University of Virginia Library

22. CHAPTER XXII.
An adventure of a Sleeping Beauty, in which Robin Day shines
out as a hero.

Having thus solved the mystery of the plate, he
assured me again it was more than probable that,
from the difficulty of procuring a suitable captain,
he should take command of his vessel himself; in
which case, I might depend upon being appointed
his first lieutenant; an honour which, I am sorry to
say, did not at this time appear to me too great for
my merits; for, if I must say the truth, the libations
I felt obliged, out of civility, to make oftener than I
should have otherwise desired, had somewhat turned
my head and robbed me of understanding.

For the same reason, as I grew foolish, I became
also sentimental and tender-hearted; and happening
to direct my eyes to the portrait of Mrs. Bloodmoney,
I was seized with concern at the thought of
Mr. Bloodmoney leaving her, to embark upon an
enterprise of such danger, and so told him; whereupon
he assured me in confidence, “She was a confounded
jade and a shrew, and he longed to be rid of
her;” adding that he was going to carry a passenger
to the Gulf, a certain young lady, the most beautiful
creature in the world; and who, as he swore he would
marry her the moment he should have got out of
Mrs. Bloodmoney's sight, I did not doubt was a

main reason of his resolving to sail the vessel himself.

His rapturous commendations of this young lady,
in whose honour he immediately began to sing a
very strange love-song, abounding with marine
phrases and saline similes, had the effect of making
me think again of the beautiful Nanna; and as I had
now reached the point of festive sensibility, when
one can be lachrymose or merry, just as the whim
shifts, I immediately burst into a flood of tears, and
informed Mr. Bloodmoney I was the most unhappy
of men. “Of boys, you mean,” said Mr. Bloodmoney;
who then demanded with great sympathy
“what I was blubbering about?” and whether there
was a woman in the case? and upon my admitting
that such was the fact, that my misfortunes had separated
me from the loveliest and most amiable of her
sex, he gave me a fervent, hug, and swore with great
generosity, that, if that were the case, I should have
the young lady, his beautiful passenger, myself—I
should, split him; for such was his regard for me,
he could refuse me nothing—no, not even this adorable
young lady, who would make me amends for
the loss of a princess; for why? a queen was a dowdy
compared with her.

With that, he launched again into his praises and
his song, now carolling a stave, in a voice that was
as loud, as broken, and perhaps as musical as the
wind itself, howling around the chimneys, now diverging
into extemporary recitative, uttering I know
not what confused and incoherent nonsense; for the
gentleman was now in his seventh heaven; when
the door, which Mr. Bloodmoney had left ajar, suddenly
opened, as of its own accord, and there stepped
into the room a vision or apparition—for so, at first,
I thought it—of a young and beautiful female, dressed

all in white, indeed in a night-dress, holding a candle
in her hand, though not lighted, with which she
made her way, stepping softly, towards the harp;
when she laid the light down upon a table, and then
began to remove the cover from the instrument, as
if about to play. She took no notice of either Mr.
Bloodmoney or myself, and seemed, in truth, quite
unconscious of our presence; though she passed so
near me, as I sat at the corner of the table, staring
at her aghast, (for I was confounded at her appearance,)
as to brush me with her clothes. It was
then, however, that I perceived her eyes, which were
wide open, and very large and black, had in them
an air of stony fixedness and inexpressiveness, a
want of life and speculation, which I had read of as
characterizing the sleep-walker, and such, I began
to suspect, the young lady must be; and such, as it
proved, she, in fact, was.

She laid down the lamp, and uncovered the harp,
as I have mentioned, and then began to fumble among
the music, as if in search of a piece to play; when
Mr. Bloodmoney, who was, for a moment, struck
dumb, like myself, exclaimed, “There she is, shiver
my timbers! An't she a lass for a commodore?”
And, jumping up, he advanced towards her, staggering
and lurching like a ship in a storm, swearing
“he'd have a buss, if he died for it;” and before I
knew what to say, or think of his strange proceedings,
he clapped his arms around her, and snatched
a salute from her lips.

The rudeness and violence of the attack instantly
awoke the fair somnambulist, who, thus restored to
sudden consciousness, and finding herself in a man's
arms, uttered a shriek the wildest, shrillest, and most
expressive of terror and desperation, I had ever
heard; and this she followed up by a dozen others,

as loud and as harrowing, struggling all the time,
though without avail, to free herself from Mr.
Bloodmoney's grasp; who, telling her, with more
energy than tenderness, she might “squeak and be
hanged,” swore “he would have another smack, he
would, split him.”

During the first part of this adventure, surprise
kept me nailed to my chair, as well as speechless;
but now, being roused from my stupor, and in part
also, from the effects of the wine, by the lady's shrieks,
and perceiving her almost mad with terror and distress,
I began to be sensible the liberty Mr. Bloodmoney
was taking was neither civil nor manly—nay,
on the contrary, that it was indecorous and brutal;
and that it became me to rescue the affrighted beauty
from his clutches. Prompted by these considerations,
and still more by my feelings, which were naturally
chivalrous enough in the cause of women, I
ran to her assistance; and, not knowing in what better
way to proceed, I took advantage of the instability
of my entertainer's footing to trip up his heels,
and so lay him upon the floor; assuring him, as I did
so, by way of apology, that “that was no way to
treat a lady.”

As virtue does sometimes meet with its reward,
so it happened that mine was in this instance destined
to a recompense; for the lady was no sooner released
from Mr. Bloodmoney's arms, than she flung herself
into mine, grasping me round the neck, and embracing
me with such fervour, that my heart began to pitapat
with confusion. In truth, the embrace of such a
lovely creature, now the more lovely for her terror,
wrought a kind of enchantment on my brain; I felt
myself, on a sudden, transformed into a hero of romance
whom a wondrous destiny had thrown into contact
with my star-ordained heroine, for whom I was to

dare all perils and achieve all exploits that had ever
been recorded of a Belmour or Lord Mortimer;
whom I was to adore in the intensest manner possible,
and be faithful to, through good and evil, through
storm and shine, through pomp and temptation, &c.
&c. &c. in the usual sentimental way. All that I do
know, in addition to what I have said, is that I, for
the moment, entirely forgot my dear Nanna, and that
I returned the embrace of my new charmer, swearing,
by way of re-assuring her, that I would die in
her defence; to all which, as well as to my tender
embraces, she paid not the slightest regard, having,
in fact, fallen into a swoon. It was to this, to do her
justice, more than to any thing else, that I owed the
favour of her embrace; for she had clutched me, to
avoid falling, just as she would, from instinct, have
clutched a post or a block; though the sound of a
defender's voice, no doubt caused her to turn to me as
to a protector, and so gave me a preference I should
have enjoyed had there even been a post or a block,
for her to choose between us.