A Maggot - John Fowles (31 page)

Q. In all this so far, seemed she truthful?

A. As I could tell, sir. 'Twas dark, d could not see
her face. She did seem to speak as one who would relieve her
conscience, in plain sincerity, for all the sinfulness of what she
had done.

Q. On.

A. Well, sir, they rode out, as I saw and told Mr
Lacy, and to the heathen temple there on the hill, that they call
Stonage. Where his Lordship had commanded Dick with their two horses
apart, outside the place, then led her to its centre, where he
pointed to a great stone that lay imbedded flat beside others that
stood and told her to lie upon it, for such was the superstition, or
so he said, that a woman if taken there might help a man regain his
vigours. At first she would not, she was too afraid. Whereat she said
he grew angry again and began cruelly to abuse her. At the end the
poor woman must do as he bade, to still him, though she said she was
froze with terror. So, sir, she lies on her back upon the stone as
upon a bed.

Q. In her nakedness?

A. No, sir. But his Lordship said she should raise
her petticoats and bare her merkin, begging your pardon, and place
herself in the posture of love. Which she did, thinking his Lordship
would now essay his prowess upon her, in this supposed auspicious
place. Yet he did nothing, save to stand a little aside, between two
great standing stones, the like to watch. Which she put down to a
timidity in him, some fear he would still be disappointed in his
hopes. And after a while she spake, saying, would he not try, she
grew cold. He bade her hold her tongue, and lie still; and ever stood
where he was, ten paces off. She knew not what time passed, yet it
was many minutes, and she grew sore cold and discomforted upon her
hard couch. That then there was all of a sudden a great rush or
hurtle close in the night above, as of some great falcon that passed.
And as a flash of lightning, so be it no thunder-clap warned of its
coming; and tho' but in this great flash, she did see a figure that
stood above her on a stone pillar as a statue might, next above where
she lay, that seemed of a great and dark-cloaked blackamoor, which
did gaze most greedily down upon her, like he was that falcon whose
wings she heard, his cloak still aflutter from his falling, and so he
would in an instant spring down further upon her, as a bird upon its
prey. Sir, she did say this most gashly and terrible vision was come
and gone so quick she could not be sure it lay not in her imaginings;
yet must she now believe it was no imagining, for what had happened
after in the cavern, that very day we spake. And she said furthermore
how, a moment or two after / the lightning, there came a strange gust
of air upon her, as from a furnace, yet one not near, that tho' it
did not burn her skin, never the less did carry a most rank and foul
stench as of roasting carrion upon it; which did by some mercy pass
as quick as the other. And that then all was dark and cold as before.

Q. This figure did not pounce upon her? She felt
nothing, no touch upon her, beside the warm air?

A. No, sir. I did ask, and she said not. She'd have
said, if she had, for she feared as much again as she told me, she
could not forget it.

Q. Who thought she this figure was, this buzzard
blackamoor?

A. The King of Hell, sir, the Prince of Darkness.

Q. Satan himself, the Devil?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. She saw horns, his tail?

A. No, sir, and said she was so beshocked by her
alarm, she was not in her normal senses; and likewise all passed so
swift, in two snaps of her fingers, so she put it, she had no time to
think nor mark. And did most know this was he that she said, from
what happened later; that I shall come to, your worship.

Q. What followed, there at the temple?

A. As strange again, though less supernatural, sir.
For she said she lay in a swoon, she knows not how long, but woke to
find his Lordship kneeling beside her, who took her hand, then made
her rise and supported her, and of a sudden embraced her as she might
be a sister or a wife, so she put it, and said, Thou art a brave
girl, I am well content with thee. To which she said she was sore
frightened, sir, as who would not be; and asks his Lordship what
passed above. To which he says, Nothing, it can't harm thee. Then
that they must go. Which they did, sir, she said he took her arm to
help her, and said again she had done most well; and how now he knew
he had chosen one fit to his end.

Q. Where was Dick in all this?

A. I come to it, sir. They came on him there where he
had been commanded to wait. And as with her, she saw his Lordship
step forward and embrace him, and in no mere form, see you, as one
who gives heartfelt thanks to an equal, not as common master to man.

Q. Were signs made between them?

A. Not that she said, sir. She and Dick came back to
the inn alone, for his Lordship stayed there beside the temple, and
she knew not when he returned. When she and Dick crept back to their
chambers, he would come and lie with her, so be it this time she
would not have it. He did not force it upon her as at Basingstoke,
she said as if he knew she had been upon great fatigue and trial, and
so left her. There, sir. I have told all exact, not one matter
omitted.

Q. Did she make no other explanation of what had
passed? Did you not press her?

A. That she was sure now his Lordship was bent on
some great wickedness, and much afraid of what further might lie
ahead. As she was now proven right to be, on that day we spoke.

Q. We will come to that. She spoke of nothing else of
moment, before you came to the Black Hart?

A. No, sir, not till the eve of that day we were at.
When she said his Lordship again spoke apart with her in his chamber,
and behaved as without reason as ever before, first to revile her for
some insolence that lay in his fancy, for she was sure she had given
none in the flesh; then of her being so great a whore, she was
certain for hell, I know not what else. Which she said he spake in
terms and language more like to one of her past Quaker ranters or an
Anabaptist than a gentleman, like he would now see her punished for
doing his very own command. And she said 'twas as if he was not one
man, but two, when she looked back on all her dealings with him; that
when she went to her bed, she wept for it, that he should be so cruel
for so little seeming cause. And I asked her, What of his praise of
thee at the temple? And she said, 'Tis ever so with those of rank,
they be weathercocks, all turns with the wind of their fancy.

Q. Spoke the wench much in this vein - of disrespect
for her betters?

A. I fear she did, sir. I will come to it.

Q. You shall. I ask this now. She did know, did she
not, that something most wicked and terrible was afoot? She had known
it since the night at the temple, three days before. Now why made she
no attempt to escape, to seek the advice and protection of Mr Lacy,
whatever else? Why went she for three whole days, as she were a lamb
of a more innocent kind, to slaughter?

A. Your worship, she did say she believed that Mr
Lacy and I were a part of what went on, and of no avail. That she had
thought, at Wincanton and Taunton both, of running into the night,
she knew not where; but found herself so desperate alone in the
world, and damned beyond hope of succour, that she found not the
courage.

Q. You believed this?

A. That she was frightened out of normal wits, yes,
sir, I did. One is no army, as the saying goes; and least of all when
womanly weak.

Q. Did his Lordship say whatever to her on the eve,
at the Black Hart, of what should pass that coming day?

A. No, sir. She thought it strange I was gone, when
they set off, and she asked Mr Lacy, but he said only, I was rid
ahead. And so stranger still, when it came to the parting with Mr
Lacy at the gibbet, of which she had no warning; and began greatly to
apprehend, to find herself alone with her tormentors, for his
Lordship rode ahead, and would not speak. Until they came to the ford
by the cwm, where I watched them; and there at last she ventured to
speak, and his Lordship said, We are come to where my waters spring;
and that she too was to taste of them.

Q. These are the waters of which he told her in
London, that were reputed good for his case?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Had you heard speak of them on your journey to
Devon? Had Mr Lacy spoke of them?

A. No, sir. Not one word.

Q. Nor nothing said of them in that inn?

A. Neither, sir. You will hear. Hiss Lordship did
speak in black jest. There be no waters. Q. Proceed.

A. So, sir, she dared not ask more, for his Lordship
and Dick seemed willed to one purpose, and she like mere baggage they
carried with them to it, as they went in the cwm to where I found
them, with Dick gone off. Where at the first, before I came up with
them, she said his Lordship had had Dick unstrap the box and set it
on the ground, and then opened it, and there laid on top was the May
dress, new smicket and petticoat, and fair new stockings, the which
she had never seen to this hour; and he commanded she put off what
she wore, and wear this instead. And she would know why, though in
greater and greater fear at this further madness. But he would only
say 'twas to please the keepers of the well. So she said, sir, and
could make nothing of it, yet knew she must obey.

Q. Keepers, you say?

A. Yes, sir. It shall come what was meant, you will
see. Then they went, as I told. And she said twice upon the way she
asked what they did, and how his Lordship knew she had not bargained
for this; and twice his Lordship told her to hold her tongue. And so
they passed to where I first saw 'em, sir, as they waited upon their
knees.

Q. Before the woman in silver?

A. Yes, sir. Which she said did stand of a sudden
before them, as 'twere from magic, some fifty paces off; and that did
seem of evil omen and baneful prodigy, most unnatural, not only in
her manner of appearing, sir, in that wild place, but by her aspect
also. That no sooner did she stand there, than his Lordship knelt and
uncovered his head, and Dick also, and Rebecca must do as they. She
said, 'twas as if they had met some great lady, a queen, sir. Tho' in
all else she looked no earthly queen, no, most cruel and malevolent,
that would do them untold harm if not obeyed in all. At first she did
naught save stare down upon them, her hair was black and wild, her
eyes blacker still. That she might have made some claim to beauty,
did not something in her look stink of malice and evil, for at the
end of a sudden she did smile upon them, yet was that smile, said
Rebecca, a thousand times worse than her staring, 'twas as a spider
might smile upon a fly fallen in its web, see you, that licks its
chops before a tidbit.

Q. How old was she?

A. Young, sir, of Rebecca's own age, though different
in all else. So she said.

Q. She did not speak?

A. No, sir, stood there in silence, yet 'twas part so
they were expected. Which notion she took also from that neither his
Lordship nor Dick did seem set aback at this most sinister spirit,
more it were familiar.

Q. These clothes of silver - what of them?

A. None such as common woman had ever worn, not even
such she had seen in masque and pantomime or the like of London; that
she might, had she seen them in circumstance less awful, have mocked
them for their shape and fashion, 'twas so fantastickal and unseemly.

Q, How did this encounter end?

A. Why, as it began, sir. Of a sudden she was not
there, but disappeared into thin air.

Q. Had she so lost her tongue she did not ask his
Lordship of whom this evil vision was?

A. I forget, sir. In truth she did and told me he
answered, She thou art here to please, among others. And she would
know more, but was told to ask no more, soon she would see.

Q. What said his Lordship to her when she would not
go into the cavern? You said, they did speak.

A. More upbraidings, that she was sullen and
rebellious and he would not stand for it from a whore already bought.
And then when they came near the cavern, and she could no more, and
turned to beg his mercy on her knees, and he drew, she said he said,
Damn thee, my life's ambition lies inside that place, and I'll kill
thee before I'm thwarted of it. And she said his hand trembled like
one in a fever, or crazed, sir, and she verily believed he'd have
done as he said, had she not obeyed.

Q. He gave no hint of why she was so necessary to the
fulfilment of this ambition?

A. Not one, sir. It shall come. Do I tell your
worship now what lay within?

Q. Thou shalt, and all.

A. At first she could see nothing, all seemed black
as night, sir. Still she must go forward, since she was pulled by
Dick, until she made out a light upon a further wall, as of a fire,
and smelt the burning of it. Then they come to a corner, for, see
you, the cavern is shaped as the leg of a dog, a greater part opened
where it bent back somewhat. And there, sir, she said, was opened
such a scene as turned her poor mortal blood to ice.