Lambourne drooped his head, left the apartment, and returned in two or
three minutes with his face composed, his hair adjusted, his dress in
order, and exhibiting as great a difference from his former self as if
the whole man had been changed.
"Art thou sober now, and dost thou comprehend me?" said Varney sternly.
Lambourne bowed in acquiescence.
"Thou must presently down to Cumnor Place with the reverend man of art
who sleeps yonder in the little vaulted chamber. Here is the key, that
thou mayest call him by times. Take another trusty fellow with you. Use
him well on the journey, but let him not escape you--pistol him if he
attempt it, and I will be your warrant. I will give thee letters to
Foster. The doctor is to occupy the lower apartments of the eastern
quadrangle, with freedom to use the old elaboratory and its implements.
He is to have no access to the lady, but such as I shall point out--only
she may be amused to see his philosophical jugglery. Thou wilt await
at Cumnor Place my further orders; and, as thou livest, beware of the
ale-bench and the aqua vitae flask. Each breath drawn in Cumnor Place
must be kept severed from common air."
"Enough, my lord--I mean my worshipful master, soon, I trust, to be my
worshipful knightly master. You have given me my lesson and my license;
I will execute the one, and not abuse the other. I will be in the saddle
by daybreak."
"Do so, and deserve favour. Stay--ere thou goest fill me a cup of
wine--not out of that flask, sirrah," as Lambourne was pouring out from
that which Alasco had left half finished, "fetch me a fresh one."
Lambourne obeyed, and Varney, after rinsing his mouth with the liquor,
drank a full cup, and said, as he took up a lamp to retreat to his
sleeping apartment, "It is strange--I am as little the slave of fancy
as any one, yet I never speak for a few minutes with this fellow Alasco,
but my mouth and lungs feel as if soiled with the fumes of calcined
arsenic--pah!"
So saying, he left the apartment. Lambourne lingered, to drink a cup of
the freshly-opened flask. "It is from Saint John's-Berg," he said, as he
paused on the draught to enjoy its flavour, "and has the true relish of
the violet. But I must forbear it now, that I may one day drink it at my
own pleasure." And he quaffed a goblet of water to quench the fumes of
the Rhenish wine, retired slowly towards the door, made a pause, and
then, finding the temptation irresistible, walked hastily back, and took
another long pull at the wine flask, without the formality of a cup.