety, who prayed with the tenants when they complained of their lot; the other, Mauville, upon whom he had never set eyes.

When the earliest patroons had made known to the West India Company their intention of planting colonies in New Netherland, they had issued attractive maps to promote their colonization projects. Among those who had been lured to America by these enticing advertis.e.m.e.nts was an ancestor of Edward Mauville. Incurring the displeasure of the governor for his G.o.dless views, this Frenchman was sent to the pillory, or whipping post, and his neighbors were about to cast out the devil of irreverence in good old-fas.h.i.+oned manner, when one of Mynheer's daughters interceded, carried off the handsome miscreant, and--such was her imperious way!--married him! He was heard in after years to aver that the whipping would have been the milder punishment, but, be that as it may, a child was born unto them who inherited the father's adventuresome and graceless character, deserted his home, joined hands with some ocean-rovers and sailed for that pasture-ground of buccaneers, the Caribbean sea. Of his subsequent history various stories may be found in the chronicles of New Orleans and Louisiana.

The only other person who might have any pretensions to the estate was a reverend gentleman who had been a missionary among the Indians, preaching from a stump, and called "Little Thunder" by the red men because of his powerful voice; a lineal descendant of the Rev. Doctor Johannes Vanderklonk, the first dominie of the patroons, who served for one thousand guilders, payable in meat or drink, twenty-two bushels of wheat and two firkins of b.u.t.ter. He saved the souls of the savages, while the white men cheated their bodies. Now and then, in those early days, the children of the forest protested against this evangelizing process and carried off the good dominie to the torture stake, where they plucked out his finger nails; but he returned with as much zest to his task of landing these simple souls in Paradise as those who employed him displayed in making an earthly Paradise out of the lands the red men left behind them.

When by this shrewd system the savages were gradually saved, and incidentally exterminated, Little Thunder's occupation was gone and he became a pensioner of Mynheer the Patroon, earning his bread by an occasional sermon to the tenants, exhorting them to thrift and industry, to be faithful and multiply, and to pay their rents promptly. As Mynheer's time drew near he sent for his attorney and commanded him to look up the life, deeds and character of Edward Mauville.

"This I did," said the lawyer, "and here it is." Waving a roll of papers before his interested listener.

"A nauseating mess, no doubt," carelessly remarked the land baron.

"Oh, sir!" deprecated the lawyer, opening the roll. "'Item: Religion; pupil of the brilliant Jesuit, Abbe Moneau. Item: Morals; Exhibit A, the affair with Countess ---- in Paris, where he was sent to be educated after the fas.h.i.+on of French families in New Orleans; Exhibit B--'"

"Spare me," exclaimed Mauville. "Life is wearisome enough, but a biography--" He shrugged his shoulders. "Come to your point."

"Of course, sir, I was only trying to carry out his instructions. The same, sir, as I would carry out yours!" With an ingratiating smile.

Whereupon the attorney told how he had furnished the patroon this roll and fastened it to his bed, so that he might wind and unwind it, perusing it at his pleasure. This the dying man did, sternly noting the damaging facts; thinking doubtlessly how traits will endure for generations--aye, for ages, in spite of the pillory!--the while Little Thunder was roaring pet.i.tions to divinity by his bedside, as though to bl.u.s.ter and bully the Almighty into granting his supplications. The patroon glanced from his pensioner to the roll; from the kneeling man to that prodigious list of peccadillos, and then he called for a s.h.i.+lling, a coin still somewhat in use in America. This he flipped thrice.

"_Roue_ or sham," he said the first time.

"Rake or hypocrite," he exclaimed the second time.

"Devil or Pharisee," he cried the third time.

He peered over the coin and sent for his attorney. His soul pa.s.sed away, mourned by Little Thunder until the will was read, when his lamentations ceased; he soundly berated Mynheer, the Patroon, in his coffin and refused to go to his burying. Then he became an ardent anti-renter, a leader of "bolters," a thunderer of the people's cause, the devoted enemy of land barons in general, and one patroon in particular, the foreign heir of the manor.

"But let him thunder away, sir," said Scroggs, soothingly. "The estate's yours now, for the old patroon can't come back to change his mind. He's buried sure enough in the grove, a dark and sombrous spot as befitted his disposition, but restful withal. Aye, and the marble slab's above him, which reminds me that only a month before he took to his bed he was smoking his pipe on the porch, when his glance fell upon the lifting-stone. Suddenly he strode towards it, bent his back and raised it a full two inches. 'So much for age!' said he, scoffing-like. But age heard him and now he lies with a stone on him he can not lift, while you, sir"--to his listener, deferentially--"are sole heir to the estate and to the feud."

"A feud goes with the property?" remarked Mauville carelessly.

"The tenants object to paying rent," replied Scroggs, sadly. "They're a sorry lot!"

"Evade their debts, do they?" said the land baron languidly. "What presumption to imitate their betters! That won't do; I need the money."

"They claim the rights of the landlord originated in fraud--"

"No doubt!" Yawning. "My ancestors were rogues!"

"Oh, sir"--deprecatorily.

"If the tenants don't pay, turn them out," interrupted Mauville, listlessly, "if you have to depopulate the country."

Having come to an understanding with his client, the lawyer arose to take his departure.

"By the way," he said, obsequiously, selecting a yellow, well-worn bit of paper from his bundle of doc.u.ments, "it may interest you to keep this yourself. It is the original deed for all these lands from the squaw Pewasch. You can see they were acquired for a few s.h.i.+llings'

worth of 'wet and dry goods' and seventeen and a half ells of duffels."

"The old patroons could strike a rare bargain," muttered the heir, as he casually surveyed the ancient deed, and then, folding it, placed it in his breast pocket. "For a mere song was acquired--"

"A vast princ.i.p.ality," added the solicitor, waving his hand toward the fields and meadows far in the distance.