Next day the dock yardmen finished without benefit of Kaye's presence at all, John Gunning returned on board at suppertime looking like a plague victim turned out of a charnel house, and the cutter's crew, without a by-your-leave, all ran ashore to go upon the be ver. Samuel and William, by nine o'clock that night, decided that the runners had the right of it and hailed a waterman to row them up to London town.
"So have you ever done the deed?" asked Sam.
They were at the foot of a long, low hill, by the bridge, and the night was turning chill. William thought of an inn, a glass of toddy, something hot. Sam, after thirty seconds, snorted.
"So, not. Well, how old are you? Old enough to have men flogged, to die for dear old England? Of course. And a country man, to boot. Hampshire must be a strange country, though. Where I come from, such matters seem to be in the blood. I was fourteen when I was first seduced. The maid who did the cows on Sweeting's farm. Maid! She was eight and twenty if a day, and she did me for a wager."
The stage and stairs were bustling, the approaches to the bridge a throng of vehicles and foot passengers. Samuel, as he mocked, pulled William away from the waterside, on to the roads meet There were hackneys to be hailed, nags for hire, costers and small children selling food, sweetmeats, and anything.
"The fact is," Samuel went on, 'that you have to make a choice. We have skipped the ship, we have spent good money on the wherry man and you've got duller and more gloomy by the minute. So you haven't done the deed, that is established. So now the question is do you want to? And if not, what in hell's name do you aim to do instead?"
William watched the myriads pouring on and off the bridge. Sam had picked the northern shore to land, and had done so for a reason, beyond a doubt. The questions were just cant, the main decision made already. Unless he argued strongly to the contrary.
"Yes," he said, 'you have the right of it, I am a countryman. But in country matters I hold my hands up, perhaps the maids round Petersfield march to a different drum than yours. The females that I know are too demure, they go to church on Sundays. In any case, our milkmaids pull too hard for comfort, I should say!"
He did not know, he truly did not, what he desired from the night. London, to be quite frank, he found exciting, the dark swirling masses, the cries, the shouts, the animals, the smell. Part of him drew in upon itself, but part reached out to try the wild unknown that was configured all around him. Even the doors of houses on the streets seemed beckoning, most of them open, with dark corridors just behind, as if anyone could go in anywhere, for any reason. He was moving upward, with Samuel, they were moving north and westward from the bridge, without him really knowing where or why.
"The best thing," Samuel said, 'would be to come and look. All right, I hold my hands up, also, I was disgraceful in these matters, I was taught too young and got the taste for it, it has cost me. But for one with scruples such as yours, there are many other pleasures not so gross. There are gaming rooms, there are eating rooms, there are viewing rooms, there are the tableaux. Good heavens, come to think of it, it is an all-round education. There is a woman there, a Mrs. Putnam, who will even discourse to you about your morals. And another, Mrs. Lewis, who will give you correction if you stray."
They were closing on a city gate, and they were walking to a purpose. The vile smell of the Fleet was with them intermittently, although some fresher, grassy air blew through the dark, cramped streets.
"Most, I think, I would relish a strong drink," he said. "I may be scrupulous, but I notice you do not mention liquor in your breakdown of delights. I take it Dr. Marigold does run to ale and wine and spirits? I take it it is Dr. Marigold's you have in mind for us?"
"Oh yes, Dr. Marigold's indeed," Sam replied. "Where else is there so fine in this metropolis, or all the world? Will, I promise you, you will love the place, your worries will all fade away the moment you set eyes on it. I promise you for virgin or for rake it is the alpha and the omega, the very top! Look, see up there. Where that white horse has just come out. That is the spot. I promise you -you will not be disappointed, whatever you decide to taste."
From the outside, Dr. Marigold's was not unusual, or conspicuous. It was in a fairly wide road, for those parts, with an enclosed yard reached through an arch of stone. On either side the front walls rose high, with many windows, all dark or shuttered, and at the end of the front elevation, a lower, older building stretched away around the corner of an alleyway or street. Overall there was the smell of smoking coals, and dung, but nothing very horrible. From the yard, Will could hear horses, and the ringing of a blacksmith's hammer, despite the hour. Sam, however, ignored the yard and knocked at a low black door. As William waited nervously, he smiled.
"We all must start somewhere," he said. "You won't regret it, I Ah, here we are."
Inside, the doctor's house was like a labyrinth. The door opened suddenly, and they were drawn into a dark and smoky corridor by a figure William could not fix. Along the passage there were glims, but it was darker than the orlop of a man-of-war. It was hot and aromatic, a heady mix of coals, tobacco, roasting meat and perfume, and there was a wall of jumbled sound, not loud but solid, of talk and laughter, and rhythmic thumping which could have denoted dancing feet and music, a hint of song. Within seconds both of them had gone from cold to hot, within seconds more to sweating. Sam's face beamed at Will, and Will, suddenly, was beaming back. This was all new to him, and well, he felt it would be wonderful.
There were Navy men there but only officers and there were men in regimentals, too. The bulk though were in civil dress, not many of them young. William, blinking sweat as Samuel led him to a parlour with a servery, decided that money was their character, the thing that named them for a group. Not country rich or country trying, as they said in Petersfield but merchants, men of the world of ships and goods, men of the world of cargo shares and profit, of money that accrued invisibly. They were quite old, in the majority, quite fat, and rather drunk. There appeared in the servery a young woman with a thinnish face, almost severe, and creamy, enormous breasts, unfettered by a handkerchief, even the brown nipples open to his gaze. And William felt his stomach lurch, and his mouth go dry.
They drank ale at first, to regulate their temperatures, then they drank hot spicy wine to 'set them going' when they were acclimatised. They sat at tables for a while, eating the hot meat newly off the spit, that more young women scattered liberally from trenchers, and they held a conversation, though only of a sort, because William had become fascinated by the maids who made so free with parts he'd never seen before, so close. Samuel seemed amused by him -his mockery was very mild and promised better sights to come. The maids, though, were indifferent to his smiles. Within an hour, maybe less, he felt rather drunk.
Sam took him everywhere, to all the rooms, and introduced him to several people. Two lieutenants of the Press, who used the Lamb as rendezvous as did the Biter, so he said, three midshipmen, an officer or two or three or four of the seaborne soldiery, rather low and very, very drunk. There were higher forms of life in evidence, post captains and a lord, but naturally enough Sam Holt did not go near to them. And in all the rooms, except the dark and sombre ones where men sat hard at cards and dedicated drinking, there were maids. Out in the yard, where they'd wandered for a breather, Samuel brought them up.