Out in the Forty-Five Part 46

"Did they think you did it well?"

"Lucretia Carnwath and Diana Grandison were thought the best performers; but once they said I made a capital housemaid."

"Were you ever a laundress?"

"No, but I dare say I could have managed it."

"Are you willing to try?"

"I am ready to do anything, if it will help Angus. I don't see at present how my playing the laundress is to do that."

"You will not play it on a mock stage in a drawing-room, but in reality.

Neither you nor I are to do the hardest part of the work; Colonel Keith takes that."

"What have I to do?"

"To carry a basket of clothes into the prison, and bring it out again."

"I hope Angus will not be in the basket," said I, trying to smother my laughter; "I could not carry him."

"Oh, no," replied Ephraim, laughing too. "Now listen."

"I am all attention," said I.

"Next Tuesday evening, about nine o'clock, slip out of this room, and throw a large cloak over your dress--one that will quite hide you. You will find me at the foot of the back-stairs. We shall go out of the back-door, and get to Raymond's house. A lady, whom you will find there, will help you to put on the dress which is prepared. Then you and I (who are brother and sister, if you please) will carry the basket to the prison. Just before reaching it, I shall pretend to hear something, and run off to see what is the matter. You will be left alone (in appearance), and will call after me in vain, and abuse me roundly when I do not return, declaring that you cannot possibly carry that heavy basket in alone. Then, but not before, you will descry a certain William standing close by,--who will be Colonel Keith,--and showing surprise at seeing him there, will ask him to help you with the basket. He and you will carry the basket into the prison, and you will stand waiting a little while, during which time he will (with the connivance of a warder in our pay) visit Angus's cell. Presently 'William' will return to you, but it will be Angus and not Keith. You are to scold him for having kept you such an unconscionable time, and, declaring that you will have no more to do with him, to take up the empty basket and walk off. Our warder will then declare that he cannot do with all this row,--you must make as much noise as you can,--and push you both out of the prison door. Angus will follow you, expressing penitence and begging to be allowed to carry the basket, but you are not to let him. A few yards from the prison, I shall come running out of a side-street, seize the basket, give Angus a thump or two with it and bid him be off, for I am not going to have such good-for-noughts loitering about and making up to my sister. He will pretend to be cowed, and run away, and you will then abuse me in no measured terms for having left you without protector, in the first place, and for having behaved so badly to your dear Will in the second. When we are out of sight, we may gradually drop our pretended quarrel; and when we reach Mr Raymond's house, you will return to Caroline Courtenay, and I shall be Ephraim Hebblethwaite. There is the programme. Can you carry out your part?-- and are you willing?"

My heart stood still a moment, and then came up and throbbed violently in my throat.

"Could I? Yes, I think I could. But I want to know something first.

How far I am willing will depend on circ.u.mstances. What is going to become of Colonel Keith in this business?"

"He takes Angus's place--don't you see?"

"Yes, but when Angus has got away, how is he to escape?"

"G.o.d knoweth. It is not likely that he can."

"And do you mean to say that Colonel Keith is to be sacrificed to save Angus?"

"The sacrifice is his own. The proposal comes from himself."

"And you mean to _let_ him?"

"Not if I could do it myself," was the quiet answer.

"I don't want you to do it. Is there n.o.body else?"

"No one except Keith, Raymond, and myself. Raymond is too tall, and I am not tall enough. Keith and Angus are just of a height."

"And if Colonel Keith cannot escape, what will become of him?"

Silence answered me,--a silence which said far more than words.

"Ephraim, Colonel Keith is worth fifty of Angus."

"I have not spent these weeks at his bedside, Cary, without finding that out."

"And is the worse to be bought with the better?"

"It was done once, upon the hill of Calvary. And 'This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.'"

I was silent. I did not like the idea at all.

"You must talk to Keith about it before we leave the house," said Ephraim. "But I am afraid it will be of no use. We have all tried in vain."

I said no more.

"Well, Cary,--will you undertake it?"

"Ephraim," I said, looking up at last, "I cannot bear to think of sacrificing Colonel Keith. I could do it, I think, for anything but that. It would be hard work, no doubt, at the best; but I would go through with it to save Angus. But cannot it be done in some other way?"

Ephraim shook his head.

"We can see no other way at all. There are only three men who could do it--Colonel Keith, Mr Raymond, and myself; and Keith is far the best for personal reasons. Beside the matter of height, he has, or at any rate could easily put on, a slight Scots accent, which we should find difficult, and might very likely do it wrong. He is acquainted with all the places and people that Angus is; we are not. And remember, it is not only the getting Angus out of the place that is of consequence: whoever takes his place must personate Angus for some hours, till he can get safely away. [Note 3.] Only Keith can do this with any chance of success. As to sacrifice, why, soldiers sacrifice themselves every day, and he is a soldier. I can a.s.sure you, it seems to him a natural, commonplace affair. He is very anxious to do it."

"He must be fonder of Angus--" I stopped.

"Than we are?" answered Ephraim, with a smile. "Perhaps he is. But I think he has other reasons, Cary."

"What made you think of me?"

"Well, we must have a girl in the affair, and we were very much puzzled whom to ask. If Miss Keith had been here, we should certainly have asked her."

"Annas? Oh, how could she?" I cried.

"She has pluck enough," said Ephraim. "Of course, Miss Drummond would have been the most natural person to play the part, but Keith would not hear of that, and Raymond doubted if she were a suitable person. With her, the Scots accent would be in the way, and rouse suspicion; and I am not sure whether she could manage such a thing in other respects. Then we thought of Hatty and you; but Hatty, I suppose, is out of the question at present."

"Oh yes, quite," said I.

"She would have been the very one if she had been well and strong. She has plenty of go and dash in her. But Raymond and Keith both wanted you."

"And you did not?" said I, feeling rather mortified that Ephraim should seem to think more of Hatty than of me.

"No, I did not, Cary," he said, in a changed voice. "You think I am paying you a poor compliment. Perhaps, some day, you will know better."

"Does anyone in this house know of the rescue plot?"

"Mr Desborough knows that an attempt may be made, but not that you are in it. Lucette is engaged to keep the coast clear while we get away.