The stranger, to whom Aubrey had been introduced as Mr Darcy, was an
older man than either of the others. Mr Catesby was aged thirty-two,
and Mr Winter about thirty-five; but Mr Darcy was at least fifty. He
was a well-proportioned man, and dressed with studied plainness. A
long, narrow face, with very large, heavy eyelids, and a long but not
hooked nose, were relieved by a moustache, and a beard square and
slightly forked in the midst. This moustache hid a mouth which was the
characteristic feature of the face. No physiognomist would have placed
the slightest confidence in the owner of that mouth. It was at once
sanctimonious and unstable. The manners of its possessor might be suave
or severe; his reputation might be excellent or execrable; but with that
mouth, a Pharisee and a hypocrite at heart he must be. This gentleman
found it convenient not to be too invariably known by a single name, and
that whereby he had been introduced to Aubrey was one of five aliases--
his real one making a sixth. Different persons, in various parts of the
country, were acquainted with him as Mr Mease, Mr Phillips, Mr
Farmer, and--his best-known alias--Mr Walley. But his real name was
Henry Garnet, and he was a Jesuit priest.
To do justice to Aubrey Louvaine, who, though weak and foolish, being
mainly led astray by his own self-sufficiency, was far from being
deliberately wicked, it must be added that he entertained not the least
idea of the real characters of his new friends. At the house of Mr
Thomas Rookwood, whither he was attracted by the fair Dorothy--who, had
he but known it, regarded him with cleverly concealed contempt--he had
made the acquaintance of Mr Ambrose Rookwood, the elder of the
brothers, and the owner of Coldham Hall. This gentleman, to Aubrey's
taste, was not attractive; but by him he was introduced to Mr Percy,
and later, to Mr Thomas Winter, in whose society the foolish youth took
great pleasure. For Mr Catesby he did not so much care; the fact being
that he was too clever to suit Aubrey's fancy.
Neither had Aubrey any conception of the use which was being made of him
by his new friends. He was very useful; he had just brains enough, and
not too much, to serve their purpose. It delighted Aubrey to air his
familiarity with the Court and nobility, and it was convenient to them
to know some one whom they could pump without his ever suspecting that
he was being pumped. They often required information concerning the
movements and present whereabouts of various eminent persons; and
nothing was easier than to obtain it from Aubrey as they sat and smoked.
A few glasses of Rhenish wine, and a few ounces of tobacco, were well
worth expending for the purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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